2TOIDC COL 01R1.QXD (Page 1)info.indiatimes.com/ebook/020603/jun2.pdf · 2010-11-16 · will urge...
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CMYK Football-playing beau for Condoleezza By Sarah Baxter New York: As a girl, she vowed that she would marry a American foot- baller, but she has ended up helping to run the country instead. Now there is speculation that Condoleezza Rice may fulfil both ambitions after she invited a hand- some sportsman not once but twice to the White House as her date. The gossip began when Gene Washington, a former player with the San Francisco 49ers, turned up at a formal dinner for President Glo- ria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philip- pines just over a week ago. Noticeably, Rice, the US national security adviser, had also invited him to dine with the President of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski, last summer. They attend American football matches together, where Washing- ton can always secure the best seats. Long retired from the game, he is di- rector of operations of the National Football League (NFL) in New York. Rice, a sports fanatic, has often said she wants to be commissioner of the NFL one day. In his first interview Washington, 57, laughed off reports that he and Rice were dating each other, but there is no doubt that he is starry- eyed about her talents. ‘‘Condi’s phenomenal,’’ he said. ‘‘She’s so articulate, she never gets ruffled, she can handle tough situa- tions with aplomb, she is as impres- sive a person as you’d ever meet.’’ But are they dating? ‘‘We’re not,’’ he insisted. ‘‘What else is there to say? We’re great friends, we’re com- fortable with each other and we en- joy each other’s company. She can relax with me. We’ve known each other for so long she doesn’t have to break me in.’’ The pair, who both grew up in Alabama, share a pas- sion for football, which Rice learnt from her father, a high school teacher who also coached the sport. Washington said she often com- pared the game to war.In her view, ‘‘football is about taking ground’’, he said. ‘‘The idea is to take more ground than you give up.’’ Washington and Rice met in the 1980s at Stanford University in Cali- fornia, where Rice, a professor of political science, went on to be the provost and Washington was a sports administrator. Antonia Felix, author of a biography of Rice, claims that they dated briefly. Washington is separated from his wife, who lives in California, and has two daughters, aged 27 and 15, and a son of 13. A dedicated athlete who still works out every day, Rice toyed with becoming a professional ice-skater. She also considered a career as a concert pianist, but decided she was not gifted enough. Sunday Times, London Mayawati govt: Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh has said that the Mayawati-led government in UP has lost its majority and its days are numbered. He has claimed that all the major opposition parties in the state have arrived on an under- standing over all issues. P9 Phalcon sale: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is expected to make a last ditch effort to defer the sale of Phalcon radar systems to In- dia when he meets US President George W Bush in Washington later this month. P7 Milli Council meet: The All-India Milli Council convention that con- cluded in New Delhi steered clear of the contentious Babri Masjid issue, saying it should be left to the courts, and instead focussed on the role of the minorities in India. P9 Route to Kailash: PM Vajpayee will urge China to allow Indian pil- grims to visit Kailash Mansarovar via Leh during his visit to Beijing, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani said in New Delhi on Sunday. P13 RSS on common civil code: The Organiser, the RSS mouthpiece, has in its latest issue revived the de- bate for the introduction of a com- mon civil code by using the case of Farzana Zaki, the Delhi-based bride who refused to accompany her hus- band to his home because he and his family demanded dowry. P9 NEWS DIGEST Peace rules the day, where reason rules the mind. — Wilkie Collins Established 1838 Bennett, Coleman & Co., Ltd. Book your Classifieds 24 hours service: “51-666-888” Times InfoLine “51-68-68-68” The ATM of information The Largest Classifieds Site YOU SAID IT by Laxman Earlier flattery would have been enough to be in his good books! Mainly clear sky, with dust haze. Thunder accompanied by squall is likely in some areas. Maximum relative humidity on Sunday 38% and minimum 18%. WEATHER * 24 + 8 pages of Delhi Times + 16 pages of Education Times WIN WITH THE TIMES Is Pakistan serious about shutting down terrorist camps in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir this time? VOTE NOW: Does cybersex amount to adultery? Vote on indiatimes.com or SMS ‘Poll’ to 8888 indiatimes.com POLL No 84% Yes 16% TOI Archives Ajit Ninan www.timesofindia.com New Delhi, Monday, June 2, 2003 Capital 48 pages* Invitation Price Rs. 1.50 City report Has privatisation of power distribution worked in Delhi? Page 14 Page 5 Page 21 Australia edge past India for hockey crown Times Sport Liz Hurley wants to buy a jet and avoid prying eyes International OID K TOID20603/CR1/01/K/1 OID TOID20603/CR1/01/Y/1 OID M TOID20603/CR1/01/M/1 OID C TOID20603/CR1/01/C/1 Domestic help kills 60-yr-old woman TIMES NEWS NETWORK New Delhi: A 60-year- old woman was found murdered at her resi- dence in GK II, south Delhi, on Saturday night. The police sus- pect the involvement of victim’s domestic ser- vant, 30-year-old Gauri Jena, who is said to be absconding. According to the deputy commissioner of police (south), Vivek Gogia, two people who were known to be close to Gauri have been de- tained for questioning. The body of the vic- tim, Meena Gupta, was found by her husband when he returned home from a party late Satur- day night, the police said. The body bore two stab wounds. Gupta was a housewife while her husband Harprakash Gupta is a consultant. The police suspect robbery to be the motive behind the incident. Gu- pta had brought home a large quantity of jew- ellery a few days ago. He had allegedly shown the jewellery to Gauri tell- ing her about her inten- tions to distribute it am- ongst their two daugh- ters. The valuables have been found missing. No smoking in Parliament, says Sushma TIMES NEWS NETWORK Kolkata: The Union health ministry plans to declare both the Houses of Parlia- ment, including their lobby and the main hall, as ‘public places’ so that no MP can smoke there, Union health minister Sushma Swaraj said here on Sunday. ‘‘We have proposed to con- struct small chambers for smokers so that they can re- main in their chambers and continue harming them- selves and not others,’’ Swaraj said at a function organised by Bhagirath Neotia Woman and Child Care Centre. The campaign against the evils of smoking is not good enough, she said. ‘‘While ad- vertisements which glorify smoking are running every- where, those countering them with facts are just not coming.’’ Despite pressure from all quarters, curbs against smoking in public places could be successfully cleared in both the Houses of Parliament. In Kashmir, Sonia hopes for peace By M Saleem Pandit TIMES NEWS NETWORK Baramulla: Reiterating her stand on supporting the Cen- tre’s peace initiative with Pakistan, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday said her party believed the prob- lems could be resolved only through talks and not through the gun. Addressing an impressive public rally organised by the Congress-PDP combine here on Sunday afternoon, Sonia Gandhi complimented the people of Jammu and Kash- mir for defeating subversive forces by participating in the state assembly polls in large numbers. ‘‘It was the victory of democracy and the coun- try,’’ the Congress president remarked. She added that the situation was not so bad dur- ing the times of Indira Gand- hi and Rajiv Gandhi. The Congress president re- called when people in Kash- mir observed a general strike for three days against the killing of 24 Kashmiri Pan- dits in Nadimarg in Pulwa- ma district in March, 2003. Abhorring the gun culture, Sonia lamented that the peo- ple of Kupwara and Barmul- la were the worst victims of terrorist violence during last 15 years. She said that they faced it courageously. It is significant that this town was chosen as the venue for Gandhi’s rally as this was for the first time since the advent of militancy in 1989 that a polit- ical leader had addressed a public rally here. Vajpayee breaks bread with world leaders who openly laud his Pakistan initiative AFP Prime Minister Vajpayee (extreme right) poses with world leaders for the traditional ‘family’ photo at the G8 summit in Evian, France, on Sunday. Bush to pressure Musharraf By Manoj Joshi TIMES NEWS NETWORK Lausanne (Switzerland): Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has told US President George W Bush that success in dialogue with Pak- istan was not possible without an end to cross-border terrorism. Authoritative sources said that Bush agreed with him and in- dicated that he would ‘‘talk’’ to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf later in June. The conversation took place at the head-table in the banquet given by Russian President Vladimir Putin for leaders assembled in St Petersburg for its 300th anniver- sary celebrations where the Prime Minister was seated next to the American president to facilitate the conversation. The sources also said that Bush made ‘‘very laudatory’’ references to the Prime Minister’s initiative on Pakistan. Bush is likely to make good on his promise during Musharraf’s upcoming visit to the US where he will be feted in Wash- ington and also spend quality time with Bush at the Presidential re- treat in Camp David. According to senior officials, Va- jpayee and Bush sat side-by-side at a table along with Putin and his wife, Greek President Constantine Simitis who is the president of the European Union and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who will succeed the Greek leader to the European presidency. ‘‘The two discussed India and Pakistan for about six or seven minutes but the rest of the conversation was social chit-chat,’’ said an official familiar with the event. Asked whether the matter of the pending US request for Indian Army participation in the stabili- sation of Iraq was discussed, the official said ‘‘No, not yesterday (Saturday).’’ Magadh Exp derails in Bihar, one killed TIMES NEWS NETWORK & PTI Buxar/Patna/New Delhi: One passenger was killed and 23 were injured, eight critically, when 14 coaches of the New Delhi-bound Magadh Express (2391 Up) de- railed near Parasia village, about 6 km from Buxar railway station, early on Sunday. The injured included four track- men who were repairing a dam- aged track near the accident site. The derailment took place around 3.40 am. Ten coaches es- caped the derailment. The railway technical staff found some iron cutting blades lying next to five metres of broken track at the acci- dent site, senior public relations officer of Danapur Rail Division Amrendra Das said. Inspector general of police, Pat- na, A C Verma said it was too ear- ly to jump to the conclusion that the derailment was an act of sabo- tage. It was not possible to cut the track with iron cutting blades, he reasoned. But a source in the po- lice said the recovery of an iron blade from the accident site gave credence to the sabotage theory. Incidentally, the outlawed PWG had blown up the Baruna railway station, close to the accident site, a few years ago. And five years ago, the Poorva Express had derailed at the same site. The injured have been admitted to different hospitals in Buxar. A 45-year-old man, who was travelling on a Patna-Allahabad ticket, succumbedto injuries at the Buxar Sadar Hospital. Special relief trains, with doc- tors and technicians, have been rushed to Buxar from Danapur and Mughalsarai. Drunk armymen hurt 11 TIMES NEWS NETWORK Indore: Junior Army officials al- legedly went on the rampage and at- tacked several civilians and police jawans under the influence of liquor late Saturday night. As many as 11 civilians and four police personnel were injured in the incident. The police have registered cases against seven Army officers un- der Sections 147, 148, 452, 323 and 354 on the Indian Penal Code. The incident occurred around mid- night when about 30 junior Army officers were returning from a city hotel from Mhow on their bikes and scooters. Police sources said one of the Army officers picked up a fight with a tyre puncture repair shop owner opposite Press complex. During the brawl between the shopowner’s family and the Army of- ficer, several other officers joined the fight and attacked the family with sticks, swords and iron rods. Bystanders tried to calm the offi- cers, but they attacked other civilians including women, inflicting severe injuries to some. A woman saw the whole scuffle said some Army offi- cers made lecherous advances to- wards a 13-year-old girl and passed obscene comments. A large posse of police force led by ASP Ansuman Yadav and G G Pandey soon arrived at the incident site, bashed up the Army officials who created ruckus and arrested sev- en of them for indulging in rampage. • Police advise servant and tenant verification • Residents can fill out personal details and attach a picture of the person even on a plain piece of paper • This should be submitted with the area police station • The drive, however, has been a failure Watch out PM pushes for removal for visa ristriction: Page 17 Protest peak, tight security: Page 17 Max temp: 43.7 o C/Min: 29.3 o C Sunset on Monday – 7.15 pm Sunrise on Tuesday – 5.23 am Moonset on Monday – 9. 23 pm Moonrise on Tuesday – 7.40 am
Transcript of 2TOIDC COL 01R1.QXD (Page 1)info.indiatimes.com/ebook/020603/jun2.pdf · 2010-11-16 · will urge...
CMYK
Football-playing beau for CondoleezzaBy Sarah Baxter
New York: As a girl, she vowed thatshe would marry a American foot-baller, but she has ended up helpingto run the country instead.
Now there is speculation thatCondoleezza Rice may fulfil bothambitions after she invited a hand-some sportsman not once but twiceto the White House as her date.
The gossip began when GeneWashington, a former player withthe San Francisco 49ers, turned upat a formal dinner for President Glo-ria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philip-pines just over a week ago.
Noticeably, Rice, the US nationalsecurity adviser, had also invitedhim to dine with the President ofPoland, Aleksander Kwasniewski,last summer.
They attend American footballmatches together, where Washing-ton can always secure the best seats.Long retired from the game, he is di-rector of operations of the NationalFootball League (NFL) in New York.Rice, a sports fanatic, has often saidshe wants to be commissioner of theNFL one day.
In his first interview Washington,
57, laughed off reports that he andRice were dating each other, butthere is no doubt that he is starry-eyed about her talents.
‘‘Condi’s phenomenal,’’ he said.‘‘She’s so articulate, she never getsruffled, she can handle tough situa-tions with aplomb, she is as impres-sive a person as you’d ever meet.’’
But are they dating? ‘‘We’re not,’’he insisted. ‘‘What else is there tosay? We’re great friends, we’re com-fortable with each other and we en-
joy each other’s company. She canrelax with me. We’ve known eachother for so long she doesn’t have tobreak me in.’’ The pair, who bothgrew up in Alabama, share a pas-sion for football, which Rice learntfrom her father, a high schoolteacher who also coached the sport.
Washington said she often com-pared the game to war. In her view,‘‘football is about taking ground’’, hesaid. ‘‘The idea is to take moreground than you give up.’’
Washington and Rice met in the1980s at Stanford University in Cali-fornia, where Rice, a professor ofpolitical science, went on to be theprovost and Washington was asports administrator. Antonia Felix,author of a biography of Rice,claims that they dated briefly.
Washington is separated from hiswife, who lives in California, andhas two daughters, aged 27 and 15,and a son of 13.
A dedicated athlete who stillworks out every day, Rice toyed withbecoming a professional ice-skater.She also considered a career as aconcert pianist, but decided she wasnot gifted enough. Sunday Times, London
Mayawati govt: Rashtriya Lok Dalpresident Ajit Singh has said that theMayawati-led government in UP haslost its majority and its days arenumbered. He has claimed that allthe major opposition parties in thestate have arrived on an under-standing over all issues. P9
Phalcon sale: Pakistani PresidentPervez Musharraf is expected tomake a last ditch effort to defer thesale of Phalcon radar systems to In-dia when he meets US PresidentGeorge W Bush in Washington laterthis month. P7
Milli Council meet: The All-IndiaMilli Council convention that con-cluded in New Delhi steered clear ofthe contentious Babri Masjid issue,saying it should be left to the courts,and instead focussed on the role ofthe minorities in India. P9
Route to Kailash: PM Vajpayeewill urge China to allow Indian pil-grims to visit Kailash Mansarovar viaLeh during his visit to Beijing,Deputy Prime Minister L K Advanisaid in New Delhi on Sunday. P13
RSS on common civil code:The Organiser, the RSS mouthpiece,has in its latest issue revived the de-bate for the introduction of a com-mon civil code by using the case ofFarzana Zaki, the Delhi-based bridewho refused to accompany her hus-band to his home because he andhis family demanded dowry. P9
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Peace rules the day, wherereason rules the mind.
— Wilkie Collins
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City reportHas privatisation ofpower distributionworked in Delhi?
Page 14 Page 5 Page 21
Australia edgepast India forhockey crown
Times SportLiz Hurley wantsto buy a jet andavoid prying eyes
International
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Domestichelp kills60-yr-oldwoman
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: A 60-year-old woman was foundmurdered at her resi-dence in GK II, southDelhi, on Saturdaynight. The police sus-pect the involvement ofvictim’s domestic ser-vant, 30-year-old GauriJena, who is said to beabsconding.
According to thedeputy commissioner ofpolice (south), VivekGogia, two people whowere known to be closeto Gauri have been de-tained for questioning.
The body of the vic-tim, Meena Gupta, wasfound by her husbandwhen he returned homefrom a party late Satur-day night, the policesaid. The body bore twostab wounds. Gupta wasa housewife while herhusband HarprakashGupta is a consultant.
The police suspectrobbery to be the motivebehind the incident. Gu-pta had brought home alarge quantity of jew-ellery a few days ago. Hehad allegedly shown thejewellery to Gauri tell-ing her about her inten-tions to distribute it am-ongst their two daugh-ters. The valuables havebeen found missing.
No smokingin Parliament,says Sushma
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Kolkata: The Union healthministry plans to declareboth the Houses of Parlia-ment, including their lobbyand the main hall, as ‘publicplaces’ so that no MP cansmoke there, Union healthminister Sushma Swarajsaid here on Sunday.
‘‘We have proposed to con-struct small chambers forsmokers so that they can re-main in their chambers andcontinue harming them-selves and not others,’’Swaraj said at a function organised by Bhagirath Neotia Woman and ChildCare Centre.
The campaign against theevils of smoking is not goodenough, she said. ‘‘While ad-vertisements which glorifysmoking are running every-where, those counteringthem with facts are just notcoming.’’
Despite pressure from allquarters, curbs againstsmoking in public placescould be successfully clearedin both the Houses of Parliament.
In Kashmir,Sonia hopesfor peace
By M Saleem PanditTIMES NEWS NETWORK
Baramulla: Reiterating herstand on supporting the Cen-tre’s peace initiative withPakistan, Congress presidentSonia Gandhi on Sunday saidher party believed the prob-lems could be resolved onlythrough talks and notthrough the gun.
Addressing an impressivepublic rally organised by theCongress-PDP combine hereon Sunday afternoon, SoniaGandhi complimented thepeople of Jammu and Kash-mir for defeating subversiveforces by participating in thestate assembly polls in largenumbers. ‘‘It was the victoryof democracy and the coun-try,’’ the Congress presidentremarked. She added that thesituation was not so bad dur-ing the times of Indira Gand-hi and Rajiv Gandhi.
The Congress president re-called when people in Kash-mir observed a general strikefor three days against thekilling of 24 Kashmiri Pan-dits in Nadimarg in Pulwa-ma district in March, 2003.
Abhorring the gun culture,Sonia lamented that the peo-ple of Kupwara and Barmul-la were the worst victims ofterrorist violence during last15 years.
She said that they faced itcourageously. It is significantthat this town was chosen as the venue for Gandhi’s rally as this was for the firsttime since the advent of militancy in 1989 that a polit-ical leader had addressed apublic rally here.
Vajpayee breaks bread with world leaders who openly laud his Pakistan initiativeAFP
Prime Minister Vajpayee (extreme right) poses with world leaders for the traditional ‘family’ photo at the G8 summit in Evian, France, on Sunday.
Bush to pressure MusharrafBy Manoj Joshi
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Lausanne (Switzerland): PrimeMinister Atal Bihari Vajpayee hastold US President George W Bushthat success in dialogue with Pak-istan was not possible without anend to cross-border terrorism.
Authoritative sources said that Bush agreed with him and in-dicated that he would ‘‘talk’’ toPakistan President PervezMusharraf later in June.
The conversation took place atthe head-table in the banquet givenby Russian President VladimirPutin for leaders assembled in St Petersburg for its 300th anniver-sary celebrations where the PrimeMinister was seated next to theAmerican president to facilitatethe conversation.
The sources also said that Bushmade ‘‘very laudatory’’ referencesto the Prime Minister’s initiativeon Pakistan. Bush is likely to makegood on his promise during
Musharraf’s upcoming visit to theUS where he will be feted in Wash-ington and also spend quality timewith Bush at the Presidential re-treat in Camp David.
According to senior officials, Va-jpayee and Bush sat side-by-side ata table along with Putin and hiswife, Greek President ConstantineSimitis who is the president of theEuropean Union and Italian PrimeMinister Silvio Berlusconi whowill succeed the Greek leader tothe European presidency. ‘‘The two
discussed India and Pakistan forabout six or seven minutes but therest of the conversation was socialchit-chat,’’ said an official familiarwith the event.
Asked whether the matter of thepending US request for IndianArmy participation in the stabili-sation of Iraq was discussed, theofficial said ‘‘No, not yesterday(Saturday).’’
Magadh Exp derails in Bihar, one killedTIMES NEWS NETWORK & PTI
Buxar/Patna/New Delhi: Onepassenger was killed and 23 wereinjured, eight critically, when 14coaches of the New Delhi-boundMagadh Express (2391 Up) de-railed near Parasia village, about 6km from Buxar railway station,early on Sunday.
The injured included four track-men who were repairing a dam-
aged track near the accident site.The derailment took place
around 3.40 am. Ten coaches es-caped the derailment. The railwaytechnical staff found some ironcutting blades lying next to fivemetres of broken track at the acci-dent site, senior public relationsofficer of Danapur Rail DivisionAmrendra Das said.
Inspector general of police, Pat-na, A C Verma said it was too ear-
ly to jump to the conclusion thatthe derailment was an act of sabo-tage. It was not possible to cut thetrack with iron cutting blades, hereasoned. But a source in the po-lice said the recovery of an ironblade from the accident site gavecredence to the sabotage theory.
Incidentally, the outlawed PWGhad blown up the Baruna railwaystation, close to the accident site, afew years ago. And five years ago,
the Poorva Express had derailed atthe same site.
The injured have been admittedto different hospitals in Buxar.
A 45-year-old man, who wastravelling on a Patna-Allahabadticket, succumbedto injuries at theBuxar Sadar Hospital.
Special relief trains, with doc-tors and technicians, have beenrushed to Buxar from Danapurand Mughalsarai.
Drunk armymen hurt 11TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Indore: Junior Army officials al-legedly went on the rampage and at-tacked several civilians and policejawans under the influence of liquorlate Saturday night.
As many as 11 civilians and fourpolice personnel were injured in theincident. The police have registeredcases against seven Army officers un-der Sections 147, 148, 452, 323 and 354on the Indian Penal Code.
The incident occurred around mid-night when about 30 junior Army officers were returning from a city hotel from Mhow on their bikesand scooters.
Police sources said one of theArmy officers picked up a fight witha tyre puncture repair shop owner
opposite Press complex.During the brawl between the
shopowner’s family and the Army of-ficer, several other officers joined thefight and attacked the family withsticks, swords and iron rods.
Bystanders tried to calm the offi-cers, but they attacked other civiliansincluding women, inflicting severeinjuries to some. A woman saw thewhole scuffle said some Army offi-cers made lecherous advances to-wards a 13-year-old girl and passedobscene comments.
A large posse of police force led byASP Ansuman Yadav and G GPandey soon arrived at the incidentsite, bashed up the Army officialswho created ruckus and arrested sev-en of them for indulging in rampage.
•Police advise servant and tenantverification
•Residents can fillout personal detailsand attach a pictureof the person evenon a plain piece of paper
•This should be submitted with thearea police station
•The drive, however,has been a failure
Watch outPM pushes for removal for visa ristriction: Page 17Protest peak, tight security: Page 17
Max temp: 43.7oC/Min: 29.3oCSunset on Monday – 7.15 pmSunrise on Tuesday – 5.23 amMoonset on Monday – 9. 23 pmMoonrise on Tuesday – 7.40 am
CMYK
DELHI The Times of India, New Delhi2 Monday, June 2, 2003
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crying was very touching.Q. Your voice in the Jungle Book2 is so nice, did you take any special training for this?-AparnaA: No, my mother tongue isMarathi. I referred to Hindi books,worked on it well, and so wasable to pronounce it well. And theJungle Book team's co-operationmade it all the more possible.Q. How did you get the charac-ter?- PramodA: There were 10 children, whowere auditioned side-by-side.Our voices were recorded andthe voice that fit the character ofMowgli the best was chosen.They needed a 13 year old childwho could execute the naughti-ness of Mowgli in his voice. I wasglad to have been chosen.
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04.06.2003: Admission Test for 1-year PGD in Journalism & Commu-nication/ Advertising & Marketing Management at The Amity School of Communication, Noida (www.amity.edu).
08.06.2003: Entrance Exam for 1-year PGD in Print Journalism at Manorama School of Communication, Kottayam [www.manoramajschool.com].
08.06.2003: Entrance test for PG Hindi Journalism (Certificate/ Diploma) course at Dept of Hindi, University of Delhi,South Campus, Benito Juarez Marg, Dhaula Kuan,New Delhi-110021.
MANAGEMENT
05.06.2003: Rajasthan Management Admission Test (RMAT) for 2-year MBA (www.rmat2003.indiaresult.com).
06.06.2003: Entrance Exam for degree course in management studies at SNDT Women’s University (call 022-2409 5869/ 2401 3964).
MEDICINE
08.06.2003: MH-CET 2003 for admission to MBBS, BDS, BAMS,BHMS, BUMS, BPTh, BOTh, BASLP, BPO, and BVSc & AH in Maharashtra (www.dmer.org).
08.06.2003: Entrance Exam for MBBS at JIPMER,Pondicherry-605006.
08.06.2003: Test for admission to BUMS/ PRE-TIB of AMU,Aligarh-202002.
SCIENCES
04.06.2003: Entrance test for M Tech (Atmospheric Physics)/M Sc Physics at University of Pune, Dept of Physics,Pune-411007 (Delhi is a centre)
4-7 June ‘03: Interview for Integrated Ph D programme of IISc,Bangalore [www.iisc.ernet.in].
07.06.2003: Admission test for M Sc-Ph D and M Sc (Biomedical sciences) at the University of Delhi (North Campus).
9-13 June ‘03: Interview for Research Programmes of IISc, Bangalore[www.iisc.ernet.in].
EXAMINATION ALERT
(This is an indicative guide. The dates may change.)
turningpoint
Treated sewage too deadlyBy Shivani Singh
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: First, the Del-hi Jal Board (DJB) spendsRs 500 crore on building 17sewage treatment plants(STPs). Then it realisesthese plants cannot deci-mating the commonest anddeadliest pollutant — fae-cal coliform bacteria —that’s present in sewageflowing into the Yamuna.
As a result, the river isflooded with coliform bac-teria — almost seventymillion in 100 millilitre(ml) of river water asagainst the permissiblelimit of 2,500 per 100 ml.
DJB chief P K Tripathiadmitted the existingplants do everything buttreat the faecal coliformthat kills all organic life inthe river. This is despitethe fact that the SupremeCourt had directed theboard to bring down the
bacteria level in theYamuna. The deadlineto do so was extendedto March 2005.
Tripathi said theboard will apprise thecourt on the exorbi-tant cost involved insetting up tertiaryplants that alone cankill faecal coliform.‘‘Upgrading the exist-ing secondary sewagetreatment plants to terti-ary plants will cost aboutRs 1,500 crore. Even thewestern countries cannotafford it. It’s out of ques-tion for the DJB,’’ he said.
Tripathi insisted thereare no parameters to bringdown the coliform level inthe river water. But theCentral Pollution ControlBoard (CPCB) — that mon-itors all operations to cleanthe Yamuna — said it hasalready issued guidelinesto the DJB on how to do it.
‘‘We have told the DJB to
bring the coliform level to2,500 per 100 ml. For that,DJB will have install STPsthat can do tertiary treat-ment of sewage. The exist-ing plants do not have thisfacility,’’ said CPCB scien-tist R M Bharadwaj.
The board has built 17STPs that it had promisedto the Supreme Court, butmaintains it was notbriefed properly by theCPCB on the technologicalrequirements of the STPs.
‘‘When the plants werebeing constructed, the
CPCB gave us the permis-sible biological oxygen de-mand (BOD) and the levelof suspended solid in thetreated sewage. Our sec-ondary treatment plantsare equipped to treat thesewage accordingly,’’ saida DJB official.
The board plans to en-hance its sewage treat-ment capacity to 724 mil-lion gallons a day by end ofthe tenth five-year plan.But Tripathi said theseplants will only beequipped for secondary
Dead rivermgd sewageflows into Yamuna
mgd can betreated in
DJB-run STPs
mgd is actually treated
per cent of thesewer lines are not
connected to these STPs
per cent of STPsdon’t work due to
lack of water to dilutesewage
(mgd: million gallons a day)
By Shubhajit RoyTIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi:Even asthe state govern-ment gears up for an-other three-day‘symbolic’ clean-up— as a run-up to theWorld environmentday on June 5 — theYamuna river is aspolluted as ever. Aten-year clean up ef-fort, started in 1993,seems to have literal-ly flowed down thedrain.
‘‘The river is deadafter it crosses Del-hi,’’ says R C Trivedi,additional directorin CPCB, an experton Yamuna’s pollu-tion monitoring.Trivedi’s remarks are notbaseless. A look at the twobroad parameters of riverpollution bear testimony tohis comments.
Consider this. The bio-chemical oxygen demand(BOD) levels have beenhovering between 15 and 30micrograms per litre,while the normal BOD lev-el should be just 3 mgs perlitre. Higher BOD levelsmean lesser chances ofsurvival for plants, fishand other aquatic life inthe river.
‘‘Aquatic life has per-ished in the Yamuna riveras the oxygen supply for or-ganic matter has reduced,’’said an environment de-partment official, who as-
sesses the river pollution.Another indicator of a
highly polluted river is thehigh level of coliform bac-teria, which thrives on hu-man waste. The coliformcount varies between 1lakh and 10 lakh, while thenormal count should be at5,000.
Higher levels of col-iform means more risk ofwater-borne diseases. ‘‘Thepathogens in the river wa-ter kill the organic life init,’’ Kapil Narula, Tata En-ergy Research Institute’sarea convener, who hasstudied Yamuna river pol-lution.
Experts say the pollu-tion levels have remainedthe same for the past onedecade. The reason is the
large amounts of waste letout into the river by thecity residents. ‘‘The citygenerates about 2,700 mil-lion litres of sewage fromhouseholds every day. An-other 300 million litres aredischarged into the riverby the industries,’’ saidManoj Nadkarni, a riverpollution expert at Centrefor Science and Environ-ment (CSE).
‘‘There is no clear waterthat joins Yamuna when itflows 22 kms along Delhi.So there is no dilution ofthe densely pollutedsewage in the river,’’ saidTrivedi.
He said only half of thesewage generated by theriver is treated by the inad-equate mini sewage treat-
ment plants, planned in thefirst phase of Yamuna ac-tion plan.
Narula says that thereare 50 sub-drains whichpollute the river the most.‘‘A TERI study says thateven if one controlled thepollution in 10 of them,half of the pollution willbe curtailed,’’ he said.
But the first phase of theplan has gone haywirewith little planning andeven lesser clean-up ac-tion. CSE’s director SunitaNarain says,‘‘Nobody hadever thought of cleaningthe river by attacking theproblem at the roots. Onlysymbolic shramdaanswon’t do. A planning witha bigger picture in mind isthe key.’’
10 yrs on, Yamuna is still toxicThe dirty truth
Pollution levels in the Yamuna● Biochemical oxygen demand: 15 to 30mgs per litre (normal 3 mgs/ litre)● Coliform bacteria: 1 lakh-10 lakh (normal is 5,000)
Main pollutants ● Domestic sewage : 2,700 million litres perday (mld)● Industrial sewage: 300 mld
Yamuna Action Plan (Phase I)● Duration: 1993-2003 ● Budget: Rs 700 crore● Delhi’s share: Rs 170 crore
AimsCommunity toiletsSewage cleaning equipmentMini sewage treatment plantsPublic awareness and participation
The story so far● Lack of amenities in most toilets● Equipment non-functional● Mini STPs inadequate to handle bulk sewage
Break pipelines, get sued: DJB By Saurabh Sinha
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Delhi JalBoard (DJB) has decided tofile FIRs against the civicagencies whose workersbreak water pipelines whileundertaking any activity.The board claims a largenumber of pipe breakagestake place every month.
‘‘We just used to contactthe civic agency responsiblefor the breach and askedthem to either repair it orpay us for the repairs,’’ saidDJB chief P K Tripathi.
Clearly this ‘‘soft’’ ap-proach wasn’t working.‘‘Apart from filing FIRs, we
will ask the civic agencyconcerned to pay the com-mercial rate for the amountof water lost because oftheir carelessness,’’ addedTripathi.
The provocation for thisdecision was a major breachin a pipe near Okhla. Waterhad been gushing from it forthe past several days andflowing into a drain whilenearby colonies, like Kalka-ji and Chittranjan Park,thirst for a drop.
DJB member (water) G CNandwani said PWD waswidening the road and itsworkers were breaking thepipe joints. ‘‘We will have tokeep a man posted at the
spot as the labourers rakeup the joint as soon as weleave after fixing it,’’ point-ed out a local DJB engineer
Furious at the frequentdisruption in supply, Tri-pathi said he had asked thefield staff to file an FIRagainst the civic agency. ‘‘Itis natural for people to com-plain at such wastage due tothese leakages. So civicagencies should either becareful or pay for their mis-takes,’’ he said.
Water gushing from bro-ken pipes is a common sightall over Delhi, particularlynear big construction sites.‘‘A few days ago, a telephonecompany broke a line in
south Delhi. And they laidtheir wires over thepipeline. So, before begin-ning repairs, we asked themto remove their lines. Other-wise, we would have beenaccused of disrupting theirservices,’’ said Tripathi.
The blame game has beengoing on for a long time. Forseveral months, the PWDhad put a small board blam-ing the poor state of the lanenear the Andrews Ganj fly-over (which people take forgoing from South Extensionto Jawarharlal Nehru Stadi-um) on broken water pipes.Today the board is gone butthe road is still full of pot-holes.
HC notice to MCI foraction against doctor
By Bhadra Sinha and Sachin ParasharTIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Delhi high court has is-sued notice to the Medical Council of India(MCI) on a petition challenging its author-ity to conduct inquiry into professionalmisconduct on the part of doctors. The pe-tition was filed by a lady doctor, Ruchi Gup-ta, against cancellation of her licence byMCI for alleged negligence in treating a pa-tient.
Chief Justice B C Patel and Justice A KSikri stayed the suspension of Gupta’s li-cence and asked MCI to reply by August tothe petition questioning whether thecouncil is empowered under the MedicalCouncil Act, 1956, to initiate misconductproceedings against any doctor or tosentence delinquent ones by removingtheir names from the Indian MedicalRegister.
Filed by Gupta’s counsel Kishen Maha-jan, the petition claimed that the councilhad decided to remove her name from theIndian Medical Register purely on the ba-sis of a Press report that Gupta had refusedto treat a woman in a hospital for her in-ability to pay the fee.
Mahajan said that MCI expanded the in-quiry not into whether the patient was de-nied treatment due to lack of money, butinto the treatment of the patient.
The petition alleged that even after Gup-
ta wrote to the MCI clarifying that she wasjust a visiting consultant to the hospitaland had nothing to do with the financialpart, the council did not backtrack on theaction initiated against her.
The council allegedly ignored the 2002regulations concerning the duties of a vis-iting consultant and never disclosed the ev-idence relied upon in taking action againstGupta.
The council had reportedly sent Gupta aset of questions regarding the alleged mis-conduct asking her why action should notbe taken against her. The counsel for Gup-ta, however, claimed, ‘‘The MCI decisionwas devoid of reason and was based onundisclosed materials. Even after Guptasent replies to all the points raised by theMCI, the council just kept quiet.’’
•The woman, carrying a dead foetus,died after being allegedly deniedtreatment
• The doctor accused by MCI claimsshe had advised arrangements forthe patient
•According to the petitioner, MCI hadno authority under the 1956 IndianMedical Council Act to initiate inquiryagainst the doctor.
Bone of contention
Consumers mustkeep an eye onCAS scheme
By Pushma Girimaji
The CAS(Condition-al AccessS y s t e m )countdownhas begun,but thesafety netfor con-sumers isstill not in place. Today, con-sumers are wary of CAS andunconvinced that their in-terests have received dueconsideration in the newscheme. In order to allaysuch fears and ensure a fair
deal to consumers in termsof choice, quality and price,the government must imme-diately take the followingsteps:● Appoint an independentregulator who would care-fully monitor the implemen-tation of CAS, keeping inmind the interests of con-sumers.● Encourage formation ofconsumer groups and resi-dents’ associations in everylocality and empower themthrough the regulator. It is ofutmost importance that theyhave a say in every matter-be it on the choice of chan-nels, their pricing, or the set-top box (STB). Arm themwith adequate informationto ensure their meaningfulparticipation in all decision-making processes.● Unbundle bouquets andensure the consumers have areal choice, so that they buyonly those channels thatthey want to view. Let ushave the right to pick indi-vidual flowers and make ourown bouquets.
● Let the regulator fix thepay channel prices, afterconsulting all stakeholders.● Provide, as part of the reg-ulatory set-up, a consumercomplaint resolution mecha-nism.● Prevent, through the regu-lator, restrictive, monopolis-tic and other anti-consumerpractices by cable operators,Multi-service operators andbroadcasters.● Ensure uninterrupted,quality service from the ca-ble operator to the con-sumer. In other words, for-mulate and enforce perform-ance standards.● Enforce stringently, thequality standards formulat-ed by the Bureau of IndianStandards for analog anddigital set-top boxes.● Ensure a fair and reason-able buy-back scheme forconsumers who move houseand may have to buy newSTBs or change from analogto digital.● Since every TV set needsits own set top box, house-holds with additional sets(who would not like to buyanother set-top-box) shouldreceive at least free-to-airchannels without extracharge .That is, every house-hold should be charged foronly one connection, even ifthere is more than one TVset.● For consumer acceptanceof CAS and a smooth transi-tion to CAS regime, the gov-ernment must ensure allthis and also forego, com-pletely, its revenue from im-port and other duties on theset-top box. And it must getthe pay channels to subsi-dize the cost of the box andMSOs/cable operators to of-fer them at prices that areacceptable to consumers.
CHECK OUT
Protest: Delhi Pradesh Con-gress Committee (DPCC) held ademonstration at Jantar Mantaron Sunday to protest against thedemolition of jhuggi-jhopris inKirti Nagar by DDA.TNN
CMYK
D E L H IThe Times of India, New Delhi Monday, June 2, 2003 3
SHO transferred for favouringman accused of raping minor
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: In view of the al-legations made by a minorrape victim about police in-fluencing her to favour theaccused, Delhi police com-missioner R S Gupta on Sunday transferred a stationhouse officer to police lines, suspended an investi-gating officer and instituteda vigilance inquiry into thecase.
The investigation into thecase was also shifted to crimeagainst women cell, the po-lice said.
Paschim Vihar SHO L CYadav has been asked to re-port to the police lines imme-
diately and IO sub-inspectorRajbala was suspended forneglect of duty, deputy com-missioner of police (West)Satish Golcha confirmed.
The steps were taken aftera local court took cognizanceof the victim’s allegation and asked the police commis-sioner to look into thecharges.
The minor, who is fromWest Bengal and works as adomestic help, had allegedthat her employer’s marriedson had raped her for over a year. She reported the matter to the police and they allegedly took him intocustody on May 18. The
girl was kept there for three days in violation of law.
On May 20, they producedher before a magistrate torecord her statement inwhich she did not identifythe accused.
She was then shifted toNari Niketan and four dayslater, after some professionalcounselling, she said shewanted to change her state-ment.
In her subsequent state-ment, she alleged that offi-cials at the police station hadinfluenced her first state-ment. She told the court thatthe accused had even got herpregnancy aborted.
Prayer for peace: The Golden Age Foundation is organising ahavan saptah from June 3 to 9 at Lodhi Road to usher in prosperi-ty through havan. The Times Foundation has invited experts to ex-plore the instrumentality of havan in enrichment of human life. TNN
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2 women killed for dowryBy Lalit Kumar
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Ghaziabad: Bypassing cruelways, like burning, hangingor beating, to murder a bridefor dowry which are usuallyeasy to detect, a Ghaziabadsweet shop owner, allegedly,used a quack to kill his bride,Preeti (24).
According to Ghaziabadpolice chief, ChandraPrakash, the guilty quackhad been identified, and thewoman’s husband and 10 in-laws have been arrested.
A hunt is on to nab thequack. ‘‘He will not be al-lowed to get away with such adiabolical a crime,’’ claimedthe chief.
Police said the bride’s hus-band and in-laws werenabbed when they were tak-ing Preeti’s body for crema-tion at dawn.
Preeti, of Panipat, wasmarried to Ajay, of Nand-gram in Ghaziabad, in 1998.Since her marriage, she wasregularly beaten up and ha-rassed for more dowry,claimed the police.
The desperate woman hadeven went home to Panipatlast week, saying her in-laws
were insisting on a motorcy-cle and Rs 50,000 in cash.
However, two days back,Ajay fetched her back afterPreeti’s parents assured himof fulfilling his demands.
Apparently, Ajay was notconvinced. So, he and his rel-atives conspired with a Mu-radnagar quack to give Preetia poisonous injection as‘medicine’ for some minorailment.
But, one of Preeti’s neigh-bour phoned her parents thather body was being hurriedlydisposed off.
The parents phoned a topGhaziabad official who hadthe funeral procession inter-cepted.
Preeti’s body has been sentfor an autopsy.
In another incident ofdowry death, a 27-year-oldwoman was allegedly killedon Saturday by her husbandand in-laws for not bringing‘‘enough’’ dowry.
The husband and his moth-er, residents of D-319 ShahidNagar, were arrested for de-manding dowry and murder,the police said.
The deceased, Bano, hadmarried Tahir eight years
ago.‘‘She often used to go to her
maternal home in Buland-shahr as her in-laws troubledher for getting more dowry.Even a month-and-a-halfbefore she was killed, Nanohad gone home,’’ said the po-lice. But her husband per-suaded her to return toGhaziabad.
On Saturday night, shewas allegedly beaten up.‘‘Her in-laws turned on the volume of a TV set so that her shouting could not be heard. She was beaten to death,’’ Bano’s family told the police. Herbody had several injurymarks.
Tahir and his mother,Awsari, were later arrested.
‘I still don’t know if myhusband is safe’
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Dr Nutan Ti-wari had been sitting infront of the assistancebooth at the New DelhiRailway Station since thewee hours of Sunday morn-ing. Her husband, RaviShankar Tiwari was one ofthe passengers on board theMagadh Express which de-railed five kilometres fromBuxar.
‘‘I have been waiting forinformation about my hus-band, I still don’t know ifhe’s safe,’’ she said visiblyupset.
Her only relief was thethat her husband’s namewas not on the list of in-jured or dead.
At the assistance booth,later, she was told her hus-band would be on one ofthree special trains evacu-ating passengers from thesite.
‘‘Why can’t they just pre-pare a list of survivorstoo,’’ she reasoned beforeleaving on the repeated as-
surances by the authori-ties.
Mohammad Javed, stillin his pyjamas, anxiouslyawaited news of his cousin,Mohammad Shakeel.
‘‘He was probably in theS-9 coach, I’ve heard every-one is safe on that coach,’’he said with hope.
Ashok Goel, whosebrother-in-law Ajit Kumarwas also on that train,breathed a sigh of relief ashe was informed Ajit wassafe and had headed for Pat-na in one of the relieftrains.
Apart from Tiwari, mostrelatives of passengerswere actually waiting forthe announcement of thearrival time of the relieftrain.
Pankaj Kumar’s cousin,Suresh Prasad called up tosay he was safe.
‘‘But he didn’t knowwhich train he would be on,the one going to Patna, orthe one en route to Delhi,’’said Kumar.
‘‘The railway authoritiesare not telling us the cor-rect time of arrival either,’’he complained.
With none of the injuredbeing Delhi-based, thecrowd of relatives dis-persed quickly. By 2 pm, avery relieved railway staffcould be seen taking a tea-break.
‘‘Fortunately this wasnot a high casualty acci-dent like the one at Ludhi-ana,’’ said Rajeev Saksena,senior divisional manager(commercial), northernrailway.
However, the lack of a listof surviors and the nearly12 hour gap in informationon passengers led to a familiar litany of com-plaints.
‘‘It would be really help-ful if they could just list allpassengers on board, andwhether they are OK ornot,’’ pointed out Bipin Be-hari Jha whose wife Janakiand three sons were onboard the train.
Kamaljeet Singh
Relatives of passengers of Magadh Express checking out the list of injured at New Delhirailway station on Sunday.
BIS sole packaged waterlicensing body, says HC
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: In a major judg-ment, the Delhi High Court(HC) has stripped the Munic-ipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD) of its power to issuelicence for manufacturingand processing ‘‘packageddrinking water’’ holding thatthe Bureau of Indian Stan-dards (BIS) was the sole com-petent authority in this re-gard.
‘‘There is no purpose intwo authorities scrutinisingthe very norms for a premis-es where packaged drinkingwater has to be manufac-tured and the more stringentnorms as prescribed by theBIS are liable to be followed,’’Justice S K Kaul said quash-ing notices issued by theMCD to 10 local mineral wa-ter manufacturing plants.
‘‘There would, thus, be nopurpose in the MCD trying toinspect and see the normswhen the BIS itself has themachinery in place for carry-ing out such inspection,’’ thecourt held.
The MCD had issued no-
tices to the companies pack-aging mineral water on theground that they were run-ning the trade under unsani-tary and unhygienic condi-tions without a valid healthdepartment licence.
Notwithstanding the validBIS certificate with the man-ufacturers, the MCD hadasked them to close downtheir operations within 24hours of the receipt of thenotice saying civic laws re-quired them to obtain addi-tional licence from the civicauthorities in addition topermission of the commis-sioner to establish the facto-ry.
The companies, challeng-ing the jurisdiction of theMCD to regulate their trade,submitted before the courtthrough counsel KamalMehta that as the BIS had al-ready prescribed rules andregulations for the trade, theMCD could not have enactedadditional norms for thesame.
Referring to the generalnature of the Delhi Munici-pal Corporation (DMC) Act,
Mehta stated that as the BISprescribed norms specifical-ly applied to the mineral wa-ter segment, the civic lawcould not have operated inthe same field.
Accepting the contentionof the companies, the HC ob-served that the object of thelegislation was to see that aproper product was madeavailable to the public andnot to encourage ‘‘licenceraj’’ where more than one au-thority deals with the samesubject matter.
‘‘Thus, in my consideredview, both in respect of theproduct and the premises,the matter in issue is totallyan occupied field and it is notfor the corporation to specifythe nature of the premises,’’the judge said rejecting theMCD’s contention.
The MCD had submittedthat despite regulations onquality control by the BIS inrespect of the product, itwould continue to have juris-diction to deal with anypremises falling within itscivic area.
School ties come in handy in varsitiesBy Nistula Hebbar
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: At the assis-tance booth set up at the NewDelhi station after the derail-ment of the Magadh Expressin Buxar, there was somecheer amidst the gloom.
Friends of Pankaj Kumar,a student of Motilal NehruCollege who was travellingin the train, were at the sta-tion to find out about him. Assoon as the news of his safe-ty came, they yelled in joy.‘‘Pankaj and I were in schooltogether, and now we’re to-gether in college. I’ve beenhere since 6 am in the morn-ing. My father Just calledsaying Pankaj is safe,’’ saidNavneet Kumar, who likePankaj also hails from Bihar.
Navneet and Pankaj callthemselves brothers. Land-ing in Delhi two years ago,they both got admission inthe same college and live inthe same flat in Kalkaji. ‘‘Wewere together in VikasVidyalaya, Ranchi, and evenin Delhi are living togetherwith three other school-mates,’’ says Navneet.
These friends are nowreadying a flat for their jun-iors from school who are toarrive in Delhi for admis-
CMYK
D E L H I The Times of India, New Delhi4 Monday, June 2, 2003
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BANGKOK/TOKYO:Thai Air 0010 (TG-316), I-A 0050 (IC-855) FRANKFURT: Lufthansa0305 (LH-761) AMSTERDAM:KLM 0140 (KL-472) LONDON/NEW YORK:British Air 0210 (BA-142), A-I 0715 (AI-111) PARIS: Air France 0040(AF-147) SINGAPORE: Sin’poreAirlines 2315 (SQ-407), I-A 0050 (IC-855) HONG KONG/SEOUL:A-I 2340 (AI-312) ROME/MANCHESTER:A-I 0300 (AI-131)
MUMBAI: 0315 (AI755), 0345 (AI 156),0615 (AI 146), 2330(AI 112) GOA: 1245 (AI 643)
WEATHERRain or thundershowers are likely to occur at manyplaces in Andaman and Nicobar islands, at a fewplaces in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya,Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, sub-Himalayan
West Bengal and Sikkim, Kerala and Lakshadweep and at isolatedplaces in Gangetic West Bengal, Orissa, Uttarnachal, HimachalPradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Konkan and Goa, Madhya Maha-rashtra, Marathwada, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.
Max Min
INDIA
Guwahati 35 26 Dehradun 40 23 Hyderabad 43 30 Indore 41 24 Jaipur 43 29 Lucknow 45 27 Patna 41 29 Rajkot 40 25 Shimla 29 19 Srinagar 28 13
FLIGHTS OUTOF DELHI
Mumbai: I-A 0700,0800, 0900, 1200, 1300,1700, 1800, 1900, 2000,2300 Jet Air 0650,0800, 0935, 1400, 1725,1935, 2030, 2200,Sahara 1700, 0935,1520, 1800, 2025KOLKATA: I-A 0700,1600★★ ,1700,1945Jet Air 0600, 1720,Sahara 0620,1915CHENNAI: I-A0640,0955★★★1645,1900 Jet Air0645,1900BANGALORE:I-A 0650, 1645, 1900Jet Air 0635,1715,Sahara 0725, 1745HY’BAD:I-A 0630, 1745GOA: I-A 1200,Sahara 1200 KULU: Jagson 0630,0650, 1215 ★AHMEDABAD:I-A 0600,1700★★ 1845,Jet Air 0610 GUWAHATI—BAGDOGRA:I-A 0555★★ , 1010•★ Jet Air 1010
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Ph: I-A:140,142. ★ Mon, Wed,Fri, ★★ Tue, Thu, Sat, ★★★Mon-Fri, Sun, Jet Air: (City)6853700, (Airport) 25665404Sahara: (City) 2335901-9,(Airport) 25675234/875, (Tele-Checkin) 25662600. • Mon, Fri.
A-I: (City)23736446 /47/48(Air.)25652050, British Air:(Air.) 25652908, Lufthansa:23323310, Singapore Airlines23356286, Thai Air: 3323638
TRAIN RESERVATIONS
No. of passengers dealt on 31.05.2003 (Delhi Area): 56,172 (N. Rly. Area)2,48,803. It does not necessarily mean that reservation is available on allsubsequent dates. For further information regarding reservation: Ph: 131 forcomputerised PNR, for status enquiry contact 1330, 1335, 1345.
(Information supplied by Indian Railways)
9arliest date on which berth / seats were available at 1400 hrs. on01.06.2003 in important trains leaving various Delhi stations.
Train No. Train / Exp / Mail 1 ac 2 ac Ac 3t SlNORTH4033 Jammu Mail 08.06 17.06 24.06 17.064645 Shalimar Exp — 01.07 01.07 17.062403 Jammu Exp 06.06 28.06 27.06 26.06EAST2302 Kolkata Rajdhani 05.06 06.06 06.06 —2304 Poorva Exp 08.06 18.06 18.06 19.062382 Poorva Exp 09.06 16.06 17.05 23.062312 Kalka Mail N.A. 20.06 02.07 30.062392 Magadh Exp N.A. 17.06 12.06 16.062402 Shramjeevi Exp — 06.06 11.06 12.062418 Prayag Raj Exp 03.06 05.06 09.06 09.064056 Brahmputra Mail — N.A. 07.07 07.075622 North East Exp — 25.06 30.06 03.072554 Vaishali Exp 02.06 19.06 18.06 18.062816 Puri Exp — 19.06 25.06 18.062802 Purshottam Exp — 25.06 23.06 17.068476 Neelanchal Exp — 27.06 27.06 17.064230 Lucknow Mail 04.06 07.06 11.06 16.06WEST2904 Golden Temple Mail 05.06 18.06 24.06 24.062926 Paschim Exp 12.06 18.06 25.06 26.062952 Mumbai Rajdhani 13.06 19.06 19.06 —2954 AG Kranti Rajdhani 17.06 16.06 17.06 —2474 Sarvodaya Exp — 26.06 26.06 19.061078 Jhelum Exp — 07.07 25.06 27.062916 Ashram Exp 12.06 24.06 24.06 16.06SOUTH2616 G T Exp 14.06 18.06 23.06 12.062622 Tamil Nadu Exp 11.06 18.06 24.06 12.062432 Trivandrum Raj 24.06 06.07 06.07 —2626 Kerala Exp — 24.06 23.06 18.062618 Mangala Exp — 30.06 26.06 17.062628 Karnataka Exp — 24.06 24.06 14.062724 A P Exp 16.06 25.06 25.06 18.062430 Banglore Rajdhani 20.06 30.06 30.06 —7022 Dakshin Express — 22.06 — 11.06
Max MinDelhi 44 29 Mumbai 34 28 Chennai 39 29 Kolkata 38 29 Bangalore 35 24 Ahm’bad 43 27 T’puram 36 25 Bhopal 42 29 B’eshwar 41 29 Pune 37 24
WORLDMax Min
Amsterdam 26 12 Bahrain 37 27 Bangkok 33 26 Beijing 29 16 Chicago 22 11 Geneva 28 13 Hong Kong London 28 16 Los Angeles 23 16 Moscow 21 09
By N VidyasagarTIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: What is common between StarIndia CEO Peter Mukerjea and Munirka res-ident Narayanaswamy? Both have more thanone cable operator providing services intheir areas, but they don’t have the freedomto choose and continue to be at the mercy ofone operator.
This situation is as bad as those areas inDelhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai wherethere is no competition at all and are domi-nated by cable monopolies.
It is like being forced to buy vegetablesfrom a particular vendor, despite morevendors with better variety selling in yourlocality.
So, the point is whether the introduction ofconditional access system (CAS) really frees
consumers from thegrip of serviceproviders who havecreated ‘either me orno cable for yourhome’ situation.
While CAS willbring freedom tochoose channels, peo-ple won’t have thefreedom to chooseservice providers.Imagine if you did nothave the flexibility to move from Airtel toIdea to Hutch to Dolphin.
CAS may be good for consumers, but theexisting single operator monopoly has to bedestroyed to make the change meaningfulfor viewers.
Moreover, cable arms of broadcasters like
Siticable (Zee), Hathway (Star) or Sumangali(Sun) further muddy the field by not allowingnew operators to start business in the areathey operate in.
For example, Siticable or Hathway blocknew operators in their area by not providingbroadcast signals (Zee or Star bouquetboxes).
It works the other way as well. Several in-dependent cable operators grow big enoughto block competition in their areas.
Consumers can do very little to correct thesituation. It is the government that shouldregulate and ensure proper competitionamong service providers.
If a stock broker fails in his commitment,the consumer has an option but to go to SEBI.IRDA regulates insurance industry andTRAI, the telecom sector.
Similarly, the cable and satellite industry is
in need of a regulator to break the monopolyof cable operators.
The other option before the government isto speed up the entry of MTNL or PrasarBharti in the cable business. Industry watch-ers say licensing is an option, but very diffi-cult to implement.
At present, there are over 30,000 cable op-erators in the country and they have playedan important role in freeing us from theclutches of state monopoly of Doordarshan10 years ago.
Now, DD can do the same by rising tothe occasion by improving content andproviding a viable alternative. Direct ToHome (DTH) is yet another option. But thatwill be costly and experts feel that monopolyin that area will be more dangerous. Thebest option for now will be that cableoperators mend their ways.
Part Four
Neeraj Paul
sions. ‘‘We don’t want themto feel as lost as we did whenwe came here,’’ says Navneet.
The old school tie networkis alive and kicking, es-pecially when it comes to DUadmissions. Senior stu-dents already in DU are con-
tacted months in ad-vance, and admissionshort lists prepared fornew arrivals.
R John Suresh Ku-mar, a former student
of Loyola College, Chennai,arranges a social for ‘new’ ar-rivals from Loyola to Delhi
every year. ‘‘We just try andgive them as much assis-tance as we can,’’ he says.
Some outstation studentsin fact depend on seniors en-tirely. When TanukaBhowmick landed in Delhifrom Kolkata, for post gradu-ate studies, she had strict in-structions to go straight toJNU where her seniors fromPresidency College hadarranged lodging. ‘‘It reallymade my first month here somuch easier,’’ she said.
But what is crucial isthe moral support thatstudents get. ‘‘Our seniorshave over the years prepareda kind of Lonely Planet guideto Delhi University, which wefollow religiously,’’ says RGanapathy, also from Loyola.This includes where the bestdosas and idlis can be had fornext to nothing.
Pulse Polio: Children under 5 years were administered poliodrops on Sunday under the Pulse Polio Immunisation Prog-ramme. The medicine was available at over 7,000 polio kendrasin the city. About 300 mobile teams and 30,000 health personnelwere deployed for the purpose. TNN
THE GREATCOLLEGE RUSH
CAS is okay, but end operators’ monopoly
CMYK
D E L H IThe Times of India, New Delhi Monday, June 2, 2003 5
POWER TO THE PEOPLE: HAS PRIVATISATION WORKED?
A mega watt isA unit of power whichcan run:
•Single bulb and fan in1,500 dwellings for onehour.
•Over 400 air-condition-ers of 1.5 tonne for onehour.
•Twenty light industrieswith 50 KW connectionfor one hour.
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TIMES NEWS NETWORK
ReenaHousewifeThe im-provementover lastyear is onlym a r g i n a l .Power cutsstill contin-ue to disrupt
my daily routine. There is nofixed schedule for load shed-ding.Mukesh MathaiMarketing professionalThe duration of power cutshas come down after the en-try of private distributioncompany. But the uncertain-
ty about ab l a c k o u tstill persiststhroughoutthe day. Westill needhelp fromtouts forsimple taskslike load
enhancement.NupurStudentIt is difficultto say thatthe situa-tion has im-proved dras-tically. How-ever, therewere fewer
power problems during myfinal exams this year. Thepower cuts are getting longerwith temperature rising.Jagjit SinghAuto financerThe billing sys-tem is the onlyarea where therehas been somei m p rove m e n t .Now, there’sproper ob-servation ofmeter read-ings. Thepower sup-ply situationhas not im-p r o v e dm u c h
though.Sunil DuttChemical unit ownerThe power situation is a little
better than last year.Complaints offaulty meter don’tget attended effi-ciently. The billingsystem is still ineffi-cient. At my unit at
Jhilmil Industrial Area, themeter read-ing is nottaken formonths to-gether. Thescare of apower cutgives me thejitters.
Is there enough power? Thefts and losses Bills and fault repairsConsumers: Smriti, Inderpuri resi-dent: ‘‘The power supply has gone worseever since the mercury started rising.There has been no respite as we havebeen living without power for almostthree hours daily.’’
Mohd Shuaib Ilyas, a resident ofJama Masjid area: ‘‘We suffer load shed-ding up to eight hours almost daily. Wewant regular power supply and it doesnot matter if it is DVB or a private com-pany which does this.’’
Discoms: J P Chalsani, BSES direc-tor: ‘‘Most power cuts are caused due tosick cables, old swithgears and over-loaded transformers. We had spentabout Rs 200 crore by March on im-provement of the system and increas-ing its reliability. This summer will bemuch better than last year. But it willtake up to three years to reach a situa-tion of no power cuts. Compared to 120transformer breakdowns last May, only
20 transformer broke down this yeardue to our good maintenance.’’
Anil Sardana, Tata Power (NDPL)CEO: ‘‘All transformers and sub-sta-tions have been overhauled. Systemupgradation at grid levels will help con-sumers feel better this summer. Twenty-one transformers have been overhauledand 28 MVA capacity has been added to11 KV network.’’
Critics: Former general manager,Delhi Electricity Supply Undertaking,N S Vasant: ‘‘The Discoms have still along way to go before the distributionnetworks become reliable. They haven’treally invested in the system. No atten-tion is being paid to service lines and inmany areas the connections date backto the British era.’’
An official of the Delhi government-owned Transmission company: ‘‘TheDiscoms haven’t done enough. Theystarted with low cost solutions.”
Consumers: R N Gujral, represent-ing the Federation of Rohini Co-op-erative Group Housing Societies:‘‘Losses due to theft were reducedonly by 1.5 per cent. Why not more?Why does the five-year privatisation
model aim atb r i n g i n gdown theftlosses from55 per cent to34 per cent
only? Why can’t the model aim at 16per cent as in Mumbai?’’
Rohini councillor Vijender Gupta:‘‘Discoms are going slow on check-ing theft because they don’t want tomake investments. They are happymaking profits out of the Rs 3,450crore government assistance prom-ised to them.’’
Discoms: Chalsani: ‘‘The more webring down the losses, the better our
profits. So there is no freason why weshould not go all out to minimisetheft. But, it is not feasible to bringdown theft losses drastically in theinitial years,’’ he said.
Delhi government is a share hold-er in Discoms. Power minister AjayMaken: It will be incorrect to assumethat Discoms are intentionally notchecking theft losses. A Discomgains Rs 80 crore by checking one percent of theft loss.’’ .
Critics: Gajendra Haldea, chiefadvisor, National Council for Ap-plied Economic Research: ‘‘Discoms’failure to check losses scientificallyjacks up the average unit cost ofpower. If power costs more, eitherthe consumers directly pay a hightariff or the taxes collected fromthem get spent on subsidising thepower rate. In both the cases, the con-sumers are at the receiving end.’’
Consumers: Raski Lal, an Moti Nagar in-dustrial unit owner: ‘‘The private compa-nies are here just to make profits. A TataPower inspection team inserted a plasticfilm in my meter for falsely booking meunder theft case. I was handed an illegalbill of Rs 12 lakh.’’
Iva Nandi, an elderly resident ofGreater Kailash-I: ‘‘My pleas for replacinga tampered meter have not borne any fruit. BSES officials are threateningme. They even tried to replace my faultymeter after I moved a consumer court forhelp.’’
M M Tiwari, a Prasad Nagar resident:‘‘The phone at our complaint centre re-mains off the hook when ever there is apower cut. Thus, our complaints don’t getattended fast.’’
Discoms: Sardana: ‘‘Billing errors wereas high as 3 per cent during DVB’s tenure.We have brought them down to 0.5 per cent.A new, more informative bill format will
be introduced in July. Fault managementis being improved. Cell phones have beengiven to linesmen, 22 mobile tranformershave been commissioned and 24-hour mo-bile maintenance crew deployed.’’
Chalsani: ‘‘Over 250 mopeds and 25breakdown vans have been purchased orhired at a cost of Rs 1.2 crore per annum toimprove fault repair. Almost 99 per cent of12,000 complaints received daily get at-tended. Average response time to attendcomplaints is being gradually beingbrought down from two to one hour.’’
‘‘Consumer redressal forums have beenset up in all the 21 district offices to resolvegrievances related to billing errors and is-sues like load enhancement.’’
Critics: Vasant: ‘‘Fault repair is stillsloppy. Complaint centres don’t give au-thentic information about reasons behindpower cuts and the time needed for repair-ing them. The field staff is rude.’’
— Rahul Chhabra
Here are the three main issues related to electricity supply that concern us directly:
THE CITYREPORT
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Delhi Elec-tricity Regulatory Commis-sion (DERC) is about to re-lease the new Electricity Tar-iff order. The exercise in-volves evaluating the peti-tions of private distributioncompanies (Discoms) and thegovernment-owned trans-mission company (Transco)on their expenditures andrevenue requirements.
Power tariffs were last re-vised in June 2001. On thatoccasion, the DERC had ap-proved a hike of 15 per centin tariff.
Technically speaking, atariff order may even bringdown the tariff paid by con-sumers. This, however, is un-likely in the current scenariowhen the cost of power gen-eration has gone up.
ConsumersR N Gujral, representing
the Federation of Rohini Co-operative Group Housing So-cieties: ‘‘We should not beover-burdened with a tariffhike unless a better service isguaranteed.
We are already paying ahigh price and still there isno guarantee of uninterrupt-ed supply. Private firms arealready saving a lot by buy-ing power at Rs 1.50 per unitand selling it at Rs 4.15 per
unit to consumers’’
DiscomsBSES director, J P Chal-
sani: ‘‘No comments. The
matter is being considered byDERC.’’
Tata Power (NDPL) CEO,Anil K Sardana: ‘‘NDPL has
not asked for a tariff hike.The DERC has to strike a bal-ance between the retail tariffand bulk supply tariff keep-
ing in view the increasingcost of electricity purchasedby Delhi and the rise ininflation.’’
A Transco official: Thebulk supply rate at whichDiscoms are purchasing pow-er from Transco needs to beincreased. If the retail tariffis increased by 12 per cent,the bulk supply rate shouldgo up by 20 per cent.
Delhi power minister AjayMaken: If at all there is a tar-iff hike only the Transco willgain. Rival political partiesare trying to mislead peoplein an election year.
CriticsRajan Gupta, petitioner
and a workers’ organisationrepresentative: ‘‘The Dis-coms’ are building a case fortariff hike to make up for thelosses due to theft. The pri-vate firms’ claims on lossesshould be verified. Discomskeep changing their standson losses to suit their re-quirement.’’
Haldea: ‘‘A hike of about 30per cent in power tariff or ahike in government assis-tance may be needed to com-pensate Discoms for theRs 2,579 crore loss may sufferin the current financialyear. If the Discoms demandsare met the consumer willsuffer.’’
Does the tariff really need revision?Power playNumber of consumers:2.2 millionPeak demand expected in 2003:3,500 MWPeak demand metin May 2003: 2,950 MWPeak demand met in 2002: 3,200 MWAnnual cost of power purchase and distribution: Rs 9,339 crore.Administrative andTechnical losses: 55.2 per cent
‘There’s very little improvement’
PEOPLETALK
Why DVBhad to go?
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The erstwhileDelhi Vidyut Board (DVB)was replaced by private com-panies, BSES and Tata Pow-er, because it could not liveup to the expectations of con-sumers. These were itsfaults:
Weak distribution sys-tem and poor mainte-nance: In power, a consumeris concerned directly onlywith distribution. A goodquality power supply, with ahealthy voltage, to a con-sumer’s residence largely de-pends on the quality of thedistribution network. Itstarts at the power genera-tion unit and ends at yourelectricity meter.
Thefts and other losses:Poor quality low-tensionwires (which carry currentin the distribution system)cause high systemic lossesand frequent breakdowns.
DVB used to lose powerworth Rs 1,200 crore everyyear due to thefts.
Almost 57 per cent of pow-er bought by DVB did notyield any revenue because itwas lost due to thefts.
Billing and fault repair:The best way of avoidingpayment to DVB used to be totamper with the meter. Me-ter-readers were often part-ners in crime.
Nearly 15 lakh of the 2.2million domestic meters aretampered with or worn out.
Neeraj Paul
CMYK
The Times of India, New Delhi6 Monday, June 2, 2003
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I N D I AThe Times of India, New Delhi Monday, June 2, 2003 7
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Planet M performs Hat trickPlanet M has scored a
Hat trick by opening 3stores all within the monthof May. Planet M, Mulundopened on 1st May, PlanetM, Faridabad on the 25thMay and now Nagpur hasfollowed close on its heelswith a store launch on the30th May.
Planet M, the music re-tail giant now has 14 storesacross the country. At pres-ent Mumbai, Delhi, Farid-
abad, Chandigarh, Jaipur,Pune, Kolkata and Banga-lore have a Planet M. Withthe new store in Nagpur,there are the 20 Planet M‘Satellites’ ie shop-in-shopstores across India plus to reach out to more customers.
With this Planet M is wellon its way to becoming aneighborhood music andentertainment hangout.
The Planet M stores
across the country are theby-word of mega entertain-ment. All the three newstores carry forward thetradition of music, maasti,magic — keeping in mindspecific needs and interestsof different groups of audi-ences. More stores andsatellites are readying toopen their doors in the com-ing months. So the musicand entertainment magicjust goes on.
Phalcon: Musharrafwill plead with BushIslamabad: Pakistani Presi-dent Pervez Musharraf is ex-pected to make a last ditch ef-fort to defer the sale of Phal-con radar systems to Indiawhen he meets US PresidentGeorge W Bush in Washing-ton later this month.
The US, last month,cleared the $1 billion deal,giving the green signal to Is-rael to sell Phalcon planes toIndia. A US delegation wasscheduled to visit Israel tohave ‘‘technical’’ discussionson the deal.
The sale of Israeli Phal-cons will be on the agendawhen Musharraf meets Bushat Camp David on June 24,Pakistani foreign secretaryRiaz Husain Khokhar, who iscurrently on tour of the US,told the Pakistani media inNew York on Friday.
Musharraf will prevailupon Bush to defer the sale ofAWACS radars to India onthe ground that it will heavi-ly tilt the military balance infavour of India on the con-ventional front, saidKhokhar.
Khokhar, who was sched-uled to go to Washington nextweek to meet US deputy sec-
retary of state Richard Ar-mitage, held talks with topUnited Nations officials inNew York, especially on the new peace process be-
tween India and Pakistan.He briefed UN deputy sec-
retary-general LouiseFrechette on situation insouth Asia. PTI
• The Airborne Early Warning Command and Control (AWE&C) radar replaces the conventionalrotodome radar
• It is mounted either on the aircraft fuselage or on top of the aircraft inside a stationary dome, providing full 360° coverage
• The Phalcon AEW&C aircraft is based on four sensors : phased-array radar, phased array IFF (identify friend or foe), ESM(electronic support)/ELINT and CSM/COMINT(communication intelligence)
• The aircraft communicates via its data link, with air defence HQ. Data from additonal air defence sensors are fused to create a complete spatial picture.
• It is more advanced than US E3 AWACS • The system has already been sold to Chile, where it is
designated “Condor”
Flight manual
Bangladesh okays transitgas pipeline for Bengal
By Biswajit RoyTIMES NEWS NETWORK
Kolkata: Bangladesh has agreed to allow supply of nat-ural gas from Myanmar and Tripura through its terri-tory to West Bengal, state government sources havesaid. Bit it will be on the condition that the samepipeline grid will be used by Petrobangla for domesticsupply as well as gas export, if Dhaka decides to exportto India and other countries.
West Bengal industry minister Nirupam Sen said thestate was looking for gas from Bangladesh to boost fuel-efficient and eco-friendly industries. ‘‘We have alreadytold the Centre that West Bengal’s requirements have tobe met first,’’ he said.
CMYK
Hazare defamation cases:Maharashtra food and civil suppliesminister Suresh Jain, who has already sent a legal notice to anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare towithdraw allegations of corruptionsagainst him, has said that he wouldfile two defamation cases againstthe latter. PTI
Shetty case: Amidst reports thatBollywood actress Shilpa Shetty’sfather Surendra Shetty had gone un-derground, a police team from Suraton Sunday left for Ambernath inThane to arrest him in a case of al-leged extortion.PTI
Congress president Sonia Gandhihands an employment letter tomilitancy-affected Saleema Begum in Baramulla on Sunday.
AFP
INDIA DIGEST
I N D I AThe Times of India, New Delhi Monday, June 2, 2003 9
Securing consensus onNJC will not be easy
By Rakesh BhatnagarTIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: With the courtsand Parliament on a break,the pressure for injectingcertain reforms into theprocess of appointmentand termination of erringjudges and the justice deliv-ery system has increased.
The recommendations ofthe Constitution ReviewCommission, which sub-mitted its detailed report toParliament several monthsago, are yet to be deliberat-ed upon by the law-makers.
But the Centre hasmoved a Bill, which itclaims to be in line with theCRC’s views, for setting upa National Judicial Com-mission for the appoint-ment of judges of the SCand high courts and to takeaction against the erringones among them.
Though the Bill has al-ready been moved for dis-cussion among the law-makers, it will be an uphilltask for the government tosecure a consensus on an is-sue which has been a pointof debate for long.
Contrary to thefavourable views expressedby the protagonists of the
NJC, the judiciary stronglyfeels that the proposed judi-cial panel will not serve thepurpose for which it is be-ing conceived.
A senior lawyer andPUCL activist, Ravi KiranJain, has sent letters to allserving and retired judges,MPs, ministers and thePresident, saying: ‘‘If theBill is passed, it will havethe effect of destroying notonly the independence ofjudiciary, but also the Con-stitution of India.’’
B u tJain’sv o i c em a ybe lostin the
din over an increasingnumber of cases againstcertain judicial officers andallegations of misconductand corruption againstsome of the high courtjudges.
Close to reforming the ju-diciary, a former SupremeCourt judge V S Malimath’sreport, suggesting radicalchanges in the criminal lawjurisprudence, is alsoawaiting a meaningful de-bate, before the govern-ment accepts it and pro-
ceeds with amendments inthe Code of Criminal Pro-cedure, family laws and theEvidence Act.
But, Justice Malimath’ssuggestion that an accusedwoman, who is pregnant orhas a child below sevenyears of age should be keptunder house arrest ratherthan being sent to jail witha monitoring device at-tached to her ankle, is laud-able. This upholds chil-dren’s right to life with dig-nity.
The commission’s call forsetting up a national secu-rity commission to decideon the transfers and promo-tions of senior police offi-cers requires close scrutiny.The suggestion, by implica-tion, leaves no one in doubtthat favouritism has a ma-jor role to play in awardingpromotion to an officer orordering his transfer.
Malimath says: ‘‘Not allpolice officers are corruptand inefficient, we have tofind a way to separate thegood from the bad’’. Will thesecurity commission, com-prising bureaucrats, be ob-jective in its decision? ‘‘Youhave to trust someonesomewhere,’’ he adds.
RSS revives common code debateTIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The RSS mouthpiece,The Organiser, has in its latest is-sue revived the debate for the in-troduction of a common civil codeby using the case of Farzana Zaki,the Delhi-based young bride whorefused to accompany her hus-band to his home because he andhis family demanded dowry.
The article, ‘‘Farzana’s boldstep: Now what?’’ compares hercase, rather unfavourably, with
that of NishaSharma, whorefused to mar-ry her fiance af-ter his family’sdemands fordowry grew.The article sayswhile Nisha hasbecome a rolemodel for othergirls, is receiving other marriageoffers, and is a generally a free in-dividual, Farzana still ‘‘has to find
a way throughthe stifling ten-tacles of Islamicpractices per-petuated by amedieval mind-ed clergy and areactionary so-ciety’’.
The article isthen accompa-
nied by interviews with NajmaHeptulla, deputy chairperson ofthe Rajya Sabha, Nafisa Hussain,
member of the National Commis-sion for Women, and MaulanaWahiuddin Khan, director of theIslamic Centre. Khan is a regularwriter in The Organiser. Of thethree, only Hussain endorses theidea of a common civil code; othertwo say this happened due to dis-tortions in the practice of Islam.
The implication by the article isthat Nisha has come through wellbecause she is a Hindu andFarzana’s case is difficult becauseshe is a Muslim.
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LEGALVIEW
Jagannathservitorsget medicalattentionBhubaneswar: Forty-four-year-old NarayanMohapatra, a servitor atSri Jagannath Templehere, has been sufferingsilently for the last twoyears. Burdened overthe years with tons of‘mahaprasad’, he canhardly bend these days.
A few doses of medi-cine prescribed by a lo-cal doctor did not help.Though he is foundwithin the precincts ofthe temple regularly, heis hardly active.
When in good health,Narayan’s job was tocarry huge loads of ‘ma-haprasad’ prepared inthe temple kitchen tothe sanctum sanctorumof the shrine whichwere later sold to devo-tees.
Known as ‘suar’ intemple parlance, thesepeople cooked food andtravelled a distance ofnearly half a kilometrewith loads of the steam-ing food in large earthenpots — a job they per-formed round the year.Ailments caught upwith them as they grewold.
Narayan, however,looked a relieved manon Saturday. He hadbeen examined by an ex-pert and the remedy hadbeen suggested, he said.
Narayan was amongscores of temple servi-tors who were examinedat a health check-up-cum-treatment camp es-pecially organised forthem by the state gov-ernment since Fridaylast. The camp, whichconcludes on Sunday,was organised after a re-port, claiming thatabout 70 per cent of theservitors suffered fromneurological disorders,caught the attention ofthe administration.
The chief ministerNaveen Patnaik, whowas concerned over thereport, had directed thatthe servitors should beextended all medicalhelp, the minister forhealth and family wel-fare, Prafulla ChandraGhadei said. PTI
ICHR in news for wrong reasonsBy Mahendra Ved
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The murky go-ings-on in the Indian Councilof Historical Research(ICHR) have again come to ahead with the suspension ofits director (research and ad-ministration), Sushil Kumar,on Friday by council chair-man M G S Narayanan.
Those conversant with Ku-mar’s case say the HRD min-istry could have acted earlierto stem the rot caused by ri-val groups and individualsclaiming to be close to theSangh Parivar or to HRDminister Murli ManoharJoshi personally.
Sources say these mem-bers of the ‘‘saffron brigade’’have been slugging it out to
gain positions of advantagein the field of education,with some ministry officialsthemselves playing footsie.
Narayanan is understoodto have acted on the go-aheadfrom the HRD ministry aftera court passed stricturesagainst Kumar. Employed in
1997, Kumar has had a run-ning battle with the counciland has also gone to thecourt.
The charges against himinclude insubordination, act-ing in an unauthorised man-ner within the council andaddressing communicationsto various quarters, includ-ing Prime Minister Atal Bi-hari Vajpayee.
Kumar’s plea for beingrecognised as head of the de-partment is pending before acourt. As departmental head,he could get an official resi-dence. His plea for an out-of-turn allotment for a housewas rejected by Joshi him-self.
However, the HRD min-istry took a long time to con-
vey to the court that underthe rules governing theICHR, the member-secretaryis the chief executive officerof ICHR and, hence, head ofthe department.
Curiously enough, a teamfrom the auditor-general’s of-fice that conducted the auditchose to treat the director(R&A), the office Kumarheld, as head of the depart-ment, while refusing to evenmeet the member-secretary.The ICHR has filed a replystating that this was ‘‘a seri-ous violation of the constitu-tion of the council’’. The au-ditors’ approach had vitiatedthe nature of their work andhad led them to base theirconclusions on ‘‘false infor-mation’’.
•The HRD ministry gavethe go-ahead for Ku-mar’s suspension afterthe court passed stric-tures against him
•Charges include insub-ordination and acting inan unauthorised mannerwithin the council,among others
Bad to worse
Ajit Singh: Mayawati’sdays are numbered
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Bikaner: Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)president and former Union ministerAjit Singh has said that theMayawati-led government has lost itsmajority and its days are numbered.
Singh was speaking to reportersduring his Bikaner visit on Sunday.He claimed that all the major opposi-tion parties in UP have arrived on anunderstanding over all issues, includ-ing the leadership of the alternativegovernment. He, however, refused togive details of the understanding. Healso did not disclose as to who wouldbe the next chief minister if the
Mayawati government fell.Singh said that the UP governor
had invited the Mayawati govern-ment only after the RLD gave its letterof support. Refuting the reports ofthe split in the RLD, Singh claimedthat it was the BJP which was on theverge of a split. Singh asserted thatthe UP government would fall on thefloor of the assembly.
Terming the BJP-led governmentat the Centre as anti-farmer, Singhsaid that it was more interested ingiving benefits to the rich. He said itwas the duty of the government togive more support to the unorganizedsector.
IAF lifeline to remote N-EBy Rajat Pandit
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Vijaynagar (ArunachalPradesh): From the air, itlooks like a tiny strip of roadgoing nowhere. Moments lat-er, the AN-32 aircraft beginsdescending towards the roadsharply, actually an ‘‘ad-vanced landing ground’’(ALG), cradled by densely-forested majestic mountainson all sides.
‘‘Welcome to the eastern-most inhabited place in In-dia. Vijaynagar is not con-nected to civilisation byroad. Myanmar is just acrossthe mountains,’’ says GroupCaptain P Ranabir Singh, af-ter skilfully piloting the AN-32 to a safe landing on thenarrow ALG at 4,200 feet.
Unlike normal airfields,ALGs are semi-prepared sur-faces in far-flung inaccessi-ble areas. They are uni-direc-tional runways, half thewidth and length of normal
runways. Moreover, in addi-tion to limited communica-tion and fire-fighting facili-ties, there are no navigation-al aids available at theseALGs, some of which are lo-cated at elevations over 6,000feet.
‘‘Landing on them is verychallenging... it’s tough to
manoeuvre the aircraft with-in the valley,’’ says GroupCapt Singh, who commandsone of the two AN-32 medi-um-lift transport squadronsbased at the Jorhat airbase.
The IAF has been provid-ing massive ‘‘air logistics’’ tothe entire North-East region,over the years.
AFP
Two tribal women wait for a military plane at an airstrip in theremote eastern civilian post of Vijaynagar.
Vat misses June 1 deadlineNew Delhi: The contentious value-added tax missed theJune 1 deadline with the Centre deciding to come up witha ‘‘new roadmap’’ in consultation with political partiesand committee of the state finance ministers. PTI
Nisha Sharma Farzana
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I N D I AThe Times of India, New Delhi Monday, June 2, 2003 13
Major fire atArmy depotJaipur: A large number of minesrecently removed from the Pak-istan border and other ammuni-tion were destroyed in a major fireat the Gurda Army depot, 65 kmfrom Jaisalmer, though no casual-ty was reported.
Army officials said the firebroke out on Sunday morning atfour technical sheds where thescrapped mines recently removedfrom the Pakistan border werestored.
They said the fire started fromone shed and spread to all others,destroying almost 70 per cent ofthe mines and other ammunitionstored there.
The officials said civil andArmy fire tenders were battlingthe fire and it was being broughtunder control.
Officials said a court of inquiryhad been ordered into the cause ofthe fire.
This is the third major fire in anammunition depot in Rajasthanover the last two years. PTI
Highest polling booth: Voters will cast their ballots in thecountry’s highest polling booth, at 15,500 feet, on June 8, offi-cials said. ‘‘In all, 305 voters will be eligible to cast their ballotat Hikkim polling station in the Spiti valley,’’ they said. IANS
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Ensure a better deal forBihar, Laloo tells Kalam
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Patna: RJD chief Laloo Prasad Ya-dav has complained to President A PJ Abdul Kalam about the Centre’sdiscrimination against Bihar in thematter of extending financial help.
Laloo, in a 10-page memorandumsubmitted to the President on Satur-day, requested him to initiate steps tostop the Centre from discriminatingagainst Bihar. The Centre has beenignoring the state for the past severalyears, the memorandum said.
Accusing the Centre of treating Bi-
har as its colony, Laloo said the Cen-tre has neglected the state in all itsfive-year Plans. The Union govern-ment has invested little fund in Bi-har, the memorandum said.
Laloo, however, praised andthanked Kalam for visiting Bihar.‘‘Your visit has rekindled hopesamong the people of the state,’’ theRJD chief was quoted as having toldKalam. He requested the President touse his good offices to ensure that Bi-har got a special package as it hasbeen deprived of its mineral rich ar-eas following creation of Jharkhand.
More rail accidents waiting to happenBy Raj Kumar
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Patna: Railway authorities are yet toidentify the reason for the derailment of14 coaches of the Patna-New Delhi Mag-adh Express near Buxar.
However, indications are that moresuch accidents could occur. A confiden-tial report by a railway police officer tothe state police headquarters states,‘‘The local mafia have established a mo-nopoly over railway contracts and thequality of work has suffered.’’
The report added that railway tracks,bridges and overbridges in the regionmay collapse any moment, leading totragic mishaps. The report, sent to thepolice headquarters on April 12 thisyear by the then superintendent of rail-way police (SRP) Amitabh Das, said‘‘mafia elements’’ have divided the areaamong themselves.
The report said contracts for the Pat-na-Mokama section have been grabbedby supporters of MLA Suraj Bhan. Sup-porters of MLA Sunil Pandey controlthe Patna-Mughalsarai section, it said.Both these MLAs are serving prisonsentences for their alleged involvementin criminal cases.
The report said in December 2001,two workers were killed between Potahiand Nadawa, while two dumper-con-tainers were blown up near Neema rail-way halt in June 2002. One person wasshot at and four tractors were set ablazeon Fatuha-Islampur line in February2002. In January, a shootout took placeat Beledari Chak. Another shootouttook place at Mahendru Ghat in Febru-ary this year. The report said probe re-vealed these incidents were connectedwith the war for railway contracts.
PTI
Firefighters try to douse the flames of a stationary coach at the Amritsar railway station on Sunday. Eyewitnesses said the firebroke out at around 10.35 am and was brought under control by around 11.15 am. No casualties have been reported.
Magadh passengers feared a GodhraBy Sanjay Singh
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Patna: As the relief train ar-rived at Patna junction fromthe accident spot, Pratima,with her grandson in her lap,ran helter and skelter to lo-cate her son Nilotpal. Shar-ing her anxiety were her
daughter-in-law and a familyfriend. Suddenly, Nilotpalemerged from the crowd andemotions flowed. Hugginghis son profusely, Nilotpaltouched his mother’s feet andembraced his wife, as theymoved towards the exit.
Recalling the ‘‘horrible ex-
perience,’’ Ashok Bhargav,who was travelling in S-7coach of the ill-fated train,said, ‘‘I heard a deafeningsound. Then I saw sparkscoming out from near thewheels of my coach. I feareda Godhra was going to takeplace. But look! I am alive be-
cause of God’s blessings.’’Survivors said many pas-
sengers jumped out of themoving train on seeingsmoke emanating from theircoaches. ‘‘As darkness had setin, one didn’t know what ex-actly was happening,’’ saidanother passenger.
PM to raise Kailashroute issue: AdvaniLeh: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayeewill urge China to allow Indian pilgrims tovisit Kailash Mansarovar via Leh, during hisvisit to Beijing, Deputy Prime Minister L KAdvani said here on Sunday.
Speaking at the annual ‘‘Sindhu Darshan’’festival here, Advani said he will request Vaj-payee to tell Chinese leaders to permit jour-ney to Kailash Mansarovar from Leh alongSindhu river to cut down the conventionaljourney time drastically.
Advani said defence minister George Fer-nandes had taken up the matter with Chineseleaders during his recent visit and the latterhad agreed to look into it.
Advani said he will request Vajpayee to en-sure that the matter is carried forward. Thejourney, at present, takes 27 days, he said andadded that if one trekked along river Sindhu,it will take only four days. PTI
PTI
Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani pours water collected from different rivers of the countryas a part of the inauguration of Sindhu Darshan festival in Leh on Sunday.
China keeps mum on Vajpayee’s visitBy Harvey Stockwin
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Hong Kong: Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee and ChinesePresident Hu Jintao did not usetheir meeting during the St Pe-tersburg tricentennial celebra-tions to dispel all uncertaintyabout Vajpayee’s projected visitto China this month.
China’s nationwide CCTV andthe Xinhua news agency reportedthat Hu has invited Vajpayee tovisit China, a bald statement
which would hardly be used if, asAdvani has suggested, the visit isdue to take place in three weeks’time. Repeating the invitationmeant it was yet to be accepted.
Xinhua also reported that Vaj-payee said he was looking for-ward to visiting China, but he didnot mention any date, or indicatethat the visit was imminent. Thevagueness by both leaders meansthere may still be some issueholding up the finalisation of thearrangements.
Coverage of the St Petersburgmeeting in China’s controlledmedia has been quite restrained.On CCTV, the Vajpayee-Hu meet-
ing was only briefly reported, be-ing given roughly one-third thetime allotted to Hu’s meetingwith Japanese Prime MinisterJunichiro Koizumi.
The CCTV report made itsound as if Vajpayee was the oneto raise the border issue. The Chi-nese leader spoke in a more com-plex way: ‘‘On the border issue,Hu said the two countries shouldproceed from the friendship be-tween (the) two countries andproperly handle it.’’
Mumbaidisc jockeyrides intothe finals
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: As the nightprogressed under crazy-lights, Mikanos the pubstretched decibel-by-decibel with music, likean animal sheddingsleep. Eyes narrowed,claws grew, and every-thing from funk to fu-sion was freely used atthe Mumbai round ofDirector’s SpecialBlack-Times Music ‘Warof the DJs’ on Thursday.
At the end, a 26-year-old from Mira Roadcame out the fittest. DJFreeze, or Yash Dham,overcame keen competi-tion from six others towin the round and reachthe final, which willtake place in the samepub on June 7 in front of3,000-odd people.
With a master-blender’s ease, Yashmixed ‘Kaliyon kaChaman’ with bhangra,which rolled on to theevergreen ‘StayingAlive’ and then to someLatin and the filmi num-ber ‘Yaar Bina ChainKahan Re’.
DJ Praveen was thefirst runner-up while DJG and DJ Shiva were ad-judged second runner-up. The winner of the fi-nal will be given arecording contract withTimes Music apart fromloads of prizes from De-non. Director’s SpecialBlack of Shaw Wallacein association with Zod!Clubwear are the princi-pal sponsors for the Warof the DJs. The event ishosted by Dj Keith andIshita. B4U is the officialchannel and DenonSahil is the co-sponsorof the event. The contestpartners are Indiatimesand Planet M. The eventis managed by 360 De-grees, a part of theTimes Group.
Milli Council staysclear of Babri issue
By Smita GuptaTIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Topping theagenda of the All-India MilliCouncil, the organisationthat includes members of theAll India Muslim PersonalLaw Board, and advises thecommunity in times of crisisand elections, was the politi-cal empowerment of theMuslims and looking forways to sort out the commu-nal question.
Commenting on the con-vention, ‘‘Challenges beforethe nation and the minoritiesin independent India’’ thatconcluded here on Sunday,AIMC spokesperson Kamal
Farooqi told TNN: ‘‘The timefor complaints is over; Mus-lims must stop delving intothe past and instead work to-wards a common futurealong with all other commu-nities in unity and peace.’’
The meet steered clear ofthe contentious Babri Masjidissue — saying it should beleft to the courts — and in-stead focussed on the role ofthe minorities in India.
As forcefully articulatedby the younger elementsamong its members, theAIMC intends to persuadesecular parties to givegreater representation toMuslims, for which it hopesto create a political platform.
•There may still be some issue holding up the finalisation of the visit
•Signals from China fail tojustify high hopes being attached to the visit
Great wall
Hurley wants ajet of her ownLondon: Piqued by a spateof embarrassing revela-tions about her, British ac-tress Liz Hurley, the girl-friend of Indian million-aire businessman ArunNayar, is planning to buy astake in a ten-seater jet soshe can fly as she wantswithout being “spied on”.
According to a report inthe Mail on Sunday, the 36-year-old actress is said tobe incensed after a stringof disclosures, includingclaims that she engaged inheavy petting under herboyfriend’s blankets infirst class when she trav-elled recently from NewYork to London on British
Airways.She will pay 200,000
pounds to join a ‘flexitime’scheme, entitling her to 25hours of flight time aboarda 17-million-pounds Falcon2000. Mostly she will beable to fly whenever shechooses, unless it is shortnotice and a plane is notavailable from the pool.Then, she might find her-self sharing.
By going private, Hurleywill join a number of A-liststars, including singerJustin Timberlake, TomCruise, Nicole Kidmanand Jennifer Lopez, whouse the Marquis Jetsscheme. PTI
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The Times of India, New Delhi14 Monday, June 2, 2003
BRICKBATSEven communist leaders would yield toso much of public pressure! But TOIseems to be adamant at continuingDubyaman. Make a fresh strip instead.— TonyPlease stop this nonsense. Why don’tyou conduct an indiatimes poll to findwhether you should continue it or not ?Are you ready for the poll?— Pradeep Bhat
For bouquets go towww.timesofindia.com
e-mail: [email protected]
Robbie hunts for alterego: Robbie Williams hasenlisted his father to helpsearch for someone to playthe top-selling pop star in hisnew video. Club singer PeteConway will join a panel ofselectors at open auditions inLondon on Saturday insearch of a fan to appear inthe video for his son’s newsingle, Something Beautiful.“Robbie felt that his dad Petewould be superbly qualifiedto help the directors withtheir selection,” a spokesmanfor Williams said. Producerswant to find someone whohas the “essence” of the 29-year-old star to perform thenew track in the video — andthey say it could even be awoman. “We will not neces-sarily be looking for a Robbiesound-alike or a look-alikebut we are looking for some-one who has Robbie’scharisma, energy and atti-tude,” said producer GillianNisbet. “They need to provethat they can capture theessence of a Robbie Williamsperformance.” Reuters
Techno ravers dance insummer sun: Bikinis,shorts and mini-skirts werethe standard uniform as100,000 techno fans dancedthe sunny day away at the“G-move” music event inHamburg. The ravers, mostlydecked out in sparse orangeand green clothing, struttedtheir stuff behind 18 soundtrucks that wound theirthrough the northern Germancity to the port area wherethe party was to go on allnight. “There are less peoplethan in previous years but wewill still party until morning,”29-year-old Andre saiddressed in camouflageshorts. AFP
Ms Dynamite steals theshow: R&B star Ms Dyna-mite has picked up a topprize at a British award cere-mony honoring multicultural-ism. The 21-year-old added
the Ethnic Multicultural Me-dia Academy award for bestBritish music act to herbulging collection of musicindustry trophies. Ms Dyna-mite, who is heavily preg-nant, won two Brit awards inFebruary, three Music ofBlack Origin (MOBO) awardslast October and the MercuryMusic prize last September.Soul legend Stevie Wonder
received a special lifetimeachievement award for excel-lence in the music industryover four decades. US popheartthrob Justin Timberlakewon in the best internationalmusic category. SalmaHayek’s portrayal of the tor-tured Mexican painter FridaKahlo in the movie Frida wonher the best film actressaward. Reuters
McCartney returns toLiverpool: Former BeatleSir Paul McCartney returnedto his hometown Liverpool toplay at the Cavern Club, thecrowded and smoky base-ment venue where the “FabFour” cut their musical teeth,organisers said Saturday.McCartney performed at theclub Friday night during a pri-vate party to celebrate theend of his world tour aheadof the final concert in Liver-pool on Sunday. “It had aspecial meaning for him to beback in Liverpool,” venuemanager Alex McKechniesaid. McCartney played threesongs, including the Beatlesclassic Let it Be. Reuters
Miss Iceland Manuela Osk Hardardottir takes part in theopening round of the 2003 Miss Universe presentationshow in Panama City on Thursday, moments before beingtaken to the hospital due to dehydration. She will be unable to compete in the finals on June 3 since she hasmissed most of the preliminary rounds.
AROUND THE WORLDReuters
I N T E R N AT I O N A L
Do honey and water enhance virility? British researchersare verifying whether mead, an alcoholic liquor made by fermenting honey and water, increases virility and fertility. It is said that inancient times the alcoholic drink was offered to the newly wedsso as to increase their fertility level.Scientists at the Royal Societyof Chemistry in London are busy in determining whether there isany truth in the myth that mead is the key to a healthy sex life. ANI
Reuters
Liz Hurley with Arun Nayar in Cannes.
Reuters
The new Sony entertainment robot Aibo on display inTokyo on Saturday. The four-legged robot, which can becontrolled via e-mail commands, costs about $1,300.
Soldier of the futuredrops extra burdenNew York: Dennis Birch compares the USsoldier to a Christmas tree: Whenever im-provements in technology help lighten a sol-dier’s load, someone else wants to hang on anew piece of gear like an ornament.
The result is ‘‘100 pounds of great ideashanging off him in all different directions,’’Birch said.
So in its prototype for a high-tech uniformof the future, researchers at the US ArmySoldier Systems Center in Natick, Massachu-setts, have shaken all gear from the soldierand started from scratch.
In the researchers’ designs, soldiers of 2011will step into wired uniforms that incorpo-rate all the equipment they need. The uni-forms will monitor vital signs and plug theminto a massive network of satellites, un-manned planes and robotic vehicles the mili-tary has planned.
When dressing for battle in the so-called‘‘Scorpion ensemble,’’ soldiers will don nomore than 22.5 kg, making them much moremobile than today’s troops, who carry up to54 kg of gear, Birch said.
The ensemble will plug the soldier into themilitary’s planned Future Combat System,for which the Pentagon recently earmarked$15 billion to develop.
That system envisions lighter tanks, pow-erful computer networks and larger fleets ofremote-controlled airplanes and roboticground vehicles.
The first battalion could field the systemby late 2010 — about when the Scorpion en-semble would be ready to plug human sol-diers into the network.
As currently envisioned, soldiers will firstwear an undershirt netted with sensors thatmonitor heart rate, body temperature andrespiration.
Then comes a uniform with built-intourniquets that one day might be tightenedand loosened remotely. Body armor is builtinto a load carriage that holds water, ammu-nition, batteries and circuits to keep the sol-dier plugged into the network.
The most high-tech component will be thehelmet, with tiny, built-in cameras to spot en-emies lurking in the dark or concealed bybushes. The cameras’ images will appear on
semitransparent screens attached to theirhelmets. Every soldier will eventually be ableto view thermal images from uncooled in-frared cameras, which are only in limited usetoday. Firefighters have been using similarcameras to see through smoke, and someCadillacs use them to see through fog.
Soldiers who get lost — a problem in Iraqand other wars — will view maps, global-po-sitioning coordinates and other data on theirlocation. The same sort of data could be usedto call in air strikes.
Images from drones, robotic vehicles orother members of the unit also may appearon screen.
The headgear will contain a laser-engage-ment system to identify friends and foes —and serve as a ‘‘laser tag’’ training device,Birch said. AP
AP
Future battle dress for US soldiers is expect-ed to be ready by 2011. It will weigh about 50pounds and will include communications,night vision gear and body senors.
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A solution containing a virus thatdelivers a gene called Math1 isinjected into an adult guinea pig scochlea, located in the inner ear.
Experiment gives hope for hearing
The Math1 genestimulates cell growthof hair cells in thecochlea that helpconvert sound wavesto impulses perceivedby the brain.
One and two monthslater, researcherscheck the cochlea of14 treated animalsfor new cell growth.
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SOURCE: University of Michigan, Department of Otolaryngology AP
Scientists successfully conducted an experiment on guinea pigswhere the animals regenerated cells in the ear needed for hearing.They hope the results lead to a procedure that will eventually helphumans.
3D way to detect breast cancerChicago: Detecting breastcancer tumours is about tomake a technological leapinto three dimensions, butfinding doctors willing to in-terpret mammograms is get-ting more difficult.
Researchers at Massachu-setts General Hospital inBoston are refining a tech-nique that creates three-di-mensional X-rays that maketumours much easier to see.Full-field digital tomosynthe-sis takes multiple pictures atdifferent angles as the X-raytube rotates in an arc.
The images are brokendown into “slices,” makingembedded tumours easier tospot, said Daniel Kopans, di-rector of breast imaging atMassachusetts General Hos-pital. “I liken it to a birch treein a pine forest,” he said. Thebirch tree is the cancer and ifyou could just tear away thepine trees, you could see it.”
The device was built by GEMedical Systems to specifica-tions provided by Massachu-setts General Hospital, whichholds the patent and has theonly prototype. Initial stud-
ies showed it increased visi-bility of breast lesions andreduced the number of pa-tients who needed to have asecond mammogram be-cause the first was unclear,Kopans said.
TOMO still must be ap-proved by the US Food andDrug Administration.
Kopans said he hopesTOMO will help alleviate ashortage of radiologists will-ing to analyse mammogramsas the demand for screeningincreases as the populationages. Reuters
Virtual characters dominate MTV awardsLos Angeles: You don’t have to exist toget an MTV Movie Award.
The irreverent ceremony honouredthe little green Jedi, Yoda, for best fightscene from Star Wars: Episode II-Attackof the Clones, while the raspy creep Gol-lum from The Lord of the Rings: TheTwo Towers won for “virtual perform-ance” and for best on screen team for itsperformance alongside human co-stars
Elijah Wood and Sean Astin. Yoda ap-peared on a giant screen to accept thehonour and spoke in his signature cir-cuitous manner. “Hmmm ... grateful amI to this award receive. To win, I did notexpect,” he said. “Promise myself cry Iwould not.”
After the virtual performance awardwent to Gollum, actor Andy Serkis —who voiced the character and per-
formed the movements for its computeranimation — appeared on screen tothank the filmmaker and special effectscrew for their work in bringing themonster to life.
Rapper Eminem claimed the Break-through Male trophy for his work in thedrama 8 Mile. Spider-Man’s KirstenDunst was named best female star,while Eminem won best male award. AP
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I N T E R N AT I O N A LThe Times of India, New Delhi Monday, June 2, 2003 15
Some like it hotTwo of the three K’s of Europeanmulti-culturalism: khurpi andkarahi. The first, described as a“traditional Indian implement” is,believe it or not, being importedinto the UK from Hyderabad. It isselling to a select green-fingeredband for the princely sum of 14.99pounds. That translates as roughlyRs 1,300, which is not bad going forour homegrown mali’s dirt-en-crusted tool. Likewise the karahi,newly manufactured by theFrench firm Le Creuset. The com-pany’s cast-iron pots and pans area byword for excellence. They’renormally priced so buyers don’tget much change from a couple of50-pound notes. So, the humblekarahi retailing in Europe at justunder Rs 10,000. Small wonderwags say the third k of the multi-cultural stew will ultimately bekaos konfounded spelt with anAmerican disregard for lexico-graphical accuracy.
Passage to EnglandJust weeks ago, Parminder Nagra,the sallow, football-fiend heroine ofBend it like Beckham, starred in anupdated Othello that featured asy-lum-seekers. Then there was KittuGidwani starring in an Indian the-atrical export to Blighty. The the-atrical floodgates have apparentlyopened. Now, BBC journalist Per-vaiz Alam has embarked on alto-gether longer journey — up anddown Britain — with his play, Sa-far. Predictably, it’s all about mul-tiple and diverse passages to Eng-land. Less obvious is Alam’s con-clusion, notably that the exiles’omnipresent myth of return maysometimes be exaggerated. Manyare actually happy to wallow inmemories while living away fromthe Motherland. Reality bites.
● Rashmee Z Ahmed in London
DIASPORIUM Dalai Lama gotmany marriageproposalsBerlin: Numerous wo-men have over the yearsoffered to marry theDalai Lama, the celibateTibetan spiritual leadertold a magazine.
The Nobel Peace Prizewinner told the weeklyDie Welt am Sonntagthat many women havefollowed him on histravels and “lots of themhave said they wanted tomarry me.”
The Dalai Lama ad-dressed an ecumenicalgathering of Germany’syoung Christians inBerlin on Friday.
He said he did notwatch all the films thathave been made abouthim. “We are subjectedto so many deceptionsand illusions, there is noneed to impose supple-mentary ones,” he said.
The Dalai Lama, avegetarian, said he pre-ferred watching animaldocumentaries that“show true life,” andthat he sometimes wasafraid that in his nextlife he would be reincar-nated as an animal. AFP
Junta closes Suu Kyi’s officesYangon: The military gov-ernment closed offices ofAung San Suu Kyi’s partyand ordered universitiesshut across Myanmar onSunday after detainingthe pro-democracy leader,sources said.
The crackdown followed aviolent clash between hersupporters and thousands ofpro-junta protesters that left
four people dead and another50 injured in northern Myan-mar on Friday.
Top leaders of Suu Kyi’sNational League for Democ-racy party were being heldunder house arrest in thecapital, according to partymembers.
Meanwhile, professorssaid they had been told toclose universities and col-
leges on Sunday, a day beforethe start of a new semester.
The junta said Saturdaythat it had placed Suu Kyiand 19 members of her partyinto ‘‘protective custody’’ af-ter Friday’s violence.
Officials said she had beendetained in Ye-U, a town nearthe scene of the violence, buther exact whereabouts wereunknown. AP
Bush, Putin agreeto forget Iraq spatSt Petersburg: US President Bush andRussian President Putin said Sundaytheir friendship was as strong as ever,laying aside a dispute over the Iraq war,but barely concealing a simmering rowover Iran’s nuclear program.
After talks in St Petersburg’s grandKonstantinovsky Palace, they alsowarned North Korea to abandon its nu-clear aspirations and signed documentsimplementing the Moscow Treaty,which mandates sharp cuts in Cold Warnuclear weapons stocks.
Swapping smiles, handshakes andhugs at a joint press appearance, Bushand Putin set out to recreate the buddy atmosphere of their previous encounters.
“Our relations are stronger than theevents that tested it,” said Putin, stress-ing that despite diverging over Iraq,Russia and the US had many commoninterests.
“It is precisely these things that en-able me to call President Bush myfriend, not only personally, because I dolike him a lot, but as my counterpartand the president of a friendly nation,” he said, earning a grin from Bush.
But both men observed an uneasytruce over US concerns about Russianaid to the nuclear program of Iran,whom Bush has labeled part of an “axisof evil” that also included Iraq andNorth Korea. AFP
AFP
Bush got a short handshake and stiffsmile from French President Chirac inEvian on Sunday as the two leaders metfor the first time since they lockedhorns over the Iraq war.
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Palestinians line up for ID check at the Kalandia checkpoint on the road between Jerusalemand Ramallah on Sunday after Israel eased its closure of the Palestinian territories three daysahead of a US-convened peace summit.
WMDs will be found: BlairBy Rashmee Z AhmedTIMES NEWS NETWORK
London: Tony Blair launched a mas-sive media damage limitation exceriseon Sunday to assure the world he hadseen classified evidence that SaddamHussein had weapons of mass destruc-tion and Gulf War II was justified.
But nearly two-thirds of Britain’s vot-ers believe Blair misled them, the firstof a damaging series of opinion polls re-vealed on Sunday. Blair’s assurancecame after days of his government be-ing accused of exaggerating claims thatBaghdad had WMDs.
On Sunday, Blair’s former cabinet
minister Clare Short accused him of“duping” the nation and “misleadingworld opinion” about WMD. A section ofthe Sunday press is now claimingBritain’s most senior intelligence offi-cer was forced to support Blair’s unsub-stantiated comments on Saddam as athreat to the world.
But a defiant Blair challenged adoubting world on Sunday. In an inter-view with Sky TV, he said: “Those peo-ple who are sitting there saying: ‘Oh, it’sall going to be proved to be a great bigfib got out by the security services,there will be no weapons of mass de-struction’ — just wait, and have a littlepatience.”
CMYK
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY
Reservation is like a train compartment: Those who are inside are always in conflict
with those who want to get inside.— Anonymous
By K Subrahmanyam
Finally, Washington has given up pretendingthat the Iraq war was about weapons ofmass destruction. Indeed, official Americanpronouncements now admit that Iraq isthe first step in redesigning the politicalarchitecture of West Asia. The neo-conservatives in the US seem convincedthis is necessary to ensure that this willbe the American century. Following thespectacular American military victory inIraq, veiled threats are being held out tothe rulers of Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabiato mend their ways. Some US analystshave drawn comparisons between thepresent confrontation between the US andthe West Asian regimes and the Cold War.The US was able to win against the ‘evilempire’ and bring about regime changesin the former Soviet Union and EasternEurope. If that could be achieved in spite ofthe military capabilities of the Soviet bloc,the task of effecting changes in regimes inWest Asia should be comparatively easier.Or so argue the neo-conservatives.
They are encouraged in this view bythe poor performance of the Iraqi armedforces and the near-total absence of any massupsurge in the Islamic world.There were more populardemonstrations in Europeand North America againstthe war than in the Islamicworld. France, Germany andRussia, which vehementlyopposed the war, finally camearound and lent their supportto US-UK resolution 1483 inthe Security Council, andthereby, for the first timeconferred UN legitimacy onthe occupation of a member of the UN bya coalition of powers headed by the US.
The terrorist attacks in Riyadh andCasablanca may not necessarily have acausal relationship with war on Iraq. Suchattacks by the Al-Qaida and its associatedorganisations are to be expected in variousparts of the world, including the US itself, solong as the war on terrorism is not broughtto a successful conclusion. Clearly, this iswhat motivates the neo-conservatives topress on with their agenda of carrying outregime changes in West Asia with coercivediplomacy to the extent possible, and use offorce if and where necessary.
Whether they will be able to go ahead withtheir plan will to a large extent depend uponwhat happens in Iraq in the next year or two.There is a strong US view that Americansare not classical imperialists who will keepterritories under their physical occupation.This is perhaps true. Which is why it isimportant to understand that the neo-conservative plan for the American centurydoes not envisage occupation of other coun-tries and subjugation of other populations.What is being planned here is dominationover the rest of the international commu-nity through military, economic and
technological power. In all these spheresthe US must have a surfeit of power asagainst the rest of the world combined.In addition, the US would be able to exerciseits soft power — influence of its cultureand way of life.
According to this script, the US should beable to set up a democratic government inIraq in the next few months and withdraw itsforces. The Americans were able to do this inWest Germany and Japan. Iraq is therefore alaboratory to test whether this approachwould work in West Asia.
The experience of the US and Europeannations in the Balkans would indicatethat the transition from an authoritarianto stable democratic framework wouldtake a significant time. When the Britishdecolonised they departed leaving behind ademocratic constitution for the coloniesexcept in South Asia. Most of the ex-coloniesvery soon slid back into authoritarian rule.The Americans had to make deals withvarious Afghan warlords and persuade themto accept Hamid Karzai as the nominal headof Afghanistan even while they concededauthoritarian powers to the warlords. Whilethere has been a regime change at the top
in Kabul there has been nochange in the culture ofgovernance in Afghanistan.
In Iraq, too, there are nosigns of early formation of arepresentative government.Iraq has Shias in a majority,and minorities of Sunnis,Kurds and Turkomans. Thelong-suppressed Shias andKurds are determined to havetheir voices heard in the newIraqi dispensation. Before the
war started, the US chief of army staffGeneral Shinseki told the Congress that itwould take two years and the presence of2,00,000 US troops to stabilise Iraq. He waschastised for expressing such views. It isquite possible he may be proved right.
While the US has not paid adequateattention to Afghanistan’s stabilisation, itcannot afford to adopt an equally cavalierattitude towards Iraq since this regioninvolves oil. Therefore, the neocons inWashington may learn that assertion of USdominance over the world cannot be onlythrough winning military campaigns withsmart weapons. Further that democracy can-not be introduced like coke and hamburgers.Meanwhile, US troops in Iraq are subjectedto attacks by local population who resentthe American presence.
Occupying, stabilising and democratisinga developing country not used to representa-tive governance and belonging to a differentcivilisation is a new experience to the solesuperpower. The strategy and methodologyfor this cannot be worked out in the Penta-gon. The credibility of the neo-conservativeplan to effect regime changes will dependupon how successful the US is in stabilisingand democratising Iraq.
The Iraqi ChallengeCoke, Burger & Democracy At 65, most people look forward to a well-
earned retirement rather than launch into anew business. But not C K Krishnan Nair.A textiles man all his life, he plunged into thehospitality business at that age. Seventeenyears later, he is the proud owner ofthree world-class hotels, which are perhapscollectively worth over Rs 1,000 crore.Umesh Anand caught up with the82-year-old promoter of the Leela groupto find out the secret of his success.Excerpts from the interview:
What does the government need to do for thehotel industry?
It should be thinking in terms of quadrup-ling room capacity. After almost 30 to 40years, the ministry of finance under thestewardship of Jaswant Singh has grantedinfrastructure status to the hotel industry.This in itself will give an immense fillip tothe industry. But we also need long-termcredit at concessional rates of interest —3 to 4 per cent over 12 to 15 years. You can’t setup hotels by borrowing at 18 per cent. Wealso need concessional leasing rates forbuilding space for hotels and related tourismactivities, wherever government and publicsector land is involved.As the hotel industry’s challenges becomemore complex, whatdo Indian hoteliersneed to do to staycompetitive globally?
To stay globallycompetitive, the ho-tel industry shouldbe run by Indiansthemselves. Manage-ment control shouldstay with Indians.This is because mostcollaborations arehugely biased infavour of foreignpartners. Marketing arrangements withinternational chains are okay, but manage-ment control should not change hands. Wehave seen that most agreements tie downIndian entrepreneurs for far too long.This siphons off profits and leaves nothingfor expansion and debt servicing.
Hotels also need to come together as anindustry and make sure their needs areaddressed by the government. For this wenow have the Hotel Association of India,which is a platform for hotels only. It does notconfuse big hotels, whose requirements arevery special, with restaurants.Leela has become a brand to reckon with in avery short time. What has been your mantra?
Uncompromising attention to quality andservice. Our hotels are constructed withthe help of the best available internationalexpertise in architecture, engineering andplanning. We don’t believe in cuttingcorners. And yet our hospitality and mana-gerial skills are homegrown. Our mantra,first and foremost, is: Atithi devo bhava.In addition, we add value to the moneyspent by our guests.How often have you found the government
to be a stumbling block?Entrepreneurship comes with its own
hazards. One has to find one’s own solutionsto them. I would’ve set up a hotel atAnsal Plaza in Delhi. I got land from thegovernment for it when it was auctioned,but I was not given permission to construct.Now I’m in the process of getting my moneyback after all these years.Would you rather be known as a hotelieror as someone who has a Rs 400-croretextile business?
That is difficult to say. The textilesbusiness has given us a lot, but the hotelshave brought recognition and awards. TheUltimate Service award which we receivedin Berlin this year is global recognition forour outstanding service. The two awardswhich have really made me happy, however,are the National Tourism Award, whichwas given to us for the seventh consecutiveyear, and the Global 500 award.What does money mean to you?
You need money, but it is not everything.It should be there, but it cannot be theonly thing that matters. We, for instance,live together as a family — my sons, theirwives and children. Beyond a point, whatdo we really need? Hardly anything.You are a first gene-ration entrepreneur. Have
you known poverty?I came from an
agricultural family.My father was a poorfarmer in Kerala.It was a matter ofcoincidence that Iwent to pick up abottle of pickle fromV P Menon’s home.My mother had sentthe pickle for me.It was a chancemeeting. But hebecame my patron
and treated me like a son. I owe much tohim. For the rest, it was my own hardwork and the ability to seize opportunity.You were in the army for a while.
Yes. But after five years, I left andjoined my wife’s family in their handloomsbusiness. I helped set up the handloomdevelopment board, which has done muchto boost the handloom sector throughmodernisation of machinery and bettermarketing. Today, we have eight unitsin Karnataka and two in China. Besides, wehave stores and a brand name in the US.Where do you see India five years from now?
I see much development taking placeand the Indian market growing rapidly.We need to prepare for this andsimultaneously speed up the process ofgrowth. To my mind, education and theempowerment of women are the two mostimportant things.
In an uncompromising way, Indiamust show the world that it can treatwomen as equals in all walks of life.Woman power will revolutionise Indiaby driving out corruption, injustice andthe lack of hygiene.
Perfect Host
To stay globallycompetitive, manage-ment control in theIndian hotel industryshould stay withIndians... Becausemost collaborations arehugely biased in favourof foreign partners.
Q&A
Bank BungleWith reference to your news story, ‘Bankasked to pay up for overcharging’ (May 26), Ifeel that your newspaper has done a serviceto the public by exposing Citibank whichhas become notorious amongst small cus-tomers for its high-handed ways. Important-ly, it also shows that a vigilant customer canobtain remedy. This is a lesson to all cus-tomers who have been affected in some wayor the other in the past and suffered quietly.There are instances of Citibank charging acustomer automatically for a service it isextending and asking those not wishing totake the service to call up the bank and in-form it accordingly. It has also been knownto charge the credit card customer’s renewalfees prematurely. The bank, and other com-panies, need to remember that technologicaladvancement alone will be of little availunless they build and nurture relationshipswith the customer. In the end, they onlyhurt themselves through such practices.— Anil Kalaga, Gurgaon
Immunity ImbroglioThe death of the driver employed by the
Senegalese embassy, is yet another incidentinvolving the representatives of foreignstates, whose conduct is anything butdiplomatic. It appears that the immunityextended to them, with the aim of ensuringthat the work of the official mission is nothampered by the local laws, is being mis-used to indulge in unlawful behaviour. Whatis also shocking is that there was no wordof regret or apology from the Senegaleseambassador, whose son was involved in theincident. One way of handling all suchcases in future would be for New Delhi todeclare such persons as persona non grata,and request the respective governments torecall their erring representatives.— Navneet Dhawan, New Delhi
Right StepI would like to congratulate the PM on hisbold step to resume talks with Pakistan, andto restore ties between the two countriesonce again. It’s a good opportunity forPakistan to forget mutual differences andto come together with India for a new era ofpeace and prosperity. Indeed, the PM hasproved his political mettle. Pakistan mustnot drag in Kashmir, this time round, toscuttle the talks. After years of bloodshed,give peace a chance to return to the Valley.— Sahahuddin Katihari, Darul Uloom,Deoband
CONVERSATIONS WITH READERS
Letters to this column should be addressed to Letters c/o Edit pageEditor, The Times of India, 7, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, NewDelhi-110002. email:[email protected]
Flying ColoursI’ve been reading the TOI since the last20 years. Seeing the colour edition everymorning brightens up my day. It makesthe newspaper much more interestingand reinforces the fact that TOI standsfor innovation.
V K Mittal, via e-mail
From timesofindia.com
No. 130 Vol. 54. Air charge: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai ,Cochin, Chennai & viaRs.3, Indore and via 50 paise. National edition: No aircharge.Price in Nepal: NEP Rs 5, except Sunday: NEP Rs 7. RNI No. 508/57 MADE IN NEW DELHI REGD. NO. DL-25002/92. Published forthe proprietors, Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd., by Balraj Arora at Times House, 7, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110 002 and printed by him at 13, Site IV Industrial Area,Sahibabad (UP),MNS Printers Pvt. Ltd., Industrial Area, Phase II, Panchkula, Haryana - 134109 and VasundharaPrinters Ltd., Tiwari Ganj, Faizabad Road, Chinhat, Lucknow. Regd. Office: Dr Dadabhai NaorojiRoad, Mumbai - 400 001. Editor (Delhi Market): Bachi Karkaria-responsible for selection of newsunder PRB Act. Executive Editor: Shekhar Bhatia. © All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole orin part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Postal Registration No.: TN/ChiefPMG/399/2002
Creatures Great & Small
The charger, whirlingup the dust, does not
reach them,they never maketheir way to the
slaughtering stool,The cows of the
worshipping manroam about
over the widespreadpastures, free from
all danger...Ye cows, you fatten
the emaciated,and you make the
unlovely look beautiful,Make our house happy,
you withpleasant lowings,
your power is glorifiedin our assemblies.
May you have manycalves, graze on pastures
and drink pure waterat drinking places;May not the thief
master you, nor thewicked, and may the
darts of the fierce Lordleave you aside.
Rig Veda 6.28.4,6,7✥
One should not injure,subjugate, enslave,torture, or kill any
animal, living being,organism, or sentientbeing. This doctrine
of non-violence isimmaculate, immutable,
and eternal. Just assuffering is painful to
you, in the same way itis painful, disquieting,
and terrifying to allanimals, living beings,
organisms, andsentient beings.
Acarangasutra 4.25-26✥
We have enslaved therest of the animalcreation, and havetreated our distantcousins in fur and
feathers so badly thatbeyond doubt, if they
were able to formulatea religion, they would
depict the Devil inhuman form.
William R Inge✥
Animals are suchagreeable friends;
they ask no questions,pass no criticisms.
George Eliot
Ud
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The Times of India, New Delhi16 Monday, June 2, 2003
Crowning GloryBy Noel Lobo
The murmur resembled, ina fanciful way, a smallavalanche in its speed androar as it swept alongthe ranks. It came fromAdmiralty Arch to our left,growing in volume as it gotto us at the Duke of Yorksteps, hurtling along, upthe Mall all the way ofBuckingham Palace.
Our final exams over anddone with. Tony Hartinvited three of us todrive down to London forthe coronation on themorrow. We arrived in theafternoon of the first day ofJune 1953 and joined thecrowd already three deepon the pavement.
I cannot recall thepassage of the hours tilldawn broke except forthe general bonhomiearound us and the intermit-tent drizzle. These wereonly to be expected inthat blessed isle; but whaton earth was the cause ofthe unexpected rippling
murmur at first light?Too early surely for
any of the crowned and un-crowned heads to emergefrom Westminster Abbey.Then the cries of thenewspaper boys told all:‘‘Read all about it. Everestconquered.’’ A pity I didnot keep that historic issueof The Times with theKathmandu despatches —held over so as to coincidewith the coronation — fromJohn Morris.
Twenty years later I wasto meet one of the two he-roes. Tenzing Norgay wasalways stylishly dressed —I remember a Tyrolean out-fit — whenever he came upthe hill to St Paul’s schoolin Darjeeling. And he cameup quite often to visit histhree sons, two grandsonsand his eldest daughterwho was a matron.
One memory of thatcoronation 50 years ago isthe queen of Tonga, aJunoesque figure, beingdriven past us to the palacein an open carriage. She
and the diminutive mannext to her scorned the useof an umbrella against therain. Noel Coward, askedwho was the gentleman,is supposed to have said:‘‘He is her lunch’’. He wasPandit Nehru.
Our own lunch thatmemorable day was at theChinese restaurant over-looking Piccadilly Circus.Pubs were allowed to stayopen as long as theywished; the crowds were ina festive mood as we min-gled with them on the wayto Dirty Dick’s. A few pintsof beer later we were on ourway back to Cambridge,happy to have witnessedthe event; and having beenamong the first to hear thedramatic news of Everesthaving been climbed (neversay conquered).
As a final touch to thisEverest cameo, Tony Hartwho gifted me this oncein a lifetime opportunity,settled in New Zealandwhere he grew kiwi fruitfor many years.
A beautiful woman is onewho values herself physi-cally, mentally, emotionallyand spiritually. Beauty isthe total impact of all theseaspects. Mind and body areinter-related; the state of onereflects on the other.
Yet another dimension isthe soul, the inner beauty. Itis more a part of us thanmere body and mind; it is in-destructible. Beauty includesinner beauty. To be acomplete person, you haveto work on not only yourexternal beauty; you haveto develop your innerbeauty also.
When we look aroundus, we find that all creationis filled with the beautyof the soul. Look at thecolours of nature and seehow the different greensblend together. Look atthe setting sun — how thedifferent hues of orange,yellow and red blend inharmony. So too a harmo-nious combina-tion of body, mindand soul makesus more completeand at peace.
When I talk ofthe soul or thespiritual aspect, Irefer to the innerself and its dis-covery. When youfind it, you willalso discover thatinner beauty isfar more impressive thanexternal beauty. Then youwill find that make-up,grooming, clothes, jewellery,and etiquette are all superfi-cial. In fact, there is no needfor these. Your inner beautyis actually the foundationof your personality andexternal beauty. In fact, thediscovery of the inner self isin itself a kind of empower-ment. Inner beauty createsharmony; it balances theinner and the outer self.Beyond the cacophony ofthe mind, there is a silencewithin which is the key to theself, harmony and peace.
Ancient Indian sages advo-cated yoga, pranayama andmeditation to find this innerbeauty, or self-realisation.Easily adapted to a modernlifestyle, one should learnthese from a qualifiedteacher. You can beginwith simple breathing exer-cises and see if it helpssilence the mind and bring
about tranquillity. Remem-ber, silence and tranquillityalready exist within you.You just have to discover it.Relaxing your body and mindhelps in the endeavour.
Breathing helps. You donot need to adopt a yogicposture. You may sit in acomfortable chair. Close youreyes and begin breathing,slowly and with ease. Allowyour mind to follow yourbreathing as you inhale andexhale. You can continuebreathing this way fortwo minutes, normally andeasily, focusing your atten-tion on your breath. Ifyou begin to feel relaxed,continue for another fewminutes. You will noticethat your mind and bodyhave relaxed — and youmay even find that yourmind is much quieter.Focus your attention onbreathing, pushing awayall other thoughts awayfor a few minutes.
Breathing exer-cises and medita-tion are like put-ting on make-up.You have to keepimproving uponyour skill. Asyou practice yourconscious breath-ing everyday, youwill get betterwith it, find relax-ation, calm andpeace. To go
deeper into pranayama, itis best to learn it from aqualified teacher. SwamiVivekananda has said, “Thescience of breathing is theworking through the bodyto reach the mind.”
When you have practisedbreathing and meditation forsome time, your mind willbecome much more alert andclear. You will have morephysical and mental energy.Your dealings with peopleimprove. As your perspec-tives change, you begin tolook at problems and issuesdifferently, with more clarityand less ego. You will becomemore calm, regardless ofcircumstances. Indeed, medi-tation is the way to thefountain of youth and it ismuch more effective than allthe beauty potions and cos-metic treatments to preserveyouthfulness. You will notonly look younger, but actu-ally feel the vim and vigour.
Enter the TempleOf Inner Beauty
By Shahnaz Husain
http://spirituality.indiatimes.com
THESPEAKING
TREE
You’re only as old, or as young, as you’rebold enough to be. This is why the proposal to
forcibly retire company directors, who otherwiseare perfectly competent to do their jobs, when theyreach 75 is not a good idea. It is one of the moreobvious ironies of Indian political life that whilewe have one of the youngest electorates in theworld, we also have the oldest netas of any democracy.Not a few of our leaders are into their 80s, andthe average age profile makes a mere 55-year-oldlook like a stripling in comparison. However,when charged with hanging on to office for toolong, our never-say-die netas are likely to reply thatlike good wine, political sapiency improves withmaturity. But if this is true of the political world,why shouldn’t it be equally valid for the corporaterealm? Ours is simultaneously a society in swiftand often bewildering transition which yetretains a growing desire for the ballast oftradition. Which only age-old experience can bringto the table.
Thanks to dramatic advancements in healthcare,and social perceptions regarding age, yesterday’sold folk are today’s ‘more mature’ citizens. In fact,in America, where life management experts arealready predicting a brave new world where hitting acentury will be the norm rather than the exception,there is radical rethinking on how to harness theeconomic and creative energy of those of advancedage. Instead of forcing them to be dependent onstate and private pensions, they can and ought to beempowered so that they retain their human autonomyand dignity. In India, we often ostensibly veneratethe elderly, for the wisdom they still have to impartto us. Is this mere lip service, which we’ll happilychange to a pink slip service?
VIEW
COUNTERVIEW
Age can be an Asset,Not a Liability
Wisdom is Knowing When to Quit
Companies Bill says directorsmust retire at 75
Reserved SignsPoliticians can only offer job quotas
but no actual jobsFrom competitive farce, reservations have been reduced tostreet-level tamasha. Affirmative action has a justifiedplace in a democracy with its professed commitment topromoting social equity. But to freely distribute thelargesse of reservations, as the Congress and the BJPhave been doing, is to stand the concept on its head.Worse, increasingly, there are no jobs to be had. Takethe BJP’s offer to include Muslims in reservations.For all that they are grossly under-represented inemployment, Muslims are unlikely to jump at this sop.First, there’s the BJP’s image as a minority-baitingparty. Successive party presidents have urged Muslimsnot to view the BJP with suspicion but to embraceit in a spirit of accommodation. Such fervent calls,however, need to be matched by action on the ground,which, as Gujarat-2002 demonstrated only too graphically,is far from being the case. Secondly, what is beingattempted here is a communal quota, an idea that isbound to be opposed by the BJP’s own affiliates, includingmost importantly the RSS.
What reduces the exercise to a huge mockery is thesharp drop in public sector employment: Where, indeed,are the jobs that parties are vying with each otherto distribute? By the government’s own admission, weare facing the worst job situation in years. According tothe latest National Sample Survey (NSS) findings, therate of growth of employment for India as a whole hasfallen from 2.7 per cent per year during 1983-94 to 1.07 percent per year during 1994-2000. The figures are starkerstill for the public sector where the decline is from 1.52per cent for 1983-94 to –0.03 per cent for 1994-2000. Alabour ministry document attributes the decrease to“the ban on recruitment in many state departments/institutions as part of the economic drive to reducegovernment expenditure.” In other words, the BJP — andthe Congress — are building mammoth castles in theair in the name of reservations. Perhaps the time hascome to shift the emphasis of affirmative action fromquota to market participation. Significantly, the ideaof democratisation of capital was mooted by Dalitleaders and intellectuals at a conclave in Bhopal awhile ago. Promotion of supplier diversity may well bethe alternative to jobs that are simply not there.
Beware of people who tell you they’ve had 40 yearsof experience of doing their job. Chances are,
they’ve had one year of experience, repeated 39 times.The real problem about age is not that people growolder, it is that in many cases they refuse to shedold ways of thought and action. In today’s world,particularly in a country like India, with its youthfulpopulation, such speed-breakers can only be anobstacle to progress. More than ever, we need newminds and new ways of thought to solve thecomplex new problems that the environment keepsthrowing up at us. Today, nothing fails more thanalready accomplished success, and nothing succeedsmore than a hungry aspiration for achievement.Yesterday’s hero is today’s has-been. And he’sprobably standing in the way of someone leaner,meaner and keener than he. It is not just technologicalchange or whimsical fashion that places theemphasis on youth. Today, the entire concept of aworking career has been completely transformedat the high end of the market.
Whether you’re a pop icon, a software wizard,a financial arbitrageur, or an advertising creativedirector, you’re only too aware that you have a shortand extremely intense working life before theinevitable burnout. So, the idea is to make yourbucks and your mark as fast and furiously as youcan, and then lie back in a hammock in Hawaii,or on your personal yacht in the Caribbean, andleisurely enjoy the fruits of your labours. Renouncingthe workaday world and taking sanyas are partof the Indian tradition. Henry Ford almost wreckedhis mega corp by staying on too long in thesaddle. Many Indian companies have faced similarproblems of their founders staying on too lateand too long. If wisdom is supposed to come withage, surely the final wisdom is to know whento quit gracefully, and not to hang around tillone is shown the door.
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CMYK
Penning a newtake-off plan
Peter Lethi took over asCOO of Jet Airways earlylast month. And, industrythinks Peter is stepping ona runway of roses, like hisearlier experience with theSwiss Airline. However, Pe-ter disagreed and toldByas Anand that this as-
signment is more challenging compared toany in the past.What will be your strategy?We are in the process of preparing a busi-ness plan aimed at helping the airlinegrow in terms of reach and marketshare,by optimising operations like drop thingsthat are redundant and have a clean base.Organisation should have a strong struc-ture with a clear decision-making processto keep us ahead of competition.What will be the basis of identifying the re-dundant areas?It will not necessarily be the ones that arenot making profits butstreamlining theoperations to make things move faster.It’s something I have done in the past. Weare still in the planning stages with thebusiness plan. To give a few examples, to-day Jet has full-fledged departments foreverything and have units that functionvery well individually. We will look atharmonising them and avoid duplicationof duties.Will there be downsizing of workforce?No. The idea is to increase productivitywith the existing workforce. We do not in-tend to give a golden handshake to theemployees but then it all depends on thekind of importance that particular staffhas and if they can be redployed some-where else.Why is Jet now in favour of discounts?The market’s changed and demand is notgrowing. We have to diversify clienteleand find new markets. The Apex and Su-per-Apex fares are just aimed at that.How much of it is driven by competition?You always have to watch competition.The customer looks at what’s there forhim and Jet will lose everything if we donot react. And we have no intention of do-ing that. We do have a premium serviceimage and our clients also want that lev-el of service, and the fact remains that de-spite these lower fares, we are not com-promising on the service.Will Jet plan a low-cost no-frills airlinewith its ATR fleet?A no-frill airline can only succeed on anintensive traffic route, and the passen-gers using such airlines do not care aboutthe on-board service. They, in fact, buy adrink before boarding. If India goes thatway, I’ll be surprised because Indians arethe most service conscious and demand-ing people. But we have to strike a healthybalance somewhere.
MONDAY FACEOFF
Peter Lethi
Fiscal opens with 8.7%rise in exports: India’s ex-ports grew 8.71 per cent to $4.34 billion in April, the firstmonth of the current fiscal,from $ 3.99 billion in the pre-vious corresponding period.The growth came despitenegative factors like the Iraqwar and SARS. Importsjumped 39.44 per cent to $5.86 billion in April 2003 from$ 4.21 billion a year ago. Ac-cording to provisional foreigntrade data, trade deficit forApril 2003 was estimated at $1.52 billion, which is higherthan the deficit of $ 212.55million last year. PTI
TCS to set up Linux Labin Delhi: Software majorTata Consultancy Services isplanning to set up a centre ofexcellence Linux laboratory inits Delhi facility where it willshowcase Linux-installed ma-chines to demonstrate the ca-pability of open source soft-ware. IBM and Computer As-sociates are already on boardfor the lab and it will be oper-ational in July this year, Gau-tam Shroff, head, architectureand technology practice,TCS, said. PTI
Anil Ambani electedsafety council chairman:Reliance Industries vice chair-man Anil Ambani has beenelected as the chairman ofthe National Safety Council,constituted by the labour min-istry. Ambani would hold theoffice of NSC chairman forthree years with effect fromMay 23, according to a recentgovernment notification. NSC,set up as an autonomousbody by ministry of labour in1966, was aimed at generat-ing, developing and sustain-ing a voluntary movement onhealth, safety and environ-ment at the national level. PTI
IT-enabled servicesexports grow 44%: Not-withstanding the proposedban on outsourcing by someAmerican states, IT-enabledservices exports from Indiahave grown 44 per cent in2002-03 over the previousyear figures and were forecastto touch Rs 72,900 crore by2008, ESC said on Sunday.Export of ITES have gone upto Rs 10,500 crore in 2002-03from Rs 7,300 crore in theprevious year, it said in astatement. The ratio of rev-enue from ITES exports tothe total IT exports is goingup, it added. PTI
E X E C U T I V E D I G E S T
NATIONAL
Air Canada pilots agreeto cost-cutting deal: AirCanada’s 3,400 pilots agreedon Sunday to a cost-cuttingdeal crucial to the insolventairline’s survival, only hoursbefore a judge was to imposea settlement that could havegrounded the country’slargest airline. Air Canadasaid the pilots agreement al-
lows the company to reach itsoverall labour cost reductiontarget and continue to re-structure under creditor pro-tection. No details of theagreement were disclosed.Air-Canada has said it needsto cut C$770 million ($560million) from its annual labourcosts and lay off 10,000 of its40,000 employees. Reuters
WPP casts eyes overUK’s Cordiant: WPP GroupPlc, one of the world’s largestadvertising firms, has joined agroup of potential bidders forsmaller British rival CordiantCommunications Plc, BritishSunday newspapers reported.Cordiant saw its share priceplunge in April after it lost a
crucial account, and analystssay a list of possible bidderswould have France’s Publicisnear the top, with WPP andU.S. advertising group Omni-com further down. Reportshave also linked U.S. hedgefund Cerebrus Capital Man-agement with a possibletakeover of Cordiant. Reuters
Sun Media sells 70%stake in TV unit: China-fo-cused broadcaster Sun MediaGroup said on Sunday it hasagreed to sell a majority stakein its TV unit to a mainlandproduction firm in a bid toboost its competitiveness inChina. The firm would sell a70 per cent stake in its satel-lite TV unit, Sun TV, to Stellar
Media Group for 80 millionyuan ($9.6 million). “As a re-sult of the emergence of moreforeign satellite channels, SunTV needs an allia-nce to bol-ster its programm-ing, capitaland advertising,” chairwomanYang Lan said. Reuters
INTERNATIONAL
International Gas Unionpresident Hiroshi Uranospeaking at the opening cer-emony of the five-day 22ndWorld Gas Conference inTokyo on Sunday. It is beingattended by about 4,800 par-ticipants from 72 economies.
CAS on time:The government cutduties on set-topboxes to ensure thatTV viewers get thegadgets at cheaperrates and on time. Information andbroadcasting ministerRS Prasad, however,still needs to sort a few things beforestakeholders take the plunge.
I N C
Today’s question: Are Indiantechies’ visa problems being
exaggerated?To vote, log on to
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
• The poll reflects the opinions of Net users who chose to participate, and not necessarily of
the general public.
Yesterday’s results: Will bigbudget Hindi movies work in
India anymore?Yes 32% No 56% Can’t say 12%
ET INSTA POLL
Topsy-turvy:Ratan Tata’s Tatagroup had mixed fortunes last week.While VSNL lostabout 40% profits inthe new ISD busi-ness, there was
comfort from Telco,which was back inthe black, and Tisco
multiplying its profits.
For a smooth sale: Suzuki chief OsamuSuzuki drove into India to flagoff Maruti’s
Rs 830 crore IPO, billed as the largest in recent years. Maruti is revving up with
high-profile roadshows, TV ads, a recordturnaround and dividend.
Spiced ham to spam: Netkicks off a new lifestyle
By Tom Zeller
In 1937, an Austin-basedcompany called HormelFoods held a contest.
Hormel’s Spiced Ham, itseems, needed a new namesomething “as distinctive asthe taste,” the company’s of-ficial history goes.
The winner was one Ken-neth Daigneau, a Broadwayactor and, ahem, brother to aHormel executive. He tookhome $100 and gave the worldSpam.
Sixty years later, Hormelwas trying to prevent thename of its product fromleaking into the popular lexi-con as a label for, of allthings, electronic junk mail.In a 1997 letter, Hormel de-manded that Sanford Wal-lace, who ran a huge bulk e-mailing business under do-main names likespamford.com and spam-ford.net, “cease and desistfrom all further use of thetrademark Spam.”
“You can more responsiblyrefer to your business as bulke-mail or by similar long-standing terminology,” theletter said.
The spammer was un-moved. “If your client objectsto the use of ‘spam’ to refer tomy client’s business,” Wal-lace’s lawyers responded,“it’s far too late to change thevocabulary of 25 million In-ternet users.”
Today, spamford.net andspamford.com are gone, butthe lawyers were right. Theterm like junk e-mail iseverywhere, including on thelips of legislators. In the lasttwo months, three separateanti-spam bills, including theRID Spam Act submitted twoweeks ago, have been intro-duced in Congress.
So how did Daigneau’scatchy contest-winningname, six decades later, cometo be invoked in Congress?
The haphazard, organicspread of the Internet makesit difficult to trace things pre-cisely. As early electronicbulletin board systems andchat networks merged andoverlapped, their cliquishslang mingled along the way,creating a lexicon that themainstream now takes asroute. Some creative sortshave suggested that net spamis actually an acronym, forsomething like SimultaneousPosting and Mailing, or, withmore of a wink, Send Phe-nomenal Amounts of Mail.But most Internet folkloristspoint to Monty Python.
“First of all, people actual-ly like the word,” said BradTempleton, the chairman ofthe Electronic Frontier
Foundation.Which is probably why the
comedy writers of MontyPython created a TV sketchin 1970 that hinged on repeti-tion of the word: “What yougot?” a restaurant customerasks. “Well,” the waitress re-sponds, “there’s egg and ba-con; egg, sausage and bacon;egg and Spam; egg, baconand Spam; egg, bacon,sausage and Spam; and soforth.
By the mid-to late 1980’s,the fan base of Monty Pythonand those who frequentedemerging chat networkscalled MUDs (for multi-userdungeons) had sufficientlymerged. “We’re not talkingabout people who were outkayaking in their free time,”said Joel K Furr, one of thoseearly non-kayakers and nowa technical trainer for IDXSystems. NYT News Service
Hormel is seeking to protect its brand Spam from net firms
PM to discuss developing economies at G-8Evian: Prime minister AtalBihari Vajpayee on Sundayjoined world’s most powerfulleaders here for an informal G-8 summit to discuss issuesrelating to less-developed anddeveloping countries, the fightagainst international terror-ism and ways to shore up afragile global economy.
The summit is organised bythe French president JacquesChirac ahead of the two-dayconference of the eight indus-trialised nations.
And, tens of thousands ofanti-globalisation activistsprepared to disrupt the sum-mit of the world’s richest na-tions here. To counter thethreat, some 25,000 police andmilitary personnel have beendeployed in Evian and justacross the Swiss border inGeneva to try to ensure thehigh-profile summit passes off
peacefully.The meet assumes signifi-
cance in the context of the up-coming ministerial meeting ofthe WTO in Mexico which willcarry forward the recommen-dations of the ministerialmeeting in Doha.
The Prime Minister is ex-pected to voice the aspirationsof the developing world as re-flected by the views expressedin fora like G-77 and NAM for alegitimate share for the devel-oping and the LDCs throughincreased access to develop-ment funds and protectionagainst protectionist meas-ures of the developed West inmatters like agriculture.
France, which is holding theG8 presidency for the fifthtime, has outlined four broadconceptual themes as prioritylike solidarity with emphasison partnerhsip for Africa’s de-
velopment, the need for busi-ness corporations to display aspirit of responsibility in thefinancial, social, environmen-tal and ethical spheres.
Chirac says G8 is not theworld’s management boardand its purpose is to providemomentum and its activitiesmust be carried out in the con-text of the international insti-tutions and a wider dialogue.
His objective was to discusshow globalisation could bemade to benefit all and pro-posed to address the theme of“responsibility” by addressingthe question of indebtednessof middle income countries byinvoking the responsibility ofindustrialised nations for ensuring development.
And, the protestors were air-ing a multitude of grievancesagainst the world’s invitation-only rich club. Agencies
AFP
Tens of thousands of anti-globalisation activists joined cross-border protests against G-8 summit.
Govt mulls ADR for MULBy Byas Anand
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Maruti is goingglobal again. Close on theheels of having bagged itsparent Suzuki’s nod to startexports to the southeastAsian markets on its own,Maruti Udyog is now ready-ing for an international list-ing. The government is con-templating an ADR issuewith the country’s largest carmaker in its second round ofsell-off, slated for next year.
According to bankingsources, who are managingthe firm’s IPO set to open onJune 12, the final decision onthe ADR issue would dependon the state of the interna-tional markets a year fromnow.
“They (government) areexploring three options now:either to exit Maruti fourmonths after the IPO by ne-gotiating a deal with Suzuki,launch another public offerafter the mandatory one-yearlock-in period or seek anADR issue after the lock-inperiod. A lot will depend onthe success of this issue,” thesources added.
Naresh Narad, secretary,department of heavy indus-tries, confirmed that the
ADR issue is among theplans being considered, “butnothing has been finalised asyet. Our idea is to broadbasethe shareholding in Marutias much as possible and al-low the general public to ownMaruti shares.”
With that intent, the gov-ernment, he said, may alsolook at hiking the offer sizein Maruti’s initial offering it-self. “We have the option tosell another 10 per cent hold-ing in Maruti in case of over-subscription. A final deci-sion on this would also betaken only after the IPO islaunched,” Narad added.
Meanwhile, the govern-ment also has the option ofhiking the offer price fromthe floor value of Rs 115 ashare, in view of the compa-
ny’s strong financial per-formance. Though bankingsources stated that the offerprice can be hiked to any-where between Rs 125-140,the government officials saidsuch a move was unlikely.
Even at the floor price ofRs 115, 7.2 crore shares put onthe block would fetch the gov-ernment about Rs 830 crore.The offer is being madethrough a 100 per cent bookbuilding route, where upto 60per cent would be offered toinstitutional buyers. At least15 per cent of the offer wouldbe given to wholesale biddersand 25 per cent to retail bid-ders. Individual investorscan buy a minimum of 100shares. The roadshows wereflagged off in Mumbai andNew Delhi late last week.
Looking ahead with ambitious plan•ADR issue will depend onthe condition of the globalmarkets
•Objective is to broadbasethe shareholding
•Offers size of Maruti IPOmight be hiked
•Floor price of of Rs 115 pershare can be hiked
Pathak is India’sface at Cannes
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: It was a close fightto the finish and at the end offour rounds, Ashish Ra-jyawardhan Pathak was thechosen one. Pathak has beenselected by The Times Group,the official representative ofCannes Lions in India, alongwith The Advertisisng Club,Bombay, as the only Indianparticipant in the prestigiousCannes Lions Academyworkshop for students.
As the Lions turn a glori-ous fifty, the Cannes Lions In-ternational Advertising Fes-tival has introduced a ‘LionsAcademy’ as a part of theFestival’s 50th Anniversarycelebrations. This Academywill provide a one-weektraining and educational pro-gramme to the best studentsfrom all over the world, whoare already studying adver-tising, marketing, communi-cation or design.
In a one-week training pro-gramme at the Festival, stu-dents will be a part of an in-tense programme of semi-nars, ad viewing and tutori-als. The Advertising Club,
Bombay will sponsor Pathak,who gets an all expense paidseven-day trip to the CannesAdvertising Festival as wellas the Cannes Lions BAScholarship involving oneweek of training underMichael Conrad, the formerWorldwide chief creative of-ficer of Leo Burnett.
The Advertising Club,Bombay had invited the ap-plications from student inMay first week of AppliedCommercial Art Course,BMM, B.Com (vocational ad-vertising) and Fine Arts De-gree Courses. The contest re-ceived several entries. Theparticipants then had to takean hour-long written test onthe topic ‘Print Ad to launcha 24-hour news channel (Eng-lish) Language to be aired allover India’.
These creatives were as-sessed by Creative Directorsof three top advertising agen-cies. Ten students were thenshort-listed for round two ofgroup discussions. The con-testants were then reduced tofour finalists who all had toface interviews conducted bya panel.
ONGC credit toHPL under probe
By Sanjay DuttaTIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The oil ministry is in a knotover the helping hand extended by two of itsflagship firms to the ailing Haldia Petro-chemicals Ltd (HPL), even as the TCG (TheChatterjee Group)-promoted venture isdragging its feet on clearing dues to anoth-er Navaratna.
At a meeting convened by oil ministerRam Naik last week to scrutinise GAIL In-dia’s recent product swap deal with HPL, atop ministry official questioned the deci-sion of ONGC to extend credit line to HPLfor supplying naphtha.
ONGC has offered HPL to supply 60,000tonnes of naphtha worth about Rs 60 croreon a three-month credit.
The official pointed out that HPL was yetto clear Rs 300 crore dues for naphthabought from IOC over a year ago. TheONGC move, soon after GAIL’s productswap deal and a promise to pump Rs 200crore for minority stake, will give HPL lee-way to delay in financial recast.
IOC started supplying naphtha to HPLonly for cash after two cheques for Rs 37.31crore bounced in October-November 2001.Though HPL had revalidated those cheques,it had requested IOC to delay encashment.
The meeting also questioned GAIL’s prod-uct swap deal with HPL. The ministry hasasked GAIL chairman Proshanto Banerjeeto explain how the deal is revenue-neutraland does not benefit HPL. It feels that thedifference in freight rates may benefit HPL.
The Times of India, New Delhi, Monday, June 2, 2003
Regional cooperationJapanese Prime Minister JunichiroKoizumi (right) and Hu Jintao, thenew president of China, are trying topromote economic cooperation andfinding ways to contain the deadlyoutbreak of SARS
Street saleChinese retailers are moving out of the storesand selling goods outdoorto attract consumers whoare still nervous to entermalls due to SARS scare
Supporting the poorGhulam Nabi Farahi, deputy trademinister of Afghanistan, is attendinga meeting of ministers from some ofthe world’s poorest nations inBangladesh to thrash out a unifiedposition on trade concessions
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B U S I N E S S T I M E S The Times of India, New Delhi18 Monday, June 2, 2003
IOC-RIL pact for product offtakeNew Delhi: State-run Indian Oil Corporation on Sunday saidit would lift petroleum products from the Jamnagar refineryof Reliance Industries for sale through its retail network tillMarch 2009 as per agreements with the private sector refiner.
“We have signed two sets of agreements with RIL and willhonour both of them. We will lift RIL products for salethrough our retail network for the entire agreement period(ending March 2009),” IOC chairman M S Ramachandransaid. RIL, which at present does not have a retail network, hadin March 2002 signed a 2-year agreement with IOC, BPCL andHPCL for selling its 13.1 million tonne produce annually. PTI
India Inc bullish: CIITIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: India Inc is bull-ish on the improvement ofbusiness prospects in thenext six months, reflectingmoderate confidence in theeconomy, according to theCII’s business confidence in-dex. The survey, conductedafter the Iraq war, relates tothe actual performance ofthe industry during October2002 and March 2003 and fore-cast for April and September2003.
Titled “CII business confi-dence index for April-Sep-tember 2003 - a weighted ag-gregate of the current situa-tion index and the expecta-tion index”, the surveynotched up 61.6 points.
Respondents were asked torate the current and expectedperformance on a scale of 0to 100. A score of above 50 in-dicates positive confidencewhile a score above 75 points
indicates strong positive con-fidence. The survey gatheredresponses from 186 membercompanies across a spectrumof industries, covering pub-lic and private sectors.
Majority of respondentsfelt GDP growth would rangebetween 5-6 per cent while 26per cent felt growth would ex-ceed 6 per cent. Over 91 percent of the respondents en-visaged a growth in produc-tion. On the export front, thesurvey noted performancewould be similar to that seenin the last six months. About
66 per cent said they were ex-pecting demand, in volumeterms, to increase in next sixmonths.
In the past six months, 15per cent realised lower val-ues for their exports in rupeeterms. Over 17 per cent fore-see a decline in the value ofexports in rupee terms in thenext six months.
Majority of respondents(58 per cent) felt that the ex-change rate over the last sixmonths was correctly val-ued. Those (20 per cent) whoopined that the rupee was notvalued correctly said the cur-rency should be valuedagainst the $ at Rs 42-45.
Only a small percentage offirms are expected to witnessa decline in profits while 40per cent are expected to expe-rience no change in their bot-tomlines. Power situationwas rated as the most vexingproblem for industry with arating of 1.8 on a scale of 1-6.
Should financeministry shootits mouth off?
By J Mulraj
Had it happened in aprivate company,there would have
been a clamour for investiga-tion. On May 29, Bloombergquoted a statement from aspokesperson in the financeministry to the effect that thegovernment would not beseeking market relatedprices when public sectorbanks returned excess capi-tal to them. Those fortunateenough to have a Bloombergterminal and smart enoughto transact, witnessed a spurtin price on high volumes inseveral bank counters. Inci-dentally, the price sensitiveinformation appeared duringmarket hours. Two days later,another statement (issued af-ter Friday closing; the impactof which would be felt onlyon Monday) stated that thegovernment would, in fact,ask for market prices. Thisincident raises quite a few is-sues.
One relates to market sen-sitive information, at leastfor the larger companies, in-cluding declaration of re-sults and earnings guidance.It would be worth consider-ing a move to declare results,at least of the larger compa-nies, on a Saturday morning,when global markets areclosed. In fact, the corporatesector should do this suomoto, in the interest of trans-parency. Other price sensi-tive news, whether releasedby companies or by officials,should be after market hours,so that no investor is disad-vantaged.
A few years ago, the gov-ernment had pumped in ex-tra capital to recapitalisepublic sector banks whichfell short of the norms re-quired by the Basle accord.This was done without anycash outflow; the govern-ment issued 10 per cent Re-capitalisation bonds to thebanks, and took equity capi-tal of equal value in ex-change. Subsequently, thebanks performed well andtheir capital adequacy ratiosare healthy (e.g. CorporationBank 18.5 per cent, OrientalBank of Commerce 14.0 andBank of Baroda 12.6).
During the past two years,some banks returned capital,at a price which took intoconsideration both the inter-est earned by the bank at 10per cent and the dividendpaid out by them. This for-mula still persists; why, then,was the statement issued thatthe government seeks mar-ket prices?
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•GDP will grow at 5-6%
•Export performancewill remain same
•Rupee correctly valued
•Power situation is themost vexing problem
Confidence vote
India 2nd bestexotic touristspot: SurveyBangkok: India hasbeen listed as the secondbest “exotic tourist des-tination” that peoplewould like to visit, ac-cording to a recent sur-vey.
The country alsoranked third amongstthe nations truly repre-senting Asia, the surveyconducted by KelloggSchool of Managementat Northwestern Uni-versity in the US andSasin School of Busi-ness Administration ofThailand, said.
Thailand topped thelist of “exotic” holidayspots followed by India,China and Egypt, it said.Thailand was the onlyAsian country, rankedat third position, amongtop 10 tourist destina-tions in the world as thefirst places that came topeople’s mind, said thesurvey. Agencies
VSNL IPLC volumes tripple in FY03: Videsh Sanchar NigamLtd’s (VSNL) Internet private leaseline circuit (IPLC) bookings trippledin the financial year ended March 31, 2003, with data traffic account-ing for over 25 per cent of its revenue. The Internet private leaselinecircuit segment has grown significantly during the fiscal, due to anincrease in call centre operations and software developments in In-dia, apart from the country becoming a back office for outsourcingoperations”, VSNL head for corporate business VS Shridhar said onSunday. The Tata group firm’s 64Kbps equivalent IPLC circuit bookings grew to 35,712 circuitsin the fiscal 2003. PTI
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B U S I N E S S T I M E SThe Times of India, New Delhi Monday, June 2, 2003 19
Dossier fuels speculationon sale of Fayed’s Harrods
By William Lewis and Matthew Goodman
Asecret due-diligence documenton Harrods has valued theKnightsbridge department
store owned by Mohamed al-Fayed atno more than £552m.
Using the code name Project Hon-eydukes, the document, which is cir-culating among potential acquirersof or investors in Harrods and hasbeen seen by the Sunday Times, saysthat the store’s value could be as lowas £112m. The seven-page detailedanalysis was put together by a bank-ing team given access to Harrods andits accounts for three days.
The revelation of the document isthe most serious indication yet ofFayed’s desire either to sell the com-pany or raise new finance. Aspokesman said, ‘‘We have not com-missioned anyone to prepare a valu-ation of Harrods. We know nothing
of this report.’’ However, sourceswho have been passed the due-dili-gence document say that it was pre-sented to them as Fayed-authorised
due-diligence and an accurate reflec-tion of Harrods’ trading perform-ance. The document is unsigned.
Over the past few months therehave been a number of reports abouttalks between Fayed and retail andproperty companies. The most re-cently published accounts for Har-rods are for the year to February 2,2002, and the leaked document showshow it has continued to operate in atough trading environment.
The document focuses on a partic-ular measure of financial perform-ance known as EBITDA. It found thatfor the 52 weeks to August 31, 2002EBITDA was £12.8m behind budget,and the forecast for the year to Janu-ary 2003 was £44m , £ 4.7m less thanbudgeted. Putting this £44m of EBIT-DA on a multiple of ten times, lessnet debt of £327.2m, values Harrodsat £ 112.8m. On a multiple of twentytimes, the company is worth£552.8m. The Sunday Times, London
Mobile firmsmake money,but not from 3GAfter the battering that
the share prices ofmobile-phone compa-
nies have received, their lat-est financial results havebeen more encouraging.Vodafone, a British-head-quartered company with op-erations in 28 countries,recorded a 33 per cent jumpin revenues for the year end-ing in March of $50 billion.Japan Telecom returned toprofit thanks to good resultsat its J-Phone mobile arm.And revenues at mmO2, for-merly the mobile arm ofBritain’s BT, rose 14 percent. But all three havemade money by pushingmore services through ex-isting phone technology.The so-called third-genera-tion (3G) technology, onwhich mobile operatorshave spent $100 billion on li-cence fees alone, has proveddifficult to implement.
Some operators haverecognised that they willnever recoup the vast sumssquandered on 3G licencesand have either written offthe amounts spent or simplywithdrawn from the market.In its annual figures, an-nounced on May 21st,mmO2 wrote off pound6 bil-lion relating to the cost ofits licences in Britain andGermany. Last year,Deutsche Telekom wrotedown euro2.2 billion relatedto the 3G licences.
Vodafone has yet to writedown any of its 3G licencefees. Its existing data servic-es, including text messag-ing, are doing well, generat-ing a 73 per cent jump in rev-enue in the year to March.
It is now pinning its hopeson Vodafone live!, a newrange of multimedia hand-sets offering services suchas picture messaging, ring-tones and game-downloadservices. This does not runon 3G technology. Voda-fone’s thinking appears tobe that customers have noidea what 3G stands for, so itis better simply to sell themthe add-on services thatthey want, and then en-hance these as and when 3G
comes on stream.A key question in Europe
is whether the correct 3Gstandard was chosen. Dur-ing the 1990s, Europe spedahead of the US in mobile-phone usage because allcountries adopted the sametechnology, making it possi-ble to roam using one hand-set, something that can stillbe frustratingly difficult inthe US. Europe decided tofollow the same approach inmoving to the third genera-tion of mobile-phone tech-nology. But Telefsnica hassaid that the 3G standardchosen does not allow a sys-tem that is stable or cheapenough to compete with ex-isting technologies. Eu-rope’s 3G is based on a tech-nology called W-CDMA,whereas experience inJapan suggests that a rivaltechnology, CDMA mayhave the edge. The 3G serv-ice of Japan’s NTT DoCo-Mo, using W-CDMA, wasslow to take off, while itscompetitor KDDI, usingCDMA, gained customersmore easily.
Emerging from Americaare signs that what is loose-ly called 4G technology —basically a form of wirelessbroadband could allow mo-bile users to leapfrog 3G.
Even before voice capabil-ity is added, 4G offers the al-lure of really fast web surf-ing and e-mail. Cellphoneoperators and handsetmarkers are already fight-ing off an attack on anotherfront, from Microsoft. Thesoftware giant is trying toestablish the sort of domi-nant position in the marketfor cellphone software thatit enjoys in the PC market.
Mobile operators are un-der intense pressure fromeach other, from Microsoft,and, especially in Europe,from regulators eager to cutthe cost of roaming. Theywill not be able to continuethe sort of revenue growththey have enjoyed recently,without offering somethingnew for which consumersare prepared to pay a premium. The Economist
Reuters
Anwar-ul-Haq, governor of Afghanistan Bank, addresses anews conference in Karachi on Saturday. Afghanistan’sCentral bank plans to allow foreign commercial banks toopen branches as it strives to reorganise the country’s battered financial sector.
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Harrods in London, called by many asthe best store under the Sun.
SBI networks ATMs: SBI has completed the networking of1,600 ATMs of the State Bank group comprising SBI and its sev-en associates. The facility becomes operative Sunday. The groupATM network, available free of charge to its customers, coversmore than 460 cities across the country, it said. PTI
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B U S I N E S S T I M E S The Times of India, New Delhi20 Monday, June 2, 2003
AP
South Korean president Roh Moo-Hyun (right) and US commerce secretary Donald Evanssaid in Seoul on Saturday that the US and South Korea are ‘highly unlikely’ to negotiate adeal that could prevent tariffs on exports from two South Korean computer-chip makers.
Mahindra profit surges 50%TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The spirallingdemand for its home-grownsports utility vehicle Scorpioand a host of cost-cutting ini-tiatives helped the country’soldest surviving utility vehi-cle maker Mahindra andMahindra (M&M) post a 50per cent surge in profits forthe 2002-03 fiscal.
The company posted a netprofit of Rs 145.53 crore dur-ing the year as against Rs96.91 crore a year earlier,while its total income rose toRs 3,811.78 crore from Rs3,320.31 crore.
Buoyed by the surge in per-formance, the board of direc-tors of the company recom-mended 55 per cent dividendfor the year with a total outgoof Rs 71.98 crore.
Besides a growth in overallsales, the company’s finan-cials got a boost from a divi-dend income of Rs 58.72crore during the year. The in-crease was mainly due to sig-nificant dividends received
from Mahindra British Tele-com Ltd and M&M FinancialServices Ltd. It also postedan exceptional profit of Rs57.66 crore during the cur-rent year, primarily from thesale by its share holding inMahindra Sintered ProductsLimited to its joint venturepartner GKN Plc.
Its gross sales and incomefrom operations for the yearstood at Rs 4,517.14 crore asagainst Rs 3,949.52 crore ayear ago, while net sales andoperating income during theyear was Rs 3,732.12 crore,registering a growth of 14per cent year-on-year.
Though its automotivebusiness recorded majorgains, the agri-equipmentand tractor business was af-fected due to adverse factorslike low farm incomes, un-favourable terms of tradeand a truant monsoon. As aresult, the company’s tractorsales during the year slippedto 47,028 units from 58,006tractors sold a year earlier.
But exports, particularlyto the US, registered ahealthy growth during theyear. It expressed confidencethat the healthy trends of2002-03 in its auto businesswill continue in the currentfiscal, though the state ofagricultural economy is notexpected to improve.
Indian shares steady aheadMumbai: Shares in consumer goods firms and auto makersare expected to gain this week as traders hope for improvedmonsoon rains, which are crucial for strong demand in thefarm-dependent economy, brokers said on Sunday.
‘‘Most negatives are out of the way and if we are blessedwith sufficient rains, it could spur a rally,’’ said Vipul Dalal,the CEO with brokerage IL&FS Investsmart India. Offshorefunds have started to build positions on hopes that adequaterains in the four-month southwest monsoon. Reuters
Russians prefercash over cardsMoscow: Bank card use inRussia has skyrocketed inthe past year, but analystshere say that is not neces-sarily a sign that Russianshave been able to weanthemselves from the secu-rity offered by hard cash.
State-owned Sberbank,Russia’s largest bank inwhich two-thirds of thecountry’s population keepprivate accounts, issued 57per cent more bank cardsover the past 12 months,reaching some five millionpeople.
There are some 15 mil-lion cards currently circu-lating in Russia and half ofthem are internationalVisa or Mastercards, ac-cording to Andrew Keeley,an analyst with the Re-naissance Capital invest-ment bank.
“Banks issued Visacards with a frantic speed”over the past year, saidBrian Huckett, deputyhead of Visa Internation-al’s development depart-ment. The number of Visacards issued in Russia in2002 doubled reaching 5.1million cards.
But for a country with apopulation of 145 million“this is still just a drop inthe ocean,” noted MaximBuylov, a specialist on theissue for respected busi-ness daily Kommersant.
While credit card useshot up to $6.8 billion dol-lars last year, that is stillnothing compared to
Poland, where twice thenumber of people holdVisa cards and used themto spend $989 billion lastyear, Visa’s Huckett said.
And while internationalgroups Mastercard andVisa hold half of the Russ-ian market, the other halfbelongs firmly to domesticRussian cards, mainlyused for cash withdrawals.
But even that was a rari-ty in Russia just a couple ofyears ago, with Russiansstill reeling from the 1998financial meltdown.
Russians are thought tostash an estimated 75 bil-lion dollars and most con-tinue to pay for propertyand large purchases incash, while banks hold just30 billion dollars in privateaccounts.
Russian businesses,such as mining giant No-rilsk Nickel, often gavetheir employees ATMcards to retrieve theirsalaries, aiming to simpli-fy accounting practicesand save money by makingredundant workers whomanned cash registershanding out pay.
A Baltisky bank officialsays that this system is themain reason why card usein Russia has increased.
The government is alsopushing citizens towardsusing cards, paying stateworkers directly and handing over studentgrants through bank accounts. Reuters
APEC meet torevive tourismKhon Kaen (Thailand):Trade ministers of Asia-Pa-cific countries meet thisweek to sign off on an emer-gency plan to revive the re-gion’s tourism industry andother businesses that havebeen hard hit by the SARSoutbreak.
Ministers from the 21-member Asia Pacific Eco-nomic Cooperation (APEC)will also discuss ways to payfor increased security inshipping and air travel be-cause of terrorism fears.
Growth rates across Asiahave dropped because of thedisease — Hong Kong by 1.8per cent, Singapore by 1.1,Taiwan by 0.9 and China by0.2 per cent.
Fears of SARS have evenaffected countries that havenot had major outbreaks. AP
Handicraftstarget $3.5 bexports by ’08New Delhi; Envisaging ex-ports of $3.5 billion by 2007-08, the handicrafts industryhas devised a long-term planfor development and exportsin the sector. The plan alsoaims at an integrated mar-keting approach includinguse of different handicraftmaterials to prepare com-posite articles for exports.
“Various strategies havebeen outlined to achieve the$3.5 billion annual exporttarget in five years includ-ing filling up of critical in-frastructural gaps, updatingof marketing techniquesand improvement in packag-ing,” executive director ofExport Promotion Councilfor Handicrafts (EPCH),Rakesh Kumar said. PTI
State Bank of Indore net upNew Delhi: State Bank of In-dore targets almost 30 percent growth in business thisfiscal after posting a net prof-it growth of 60 per cent at Rs200.32 crore in the last fiscal.
Its deposits grew by 16.40per cent to Rs 8,217 crorewhile advances was up by 21per cent to Rs 4,285 crore. PTI
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•Spiralling demand forits SUV Scorpio andcost-cutting measureshave pushed profits up
•The board of directorshas recommended 55% dividend for theyear with a total outgo of Rs 71.98 crore
•Despite major gains, its agri-equipment and tractor business was hitby low farm incomes,unfavourable terms oftrade and a truant monsoon
On a high
Paris:Defending champion Sere-na Williamsemerged un-scathed froma first-setscare and anasty spill tobeat Japan’sAi Sugiyama7-5 6-3 onSunday in
the fourth round at the FrenchOpen.
The match was much more ar-duous than Williams’ 6-0 6-0 vic-tory over Barbara Schett in theprevious round. This timeWilliams was down a servicebreak twice in the first set butrallied from a 4-2 deficit.
Andre Agassi advanced to thequarter-finals by beating FlavioSaretta 6-2 6-1 7-5.
Williams was down a servicebreak twice in the first set butrallied from a 4-2 deficit. She es-caped injury in the sixth gamewhen she slipped on the claychasing a shot and tumbled intothe net, landing hard on her leftside.
The victory was the 32nd in arow in Grand Slam events forWilliams, who has beaten sisterVenus in the past four major fi-nals. Her opponent in the quar-ter-finals on Tuesday will beFrenchwoman Amelie Maures-mo, who upset Williams in theRome semi-final May 17.
Mauresmo, seeded fifth, ad-vanced by beating Magui Serna6-1 6-2. American Chanda Rubin,
seeded eighth, reached the quar-ter finals at Roland Garros forthe third time by beating PetraMandula 4-6 6-2 7-5. Rubin nextplays No. 4 Justine Henin-Hardenne, who defeated No. 19Patty Schnyder 6-3 2-6 6-2.
In the final third-round
match, three-time championGustavo Kuerten beat No. 21Gaston Gaudio 7-6 (7/1) 7-5 5-7 6-3. The match was suspendedmidway through the third setyesterday because of darkness.
No. 4 Carlos Moya, the 1998champion, beat No. 13 Jiri No-
vak 7-5 6-3 6-2. He’ll next faceDutchman Martin Verkerk, whoupset No. 11 Rainer Schuettler 6-3 6-3 7-5. Verkerk had never wona Grand Slam match cominginto the tournament.
Saretta entered his matchagainst Agassi bothered by a
sore muscle in his rear, and hetwice required treatment duringchangeovers. The injury leftSaretta with little chanceagainst Agassi, who was sosharp that in one game he land-ed winners not just in both cor-ners, but on them.
Saretta, forced far out of posi-tion during one rally, offered hisracket to a spectator even beforeAgassi finished off the point.During the ensuing changeover,the colourful Brazilian kept theball in the air by repeatedlybouncing it off the top of thefeet, desperate to give the centre-court crowd its money’s worth.
On another sunny, steamy day,with temperatures passing 30degrees Celsius, Williamsworked harder than she wanted.
After winning every game inher previous match, the top-seeded American lost seven ofthe first eight points againstSugiyama, a 10-year tour veteranseeded 16th.AP
CMYK
Why won’t I carry on in mychosen sport? I am a nation-al level swimmer studyingin the 11th standard and willdefinitely pursue it. Confi-dence building, competitivespirit and team work aretraits that I have learntthrough sports and I amsure they will act as a boonfor me in the long run. RichaMishra, the golden dolphin,who won more than Rs. 30lakhs at the recently con-cluded National Games inHyderabad and is presentlyundergoing training in Hun-gary, and Rakhi Mehra whois on a Rhodes scholarshipto Oxford are role models forall of us to emulate.
—Manasi Pritam
The elitist nature of polohas prevented talent from
blooming. Being an expen-sive and time consuminggame, the masses can not betapped easily. The case inpoint is Manipur where thegame is played like any oth-er game in villages on localponies. If we bring in excel-lence, the question of thegame being a paying onewill be taken care of sooneror later. Talent hunting fromthe remote areas of Ma-nipur and exposing them tostandard horses should bethe first step to resurrect thequality of the game to beginwith.
—Poornima Konsam
Facilities and elite coachingalone will not create thegreat sporting nation peoplewant. What builds a sportingnation is the recognitionthat sport is an essential partof life for the whole commu-nity and brings with ithealth, entertainment aswell as social benefits. Startinvesting in school sport pro-grammes, provide a strong
basis for community sportand you will see elitesport improve by leaps andbounds.
—Karrinjeet Singh-Mahil
Politics should be kept atbay while dealing withsports activities. Appropri-ate environment, trans-parency in selection, goodtraining, giving respect tosportsmen are some of theareas where its managershave to play a pivotal role toensure development. In-stead of depending on gov-ernment support, there isneed to have true marketing
managers at national andinternational levels to getsponsorship for organisingand rewarding sportsmen.An autonomous SportsFund Organisation shouldbe mooted.
—H.R. Bangia
In nutshell, our sportsper-sons lack absolute passionto realise their highest po-tential and the intense de-sire required to excel. Oursport administrators fail toinspire and encourage thebest out of our sportsper-sons. We lack an enviro-ment that promotes teamspirit while encouragingfreedom of expression. Andwe lack innovative thinkingand knowledge sharing toachieve excellence.
—Balaji K.
Why won’t I carry on in my chosen sport?
Dravid joins Scottish side:Dravid scored 25 on his debut forScotland against Hampshire in theSunday league before being caughtoff former England bowler Alan Mul-laly. Wasim Akram bowled eight tightovers for Hampshire claiming two for23. The Scots were 181 for seven inthe 43rd over. Dravid arrived in Scot-land on Wednesday accompaniedby wife Vijeta and will play 12 One-day games for Scotland. “I supposeyou could call (the summer withsaltires) an extended honeymoon,with a bit of work as well. Everyonetells me Scotland is beautiful andhopefully we will get a chance to seeit,” the Indian vice-captain said. “Iam also looking forward to meetingeveryone and getting to know theculture,” Dravid, with a Test averageof more than 50, was quoted as say-ing in The Independent on Sunday.PTI
Johnson gets England call:Somerset seamer Richard Johnsonwas called into England’s 12-mansquad on Saturday for next week’ssecond Test against Zimbabwe atthe Riverside. Johnson and JamesKirtley - who was in the squad forEngland’s innings and 92 run win inthe first Test at Lord’s but did notplay - will compete for the place leftvacant by Matthew Hoggard’s injury.Squad: Nasser Hussain (Essex, capt), James An-derson (Lancashire), Mark Butcher (Surrey), AshleyGiles (Warwickshire), Stephen Harmison (Durham),Robert Key (Kent), James Kirtley (Sussex), RichardJohnson (Somerset), Anthony McGrath (Yorkshire),Alec Stewart (Surrey, wkt), Marcus Trescothick(Somerset), Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire).AFP
Vengsarkar to continue: Buoyedby their recent Ranji Trophy triumph,the Mumbai Cricket Association(MCA) has decided to continue withformer India captain Dilip Vengsarkaras the chairman of the selectioncommittee for Mumbai team. “Theother three selectors would be formerIndian paceman Raju Kulkarni andex-Ranji players Abdul Ismail andSanjay Patil, MCA joint secretary ProfRatnakar Shetty said. Vengsarkar isalso the vice-president of MCA.PTI
Zimbabwe struggle: Middlesexpiled on the agony for strugglingZimbabwe on Saturday by piling uptheir highest-ever score against atouring team in Shenley, England. Acombination of sultry conditions anda flat track saw the Zimbabweans’attack punished for a second day asPaul Weekes became Middlesex’ssecond centurion of the match.AFP
Michael Ballack of Bayern Munichcelebrates after scoring from thepenalty spot against Kaiser-slautern in the German SoccerCup final in Berlin on Saturday.
AFP
SPORTS DIGEST
I am exhausted at havingto go to and fro between
Milan and Madrid. I hardlysee Ronny. We virtually
live separate lives.
— Ronaldo’s wife MileneDomingues
INDIAN SPORT
SLEEPINGGIANT
Results: Women’s singles (4th round): 1-SerenaWilliams (USA) bt 16-Ai Sugiyama (JPN) 7-5,6-3; 4-Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL) bt 19-Patty Schnyder (SWI) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2; 5-AmelieMauresmo (FRA) bt Magui Serna (ESP) 6-1, 6-2Men’s singles (4th round)Martin Verkerk (NED) bt 11-Rainer Schuettler(GER) 6-3, 6-3, 7-53rd round: 15-Gustavo Kuerten (BRA) bt 21-Gaston Gaudio (ARG) 7-6 (7/1), 7-5, 5-7, 6-3;Carlos Moya (x4, ESP) bt Jiri Novak (x13, Cze)7-5, 6-3, 6-2. Andre Agassi (x2, US bt FlavioSaretta (BRZ) 6-2, 6-1, 7-5.
Results
Aussies tame fighting IndiaPerth:India squandered an early leadand conceded two goals in the last fiveminutes to suffer a 1-2 defeat againstAustralia in the final of the three-na-tion invitational hockey tournamenthere on Sunday.
Dominating the proceedings fromthe beginning, India took the lead inthe 12th minute when veteran strikerBaljit Singh Dhillon converted a shortcorner.
Despite outshining the hosts formost part of the game, the visitorsfailed to hold their nerve when it mat-tered most — conceding two goals in aspan of five minutes in the dying min-utes.
First it was Jamie Dwyer whoequalised from a short corner in the65th minute before Michael McCannscored an opportunistic goal a minutebefore the final whistle to notch up athrilling win for the home side.
The rain-marred match witnessedmuch drama in the dying momentswhen a charging Kanwalpreet Singhfailed to clear a Nathan Eglingtonshot near the goalmouth as he slippedin a bid to stop the ball.
McCann, waiting near the post,wasted no time in banging in the win-ner much to the delight of the homecrowd.
A disappointed Indian coach Rajin-der Singh said after the match that de-spite the loss his team deserves praisefor playing brilliantly throughout thetournament.
“We played really well though wewere unfortunate to concede the goalin the last moment. I am quite happywith the way the boys played today,”he said This was India’s second lossagainst Australia in the four-teamcompetition, which also featured Pak-istan and Australia ‘A’.
India, looking confident after their2-0 win against arch-rivals Pakistanon Saturday, called the shots in thefirst half as they denied their rivalstrikers, particularly Tory Elder andEglington, any space to play.
“Though we are putting stress onplaying aggressively, the defenders
did their job pretty well. They gavethe confidence to the strikers to maketheir move without worrying muchabout the counter-attacks,” said Ra-
jinder Singh.The visitors, playing an attacking
game from the beginning, created fewopportunities and dominated the
game throughout the first half andmost part of the second half. Just be-fore Dhillon’s goal, India muffed up anopportunity to take the lead whenGagan Ajit Singh shot straight at goal-keeper Mark Hickman.
Australia also came close to scoringwhen Dwyer hit wide after Eglingtonhad done all the spadework.
The hosts had to wait for 53 minutesto get the equaliser. Their increasing-ly frantic search ended when a shortcorner routine gave Dwyer the chanceto hit high over keeper DeveshChauhan.
The two teams will proceed to Syd-ney along with Pakistan and Aus-tralia ‘A’ for the second leg of the meet,which will begin on Wednesday.
The Indian coach said he was confi-dent of his team performing better atSydney.
“I am satisfied with the perform-ance today though we lost the match.The players are playing really well atthe moment but we need to improve incertain areas. We are working on thataspect.
“The boys are performing betterwith every outing. And we will defi-nitely play better in Sydney,” said Ra-jinder Singh.
India, who have come to the tourna-ment to experiment with a few thingsincluding reverting to the attackingstyle of hockey, are using the matcheshere to fine-tune their skill for the up-coming Champions Trophy in Ams-terdam and next year’s AthensOlympics.
Earlier, Grant Schubert scoredtwice for Australia ‘A’ as Pakistancrashed to their fourth successive de-feat to finish last in the tournament.
In the third place play-off at thePerth Hockey stadium, Pakistansquandered a 1-0 lead to lose the tie 2-1 after Schubert scored his goalswithin two minutes late into the sec-ond half. Pakistan took the lead inthe 50th minute through MohammedSaqlain before Schubert settled theissue with two goals in the 65th and67th minutes.PTI
AP
Australia’s Bevan George(R) and India’s Dhanraj Pillay vie for ball during the finalof the three-nationa hockey tournament in Perth on Sunday.
We have a scoreto settle with theKiwis, says WrightBangalore: Serving a warning to New
Zealand ahead of theirtour to India in September,cricket coach John Wrighton Sunday indicated thatSourav Ganguly’s boyswere keen to avenge thethrashing they received atthe hands of the Kiwisduring their last series.
“We have got a fewscores to settle (with NewZealand). We are lookingforward to it,” Wright said
on India’s two Test series against NewZealand at home.
“Obviously, lead-up will be given. Sure, wewill be well prepared. I have to talk to the(BCCI) President (Jagmohan Dalmiya) aboutthe lead-up programme along with the selec-tors. I am looking forward to the lead-upprogamme and playing programme,” hesaid.
Pointing out that India had a good recordat home, Wright said his team would workhard and be well prepared. “Obviously theboys had some time off (after the World Cup)and they should be hungry (for runs and tak-ing wickets)”.
On India’s four Test series against Aus-tralia in December-January, Wright said “Weare going to have to raise the level of game.We need to get results”.
Asked how he feels when India takes onNew Zealand, the former Kiwi captain said,“My job is to coach India. My job is on behalfof the (Indian) team and people here to getresults for India. That’s the only way I haveto think about it”.
Regarding reports that Javagal Srinathwas mulling retirement from Test cricket,Wright said it was the fast bowler’s personaldecision.
“At the end of the day, Sri is big enoughand old enough to make the decisions him-self ”, said Wright, who was here to assistSandeep Patil, coach of the India ‘A’ teamwhich is touring England from June 22 to Au-gust three.The 18-day coaching camp for Shiv SundarDas-led India A began in Chinnaswamy Sta-dium on Sunday. PTI
ICC ponders WorldCup games for USNew York: The ICC is look-ing into the possibility ofAmerica hosting some gamesat the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
The West Indies will be theofficial host of the 2007 WorldCup. Nine members of theICC Development Committeeand seven delegates from theUSA Cricket Association, in-cluding president Atul Rai,from Los Angeles, met hereover the past two days dis-cussing the potential growthof cricket in the UnitedStates.
“The ICC has been lookingat the option of fast trackingcricket development in the USand this includes the possibil-ity of some 2007 matches be-ing played in the US,” An-
drew Eade, the ICC’s GlobalDevelopment Manager said .
The ICC Executive, whichhas 13 members, will meet onJune 20 in London to discussthe meetings held here.
“The ICC believes crickethas a lot of potential in theUS. It has about 8,000 playingthe games,” said Eade.
The ICC is anxious to de-velop cricket in the US and isprepared to help providecoaches and inject funds toimprove facilities and venues.
Former American cricketcaptain Zamin Amin, of NewYork, was excited about theprospect of the ICC helpingcricket grow and the possibil-ity of 2007 World Cup gamesbeing played here. AFP
Wright
TENNISFrench Open: Men’s Singles
Juan Carlos Ferrero 6/4Andre Agassi 4/1Carlos Moya 9/2
G Coria 7/1Gustavo Kuerten 8/1
(as per ladbrokes.com)
BETTING METER
Ten Sports: 1530 hrs: French Open Tennis Champi-onships (Day 8).
LIVE ON TV
Serena survives a scare; Agassi wins
Players, parents, administrators and enthusiasts have all respond-ed to Times Sport’s campaign to understand why the giant contin-ues to slumber. We have received views ranging from the radical to
the reserved. A few of these are carried below.
AP
The Times of India, New Delhi, Monday, June 2, 2003
Zaheer getting readyZaheer Khan is getting ready totackle the Australian “onfield aggression” when they visit India inDecember. The Baroda speedsterplans to do that by undergoing aspecial fitness programme
Srikkanth’s debutKris Srikkanth will make his silverscreen ‘debut’ as a coach in theTamil film Periyamana Tozhi, starring Madhavan which will be releasednext month. He says, it would be his“first and last” appearance in films
Barca’s bid for BecksBarcelona are hoping to lure DavidBeckham to the Nou Camp by puttinga $49.4m price tag on the Man Unitedstar. United have accepted the offerbut a formal bid will be put only afterthe election of club’s new president
Serena, Mauresmo to meet in French Open women’s singles quaterfinals
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Paes to faceBhupathi inquarterfinalsNew Delhi: Former team-mates Leander Paes and Ma-hesh Bhupathi will face offin a quarter-final showdownof the men’s doubles event ofthe French Open after both ofthem comfortably won theirthird round matches todaywith their respective part-ners.
Bhupathi combined withMax Mirnyi of Belarus tobeat the Czech pair of Fran-tisek Cermak and Leos Friedl6-3 6-2, according to informa-tion received here.
Earlier Leander Paes andhis Czech Republic partner,Rikl, beat the US pair of RickLeach and Brian MacPhie 3-66-2 6-1 to enter the third roundon Saturday. Later, the fifthseeded pair of Paes andDavid Rikl defeated the teamof Joshua Eagle of Australiaand Jared Palmer of UnitedStates, the ninth seeds, 6-2 6-0.
Paes and Bhupathi had to-gether won this tournamentin 1999 when they reachedthe finals of all the fourGrand Slam events. India’schallenge in the girls section(junior) at the Roland Gar-ros, however, got off to a poorstart with Sanaa Bhambricrashing to Marine Giraudof France in the first round.The local girl won 7-5 6-2.AP
INDIANS IN PARIS
Serena Williams slips during her match against Ai Sugiyama in the fourth round of the French Open atRoland Garros stadium on Sunday.
WI restrictAustraliaSt George’s (Grenada):Darren Lehmann scored un-beaten 70 as Australia were160 for five after 39 overagainst West Indies in the 7thand final One-dayer here onSunday after Australian cap-tain Ricky Ponting won thetoss and decided to bat.Australia, who have alreadywon the series 4-2, madethree changes to their team,beaten by three wickets inthe sixth match here on Fri-day.
Batsman Jimmy Maher,spinner Nathan Hauritz andpaceman Andy Bichel wereleft out making way forMichael Clarke, Ian Harveyand Glenn McGrath.
The West Indies were un-changed in their quest to winthe last three games. AFP
CMYK
T I M E S S P O R T The Times of India, New Delhi22 Monday, June 2, 2003
CAPITAL SPORTJadeja shines: An unbeat-en century by Jadeja en-abled ONGC beat Sonnet by93 runs to enter the fiinal inthe Lala Raghubir Singhcricket tournament. ONGC 294 for 5 in 40 overs (Jadeja 101not out, Sunil Joshi 53 not out, SandeepSharma 51, Gagan Khoda 33) beat Son-net 201 in 39.5 overs (Mayank Sidana58, Salil Oberoi 32,, Rajeev Rathore 4 for25, Sunil Joshi 3 for 36).
Anshul claims three: Inthe Laxman Dass memorialcricket tournament, AnshulLamba bowled a deadly spellof 3 for 22 to guide Air Saharato a convincing 60 run victoryover Rajdhani Sports. Air Sahara: 218 in 39.3 overs (Suren-der Dyma 58) Rajdhani Sports: 158 in35.5 overs (Sanjay Verma 47, AnshulLamba 3 for 22, Jagjeet Singh 3 for 27).
Omant hits ton: OmantJaysingh hit a century asSarojini Nagar Gymkhanascored a thumping 337 runvictory over St. Columbus inthe DDCA U-15 tournament. Sarojini Nagar Gym: 386 for 8 in 40overs (Omant Jaysingh 102, PrateekVadera 78, Rahul Yadav 51, Neeraj
Bansal 50) St. Columbus: 49 in 14.3overs (Prateek 3 for 11) Gaurav Jangra3 for 19).
Hot weather cricket:Nischal Gaur’s strokes rosehigher than the mercury inthe celcius scale en route toan unbeaten 104 in a pre-quarterfinal match of theDDCA Hot Weather crickettournament here. His centurypropelled Bright Club to a 7-wicket victory over RCN.RCN: 174 all out in 39 overs (Ankit 46,Firasat 44; Sanjay 3/35), Bright Club:175 for 3 in 27.1 overs (Nischal Gaur104 n.o, Siddharth 37, Nishant 30 n.o.)
South Delhi win: SouthDelhi Club scored a 48 runvictory against Patel NagarGymkhana in a first roundmatch of the Madhao RaoScindia memorial crickettournament here.South Delhi Club: 226 for 9 in 30overs (Narender Bhandari 65, Sunil Ku-mar 62, L Kant 60; Sandeep Kumar3/22, Daulat Ram 3/26, Rajesh 3/34),Patel Nagar Gymkhana: 178 all out in21.3 overs (Sandeep Kumar 45, KamalKumar 36; Tej Pal Singh 4/29, NarenderBhandari 3/24).
Spinners’ yarns
I t’s not always that the authoritiescome out proactive. Mostly theywake up at the eleventh hour or
even later. And remind us of the Bolly-wood flicks where cops invariably ar-rive after all the action is complete.Anyway, reserve your kudos for the In-dian cricket board who have strung to-
gether a spinners panel to revive theart of spin in the country.
The dearth of quality spinnersseems to be spreading across the globe.May be faster than the race to acquiresophisticated arms has! Shane Warne,Stuart MacGill, Muthiah Muralitha-ran, Harbhajan Singh, Daniel Vettori,Saqlain Mushtaq are just a handful.Okay, that can be swollen with theKenyan fledgling Collins Obuya.
With people as illustrious as BishanSingh Bedi, S. Venkataraghavan, Era-palli Prasanna and BS Chandrasekharon the panel, hopefully India can see anew breed of trundlers who can betrusted to use flight, spin and guile toget the batsmen out. Besides, the boardalso needs someone who can freshenup the mindset of a budding spinner.
With sports psychologist Sandy Gor-don proving of immense worth to the
India senior team, it won’t be a badidea if he conducts sessions for theyoungsters. Till then let’s keep theflight going.
Sportingly yours
The century-old MohammedanSporting club is trying to net theDevdas, but not with the alcohol
that kept him going in life withoutParo! The rejuvenated Kolkata giantshave decided not to entertain alcoholcompanies as a sponsor, but are keen toinstal the legendary Bollywood Dev-dases, Dilip Kumar and ShahrukhKhan, as their patrons.
Dilip Kumar was patron of theSporting during the 60s, whileShahrukh was aregular at the Ambed-kar Stadium in Delhi for the club’smatches in the Durand Cup.
Meanwhile, the club has amendedits constitution to includea non-Muslim in the execu-tive committee. By a land-mark decision Vipin Vora,a Punjabi industrialist,has been named vice-presi-dent of the club.
Life is truly strangerthan fiction. A year ego theSporting were gasping forlife and today they arecoming up with a lot ofpath-breaking ideas. Theclub is all set to sign a jointventure with a PremierLeague club of England.The club had appoin-tedLondon-based FMM Inter-national as its agent andconsultants, which, amongother things, would lookfor a sponsor.
Proactiveness pays
I t was delayed a little, butthe Indian WeightliftingFederation sent the
right message last weekwhen it suspended asmany as 35 weightliftersfor using drugs and testingpositive, an all-time recordfor any Indian federation!
Even a junior weight-lifter who failed to appearfor a drug test was handedout the same punishment,a two-year ban, as his 23other colleagues who test-ed positive while partici-pating in the junior na-tionals. At last, the otherfederations have some ex-ample to follow. However, it
might not be enough forthe officials to punish theerrant sportspersons.They need to take proac-tive steps like the Aus-tralians who have decidedthat all members of theAthens Olympic contin-gent will have to undergotesting.
Meanwhile, a laboratoryin France has devised atest to detect blood doping,which helps enduranceathletes to raise the levelsof oxygen in the blood. Thetest is currently being val-idated and will be ready intime before the AthensOlympics.
Going places
Now that the cricketboard is planning toexpand its areas of
activity to the far-flungnorth-eastern states andthe Union Territories, itmight think of banishingerrant players to the An-daman and Nicobar orLakshwadeep islands tospend a season or two pro-moting the game there aspunishment!
Jokes apart, the board’sidea of spreading the gamecan’t be faulted eventhough some might see itas a ploy to expand its votebank. Who knows therecould be talented youngcricketers in places likeManipur or Nagaland, Mi-zoram or Meghalaya?
If Manipur can produce brillianthockey players and hardy boxers thenwhy not batsmen and bowlers andfielders of superb fitness and reflexes.If the craze for cricket catches on inthese regions insurgency and terror-ism may be a thing of the past. Whoknows? Also, the surplus cricketingtalent in major centres in search ofgreener pastures will then have wideroptions to choose from.
Of all the Union Territories, the oneplace where cricket is really flourish-ing is Chandigarh which has produceda number of international stars, in-cluding Kapil Dev, Ashok Malhotra,Chetan Sharma, Yograj Singh and hisson Yuvraj and Dinesh Mongia andany number of top-rated first-classcricketers. But the board’s constitu-tion is such that Union Territories cannever hope to be units of the board un-
less it emulates the Indian Hockey Fed-eration which in one stroke affiliatedall public sector units and banks byasking them to cough up a tidy capita-tion fee.
Memories of Musa
C ertain players leave a deep impacton the minds of the fans and theirdeeds are recalled long years later.
Musa, a former Pakistani footballerwho had played for leading Kolkataclubs in the 1950s, could be countedamong them.
Dash and dribble, penchant forpoaching goals and showmanship allformed part of his varied qualities. In-cidents packed his tenure on the foot-ball fields of the country. Wandererwas witness to one in the capital whenwith his chest he charged the MohunBagan goalkeeper standing on thegoalline with the ball firmly gathered
in his hands, making the goalkeeperfall inside the line. Referee A.N.Ja-yaraman treated it as a fair charge andawarded a goal. In its wake the standserupted and lawlessness spread.
Pratul Chakraborty, India’s first ref-eree to earn a FIFA badge, had oncenarrated another incident when in amatch in Kolkata Musa was pulled upfor a foul inside the rival area. Withinwhispering distance of the man inblack he uttered that ‘‘this referee hasno one but me to watch.’’ The refereechose an occasion a few minutes laterto retort: ‘‘Musa, who else is here towatch but you?’’
It will be difficult to forget playerslike Musa in a hurry. He was reportedto have passed away a few days ago.
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Unforgettable, incredible, enjoyable!
T hat’s the way AnnikaSorenstam recalls hersuper-hyped weekwhen she played the
PGA Tour. But she is cate-gorical in saying that play-ing at the Colonial was a“one time opportunity”,that she just wantedto test her gameagainst the bestmen in the world.
This she hasdone and nowshe “wantsto moveon” andget backto win-n i n gt o u r n a -ments.
Thereare three “majors” to playand her goal is to win themall. But it was an experi-ence. “..the more I thinkabout it, the more I smile,”she says “I wasn’t afraid. Ijust went out there withthe best guys in the worldand loved it.” She has noregrets.
When an interviewertook it for granted that sheregretted missing the cut,she told him that was notso, that she knew she had
done her best, and the pres-sure was so great — thatweek and the previousmonths — and the emotionso built up. “Who knows if Iwould have been able to
play Satur-day and
S u n -d a y. . ”S h ec o n -f e s s e d
that she felt “totallydrained”, having given herbest, adding though that itwas the best week of herlife.
The support from indi-viduals, the crowds, her fel-low women players hasmeant everything. NancyLopez called to say shewished she had had the op-portunity 25 years ago, andon the Friday fellow com-petitors at the Colonial in-
troduced themselvesand said they hoped
she’d be back.But Annika
recognises that itwas a big step for
her, that it’s a“ d i f f e r e n tleague”.
She hopesthat if shecan take hergame to a dif-ferent level, itwill con-tribute to the
growth ofwomen’s golf
in general.There, if herColonial experi-ence plays a part,
it will add to hersatisfaction.
A matter of footwork
A re the courts an an-swer for sporting dis-putes? Sportsper-sons, generally, stay
away from the courts forfear of retaliation from ad-ministrators and the courtsrefrain from sitting in judg-ment over matters of selec-tion because its subjective.
But, when six Indian Teststars challenged the deci-sion of the cricket board toban them for wanting toplay in the US, the thenChief Justice of India E SVenkataramaiah asked theboard to explain as to whogave it the authority to se-lect or ban players.
The board thought it pru-dent to go for an out-of-court settlement with theplayers by lifting the ban. Adecade later, the board wasagain dragged to the courtby Mohammad Azharud-din, who was also party tothe earlier litigation, andAjay Jadeja, challengingthe ban on their playingcricket following match-fix-ing charges. This timearound, the board decidedto defend its decision.
The Delhi High Court,where Jadeja filed his plea,eventually allowed him toplay in domestic cricket,
provided he fulfilled thenorms and criteria for se-lection. But the courtwouldn’t give him the greensignal to play in the Lan-cashire league.
How motivated is Jadejato play cricket now that heis a keen golfer and a filmstar in the making? The ex-change between the judgesof a division bench andcounsel representing Jade-
ja throws some light.When the judges report-
edly asked if Jadeja was se-rious about dancing orplaying cricket, the advo-cates were quick to pointout that their client wasdancing to prove that hewas fit to play cricket. Well,footwork is a prerequisitefor both good dancing andbatsmanship.
Udayshankar
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A journey on time machineBy Ashish Ray
Roland Garros, in a leafy,south-western suburb of
Paris, home of the greatesttennis show in clay, not onlypresents an efficiently yet el-egantly administered GrandSlam tournament, but is,now, more than ever before, acomplete experience.
It is not merely an en-counter with the sport exhibit-ed by the current, leading ex-ponents. But a connoisseur’sdelight for anyone attracted tothe archives of the FrenchOpen, the legends of the stadi-um complex or the gastronom-ic and shopping variety at thevenue. This appeal has beenaugmented in the past week bythe unveiling of a Tenniseum,which transports one to alleras of the 112-year event.
The French Champi-onships emerged as an inter-national phenomenon in the
1920s; immeasurably becauseof the mushrooming of theMusketeers — Henri Cochet,Jean Borotra and Rene La-coste, later of leisurewearfame. The trio captured themen’s singles title every timebar one between 1922 and1932; and posed the biggestchallenge to the redoubtableAmerican Bill Tilden, not juston clay, but on the grasscourts of Wimbledon and For-est Hills. Equally pertinent inthe same decade was the dom-inance of the Frenchwoman,Suzanne Lenglen, after whomone of the show courts atRoland Garros is named. Be-tween 1920 and 1926, sheswept the singles crown sixtimes. Now, riveting black andwhite newsreels of Lenglendelectably pirouetting oncourt like a puppet on a stringare on offer at the Tenniseum.
In the journey on the timemachine, the milestones aremany and lessons lucid. NoAmerican prevailed in themen’s singles between TonyTrabert in 1955 and MichaelChang in 1989. In contrast,Australians — also betterknown for their grass courtprowess — triumphed asmany as 10 times between 1953and 1969, with Ken Rosewall,Lew Hoad, Mervyn Rose, RodLaver, Roy Emerson, FredStolle and Tony Roche provingtheir ground shots were in noway inferior to their volleys.
The 1970s and 1980s arebest remembered for an ice-cool Swede, Bjorn Borg. Thewalk down the women’s his-tory is no less enjoyable. TheAmerican, Helen Mills wasthe next star after Lenglen.She became champion fourtimes between 1928 and 1932.
Next Monday: InsideQueen’s Club.
TENNIS TRAIL
Montoya ends Williams’ long waitMonaco: Colombian JuanPablo Montoya claimed thesecond Formula One win ofhis career and ended hisWilliams team’s 20-yearMonte Carlo jinx with victo-ry in the Monaco Grand Prixhere Sunday.
Montoya, who had not wonsince Monza in 2001, resistedlate pressure from theMcLaren of second-placedFinn Kimi Raikkonen to fin-ish just 0.6 seconds ahead.
He delighted Williamsteam chiefs Frank Williamsand Patrick Head by securingtheir first win around thestreets of Monte Carlo sinceFinn Keke Rosberg, watchinghere on Sunday, in 1983.
Raikkonen extended his
championship lead to fourpoints after world championMichael Schumacher, whoclosed on the lead pair at theend of the race after startingfrom fifth on the grid, only
finished third for Ferrari.Montoya’s Williams team-
mate Ralf Schumacher fin-ished just off the podium infourth place after startingfrom pole but recovering froma bump with the barriers dur-ing the race. Spaniard Fer-nando Alonso moved back upto third in the drivers’ worldchampionship behind Schu-macher after finishing fifth,one place ahead of his ItalianRenault team-mate JarnoTrulli. Scot David Coulthardfinished seventh ahead ofBrazilian Ferrari driverRubens Barrichello to ensurehis McLaren team movedback ahead of the Italian gi-ants in the constructors’world championship. AFP
AFP
Colombian Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya celebrates his victory in the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.
Heat flattens MongoliansBy Vineeta Pandey
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Wrestling isMongolia’s national sportand they take it very serious-ly. The result is the country isone of the superpowers at thecontinental level.
So it came as no surprisethat the Mongolian wrestlingteam was the first to arrive inthe Capital for the seniorAsian Wrestling champi-onship to be held here fromJune 5. And barely few hoursafter landing, the team was atthe Indira Gandhi IndoorStadium, the venue for thechampionship, for their firstpractice-session.
The session was a hecticaffair, starting with a well-contested game of basketballfollowed by exercises andbouts. But throughout thesession the wrestlers ap-peared hassled by the Delhiheat. It felt worse since theIGI stadium air conditionerswere not put on and the con-ditions were suffocating.
Though the obvious reasonbehind reaching Delhi earlywas to get acclimatised to theheat, the players couldn’t helpcomplaining. “In Mongolia itis around 20 degree Celsius.Delhi is boiling,” complainedB. Batbayar, the Mongolianchampion in 84kg freestyle.
Talking about the coun-try’s favourite past-time, Bat-bayar said archery and horse-racing are also passionatelyfollowed but wrestlers are themost respected ones. Apartfrom the regular nationaltournaments under the FILArules, the most popular eventis Naadam festival — famousfor tradition folk wrestling.
The competition is fierce andplayers prepare for months inadvance. This festival in-volves a lot of players and isconsidered as of the reasonbehind Mongolia’s success inthe sport.
For the Senior Asian Cham-pionship, OyunbilegPurevbaatar, the most suc-cessful wrestler in the side, isMongolia’s best bet in 60kgcategory. Purevbaatar won thegold at Busan and silver in the2001 World Championships. In2000 Sydney OlympicsPurevbaatar had finished fifthbut was disqualified followinga positive drug test.
Apart from Purevbaatarthe other wrestlers have alsodone well recently and will
be among the top contendersin their respective sections.N. Bayarmagmai (66kg) is agold medalist in 2001 AsianChampionships while B. Bat-bayar (84kg) won a silverthere. Dgarhuyag (120kg) is asilver medalist in East AsianGames held in Japan 2001.
Four women wrestlers tooare in the squad — Enkjargal(48kg, bronze winner in Bu-san Games), Otgorjargal(55kg, bronze in Busan), Hyag-mersumer (59kg, bronze inBusan) and O. Burmaa (72kg).
With such good results be-hind them, no doubt the Mon-golians are a confident lotand are raring to earn somerespect in the land of mallayudha.
Patil takes charge as coachBangalore: After guidingthe Kenyans to a new high inthe World Cup, Sandeep Patiltook a fresh guard here onSunday on home soil with hisnew assignment as coach ofthe India A side.
“It’s a new challenge andresponsibility. I have startedafresh like any newcomer onthe first day today. I hope atthe end of the day, I will do adecent job,” the India Acoach said.
Assisted by John Wright,Patil kickstarted the 18-daycoaching camp here for ShivSundar Das-led India A whowould be touring Englandfrom June 22 to August three.
On his coaching stint withKenya, which became thefirst non-Test playing coun-try to reach the semi-finals ofthe World Cup in SouthAfrica earlier this year, Patilsaid he had “dumped” the as-signment and “it all hap-
pened in the past”.But he hastened to add that
he got tremendous joy coach-ing Kenyans. “That hap-pened in the past. I don’t giveimportance to the past.What’s important for me istomorrow. What happened isgone”. PTI
Board conclave Kolkata: In an unprecedent-ed move to spread cricket toall parts of the country, theCricket Board has decided tochalk out a plan and offer allassistance to 12 states andunion territories participat-ing at a conclave of sportsministers and officials.
“We will seek to know thekind of assistance they wantfor developing cricket infra-structure and the expertisethey need to identify andgroom the talents in those re-gions. A detailed plan of ac-
tion will be drawn after themeeting,” BCCI presidentJagmohan Dalmiya said onSunday.
The Board, which con-vened the meeting as part ofits ambitious project chris-tened ‘New Areas develop-ment Programme’, has decid-ed to bear all direct expensessuch as cost of basic cricketpractice equipment, fees andtravel of coaches and con-sultants as well as groundequipment and fitness equip-ment, he said.PTI
Kalyani retiresKolkata: Shrikant Kalyani,the seasoned middle orderbatsman from Maharashtrawho made this city his homesince late ‘80s, has decided tobid adieu to first class crick-et. The cricketer will be an-nouncing it formally earlynext week. TNN
Mohammed Ilyas
A Mongolian woman wrestler grapples with her coach duringa warm-up session at the Indira Gandhi Stadium on Sunday.
Sanjay, Soma finish 3rdColombo: Olympic medallist SusanthikaJayasinghe and Asian Games triple goldmedallist Damayanthi Darsha won thewomen’s 100-meter and 400-meter eventsrespectively, as host Sri Lanka dominatedthe second leg of the Asian Grand PrixSunday.
Besides Jayasinghe and Darsha, twoother Sri Lankan athletes secured firstplaces - Rohan Pradeep Kumara Fernando(men’s 400m) and J.M.S. Jayaweera (men’s3,000m).
Indians Sanjay Ghosh (100m), SomaBiswas (100m hurdles) finished third intheir respective events.
But the determined 28-year-old sprintergot off to an impressive start and ran thelast 50 meters unchallenged, to win hersecond title in the series. She clocked 11.53seconds. Uzbekistan’s Khubbieva Guzel(11.70) finished second.
Asian championship double goldmedallist Fernando beat compatriot and
former Asian Games gold medallistSugath Tillakaratne, who took secondplace. Fernando clocked 46.31 seconds.
Fellow teammate Prasanna Ama-rasekara (46.81) came third in the 400-me-ter. Sri Lanka also won the first five placesin the men’s 3,000-meter event.
Results: Men: 100: 1, Chernivol Gennaidy, Kazakhstan,10.60 seconds. 2, S.P.N. Hemantha, Sri Lanka, 10.84. 3, San-jay Ghosh, India, 10.86. 110 hurdles: 1, Narongdech Janjal,Thailand, 14.35 seconds, 2, Mohammed Muhd Faiz, Malaysia,14.43, 3, Indika Kumara de Silva, Sri Lanka, 14.45. 800: 1, Mo-hammed O.A. Al Sathi, Saudi Arabia, 1:47.98 seconds, 2, Kol-gnov Mikhail, Kazakhstan, 1:48.16, 3, P.W.G.M. Pushpakumara,Sri Lanka, 1:48.31. 3,000: 1, J.M.S. Jayaweera, Sri Lanka, 8minutes, 18.38 seconds. 2, K. Chandradasa, 8:22.54, 3, G.S.P.Mendis, Sri Lanka, 8:25:89.Women: 100 hurdles: 1, Roberts Triscia, Thailand, 13.42 sec-onds. 2, Sriyani Kulawansa, Sri Lanka, 13.59. 3, Soma Biswas,India, 14.68. 800: 1, Roslanova Tatyana, Kazakhstan, 2 minutes,3.80 seconds. 2, Borisov Iatyana, Kargykistan, 2:04.28. 3,Amireva Zanura, Uzbekistan, 2:06.63. Shot put: 1, Du Xianhui,Singapore, 18 meters, 7 centimeters. 2, Zhang Guirong, Singa-pore, 17.47. 3, Karaeyan Juthaporn, Thailand, 16.27. AP
AFP
India’s Soma Biswas (left) on her way to a third place finish in the100m hurdles at the Asian Gran Prix in Colombo on Sunday.
ASIAN GRAND PRIX
London: Three years after their marriage,Brazilian soccer superstarRonaldo’s wife MileneDomingues is fed up with hisoff the pitch adventures andwants a divorce. “It is difficultfor us to stay together as wesee life in different ways,” Mi-lene, herself a professionalfootballer and ex-model, said
in an interview published in Sunday Mirror.“We are discussing divorce and it is only a
matter of time after we get things sorted out.It is the end and I mean it,” she said. Party-loving Ronaldo, who earns four millionpounds per annum with Real Madrid andconsidered worth 50 million pounds isrenowned for his wandering eye.
Milene, 23 and Ronaldo, 26, married threeyears ago, but the couple have been leadingalmost separate lives. She spends half theweek in Italy, leaving their son Ronald, three,in Spain with his dad and mum Lucia.
Ronaldo’s move from Inter Milan toMadrid upset Milene, who did not want toleave. “I am exhausted trevelling betweenMilan and Madrid,” said Milene. “I havereached the point where I do not know whereI belong. I hardly see Ronny.We both have training andmatches and are never to-gether at weekends.”PTI
CMYK
T I M E S S P O R TThe Times of India, New Delhi Monday, June 2, 2003 23
THE SPORTING WORLDAT A GLANCE
FOOTBALLItalian Cup — Final (2nd leg): AC Milan 2 (Rivaldo 65, Filippo Inza-ghi 90+3) AS Roma 2 (FrancescoTotti 56 & 64); Milan won 6-3 on aggregate.German Cup: Final: Bayern Munich3 (Michael Ballack 3 & 10-pen,Claudio Pizarro 50) Kaiserslautern 1(Miroslav Klose 80).French Cup: Final: Paris St Ger-main 1 (Hugo Leal 21) AJ Auxerre 2 (Djibril Cisse 77, Jean Alain Boum-song 89).Scottish Cup: Final: Dundee 0Rangers 1 (Lorenzo Amoruso 66).Spanish Primera Liga: Real Madrid 1 (Raul 67) Celta Vigo 1(Mostovoi 34).Turkish Brinci Lig: Samsunspor 3Besiktas 4; Ankaragucu 1 Deni-zlispor 1; Bursaspor 3 Genclerbirligi1; Diyarbakirspor 1 Elazigspor2; Goztepe 1 Fenerbahce 1; Istan-bulspor 0 Altay 0; Kocaelispor 1Adanaspor 2; Trabzonspor 0Malatyaspor 2.
GOLFUSPGA Memorial Tournament,Ohio (Par 72): 203 Kenny Perry (65, 68, 70); 205Lee Janzen (67, 67, 71); 208 RetiefGoosen (67, 67, 74), Vijay Singh (67,69, 72), Jose Maria Olazabal (73,69, 66); 209 Mark Calcavecchia (69,70, 70); 211 Chad Campbell (67, 70,74), Stewart Cink (70, 69, 72); 212Jeff Maggert (68, 73, 71); 213 JohnRollins (70, 69, 74), KJ Choi(70, 73), Mike Weir (72, 70, 71), Enie Els (73, 70, 70), Jim Furyk (68, 70,75) Robert Gamez (70, 68, 75); 214Ben Crane (73, 68, 73), Jeff Sluman(70, 72, 72), Tiger Woods (67, 71,76), Padraig Harrington (70 71 73),Jesper Parnevik (70, 71, 73).LPGA Kellogg-Keebler Classic,Illinois (Par 72): 128 Annika Sorenstam (62-66); 130Mhairi McKay (66, 64); 133 RosieJones (62, 71); 135 Juli Inkster (68,67); 136 Angela Stanford (65, 71),Becky Morgan (67, 69); 137 Mi HyunKim (66, 71); 138 Christina Kim (68,70), Heather Bowie (67, 71), TracyHanson (70, 68) Catriona Matthew(69, 69); 139 Natalie Gulbis (72, 67),Kate Golden (70, 69),Hiromi Kobayashi (66, 73), Hee-WonHan (69, 70), Laura Davies (68, 71),Pat Hurst (68, 71).
SQUASHWomen’s Heliopolis Open, Cairo:Q u a r t e r f i n a l s :1-Carol Owens (NZ) bt 5-RebeccaMacree (Eng) 9-4, 9-1, 9-7; 4-Cassie Jackman (Eng) bt 6-FionaGeaves (Eng) 9-1, 9-1, 9-1; 3-Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt 8-Om-neya Abdel Kawy (Egy) 9-2, 8-10, 9-2, 9-1; 2-Linda Charman (Eng) bt 7-Stephanie Brind (Eng) 9-1, 9-5, 9-0.
Double whammy for AC Milan
Milan: European championsAC Milan won their secondtrophy in four days after lift-ing the Italian Cup here atthe San Siro on Saturday. Mi-lan, who defeated Juventuson penalties to win theChampions League onWednesday, drew a grippingsecond leg 2-2 with Serie A ri-vals AS Roma to secure a 6-3aggregate score.
Two spectacular free-kicksfrom Francesco Totti gaveRoma a two-goal lead beforeBrazilian World Cup winnerRivaldo and Filippo Inzaghistruck to level the scores.All the goals came in the sec-ond half.
Roma’s misery was com-pounded in the final 20 min-utes when Totti and fellowstriker Antonio Cassanowere sent off. Totti saw redfor a second bookable of-fence, while Cassano wassent for an early bath for dis-sent. Milan’s Cup triumphwas their fifth success andtheir first since 1977.
Setback for Madrid: RealMadrid could only draw 1-1 athome to Celta Vigo on Satur-day night leaving Real So-ciedad in the driving seat inthe Spanish League title racethis weekend. Madrid conced-ed a point to Celta althoughthe visitors to the Santiago-Bernabeu stadium were hap-py to sit back in defence andwere even ahead at the break.
Aleksandr Mostovoi headedhome 10 minutes before half-time to put Vicente DelBosque’s men up against it.Raul, the darling of RealMadrid, also headed home mid-way through the second half toearn a point and put them levelwith leaders Sociedad on 72points but they remain in sec-ond place because they comeout worse in matches betweenthe two sides. Should Sociedadwin at home to Valencia onSunday, they would go threepoints clear with just twomatches left to play.
PSG go down: Two lategoals from Djibril Cisse andJean-Alain Boumsongspurred Auxerre to FrenchCup glory against 10-manParis Saint Germain here onSaturday. At a sell-out Stadede France, veteran coachGuy Roux’s side came frombehind to win 2-1 againstPSG for whom the Cup wastheir only salvation after aseason laced with mediocrity.Santos lift Cup: InCapetown, Santos took a leafout of the Italian footballcopybook to beat Ajax CapeTown 2-0 and raise the SouthAfrican Cup on Saturday.Early goals by midfielderTyren Arendse and FeesMoloi did the damage.Goalies test positive: Fer-nando Buttenberder Pass, a25-year-old goalkeeper withMeridional de Coritiba andHarley de Menezes Silva ofGoias tested positive for thediruetic furossmide, TheBrazilian Football Federa-tion informed. AFP
Aarthie goes down to Wang YuChennai: Woman GrandmasterAarthie Ramaswamy lost by 0.5points to China’s Wang Yu in an in-ternet online two-game match whichis catching up through out the world.
Aarthie is the second Indian afterViswananthan Anand and first Indi-an woman to play an internationalonline match. Aarthie, whose mar-riage with R B Ramesh, the currentBritish Open champion, is fixed for
next month, lost the first match andthen drew the next with Yu.
In the match, organised by the In-ternet chess club (ICC) based in NewYork, the current Indian nationalchampion got white colour, as decid-ed by Zak, the administrator of ICC.
In the first game, Aarthie surren-dered after 53 moves while in the sec-ond, she agreed to a draw by forcingperpetual check on her 32nd move. AFP
Wife Milene hints atdivorce from RonaldoAFP
AC Milan team poses with the Italy Cup after the second-leg match against AS Roma at Milan’s Meazza Stadium on Saturday.
AFP
Cyclists ride in Cantu during the 20th stage of Tour de Italy between Cannabio and Cantu. Giovani Lombardi won the stage.
SOCCER ROUNDUP
Fergie’s wish London: Sir Alex Fergusonis not ruling out emulatingSir Bobby Robson and stay-ing on as manager of Man-chester United until he turns70. The 61-year-old Ferguson,halfway through a 2 year ex-tension to his contract, said :“Would I want to be doing thejob at Bobby’s age? Would Iwant to be a manager at 70? Icouldn’t rule it out.”AFP
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CMYK
T I M E S S P O R T The Times of India, New Delhi24 Monday, June 2, 2003
Caught between thecontinents: Vera Zvonare-va, the Russian 22nd seedwho will face Venus Williamsfor a place in the women’squarter-finals, is caught onthe horns of a geographicaldilemma. The 18-year-oldhails from Moscow - but hercoach Julia Kashevarova isbased in Maryland, meaningthe teen faces having tomake a trans-Atlantic moveto further her career. Asked ifshe would make the moveStateside Zvonareva, who asa qualifier took SerenaWilliams to three sets in lastyear’s fourth round said: “Idon’t want it - but if there is atournament over there Ishould do this.” She ex-plained her coach, who hasyoung children, is predomi-nantly working at Maryland’sPark.
Venus out of hiberna-tion: Venus Williams saysshe’s the quiet one comparedwith younger sister and reign-ing champion Serena. Butshe’s ready to come out of hi-bernation if it means she cangrab her first Paris crown.Tennis reporters have beenkeen to tease out of both sis-ters the differences in theircharacter, with Serena sayingshe’s definitely the extrovert.“I guess the biggest differ-ence is that I’m Venus andshe’s Serena. I guess maybeshe’s more active and I’m alittle more of a hibernator. Istay home a little bit more. Itold her not to hang aroundme too much - I’ll get herdown. She won’t get to dothe things she needs to do inher life because I’ll be athome watching the GoldenGirls!”
Money not a priority:Lindsay Davenport, with threeGrand Slam titles to her name- though she has yet to lift theFrench Open - says she’s notcounting the money thesedays, unlike when she firststarted off. Davenport, 26,has won almost 16 milliondollars in stacking up 38 titles- but these days she’s lookingafter the points rather thanthe pennies. “When you startoff it’s quite a shock to getyour cheques. I definitelythought about it when I was16 or 17 - ‘oh, if I win thismatch it’s that much money’.“But I think the better you getit becomes a non-issue. Win-ning a Grand Slam fareclipses the money you getfor winning it,” said the Amer-ican, who has pocketed53,300 euros for making thelast 16.
Navratilova sniffs Graf’srecord: For her GrandSlams had been a day-to-shopping affair. Never tiredand never quitting. At thegrand old age of 46, MartinaNavratilova, playing mixeddoubles with India’s LeanderPaes, could yet overhaul theretired Steffi Graf as the all-time money leader on thewomen’s circuit. Navratilovahas $20.6 million to her creditto date and Graf leads by 1.3million - but Navratilova hasalready bagged doubles titlesat the Australian Open and inDubai this year and is closingthe gap. “I’ll have to hurry upand win a few more matchesor the Williams sister will getthere before me,” joked theCzech-turned-American.Right however Navratilova islooking at the mixed doublestitle.AFP
F R E N C H F R I E SReuters
FRENCH KISS: French former tennis champion Henri Leconte (L) kisses his new girlfriend in the box as they watch thethird round French Open match between Tim Henman and Juan Carlos Ferrero at the Roland Garros on Saturday.
Spanish matadors chargethrough red dirt in ParisParis: Spain led the way into the last 16 ofthe men’s singles with five players making itinto the fourth round.
Title-holder Albert Costa, tournamentfavourites Juan Carlos Fererro and CarlosMoya, Lleyton Hewitt’s conquerer TommyRobredo and Hamburg Masters winner FelixMantilla all went through.
They now form a formidable wall of clay-court expertise that second-seed Andre Agas-si will have to knock down if he is to win hissecond crown in Paris and make it halfway toa clean sweep of the 2003 Grand Slams.
And with only Ferrero and Mantilla drawnagainst each other, there could be fourSpaniards in the quarterfinals.
Their great Argentine rivals have faredless well with only fancied seventh-seedGuillermo Coria and Mariano Zabaleta sureof their places. And they will play each otherfor a place in the last eight.
Argentina’s other remaining representa-tive Gaston Gaudio is locked in a third roundbattle with Gustavo Kuerten which was heldover after the light faded with the Braziliantwo sets ahead.
In contrast Agassi is the sole Americansurvivor and bantamweight Arnaud Clementis alone to carry the French flag into the sec-ond week.
Two unseeded players have made itthrough - giant Dutchman Martin Verkerkand Brazilian newcomer Flavio Saretta whomay be joined later by his compatriot andthree-times former winner Kuerten.
Pick of the fourth round matches lookslike being a centre court showdown betweenmarathon man Costa of Spain and battlingClement of France. Costa has drawn on hugetaps of energy to get this far winning threefive-setters and coming back from two setsdown in two of them.
“I don’t know how I managed to get out ofthat one,” said Costa after his knee-buckling4hrs 39mins win over Nicolas Lapentti ofEcuador in the third round.
“Clement will be another tough nut tocrack but I am relaxed about that one,” saidthe 27-year-old from Lerida, who came toParis not having won a tournament since hisfinal win over compatriot Ferrero here 12months ago. The French are desparate to seea first home win in this tournament sinceYannick Noah’s emotional triumph 20 yearsago when he beat Mats Wilander in the final.
Agassi, the highest seed left, looks to have aclear run into the quarter-finals as he goes upagaint Saretta who is untested at this leveland made it through when third round oppo-nent Galo Blanco was forced to abandon. AFP
India pull outof pool meet
By Sanjib GuhaTIMES NEWS NETWORK
Kolkata: The APBU-ESPNnine-ball Asian pool champi-onship in Manila is sched-uled to start on Saturday, butit will have to do without the Indian contingent ofDharmendra Lilly andMukesh Rehani.
No prizes for guessing: Itsthe SARS scare again !
Though India received theinvitation some two monthsback and the Billiards &Snooker Federation of India(BSFI) had shortlisted theduo, it later withdrew be-cause of the SARS factor.
“After receiving the invita-tion, we had thought of send-ing both Lilly and Rehani torepresent the country buthad to withdraw for the play-ers’ sake,” C. Kapur, the BSFIsecretary told The Times ofIndia on Saturday.
India would have been oneof the direct entrants in thesecond stage of the meetalongwith Chinese Taipeiand the hosts. Few of the other Asian countries had togo through the qualifyinground of the meet held earli-er this year.
Name andFame wins
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Name and Fame(B Prakash astride) won theKarnataka Cup (Grade III),the main event of the Banga-lore races held on Sunday.Melbourne Plate: 1. Inquisitive 59; 2. SilverCat; 3. Different Story. Fire Haven Plate: 1.Tashann; 2. Wishbone; 3. Aretino. Sir MVisvesvaraya Memorial Cup: 1. GenuineArticle; 2. Suraj Narredu; 3. Bernstein. Kar-nataka Cup (Grade III): 1. Name and Fame;2. Adolfito; 3. Rose Garden. Baraloy Plate:1. Chant Royal; 2. Barroness Orczy; 3. Na-tional Tiger. Mammas Mink Plate: 1. Per-sian Goddess; 2. Authentic Power; 3. Dia-mond Rock. Sir M Visvesvaraya Mmemo-rial Cup: 1. Rezeppelin; 2. Anchor; 3. SoSupreme.
Panja makes itto main drawMumbai: Talented young-ster Saurav Panja made it tothe men’s singles main drawwith a 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 win overMoti Maaravi of Isreal in thefinal qualifying round of theMSLTA-ITF satellite tennismeet here on Sunday. Va-sudeva Reddy and KedarTambe lost their matches.Results: (final qualifying round): Men’ssingles: Richara Crabtree (Gbr) bt VasudevReddy (Ind) 6-3, 6-2; Takishi Itoh (Jpn) btAbeain Sham (Ind) 6-3, 6-1; Danial Kiernan(Gbr) bt Henry Susilo Pramono (Indonesia) 7-5, 6-0; Yew-ming Si (Mal) bt Sourabh Kohli(Ind) 6-3, 4-6 7-6 (7-5); Saurav Panja (Ind)bt Moti Maaravi (Isr) 7-6, (7-4), 6-4; Dong-hiChoi (Kor) bt Kedar Tembe (Ind) 6-4, 6-1. PTI
Four players lead: Threeplayers including seasonedBhagyashree Thipsay led thetable with three points eachwhile top seed Swati Ghatefaced an upset defeat in thethird round of the NationalWomen B Chess champi-onship on Sunday.
Along with BhagyashreeThipsay overnight leadersAnupama Gokhale, Priya-darshini M and Kerala’sSandhya emerged at the topwith clean victories while 16players were tied on 2.5points behind the leaders. PTI
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‘Sponsors created F-1 hype’By Sukhwant Basra
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: It’s been two yearssince Narain Karthikeyan wassaid to be on the verge of ac-celerating into the rarefiedzone of Formula One. He’shopped around in the secondrung Formula Nippon andWorld Series but his bid for thecrown jewel of racing does notseem to be taking off. Arm-chair pundits have begun toquestion his ability to be thefirst Indian to break into thebig league. “If not me, thenwho?” is the instant retortfrom the, still, fastest Indian.
“My September 2001Jaguar F-1 test drive washyped up to suit the interestsof the sponsors. It was madeout that F-1 is around the cor-ner. I knew it wasn’t going tobe easy,” says a bitter sound-ing Narain here on Sunday.“Since then I have shoulderedthis immense burden of ex-pectation and it cramped me.”
With me-dia interestnow fo-cussing onK a r u nC h a n d h o kas well,Narain feelsthat things
have eased out a bit for him.“But don’t forget that Karunis racing in the ScholarshipClass of Formula 3. If he isunable to perform in theChampionship Class nextyear, and that’s where the bigboys are, then he too will facethe questions I do now,” hewarns. “And he too will findthat it’s not all that easy.”
But, at 26, isn’t Narain get-ting a bit old for life in thefastest lane in the world?“Rubbish,” he dismisses,“Christiana Damata is 31 an dRalf Ferman is 29. Both madetheir F-1 debut this year.” So,how long will he continue towait for that elusive moment?“Very few people understand
F-1. It’s not just a sport, but ismore of a business and mar-keting game. You buy seatswith the sponsorship youbring in. Even Kimi Raikko-nen got his first break on ac-count of Absolut vodka’s sup-port,” Narain outlines. But hestays optimistic: “With thesupport of the Tata group, Ihave four more years of rac-ing assured. Anything canhappen in that time.”
Till then it is a spartan lifestyle. No night life, marriageplans on hold and gulpingdown carbohydrate-rich dietthat his spice-loving palaterebels against. It’s about yog-ic paranayam (breathingtechinque) every day and twohours of strength and cardio-vascular training. Soundsboring doesn’t it? “If theprice for the most exciting jobis to live like a hermit, so beit. And, hey, don’t anybodydare to write me off. I am stillgoing places,” he growls.
Perry on course for 2nd title in-a-rowDublin (Ohio): Overnight leader Kenny Per-ry shot a two-under-par 70 to remain clear ofthe Memorial Tournament field on Saturdayas he bids to wi n for the second week run-ning.
The 42-year-old, who cruised to victory atlast week’s Colonial, stands on13-under 203 after three roundsand leads two-time US Open winner LeeJanzen (71) by two strokes. Spain’s Jose MariaOlazabal shot the day’s lowest round (66) inblustery conditions to move into tie for third on8-under 208 with Fiji’s Vijay Singh (72) andSouth African Retief Goosen (74), all three be-ing formermajor winners.
However, it wasn’t such a good day forthree-time Memorial winner and world num-ber one Tiger Woods who could only card afour-over-par 76 to slip back into a tie for 16that two-under. Woods is playing his first eventon the PGA Tour since last month’s Masters
as he restricts his playingschedule to help recover from
knee surgery in December.Leading by a single shot, Perry began his
round with 11 straight pars before birdies atthe par-three 12th and par-four 14th hole.
Perry is seeking his second victory at thisevent after winning it in 1991 and also standsto become the 39th back-to-back winner on the
GOLF
CROSS COUNTRY
