NEW DELHI, JAN 30The Bharatiya Janata

Party (BJP) continued itsattack on the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) ahead of theDelhi Assembly Electionsand posed a second set of'paanch sawaal' (5 ques-tions) to Arvind Kejriwalon Friday.

BJP began its process ofposing five questions toKejriwal on Thursday, andthe second set of questionswere posed by central min-isters Venkaiah Naidu andNirmala Sitaraman.

BJP's second set of ques-tions were —

The BJP said that theAAP was roping in volun-teers from outside Delhi tocampaign for it in the cap-ital. Couldn't it find volun-

teers in Delhi, questionedBJP and asked the AAP toexplain the link to foreignvolunteers.

BJP asked why womenwere deserting the AAP.Was it because the AAPwas anti-women? Wasattacking BJP's woman

candidate the only wayAAP knew to deal with aprospective CM (KiranBedi)?

Thirdly, BJP said that theAAP had accused otherparties of being corrupt.BJP asked why hadn't AAP

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

MUMBAITemperature: 300CPrecipitation: 0%Humidity: 40%Wind: 18Km/hr

HAQSAADDAFIGHT FOR RIGHTSaturday, January 31, 2015

On campaign trail for BJP, Sidhu push-es 'buy one get one free' offer

Google's Been Unable to Meet Demandfor Nexus 6: CFO Patrick Pichette

Bipasha Basu to appear on horrorshow ‘Aahat’

NEW DELHI, JAN 30In the biggest-ever disin-

vestment, the 10 percent stakesale in Coal India on Fridayfetched the government Rs22,557.3 crore in a bumpersale where state-run LICalone picked up nearly one-third of the public offer.

The issue received bids for67.52 crore shares of thevalue of Rs 24,210 crore,over-subscribing the offer1.07 times.

This is the biggest sharesale by any private or publicsector company in India andexceeds the previous recordof over Rs 15,000 crore madeby CIL itself in 2010.

The huge demand for CILshares came on a day of highmarket turbulence with thebenchmark Sensex falling bynearly 500 points and the totalinvestors wealth slipping by

over Rs 1.5 lakh crore.The successful disinvest-

ment in Coal India, where thegovernment would now holdabout 80 percent stake, willhelp the government close thegap on its target of Rs 43,425crore for the current fiscal

ending March 31, 2014, whilehelping it shore up finances tomeet fiscal deficit challenges.

The Coal and PowerMinister Piyush Goyal saidthe success of the share salereflects the investors' confi-dence in the government's

ability to usher in reforms andimprovement in the economy.

In the meantime, tradeunions held demonstrations atsome of the CIL facilities toprotest against the disinvest-ment.

The government had earliersold shares worth Rs 1,771crore in SAIL and would needto sell further PSU sharesworth about Rs 19,000 croreto meet the target.

Sources said LIC alonebought shares worth about Rs7,000 crore in today's OfferFor Sale, while insurancefirms bought CIL sharesworth Rs 11,360.13 crore.

FIIs, including Fidelity,bought shares worth Rs 5,919crore and banks bought sharesworth Rs 2,500 crore whilemutual funds invested aroundRs 603 crore, they added.

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Govt nets Rs 22,557 crore from CILstake sale; LIC biggest buyer

P8

JAIPUR, JAN 30The impact of the amended

Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act,1994 to include minimumeducational qualification as aneligibility criteria for contest-ing the Panchayat elections, isnow becoming visible withreports of posts going vacant

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

170 sarpanchs electedunopposed in Rajasthan

NEW DELHI, JAN 30The Central Vigilance

Commission has decided toascertain the authenticity ofcomplainants informing itabout corruption in centralgovernment departmentsbefore initiating any probe onthe basis of their complaints.

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Prove identity or no action ongraft complaints: CVC

GANDHINAGAR, JAN 30The union government

under its ambitious 'DigitalIndia' programme has decidedto use the Aadhaar number asa "digital identity" for the pur-pose of mobile banking.

The Aadhaar number would CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Aadhaar to be usedas 'digital identity' formobile banking

Vol. 1 Issue: 134 Price: Rs.3:00 Reg. No: DELENG/2014/58212 Delhi Edition Pages: 8 Website: www.saaddahaq.in Email: news.saaddahaq@gmail.com

NEW DELHI, JAN 30Unfazed with former union

minister Jayanthi Natrajan`sexit, Congress leader AnandSharma Friday dispelled con-cerns of leadership deficitwithin his party.

"There is no leadership crisiswithin the party...the party ismuch bigger and and it will not

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

No leadership crisis inCongress: Anand Sharma

PATNA, JAN 30With questions being raised

on the fate of the merger ofJanata Parivar splinter parties,RJD president Lalu Prasad onFriday nullified speculationthat the process had hit a deadend and asserted that it was on.

"Merger is on. MulayamSingh Yadav is authorised tospeak on it. So everybody will

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Janata Parivar merger processon: Lalu Prasad Yadav

NEW DELHI, JAN 30Aam Aadmi Party Friday

took a swipe at the BJP for itsnewspaper advertisement, inwhich Anna Hazare's cartoonhas been shown with a garland,prompting AAP chief ArvindKejriwal to cheekily askwhether the saffron party had"killed" the veteran

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Arvind Kejriwal slams BJP adcarrying Anna cartoon

MUMBAI, JAN 30India's foreign exchange

reserves declined marginallyby USD 97.9 million to USD322.037 billion in the week toJanuary 23, RBI said Friday.

In the previous reportingweek, the reserves hadjumped by a whopping USD2.66 billion to USD 322.135

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

India's forex reserves down$97.9 million to $322 billion

GUWAHATI, JAN 30The Assam government

today observed Martyrs' Dayon the 67th death anniversaryof the Father of NationMahatma Gandhi and thosewho sacrificed their lives inthe struggle for the country'sfreedom.

A two-minutes silence wasobserved at 11 AM in the

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Observance of Martyrs' Dayat Assam Secretariat

NEW DELHI, JAN 30All the four election rallies

of External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj were can-celled here today for the sec-ond day in a row. There wasno reason given by BJP andlocal organisers for the can-cellation of these rallies.

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Rallies of SushmaSwaraj in Delhi cancelledfor second day in a row

P6P2

Delhi polls: Why are women quitting AAP,asks BJP in its second 'paanch sawaal'

MUMBAI, JAN 30The benchmark Sensex on Friday hit

new high of 29,844.16 but succumbed toheavy profit-booking led by bankingshares to fall by 498.82 points to29,182.95, logging its worst drop in threeweeks, even as the government's megashare sale in Coal India sailed through.

The NSE Nifty, which hit its all-timehigh of 8,996.60 earier in the session,snapped its ten-day long rally to close at8,808.90, down by 143.45 points or 1.60percent. "Domestic bourses witnessedsteep decline on Friday, tracking negativeglobal cues and profit taking in indexmajors across the board," said ReligareSecurities, President-retail distribution,Jayant Manglik. Market breadth was neg-ative, and volumes were higher than thelast session. Among the sectoral indices,Banking was the top loser, down by morethan three percent, followed by Consumer

NEW DELHI, JAN 30The economic growth rate

was Friday revised upwards to6.9 percent for 2013-14, asagainst 4.7 percent estimatedearlier, after the governmentupdated the base year for meas-uring national accounts.

The higher growth rate, how-ever, may not provide any cush-ion on the fiscal deficit front assize of economy has shrunk toRs 113.45 lakh crore followingthe revision.

The Gross Domestic Product(GDP) growth rate for 2013-14has gone up following adoptionof the new series with base year2011-12. The rate of expansionwas estimated at 4.7 percentunder the old series that had2004-05 as base year.

The base year was last revisedin January 2010 and goes underrevision every five years.

Besides, government alsointroduced the new conceptslike Gross Value Added (GVA)to the economy. Changes areaimed at improving the "ease ofunderstanding (data) for analy-sis and facilitate internationalcompatibility", said a release.

Similarly, the economicgrowth rate for 2012-13 hasbeen revised upwards to 5.1percent from earlier estimate of4.5 percent. The previous esti-mates had put economic growthrate at sub-5 percent level forthe past two years.

On impact of the new data onfiscal deficit, which is calculat-ed as a percentage of the GDP,Chief Statistician T C A Anantsaid: "The size of economy hasmarginally declined to Rs113.45 lakh crore in 2013-14under the new series from Rs

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Base year change pushes GDPgrowth to 6.9% in 2013-14

Sensex drops 499points, Nifty snaps 10-day rally on profit-taking

Weather ReportDELHITemperature: 180CPrecipitation: 0%Humidity: 31%Wind: 19Km/hr

KOLKATATemperature: 230CPrecipitation: 0%Humidity: 25% Wind: 16Km/hr

CHENNAITemperature: 290CPrecipitation: 0%Humidity:66%Wind: 19Km/hr

SHIKARPUR, JAN 30A powerful bomb tore through a

busy Shiite mosque in southernPakistan on Friday, killing morethan 60 people in the country`sdeadliest sectarian attack in near-ly two years.

The blast hit the mosque inShikarpur in Sindh province,around 470 kilometres (300

miles) north of Karachi, as hun-dreds of worshippers attendedFriday prayers.

Pakistan has suffered a risingtide of sectarian violence inrecent years, most of it perpetrat-ed by hardline Sunni Muslimgroups against minority ShiiteMuslims, who make up around

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Bomb attack at Pakistanimosque kills over 60

NEW DELHI, JAN 30Turkey is keen to partic-

ipate in Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's Make-in-India project and wouldlook for the NDA govern-ment conducting someroadshows there toincrease awareness aboutSmartCity project, a topTurkish diplomat said hereon Friday.

Turkey also favoursenhancing air connectivitybetween the two countriesand was open to contribut-ing to the growth of theIndia's aviation sector, itsAmbassdor Burak Akcaparsaid here at a businessevent.

"We want to be a part ofMake-In-India... We wantto be a part of India's civilaviation sector's growth,"Akcapar said whileaddressing PHD-GMRAviation Summit 2015here.

Akacapar said thatTurkey was ready to offerexpertise his country has inboth the manufacturingand aviation sectorsadding, whatever Turkey isproducing, it can so dohere with its Indian coun-terparts as well.

"We can become a partof it (growth) by contribut-ing, of course, in Make In

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

NEW DELHI, JAN 30To successfully imple-

ment e-governance, thecountry must think about‘mobiles first’ and giveimportance to mobilegovernance, said PrimeMinister Narendra Modion Friday.

Addressing the 18thNational Conference one-Governance throughTwitter, Modi said: “Iurge you to explore waysto provide as many serv-ices as possible throughmobiles. Let us bring theworld into our mobilephones!”

“While we look at e-Governance, let us thinkabout ‘mobile first’ andthus give importance to

m-Governance (mobilegovernance),” he addedin another tweet.

Modi said that the con-ference brings togetherseveral delegates fromcentral and state govern-ments, armed forces,

academia, industry andprivate sector while thisyear’s themes revolvesaround digital gover-nance, skill developmentand employability.

“Centre is committed CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Modi stresses need for mobile governance Turkey keen to take part in PMModi's Make-in-India project

Mandeep Kaur Bakshi (President Women Wing Delhi Shiromani Akali Dal Badal), Amarpreet Kaur (General Secretary Shiromani Akali Dal Badal),Harpreet Kaur Sondhi (Chairman Gurudwara Bangla Sahib), Baljeet Kaur (Vice Chairman GHPS) welcomed Bibi Jageer Kaur (National President

Women Wing Shiromani Akali Dal Badal) For the compaining of Assembly Elections candidate S. Manjinder Singh Sirsa (Rajouri Garden)

NEW DELHI | SATURDAY | JAN 31, 2015Delhi News2 SAADDA HAQ

NEW DELHI, JAN 30In an attempt to mobilise the Aam

Aadmi Party cadre, AAP chiefArvind Kejriwal on Thursdayappealed to his party members not tosuccumb to "evil forces" and stayfocussed on agenda.

Writing on his Twitter account, theAAP convenor said: “To all AAP vol-unteers n supporters. Evil forces willtry to divert ur attention. But pl stayfocussed on positive agenda forDelhi.”

Kejriwal had on Thursday accusedother political parties in Delhi of try-ing to buy AAP volunteers ahead ofthe February 07 Assembly Elections.

Writing on the microblogging web-site, Kejriwal said he has asked hisparty volunteers to accept the moneybeing offered. However, the volun-teers have been asked to record theact in the form of a sting to exposethe opponents.

It is not the first time that the for-mer Delhi chief minister has rakedthe bribe issue. He had earlier askedvoters in Delhi to accept money fromthe Congress and BJP but vote for theAAP in February 7 elections.

After his repeated remarks, theElection Commission had warned

Kejriwal of “stern action”.The poll watchdog "warned" him

that it will be "constrained to takestern action against you in the eventof any further violation".

Kejriwal had earlier said that herespects the poll body and the lawand that he would stop making suchappeals if the Commission thinks hisstatements were inappropriate.

The public speech made by

Kejriwal that invited EC's ire was:"It's election time. When people bothfrom BJP and Congress come offer-ing money, don't refuse,accept...some have looted moneyfrom 2G, some have looted moneyfrom coal scam... Take money fromboth the parties but vote for AAP.

We will fool them this time. Theyhave been deceiving us for the last 65years. Now it's our turn."

Get ready to serve Delhi and make it safefor women: Arvind Kejriwal to AAP cadre

NEW DELHI, JAN 30With an aim to encour-

age people to vote inFebruary 7 Delhi polls, theElection Commission willcarry out an awarenesscampaign targeting com-muters in Metro stationsand buses of DelhiTransport Corporation(DTC).

Delhi Chief ElectoralOfficer (CEO)'s office willlaunch a campaign at allDMRC stations and trainsas well as DTC's busesacross the national capitalon Saturday.

"In Metro and DTCbuses, lakhs of people trav-el daily and this is one ofthe best modes to reach outto voters. At Metro sta-tions, an appeal will bemade to people through

public announcement sys-tem to cast their voters."

"Besides, we will alsoencourage passengers trav-elling in trains by display-ing 'Delhi Votes' on LCDscreens installed inside theMetro," CEO ChandraBhushan Kumar told anews agency.

Apart from DMRC sta-tions and trains, a cam-paign will also be run inDTC buses, aiming atincreasing voter turnout, hesaid.

"We will also appeal topeople travelling in DTCbuses by displaying 'DelhiVotes' on LCD screensinstalled inside the buses,"Bhushan also said.

In the 2014 Lok Sabhaelection, Delhi had record-ed around 64 percent

polling in the battle forseven seats while in the2013 Assembly poll, thenational capital had record-ed over 66 percentvoting.

In the capital, over 1.33crore voters are eligible toexercises their franchise inthe February 7 electionwhile a total of 11,763polling stations will be setup for the exercise.

The Delhi CEO officehas also roped in wrestlerSushil Kumar to encouragepeople, especially youths,to cast their votes in theupcoming AssemblyElection.

According to theCommission, around onelakh government employ-ees will be involved in theconduct of the poll.

Delhi polls: EC awareness campaignto target Metro, DTC commuters

NEW DELHI, JAN 30Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) president AmitShah on Friday urged thecity`s migrant populationfrom Madhya Pradesh tospread the party`s "mes-sage of development inall corners" and ensurethat the party wins theFeb 7 assembly polls.

Speaking at the"Madhya Pradesh MitraMandal MilanMahasammelan" at theTalkatora stadium here,Shah asked the crowd ofover 2,000 to become"devout" members ofBJP and support the

party`s chief ministerialcandidate Kiran Bedi.

"BJP is the only partythat believes in develop-

ment whether it is theJan Dhan Yojana or regu-larising of unauthorisedcolonies. I want you allto spread this message ofdevelopment in all cor-ners of Delhi," Shahsaid.

"Bedi ji has a longadministrative experi-ence and with PrimeMinister Narendra Modiat the centre and a BJPchief minister in Delhi, Iassure you that all yourproblems will beaddressed," he added.

The BJP chief furtherattacked opposition par-ties - Congress and the

Aam Aadmi Party(AAP).

"One is a corrupt party(Congress) and the otherbelieves in anarchism(AAP). Do you wantsuch people to come topower?" said Shah.

Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan also wooed thegathering and said thatjust like their home statehad developed under theBJP, Delhi too willbecome a world-classcity. "If you vote BJP topower, no one can stop itfrom developing," saidChouhan.

Amit Shah urges Delhi's migrant population to choose BJP

NEW DELHI, JAN 30The business head of

Uber Asia on Fridaytold a Delhi court thatthe driver of the cab, inwhich a 25-year-oldwoman was allegedlyraped in December lastyear here, was workingfor his company andhad diverted the vehiclefrom the actual routefor which it wasbooked.

Eric Alexander, whodeposed as a prosecu-tion witness, showedthe satellite maps of theroute of cab toAdditional SessionsJudge Kaveri Bawejaand explained about thedirections in which thevehicle, driven byaccused Shiv KumarYadav, had moved on

the night of the incidenton December 5.

Supporting the caseof the prosecution, hesaid the driver haddiverted the SwiftDzire car from the actu-al route which was tobe taken for going toInderlok from VasantVihar.

Alexander, throughSpecial PublicProsecutor (SPP) AtulShrivastava, saidaccording to the com-pany's records, the cabwas booked by a personnamed Ayush Dabas byusing Uber applicationon his mobile phone onDecember 5, 2014 at 11PM and it started fromVasant Vihar area andthe journey ended atZakira here.

He added that Yadav,who was the registeredowner of the car, wasoperating it for hiscompany and accordingto the records was alsothe driver of the vehi-cle. "I have been autho-rised by the Director ofUber India Systems PvtLtd to conduct legalproceedings pertainingto this case and todepose on behalf of thecompany during trial,"Alexander told thecourt.

During the day, thecourt continued record-ing statement of inves-tigating officer of thecase, Delhi Police SubInspector Renu, whosedeposition remainedinconclusive. Out of28, she is the last wit-

ness to be examined bythe prosecution.

Renu deposed thatsections 376(2)(m)(endangering awoman's life while rap-ing her) and 366 (kid-napping with an intentto compel her for mar-riage) of IPC wereadded in the case onDecember 23, 2014 asit came out during theprobe that Yadav hadtried to strangulate thevictim and there werescratch marks on herneck and he had takenher to a secluded placeby diverting the route.

The IO deposed thatYadav was alsoinvolved in variousother criminal cases forthe offences includingrape.

Rape accused driver was working for Uber: Firm's Asia head

NEW DELHI, JAN 30The election watch-

dog ADR on Fridaysaid Aam AadmiParty chief ArvindKejriwal has 10 crim-inal cases againsthim.

The Association ofDemocratic Reforms(ADR), on the basisof its analysis of theaffidavits of 673 can-didates in fray forFebruary 7 Delhiassembly polls,pointed out thatCongress leaderShoib Iqbal, contest-ing from MatiaMahal has maximum

criminal cases againsthim.

Iqbal is followed byAAP leaders ArvindKejriwal and GulabSingh who have 10criminal cases eachagainst them.

While Kejriwal isseeking re-electionfrom high-profileNew Delhi con-stituency, Singh iscontesting fromMatiala.

They are closelyfollowed byShiromani AkaliDal's ManjinderSingh Sirsa who isalso the richest candi-

date in fray and hasdeclared 9 criminalcases against himself.

Congress candidateAsif Mohd Khan,who is contestingfrom Okhla con-stituency, hasdeclared 7 criminalcases while AAP'sManish Sisodia has 6.

"Arvind Kejriwalhas declared in hisaffidavit that he has47 charges againsthim including caus-ing hurt to deter pub-lic servant from duty,disobedience to orderpromulgated by pub-lic servant, rioting

and defamation,among others. Out ofthese, cognizance hasbeen taken in sevencases and chargeshave been framed inone case," JagdeepChhokar, founder-member, ADR, saidat a press conferencehere. ADR has point-ed out in its reportthat as many as 114out of 673 candidatesin poll fray havecriminal cases againstthem and 19 out of 70were 'red alert' con-stituencies which hadat least three taintedcandidates each.

10 criminal cases against Arvind Kejriwal: ADR

NEW YORK, JAN 30A 25-year-old Indian

woman, allegedly raped byan Uber driver in New Delhilast month, has sued theonline taxi service companyin a US court for failing tomaintain basic safety meas-ures, including lax screeningof its drivers, that led to theassault and humiliation.

The woman - who has notbeen named in the 36-pagelawsuit filed in the Californiafederal court against the SanFrancisco-based firm, beingidentified as 'Jane Doe' - hascalled Uber the "modern dayequivalent of electronichitchhiking".

The taxi service, valued atUSD 40 billion and operatingthrough an app in over 250cities around the world, wasbanned from Delhi's streetsfollowing the December 5rape, that sparked safetyfears throughout India.

The woman executive is

seeking an unspecifiedamount in damages thatshould be determined at ajury trial and compensationfor the "physical and mone-tary" harm and for harm toher "professional and person-al reputations" the assaultcaused her.

The lawsuit said Uber's"negligence, fraud and otherunlawful actions" caused thewoman's sexual assault,which has "humiliated,

degraded, violated androbbed" her of her dignity.

She is also seeking a per-manent injunction directingthat Uber take all affirmativesteps necessary to remedythe effects of the allegedunlawful conduct of the driv-er and to "prevent repeatedoccurrences in the future".

Following the filing of thelawsuit, the victim's lawyer,prominent New YorkAttorney Douglas Wigdor

said Uber's focus on its "bot-tomline over the safety of itspassengers has resulted inwhat can only be describedas modern day electronichitchhiking." "...We intend tohold Uber responsible for thesignificant physical and emo-tional harm it has caused toour client, while simultane-ously seeking a court ordermandating that Uber initiatecertain safety precautionsthat they appear unwilling todo voluntarily," he said.

Wigdor hoped that the law-suit would bring about posi-tive change that will ulti-mately protect people world-wide who are unaware of the"serious risks of entering intoan Uber car".

Jeanne Christensen, a part-ner at the Wigdor law firm,said Uber executives' deci-sions to cut costs at theexpense of customer safetyforced the young woman to"pay the ultimate cost".

"Her brutal rape by anUber driver who was aknown repeat sexual predatorwas a result of a global Uberpolicy that has far-reachingconsequences. We intend tohold Uber accountable forviolence that could easilyhave been avoided had evena minimal background checkbeen conducted,"Christensen said.

Wigdor added that the law-suit seeks to "slam thebrakes" on Uber's recklessworldwide expansion at the"unfortunate expense ofbasic customer safety."

It demanded that Ubermust implement necessarysafety measures, includingopening dedicated 24X7 cus-tomer support centres inevery city that it operates in,requiring all its drivers toinstall GPS tracking systemsand tamper-proof video cam-eras besides providingwoman drivers.

Uber rape survivor files lawsuit in US court against companyNEW DELHI, JAN 30

114 candidates contesting in DelhiAssembly polls have criminal casesagainst them, election watchdogADR said today and noted that 19 outof 70 were 'red alert' constituencieswhich had at least three tainted candi-dates each.

The Association of DemocraticReforms (ADR) in its report, whichis an analysis of affidavits of 673candidates contesting the February 7polls, pointed out that the BJP hasfielded the highest number of 27 can-didates with criminal cases followedby AAP and Congress with 21 and 12such candidates respectively.

It also observed that Tughlakabadconstituency has five candidates whohave criminal cases againstthem.

"114 out of 673 candidates (17 percent) have declared criminal casesagainst themselves. During the 2013and 2008 Delhi Assembly elections,the percentage of candidates withcriminal cases was 16 and 14 respec-

tively," Jagdeep Chhokar, foundermember of ADR, said.

Out of the 114 candidates, 74 ofthem have declared serious criminalcases against them including murder,attempt to murder, assault, loss toexchequer and crimes againstwomen.

"Out of the 673 candidates, onecandidate has a murder case againsthim and five candidates havedeclared cases of attempt to murder.8 candidates have cases related tocrimes against women. However, nocandidate has a rape case againsthim," he said.

Higher on the 'red alert' constituen-cy list are Rajouri Garden and TilakNagar with 4 candidates in poll frayhaving criminal cases against them.

The 'red alert' constituenciesincludes Najafgarh, Babarpur,Ghonda, Nangloi, Dwarka, AdarshNagar, Matia Mahal, Shahdara,Chhatarpur, Shalimar bagh, NewDelhi, Mundka, Matiala, Okhla, HariNagar and RK Puram.

Delhi govt asked to pay Rs 8L formedical negligence at LNJP

Delhi polls: AAP torelease manifestoon SaturdayNEW DELHI, JAN 30

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will onSaturday release its manifesto for theDelhi Assembly Elections, a weekbefore polling begins in the city.

The manifesto is expected to focuson the party`s agenda for ensuringdevelopment, women`s safety andwater and electricity supply across thecity.

Earlier on Thursday, the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) announced that itwill eschew a manifesto for the Delhipolls and will instead come up with a`vision document`.

The party also announced that itwould ask Aam Aadmi Party chiefArvind Kejriwal five questions every-day till February 6, provoking a strongreaction from AAP leaders.

Delhi goes to polls on February 7,with counting of votes set to take placeon February 10.

NEW DELHI, JAN 30Voters in Delhi have an option of

availing a "buy-one-get-one-free"offer if they ensure that Kiran Bedibecomes the chief minister here asthere is already Prime MinisterNarendra Modi leading the govern-ment at the Centre, former BJP MPNavjot Singh Sidhu said on Friday.

"You voted for Modi as primeminister. Now vote for Bedi as chiefminister. This is a 'buy one get onefree' offer," cricketer-turned-politi-cian Sidhu said while addressing arally at Tilak Nagar in westDelhi.

He also took a jibe at the short-lived AAP government in Delhi ledby Arvind Kejriwal, which hadresigned after 49 days in office, say-ing such things happen when a"monkey is elected in place of alion".

Sidhu also raised doubts over thefinancial viability of AAP's elec-toral promises about slashing tariffsfor water and power and providingfree wi-fi.

"Kejriwal has said he would makewi-fi and water free. Where will themoney come from? Will Kejriwalgive the money when he can't pay

his own rent?" he said.In the address which was filled

with his trademark quips, Sidhutermed the poll contest as a fightbetween good and evil.

"This electoral contest is a fightbetween dharm and adharm (goodand evil)."

Terming the national capital the"heartbeat" of the nation, he saidthat Delhi's progress was crucial for

India's development."Dilli desh ki dhadkan hai. Dilli

ko theek kar do, desh theek hojayega," he said.

BJP MP Anurag Thakur, who wasalso present at the rally, meanwhile,hit out at Kejriwal, saying,"Kejriwal is a factory of lies. Oneday he will, get his name registeredin the Guinness book for it,"he said.

On campaign trail for BJP, Sidhupushes 'buy one get one free' offer

Continuation 3NEW DELHI | SATURDAY | JAN 31, 2015SAADDA HAQ

Govt nets...Retail investors, who were given five per

cent price discount, put in bids worth Rs1,852.55 crore. This amounted to less thanhalf of 12.63 crore shares reserved forthem, but still is the highest for any single-day Offer For Sale so far.

The FII demand was also the highest ever.On the other hand, Non-InstitutionalInvestors bid for Rs 256.2 crore.

"It is a matter of great satisfaction that thebiggest-ever issue has concluded succesful-ly....We are giving it our best shot toachieve the disinvestment target,"Disinvestment Secretary Aradhana Johritold reporters here.

"We hope to do many more disinvest-ments in the coming days," she added.

The total offer of 63.16 crore sharesincluded sale of 31.58 crore shares and agreen-shoe option for selling similaramount of further shares, which the govern-ment decided to exercise in the wake ofrobust demand.

The government said it has netted Rs22,557.3 crore from the share sale. Thefinal sale price is estimated at around Rs358 apiece, the floor price fixed for theOFS.

Shares of Coal India closed at Rs 360.85,down 3.81 percent over previous close onthe BSE. This was the first disinvestment inwhich the shares reserved for retailinvestors were doubled to 20 percent. Aminimum of 25 percent of the issue sizewere reserved for mutual funds and insur-ance companies.

A strong pitch was made among investorsfrom the US and Europe, as also variousdomestic funds and state-run behemothslike LIC and SBI, to participate in CoalIndia's mega share. Top government offi-cials, as also merchant bankers and advisorsmandated for the share sale, pitched hardamong foreign and domestic investors forthe Coal India share sale over the last fewdays while projecting the huge growthopportunities present in the coal sector.

Markets regulator Sebi and the stockexchanges including BSE and NSE puttheir surveillance systems on 'high alert' tothwart any manipulative activities in CoalIndia shares in the wake of the divestmentprogramme. The other major stake salelined up is in Oil and Natural Gas Corp(ONGC), which is expected to fetch at leastRs 15,000 crore. The other companies linedup for stake sale include NMDC, Indian OilCorporation (IOC), Bharat HeavyElectricals (BHEL), National Aluminium(Nalco) and Dredging Corporation (DCIL).Five per cent stake sale in PFC and REC arealso on cards.

Bomb attack...one in five of the population.Sindh health minister Jam Mehtab Daher

told AFP that "the death toll from the attackhas increased to 61".

"There are 54 dead bodies in Shikarpurhospital. Seven others died in Sukkur andLarkana hospitals," he said.

Shaukat Ali Memon, the medical superin-tendent of Civil Hospital in Shikarpur, ear-lier gave a death toll of 48.

Hundreds of people rushed to the sceneafter the blast to try to dig out survivorstrapped under the roof of the mosque,which collapsed in the explosion, witnessZahid Noon said.

Television footage of the aftermathshowed chaotic rescue scenes as peoplepiled the wounded into cars, motorbikesand rickshaws to take them for treatment.

"The area is scattered with blood andflesh and it smells of burnt meat, people arescreaming at each other... it is chaos," Noonsaid.

"A huge contingent of police and rangersis present here and ambulances from thenearby towns have started to arrive."

Local resident Mohammad Jehangir toldAFP he had "felt the earth move beneath myfeet" as he prayed at another mosquearound 1.5 kilometres away.

An official with a national Shiite organi-sation, Rahat Kazmi, told AFP that up to400 people were worshipping in themosque when the blast struck.SainrakhioMirani, police chief of the region told AFPofficers were still working to determinewhether it was a suicide bombing orwhether the 6-7 kilogramme (13-15 pound)bomb was detonated remotely.

It is the bloodiest single sectarian attackin Pakistan since March 2013, when a carbomb in a Shiite neighbourhood of Karachikilled 45.

A spokesman for the shadowy Jandullahmilitant group, a splinter faction of thePakistani Taliban, said they were behind theblast.

"We claim responsibility for attack onShiites in Shikarpur very happily," AhmedMarwat told AFP.

Locals said many people lost relatives inthe attack.

Mohabbat Ali Bablani, a Shikarpur local,said four of his cousins, aged between 30and 40, were killed in the blast while hisfriend had lost five children, all under 13.

"My friend Nizam-ud-Din Sheikh has losthis five sons. He had taken them with himto offer prayers and all of them were killedin the attack," he told AFP.

Friday`s attack came as Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif visited Karachi, the capital ofSindh province, to discuss the law andorder situation in the city.

Karachi, Pakistan`s biggest city and eco-nomic heart, has wrestled for several years

with a bloody wave of criminal, sectarianand political murders.

After Friday`s attack, a group of Shiitemuslims came out in streets and blockedmain traffic artery in the central Karachicity during evening rush hours. They chant-ed slogans against the attackers and beattheir chests in protest.

Anti-Shiite attacks have been increasingin recent years in Karachi and also in thesouthwestern city of Quetta, the northwest-ern area of Parachinar and the far northeast-ern town of Gilgit.

Around 1,000 Shiites have been killed inthe past two years in Pakistan, with many ofthe attacks claimed by the hardline Sunnigroup Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ).

A report by the US Institute of Peace thisweek warned that sectarian militant groupswere growing in strength in rural areas ofSindh, a province which has escaped muchof the worst of the violence that haswracked Pakistan over the last decade.

Pakistan has stepped up its fight againstmilitants in the past month, following aTaliban massacre at a school in the north-western city of Peshawar.

Heavily armed gunmen went from roomto room at the army-run school gunningdown 150 people, most of them children, inan attack that horrified the world.

Since then, the government has ended asix-year moratorium on executions in ter-ror-related cases and pledged to crack downon all militant groups.

Sensex drops ...Durables and Auto. Capital Goods, Metal

and Oil & Gas were other major losers.In major earnings, country's largest pri-

vate sector lender ICICI Bank today posted13.68 per cent rise in net profit at Rs3,265.32 crore for the third quarter endedDecember. Its shares dropped nearly 5 per-cent on asset quality concerns, brokers said.

"Q3 earnings triggered a sell off on bank-ing and financial stocks today. Bank ofBaroda posted weak Q3 results causing sig-nificant sell off on PSBs and privatebanks," said WealthRays SecuritiesDirector & CEO Kiran KumarKavikondala.

Meanwhile, in the biggest ever disinvest-ment exercise, the government's 10 percentstake sale in Coal India today got over sub-scribed by 1.05 times and fetched about Rs22,600 crore although retail investors didnot bid so aggressively.

This is also the biggest ever share sale byany private or public sector company inIndia and exceeds the previous record ofover Rs 15,000 crore made by CIL itself in2010.

The BSE Sensex opened higher at29,801.60 and shot up further to all-timehigh of 29,844.16 on strong initial buyingin view of strong foreign capital inflows.

But, immediately declined to 29,070.48on profit-booking ending at 29,182.95, dis-closing a sharp fall of 498.82 points or 1.68percent from its last close. This is its worstdrop since January 6, 2014 when it tankedby 854.86 points.

Base year...113.55 lakh crore (under the old series)."Similarly, the size of the economy in

2012-13 declined under the new series toRs 99.88 lakh crore from Rs 101.13 lakhcrore at current market prices.

The government is committed to meetingthe fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent of theGDP in 2014-15 and its task might becometougher if the trend continues.

Anant further said, "The government tar-gets fiscal deficit as a proportion of theGDP at current market prices."

Although the Centre by the end ofDecember has overshot the fiscal deficittarget for the current financial year, theCoal India disinvestment, fetching theexchequer Rs 22,577 crore, will providesome comfort to government which is rac-ing against time to keep the deficit in check.

After changing the base year, India's percapita income -- a gauge for assessing stan-dard of living -- is estimated to have risento Rs 6,699 per month in 2013-14 from ear-lier estimate of Rs 6,198.33.

About the impact of revision on India'sranking on the basis of size of economy,Anant said, "Our ranking in GDP terms willnot change as the size of economy hasalmost remained same."

According to the statement, the newseries will also affect a wide range of indi-cators like trends in public expenditure,taxes and public sector debt that are con-ventionally analysed in terms of their ratiosto nominal GDP.

However, the release said, the level ofrevision in the present base revision "is notlarge enough to affect any of these ratiossignificantly".

Moreover, the official press note said thatthe Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at fac-tor cost will no longer be discussed, insteadGross Value Added (GVA) will be analysedin releases.

"As is the practice internationally, indus-try-wise estimates will be presented asGVA at basic prices, while GDP at marketprices will henceforth be referred to asGDP.

"Real GDP or GDP at constant (2011-12)prices stands at Rs 92.8 lakh crore and Rs99.2 lakh crore, respectively for years2012-13 and 2013-14, showing a growth of5.1 percent during 2012-13, and 6.9 percentduring 2013-14," it added.

Under the new series, estimates of value

added are compiled separately for crops andlivestock sector. The estimation of sandexcavation is also factored indirectly on thebasis of output of construction sector.

The new series also includes intellectualproperty products as an asset. Under thenew series, the Consumer Price Index(CPI)-Rural/Urban/Combined is usedinstead of CPI-Industrial Workers and CPI-Agricultural Labour.

During 2013-14, contribution of agricul-ture sector has declined marginally to 18.2percent in new series from 18 percent with2004-05 as base year.

Similarly, the share of mining and quarry-ing increased to 2.8 percent from 2.1 per-cent. The share of manufacturing sector toojumped to 17.3 percent from 12.9 percent.

The contribution of trade, repair, hotelsand restaurants has come down to 12 per-cent in 2013-14 from 16.5 percent under theold series.

The share of social and personal servicesdeclined to 12.9 percent from 14.9 percent.The contribution of transport, storage, com-munication and services related to broad-casting too declined to 6.6 percent from 7.5percent.

No leadership ...with the exit of small leaders like

Natrajan," Sharma said.Firm on his stand that former environ-

ment minister Natrajan "put herself in acorner", Sharma, her ministerial colleaguein the Manmohan Singh-led UPA II govern-ment, maintained that there was no need tomake "martyrs out of zeroes".

Second in a row to exit, Natrajan Fridaydealt a sharp blow to the Congress as shequit saying she was shunted despite herdiligence in toeing the "party line" and act-ing on "specific inputs" from Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi`s office during hertenure as minister.

Following a letter to Congress presidentSonia Gandhi, Natrajan snapped ties from aparty she served for over 30 years.

"Received several requests and represen-tations from Rahul Gandhi`s office toensure that the environment is protected,"said Natarajan who was asked to put in herpapers Dec 20, 2013 by Manmohan Singh.

"And according to these instructions...Idid my duty. I had these projects investigat-ed and some of them I stopped," she said.

Sharma however contended that Natrajanwas defamed by her own actions and by theBharatiya Janata Party and asked her to filea defamation case against Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, who then as the Gujaratchief minister, initiated the term "JayanthiTax".

The term "Jayanthi tax" was popularisedfollowing Natarajan`s brief spell as envi-ronment minister in 2013, when she wasseen as a roadblock to several developmentprojects

Earlier this month, former union ministerKrishna Tirath left Congress to join theBhartiya Janata Party ahead of the Delhiassembly polls.

Taking little notice of the incident,Sharma said "every party has opportunists"and so was Tirath who "enjoyed the fruits ofpower and when the party was down andunder", defected.

Delhi polls...leaders then submitted their parties

account for Lok Sabha 2014 elections withthe Election Commission?

BJP's fourth poser asked why ArvindKejriwal was violating EC's directives?And why was the AAP insultingConstitutional bodies, asked the BJP.

Arvind Kejriwal quit as Delhi CM after49 days citing other parties' lack of supportto the Lokayukta bill. Why didn't the AAPthen raise the issue after quitting frompower in Delhi, asked the BJP.

Modi stresses...to realising dream of a Digital India, with

a vision to make India a digitally empow-ered society & knowledge economy,” hesaid.

The prime minister said that he wanted toattend the conference personally but couldnot do so, therefore he took to Twitter.

“I wanted to personally attend the confer-ence but was unable to do so. However,there was no way I could miss interactingwith you,” he tweeted.

“I thought — despite not attending, howcan I connect with you. That is when Idecided to use technology & talk to you viathis medium,” added Mr. Modi in anothertweet.

Turkey keen ...India (project)," he said.Pitching for enhancing air connectivity

between the two countries, the Turkishdiplomat said that there should be moredirect flights by the airlines.

"We are open to contributing to hubs andwant to increase destinations here. We canfly to those destinations where other (air-lines) don't fly.

"There should be more direct flightsbetween India and Turkey. We want toincrease destinations in India; Our offer isvery much on the table," he said.

He also said that Turkey, being one of theleading global players in the constructionsegment, was also interested in developingsome smart cities in India.

Arvind Kejriwal ...anti-corruption crusader. In a series of

tweets today, AAP chief Kejriwal said,“Nathuram Godse killed Gandhiji on thisday in 1948. BJP has killed Anna in its adtoday. Shudn't BJP apologise?”

In the advertisement, BJP has also shownKejriwal's cartoon in which he is promisingnot to take support from Congress, but hehas been shown to have done "marriage"with Congress.

In another tweet, Kejriwal asked his sup-porters to be vigilant, saying 'To all AAPvolunteers n supporters. Evil forces will tryto divert ur (your) attention. But pl (please)stay focused on positive agenda for Delhi."

"AAP is forming govt in Delhi. Get readyto serve Delhi and to make it safe forwomen," Kejriwal said in another tweet.

Again he tweeted, "I will always pray forwell being and good health of Annaji".

Since Kejriwal has 33.9 lakh followers onhis Twitter account, almost all the tweetswere retweeted by his followers minutesafter he posted them.

Janata Parivar...not talk about it at different places.

Discipline needs to be maintained on this,"Prasad told reporters.

The RJD president's assertions on themerger was aimed to nullify speculationthat the process had hit a dead end.

Rubbishing media reports on cancellationof a meeting on the merger at the residenceof Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam SinghYadav in Delhi today, Lalu said "No suchmeeting was scheduled. This is just a prop-aganda spread by the BJP" and that hewould hold a rally on March 15 after theFebruary 26 wedding of his youngestdaughter.

"Merger will happen. It is a separate duty.But this does not mean we stop working inthe meantime. This is the reason RJD isholding a march to BJP headquarter onMarch 15," he said adding, likewise NitishKumar was also chalking out the JD(U)'sprogramme to activate party workers.

"Our main target is BJP... Who speakswhat here and there, I do not care," the RJDsupremo said.

The RJD president sought to play downChief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's repeatedassertions that a Dalit should be the nextChief Minister of Bihar.

Prove identity ...The move, officials say, is aimed at

checking fraudulent or malicious com-plaints, which often crop up against a gov-ernment official being considered for a par-ticular posting to delay grant of vigilanceclearance to him.

"All Chief Vigilance Officers (CVOs) areinformed that henceforth, the Commissionwould be seeking confirmation from thecomplainant for owning or disowning thecomplaint, as the case may be," the anti-corruption watchdog said in a directive.

The CVOs, who act as distant arm of theCommission, have also been asked to seekconfirmation on graft complaints receivedby them from the complainants.

"As regards complaints received directlyby the CVOs of ministries, departments ororganisations, if a complaint contains spe-cific and verifiable allegations of corrup-tion or vigilance angle and it is proposed totake cognizance of such complaints, thecomplaint will be first sent to the com-plainant for owning or disowning," thedirective said.

If no response is received within from thecomplainant within 15 days of sending thecomplaint, a reminder will be sent. 15 daysafter sending the reminder, if still nothing isheard, the said complaint may be filed aspseudonymous by the CVO and no inquiryor investigation be initiated on them, it said.

Aadhar to be...linked with the mobile number as well as

the bank account number of the individual.The announcement was made by the sec-

retary, Department of Electronics &Information Technology, Government ofIndia, R S Sharma, at the 18th national con-ference on e-Governance here.

"When we are moving ahead in the direc-tion of 'Digital India', identity and authen-ticity of user in the digital space becomevery crucial. We will use Aadhaar numberas digital identity of the user. We will link itwith mobile number, which will enable theuser to do secure transaction using hismobile phone," said Sharma.

"Aadhaar number, mobile number andbank account number -- these are the threeimportant pillars of Digital India pro-gramme. We will link all of them togetherto provide a flawless solution, where peoplecan easily do transactions using theirmobile phones," said Sharma.

"Our mission of Digital India is also rele-vant with financial inclusion. We want tomake financial transactions electronic andcashless. We want banking to be madeavailable to the people living in villagersusing mobile phones.

"Aadhaar linked bank accounts willenable villagers to do banking without com-ing to cities. This initiative will transformentire India in near future. Such mobile-governance will bring countless people,who are otherwise left behind, in to the sys-tem using technology," said Sharma.

India's forex ...billion, a new record high.Foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major

constituent of overall reserves, fell by USD19.7 million to USD 297.510 billion in thereporting week, Reserve Bank data showed.

FCAs, expressed in dollar terms, includethe effect of appreciation and depreciationof non-US currencies such as the euro,pound and yen, held in reserves.

The country's gold reserves remainedunchanged at USD 19.377 billion.

Special drawing rights decreased by USD61.4 million to USD 4.047 billion, whileIndia's reserve position with the IMFdipped by USD 16.8 million to USD 1.101billion during the week, the data showed.

Observance of...premises of the Assam Secretariat here.A gun salute was also given by a contin-

gent of Assam police officials.Floral tributes were also offered at the

portrait of Mahatma Gandhi by RevenueMinister Dr Bhumidhar Barman along withother senior ministers and state governmentofficials in the premises of the Secretariat.

Rallies of Sushma ...Swaraj is scheduled to leave for China

tomorrow on a four-day visit tomorrow.Yesterday also, the poll rallies of Swaraj

were called-off with BJP maintaining thatshe was pre-occupied with various briefin-gs ahead of her China visit.

According to sources, the Union Cabinetminister will hold poll meetings after herreturn on February 3. Swaraj had addressedtwo public meetings on Wednesday.

170 sarpanchs ...pouring in from across the State.Worse, the Sikar police have arrested a

gang of people who have reportedly soldfake marks sheets and Transfer Certificatesto those aspiring to contest. Investigations,so far, have revealed that contestants fromJalore, Barmer, Sikar and Jodhpur have pur-chased fake certificates from the gang,though police suspect the number could gointo thousands.

In the first two phases of polling, posts of7 sarpanchs are lying vacant and 170 wereelected unopposed – a departure from the2010 elections-- purportedly there were noeducationally qualified candidates to con-test. For Zila Parishad and PanchayatSamiti's 5 and 32 candidates respectivelyhave been elected unopposed.

Dadiya Gram Panchayat in Ajmer andMajawada Gram Panchayat in Udaipurwere unable to elect sarpanchs becausethere were no qualified candidates fulfillingthe new educational eligibility criteriaunder the Rajasthan Panchayati RajOrdinance, 2014 promulgated just daysbefore elections for the Panchayati RajInstitutions were announced.

In Bhadu village of Bhilwara, there weretwo students of Class VIII who were askedto contest but their nomination were reject-ed because they were below 18 years ofage. At many other places, candidates wereelected unopposed because, social activistssay, there were no qualified opponentswhich made the whole exercise of electionsfutile. Similar reports came in fromChittorgarh as well.Limited choice

"It is not only the lack of contestants butalso the lack of choices which is unhealthy.Not finding an opposition is terrible,''Nikhil Dey of Mazdoor Kisan ShaktiSangathan (MKSS) that challenged theOrdinance in the court, said.

The Ordinance which is expected to beratified in the coming Assembly sessionbecause the Bharatiya Janata Party has anabsolute majority in the House, makes itmandatory that those contesting for the postof sarpanch should have passed Class VIIIexam except in the tribal reserved areaswhere the qualification is Class V, andClass X for contesting Zila Parishad orPanchayat Samiti elections.

Though the State Election CommissionerRam Lubhaya denied having received anysuch reports, cases of educated people witha non-political bent of mind being coercedinto contesting are coming in from all dis-tricts, as is the number of those electedunopposed.

“The number of contestants as comparedto the previous elections has certainly comedown this time, and all such details willcome out once a survey is done after theelection is over. This is the only way togauge the impact because not every wantsto contest the elections in any case, '' MrDey said.

There is miniscule number of people whowant to contest elections, and with this cri-teria the number has gone down furtherleaving voters with limited choices whichgoes against the spirit of democracy, MrDey explains. The State will have to con-duct fresh elections within six months to fillthe posts which are vacant as per the law.Women left out

The petitioners in the case are two womensarpanchs-- Norati Bai and KamlaMeghwal -- who have become ineligible tocontest under the new law. The petitionershave claimed that it would take away therights of the people, particularly women, asin many segments a majority of them haveno education.

They said that 80 per cent of the State'srural electorate would not be able to contestthe polls as they would not meet the normsand about 95 per cent women electoratewould be disqualified. Further, of the cur-rent block of members, the Ordinancewould render ineligible around 3,800 of the5,000 panchayat samiti members and simi-larly disqualify 550 of the 1,000 zilaparishad members.

Editorial4 NEW DELHI | SATURDAY | JAN 31, 2015SAADDA HAQ

BY VARGHESE K. GEORGE

January 30 reminds us of thefact that even the holiest oftexts can have subjective

and differential meanings.

The sacred Indian verses ofShrimad Bhagavad Gita hasbeen in the news for various rea-sons in recent months. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi pre-sented a copy of the BhagavadGita to United States PresidentBarack Obama when he visitedthe White House last year andone to Emperor Akihito ofJapan. He has declared that theGita would be the gift that hewould carry for all world lead-ers. More controversially, UnionMinister Sushma Swaraj advo-cated that the Gita may bedeclared the national book ofIndia. Most recently, the BJPgovernment in Haryana declaredits intention to teach the Gita aspart of the school curriculum.

To say that religion and poli-tics should not be mixed has notonly become a cliché, but maybe missing the point altogether.Many tall leaders found the rea-son for their political action intheir religious faith. MahatmaGandhi and Martin Luther KingJr are examples. PresidentObama mentioned in his townhall speech in Delhi last weekthat his faith strengthened him inhis life. It is also true that manykings and emperors of the pastused religious faith to justifykillings and destruction.

Martyr and murderer

Many individuals and organi-sations advocate and indulge inviolence today, and justify it onthe basis of religious texts.January 30, the day NathuramGodse killed Mahatma Gandhi,is the starkest reminder in thehistory of humankind of how the

same text can be read different-ly. Both read the Bhagavad Gita.One became Gandhi. The otherbecame Godse. One became amartyr. The other became a mur-derer. Jawaharlal Nehru, forwhom the Gita was “a poem of

crisis, of political and social cri-sis and, even more so, of crisisin the spirit of man,” wrote inthe Discovery of India: “... theleaders of thought and action ofthe present day — Tilak,Aurobindo Ghose, Gandhi —have written on it, each givinghis own interpretation. Gandhijibases his firm belief in non-vio-lence on it; others justify vio-lence and warfare for a righteouscause ...”

What is curious is the fact thatthe two opposite interpretationsof the Gita that Nehru refers towere responses to the sameshared reality that their respec-tive proponents encountered —colonialism and Christianity.Two strikingly differentresponses emerge to the samesituation. The divergence is evi-dent from the debate betweenGandhi and Bal GangadharTilak. In 1920, Tilak wrote toGandhi: “Politics is the game ofworldly people and not of

Sadhus, and instead of themaxim, ‘overcome anger by lov-ing kindness, evil by good,’ aspreached by Buddha, I prefer torely on the maxim of ShriKrishna, ‘In whatsoever wayany come to me, in that same

way I grant them favour.’ Thatexplains the whole difference.”Gandhi replied: “For me there isno conflict between the twotexts quoted by the Lokamanya.The Buddhist text lays down aneternal principle. The text fromthe Bhagavad Gita shows to mehow the eternal principle of con-quering hate by love, untruth bytruth can and must be applied.”

For Tilak, the Gita was a callfor action, political and reli-gious. He declared that the Gitasanctioned violence forunselfish and benevolent rea-sons. While Tilak’s interpreta-tion of the Gita that he wrotewhile in prison inspired a gener-ation of warriors against Britishcolonialism, it also informedHindutva politics. Godse usedsimilar arguments to justify thekilling of the Mahatma, andquoted from the book during histrial. For Gandhi, the Gita andall religious texts were notexcuses for exclusion and big-

otry, but inspiration for compas-sion and confluence. In TheBhagavad Gita According toGandhi — incidentally, the bookthat Mr. Modi gifted Mr. Obama— the Father of the Nationwrote: “But there is nothing

exclusive about the Gita whichshould make it a gospel only forthe Brahmana or the Hindu.Having all the light and colourof the Indian atmosphere, it nat-urally must have the greatestfascination for the Hindu, butthe central teaching should nothave any the less appeal for anon-Hindu as the central teach-ing of the Bible or the Koranshould not have any less appealfor a non-Christian or a non-Muslim.”

Challenged by Christian mis-sionaries, Gandhi learned moreabout his own religion, but moreimportantly, he imbibedChristian values rather thanrejecting them. “Gandhi inte-grated several aspects ofChristianity in this brand ofincreasingly redefinedHinduism, particularly the ideaof suffering love as exemplifiedin the image of crucifixion.

The image haunted him all his

life and became the source ofsome of his deepest passions.

He wept before it when he vis-ited Vatican in Rome in 1931;the bare walls of his Sevagramashram made an exception infavour of it; Isaac Watts’s ‘WhenI behold the wondrous Cross,’which offers a moving portrayalof Christ’s sorrow and sacrificeand ends with ‘love so amazing,so divine, demands my soul, mylife, my all,’ was one of hisfavourite hymns...” BhikhuParekh writes. Gandhi wasaccused of being a ‘closetChristian’ and ridiculed as‘Mohammad Gandhi’ by Hinduradicals.

Support for Godse’s reading

Godse’s reading of the Gitaappears to gather more support-ers in contemporary India. BJPMP Sakshi Maharaj knew whathe was talking about when hepraised Godse. Several individu-als and organisations havebecome active in propagatingthe ideas of Godse. There is alsoa move to build a temple forhim.

After gifting the Gita to theJapanese emperor, Mr. Modiwondered whether his act wouldirk secularists. The greatest ofIndian secularists, Nehru, hadthis to say: “During the 2,500years since it was written, Indianhumanity has gone repeatedlythrough the processes of changeand development and decay; butit has always found somethingliving in the Gita...The messageof the Gita is not sectarian oraddressed to any particularschool of thought. It is universalin its approach for everyone…‘All paths lead to Me,’ it says.”

But then, it is all about readingit like Gandhi.

The first public reactions to U.S. President BarackObama’s soul-stirring “Address to the People ofIndia” at the Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi

before winding up his three-day historic trip to the countryon January 27 have, rather predictably, displayed a binarylogic. A good section instantly saw in Mr. Obama’s candidviews on “dealing with diversity of beliefs and of faiths”and the need to uphold the constitutionally guaranteed‘Right to Freedom of Religion’ without fear of persecutionor discrimination, a well-meant yet stinging reminder tothe Narendra Modi-led BJP Government to rein in its reli-gious fundamentalist elements. But an equally vocal sec-tion seemed to resent his homily to a nation whose“Sanatana Dharma has been extremely tolerant” of all reli-gions. However, holistically there is more substance to Mr.Obama’s 34-minute speech, set in the context of twoemerging scenarios. First, the possibility that America canbe “India’s best partner” in a whole range of activitiesincluding the ‘next wave’ of economic growth, and second,at a more personal level how India for Mr. Obama repre-sents “an intersection of two men who have alwaysinspired me” — Martin Luther King Jr. and MahatmaGandhi — in striving for equity and peace in a non-violentway. It is from this perceptual bedrock that the AmericanPresident has sought to re-engage India on a much widersocio-political canvas of cultural pluralism and religiousdiversity under an overarching universal humanism. Mr.Obama’s admission that “in our lives, Michelle and I havebeen strengthened by our Christian faith”, may at best ele-vate traditional religious notions like ‘God’ and ‘all ofhumanity being God’s children’, to a secular plane in acomplex, interdependent world in guarding against sectar-ian divisions and dark violence which threaten to rapidlyundermine ‘foundational human values’. This universalismfor Mr. Obama, looking beyond “any difference in religionor tribe and rejoice in the beauty of every soul,” seem to befirst premises for articulating a new global ethic of peaceand harmony. The entry point may be Hinduism,Christianity, Islam or any other faith, but the goal isenabling ‘compassion and empathy’ in human affairs. Thisis a utopian task, but this is what ‘world leaders’ like Indiaand the U.S. should be doing, he hinted. The latePhilosopher-President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, in hiswork, The Spirit of Religion said: “The world has gottogether as a body; it is groping for its soul… If we canhave a United Nations Organization, cannot we have aUnited Religions Organization?” Mr. Obama’s plea forreligious freedom aims to give that vision a chance undervery different circumstances.

Obama and religious freedomSaturday | January 31, 2015

SAADDA HAQ

BY LISA CURTIS

The rain during the Republic Day paradeapart, United States President BarackObama’s visit to India was a near-per-

fect one. Indeed, his sojourn is likely to beviewed as one of the most important anddefining moments in the history of India-U.S.relations.

The pomp and symbolism of Mr. Obamabeing the first U.S. President to attend theparade was expected. But the substance of thevisit, particularly its focus on defence andstrategic cooperation, confirms that both Mr.Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modiare serious about bolstering ties.

Progress on strategic agenda

The most significant achievement was theprogress made in military and defence coop-eration. The renewal of the 10-year frame-work for the U.S.-India DefenceRelationship; the announcement of joint proj-ects, including the co-production ofunmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and spe-cialised equipment for military transport air-craft; the establishment of contact groups toexplore co-development of jet engine tech-nology and aircraft carrier systems, and thedecision to upgrade bilateral, annual navalexercises represent substantive steps that willdeepen the defence partnership.

The establishment of a hotline between thetwo leaders and their national security advis-ers are also an indicator of the two countriestaking ties to a deeper, strategic level.

The forward movement on civil nuclearissues was a surprise, given the antagonisticposition of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)towards the civil nuclear deal when it was inthe Opposition. But details on the “break-through understanding” are sparse. And Mr.Obama has himself acknowledged that U.S.companies will have the final say on whetherIndia’s proposal for an insurance pool will besufficient to mitigate investment risks in lightof Indian legislation that holds suppliersliable for damages in the event of a nuclearaccident. The companies are apparently stillstudying the proposal, so it may be too earlyto claim victory on the civil nuclear front.

Nonetheless, U.S. officials seem to appreci-ate the effort India’s negotiators are makingin trying to resolve the civil nuclear deadlock.Many were sceptical that Mr. Modi wouldinvest much political capital in trying tomove the deal forward since it was initiatedunder the previous government headed by Dr.Manmohan Singh. The time and the attention

the Indian side has devoted in trying toresolve differences over the nuclear liabilityissue shows that the Modi government is tak-ing ownership of the deal.

China factor

Forming the backdrop of progress on India-U.S. defence and strategic ties is undoubtedlythe military and economic rise of China. TheJoint Statement’s call for freedom of naviga-tion and overflight, especially in the SouthChina Sea, should be viewed as a veiled ref-erence to Chinese assertiveness in the region.

By demonstrating that China is very muchon his mind, Mr. Modi has reportedly raisedthe idea of reviving the Quad (security collab-oration between Australia, India, Japan andthe U.S.). Shinzo Abe, during his previousstint as Prime Minister of Japan, proposed theidea of the Quad almost nine years ago. Thefour countries backed away from the propos-al when China raised strong objections. Mr.Modi’s mention of the Quad may have beenaimed at convincing China to back downfrom its assertive position with regard to theirborder disputes. Chinese President XiJinping’s visit to India in September 2014was overshadowed by border tensions pro-voked by unusual movements of Chinese sol-diers along the disputed frontier in northernKashmir.

Incidentally, the Washington-basedHeritage Foundation will join the Delhi-based Vivekananda International Foundation,the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, theTokyo Foundation, and the Jakarta-basedHabibie Center in Bali, Indonesia, next week

for a Track II Quad-Plus dialogue to discussways to enhance cooperation in defence,regional security and counterterrorism.

China has reacted warily to Mr. Obama’svisit to India. In a commentary that ran in astate-owned Chinese newspaper, its authorcautioned India not to fall into America’s“trap” of trying to counter China.

Counterterrorism cooperation

The two sides advanced their counterterror-ism dialogue and recommitted to cooperatingagainst Pakistan-based groups such as theLashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). There is confusionabout whether Pakistan is cracking down onthe LeT front organisation, Jamaat-ud-Dawa(JuD), led by the LeT founder, HafizMohammad Saeed.

The Pakistani media reported last week thatIslamabad had frozen JuD assets and bannedits leaders from international travel. ButHafiz Saeed’s recent announcement of theJuD launching a new ambulance service inKarachi, shows that the organisation is notfeeling much heat from the government’spurported actions.

Washington should push Pakistan to try inthe newly established military courts, theseven LeT members in Pakistani custody fortheir alleged involvement in the 2008Mumbai attacks. Pakistan has set up thesespecial military courts to overcome weak-nesses in the civilian court system in dealingwith terrorist cases. One major problem hasbeen the ability of terrorists to intimidatecivilian lawyers and judges in order to influ-

ence the system in their favour.

Washington has not adequately leveragedits aid and influence in Pakistan to convince

the authorities to crack down on terroristgroups that focus on attacking India, but alsopose an international threat. The U.S.’sincreased willingness to work with India totarget these groups is welcome, but notenough.

Until Washington makes clear that it placesthe threat from LeT on a par with that fromal-Qaeda, Pakistani military and intelligenceservices will continue to allow the LeT andthe JuD to operate relatively freely.

Women’s rights, religious freedom

On the final day of the visit, Mr. Obama’sspeech, which focussed on women’s rightsand religious freedom, was appropriate. Thetreatment of women in India has garnered agreat deal of attention in the last couple ofyears, especially following wide media cov-erage after a brutal gang rape on a bus in NewDelhi in December 2012 that left the youngwoman dead.

The issue of religious freedom has alsocome in the spotlight following reports ofmass ceremonies where Muslims andChristians are being converted to Hinduism.Parliament was paralysed for several dayslast month when reports surfaced that a BJPleader planned to hold one of these cere-monies on Christmas Day (December 25).Eventually the group organising the eventagreed to cancel it.

Amid the controversy, some BJP leadershave proposed passing a national anti-conver-sion law — legislation purportedly aimed atpreventing forced conversions. But India’sreligious minorities worry that such lawswould be used to harass or intimidate them.There is also concern that allowing lawenforcement or judicial authorities to deter-mine whether a conversion has been forced ormanipulated allows the state to intervene tooheavily in religious matters that involve per-sonal and ethical choices.

Mr. Modi has stayed away from communalpoliticking and has signalled that he is moreinterested in focussing on his economic agen-da, rather than in pursuing Hindutva policies.He has taken steps to reach out to the Muslimcommunity. For instance, during his firstspeech to Parliament last June, he said it wasunacceptable that the Muslim minority oftenlagged behind the rest of the country in socio-economic terms.

But he needs to reaffirm his commitment toreligious freedom and show that he is notbeholden to those pushing a hardlineHindutva agenda. Failing to do so could harmthe BJP government’s international reputationand dampen India-U.S. ties.

As a young diplomat heading to South Asianearly 20 years ago, I remember beingcoached with very specific talking points onU.S. policy, which was to “cap, roll back, andeventually eliminate” the nuclear pro-grammes of both India and Pakistan. To nowsee the U.S. President at a spectacular paradewhere India’s strategic weapons capabilitieswere on full display, while U.S. and Indiannegotiators hashed out ways to operationalisecivil nuclear cooperation, vividly illustratesjust how far the relationship has progressed inrecent years.

The Joint Statement released during thevisit is notable for its length, spelling out sev-eral achievements in the relationship but alsodetailing the work that lies ahead. The India-U.S. collaboration that now stretches across abroad array of issues and the vision set forthby the two leaders shows that we are nolonger striving for a strategic partnership. Wehave arrived at one.

(Lisa Curtis is Senior Research Fellow onSouth Asia at the Heritage Foundation.)

Takeaways from the Obama visit

Our team will publish your thoughts sendus your articles at

news.saaddahaq@gmail.com

G i t a , G a n d h i a n d G o d s e

The sacred Indian verses of Shrimad Bhagavad Gita has been inthe news for various reasons in recent months. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi presented a copy of the Bhagavad Gita to UnitedStates President Barack Obama when he visited the White Houselast year and one to Emperor Akihito of Japan. He has declaredthat the Gita would be the gift that he would carry for all worldleaders. More controversially, Union Minister Sushma Swarajadvocated that the Gita may be declared the national book of

India. Most recently, the BJP government in Haryana declared itsintention to teach the Gita as part of the school curriculum.

The two sides advanced their counterterrorism dialogue and recommitted to cooperat-ing against Pakistan-based groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). There is confu-sion about whether Pakistan is cracking down on the LeT front organisation, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), led by the LeT founder, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed. The Pakistani mediareported last week that Islamabad had frozen JuD assets and banned its leaders frominternational travel. But Hafiz Saeed’s recent announcement of the JuD launching anew ambulance service in Karachi, shows that the organisation is not feeling muchheat from the government’s purported actions. Washington should push Pakistan totry in the newly established military courts, the seven LeT members in Pakistani cus-

tody for their alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

JORHAT, JAN 30Assam Chief Minister Tarun

Gogoi on Friday said he will con-test in the 2016 AssemblyElections from the Titabar con-stituency in Jorhat district.

"I will of course contest in the2016 elections. From today I willlead the electoral battle withrenewed vigour," Gogoi reporterson the sidelines of a booth meet-ing at ward no. 10 in Jorhat town.

There were media reports aboutthe possibility of Gogoi not con-testing in the next AssemblyElections.

On reports about his detractors,those above 70-years of age andnon-performers being denied aCongress party ticket, Gogoi said,most of the contestants will befrom among the existing 79 MLAs

with some new faces."Gogoi has served as the Chief

Minister consecutively since 2001leading his party to a record threeelectoral wins in Assam.

State Watch 5NEW DELHI | SATURDAY | JAN 31, 2015SAADDA HAQ

PANAJI, JAN 30Goa Chief Minister

Laxmikant ParsekarFriday said that theNatarajan-Gandhi tusslecould have resulted in theprolonged delay in resolv-ing Goa`s iron ore miningsector crisis.

His remark came afterformer UPA ministerJayanthi Natarajan Fridayblamed Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhifor the slack performanceof her environment min-istry.

Reacting to seniorCongress leader and for-mer union minister forenvironment and forests`comments blamingCongress vice presidentRahul Gandhi`s directives

for slow decision makingin her ministry, Parsekarsaid: "I do not know whattranspired betweenJayanthi Natarajan and socalled leader of Congress,Gandhi. So I cannot com-ment on it, but since shehas given this reactionthere seems to be sub-stance therein. There is nosmoke without fire."

When asked whether thetussle between Gandhiand Natarajan could haveeventually led to the delayin resolving Goa`s miningsector crisis he said that"definitely there has beendelay".

Goa`s mining has beennon-operational for morethan two years because ofthree successive actions,

namely a temporary sus-pension of mining permis-sion by the state govern-ment, a revocation ofgreen clearances by theMoEF and then a ban bythe Supreme Court fol-

lowing the revelation of aRs 35000 crore illegalmining scam.

The ban was been liftedlast year, but mining hasnot yet resumed due tologistical issues yet.

'Natarajan-Gandhi tussle delayedmining resumption in Goa'

Will contest the 2016 Assembly pollsfrom Titabar seat: Tarun Gogoi

THIRU, JAN 30Fem Patrol (FP), a City police ini-

tiative to curb atrocities againstwomen in the capital, is all set to upthe ante against roadside Romeos.

A beginning towards this will bemade on Friday at All Saints’College here. Fem Patrol’sFacebook page, to encouragewomen to share incidents of harass-ment, will be launched on the day. Atraining programme in Krav Maga,a popular Israeli self-defence tech-nique, for FP volunteers, womenassociated with Janamaithri police,students and other women who areinterested in learning a few tips tokeep troublemakers away, will alsobe inaugurated on the occasion.

K. Padmakumar, AdditionalDirector General of Police, willinaugurate the training programmeat 1.30 p.m. A seminar to be attend-

ed by around 600 women will fol-low. S. Ajeetha Begum, DeputyCommissioner (Law and Order),said the objective was to createawareness of crimes againstwomen, particularly misbehaviourand harassment on buses and publicplaces.

An insight into the advantages ofknowing techniques such as KravMaga too would be given during theseminar, which would be open to allwomen interested.

Those interested can register forthe training programme at thevenue.

Those interested in Krav Magawould be trained by professionaltrainers from Krav MagaInternational and five women civilpolice officers who received train-ing and held demonstrations duringthe India International Trade Fair inNew Delhi last year. Women and

girls who were trained could enrolas FP volunteers as well, with thepolice encouraging them to pass oninformation on incidence of misbe-haviour towards women or harass-ment they faced or saw anywhere.

The Facebook page was toencourage women active on socialmedia in the capital city, and notjust FP volunteers, to share informa-tion, either on the page, via privatemessages to the page, or via num-bers posted on the page.Confidentiality would be main-tained, Ms. Ajeetha Begum said,adding that the complaints would beaddressed immediately.

“There are many incidents that gounreported. We hope to encouragewomen to share them via theFacebook page,” she said, addingthat police women were alreadypatrolling 108 specified posts in thecity thrice a week.

Fem Patrol to take the FBroute against harassment

HYDERABAD, JAN 30University of Hyderabad has

been selected for the ‘Visitor’sAward for the BestUniversity’, which will be pre-sented by President PranabMukherjee at a function to beheld at Rashtrapati Bhavan onFebruary 4.

The President of India, whois the “Visitor” of all Centraluniversities in the country,presents the ‘Visitor’s Awards’in categories such as ‘BestUniversity’, ‘Innovation’ and‘Research’.

The function will coincidewith the third conference ofVice-Chancellors of CentralUniversities, scheduled to beheld from February 4 to 5, saida message posted on thePresident’s Facebook page.

The ‘Visitor’s Award forInnovation’ will be given toVijay K. Chaudhary and AmitaGupta of University of Delhiwho invented ‘TB Confirm’, arapid diagnostic test for tuber-

culosis.The ‘Visitor’s Award for

Research’ will be presented toCosmology and AstrophysicsResearch Group of Jamia MiliaIslamia’s Centre forTheoretical Physics, for path-breaking research in the fieldof astrophysics and cosmolo-gy.

The ‘Best University’ willreceive a citation and trophy,while the winners of‘Innovation’ and ‘Research’will receive a citation and cashaward of Rs.1 lakh.

The President hadannounced the institution ofthese awards at the ViceChancellors’ Conference lastyear with the aim of promotinghealthy competition amongstCentral universities and moti-vating them to adopt best prac-tices from across the world.

For selecting the winners,online applications were invit-ed from all CentralUniversities for each category.

UoH is India’s best Central varsity

CHENNAI, JAN 30For the past few months, resi-

dents of Soundarya NagarExtension in Kodungaiyur have hadto navigate around an electricitypole that stands right in the middleof the recently-laid narrow road,posing a risk to motorists.

Soundarya Nagar is only oneamong the many areas that contendwith this issue on a daily basis.Residents of Kodungaiyur say thatseveral roads of the locality, includ-ing Annai Indira Main Road andKattabomman Main Road, areobstructed by electricity poles.

Sri Vivek, a resident ofSoundarya Nagar, complained thatseveral electricity poles posed ahindrance in areas nearMadhavaram where new roadshave been laid without the polesbeing shifted. This has resulted inaccidents on poorly-lit roads.

M. Mahalingam, a resident ofManali, in a post on Friends ofChennai, pointed out that poles onManali High Road — an importantlink to GNT Road for residents ofMadhavaram and Manali — oftencause traffic bottlenecks.

A lack of coordination betweenofficials of Tangedco and theChennai Corporation is cited as a

reason for the traffic problems inKodungaiyur. A senior official ofTangedco said the normal proce-dure for shifting or removing elec-tricity poles begins with theCorporation sending a request tothe local officials of Tangedco.Based on the request, the poles areshifted after the civic body payscompensation for the work.

In the case of Soundarya NagarExtension, the official said,Corporation officials and the roadcontractor had not informed localelectricity staff before laying thenew road.

Delays in shifting poles, lines andtransformers has been a perennialproblem, often affecting theprogress of several road-wideningand flyover projects. Work onwidening Tambaram-VelacheryRoad, for instance, has beendelayed due to the need to shiftelectric poles and lines.

“Work has been going on for thepast six months on the Sembakkamand Kamarajapuram stretches. InSembakkam, we widened the roadtill the point where lamp posts havebeen relocated. We can take upwork beyond that once other polesare shifted,” said a source in thehighways department.

Bang in the middle

HYDERABAD, JAN 30Preparing the ground for an

Information Technology InvestmentRegion (ITIR) around the city, theHyderabad MetropolitanDevelopment Authority (HMDA)has decided to come up with a mas-ter plan for the identified area spreadover 202 sq. km. The process of call-ing and identifying consultants forthe job was set in motion early thisweek.

To promote investment in IT/ITeSand electronic hardware sector, theUnion government has resolved toset up ITIRs in different States andapproved the proposal for an ITIR inan area of 49,913 acres (202 sq. km)in and around the HyderabadMetropolitan Area. The identifiedareas comprise the CyberabadDevelopment Authority (CDA)including Gachibowli andMadhapur, Hyderabad AirportDevelopment Authority (HADA)covering Mamidipalli, Raviryal,Adibatla and Maheswaram apart

from Uppal and Pocharam.The area identified for ITIR will

have around 41 per cent (82.4 squarekm) earmarked as processing areai.e., IT office space, and this in turn,will comprise Greenfield area devel-opment of 76.9 sq. km and the rest5.5 sq. km covering existing ITdevelopments in Madhapur,Gachibowli and Nanakramgudaareas, categorised as Brownfieldarea. The HMDA expects the pro-posed ITIR to have linkages with theexisting IT/ ITeS and ElectronicHardware Manufacturing (EHM)base and several major playersreportedly showed interest in mov-ing here.

The consultants to be selected bythe HMDA will be expected to pre-pare a master plan, land use plan andinvestment plan for an orderlydevelopment of ITIR and come upwith a broad mapping of demo-graphic, socio-economic character-istics, physical and social infrastruc-ture facilities of the region.

RAJKOT, JAN 30The Rajkot

M u n i c i p a lCorporation (RMC)would launch its ownhousing project, afirst such initiative byany corporation inGujarat, RMCCommissioner VijayNehra has claimed.

"With an aim toprovide affordablehouses to the citydwellers, RMC hasdecided to launch'Smart Ghar' project,under which wewould construct ahousing colony on theland owned by thecorporation," Nehratold reporters hereyesterday after sub-

mitting a Rs 1,745crore budget proposalto RMC's standingcommittee forapproval.

"RMC wouldbecome the first evermunicipal corpora-tion in the state tolaunch its own hous-ing project. Peoplewho are not coveredin housing schemesof the state, will nowhave an opportunityto own their house ataffordable rates. Wewill spend Rs 2 croreon this project," hesaid. He termed thisyear's budget propos-al as SMART (sensi-tive, modern, afford-able, robust infra-

structure and technol-ogy driven). In theproposal, Nehra hasnot proposed anyadditional taxes orincrease in existingtaxes.

"It's a big challengefor us as revenueexpenditure is morethan capital expendi-ture. But, we hopethat we would be ableto address the peo-ple's problems. Wehave to be sensitivetowards all classes ofpeople. Apart fromthe housing project,we have proposedanimal hostel forstray cattle and set-ting up of hawkers'zone," he said.

RMC to launch own housing projectPATNA, JAN 30

The Bihar governmentwould provide mopeds tofishermen to help themrush fresh fish to con-sumers.

In the first phase, a totalof 10,000 fishermen acrossthe state would be giventhe two-wheelers, BiharFishery DevelopmentMinister Baidyanath Sahnitold a news agency onFriday.

The fishermen interestedin availing the facility havebeen asked to apply.

The mopeds with iceboxes attached would begiven under a scheme ofNational Fishery develop-ment board.

The Bihar governmentwould make available 25per cent of the cost of thevehicle as subsidy,Director Fishery NishtAhmad told a newsagency.

While the cost of onemoped is Rs 36,000, anadditional Rs 4,000 is thecost of ice box whichwould be attached to it,Ahmad said.

Sahni said the objectivebehind making availablemoped to fishermen is tohelp them rush their fish inthe market and also takethem to doorsteps of theconsumer.

It has been seen that theprocess of catching fish

from river or pond and tak-ing them to markets take along time and it kills fresh-ness of fish so this timecould be curtailed with thehelp of mopeds, the minis-ter said.

He said the vehiclewould also provide themrelief from carrying thebasket of fish on their headand keep their catch freshaway from the impact ofthe sun.

Ahmad said according to2003 figures there aremore than 49 lakh fisher-men in Bihar. The stateconsumes 5.80 lakh metrictonne of fish annuallywhile its production poten-tial is 4.32 lakh.

HMDA to come up witha master plan for ITIR

KOCHI, JAN 30Fertilizers and Chemicals

Travancore has struck a deal withGAIL India Limited for supply ofnatural gas through MMTCLimited. The deal is for supplies upto March, after which a term con-tract for one year is expected to beworked out, FACT sources said onThursday.

According to the terms of thecontract, FACT will get natural gasat $12.5 per mmBtu. Once the Stategovernment notifies its decision toforgo value added tax, gas isexpected be cheaper by about $1.5,sources added. They said that gas

flow was now scheduled to beginon February 7.

The gas supply agreement is abreakthrough that has come afternearly a month of negotiations .

The public sector fertiliser com-pany has its hopes pinned on arevival package from the Uniongovernment, which is looking at theBoard for Reconstruction of PublicSector Enterprises for financialassistance worth Rs. 991 crore.

The company management hasalso submitted long-term expansionand diversification plans for thefuture centred on the availability ofnatural gas at sustainable rates.

The sharp drop in crude price hasraised the prospects of FACT get-ting natural gas at affordable rate.

The recent consignment to arrivein Kochi at Petronet LNG’s termi-nal has been offered at 15.34 permmBtu. The offer by the StateGovernment to waive VAT on gaswill slash another $1.87 permmBtu. Meanwhile, Board forIndustrial and FinancialReconstruction postponed its meet-ing on FACT, which was scheduledfor January 23. The meeting hasbeen postponed following a requestfrom the Union Ministry forChemicals and Fertilisers.

MANGALURU, JAN 30The Dakshina Kannada

Regional TransportAuthority (RTA) on Fridayasked autorickshaw opera-tors to collect the revisedreduced fares — minimumRs. 20 and per km Rs. 13 —or face legal action.

In a special meeting con-vened in the wake ofautorickshaw strike sinceTuesday midnight, DeputyCommissioner and RTAChairman A.B. Ibrahim saidthe operators would be giventhree months’ time to get themeters recalibrated insteadof one month. Till such time,they can collect Rs. 5 less inthe total fare shown in themeters, he said.

During the meeting, opera-tors reiterated their stand andsaid reduction cannot be

possible unless cost of otherinputs and the cost of livingcomes down. They termedthe RTA action unjustifiedand an assault on the poorworking class.

The RTA however pointedout that the reduction wasjust seven per cent thoughLPG price has come downby over 41 per cent andpetrol by 17 per cent.Operators’ arguments werenot justified, Mr. Ibrahimsaid. Superintendent ofPolice D.S. Sharanappaurged the operators to comeout with a worksheet ofalleged loss and convincethe RTA before making anew plea for fare revision.

Mr. Ibrahim later toldreporters that the RTA wouldallow autorickshaws permit-ted to ply in the entire Taluk

to operate within the city ifthe strike continues.Suspension of permits toomight be considered, he saidand added interest of generalpublic was also importantfor the RTA.

Autorickshaw operatorsare yet to decide their futurecourse of action, said aleader.

The district administrationwould consider launching ahelpline to register com-plaints against autorick-shaws and buses, Mr.Ibrahim said responding to aquery. He admitted it wasdifficult to passengers toalways give a written com-plaint in cases of refusal toply, overcharging, rudebehaviour, over speeding,rash and negligent drivingetc.

FACT strikes deal for gas supply from Feb. 7

JAMMU, JAN 30In wake of the ceasefire viola-

tions from the Pakistani side, thedivisional administration inJammu advised residents of theborder areas to remain vigilantand stay indoors during eveninghours.

On the directions of Jammu andKashmir Governor NN Vohra,Jammu Divisional Commissioner,Shantmanu along with InspectorGeneral of Police, Jammu, Rajesh

Kumar today visited Jugnu ChakBSF post and other border areasaffected by the Pakistani shelling.

During the visit, Shantmanuinteracted with the people andtook stock of their problems andadvised them to stay indoors dur-ing evening hours.

After his visit, the DivisionalCommissioner apprised theGovernor about the situation at theborder.

He informed that three injured

civilians were shifted toGovernment Medical College andHospital, Jammu and were under-going treatment where all medicalfacilities are being provided tothem.

"Divisional Commissioner wasinformed by the officers con-cerned that temporary arrange-ments for providing safe sheltersto the people have been put inplace to ensure their safety," anofficial spokesman said.

Civil, police officials visit firing-affected border areas

Bihar: Fishermen to get mopedsto deliver fresh fish to consumers

Collect reduced fares or face legal action:RTA tells autorickshaw operators

Fake job-experi-ence certificateracket bustedBENGALURU, JAN 30

A fake job certificate racket was busted bythe Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths, lateon Thursday.

The officials raided two IT firms inMarathahalli and HAL which were issuingfake job experience certificates for Rs.30,000 to help job seekers to secure jobs.

Based on information, a team of officialsraided Nexsys Technologies and VGSTechnologies and arrested Krishna (26),Vijay Ragha Reddy (35), Sai Vijay (35) andVenkata Reddy (26). They are originally fromGuntur, Ananthpur, Madanapalli and Nellur(Andhra Pradesh) respectively.

The accused had set up around six IT firmsas a cover-up and only issued certificates tojob seekers.

The CCB officials have seized 1,000 cer-tificates which were ready to be e-mailed totheir customers, along with computers lap-tops and mobile phones. DeputyCommissioner of Police, Abhishek Goel saidthat the accused have issued thousands offake certificates for aspirants around the city.

The accused had been operational in thecity for many months now, but were lyinglow after CCB had raided similar fake ITfirms in and around the city recently.

Amazon.com Inc.'s fourth-quarterearnings roundly beat analyst expec-tations, sending the Seattle e-com-

merce giant's stock soaring 14 percent inaftermarket trading. Here's a closer look atwhat investors applauded and hope contin-ues.Smart spending

Operating expenses rose 15 percent to$28.74 billion (roughly Rs. 1,77,606 crores)but that was less than some analysts hadexpected Amazon would spend. Investors

have long wanted Amazon to show somerestraint as it invests in its business, and thismetric seemed to be a sign that Amazon iswilling to do that.

Wedbush Securities analyst MichaelPachter said the lower-than-expected costswere related to flat fulfillment expenses -what the company spends on its distributioncenters and deliveries - during the holidayseason even though Amazon shipped 100million more free items.

The company also spent less on market-

ing expenses since the launch of its newhardware like Fire TV and the FireSmartphone are behind it.

"They're getting far more efficient atdelivery," said Pachter. "They're spendinglike slightly tipsy sailors rather than drunk-en sailors."Prime membership growth

Prime membership grew 53 percent in2015. Two-day shipping costs Amazon apretty penny but membership means morerevenue from customers in the long run.

Pachter estimates there are about 35 millionPrime members worldwide. And he pointedout the company is making untraditionalefforts to get more members. For example,it cut the price of its Prime membership to$72 one Saturday in January and let non-Prime members stream its Golden Globewinning series "Transparent" starringJeffrey Tambor."Little promotions like thatare going to drive prime membership andthey'll continue to really promote it,"Pachter said.

While ZTElaunchedt h e

Blade S6 earlierthis week, iton Thursdayalso intro-duced an e whand-s e t

d u b b e dZTE Blade L3.

The smartphone's priceand availability details areyet to be confirmed.However, the handsetmight be significantlycheaper than Blade S6,which is priced at $249.99(approximately Rs.15,300), based on theslightly lower specifica-tions mentioned by thecompany.

Like the ZTE Blade S6,the cheaper Blade L3 willalso run on the latestAndroid 5.0 Lollipop out-of-the-box. It features the

same 5-inch display butwith a lower qHD

r e s o l u t i o n

(540x960p i x e l s ) .Instead of a 64-bitocta-core QualcommSnapdragon 615 processorseen in Blade 6, the ZTEBlade L3 is powered by aquad-core 1.3GHzMediaTek MT6582Mprocessor coupled with1GB of RAM.

The ZTE Blade L3 hous-es an 8-megapixel rearcamera, a 2-megapixel

front-facing camera, and8GB of inbuilt storage forwhich expandabilitydetails are not yet known.A 2000mAh battery pow-ers the smartphone, which

the company says will beavailable in several

colours includ-i n g

"uniquepearlescentcolours".

ZTE on Wednesdaylaunched its Blade S6,which will be availableglobally starting February10. Some of the highlights

of the ZTE Blade S6include ZTE's AliveShareapplication for network-less communication andSmart Sense gesturemotion control. TheChinese handset makertouts that the ZTE BladeS6 is "world's firstQualcomm Snapdragon615 octa-core smartphonerunning the Android 5.0Lollipop operating sys-

tem." The designethics of the

Blade S6m a t c h

w i t hthat of

t h ei P h o n e

6 andiPhone 6

Plus, withsimilar bold

curved edgesand camera

design. You cancheck out our first impres-sions of the handset.

NEW DELHI | SATURDAY | JAN 31, 2015SAADDA HAQScience & Tech6

1. Who is Larry Pressler?A. Politician B. PainterC. Actor D. Tennis player

2. Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, who has won the pres-tigious 'Grammy Awards' is an exponent in which ofthe following musical instruments?A. Guitar B. ViolinC. sarod D. Tabla

3. Raja Ravi Verma, was famous in which of the fields?A. Painting B. PoliticsC. Dance D. Music

4. Who is known as 'Desert Fox'?A. Bismarck B. EisenhowerC. Gen. Rommel D. Walter Scott

5. The title of 'sparrow' given toA. NapoleonB. Major General Rajinder SinghC. T. T. KrishnamachariD. Sardar Patel

QUIZ TIME

Answer: 1(A), 2 (A), 3(A), 4(C), 5(B)

12.00 am Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 12.30 am Diya aur Baati Hum 01.00 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 01.30 am Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam

Doon...Ek Baar Phir 02.00 am Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 02.30 am Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas 03.00 am Tu Mera Hero 03.30 am Suhani Si Ek Ladki 04.00 am Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 04.30 am Everest 05.00 am Diya aur Baati Hum 05.30 am Nisha Aur Uske Cousins 06.00 am Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam

Doon...Ek Baar Phir 06.30 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 07.00 am Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 07.30 am Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas 08.00 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 08.30 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 09.00 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein

09.30 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 10.00 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 10.30 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 11.00 am Tu Mera Hero 11.30 am Tu Mera Hero 12.00 pm Tu Mera Hero 12.30 pm Tu Mera Hero 01.00 pm Tu Mera Hero 01.30 pm Tu Mera Hero 04.00 pm P.I.Private Investigator 05.00 pm Airlines 08.00 pm P.I.Private Investigator 09.00 pm Airlines 10.00 pm P.I.Private Investigator 11.00 pm Airlines

___________________________

12.00 am Teleshopping 02.00 am Maharakshak Aryan 03.00 am Neeli Chatri Waale 04.00 am Baba Ramdev Ka Yog 05.00 am Narayan Seva 06.00 am Creflo Dollar and Taffi

Dollar 06.30 am Glory To God 07.00 am Teleshopping 09.00 am Kahani Ab Tak 09.30 am Exposure Jhalak

10.00 am Programme Episode 12.00 pm Neeli Chatri Waale 01.00 pm Maharakshak Aryan 02.00 pm Programme Episode 07.00 pm Maharakshak Aryan 08.00 pm Neeli Chatri Waale 09.00 pm SaReGaMaPa L'il Champs

___________________________

12.00 am Bigg Boss 01.00 am Telebrands 02.00 am Home Shop 18 05.00 am Iskcon Aarti 05.30 am Jesus Calls Ministry 06.00 am Telebrands 07.00 am Narayan Sewa Sansthan

Trust 07.30 am Home Shop 18 12.00 pm Bigg Boss

07.00 pm Shastri Sisters 07.30 pm Sasural Simar Ka 08.00 pm Balika Vadhu - Kacchi

Umar Ke Pakke Rishte 08.30 pm Udann 09.00 pm Bigg Boss

10.30 pm Code Red ___________________________

12.00 am Comedy Classes 12.30 am Comedy Classes 01.00 am Supercops vsSupervillains... Shapath : TimeMachine Special 02.00 am Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back : Up Fights Back 03.00 am Pukaar 04.00 am Supercops vsSupervillains... Shapath : TimeMachine Special 05.00 am Best Of Savdhaan India :Mumbai Fights Back 06.00 am Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back : Up Fights Back 07.00 am Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back : @11 - Crime Alert 07.30 am Mere Rang Mein RangneWali 08.00 am Mahakumbh - EkRahasaya Ek Kahani ! : KahaniRudra Ki 08.30 am Comedy Classes 09.00 am Mere Rang Mein RangneWali 09.30 am Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye 10.00 am Mahakumbh - EkRahasaya Ek Kahani ! : KahaniRudra Ki 10.30 am Mere Rang Mein RangneWali 11.00 am Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye 11.30 am Mahakumbh - Ek RahasayaEk Kahani ! : Kahani Rudra Ki 12.00 pm Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back (2) : Up Fights Back 01.00 pm Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back (2) : Up Fights Back

02.00 pm Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back (2) : Up Fights Back 03.00 pm Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back (2) : Up Fights Back 04.00 pm Best Of Savdhaan India:Delhi Fights Back 05.00 pm Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back (2) : Up Fights Back 06.00 pm Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back : @11 - Crime Alert 06.30 pm Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back 07.30 pm Mere Rang Mein RangneWali 08.00 pm Mahakumbh - EkRahasaya Ek Kahani ! 08.30 pm Pukaar 09.30 pm Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye 10.00 pm Comedy Classes 10.30 pm Savdhaan India: IndiaFights Back (2) 11.30 pm Mahakumbh - Ek RahasayaEk Kahani ! ___________________________

12.00 am CrimePatrol - Satark 01.00 am Teleshopping 02.00 am C.I.D 05.00 am Bhakti 06.00 am Teleshopping 06.30 am Bhakti 07.00 am Teleshopping 08.30 am Comedy Circus Ka Jadoo

09.00 am C.I.D 12.00 pm C.I.D 03.00 pm Crime Patrol - Satark 04.30 pm C.I.D 08.00 pm Adaalat 09.00 pm Crime Patrol - Satark 10.00 pm C.I.D 11.00 pm Crime Patrol - Satark 11.30 pm Crime Patrol - Satark ___________________________

01.00 am Man Vs. Wild 02.00 am Factory Made (2) 02.30 am Factory Made (2)

03.00 am Rampage! : RoadRampage 04.00 am A Haunting 05.00 am You Have Been Warned :

Freaks of Nature 06.00 am Man Vs. Wild : African

Savannah 07.00 am How Do They Do it? 07.30 am How Do They Do it? 08.00 am Tutankhamen

09.00 am What Happened Next? 09.30 am Destroyed in Seconds 10.00 am I Shouldn't BE Alive (3) :

Nightmare on the Mountain 11.00 am Tethered : Alligator Bayou,Louisiana

12.00 pm Mutant Planet : NewZealand

01.00 pm Man Vs. Wild : SierraNevada 02.00 pm Factory Made (2) 02.30 pm Factory Made : Quarters /

Acquariums / Limestone /Highlighters 03.00 pm Speed of Life : Central

American Killers 04.00 pm How Do They Do it? 04.30 pm How Do They Do it? 05.00 pm What Happened Next? 05.30 pm Destroyed in Seconds 06.00 pm Dual Survival (3) 07.00 pm Body Bizarre : A Different

Love & Backwards Feet 08.00 pm Himalayan Tsunami 09.00 pm Factory Made (2) 10.00 pm Man Vs. Wild : Sierra

Nevada 11.00 pm A Haunting

___________________________

12.20 am Speed Kills 01.10 am Predator Fails 02.00 am Monster Fish 02.50 am Built for the Kill 03.40 am Bandit Patrol 04.30 am Leopards of Dead TreeIsland 05.20 am Predator Fails 06.15 am Grizzly Cauldron 07.10 am World's Weirdest Brainsand Babies 08.05 am Cameramen Who Dare 09.00 am Hooked 09.55 am Fish Tank Kings 10.50 am Predator Patrol 11.45 am World's Weirdest Brainsand Babies 12.40 pm My Life Is A Zoo 01.35 pm Dino Autopsy 02.30 pm Hooked 03.25 pm Game of Lions

04.20 pm Predator Fails 05.15 pm Super Squirrel 06.10 pm Nordic Wild 07.05 pm Secret Garden 08.00 pm Great Migrations 08.55 pm The Invaders 09.50 pm Super Squirrel 10.40 pm Nordic Wild 11.30 pm Secret Garden

TV Channels Schedule TODAY’S STARARIES All the success and good fortune you've enjoyed over the past sev-

eral months may have freed you from the grind enough to concen-trate on spiritual or artistic interests. There may be a few surprises instore for you, Aries. You may meet some new people who share yourinterests. What you learn from them could improve your progress.You might embark on a new course of study.

TAURUS The company of good friends, perhaps at a group activity or fes-tival of some kind, contributes to a powerful feeling of goodhealth, good fortune, and happiness, Taurus. You will probablywant to spend a lot of time outdoors today. Sports might appealto you. There will be a few minor accidents - dropping things,spilling drinks - but in all, this should be a satisfying day.

GEMINI Continued success and good fortune regarding finances couldhave you flying high right now, Gemini. You're probably glow-ing with self-confidence and may well be surrounded by goodfriends. There might even be some public acclaim. A fewminor mishaps might occur today, but they certainly won't puta damper on the mood. Expect to have a wonderful day!

CANCER Now that you've earned your place in the world after all yourhard work, Cancer, you might take some time to pursue yourown interests. This could involve writing or publishing, goingback to school to get an advanced degree, or taking a triparound the world. You have the time and energy to think aboutall your different options, so don't feel you have to rush.

LEO Money that has come your way unexpectedly might have youthinking in terms of expanding your personal interests andholdings, Leo. You might consider trying some new invest-ments, particularly property. There's no need to rush to makea decision, however. You have all the time in the world to con-sider different options - and have some fun while you do it.

VIRGO You may feel so confident that you could be thinking in terms ofstarting a new enterprise, Virgo. Partnerships are especially like-ly to succeed now. You could also grow closer to those who meanthe most to you - family, friends, romantic partners. If you aren'tcurrently romantically involved, you might be soon. Your newsense of self-confidence should pull more people into your circle.

LIBRA Recent successes haven't made you feel you can rest onyour laurels, Libra. Rather, you're more likely to work hard-er. Today you might spend a lot of time considering differ-ent options for improving your socioeconomic status.Among them might be enterprises connected with the plan-et. Business and romantic partners could inspire you.

SCORPIO This is likely a day when you want to reflect on your successes. Asyour professional success continues to skyrocket, your sense of self-confidence follows suit. So do your relationships with family, friends,children, and romantic partners. Your mind is especially sharp,Scorpio, and your personal innovations should continue to progress.Life is good and likely to stay that way for a while.

SAGITTARIUSSurprising developments in your life might bring a lot of visitors andmuch happiness to your home. You could host a party or other sortof gathering. This is likely to keep you very busy throughout the day,Sagittarius, but you will have fun all the same. Don't let shop talkinterfere with times like this. This is the time to relax and enjoy yourgood fortune. Use it to your advantage.

CAPRICORN Some wonderful new developments could take place in your communi-ty, Capricorn. You might meet some new people who move in nearby.New businesses could also arrive and give a whole new look to the area.You could spend a lot of time visiting others to learn about what's hap-pening. You might also consider fixing up your home, as recent successhas made that possible. You will be busy all day.

AQUARIUS A high level of self-confidence and optimism should stay with youthroughout the day, Aquarius. Your energy is good, as is yourenthusiasm. The success and good fortune that have been com-ing your way are likely to stay with you. You may have just beenblessed with more money and happiness. Of course, this feelingis also likely to attract more friends. Make the most of it!

PISCES Happiness is the mood of the day, Pisces, as you enjoy the fruitsof all your hard work over the past few years. You're able to pur-sue a few things that you've never been able to before. You'relikely surrounded by old and new friends, and romance is blos-soming. You probably also look especially attractive now. If allthis sounds too good to be true, wake up! It's happening!

Google announcedits earnings reporton Thursday where

it reported a slowdown inrevenue up to 10 percent inthe last three months of2014, when compared tothe same period in 2013.During Google's earningscall, Chief FinancialOfficer Patrick Pichettetalked about few reasonsfor the company's revenueslowdown and blamed theinability to meet thedemand for the GoogleNexus 6 smartphone as oneof the reasons.

9to5google quotesPichette on the earningscall addressing the issue,"While the Nexus 6 waswell received as a newphone, we had real issuesand were unable to securesufficient inventory tomeet the demand that wehad forecast."

Further adding morePichette noted that produc-tion problems also hurtGoogle's ability to meetdemand for Nexus 6 smart-phones.

Talking about moreissues that affected thecompany's revenue,Pichette added, "Google

results were dented by astrong dollar, reducing thevalue of incomeearned

out-s idet h e

UnitedStates."

Unfortunately,Pichette did not talk abouthow the company willimprove the availability ofthe Nexus 6 globally.

To refresh, Googlelaunched the Motorola-made Nexus 6 in Octoberlast year while the handsetreached Indian shores lastmonth. The Google Nexus6 32GB variant went onsale in India at Rs. 43,999,

and the 64GB variant atRs. 48,999.

At the launchMotorola had confirmedthat the Nexus 6 will beavailable in 28 countries(including India) acrossEurope, Asia-Pacific andNorth America. The Nexus6 handset however hasbeen a tough device to buyfor consumers. In India,Google Play started offsales of the Nexus 6 muchafter partner Flipkart, andboth outlets suffered from

availability issues.Currently, the Nexus 632GB is listed as "outof stock" on GooglePlay India while the64GB version isstill listed as'coming soon' -Flipkart listsboth variants asavailable how-ever.

The Nexus6 is also thep l a t f o r ml e a ddevice ofthe mostr e c e n tversiono f

Androidi.e., Android 5.0

Lollipop,which comes with a freshlook thanks to MaterialDesign and a host of newfeatures.

In other news, a data-tracking firm recentlyrevealed that Google Playin terms of monetisation orrevenue generation was farbehind than Apple's AppStore. It also added that theGoogle Play outpacedApple's App Store in appdownload numbers.

Google's Been Unable to Meet Demandfor Nexus 6: CFO Patrick Pichette

ZTE Blade L3 With 5-Inch Display,Android 5.0 Lollipop Launched

Amazon Earnings Report Sees Firm Being Praised for Smart SpendingOnePlus AnnouncesOxygenOS Custom AndroidROM, February 12 Unveiling

Following its December 31 alpha r eleaseof its custom Android 5.0 Lollipop build,OnePlus on Friday officially announced a name

for the custom ROM - OxygenOS.The firm also announced it was developing a sepa-

rate custom ROM for the Chinese market, calledH2OS. Both the ROMs are likely to be similar withsome region-specific changes. More details will beannounced by the firm on February 12.

"As an element, Oxygen is the epitome of simplicity,yet it's also extraordinarily powerful," stated theOnePlus forum administrator, Brandon H., whileannouncing the new name of the custom AndroidROM.

He adds that the ROM will be "customisable, andfree of bloat and unnecessary features," delivering a"bold, powerful, straight-forward experience."

The introduction of OxygenOS by OnePlus, and thescheduling of the February 12 announcement is in-linewith the company's previously announced timeline ofreplacing the Cyanogen OS it currently offers buyers.

The company has already started shipping OnePlusOne units without Cyanogen branding, with usersreporting (via 9to5google) receiving such devices.However, according to a recent forum post by the firm,the change took place to give it a "cleaner and moreunified look across all regions."

OnePlus' decision to build a custom ROM inNovember was made after the Micromax-Cyanogendeal came to light. Cyanogen, which had a global non-exclusive agreement with OnePlus for use of its soft-ware and trademark in 16 nations, excluding China,said in view of its contract with Micromax (for YuYureka smartphone) it can no longer provide updatesto the OnePlus handsets sold in India.

The decision was soon followed by a temporaryinjunction order by the Delhi High Court on OnePplusfrom selling its devices in India on MicromaxInformatics Ltd's plea that its exclusive rights toCyanogen OS in India were being infringed by theChinese company. The Delhi High Court however lift-ed the ban on sale of OnePlus handsets embedded withCyanogen software later the same month, giving itthree months to finish its stock.

Sports 7NEW DELHI | SATURDAY | JAN 31, 2015SAADDA HAQ

PERTH, JAN 30India were on Friday knocked out

of the tri-series cricket tournamentafter yet another spineless display asEngland recovered from a top-ordercollapse to record a three-wicket vic-tory and secure a place in the finalhere today.

In a do-or-die game, India's bats-men let the team down badly as theyfrittered away a good start to be bun-dled out for 200 in 48.1 overs, losingas many as nine wickets for 97 runsfrom a relatively comfortable 103 forone.

England were tottering at 66 forfive at one stage but staged a grittyfightback through James Taylor (82)and Jos Buttler (67) as their standsteered the team home with 19 ballsto spare at the WACA ground.England will now take on Australia inthe final on Sunday.

It was yet another disappointingshow by the Indians, who have nowfailed to win a single internationalmatch during their ongoing tour ofAustralia.

The tournament, which served as adress rehearsal for the upcoming ICCCricket World Cup, has shown thatthere are lot of chinks in defendingchampions' armoury as they lost

three out of the four matches whileone was abandoned.

While it a mixture of variablebounce and poor application whichresulted in India's batting downfall, itwas Ajinkya Rahane, who some what

proved to be a saving grace with apatient knock of 73 as his teammatesdid not show the stomach for a fight.

On the otherhand, it was diminu-tive Taylor alongwith the flashywicketkeeper batsman Buttler, who

showed a lot of resolve despite losingthe top five as their 125-run partner-ship guided Eoin Morgan's teamhome.

Taylor hit only four boundaries inhis 122 ball innings but played therole of a sheet anchor to perfection.Buttler had seven fours in 77 balls tohis credit.

While Stuart Binny (3/33) is slow-ly making a case for himself in thestarting XI with three top-order wick-ets, India's bowling line-up is yet tobear a settled look and inspire confi-dence as they are set to begin the Cupdefence in hardly two weeks' time.

Earlier, India's uninspiring battingshow continued as save Rahane, noneof the other batsmen were able tosciore a half-century with England'sseamers doing a good job to make acomeback after a decent openingstand.

Steven Finn (3/36) was the pick ofthe bowlers while Chris Woakes(2/47), Stuart Broad (2/56) and spin-ner Moeen Ali (2/35) claimed twoscalps each after inviting India to bat.

Out-of-form Shikhar Dhawan (38)and Rahane got off to a slow start butthey batted to a plan, rotating thestrike to good effect and slowly theruns started coming, albeit in a tickle

as the first 10 overs yielded only 34runs.

Thereafter Rahane looked in goodtouch, as the openers brought up their50-run stand in the 14th over. EvenDhawan play some good shots afterspending time at the crease, cuttingand driving with much more ease.

But he couldn't go on, and edgedone to Jos Buttler behind the stumpsoff Woakes in the 21st over. Thescorecard read 83 for one at that time.

Rahane got to his eighth ODI fiftyin the 25th over and though he triedto play some expansive strokes, herealised the need to hold one end upsoon enough. England tightened uptheir bowling and their good fieldingstarted paying dividends. Virat Kohli(8), who had come in to bat at num-ber three, was the next to depart as heattemped a big shot off Ali only forRoot to take a good running catch atlong off. Ali returned for his nextover and got rid of Suresh

Raina (1), who played a horrendousstroke. The left-hander danced downthe track, going for a big shot, only tobe caught at backward point.

Ambati Rayudu (12) added 27 runsfor the fourth wicket with Rahane buthe never looked settled at the crease.He was out just before the batting

powerplay was due, in the 35th over,caught behind off Broad.

The big blow came when Rahanewas dismissed in the very first pow-erplay over, trying to work Finndown to third man, but ended upcaught behind.

India also lost Stuart Binny (7) inthe powerplay's final over, caughtbrilliantly at first slip by a diving IanBell off Finn again. Those five oversyielded only 23 runs.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni(17) tried to stay at the wicket for thefinal 10 overs but he was finally outLBW to James Anderson (1-24) inthe 43rd over.

Ravindra Jadeja (5) played a rashstroke while Axar Patel (1) is still yetto come to terms with conditions inAustralia as far as his batting is con-cerned.

India only managed to cross the150-mark in the 39th over and werestruggling at 165/9 before a 35-runpartnership for the final wicketbetween Mohammad Shami (25) andMohit Sharma (7) helped gain a littlerespectability to the total.

Shami threw his bat around andwas the last to be dismissed in the49th over, caught behind off a slowerdelivery by Woakes.

ODI tri-series: India knocked out after losing to England

MELBOURNE, JAN 30The unseeded pairing of American

Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Czech LucieSafarova won the Australian Openwomen`s doubles title Friday, their firstGrand Slam success.

The two were playing together inMelbourne for the first time and clickedimmediately, downing the 14th seededZheng Jie of China and Taiwan`s ChanYung-Jan 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).

"This is our first tournament togetherand after this I`m sure that we`re going tobe playing a few more this year," said adelighted Mattek-Sands.

They beat five seeds to clinch the titleand in doing so became the first unseededwomen`s duo to claim the Australiancrown since Svetlana Kuznetsova andVera Zvonareva in 2012.

They were also the first new pairing towin a women`s Grand Slam title sinceDinara Safina and Nathalie Dechy at theUS Open in 2007.

BethanieMattek-Sands-LucieSafarovawins Aussiewomen doubles title

PERTH, JAN 30Indian cricket captain Mahendra

Singh Dhoni blamed the batsmenfor Friday's loss against England inthe virtual semi-final of the tri-series here.

England booked a berth in thefinal of the One-Day International(ODI) series against Australia,courtesy a three-wicket win overIndia at the WACA.

"When we started batting, Ithought we did decent with thenew ball and a bit more runs ini-tially would have helped. Goodbowling and poor selection ofshots led to the low score and 40-50 more runs would have helped,"Dhoni said.

Another dismal batting perform-ance by India saw them beingbowled out for 200 in 48.1 overs.Opener Ajinkya Rahane was theonly standout performer, scoring73 off 101 balls. His and ShikharDhawan's opening wicket partner-ship of 83 runs was the lone brightspot in an otherwise dreadful bat-ting performance.

"I don't think the wicket played a

factor but the English bowlersextract more from these condi-tions. We have to look at our attackkeeping in mind the balance of theside," he said.

The 34-year-old also defendedthe decision to play both the left-arm spinners -- Ravindra Jadejaand Axar Patel, saying they addvalue to the side with the bat.

"Two spinners suit us because(Ravichandran) Ashwin andJadeja, and Ashwin and Axar canbat a bit while three seamers and aspinner weakens our batting.Playing an extra seamer weakensthe batting and even leads to slowover rate," the 2011 World Cupwinning skipper pointed out.

However, Dhoni added the teamwill be ready to face Pakistan intheir World Cup opener Feb 15 atthe Adelaide Oval.

"We will be ready for thePakistan match and the next fewdays will be helpful to switch offfor some time and freshen up. Testseries trains you a lot and we needto get our confidence back in theODIs," concluded Dhoni.

ODI tri-series: MS Dhoni blamesbatsmen for loss to England

GUWAHATI, JAN 30Assam took a vital first-

innings lead in their Group CRanji Trophy cricket matchagainst Andhra here on Friday.

At stumps on the second day,Assam were 199 for six in theirfirst innings, a lead of 62 runswith four wickets remaining inreply to the visiting side's 137 allout.

It was due to the efforts ofArun Karthik and JamaluddinSyed Mohammad that hostsAssam managed to gain a handylead at the Barsapara CricketStadium.

While Arun Karthik got outafter scoring 49, Jamaluddin wasbatting on the same score whenthe stumps were drawn for theday.

Assam resumed the day attheir overnight score of 32 forone.

Ranji Trophy: Assam take first-innings lead against Andhra

SYDNEY, JAN 30Free-scoring Australia will seek conti-

nental glory in the Asian Cup final onSaturday but South Korea could gatecrashthe party in a hugely anticipated deciderbetween two of the region`s toughestteams.

It could be a case of who blinks firstwhen the heavyweights clash in Sydney,with the hosts seeking a first Asian titlesince quitting Oceania in 2006, and theKoreans desperate to end a hoodoo stretch-ing back a staggering 55 years.

The Socceroos were runners-up to Japanin 2011 and with a tournament-leading 12goals, they will start as slight favourites,despite losing 1-0 to South Korea in thegroup phase.

In that game, coach Ange Postecoglouopted to rest talisman Tim Cahill and wasrobbed of captain Mile Jedinak due to anankle strain.

Cahill netted three times in five matches,including a contender for goal of the tour-nament with his venomous overhead kickin the quarter-final win over China, and heis likely to be central to the plot in one ofthe biggest games in Australia`s history.

45 minutes against China I touched theball three times," said Cahill, his country`srecord scorer, who fired both goals in the2-0 win.

"The defenders had me wrapped up. Butit just takes one second for someone to

switch off and hopefully I can be on pointto make it count."

Both teams possess players capable ofdelivering a knockout blow, South Koreahoping golden boy Son Heung-Min canweave his magic as they seek to win a firstAsian Cup since 1960 having alreadydefied the odds by reaching the final.

Their title drought is a curious anomalyfor a nation who stormed to the World Cupsemi-finals in 2002, but they have reached

the final -- their first in 27 years -- despitean injury crisis and a flu bug which sweptthrough the squad, forcing medical staff towork overtime."It will come down towho`s mentally tougher," said Korean cap-tain Ki Sung-yueng, who has been a calm-ing influence on his side after losing thedynamic pairing of Lee Chung-Yong andKoo Ja-Cheol in the group stages. "It`sincredible we`ve got this far without twoof our best players."

South Korea are the first team to reachthe Asian Cup final without conceding agoal since Iran in 1976, but their resiliencewill be severely tested by Australia`s fire-power in front of a sell-out crowd ofalmost 80,000 in Sydney.

"We are on the brink of something veryspecial for Korean football," added Ki."The boys don`t need me to spell it out tothem."

The players were pelted with toffee -- atraditional insult in South Korea -- on theirreturn from last year`s World Cup, butGerman coach Uli Stielike has performedwonders since taking over as they look toemulate the under-23 side`s Asian Gamesgold medal in October.

As many as 30,000 Korean "Red Devils"fans are expected to add spice to theatmosphere.

Victory for the hosts would be every bitas satisfying after Australia managed justone win in 11 matches last year, whilePostecoglou overhauled a side onceblessed with outrageous talent by bloodinga raft of new players.

Critics who were calling for his head justweeks ago have been forced to eat humblepie.

"Full credit to the boss," said Aussiegoalkeeper Mathew Ryan. "We`ve just gotto put the last piece of the puzzle togetherwith a fairytale ending on Saturday andthen it will be a master-plan."

Heavyweights collide in blockbuster Asian finalMELBOURNE, JAN 30

Leander Paes kept him-self in line for his 15thGrand Slam title byreaching the AustralianOpen mixed doubles finalof Tennis with MartinaHingis as they defeatedSu-Wei Hsieh and PabloCuevas in straight sets,here on Friday.

The seventh seededIndo-Swiss pair recordeda comfortable 7-5 6-4 winover the unseeded Taipei-Uruguay combine in thesemifinals in one hourand 14 minutes.

Paes and Hingis brokeHsieh, who till recentlywas ranked world numberone, thrice in thematch.

41-year-old Paes haswon eight men's doublesand six mixed doublestitle in his glitteringcareer. He has joinedforces with Hingis for thefirst time in his career.The Swiss legend is also awinner of 14 Grand Slamtitles, including five sin-gles.

The seventh seeds had abreakpoint in the veryfirst game when Hingishit a volley winner but theSwiss missed a backhandwinner, letting the oppo-nents hold the serve.

Paes' serve was brokenin the next game whenHsieh hit a lob for a win-ner at deuce as theunseeded team took a 2-0lead in the opening set.

Hingis and Paes initial-ly left enough gapbetween them for Hsiehand Cuevas to take advan-tage, specially the Taipeiplayer who hit winnerscomfortably but they laterdominated the contest.

The seventh seeds gotthe break back in the sev-enth game as Hsieh wasbroken at love withHingis hitting a backhandwinner on first chance.What followed was a sen-sational 20-shot rallywhich the Indo-Swiss pairwon courtesy Paes' superfast reflexes at the net.The teams were nowlocked 4-4.

Paes and Hingis brokeHsieh in the 11th gameand then the Swiss servedout the set to nose aheadin the contest.

They yet again brokethe Taipei player for anearly lead in the secondset, zooming to a 3-1 lead.The set went on serveafter that even as Paes andHingis saved a breakpointin the sixth game whenthe Indian was serving.

Leander Paes and Martina Hingisstorm into Australian Open final

After a simple wedding and closeknit wedding reception, actressSoha Ali Khan and her actor hus-

band Kunal Khemu want to spend a relaxweek with no tension of work. “Both of usjust want to put up our feet and relax,”says Soha. She says she fells no differentafter marriage. “It’s all the very sameexcept that everyone keeps calling meMrs Khemu. And I feel they meanKunal’s mom!”

Everyone congratulated Soha andKhemu on how good the couple looked ontheir wedding. “People paid us both somelavish compliments. But I thought Kunallooked really handsome....It was a verysmall and simple wedding at home withour families in attendance. This is exactlythe way we wanted it and we are verygrateful to everyone for supporting ourdecision.”

Soha was touched by the speeches thefamily made. “They were from the heartand very sincere,” she expresses. Sohaseems surprised by her own decision tomarry, “I always felt the only reason to getmarried is to have children.We’ve beenvery lucky to have very supportive par-ents. My mother is a very liberal wife andmother.So there was no peer pressure tomarry.”

Soha is confident about marriage, “I’vealways felt when you are committed in arelationship, you’ve to work through thedifficult times. I’ve seen my parents in asuccessful solid marriage for 44 years.”Soha's thought about marriage. “There isno perfect relationship. You have to workaround the dissatisfaction. I am sure evenmy parents had their problems.They werecompletely different personalities. Butthey must have worked on their marriage.And they made it work.”

She gives full credit to her parents for aperfect marriage. “I never felt any insecu-rity regarding my parents’ marriage. Ithink they handled their issues and thepublic face of their marriage was so digni-fied. I’ve seen the dignity that my parentsbrought into their marriage. If I am asecure person today it’s because of mar-riage that my parents shared. I’d certainlywant my child to feel the same sense ofsecurity”

Soha knows she has to work hard on hermarriage to keep it going for life long, “Tokeep a relationship going in today’s dayand age is very difficult. I’d like to thinkif my relationship has worked for fiveyears it’s permanent.We are all so self-centred. So am I. To give that much to arelationship is very difficult.”

Soha’s thought as why marriages breakup so frequent now-a-day, “One reasonwhy marriages break faster now isbecause people live longer.Earlier peopledied at 60 . Now they live to be a 100 , soall that more time to spend in a marriage.How many years can you live happily inone relationship? You need to have asense of commitment maturity and infi-nite patience to make a marriagelast.”

Soha is completely committed to thisrelationship. “My happiness always camefirst. But now to make Kunal happymakes me happier.” Nonetheless there arethe doubts, “I don’t know how much I cansacrifice for anyone else. I always said weshould not take the relationship for grant-ed. We need to continue to communicateour feelings about one another, no matterwhat its repercussions. Only an honestapproach can keep a relationshipgoing.”

She gives Kunal a lot of credit for mak-ing her feel secure in their relationship.“Kunal has a lot of integrity, fervor andambitions. What I love the most abouthim is his consistency. In five years he hasnever wavered in his thoughts andbeliefs.” The couple no immediate plansof having children.

SAADDA HAQ NEWSPAPERAdvertisement Tariff (Rate Card)

DISPLAYBlack & White Rs.80 p.sq.cmColour Rs.160 p.sq.cm

EXTRA PREMIUMFront page solus (size min : 15×8, Max : 50×33)Back page (size Min : 5×8,Max : 50×33)3rd & Other pages (size Min : 3×4,Max : 50×33)

EAR PANELFour Colour Rs.4000/- per panelSize : 5cmx4cm(*min.30 insertion)Note : All the Classified Ads will be published on 2ndpage and will cost Rs 500 per insertion

Bollywood/Fashion8 NEW DELHI | SATURDAY | JAN 31, 2015SAADDA HAQ

Printer, Publisher, Owner & Editor: S. Harpreet Singh Khalsa, C-35, Hanuman Road, New Delhi-110001, Website:- www.saaddahaq.in, Contact Number :- +91- 9697645357, E-mail: news.saaddahaq@gmail.com, Printed by:- Purraj Print & Puckaging Pvt. Ltd., E-19, Sec-6, Nodia-201301All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi High Court.

For Advertisment Contact:-+91-9958791398

Rajesh Mishra (Advt. Manager)

There are many womenout there who wishesand fantasies of having

that perfect 10/10 nails,which they can flaunt bywearing the latest and trendi-est nail enamels or going forthat latest nail art.

However, brittle and weaknails can wash away yourdreams of flaunting thosepicture perfect nails. Intoday's busy schedule wemight not always get time togo for those expensive mani-cures but there are certainhome remedies which ifpracticed regularly can helpyou to keep those pretty nailsstrong and in shape.

1. Olive oil and lemon juicemixture: Take a teaspoonof olive oil and infuse itwith few drops of lemonjuice. Now take small por-tions of this mixture andapply it on your nails andmassage it. Let it remainovernight and wear soft

hand gloves after massageso that your nails aren'texposed to water. Do thisatleast twice a week forbetter results.

2. Coconut oil massage: Takefew teaspoons of coconut

oil and warm it a little.Apply the same on yournails and hands and gentlymassage it. Along withmaking your nails strongerit will also improve yourblood circulation whilekeeping your nails mois-

tured. You can also mixwarm coconut oil with fewdrops of lemon juice. Soakyour nails in this mixtureand then gently massage it.After massage wear glovesand keep them overnightfor good results.

3. Sea Salt mixture: Not onlywill sea salt help strength-en brittle nails, it can alsosoften cuticles adding adazzling shine to yournails. Mix tea tablespoonsof fine grain sea salts in asmall bowl of warm waterand add two drops of wheatgerm oil, frankincense oiland few drops of lemon oil.In this solution soak yournails for approx 10-15 min-utes and rinse it off withwarm water, now pat dryand apply a hand cream.Repeating this procedurethrice a week can givegood results.

4. Keep them moisturized:Rub petroleum jelly or amoisturizer cream aroundyour nails throughout theday. During nights makesure that you wear thin cot-ton gloves after massagingwith oil so that to get themaximum benefits of thesame. Also you can wear

vinyl gloves while doingdishes or laundry. Nail pol-ish removers that containshigh content of acetone orformaldehyde, as they doharm your nails, insteaduse acetate-based removersinstead.

5. Proper Diet: Your diet andlifestyle has a lot to do withhow strong or brittle yournails are. If your body isn'tgetting enough protein,fats, vitamins and mineralsthen no amount of homeremedies o manicures willbe able to keep your nailsstrong. A healthy and bal-anced diet which containvitamins A, C, D, E, aswell as many B vitamins,and folic acid, zinc, iron,calcium and biotin canreduce your risk of brittlenails. Not only will yournails grow stronger, youcan also see improvementsin your skin, hair and willfeel healthier frominside.

Home remedies for brittle nails

Horror queen BipashaBasu will make her smallscreen appearance with

the new season of the horrorshow, ‘Aahat’. The actress whohas done strings of horror filmshas been approached for the firstepisode of the horror show to beaired on Sony EntertainmentTelevision channel.

"Bipasha, who has of late donea lot of horror movies, has beenapproached to narrate the intro-duction episode of the upcomingseason of the popular horrorshow 'Aahat'," said a source.

The bong bombshell previous-ly appeared on TV shows like'Fear Files' and 'Comedy Nightswith Kapil'.

Bipasha once said in an inter-view that she is happy with thetag of 'horror queen'. She has

been part of horror films like'Raaz', 'Aatma' and 'Creature 3D'and more recently 'Alone'.

The show will go on air inFebruary. The promo of theshow is featuring on Sony.

Bipasha Basu to appearon horror show ‘Aahat’

The 100 crore directorRohit Shetty has roped inKatrina Kaif and

Shahrukh Khan for his next unti-tled project. The film will beproduced by the superstar him-self. This will be Shahrukh andRohit Shetty’s second outingtogether after the blockbuster‘Chennai Express’. According toa source, Varun Dhawan willalso play a prominent role in thefilm. For the first time SRK andVarun will be sharing screenspace. Varun is an ardent fan ofShahrukh. He paid tribute to thesuperstar in ‘Humpty Sharma KiDulhania’. Shahrukh Khan andKatrina Kaif were liked by theaudience in YRF’s ‘Jab Tak HaiJaan’ and again they are comingtogether to ablaze the silverscreen. Earlier, Kajol wasapproached for the role but thisturned to be a false report.

The film will go on floor inMarch, according to a source.

Shahrukh to romance Katrina in Rohit Shetty’s next

Newlywed Soha Ali Khan talksabout marriage, children

Karisma giftsKareena an

ancestral ring onSoha’s wedding

Kareena Kapoor Khan loves jew-ellery and who knows it best thanher loving elder sister Karisma

Kapoor. Karisma gifts her little sisterKareena the most precious gift which leftKareena speechless. Karisma has giftedher loving sister their grandmotherKrishna Raj Kapoor’s ring during Soha’swedding.

Their grandmother Krishna Raj giftedthe ancestral ring to Karisma almost twodecades ago and now Karisma has giftedthe priceless gift to Kareena. Says asource close to the family, “Karisma andKareena are very close as it is, and thelatter decided to use the occasion to gifther baby sister something that was closeto her heart.

It was a ring that their grandmotherKrishna Raj Kapoor had gifted heraround two decades ago. Both Kareenaand Saif have been with Karisma duringher tough times, so this was probably herway of showing her appreciation.”

The Bigg Boss always hassomething or the other tosurprise the house mem-

bers and keep the audiencesentertained at the same time.Celebrities on ‘Bigg Boss 8’ havecreated a lot of headlines lately,with some achieving popularity,while the others gathering illfame. Sambhavna Seth arousedquite the excitement with hershoe throwing acts and cold warwith Dimpy Ganguly. As for theromance, Upen Patel andKarishma Tanna have been quitesuccessful in attracting attentionwith their romantic drama. Afterall these hot and happening inci-dents, the show is nearing thefinale.

These last days are all that are

left to make the show utmostinteresting and ‘Bigg Boss’seems to be doing a great jobwith it. The show makers havereleased the precap footage of theepisode to be shown onThursday. It shows a priest enter-ing the house, and making inter-esting predictions about the for-tune of each of the contenders.

Karishma Tanna was seensomewhat serious about her rela-tionship with Upen Patel. Shecreated quite a drama with all thecrying, after Upen nearly pro-posed her- by promising her aring soon after they get out of thehouse. Their lip-lock was all thatwas required to turn it into a per-fect love story. It seemed some-what obvious that the actress

would ask the priest about thisrelationship, and she did. But thepundit disappointed her by say-ing that her bond with Upen shallbe short lived, just like her previ-ous affair. Karishma has had arelationship with a Mumbai-based restaurateur calledRushabh Choksi.

Another interesting predictionabout love life was the one con-cerning Pritam. This one toocame as an unpleasant surprise.Pritam is currently married to aPunjabi actress Aman Jot. Thepundit said that despite of mar-riage, he would have an extra-marital affair in the future.

Yet another saddening predic-tion was the one for Ali. Thepriest foretold that Ali will bejailed! This might be a shock toAli, but would sound humorousto the audience, as Ali has actedin a 2009 movie called ‘Jail’.

But there was one contestantwho wasn’t annoyed with Pundit-ji, and this one was the dimpledbeauty. Always lively with hervibrant smile on the show,Dimpy was told that she wouldhave the pleasure of a better life,after her divorce with RahulMahajan. Dimpy married Rahulon the show ‘Rahul KaSwayamwar’. But months later,she accused Rahul of physicallyabusing her and the two filed fordivorce.

Pundit makes predictions for ‘Bigg Boss 8’ contestants