Bangalore: Lokayukta Justice Santosh N Hegde, probingthe illegal mining in the state, today said his phone hasbeen tapped.

Hegde said after reports of alleged bugging in the of-fice of Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, he hadasked a professional to a check his office.

“He told me your telephone has been tapped. Every-thing was being recorded from two sources,” he said.

Hegde said he does not want to comment on “where,who and other things” regarding the tapping, but is sureit’s been tapped.

Telephone tapping was noticed in the past three to fourmonths, Hegde said.

“Yes, I can say in affirmative that I suspect... the per-son told me this is being tapped and recorded in twoplaces.”

He admitted that chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, min-ing barons Reddy brothers, Janata Dal-Secular leader HD Kumaraswamy and Congress MP Anil Lad are involvedin one way or another in illegal mining.

Justice Hegde, who is retiring on August 2, got emo-tional over the leakage of his report, but did not deny anyof the points highlighted by the media. He is filing the sec-ond and final report to the government tomorrow.

Bangalore Beat was the first newspaper to carry excerptsof the report in its edition yesterday.

Justice Hegde said he takes the full responsibility forthe leak of the report to the media. “The leak has not oc-curred from the office of the Lokayukta. I have completefaith in my officers,” he added.

“The leakage has pained me much. I have done a lotof work to prepare the report. Despite this, without myknowledge, the report has been leaked to the media,” he

said.Asked whether an inquiry would be conducted intothe leakage, he said, “There is no question of an in-

quiry now. The report will be submitted tomor-row.”

The Lokayukta registrar will meet chief sec-retary S V Ranganath and submit the re-

port. The sanctity of the report will re-main, even though it has been leaked,

he said.The government should ac-cept the report. The report we sub-

mit to the government containssolid proof and evidence of ille-

gal mining. We have thousandsof documents related to this,”Justice Hegde said.

Evening dailyBannurmath ahead in race P 3

Vol. 1, Issue 325 n Thursday n July 21, 2011 No. of pages: 8 n Price: Rs 2BangaloreBeat

Gomez to launch fragrance P8

SHORT‑RANGE ʻPRAHARʼ MISSILE SUCCESSFULLY TEST FIREDChandipur-on-sea (Orissa): India to-day successfully conducted the first test-fire of its indigenously developed short-range, quick reac-tion, tactical missile ‘Prahar’ from the Integrated Test Range offOrissa coast.

“The test launch was fully success-ful as the surface-to-surface, sleekmissile mounted on a road mobilelauncher, roared into an overcast sky,seconds within it’s blast off,” defencesources said.

The sophisticated missile was test

fired from ITR’s launch pad-3 at about8:15 am leaving behind its trajectoryin?an orange and white ribbon ofsmoke, they said.

“The missile witnessed a smoothvertical take-off from the launch padand vital parameters will be analysedafter mission data is retrieved,” said aDefence Research Development Or-ganisation (DRDO) scientist soon afterthe missile was test-fired.

The 150 km range ‘Prahar’ is a sin-gle stage missile and is fuelled by sol-id propellants. Continued on page 3

READY FOR PROBE: HDK

ʻMY PHONE TAPPEDʼJUSTICE HEGDE: WILL TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE LEAKAGE OF REPORT

The leakagehas pained me

much. I havedone a lot of

work to prepare the

report. Despite this,

without myknowledge,

the report hasbeen leaked to

the media

‘‘

Cong demands BSYʼs resignationNew Delhi: Accusing the BJPleadership of patronising illegalmining in Karnataka, the Con-gress today demanded the res-ignation of chief minister B SYeddyurappa.

With the state Lokayukta re-port indicting the state govern-ment over the illegal mining is-sue, Congress spokespersonShakeel Ahmed said, “Yeddyu-rappa must immediately resignfrom his post”.

“All these things are alreadyin public domain but now the

Lokayukta has indicted the chiefminister and other ministers inthe state government,” he said.

Lokayukta Santosh Hegdehas recommended a probe intoYeddyurappa’s role and that ofhis four ministerial colleagueswith regard to illegal mining inthe state.

The Congress spokespersonalso questioned the “silence” ofsenior BJP leaders at the centreover the ongoing “illegal min-ing” in Karnataka and allegedthat was happening with their

consent.“It is now evident that illegal

mining in Karnataka was con-tinuing with the consent of topcentral BJP leaders and theywere aware of Chief Minister’sinvolvement in the wholeepisode.

Without their consent, seniorparty leaders from the state likeDhananjay Kumar could nothave gone to meet Lokayukta torequest for deleting Yeddyu-rappa’s name from the report,”he alleged.

CM MUST ACCEPT HIS INVOLVEMENT, QUIT: GP

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: Chief minister B SYeddyurappa, who is on a tourof Mauritius since Monday,should return to the city imme-diately and accept charges of hisinvolvement in illegal mining asmentioned in the report ofLokayukta Justice SantoshHegde, said Congress state pres-ident G Parameshwara here thismorning.

Justice Hegde has acceptedthat the chief minister’s nametoo finds a mention in the reportthat will be submitted to the gov-ernment tomorrow, he said.“The chief minister should re-sign immediately,” he added.

The BJP high command,

which has been claiming tofight corruption, should acceptthe involvement of their chiefminister and seek his resigna-tion, he said.

The government should ac-cept the report on illegal miningand take necessary actionagainst the culprits. Leakage ofthe report in the media is not areason enough for the govern-

ment to reject it. The report hasnot lost its sanctity. The issuestouched upon in the report aretrue and the government shouldtake action accordingly, he said.

The BJP leaders don’t wantthe report to be publicized as itmentions the names of cabinetministers and the chief ministersas guilty of illegal mining. Thatis why they are raising the issueof leakage to press for its rejec-tion. That is the reason they aresaying the report leakage hasbeen a big mistake and that ithas lost its sanctity, he said.

The Congress will not sit qui-et if the BJP government doesnot accept the report. “We willtake out a huge protest againstthe government,” he warned.

BJP: No link between

CMʼs trip, reportBangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: There is no linkbetween the submission ofreport on illegal mining bythe Lokayukta to the gov-ernment and chief ministerB S Yeddyurappa’s Mauri-tius trip, said BJP state pres-ident K S Eshwarappa herethis morning.

On the leakage of report to the media, hesaid, “The leakage of the illegal mining re-port has pained me much. This should nothave happened. With this, the sanctity of thereport has been lost.”

“As of now, I will not react to the report. Iwill first go through it after it is submitted tothe government,” he said. Asked whether ac-tion would be taken against party leaders fortheir involvement in illegal mining, he said,“Ours is a national party. The whole thing willbe discussed at the party forum and decideabout the action that needs to be takenagainst the BJP men who are involved. I can’treveal all before the media.”

Sachin Tendulkar practices during the nets at the Lord’s cricket ground in London yesterday. England will face India in the first test at the Lord’s today. (See Page 4)

Big test from todayPTI

Bangalore: In more trouble for B S Yeddyu-rappa, Lokayukta Justice Santosh N Hegdetoday said he has given “substantive” and“voluminous” evidence against the ChiefMinister and others in the illegal mining inthe state.

Terming the illegal mining scam as huge,he said, “In the time period of 14 months, itis more than Rs 1,800 crore. The time periodis between March 2009 to May 2010. It is theloss to the state exchequer. It is loss to thestate.”

Report has given substantive evidencewhether it’s the chief minister, ministers andminers in the illegal mining.

The Lokayukta held a meeting on phonetapping and as to how to submit the reportto the government. Top officials of theLokayukta held a meeting with JusticeHegde.

“It’s a voluminous evidence”, he said,adding, the report runs into 4000-5000pages.

“It’s a huge racket. As a matter of fact, the

chief minister is responsible for what’s hap-pening in (mineral rich district of) Bellary be-cause of the fact that the minister in charge(of the district G Janardhana Reddy) is own-er of a mining company (Obalapuram Min-ing Company) and a mafia-like situation iscreated with every official being involved.They have created a new system altogetherby which they could literally bleed other min-ing companies,” Hegde said

Hegde, a former Supreme Court judge, saidthe leak of the report yesterday would not

have any impact as it would not question thevalidity of the report.

Asked if there were instances of money gotby illegal mining being parked in tax havensoverseas, Hegde said: “We have some in-stances.....this happened. We have recom-mended that Enforcement Directorate shouldenquire into it (affairs of Obalapuram Min-ing Company)”.

Obalapuram Mining company is owned byJanaradhana Reddy and his family, withbrother and minister G Karuanakara Reddy

and another minister from Bellary, B Srira-mulu, being partners.

Hegde said there are instances of this com-pany where the money earned against ironore exports not being brought back to India(indicating that money was parked overseas).

Besides Yeddyurappa, the Reddy brothers,Sriramulu, the report has also indicted for-mer chief minister and JD(S) state presidentH D Kumaraswamy, another minister ofYeddyurappa cabinet, V Somanna, Con-gress Rajya Sabha member Anil Lad and BJP

MLA from Kudligi in Bellary district, Na-gendra.

Hegde said the Obalapuram Mining Com-pany has evolved a system of “zero risk”.“You (the miners in Bellary) give them (thecompany) 40 to 50 per cent of your produce,your produce will be transported by thisgroup...” Even if the lorries carrying this oreare caught, the company would pay com-pound fee and get them released and saw toit that the ore is exported.

Continued on page 4

WHEN WOMEN DONPAINT, THUMP STAGE

Yakshagana brings to you the image ofmale-dominated performances where evenwomen’s roles are played by men. But overthe last decade, things have been changing.The Karnataka Mahila Yakshagana, an all-woman troupe, has been breaking severalbarriers, says Aknisree Karthik... Page 5

Beyond BeatNew Delhi: I am ready for any kind ofinvestigation if there is truth in the re-port on illegal mining to be filed byLokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde, saidJD(S) state president H D Ku-maraswamy here today.

“There is no question of going backfrom the investigations. I will reactonce the report is submitted to the gov-

ernment and after I go through it,” hesaid. “The government should acceptthe report and making allegationsagainst its leakage is not good. Thosementioned in the report should face in-quiries,” he said.

“Conducting an investigation intothe leakage of the report is not neces-sary. That is not the question. The gov-

ernment should be committed, ac-cept the report and take action,” hesaid.

“I have only heard my name beingmentioned in the media about my in-volvement in illegal mining. I willface the inquiry and will clarify onwhat I did when I was the chief min-ister,” he said.

Either tomorrowor Monday: HegdeBangalore: Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegdetoday said the report on illegal mining wouldbe submitted either tomorrow or Monday.

Emerging out of a meeting with his officialsthe Lokayukta office, he said, “It is left to thegovernment whether to accept the report ornot.”

Big evidence against CM: Santosh Hegde

CITY 2Thursday, July 21, 2011

Contact: M : 9900948514

9742918562

Bangalore Beat

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Train No. Train Name Station Arrival B’lore Departure B’lore Train No. Train Name Station Arrival B’lore Departure B’lore

TRAIN SCHEDULE

KRISHNA N MARRIAGE STORY (U)Ganesh, Yami Gautham Balaji (Tavarekre) (11 am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30pm) Ganesh (11 am, 2, 6, 9 pm)Inox (Jayanagar) (4 pm) Inox (JP Na-gar) (12.50 pm, 6.30 pm) Inox(Malleswaram) (10.15 am, 3.55, 6.40,9.25 pm) Krishna (KR Puram) (11am, 2, 6, 9 pm) Manasa (2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Maruthi (11.30 am, 2.30,6.30, 9.30 pm) Nandini (11 am, 2,5, 8 pm) Sagar (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30 pm) Siddheshwara (11.30am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Srinvasa(Gowdanapalya) (11.30 am, 2.30,6.30, 9.30 pm) Ullas (10.45 am,1.45, 5.45, 8.45 pm) Vijayalakshmi(Garudacharpalya) (11 am, 2.30 pm)Veeresh (10.15 am,1.15 pm) Vajresh-wari (11 am, 2.30, 6, 9.15 pm)

VINAYAKA GELEYARA BALAGA Vijay Raghavendra, Naveen Krishna, Meghana GaonkarAnupama (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30 pm) Kamakya (10.45 am, 1.45,5.45, 8.45 pm)

POLICE STORY 3 (U/A)Sudeep Bhumika (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Gopal (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30 pm) Nalanda (11 am, 2, 5.30,8.30 pm) Siddheshwara (11.30 am,2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Srilakshmi

(Rammorthinagar) (11.30 am, 2.30,6.30, 9.30 pm)

SHRIMATHI (A)Upendra, Priyanka UpendraAdarsh (11.30 am, 2.30, 6, 9 pm)Bharathi (11 am, 2.30, 6, 9.15 pm)Eshwari (11.00 am) Inox (Malles-waram) (12.30 pm) Manasa (11.30am) Mohan (11 am, 2.30, 6, 9.15pm) Nartaki (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30 pm) Prasanna (10.15 am, 1.15,4.15, 7.15 pm) Uma (10.15 am, 1, 4,7 pm) Veerabhadreshwara (10.30am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm) Vaibhav(11.30 am)

CHENNAMMA IPS ½ AyeshaMenaka (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Siddhalingeshwara (11 am,2.30, 6, 9.15 pm)

KIRATAKA (U/A) ½ Yash, Oviya Helen, T S NagabharanaGoverdhan (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30 pm) Kapali (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30 pm)

DHAN DHANA DHAN (U) ½ Prem Kumar, Sharmila MandreBanashankari (Hongasandra) (11am, 2.15, 6.15, 9.15 pm) Gurusid-heshwara (11 am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30pm).

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLYHALLOWS (U/A)Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson,Rupert Grint“3D” Gopalan Cinemas (Bannerghat-ta Road) (10 am, 5, 7.30, 10 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (Mysore Road)(10 am, 5.30, 7.50, 10 pm) InnovativeMultiplex (12.15 pm, 2.30, 7.30, 10pm) Mukunda (5.30 pm, 8.30 pm)

Navrang (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Lakshmi (Tavarekere) (10.15am, 1.15, 5.15, 8.15 pm) Rex (12 pm,5.05, 7.30 pm) Tribhuvan (10.30am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm) Urvashi(11 am, 3, 6 pm)

LARRY CROWNE (U/A) Tom Hanks, Julia RobertFame Lido (12.35 pm, 7.35 pm) PVRCinemas (10 am, 2.40, 7.20, 10 pm)

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THEMOON (U/A) ½Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley“3D” Cinemax (2.15 pm, 7.15, 10pm) Fame Lido (10.15 am, 3.25,6.20, 9.15 pm) Fun Cinemas (12.45pm, 3.50, 6.55, 10 pm pm) GopalanCinemas (Bannerghatta Road) (10am, 4.30, 7.15, 10 pm) Gopalan Cin-emas (Mysore Road) (11 am, 1.45,9.30 pm) Inox (Malleswaram) (4.30pm) Laxmi (Tavarkere) (11 am, 1.45,5, 8.30 pm) PVR Cinemas (10 am,1, 6, 9 pm) Rex (12.25 pm, 3.10 pm)

Movie ListingsKANNADA

ENGLISH

MURDER 2 (A) ½Emraan Hashmi, Jacqueline Fer-nandezApsara (11.30 am, 2.15, 5.30, 8.30pm) Abhinay (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30 pm) Abhiman (Goripalya) (11am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Anand(3.30 pm, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Fame Fo-rum Value Mall (10.30 am, 2.50, 4,7, 9.30 pm) Fame Lido (10 am, 2.35,5, 9.35 pm) Fame (Shankarnag) (2pm) Fun Cinemas (10.10 am, 4.30,7.30 pm) HMT Cinemas (Jalahalli)(10.45 am, 9.45 pm) Inox (Jayanagar)(10.30 pm) Inox (JP Nagar) (10 am,7.30 pm) Inox (Magrath Road) (10am, 4.55, 9.40 pm) Inox (Mallesw-aram) (10 am, 2.55, 9.35 pm) Man-asa (2.30 am, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Rad-hakrishna (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.15,9.30 pm)

CHILLAR PARTY (U) Irrfan Khan, Divvji Handa,Vedant DesaiCinemax (1.15 pm, 6.15 pm) Cinepo-lis (12.45 pm) Fun Cinemas (12.30pm) Fame Forum Value Mall (10.10am) Fame Lido (10.45 am, 6.30 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (BannerghattaRoad) (10 am, 2, 7.10 pm) GopalanCinemas (Mysore Road) (10, 2.25,6 pm) Innovative Multiplex (10.15am, 12.30, 7.45 pm) Inox (Magrath

Road) (1.10 pm) Inox (Malleswaram)(10.25 am) Gopalan Cinemas (Ban-nerghatta Road) (10 am, 2, 7.10 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (Mysore Road)(10, 2.25, 6 pm) PVR Cinemas (12.30pm, 7.30 pm) Vision Cinemas (12.30pm, 5 pm)

BBUDDAH HOGA TERA BAAP (U/A)Big B, Prakash Raj, Hema Malini Aruna (11 am, 2.30, 6, 9.30 pm) In-novative Multiplex (5.45 pm) PVRCinemas (10.10 am, 5.10 pm) Shob-ha (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm)

DELHI BELLY (A) Imran Khan, Shehnaz Cauvery (11.30 am, 2.30 pm) Cine-max (10.15 am, 12.30, 3, 7, 10 pm)Cinepolis (10 am, 12, 2, 4, 6, 8 pm)Eshwari (11.15 am, 2.30, 6.15, 9.15pm) Fame Forum Value Mall (10am, 1, 3.40, 4.50, 7.55, 10 pm) FameLido (10 am, 12.50, 5, 10 pm) Inno-vative Multiplex (10.30 am, 1.15,5.40, 10 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Ban-nerghatta Road) (10 am, 12.45, 2.35,10 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (MysoreRoad) (5.30 pm, 7.50 pm) Inox(Jayanagar) (12.25 pm, 5.20, 10 pm)Inox (JP Nagar) (10 am, 12.25, 2.30,10 pm) Inox (Magrath Road) (10.15am, 12.30, 2.45, 7.30, 10 pm) Inox(Malleswaram) (10 am, 12.55, 5.25,7.30, 10 pm).

HINDI

MALAYALAMSALT N PEPPER (U) Lal, Asif Ali, Swetha MenonGopalan Cinmeas (BannerghattaRoad) (5 pm) HMT Cinemas (9.45pm) Innovative Multiplex (10 pm)PVR Cinemas (9.30 pm) Sangeet(11.30 am, 2.45, 9.30 pm).RATHI NIRVEDAM (U/A) ½Shweta Menon, Sreejith VijayGalaxy Paradise (Hongasandra) (11am, 2.15, 6.15, 9.15 pm

ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA (U/A)Katrina, Farhan Akhtar, Hrithik, Abhay Deol and Kalki Koechlin

Cauvery (11.30 am, 2.30, 6, 9.15pm) Cinepolis (10 am, 12.15, 1.50,3.55, 6.45, 10 pm) Everest (10.30am, 2.30, 6.15, 9.30 pm) GopalanCinemas (Bannerghatta Road) (10am, 1, 2.45, 6.45 pm) HMT Cine-mas (1.30 pm, 7.15 pm) InnovativeMultiplex (11 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.15,

10 pm) Inox (Jayanagar) (10 am,12.25, 3.20, 6.15, 9 pm) Inox (JPNagar) (10 am, 12, 3, 4.35, 6, 9pm) Inox (Magrath Road) (10 am,11, 12, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 pm) Inox(Malleswaram) (10 am, 12, 1, 3,4, 6, 7, 9 pm) Rex (2.25 pm, 9.50pm) Urvashi (9.30 pm).

DoubleRoad jam

for 15more days

Bangalore: The city police havewarned that there could be trafficjams for another 15 days in andaround double road due to astorm water drain work goingon in front of BMTC head office.

You could expect traffic jamsat K H Circle, Lalbagh Maingate,Minerva Circle, Shivaji junction,Bharath junction and Town Halljunction on JC Road and Shan-thinagar junction, Poornimajunction and Urvashi junctionon Lalbagh road, says a pressnote from city police commis-sioner’s office.

Traffic from Richmond Circleflyover side continues to be di-verted via KSRTC depot road andthe traffic coming from K H Circleis now allowed on the newlylaid magic box on the other side.A substantial portion of trafficis also being diverted to J C roadvia Minerva Circle and LalbaghMain gate junction, it said.

Commuters have been askedto avoid Double Road till thecompletion of works.

Cosmeticsurgery

centre fromNarayana

Bangalore: Narayana Hruday-alaya Hospitals has launched amedical aesthetic centre – Reviva– for cosmetic surgeries.

The centre will cater to thegrowing demand of cosmeticprocedures and would providespecialised services, the hospitalsaid.

The launch follows the successof Narayana Hrudayalaya DentalChain (NHDC), which now has27 clinics in Bangalore andKolkata. It is planning to scale itup to 200 clinics over the nexttwo years.

“We would like to expand theoperations of dental, medicalaesthetic centre and other retailhealth care activity to every cityof India and few countriesabroad,” said Dr Nitish Shetty,head, Narayana Hrudayalaya Re-tail Healthcare Division.

KakanaKote to bescreened

Bangalore: One of the watershedfilms of Kannada cinema, KakanaKote, will be screened at K VSubbanna Aaptha Rangamandi-ra at Kumarswamy Layout onSaturday and Sunday.

The movie, which had Lokeshin the lead and directed by C RSimha, won several awards forits fine depiction of life insidethe forest.

The movie will be screenedat 6 pm on Saturday and 3 pmon Sunday. Discussion with thecast and crew members followsthe screening, said a press note.

Call B R Gopinath on9242523523 for further details.

Contest ofstage plays

Bangalore: Dayananda SagarTrust along with the Kannadaand culture department is or-ganising a competition of stageplays in the memory of DayanandSagar on Sunday. The contestwill be held at Ravindra Kalak-shetra at 6.30 pm, stated Rangasriorganisation. At the function,Sagar and Chandramma Sagarawards will be presented, itadded.

Tax Mela kicks off at Palace GroundsBangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: The Tax Mela, organised bythe income tax department, Bangaloredivision, kickstarted at Gayathri Vihar inBangalore Palace Grounds yesterday.

M C Agrawal, chief commissioner, in-come tax, Bangalore division, said thedepartment expected around 4-4.5 lakhpeople to file their returns in the 10-daymela. “This is the third year that we areorganising the mela. Last year, aroundfive lakh people filed their returns,” headded.

The Tax Mela looked well organisedwith special counters for the disabledalong with wheelchair facilities. Theforms this year are more legible and thereare 110 counters to take care of the rush.The last date for filing the returns is July31.

The mela begins every day at 9.30 amand closes at 5 pm. The mela has beenorganised in a covered space spread overone lakh sqft. Free parking facilities areavailable for 40,000 two-wheelers and10,000 four-wheelers.

There are helpdesks, and 22 refundand 22 non-refund counters have beenset up.

There are counters and ATMs fromleading banks, with one or two repre-sentatives from the banks to help you.

If you are clueless about filing the re-turns, then there are helpers who willfill the forms for you with minimal charge.

Photocopiers and a stationery shophave been set up for the convenience ofthose filing their returns.

At the time of inauguration, P B PradeepKumar, joint commissioner of incometax, too was present.

Tax officials help a guru file tax returns at Gayatri Vihar on the first day ofTax Mela yesterday.

Office space leasing soars33% in April‑June at 8m sqftRealty consultant CB Richard Ellis

India today said leasing activitiesfor office spaces in major cities dur-

ing April-June period has increased byover 33 per cent to 8 million sq ft comparedto the previous quarter.

According to the latest survey 'IndiaOffice Market View - Q2, 2011', about 8million sq ft of office spaces were absorbedduring the second quarter of this year asagainst six million sq ft in the January-March period.

"This steady pace of space take up isprimarily fuelled by sustained economicdevelopment and increase in outsourcingbusiness, resulting in robust corporateexpansion plans," CBRE South Asia chair-man and MD Anshuman Magazine saidin a statement.

The office space absorption in sevenkey micro markets – Delhi NCR, Mumbai,Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune

and Kolkata – has been increasing overthe past few quarters, he added.

Of the total absorbed area, NCR, Mum-bai, Bangalore and Chennai were leadingthe tally that accounted for almost 80per cent of the absorbed spaces in thecountry in the three-monthly period.

"However, though there is continueddemand, most of the office micro marketshave an oversupply situation. With ad-ditional space to be added in the future,especially in IT/SEZ space, rental valuesin certain micro markets are expected toremain flat," Magazine said.

The second quarter of 2011 witnessedaddition of about 10 million sq ft of newareas in all major cities.

The report point out that while demandremained buoyant in the last few months,the large supply pipeline might alter thedemand curve in the coming few quarters.PTI

Wage hike dips Wipronet, projects flat growth

Bangalore: Wage hikes and ahigher tax rate impacted IT bell-wether Wipro Ltd’s net profit inthe first quarter (April-June) ofthis fiscal (2011-12), resulting in2.9 percent sequential declineto Rs 1,335 crore.

“A wage hike of 10-12 percentand 3.1 percent higher effectivetax rate had a sequential impacton our net profit in the first quar-ter (Q1) of this fiscal (FY 2012).We see a similar impact on op-erating margin in second quarter(July-September) from these twinfactors,” Wipro chief financialofficer Suresh Senapaty said.

On annualised basis, however,net profit grew marginally at onepercent.

Operating margin for the com-pany’s global IT services businessdeclined to 22 percent year-on-year (YoY) from 24.7 percent ayear ago and 0.1 percent sequen-tially.

“We have maintained our op-erating margins in the first quar-ter despite one month impact ofsalary revision,” Senapaty said.

For the second quarter (July-September) of this fiscal (FY2012), the company has projectedan average revenue of $1.5 billionfrom its global IT services busi-ness, which is sequentially mar-ginal to $1.4 billion achieved inthe first quarter (Q1).

“We expect revenue from ourIT services business to be in therange of $1,436-1464 million inthe second quarter ending Sept30,” Senapaty noted.

Total revenue for the quarter

under review (Q1) grew 18 per-cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs8,564 crore and 3.2 percent se-quentially from Rs.8,302 crorein the previous quarter (Janu-ary-March) of previous fiscal(2010-11).

In rupee terms, revenue fromIT services grew 17 percent (YoY)to Rs 6,405 crore though flat (0.5percent) sequentially.

Under the International Fi-nancial Reporting Standards(IFRS), net income grew mar-ginally one percent to $299 mil-lion and total income $1.92 bil-lion, up 18 percent YoY.

“We are seeing early signs ofpositive momentum after the re-organisation. Clients continueto focus on optimising opera-tions, creating new products andgetting access to newer markets,”Wipro chairman Azim Premjisaid in a statement, commentingon the first quarterly results.

Earnings before interest andtax (Ebit) increased four percentYoY to Rs 1,407 crore.

“We will continue to make in-vestments that bring superior

value to our clients as they tryto win in this market,” Premjiadded.

Senior vice-president (trea-sury) Rajendra Sreeman said theIT services division won twolarge deals in the banking, fi-nancial services and insurance(BFSI) sector and energy & util-ities sector during the quarter.

“The combined value of thedeals is about $1 billion in thelong term,” Sreeman said on themargins of the briefing on thequarterly performance.

IT services business accountedfor 75 percent of the company’stotal revenue and 94 percent ofthe operating income for thequarter under review.

“Enterprises are variabalisingtheir IT to position themselvesfor winning in the world of con-straints. We are building assetsthat allow consumerisation ofenterprise technology and per-formance analytics, two trendsthat will help us differentiate,”chief executive T K Kurien said.

The IT services division added49 new clients during the quarteras against 22 a year ago and 68in the previous quarter.

Revenue from existing cus-tomers increased sequentiallyto 99.3 percent from 96.9 percenta quarter ago but dipped frac-tionally from 99.6 percent a yearago.

“Our investments in clientmining are starting to show re-sults, with four customers con-tributing over $100 million,”Senapaty added. IANS

State banks disburse1̀8K cr farm loans

Bangalore: Banks in Karnatakadisbursed around Rs 18,000 croreloans to farmers in 2010-11.

Out of this amount, Rs 7,000-crore loan was disbursed as croploan and Rs 11,000 crore towardsmechanisation, Agriculture Min-ister Umesh Katti told reportershere.

He said as per RBI directive,banks are now expected to dis-

burse Rs 26,000 crore loan inthe current fiscal.

To a query, he said there wasno shortage of seeds and thatdemand had seen a rise recently.To another question on reported meetings between the state agriculture departmentand GM seed manufacturers, he said no such talks have beenheld. PTI

Lokayukta Santosh Hegde inaugurates Krupanidhi Cambridge International School. He later witnessed

students taking oath that ‘We will never participate in corruption and never encourage anybody to’.

Inaugurating college

Co‑processing of waste wayahead for industries: KSPCB

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: Time has come forall industries, like steel, cementand power plants, to follow themodel of co-processing waste asis being done in other countries,said speakers at a one-day work-shop on “Co-processing of Wastein Cement Kilns, Power Plantsand Integrated iron and SteelIndustry” today.

The conference was jointlyorganised by the Karnataka StatePollution Control Board and Ger-man company GIZ GmbH.

Co-processing of waste hasbeen the hot topic in the Westfor conversion of waste into en-ergy as it would serve to protectthe environment.

India has taken initiatives inco-processing of waste in cementand steel industries.

Some of the leading compa-nies in the cement industry, likeACC and Ultratech, have takento co-processing, they said.

KSPCB chairman M Sadashiv-aiah said, “The state initiated acampaign on co-processing ofwaste in 2003. The board is nowseeking technical expertise fromGIZ. But it is yet to pick up asthe state does not know what todo with 340 metric tonnes ofwaste, like plastic and used tyres,generated every day.”

He said, “Landfills are not asolution as land is in short sup-ply. Already, in northern partsof the country there have beenissues concerning lack of land

to dump waste. Also, there is aserious lack of scientific methodsto manage these landfills.”

He said, “Already, cement in-dustries in Tamil Nadu, MadhyaPradesh and Rajasthan have tak-en to co-processing of waste.KPSCB is exploring the possi-bility of recycling the waste andgenerating electricity. This work-shop will explore the possibilityof adopting the best model.”

There are some legal glitchesto make incinerators mandatoryat cement, steel and other in-dustries. Participants at thisworkshop will discuss these legalloopholes too.”

Experts from Germany on co-processing of waste spoke abouttechnical, legal, infrastructuraland logistical aspects of co-pro-cessing of waste.

The workshop dealt withguidelines on incineration, eco-nomics of co-processing wasteand the types of waste generatedin cement kilns.

Pre-treatment of waste andother preparatory activities priorto co-processsing, handling andtransportation of hazardouswaste, emission scenario of co-processing of waste and international scenario were discussed.

CITYThursday, July 21, 2011 3CITY EVENTSGeneralThe Bangalore Science Fo-rum: Talk on ‘Wireless ad hocsensor networks, pervasivesystems for measurement andinference,’ by Anurag Kumarof IISc, H N Multimedia Hall,Basavanagudi 6.30 pm.

CulturalKeshava Nrithyashale: Kesha-va Nrithyotsava’s Leela Ra-manathan, Lalitha Srinivasan,President Karnataka Nrith-yakala Parishat to participate,Town Hall, J C Road, 5.30 pm.

Savigaana: Inauguration ofits premises by MLA Ravi Sub-ramanya, Nayana, J C Road,4.30 pm.

Vasu Prakashana: Release ofbook Anveshana, a collectioinof plays and felicitation pro-gramme, Gerald Furtado, Prin-cipal St Joseph Indian Pre-University College, KannadaSahitya Parishat president Nel-lore Prasad to participate, Kan-nada Sahitya Parishat, Chama-rajpet, 5.30 pm.

Indian Institute of World Cul-ture: ‘Lifestyle managementthrough ayurveda and yoga,’by Dr H J Shanti, IIWC, WadiaRoad, Basavanagudi, 6.15 pm.

ReligiousSri Shankara Jayanthi Mandali:Discourse on ‘Prashnopan-ishat,’ by Ramaswami Iyengar,Sri Shankara Krupa, 45, 16thCross, 3r Block, Jayanagar, 6.30pm.

Sri Madananda TheertaPravachana Samithi: Dis-course on ‘Dwadeeshasthotra,’by Ambeereshacharya, SriRaghavendra Swami Mutt, 6thCross, Amarjyothinagar, 7 pm.

Rama Pravachana Mandir:Discourse on ‘Bhagawad Gee-ta,’ by Aralumallige Parth-asarathi, Rama Prava-chanaMandir, 795, 5th Cross, 7th ‘D’Main Road, Koramangala, 4thBlock, 6.30 pm.

Sri Shankara Seva Trust: Up-anyasa programme by SriPrakash Yogi Guru, Sri Ra-mashrama, Ramachandrapu-ram, Girinagar, 6.30 pm.

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan: ‘Na-garasakaviya Karnataka Bha-gavad Gita Vachana Vyakyana,Rama Mandiram Association,Sri Rama Devasthana, ModelHouse Block, Basavangudi,6.30 pm.

Food

Kerala Food Festival: Bon-South presents its first Keralafood festival, Kerala cuisinehas a lot of varieties from dif-ferent regions of the State.From the Moplah and the Syr-ian Christian specialities tothe vegetarian delicacies ofNamboodiri cuisine. Each ofthese regional varieties has adistinctive taste and flavour.The cuisine is a delight forfood lovers, for both vegetari-ans and non vegetarians. Avail-able both at lunch and dinner,the Buffet is priced at Rs. 350plus taxes. BonSouth, No 1Sampige road, Mantri Square,3rd Floor next to Oval bar. call: 080 22667377 & for Homedelivery 080 22667378.

Mama Mia! Introduces theIce-cream Cakes: which aregreat for any celebration ditchthe regular creamy cake onyour next birthday for a deli-cious frozen icecream cake.These yummy cakes are greatas a party dessert as well! Cur-rent Flavours available by theslice or whole Fererro RocherCake, Cookie Crumble Cake,

After Eight Cake, WildberriesCake, Chocolate Marble Cake,Belgian Chocolate Hoopla!Price: Rs 389 for 1 kg and Rs699 for 2 kg and Rs 59 perslice. Indiranagar Call 4114-9423, Koramangala. Tel: 93794-16398, Jyoti Niwas CollegeRoad. Koramangala Tel:40981868.

Shopping Crimson's Annual MonsoonSale: Thursday, July 21st, 2011.

11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Crimson ArtGallery, The Hatworks Boule-vards, No 32, CunninghamRoad, Vasanthnagar Paintingsat discount rates, along withan additional offer where pa-trons get 50% off every secondpurchase.

Lifestyle presents Watch Fest:Thursday, July 21st, 2011. 10a.m. to 9 p.m. Lifestyle, AdarshOpus, Campbell Road, AustinTown Offers and discounts ona wide range of watches.

The Big Wrangler Sale: Thurs-day, July 21st, 2011. 10 a.m. to9 p.m. Wrangler, No 777, 100Feet Road, Indiranagar Wran-gler kickstarts its end of seasonsale, with discounts of up to50%.

Pepe Sale: Thursday, July 21st,2011. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pepe,No 2, Brigade Road, Discountsof up to 60% on all merchan-dise.

Sale @ Esprit: Thursday, July21st, 2011. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.Esprit, No 10 Ananda Bhavan,Vittal Mallya Road, Esprit an-nounces a sale where patronscan avail discounts of up to50% on apparel and acces-sories, and a flat 25% off watch-es.

Lee Sale: Thursday, July 21st,2011. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Lee,Royal Meenakshi Mall, NoE1/16, Syndicate Bank Colony,1st Cross, Bennerghatta RoadLee merchandise at discountsof up to 50%.

3 for 2 offer: Thursday, July21st, 2011. 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.Landmark, The Forum Mall,No 21, Hosur Road, Koraman-gala Landmark presents the 3for 2 offer, where readers canchoose from a collection ofover 200 best sellers and newreleases and get three bookswith the offer sticker for theprice for two.

Sale @ French Connection:Thursday, July 21st, 2011. 10a.m. to 9 p.m. French Con-nection, Adarsh Opus, Camp-bell Road, Austin Town Menget a flat 30% off, while womenare entitled to discounts up to50% on all merchandise atFrench Connection’s end ofseason sale across all outlets.

Van Heusen Sale: Thursday,July 21st, 2011. 10 a.m. to 9p.m. Van Heusen, No 194,Brigade Road, Discounts of upto 40% on all apparel. Thesale is on across all outlets.

Happiness Sale: Thursday,July 21st, 2011. 11 a.m. to 9:30p.m. Bangalore Central, No47/48 Victoria Embassy, Resi-dency Road, Bangalore Centralannounces the HappinessSale, featuring apparel andaccessories at discounts of upto 61 percent. The sale is onacross all outlets.

Films Screening of ‘Whisky withVodka’: Thursday, July 21st,2011. 6:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.The Goethe-Institut/Max Mue-ller Bhavan, No 716 1st Stage,CMH Road, Indiranagar Theactor Otto Kullberg is a manwomen love and men like.When his excessive drinkingleads him to miss a day onthe set of his new film and itseems like he's about to blowthe whole thing, a youngeractor is hired to shoot all thescenes a second time as a back-up solution. Otto finds himselfforced to assert his role on theset.

Theatre Mayamruga @ Ranga Shan-kara: Thursday, July 21st, 2011.7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. RangaShankara, No 36/1 2nd Phase,8th Cross, JP Nagar The play,written by Kannada authorPoornachandra Tejaswi, ex-plores the human psyche andimagination by questioningthe unseen.

Adhe Adhure: Thursday, July21st, 2011. 7:30 p.m. to 9:30p.m. Chowdiah Memorial Hall,Gayathri Devi Park Extension,2nd Main Road, 16th Cross,Malleshwaram 'Adhe Adhure'is the story of life in contem-porary society. It is about amiddle class family on thebrink of collapse. The playstars Lillete Dubey.

Nightlife Jolly Good Bollywood: Thurs-day, July 21st, 2011. 8 p.m.Opus In The Creek, No 2 Dod-danekkundi Industrial Area,Whitefield Road, Mahadeva-pura Bollywood music comesback with the age old game ofAntakshari. A musical quizwhere the answers to the ques-tions are all Bollywood songs.

Booze and Brains with MarkRego: Thursday, July 21st, 2011.9 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Opus,Chakravarty Layout, 1st Cross,Palace Cross Road, SankeyRoad A quiz and a dance partyall rolled into one.

Actress Tara hugs a poor woman after giving her a blanket at Gangamma temple, Doddagunta Palya near Cox Town this morning. Free blankets were distributed to the

underprivileged by the Bharatinagar Residents’ Forum.

Helping ʼemS Radhakrishna

Bannurmath ahead inthe race for LokayuktaShivaraj Patil, R V Raveendran in contention too; term of

incumbent Justice Santosh Hegde ends on Aug 2D L Harish

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: The race is hot for the nextLokayukta, now that incumbent JusticeSantosh Hegde is retiring on August 2.

There are three strong contendersfor the constitutional post, but justinches ahead of them all is Kerala HighCourt former Chief Justice S R Bannur-math.

Anyway, the race is not won till youbreast the tape, so intense lobbying ison and is likely to continue till the lastminute for one of the most powerfulpositions in the state now.

Bannurmath had been the originalchoice of chief minister B S Yeddyur-rappa around three to four months ago.He had even had two rounds of talkswith the former CJ.

But the situation has changed com-pletely since then with the entry of for-mer Supreme Court judge Shivaraj Patiland serving apex court judge R VRaveendran’s name being floated.

But in the case of Justice Raveendran,

he is retiring only by November 30 andthe government cannot wait till then.The other option is that the judge couldtake an early retirement to don theprestigious post.

With this, it has effectively boileddown to Patil and Bannurmath becom-ing the Lokayukta.

But of all the three, Shvivaraj Patil is

the personal favourite of Yeddyurappa.Patil is a prominent leader and has gotthe backing of math heads to put inthe extra bit to influence the mind ofthe chief minister.

There is a hurdle that needs to becrossed for the political dispensationfor anointing a new Lokyaukta. TheUpa Lokayukta, S B Majjige, too is a

Lingayat, and the two top posts withthe same community may not go downwell with the people, source within thegovernment said.

Strategists within the BJP havethought of a solution to the problem,which could be asking Majjige to quitthe post with a promise that he wouldbe given an alternative position with

an equal standing. Once the UpaLokayukta’s post is vacant, the gov-ernment can bring in someone fromany other community to make it lookbalanced, the sources added.

The Lokayukta is chosen by a con-stitutionally formed statutory committeeunder the Lokayukta Act of 1994.

The committee has the chief minister,legislative assembly speaker, legislativecouncil chairman, chief justice of theKarnataka High Court, assembly op-position leader and council oppositionleader. Before the Lokayukta is selected,the government sends shortlisted names to all the members of the com-mittee, who in turn send their choicein a sealed cover. The sealed covershave already reached the CM’s office.

All the members of the committeemeet, where the sealed covers areopened and the Lokayukta is chosen. The finalised name is sent tothe governor.

The oath of office is also read out bythe governor to the Lokayukta as it is aconstitutional post.

Shivaraj Patil R V Raveendran S R Bannurmath

CITU wants govt to settle workersʼ issues, especially wages

L RaghunandaBangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: The BJP governmentshould do a lot more for workersin organised and unorganizedsectors, stated a state-level con-ference of Left partes in the cityrecently. The government is alsoyet to fulfill a lot of the demandsput forth by workers, they felt.

“This is not the first time thatthe Centre of Indian TradeUnions is holding such protests.The last time we displayed suchshow of strength, some of ourdemands were met. This time,we want the BJP government toopen its ears to the pleas of lakhsof our comrades whose list ofdemands be met at the shortestpossible time,” said S PrasannaKumar, general secretary, CITU.

He said just because the Lefthas lost its foothold in West Ben-gal and Kerala, it doesn’t meansit has lost foothold in fightingfor the cause of workers.

Kumar, echoing the senti-ments of the founder of Marxism,Karlk Marx, gave a call: “Workersof the world unite, you havenothing to lose but chains.” TheCITU last week held a massiverally at the Freedom Park toshow its strength.

He said, “The CITU will or-ganise awareness rallies in Ban-galore and other parts of thestate at district and taluk levels.Such movements were startedin 2008 to fulfill the basic needsof workers, especially from un-organised sectors, which is thelargest group connected withCITU.”

The most important issue that

the government should settle isthe wage of workers. “There are80 recognised professions anddetailed directives have beenpassed to each of those. Butthere has been no notificationregarding the wages,” he said.

He cautioned the governmentagainst bringing in a speculativepension scheme that would bedetrimental to the interest ofworkers. He said the number ofhours put in by workers hasbeen increased to 10 hours perday. The government should re-view the time policy dependingon the wages of workers and asper the directions in the FactoriesAct, he added.

The government has beenpromising workers that thewages would be increased as

per the wage board recommen-dations. But no clear decisionhas been taken though a com-mittee has already been formed.With the increasing cost of living,the workers are feeling the pinchof low wages, he said.

The condition of workers inunorganized sectors is evenworse. The government shouldtake steps to increase it from thepresent Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000.The government has fixed thesalary for this section of workers,who hold below poverty linecards, in Bangalore at Rs 6,000.

The demands of anganwadiworkers need to be met on thewages and should be revised pe-riodically to keep them in tunewith the time.

He urged the government to

recognise professions of cobbler,washerman, tailor, auto driver,lorry driver, automobile sectorworker etc.

He said had the governmentheld discussions with represen-tatives of trade unions and in-dustry leaders, a solution couldhave been found concerning theissues of workers by this time.“One such meeting was heldlong time back, but nothing hasbeen heard on those lines oflate,” he said.

He warned that the govern-ment should meet the demandsof workers as soon as possible,otherwise the Left parties wouldstage protests to force its hand.“We have enough clout andnumbers to hold such protests,”he added.

Short‑range ʻPraharʼ missile successfully test fired

Continued from page 1The uniqueness of the missilesystem is that “in onesalvo, six missiles canbe fired with multipletargets,” said a scientistassociated with this proj-ect.

This short range mis-sile would be an ‘excel-lent weapon’ whichwould fill the gap be-tween unguided, multi-barrelrocket system ‘Pinaka’ with 40km range and guided missiles

like ‘Prithvi’, which can strikeat 250 km to 350 km range.

In view of the sched-uled missile test today,the Balasore district ad-ministration had as a pre-cautionary measure tem-porarily evacuated 3,220persons residing withintwo km radius of thelaunch pad-3 in to nearbyshelter centers.

Fishermen were also warnednot to venture into the sea duringthe missile test time. PTI

P Bineesha, senior technical expert, GIZ, A S Sadashivaiah,chairman, KSPCB, at the workshopn on Co-processing of

waste in cement kilns, power plants and integrated iron andsteel industry at the Karnataka Pollution Control Board

office in the city today.

Gangadhar Pujar

Printed and published by B M Arun Kumar vide RNI Registration No. KARENG/2010/33126. Published by SAM Global Media, # 37, 1 Floor, 2nd Main, N. R. Colony, Bangalore - 560 019. Editor: B M Arun Kumar Printed at Lavanya Mudrana, #19, 15th Cross, Thyaarajanagar, Bangalore – 560 028. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation in any language in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material or for material lost or damaged in transit. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Bangalore only.

NEWSThursday, July 21, 2011 4

Fai detention hearing tobegin in US tomorrow

Washington: The detention hear-ing of Ghulam Nabi Fai arrestedby the FBI for illegally lobbyingfor Pakistan and its spy agencyto influence US policy on Kash-mir, has been set for tomorrow,court officials said.

Fai, 62, arrested by the FBI onTuesday made donations to Con-gressmen and presidential can-didates and organised confer-ences and seminars to reflect

the viewpoint of Pakistan onKashmir.

A spokesman of the Depart-ment of Justice said that Fai hasbeen scheduled to appear beforethe judge Theresa CarrollBuchanan at the US District Courtin Alexandria, Virginia.

Fai, was initially produced be-fore the court on Tuesday a fewhours after his arrest.

According to court officials,

Fai has not intimated who hisattorney would be, but was hope-ful that he would be able to haveone by tomorrow.

The FBI in its affidavit beforethe US court alleged that Kash-mir-born US national receivedhundreds and thousands of dol-lars from the ISI and the Gov-ernment of Pakistan with thesole objective of molding theview of American policy makers

on Kashmir.Commending the Federal Bu-

reau of Investigation (FBI) forFai's arrest, the Washington-based Hindu American Founda-tion (HAF) yesterday said thatthis signals awareness withinAmerican intelligence agenciesabout ISI activities in the US.

"The arrest of Fai is a troublingreminder of the extensive reachand influence of the ISI," said

Aseem Shukla, co-founder andBoard Member of HAF.

"We commend the FBI for ex-posing the alleged illegitimateactivities of the Kashmir Centerand revealing its connection tothe ISI, an authoritarian govern-ment institution of Pakistan thatdoes not heed the norms or lawsof public engagement -- at homeor abroad," Shukla said in astatement.

Rajya Sabha member and singer B Jayasri inaugurates a painting exhibition depicting theIndian Railways at the Cantonment railway station today.

Railways on canvasGangadhar Pujar

Chris Tremlett can bring Sachin down: WarneLondon: Australian spin wizard ShaneWarne feels that English speedster ChrisTremlett’s height, pace and accuracy willpose a big challenge for Indian batsmanSachin Tendulkar during the four-matchTest series at home.

Warne said that the gigantic 6’8” pacer,who posed several problems in each of thethree Tests against Sri Lanka, has caughtthe imagination of all and sundry.

“One guy who looks to be thriving is ChrisTremlett. With his height, bounce and risingconfidence he will be the player of the series.He will take the most wickets, will be anabsolute handful and will knock SachinTendulkar over a lot too,” Warne wrote inhis column for “Daily Telegraph”.

“The trick for Strauss is not to bowl Trem-lett too much with the new ball. Let himbowl short, sharp sessions of no more thanfive overs and use him as an impact bowler.Keep him fresh so he gets that bounce,”said Warne.

Tremlett was the Man of the Series in thethree-match Test series against Sri Lanka

with 15 wickets at 23.40.The legendary spinner added that England

should make use of Tendulkar’s vulnerabilityin the early part of his innings.

“You have to approach Tendulkar withthe aim of dismissing him for lower thanhis average. If you get him out for lowerthan 50 you can count that as a win and ittakes a bit of pressure off bowlers who canfocus too much on trying to knock him overas soon as he walks to the crease,” he said.

Tendulkar, part of the strongest battingline-up in the world, stands on the brink ofa momentous 100th international century.

Warne said that the home team shouldnot waste too much of an effort to planagainst the little master but focus more onIndia’s inspirational skipper Mahendra SinghDhoni.

“MS Dhoni is a pretty good captain andis respected by his team, so England shouldreally target him. If they keep him to lowscores, and don’t let him slog a 50 at theend of an innings, it will affect his captaincy,”he said adding that

India will have similar ideas about AndrewStrauss and will use Zaheer Khan to upsethim.

The Indian captain averages 33 againstEngland, which includes four half-centuriesin 13 innings he has played against them.

Warne said the high-profile series be-tween the number one team India andthird ranked England will be dominatedby the ball.

“Normally when you think of India youimagine cricket dominated by the bat. Butnot this time. It will be a shoot-out betweenboth bowling attacks.”

Warne suggested the English pacers toattack Indians with body language, short-pitched hostile bowling at appropriatetimes and be aggressive in every way.

“In Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Ten-dulkar you have great players. If you retreatand become defensive against India, thenthey will go on the offensive and punishyou. That is how India can be undone. Ifyou go too defensive with field settingsand try to bore them out they will be all

over you.” Warne also singled out Rahul Dravid as

another dangerman for England and saidthe only way to combat the veteran cam-paigner is to bowl waist-high deliveriesthat make him play.

“If England can keep Tendulkar quiet itwill rub off on the rest but the real dangeris Dravid taking up the slack. I played withDravid at the Indian Premier League andhe is in super touch. In these conditionshe can be the star for India.

From talking to him in India, I know heis hungry and very motivated for this se-ries.

“The way to combat Dravid is to buildpressure at both ends and bowl back-of-a-length, waist-high deliveries. If you allowhim to drive he will smack it. If you bowltoo straight, he is great off his pads andwill pick you off. Be wary, England. He isthe guy that glues India together,” warnedWarne.

In 2007, India had registered a first Testseries win in England after 21 years.

3 policemen bookedfor youthʼs deathLucknow: Cases have been reg-istered against three policemenin Uttar Pradesh after a youth,detained on charges of assaultinga relative, died shortly after beingreleased from their custody, po-lice said Thursday.

Sandeep Kumar, 28, a residentof Dhanpatganj area in Sultan-pur, about 150 km from here,died Wednesday, hours after be-ing released from Kurebhar policestation, said his father Vijay Ku-mar.

Vijay alleged that his son wasbleeding and writhing in painafter he returned.

“We have registered a caseagainst the Station House OfficerAbhimanyu Singh and two con-stables,” Senior Superintendentof Police Govind Agarwal toldreporters here. A magisterialprobe has been ordered by thedistrict magistrate, he said.

Sandeep was detained Tues-day on charges of assaulting oneof his relatives. IANS

Climate change debate inUNSC welcome step: IndiaUnited Nations: India has saiddiscussion on climate change in the Security Council is a wel-come step, but maintained thatthe 15-member body does nothave tools to deal with the is-sue.

Following a day-long debatein the Security Council, India’senvoy to UN Hardeep Singh Purinoted that peacekeeping mis-sions, use of force and sanctions,which the UNSC can authorise,do not fit the problems of climatechange.

Puri insisted that climatechange needed to stay in therealm of the General Assembly

and the United Nations Frame-work on Climate Change (UN-FCCC).

“We don’t have a problem discussing climate change,” theenvoy told PTI. “As far as action,it has to be done in the UNFC-CC.”

“Some countries are trying todo a mandate creep,” he said,describing a trend to get moreissues under the belt of the Se-curity Council.

Countries like Brazil and SouthAfrica also emphasised that theUNFCCC should remain centralto addressing the issue of climatechange.

India, however, differed itsposition from China and Russia,which were fundamentallyagainst the Council dealing withclimate change.

Mark Lyall Grant, UK’s envoyto the UN, also noted that NewDelhi has not opposed the Coun-cil’s statement on the climatechange in the same way as Bei-jing and Moscow. “India playeda positive role,” he said.

After several revisions, the Se-curity Council issued a statementon climate change, last night.Observers noted that its languagewas weakened to reach a com-promise. PTI

Texas inmate executed for killingIndian in ʻ01 in US

Houston: A 41-year-old man inthe US has been executed forkilling a convenience store clerkfrom India during a shootingspree in 2001 that he had saidwas retaliation for the September11 terrorist attacks.

Mark Stroman, a Texas deathrow inmate, shot at least threemen he mistook for Arabs in theweeks after the attacks, killingtwo of them.

He was convicted of killingVasudev Patel, 49, during theattempted robbery of a conven-ience store near Dallas in October2001.

He was also charged in thefatal shooting of Waqar Hasan,46, a Muslim born in Pakistan.

He was executed after the USSupreme Court yesterday rejecteda last-minute appeal by one ofhis victims to save his life.

The lone survivor, RaisBhuiyan, a native of Bangladesh,had sued to stop the execution,saying his religious beliefs as aMuslim told him to forgive.

Earlier Stroman had said his2001 Dallas-area shooting ram-page was in retaliation for theSeptember 11 terrorist attacks.He had described the attacks asa patriotic response to terror-ism.

Stroman blamed the shootingson the loss of a sister in the col-lapse of one of the World TradeCenter towers, although prose-cutors said in court documentsthere’s no firm evidence she everexisted.

“I wanted those Arabs to feelthe same sense of vulnerability

and uncertainty on Americansoil much like the mindset ofchaos and bedlam that they werealready accustomed to in theirhome country,” he said on awebsite devoted to his case.

Patel, whose death put stro-man on a death row, had movedfrom India to Texas in 1983, andwas a naturalised US citizen.

Stroman described his victimsas “perched behind the counterhere in the Land of Milk andHoney… this foreigner who’sown people had now sought tobring the exact same chaos andbewilderment upon our peopleand society as they lived in them-selves at home and abroad.”

But he added he had made a“terrible mistake out of love,grief and anger” and had de-stroyed his victims’ families “outof pure anger and stupidity.

He also said he wanted tospend time with the convict tolearn more about why the shoot-ings occurred.

“I’m not the monster the me-dia portrays me,” he has said.

Stroman was free on bond fora gun possession arrest duringthe time of incident.

He had previous convictionsfor burglary, robbery, theft andcredit card abuse, served at leasttwo prison terms and wasparoled twice.

Stroman’s lethal injectionwould be the eighth this year inTexas.

At least eight other inmatesin the nation’s busiest deathpenalty state have executiondates in the coming weeks. PTI

Cloud burst in Manali,eight missing

Manali: Twenty-two labourerswere injured and at least eightwent missing after a cloudburstnear Himachal Pradesh’s Manalitown, an official said here today.The cloudburst occurred around12.30 am yesterday in upper Man-ali, about 18 km from here, Sub-divisional Magistrate BalbirThakur said.

“One body was recovered eightkilometres downstream from thecloudburst spot. But it is yet tobe identified,” he said.

Search is on to locate the oth-ers, he added.

The workers were involved inconstruction of the Rohtang tun-nel. The accident happened justafter they returned from work totheir base camps in Dhundi.IANS

Girl held forplotting

popʼs murderLucknow: A girl was arrestedalong with her lover and hisfriend for allegedly plotting herfather’s murder, police said here.

Ram Khelawan was shot deadby two unidentified persons athis residence in Banthara onJuly 12 and an FIR was lodgedby his daughter Preeti in thisconnection, they said.

Investigation revealed thatPreeti herself plotted Khelawan’smurder as he was opposed toher relationship with ManojChaurasiya.

Preeti, Manoj and his friendSunil Kumar were arrested yes-terday and the country madefire-arm used in the murder wasalso found, they said. PTI

Food inflation slips to 7.58% for week ended July 9

New Delhi: Food inflation fellto a three-week low of 7.58 percent for the week ended July 9on the back of cheaper pulseprices and a high base last year.

Food inflation, as measuredby the Wholesale Price Index(WPI) stood at 8.31 per cent inthe previous week. It was as highas 19.52 per cent in the corre-sponding week of July, 2010, sug-gesting a high base.

As per data released by thegovernment today, prices of puls-es went down by 7.67 per centon a year-on-year basis.

However, prices of other fooditems continued to rise.

The data comes a day afterthe government said that pres-sure from headline inflationwould remain till December onaccount of high internationalcommodity prices.

Headline inflation stood at9.44 per cent in June. It has re-mained consistently above the9 per cent mark since December,2010.

During the week ended July9, onions became 19.68 per centmore expensive on an annualbasis while fruits grew dearerby 15.84 per cent.

The price of milk was up 10.76per cent and eggs, meat and fishgrew almost 8 per cent more ex-pensive. Cereals and vegetablesbecame dearer by 4.77 per centand 4.31 per cent, respectively,year-on-year.

Inflation of overall primaryarticles stood at 11.13 per centduring the week under review,down from 11.58 per cent in theprevious week. Primary articleshave a share of over 20 per centin the WPI.

Meanwhile, inflation of non-food articles was at 15.50 percent for the week ended July 9,compared to 15.20 per cent inthe previous week.

Serial killer MahanandNaik sentenced to life

Panaji: The local court has sen-tenced serial killer MahanandNaik to life imprisonment in con-nection with the murder of Vas-anti Gawde, who was supposedlyhis first victim.

Additional District and Ses-sions court yesterday convictedMahanand for life and also im-posed a fine of Rs 1.3 lakh, whichwill be given to family of the vic-tim. 40-year-old Mahanand hadkilled Vasanti on September 11,1995 by luring her to an isolatedplace at Bethora village, 35 kilo-metres away from here.

She was strangulated to deathusing a dupatta by the killer,who robbed off all her gold or-naments. Mahanand, who usedto drive an autorickshaw, wasseen by Vasanti’s cousin, trav-eling with her in Ponda city.

Police stated that in 1995, Ma-hanand was picked up as a sus-pect in Vasanti’s case but waslater let off giving him benefit ofdoubt. The serial killer sincethen has killed 16 women during1995-2009 when he was finallyarrested for raping his wife’sfriend.

CWG scam: Kalmadi, othersto be taken in separate van

New Delhi: A Delhicourt today allowedsacked Common-wealth Games OCChairman SureshKalmadi and others ar-rested for alleged ir-regularities in award-ing a contract to aSwiss firm to be trans-ported to court in aseparate van after theyexpressed fear of beingattacked by other un-dertrials.

Special CBI Judge TalwantSingh directed the jail authoritiesto bring Kalmadi and other fiveofficials of Organising Committeein a different van from Tihar Jailto the court for proceedings.

“Report has been received

from the Deputy Commissionerof Police. Their (Kalmadi andother accused) plea for trans-porting in separate jail van dueto security concerns is allowed,”the court said.

The six accused had on July14 moved an application express-

ing their apprehensionof being attacked inthe jail van by otherundertrials.

The other arrestedco-accused in the caseare OC former directorgeneral V K Verma, OCformer secretary gen-eral Lalit Bhanot, OCformer officials M Jay-achandran, Surjit Laland ASV Prasad.

The judge had thendirected the jail superintendents“to explore the possibility oftransporting Kalmadi and othersto the court on dates of hearingin a separate van”. The courthad asked the jail authorities toapprise it with their decision bytoday in this regard.

It was emotionally taxingto play Maria, says Mahi

Mumbai: For Mahi Gill, who es-says the role of Maria Susairajin Ram Gopal Varma’s upcomingfilm ‘Not A Love Story’, it wasdifficult and taxing to portraythe real life character of the Kan-nada actress, who recentlywalked free in the Neeraj Grovermurder case.

“I have also witnessed andexperienced the struggling periodand so had Maria. So the strug-gling sequences were not diffi-cult. But the sequences after themurder and its aftermath...todeal with it...was difficult forme. But Ramu sir was very help-ful,” Mahi said, after launchinga promotional song for the filmhere.

Directed by Varma, ‘Not aLove Story’ is a crime thrillerbased on the gruesome murderof television executive NeerajGrover that led to the arrest ofMaria and former navy officerEmile Jerome.

Mahi said she related to hercharacter in the first half of thefilm because she has also comefrom outside Mumbai and strug-gled a lot to become an actress

but her character in second halfwas “very difficult to relate withand was emotionally very tax-ing.”

Mahi, who is best known forher role of Paro in AnuragKashyap’s critically acclaimedHindi film ‘Dev D’ says, “Whenhe (Ramu) told me about thefilm....about the role...I found itvery challenging.”

“We had shot in the samebuilding but different rooms likethe incident happened in roomno 201 and we shot in 1501 sowe had this weird...creepy feeling

that how the incident wouldhave taken place in such a smallroom and we used to talk a lotabout it as well,” she said.

The film also stars DeepakDobriyal and Ajay Gehi in pivotalroles. On May 7, 2008, Groverwas killed at Maria’s flat in Dheer-aj Solitaire in suburban Maladby her enraged fiance Jerome.After the murder, the couplechopped the victim’s body andstuffed it in bags and dumped itin the jungles of Manor, in Thanedistrict. The film releases on Au-gust 19.

Big evidence againstCM: Santosh Hegde

Continued from page 1Hegde said more than 500 offi-cials, either by name or by des-ignation, have been named inthe report on illegal mining.

He said he is "totally con-vinced" that the governmentwould not act upon his secondand final report. "They did notimplement the previous one,"Hegde recalled. On the size ofthe mining scam, the Lokayuktasaid between March 2009 andApril 2010 (14 months) – as perthe documents available during

this period – the extent of illegalmining including zero-risk trans-portation and other types wasto the tune of Rs 1,827 crore.

The Lokayukta said he expectsthe Supreme Court-appointedCentral Empowered Committee(CEC), which is looking into theissue of illegal mining, to take acopy of his report.

A CEC member called him to-day seeking the report but hehad asked him to put in his re-quest under the Right to Infor-mation Act, Hegde said. PTI

England captain Andrew Strauss and his Indian counterpart M S Dhoni pose withthe Npower trophy at the Lord’s cricket ground in London yesterday. England will

face India in the first test at the Lord’s from today.

BJP says it is tooearly to react

New Delhi: The BJP today saidit was too early to react to theLokayukta report on illegal min-ing, which has indicted chiefminister B S Yeddyurappa, andasked the Congress to first takeaction against those named inthe Shunglu Committee and Del-hi Lokayukta report.

“The Shunglu committee had indicted the Sheila Dikshit Gov-ernment in the CommonwealthGames and the Delhi Lokayuktahad recommended to the Presi-dent that action should be takenagainst her minister RajkumarChauhan in the Tivoli Gardencase. Nothing has been done inthese two cases. Congress shouldfirst respond to this,” BJPspokesperson Prakash Javadekarsaid here.

He said the party will wait forthe report on illegal mining inthe state to be made public beforecoming out with any reaction.

Lokayukta Justice SantoshHegde has recommended a probeinto Yeddyurappa’s role and thatof his four ministerial colleagueswith regard to illegal mining inthe state. The report, which is tobe submitted soon, has alsosought an investigation into therole of former chief minister andJD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamyand Congress Rajya Sabha mem-ber Anil Lad.Tourism minister GJanardhana Reddy, revenue min-ister G Karunakara Reddy, health minister B Sriramulu andhousing minister V Somannahave been named in the report,it is said.

Beyond BeatThursday, July 21, 2011

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Yakshagana – one of the popularfolk dramas of the state – has ex-clusively been the male domainsince 11th century. But womenhave recently been forcing open

the stubborn doors to make it their own. Yakshagana is a unique and rare blend

of powerful music and vigorous dance,marked by vivacious foot work. Choreo-graphed movements, coupled with colour-ful costumes and elaborate makeup, cre-ate an ethereal world on stage. Stylised ex-tempore dialogues with folk and literarycharm weaved in bring out the subtle nu-ances of Kannada.

The Karnataka Mahila Yakshagana hastaken the lead in dashing the myth that itis a male form of dance and has been con-ducting Yakshagana for females of all agegroups for the last 12 years.

“Initially, women were not allowed toperform Yakshagana. We started about 12-15 years ago. Though I was interested inlearning the art, there were no academiesor institutions where women could learnYakshagana. So we came up with the ideaof setting up an institute where women ofall age groups could learn and perform Yak-shagana,” said Gauri K, secretary, Kar-nataka Mahila Yakshagana, to BangaloreBeat.

Gauri and her troupe are instrumental inthe popularising Yakshagana. They have

been staging performances in differentparts of the state, and at the same time havebeen empowering women.

“During our early days, we had the fearthat we might not be accepted. There werea lot of instances where we were discour-aged. Yakshagana was performed in avery orthodox way throughout the night bymen in those days. We just thought why wewomen cannot enter this exclusive domainand make a mark. There are housewives,working women, college and school-goinggirls, who are staging Yakshagana nowa-days,” she said.

Here is Pavithra, who is doing her sec-ond PUC at Mount Carmel College. Shedrew inspiration from her mother V Latha,who is also a Yakshagana performer and anemployee at the Reserve Bank of India.

Latha said, “I have been practising Yak-shagana for more than 12 years. I was at-tracted to Yakshagana when I was in myschool. My daughter used to accompany mewherever I went for performances. Shegradually involved herself and startedpracticing without hampering her studies.”

Asked about the future of Yakshaganaand women troupes in particular, Lata, whofinds herself time despite her busy sched-ule, said, “Time has changed. People lookat you in curiosity when they hear thatwomen perform Yakshagana. It is sure togo places and if this art form is intro-duced as part of the curriculum in someuniversities, it will be good.”

Sanjana and Sharavani too seek to dis-pel the stereotypical image of art form. “Itis a good experience. We have dared to bedifferent. We love doing it. There are somemisconceptions. Many women are scaredto take it up, thinking that the costumeworn by the artistes is very heavy. But thatis not true and, we feel, anyone who is in-terested should take it up.”

The themes around which the perform-ances are weaved are largely based on Hin-du epics like Ramayana, Mahabharataand the tales from the Puranas. The make-up of Yakshagana artistes is rich and dif-fers with the character. They are closely re-lated to the ornamentation found in thescriptures. The performances are elaborateand carried off with care.

Here is to the women power.

Now, rideyour suitcase

to airport!London: Forget booking a taxi. Now, you can rideyour luggage to the airport, thanks to a new“scooter suitcase” designed by researchers at aBritish firm.

The micro-luggage case has an in-built scoot-er so travellers can ride their case to the airport gateafter dropping up to 20 kg of luggage off at thecheck-in counter, say its designers.

The new 250 pounds bag consists of a 26-litrecase and a lean-and-steer scooter. The case can bedetached from the scooter and wheeled around inthe same way as an ordinary suitcase, the ‘DailyMail’ reported.

A spokesman for Micro Scooters UK, the com-pany which has designed the scooter suitcase, said:Not only is it a healthier option to a car, it’s a greatway of reducing your carbon footprint.”

Regular flier Dave Gardner, 35, said the new casewould be a big help when he is at the airport. “I’vemissed flights because my taxi has been de-layed,” he said.

He added: “It’s left me running across the ter-minal with luggage that won’t roll straight and turn-ing up red faced to a closed gate. If I could whizzacross the terminal it might save me a lot on re-booking business flights.”

However, the price is putting some off theproduct.

“Surely I could just take a micro scooter with meand put in my bag when I get to work rather thanforking out for this – I’d look like a fool ridingaround on that,” said Claire Evans, a 35-year-oldbanker from West Midlands. PTI

Ginger can cutside‑effects of

chemotherapy,says Doctors

New Delhi: Doctors at AIIMS are now workingupon a herbal way to help cancer patients copewith the side-effects of chemotherapy.

Oncologists at the hospital here have been ex-perimenting with ginger root powder in order toreduce the severity of the chemotherapy inducednausea vomiting (CINV).

Nausea and vomiting are the major side effectsthat a cancer patient encounters after chemother-apy treatment.

“The severity of chemotherapy induced nauseavomiting was reduced by ginger, our experi-ments showed. After the success of the study, wecan say that there is a need to have ginger root pow-der available as capsules in varied dosages in or-der to use it as an add-on therapy in patients re-ceiving chemotherapy with high vomiting po-tential,” said Dr Sameer Bakhshi, additional pro-fessor, department of medical oncology, AIIMS.

In all, 60 patients, between eight to 21 years wererandomly selected for the study.

“It was a double-blind randomised single in-stitutional study carried out at our centre in2009. Neither the patient nor the interviewerwith the patients knew about the patient being ad-ministered with the dosage of ginger root powder,”Bakhshi, who led the study, said.

He said that dosages were administered ac-cording to the weight of the person. While thosewho weighed between 20kg to 40 kg were given 167mg of ginger root powder capsules, those in theweight category of 40kg to 60kg were given 400 mg.Six capsules were given at different time intervalsafter start of chemotherpy infusion.

“Even though ginger root powder was effectivein reducing the severity of acute and delayed CINV,it did not eliminate them completely. The capsuleswere well tolerated by the children and youngadults in our study and there were no side-effects,”he said. PTI

Women better tax planners, says reportNew Delhi: Female salaried employees arepaying less tax than their male counterpartsdue to lower tax slabs and better invest-ments, with the percentage of womenwith a low tax ratio of 0-5% higher thantheir male counterparts, according to astudy.

As per the findings of the ‘India Tax Ra-tio 2011’ report by TaxSpanner, an onlineincome tax return filing portal, the averagetax ratio of females salaried employees inmajor Indian cities is 4%, as against 6% formales. Besides, around 76% of femaleshave a tax ratio of less than 5%, compared

to 59% in the case of male salaried em-ployees.

The tax ratio is the percentage of thesalary that one pays as tax.

The study covered employees from over500 corporates in major cities, including theDelhi NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangaloreand Hyderabad.

While females have a lower income taxslab and get exemption for income up to Rs1.9 lakh, women were also found to be bet-ter tax planners in claiming house rent al-lowance exemption and taking deductionunder health expenses.

The report said among the major metros,Chennai and Delhi NCR had the lowest av-erage tax ratio of 5%, followed by Mumbaiand Hyderabad at 6% and Bangalore at 7%.

This is despite the fact that salariedemployees in Mumbai are earning 40 percent more on average than their counter-parts in Chennai and the Delhi NCR.

Among the salaried employees earningRs 5 lakh per annum, the average tax ratiofor house owners stands at 2 per cent, whilefor non-house owners, it is 5 per cent, thestudy found.

Among those with earnings of up to Rs

10 lakh, the average tax ratio for house own-ers stood at 12 per cent, while for non-own-ers, it was 15 per cent.

TaxSpanner said that employees canhave a lower tax ratio by availing home loanbenefits to save tax.

The report said that among those havingan income below Rs 5 lakh per annum, only6.8 per cent own a house, indicating thatvery few people recognise owning a houseas a good investment and tax planning op-tion. TaxSpanner is one of the few onlineportals with authorisation from the centralgovernment to act as an e-return interme-

WHEN WOMEN DON PAINT, THUMP STAGE

Yakshagana brings to you the image of male‑dominated performances where even womenʼs roles are played by men. But over the last decade, things have

been changing. The Karnataka Mahila Yakshagana, an all‑woman troupe, has been breaking several barriers, says Aknisree Karthik

NEWS & FEATURESThursday, July 21, 2011 6

NBA star Yao Ming pauses after he announces his retirement during a

press conference in Shanghai, China,yesterday. Yao has made it official,

telling the packed news conference inhis hometown that a series of injuries

have forced him to retire from basketball.

AP-PTI

world briefs

Briton killed in Yemen

bomb blastSana'a: A British national was killed inYemen yesterday in a bomb blast, officialssaid. The incident took place in the southernport city of Aden. The unnamed victim waskilled near the office of a shipping companywhere he worked. "We can confirm that aBritish national has been killed in Aden,"the British Foreign Office said in a state-ment.

In 2000, a suicide attack on the Americanwarship USS Cole in Aden killed 17 sailors.

In April 2010, the British ambassador toYemen was almost killed when a car bombhit his convoy in Sana'a. In October, a rock-et-propelled grenade was fired at a Britishembassy car in the capital that injuredthree people. IANS

School barswhisky, sex in sandpit

London: A well-known British school hasbeen rocked by a sex and drink scandal in-volving 13-year-old students.

A boy and girl have been expelled fromthe 30,000 pounds-a-year Bedales for havinga sexual encounter in a sandpit, Daily Mailreported, adding the other boy has beenousted from the school for stealing whiskyfrom a store as part of the same incident.

It is being believed that the events oc-curred during the end of term party on theschool’s extensive grounds.

The 120-year-old co-educational boardingschool, based in Hampshire county’s Pe-tersfield town, is renowned for its “liberalethos and relaxed attitudes”.

None of the pupils wear uniform andteachers are addressed by their first name.

Bedales, with a roll of 462 pupils aged 13to 18, three-quarters of whom are boarders,has been co-educational since the late1800s.

Meanwhile, The Good Schools Guidesays it is “still good for individuals, articulatenon-conformists and people who admiresuch qualities”. IANS

Libya welcomesRussian effortsin peace talks

Moscow: Libya will support any Russianassistance in the peaceful mediation of thecrisis in the country, a minister has said.

Libyan foreign minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi and Russian foreign minister SergeiLavrov held talks in Moscow yesterday onthe situation in Libya. "Libya will welcomeany Russian role in the peaceful settlementof the Libyan conflict," al-Obeidi said. "Weproposed finding a solution equally ac-ceptable for all Libyans, including the op-position in Benghazi." Al-Obeidi also saidLibya supported the African Union's ideaon a ceasefire and starting talks betweenthe opposing sides.

The minister, however, added that hehad not discussed with his Russian coun-terpart the future of Libyan leader MuammarGaddafi and his possible resignation.

The talks were "not a place for discussionson this issue", he said.

Libya has been rocked by fighting be-tween pro- and anti-Gaddafi forces sinceFebruary. An international military operationbegan March 19 following a UN resolutionand has been extended till September. IANS

Egypt to holdpolls in 3 roundsCairo: Voting for Egypt’s upcoming parlia-mentary elections will be held in threerounds in October, the ruling army councilhas said. Preparations for the elections willstart in September and the polls will followwithin 30 days, Assistant Minister of DefenceMamduh Shahin, a member of the SupremeCouncil of the Armed Forces, was quotedas saying by Xinhua.

Voting for the People’s Assembly, thelower house which has 504 seats, and theShoura Council, the upper house with 390seats, will be held at the same time, hesaid. The three rounds of voting will havea 15-day gap between each round.

Half of the parliamentary seats will bereserved for representatives of workers andfarmers, he said. IANS

Women still not seen as natural leadersWashington: Women have advancedby leaps and bounds in every field oflife. But when it comes to play lead-ership roles, they still face culturalstereotypes as the society doesn’t thinkthey are natural leaders, a new studyhas found.

A new meta-analysis by a team ofresearchers from the NorthwesternUniversity showed that even todayleadership continues to be viewed asculturally masculine and societydoesn’t like women playing this role.

“Women are viewed as less qualifiedor natural in most leadership roles,the research shows, and secondly,when women adopt culturally mas-culine behaviours often required bythese roles, they may be viewed asinappropriate or presumptuous,” the

researchers said.Past research has found that pre-

dominantly “communal” qualities,such as being nice or compassionate,are associated with women, and pre-dominantly “agentic” qualities, suchas being assertive or competitive, areassociated with men. It is these agentic– or manly – qualities that are believedto be essential to successful leadership.Because men fit the cultural stereotypeof leadership better than women, theyhave better access to leadership rolesand face fewer challenges in becomingsuccessful, LiveScience reported.

The good news for women is thatthe study found that people’s attitudestoward women in leadership arechanging, the team reported in thejournal Psychological Bulletin.

Although women still face theseprejudices, these biases are not heldas strongly as they used to be, theysaid.

“Cultural stereotypes can make itseem that women do not have what ittakes for important leadership roles,thereby adding to the barriers thatwomen encounter in attaining rolesthat yield substantial power and au-thority,” said Professor Alice Eagly,the co-author of the study.

“Women’s experiences will differdepending on their culture. We would like to have more data fromdifferent nations, and also sub-cultural data within the US that takes raceand social class into account, but that’s something to look to in the future.” PTI

Simple lifestylechanges can

cut AlzheimerʼsWashington: Over half of allAlzheimer’s disease cases canbe prevented through lifestylechanges and treatment or pre-vention of chronic medical con-ditions.

The biggest risk factors forAlzheimer’s disease are physicalinactivity, depression, mid-lifehypertension, low education,smoking, diabetes and mid-lifeobesity.

The findings are based onstudies involving hundreds ofthousands of participants world-wide, by Deborah Barnes, re-searcher at San Francisco Vet-erans Affairs Medical Centre andprofessor of psychiatry at theUniversity of California, San Fran-cisco.

Together, these risk factorsare associated with up to 51 per-cent of Alzheimer’s cases globally

(17.2 million) and up to 54 percentcases in the US (2.9 million), ac-cording to Barnes, reports journalLancet Neurology.

“This suggests that some verysimple lifestyle changes, suchas increasing physical activityand quitting smoking, could havea tremendous impact on pre-venting Alzheimer’s and otherdementias in the US and world-wide,” said Barnes, accordingto Medical Centre statement.

The study results were pre-sented at the 2011 meeting ofthe Alzheimer’s Association In-ternational Conference in Paris,France.

Alzheimer’s disease is the mostcommon form of dementiaamong older people. Dementiais a brain disorder that seriouslyaffects a person’s ability to carryout daily activities. IANS

How does brainfeel anotherʼs pain?Washington: Empathyfor someone withwhom you can directlyrelate is mostly gener-ated by the intuitive,sensory-motor parts ofthe brain, while empa-thy for someone withwhom you cannot di-rectly relate to relies onthe brain’s rationalisingpart.

Your brain workshard to help you un-derstand your fellowhumans – no matterhow different they maybe.

Even lacking a limbwill not stop your brainfrom understandingwhat it is like for some-one else to experience pain inone of them. It may, however,change the way your brain doesso.

Lisa Aziz-Zadeh, assistant pro-fessor in occupational science

at the University of SouthernCalifornia, has mapped out theway the brain generates empathy,even for those who differ physi-cally from themselves, reportsthe journal Cerebral Cortex.

Empathy for someoneto whom you can directlyrelate – for example, be-cause they are experi-encing pain in a limbthat you possess – ismostly generated by theintuitive, sensory-motorparts of the brain, ac-cording to Southern Cal-ifornia statement.

However, empathy forsomeone to whom youcannot directly relate re-lies more on the ratio-nalising part of the brain,according to Lisa’s re-search.

Though they are en-gaged to differing de-grees depending on thecircumstance, it appears

that both the intuitive and ra-tionalising parts of the brainwork in tandem to create thesensation of empathy, said Lisa.“People do it automatically,” shesaid. IANS

Man walked upright far earlier than

thoughtLondon: Humans walked upright on two legs farearlier than previously thought, says a new study.

Until now it was believed that the ability to walkupright on two legsevolved around 1.9million years ago.But researchershave discovered hu-man-like footprintsdating back almost3.7 million years.

The 11 prints, pre-served in rock sed-iment in Laetoli,Tanzania, display agait more like thatof modern humansthan the awkwardupright walkingposture adopted byc h i m p a n z e e s ,orangutans and go-rillas, the ‘DailyMail’ reported.

The footprints are thought to have been left byAustralopithecus afarensis, a primitive early humanthat may be a direct ancestor of everyone living today.

The researchers compared their analysis of theprints with data from footprint studies of modern hu-mans and apes.

Computer simulations were also used to predictwhat kind of footprints would have been formed bydifferent gaits.

Lead researcher Prof Robin Crompton said: “It waspreviously thought that Australopithecus afarensiswalked in a crouched posture, and on the side of thefoot, pushing off the ground with middle part of thefoot, as today’s great apes do.

“We found, however, that the Laetoli prints repre-sented a type of bipedal walking that was fully uprightand driven by the front of the foot, particularly thebig toe, much like humans today, and quite differentto bipedal walking of chimpanzees and other apes.

“Quite remarkably, we found that some healthyhumans produce footprints that are more like thoseof other apes than the Laetoli prints.” .The researcherssay that the foot function represented by the prints isthus most likely to be similar to patterns seen inmodern humans. “This is important as the developmentof the features of human foot function helped our an-cestors to expand further out of Africa,” Prof Cromptonsaid.

The research suggests the ability to walk in a modernhuman way evolved almost four million years ago ina species thought to have spent at least some of thetime in trees. PTI

Ahmadinejad threatens to send US to ʻmorgueʼ

Tehran: Iran President Mahmoud Ah-madinejad has threatened to destroythe US and Israel and send them to the“morgue” if Iran is put on the defen-sive.

“Resistance will continue until Iransends its enemies to the morgue,” Ah-madinejad said on his website.

The President was making a referenceto the US and Israel, who he said were“on the verge of collapse and gaspingfor their last breath”.

A report said Ahmadinejad may havebeen reacting to news from Iranian statemedia that Tehran brought down a USdrone flying near its Fordo nuclear en-richment plant in Qom province.

State-run Press TV, however, did notelaborate on when the incident hap-pened.

US officials have said there were un-aware that an American unmanned air-craft was downed. IANS

Three rapists hangedTehran: Three convicted rapists havebeen hanged in Iran, the ISNA newsagency reported.

The rapists were hanged in the west-ern city of Kermanshah. The executionswere carried out after the Supreme Courtconfirmed the sentences.

The UN Office of the High Commis-sioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR)and other human rights organisationshave spoken out against Iran for its useof capital punishment. The country hasthe second highest rate of executionsin the world, after China, according tohuman rights groups. IANS

Cadborosaurus spottedin Alaskan waters?

London: A mysterious marineanimal, captured movingthrough the chilly Alaskan watersin an amazing video shot by fish-ermen, could be a Cad-borosaurus, say scientists.

The large creature, 20 to 30feet long with humps on its back,moves menacingly through wa-ters of an Alaskan bay.

The scientists, however, be-lieve that the Alaskan creaturecould be a Cadborosaurus – atype of sea serpent that got itsname from Cadboro Bay in BritishColumbia and is said to roamthe North Pacific, he ‘Daily Mail’reported.

Paul LeBlond, former head of

the Department of Earth andOcean Sciences at the Universityof British Columbia, told ‘Dis-covery News’: “I am quite im-pressed with the video. Thoughit was shot under rainy circum-stances in a bouncy ship, it’svery genuine.”

The Cadborosaurus willsi,meaning “reptile” or “lizard”from Cadboro Bay, is an allegedsea serpent from the North Pacificthought to have a long neck, ahorse-like head, large eyes, andback bumps that stick out of thewater.

Sightings have been reportedfor years. In 1937, a supposedbody of the animal was found

in the stomach of a whale cap-tured by the Naden Harbourwhaling station in the QueenCharlotte Islands, a British Co-lumbia archipelago.

Samples of the animal werebrought to the Provincial Muse-um in Victoria, where curatorFrancis Kermode concluded theybelonged to a fetal baleen whale.The animal’s remains, however,later disappeared.

Like other cryptids, animalswhose existence is suggested butnot yet recognised by scientificconsensus, the Cadborosaurushas existed only in grainy pho-tographs and eyewitness ac-counts. PTI

Girl spends £38Kon mom's cards

London: A British girl has beenimprisoned for nine months forusing her mother's identity toembark on a two-year 38,000pounds reign of lavish spending,including flights to New York,Italy and Tenerife.

Lucy Harris, 26, took her moth-er's cash cards and lived a luxurylifestyle costing more than 38,000pounds ($61,305), Daily Mail re-ported.

She even attempted to re-mort-gage the family home to claim360,000 pounds in cash.

The girl intended to punishher mother for not telling herhow seriously ill her father wasbefore he died of leukaemia, acourt heard.

Harris ran up a 19,000 poundsbill on her mother's credit cardsand undertook flights to NewYork, trips on North Sea Ferries,and spending at Marks and

Spencer, Center Parcs and ho-tels.

She spent 3,000 pounds onphone bills, 3,000 pounds onclothes and bought sofas, skin-care products and tickets to seecomedians.

She committed over 160 actsof fraud against her mother andgrandmother, Ivy Harris, overfive years.

The girl was finally broughtto justice after she stole 12,000pounds from her grandmother,who died within a week of dis-covering her granddaughter'sbetrayal.

President of Kenya Mwai Kibaki sets fire to confiscated ivory at the KenyaWildlife Training School, Manyani, Kenya, yesterday. In a bid to combat

illegal ivory trade in Africa, the Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF) announced the African Law Enforcement Day by burning 5 tonnes of

contraband ivory at the Kenya Wildlife Training School.

AP-PTIAll to save elephants

New moonfound

orbitingPluto

Washington: Astronomers havediscovered a fourth moon orbit-ing the icy dwarf planet Pluto,the NASA has announced.

The tiny, new satellite – tem-porarily des-ignated P4 –was uncov-ered in asurvey us-ing the Hub-ble spacetelescope,searchingfor ringsaround theplanet. P4 was first seen in a photo taken with Hubble’sWide Field Camera 3 June 28. It was confirmed in subsequentHubble pictures taken July 3 andJuly 18.

It is the smallest moon dis-covered orbiting Pluto. It has anestimated diameter of 13 to 34km. By comparison, Charon –Pluto’s largest moon – is 1,043km across, and the other moons,Nix and Hydra, are in the rangeof 32 to 113 km in diameter.

“I find it remarkable that Hub-ble’s cameras enabled us to seesuch a tiny object so clearly froma distance of more than threebillion miles (or five billion km),”said Mark Showalter of the SETIInstitute in California, who ledthe programme.

P4 is located between the or-bits of Nix and Hydra, whichHubble discovered in 2005.

Charon was discovered in 1978at the US Naval Observatory andfirst resolved using Hubble in1990 as a separate body fromPluto. IANS

Over half ofparents spy

on kids on FB

London: Over half of parentslog on to social networking web-sites only to find out what theirchildren are up to, a study hasfound.

About 55 percent of mothersand fathers in Britain thoughtnothing of snooping around ontheir children’s profiles to seewhat they are doing, the DailyMail reported.

Conducted by computing com-pany Bullguard Internet Security,the study revealed that parentsdid it to avoid having “awkwardconversations” with children.But nearly a quarter admitted itwas the only way they could findout about their kids’ lives.

The figures indicate parentswere turning increasingly craftyto keep tabs on their children inthe digital age.

Almost one in 20 mothers and

fathers even log on with a friend’saccount to avoid detection andgain better access to their chil-dren’s profiles.

Websites like Facebook andMySpace along with microblog-ging site Twitter have becomequite popular among childrenand youngsters.

The study also revealed thatwhile 55 percent of parents saidthey did spy on their children,40 percent said they did not.

But the rest five percent saidthey would do so if they knewhow. Around 41 percent saidthey monitor their children’s sta-tus updates and 39 percent lookat their “Wall”, which is where they and friends writemessages. Just under one-third– 29 percent – took a look atpictures their children had up-loaded. IANS

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Pope sends50,000 euros

to SomaliaVatican City: Pope Benedict XVIhas sent 50,000 euro (around$71,000) to Somalia to be usedas aid for millions of peoplestarving because of drought.

The pope sent the money tothe Vatican’s representative inSomali capital Mogadishu.

The UN has said around 10million people are in need offood aid and thousands ofrefugees need to be fed in Kenyabecause of severe drought andcivil war in Somalia.

“As a sign of his closenessand concern, the pope has sentthe sum of euro 50,000 to BishopGiorgio Bertin, apostolic admin-istrator of Mogadishu, who isdirectly involved in bringing as-sistance to the people affected,”the Vatican said in a statement.

LIFESTYLE 7Thursday, July 21, 2011

Popular singer GeorgeMichael says his first crushwas singer Debbie Harry

when he was a teenager and ithappened even before he realisedhe’s gay. Michael, 48, told Deb-bie, 66, about his feelings whenhe met her at the Lovebox musicfestival in London, Sunday, re-ports femalefirst.co.uk.

“She (Debbie) looked great. Itold her that before I worked out

I was a poof, she was my firstcrush... (which is true!) ... Notsure if she took it as a compli-ment,” Michael posted on mi-cro-blogging site Twitter.

The “Careless Whisper” singerdeclared that he is homosexualafter an undercover police officerarrested him when he found himin an objectionable state in apublic toilet in Beverly Hills inApril 1998.

S inger Pink has takenup knitting as hernew hobby while she

enjoys some time with hernewborn daughter WillowSage.

The singer is currentlytaking some time out fromher music career to takecare of her eight-week-olddaughter, her first childwith husband Carey Hart,reports contactmusic.com.

“My friend @KerriKen-ney taught me how to knitthis past week. this scarfi’m working on is so goodi may just slap her with it.on her face. (sic)” the 31-year-old posted on mi-croblogging site Twitter.

After “Harry Potter”, actressEmma Watson is all setto star in a new film adap-

tation of “Beauty and the Beast”.Contactmusic.com reports

that she will take the lead rolein a new version of the tradi-tional fairytale and “Lord of theRings” director Guillermo delToro will helm the project.

While the 21-year-old has noleading roles lined up, she hastwo small parts in “The Perksof Being a Wallflower” and “MyWeek with Marilyn”, both setfor release within the next year.

In the past, “Beauty and theBeast” has been adapted intofilm a number of times, includingan animated version by WaltDisney in 1991 and a moderntake starring Alex Pettyfer titled“Beastly” that released earlierthis year.

Watson to star inʻBeauty and The Beastʼ

MJ tops best dance moves survey

Pitt, Jolie like prisoners of fame: Damon

Supermodel Miranda Kerr hasrevealed that she was initiallyhesitant to get into a rela-

tionship with husband OrlandoBloom because she did not likethe idea of dating a movie star.

“I was reluctant – not abouthim, but the idea of that (him beinga movie star)... I think it was hispersistence (that won me over).Maybe he wanted me because hethought he couldn’t have me,” shetold Australian TV programme Sun-day Night.

The couple began their romancein 2007 and married last year. Theybecame parents to baby Flynn inJanuary, reports dailystar.co.uk.

Knitting, singerPinkʼs new hobby

Kerr was reluctantto date Bloom

Cowell obsessed withanti‑ageing beverage

Music mogul Simon Cow-ell is reportedly hookedon to an anti-ageing

smoothie drink made with lin-gonberry, chokeberry, aroniajuice and acerola berry.

The 51-year-old star got a tastefor the beverage during his visitto Miami.

He has asked for the drink’s

ingredients to be imported fromaround the world when he is onthe road in US for “The X Factor”auditions. “He’s obsessed withstaying healthy and wants tolook after himself. The drink isan extension of that.

It is not cheap to make andinvolves lots of hard-to-buy fruitwhich we need to take on the

road. But for someone like Simonit is not a big deal if it costs alot,” mirror.co.uk quoted a sourceas saying.

“He is also eating lots moresalad and raw vegetables andhas them cut up in his dressingroom to try to avoid the chocolatebiscuits he used to snack on,”the source added.

Actor Matt Damon feels hishigh-profile friends Brad Pittand Angelina Jolie have be-

come “prisoners” of fame.“I have friends who are like pris-

oners. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie,for instance. They can’t just go some-place,” femalefirst.co.uk quoted himas saying.

“I’m really lucky, because I havethe best of both worlds. I do thework that I love and need, but don’tneed paramilitary troops to protectme when I walk out my front door,”he said.

Damon credits Luciana, his wife,for keeping him out of the publiceye.

“Ever since I found my wife andwe had children, my whole life re-volves around that. It gave my life adramatic change in direction.

“I’m not as crazy as most of theother stars. I don’t really know why,probably because I married a womanwho isn’t an actress. And we live inNew York. As long as we don’t showup in typical tourist spots, we canwalk the streets without being no-ticed,” he said.

Late Pop legend Michael Jack-son has topped a poll of thegreatest dance moments

ever captured on film. It was doneby Disney Channel.

The King of Pop’s creepy routinein the horror-themed promo forhis 1984 track “Thriller” toppedthe list, while “We’re All In ThisTogether”, a song and dance rou-tine from 2006 American televisionfilm “High School Musical”, camesecond.

Third place went to dancer To-bias Mead’s jaw-dropping auditionfor “Britain’s Got Talent” last year,and Jackson’s iconic “SmoothCriminal” routine came fourth,reports dailystar.co.uk.

Jackson was also named theKing of Dance, ahead of boy bandJLS, “High School Musical” actorZac Efron, and singer-turned-actorJustin Timberlake.

Debbie Harry was myfirst crush: George

Thursday, July 21, 2011 8LIFESTYLE

Priya Bhatija: Working ontelevision not easy

A ctor Bradley Cooper has be-come the latest star whosewax statue has been dis-

played at Madame Tussauds mu-seum in Las vegas.

“Thank you, Madame TussaudsLas Vegas. I am honoured to beadded to the collection,”dailystar.co.uk quoted Cooper assaying.

The “Hangover” star made abrief visit to the New York museumJune 15 to see his statue before itwas moved to Madame TussaudsLas Vegas in Venetian Hotel.

Bradley Cooperʼs waxstatue at Madame Tussauds

Actress Selena Gomez is all set tofollow her boyfriend Justin Bieberby entering the fragrance market

– she plans to launch her own perfumeby next year.

Bieber recently released a scent forwomen called “Someday”, which gen-erated over $3 million in sales in justthree weeks.

Dailystar.co.uk reports that Gomezis teaming up with adventure-themedlifestyle brand Adrenalina to create herfragrance, which will hit shelves bynext year.

“I’ve been working on my fragrancefor almost a year now. I’m excited, (be-cause) it’s something I’m interestedin... I’m already doing the whole processof smelling things and designing it andthe campaign and everything, so it’llbe fun,” said Gomez.

Adrenalina boss Ilia Lekach said ina statement, “We are incredibly en-thused to be working with Ms. Gomezand will reveal more details pertainingto the fragrance as we get closer to thelaunch date.”

GOMEZto launch 1st fragrance

by next Year

Priya Bhatija, currently seen in ImagineTV’s “Dwarkadheesh: Bhagwan ShriKrishna” as Rukmini, says working

on television is not easy.“Before I came into television I thought

it’s a very easy job. You have to just sayyour lines and move on. But after being apart of it, I have realised it’s not easy. Thereis a lot of hard work involved, so manytechnicalities involved,” Priya told IANSon phone from Vadodara.

Priya was launched by Ekta Kapoor withher show “Khwaish” in 2007. After that theactress was seen in serials like “Basera”,

“Kasamh Se”, “Ram Milayee Jodi” and mostrecently “Baba Aiso Var Dhoondo”.

This is her first mythological show andthe actress is completely in love with hercharacter in “Dwarkadheesh: Bhagwan ShriKrishna”.

“I was a little sceptical about it, but nowI am totally in love with my character.Everybody knows about Radha-Krishnalove story and how Krishna killed Kansa.Very few people know what happened afterthat and about Rukmini and Krishna, andKrishna as a ruler,” said Priya, who hasshifted her base to Vadodara for the show.

“I really didn’t get any time to preparefor the role but I am trying my best andputting in my 100 percent. I hope I am ableto connect with the audience and they likeme as Rukmini. I faced a little problemwhile pronouncing some Sanskrit words,otherwise everything just went with theflow.”

“I am never satisfied with my work. I al-ways think I could have done it in a betterway. I don’t consider myself as an actoryet. Every day is a learning process for me,”said Priya, who is married to TV actor JatinShah of “Bandini” fame.

Silk fest takes offwith fashion show

The Silk Fashion Show to markthe Great Indian Silk Mark Fes-tival 2011 took off on an impres-

sive start at Sudarshan Pearl HallMalleshwaram. A range of silk products

from Silk Mark were on display, carriedoff gracefully by elegant models.

They modeled the eternal Kanjee-varam sarees, a variety of silk sareesand western outfits in various textures

of silk. There were also stylish silkpurses, silk denim outfits, footwearand a range of silk accessories.

The silk festival will be held till Oc-tober 31.