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VOL: 2 ISSUE 46 Feb. 26, 2009

w Delhi, Feb 26:Te r m i n g t h e

dras High Cour t

ence as "serious" andd", the Supreme CourtThursday directed the

state government inTamil Nadu to transferf o u r t o p c o p s

responsible for thepolice excesses againstlawyers while ordering a

j u d i c i a l p r o b e .A bench headed byChief Justice K GB a l a k r i s h n a n a l s oappointed a retired apexcourt judge Justice B

Srikrishna to inquire intothe clash betweenlawyers and police inMadras High Court.

T h e BSrikrishna committeewill submit its interimreport within two weeksto the apex court.

T h e a p e xcourt, while trying torestore calm among thea g i t a t i n g l a w y e r s community, directed thestate government totransfers the JointC o m m i s s i o n e r o fChennai and threeDeputy Commissionerof Police for their role in

the clashes.However, the

bench stopped short ofo r d e r i n g t h esuspension of the topcops citing that it would

be against the morals ofbureaucracy.T h e b e n c h

a l l o w e d t h e t w ocommittees set up bythe High Court toassess the damage tothe vehicles and theproperties of the Courtand to look into theinjuries caused to thelawyers to function.

The SupremeC o u r t a s k e d t h elawyers, who are on astrike since January 29,t o w i t h d r a w t h e i ragitation at the earliest.

T h e c o u r tposted the matter for

fur ther hear ing onMarch 3.

Appealing tothe agitating lawyers tomaintain decorum anddiscipline in the court,

the Bench said theys h o u l d n o t h o l dmeetings and shout anyslogans in the Courtcorridors.

The apex courthad on Wednesdayg iven a 24 hoursdeadline to the TamilNadu government toi n f o r m a t w h o s einstance the police hadentered the MadrasHigh Court premises onFebruary 19.

The advocatebody from Chennai hadobjected to the settingup of the committee byt h e T a m i l N a d u

Government.The court had

earlier ruled out setting upof a judicial inquiry undera sitting judge.

The bench said

the incident was serious inwhich the judges andlawyers became victim ofthe clash and there was alot of destruction ofproperty.

The apex courtsaid that the state shouldgenerously considero f f e r i n g f i n a n c i a lassistance to the lawyerswhose vehicles weredamaged by the police inthe court premises.

The court saidthat for those lawyers whowere injured in the clash,the state will bear thee x p e n s e s f o r t h e i rtreatment.

SC orders judicial probe,transfer of cops

ennai, Feb 26: ' J a i Ho , ' t he

c a r w i n n i n gmposition of Music

Maestro A R Rahmanrent the air outside the

International Airport inthe wee hours of today,

as the Oscars winnerarr ived here to a

rousing reception.A huge crowd

waiting outside thea i rpor t , bu r s t in toapplause as Rahman,accompanied by hismother and wife arrived,carrying two Oscars, hewon for best originalscore and best originalsong 'Jai Ho' for the filmSlumdog Millionaire.

As they weres c r e a m i n g f o r h i sattention, the crowdsurged ahead to greetthe Mozart of Madras asthe security personnelsweat it out to takeRahman to his waitingcar. Rahman's sisters,his family members,Drummer Sivamani withh i s t e a m , a c t o rParthiban and scores ofpeople from variousw a l k s o f l i f e a n ds t u d e n t s f r o m

Jai Ho' rents air as Rahman arrivesto a rousing reception

Rahman's music schoolaccorded a rousingreception to him.

R a h m a narrived at 0215 hrs byan Emirates flight fromUS enroute Dubai asthe 'Congrates Jai HoRahman' illuminatedbanner greeted himoutside the airport.There was music anddance all around theairport and shouts of JaiHo and drum beats rentthe air as Rahman liftedthe Oscars statuetteand waved to the crowd.

On behalf oft h e T a m i l N a d ug o v e r n m e n t ,Information MinisterParithi Ilamavazhuthireceived Rahman bypresenting him a goldenshawl.

He was given aceremonial drive from theairport to his residence,where he told a televisionchannel 'I dedicate theOscars to the people ofthe country and younga n d b u d d i n g m u s i cartistes.' He said theOscars would not takehim to the west and hewould continue to playmusic for Tamil, Telugu,Hindi and English films.

T h e e n t i r estretch of the road,leading to his residencewas decorated withflowers and illuminatedl i g h t s a s R a h m a n ,travelling in a open car,stepped into his house ona carpet of roses, amidbursting of crackers andwaving of tri-colour.

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Times Chennai E-Paper Feb. 26, 2009e 2

gtok, Feb. 26A c c l a i m e d

culture scientist Prof MSwaminathan, alsoous as 'Father of Green

olution in India', has

n announced by Sikkimversity as its chancellor.Sikkim University,

23rd varsity in India,n o u n c e d t h e

ointment of Prof MSa m i n a t h a n o nd n e s d a y i n amunique.

''A trained plant

geneticist, ProfessorS w a m i n a t h a n ' sadvocacy of sustainableagricultural has led to theGreen Revolution in

India.i t

made him anacknowledged world leaderin the field ofsus t a inab l efood security,''t h ecommuniquesaid.

P r o fSwaminathanis currently aRajya Sabham e m b e r, ap o s i t i o n t o

which he was nominated

b y t h e C e n t r e i nr e c o g n i t i o n t o h i soutstanding contributiontowards the sphere ofagriculture.

P r o fSwaminathan, also thechairman of the NationalC o m m i s s i o n o nAgriculture, Food and

Nutrition Security of India(National Commission onFarmers), is also holdingthe UNESCO-CousteauChair in Ecotechnologyat the M S SwaminathanResearch Foundation inChennai.

A m o n g t h eendless list of awardsr e c e i v e d b y P r o fS w a m i n a t h a n , t h enotables are the RamonMagsaysay Award forCommunity Leadershipin 1971, the AlbertEinstein World ScienceAward in 1986 and thefirst World Food Prize in1987 and the Volvo andT y l e r P r i z e f o rEnvironment.

He also bagged

the Indira Gandhi Prizef o r P e a c e a n dD i s a r m a m e n t a n dDevelopment in 2000,the Franklin D Rooseveltfour Freedoms Medaland the Mahatma GandhiPrize of Unescoin 2000.

- Agencies

M S Swaminathan appointedSikkim University Chancellor

nnai, Feb. 26 :

Tamil Nadu Chiefister M Karunanidhi,

o is recuperating after aal surgery, would comehe State Assembly onruary 27, the last day ofbrief Budget Session.

Announcing thisthe State Assembly,ance Minister andder of the House K

bazhagan said the Chiefister was keen to attendproceedings and mightke it to the House on the

day though doctorsadvised him complete

T h e C h i e fister was very much

interested to attend theHouse at least for a dayd u r i n g t h e B u d g e tSession and he woulddefinitely come to theAssembly on February27 with the help ofdoctors.

Mr Anbazhagansaid like the ChiefMinister, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh wasalso taking rest after aheart surgery and was allset to take up official workin a couple of days.

He wished boththe leaders long life. ''I

also wish OppositionLeader J Jayalalithaa onthe occasion of her 61st

birthday. She should livel o n g t o s e e t h econtinuance of the DMKRegime in the State.'' Onthe AIADMK's demandfor the dissolution of theState Assembly followingthe February 19 violentc l a sh be tween thelawyers and the police,the Minister said no onehad the right to demandthe dissolution of theHouse.

' ' O n e c a ndemand the dismissal ofthe government and notthe dissolution of the

House,'' he claimed.- Agencies

CM to attend Assembly onFeb 27:Minister

nnai, Feb. 26:Tamil Nadu Chief

ister M Karunanidhi,o underwent a spinald surgery, will beharged from hospital

March 1 and has beenised rest for the nextweeks.

The 84-year-old

i e f M i n i s t e r w a smined by Delhi-basede surgeon Dr Arvindwal, who performedsurgery on February 11he Sri Ramachandra

dical College HospitalMCH) here, and all theres were removed on

Wednesday, a medicalb u l l e t i n i s s u e d o nWednesday night said.

" H e(Karunanidhi) was madeto stand and sit on achair. He has beenadvised rest for next fourweeks and had also beena d v i s e d v a r i o u s

physiotherapy exercises.He will be dischargedfrom the hospital onMarch 1," SRMCH ChiefOrthopaedic Surgeon DrS S K Marthandam,heading a team of 14doctors set up to monitorthe Chief Minister 's

health condition, said.K a r u n a n i d h i

was admitted to thehospital on January 26 fortreatment of a musclestrain that had beencausing pain in his spinalcord and the doctors onFeb 9 decided to performthe surgery as there was

no reduction in the pain.Accordingly, heunderwent a three-hour-long minimal invasivesurgery under generalanaesthesia.

- Agencies

Karunanidhi to be discharged on Mar 1

Chennai, Feb. 26A five-member

team comprising AnnaUniversity (Chennai)professors and an officialof the directorate oftechnical educat ion(DoTE) on Wednesday

inspected the PMRInstitute of Technology insuburban Adyalampattu,a self-financing collegewhich was in the newsrecently for allegedimpersonation of faculty.

" W e h a v ev i d e o - g r a p h e d t h edeposition of all staff,m a n a g e m e n trepresenta t ives andstudents. We verified thevarious charges againstthe institution. Afterexamining the recordeddeposition, we will submita report to the universityon our findings," amember of the inspectionteam told media.

"The team willmeet parents separatelyand submit a final reportwithin ten days. Initially,the team was slated toinspect the college onFebruary 18, two daysafter classes resumed onthe campus. But thecollege management

r e p r e s e n t e d t o u sseeking time till March 2t o r e c t i f y c e r t a i ni n a d e q u a c i e s . Wedecided to send the teamtoday," vice chancellor PMannar Jawahar said.

T h e t e a m

comprised professors PKanagasabapathy, PDevadas Manoharan, VJayabalan and T VGeetha; and additionaldirector of technicale d u c a t i o n E l w i nChandramou l i . Theuniversity had earlier thismonth threatened toissue a show causenotice to the collegemanagement asking whyits affiliation should notb e w i t h d r a w n t h eins t i tu t ion a l legedlyproduced a couple ofschool teachers andoutsiders as facultyduring an inspection.

T h i s h a dsparked a students'unrest on February 9.The protesting studentsand parents alleged thatt h e r e w a s n oinfrastructure on thecampus and demandedthat they be transferred toother colleges. Thestudents of the PMR

Engineering College, as is ter- ins t i tu t ion a lso

joined the protest.However, officials

made it clear that studentscannot be transferred fromone college to another inthe middle of an academic

year and decided to deputea team to assess theground realities on thecampus and take actionaccordingly. The officialsalso instructed the collegemanagement to rectify thed e f i c i e n c i e s o n t h ecampus.

"Originally, theuniversity did not mentionabou t i n f r a s t ruc tu ra ldeficiencies in our college.T h e s t u d e n t s h a dsubsequently raised theissue of the aeronauticall abo ra to ry be ing i l l -e q u i p p e d . N o w t w olaboratories are in placeand we have procured theequipment for the thirdlaboratory which will bei n s t a l l e d s o o n . T h esupplier had delayeddelivery of the equipment.We have the requiredstaff," P Muthuvel Raj,chairman, PMR group ofinstitutions said.

- TNN

Varsity team talks toPMR staff, students

Chennai, Feb. 26Secur i ty has

been intensified at theD G P ' s o f f i c e h e r efollowing reports thatagi ta t ing advocatescould picket the building,officials said.

"Commandos

were posted at the DGP'soffice, while security wasstrengthened up at theci ty commiss ioner ' soffice," they said.

In the wake ofthe lawyers-police clashat the Madras High Courton February 19, the

advocates have beendemanding action againstt o p p o l i c e o f f i c i a l s ,including the DGP andCommissioner. Severalpeople were injured whenp o l i c e r e s o r t e d t olathicharge then.

-Agencies

Security beefed up at DGP's office

Chennai, Feb. 26 The St John's

International ResidentialSchool in Palanjur nearChennai has come upwith a full scholarshipscheme that will annuallyfund the education ofthree candidates fromthe next academic year.The scholarship hasb e e n i n s t i t u t e d i nmemory of the founder ofthe institution.

"The BishopR a j a k u m a r F u l lScholarship Scheme isa i m e d a t h e l p i n gdeserving candidatesbe long ing to t h r eecategories children ofS t a t e g o v e r n m e n t

employees , c en t r a lgovernment employeesa n d p r i n t m e d i a

journalists from TamilNadu. One student willbe selected in eachcategory every year anda w a r d e d a f u l lscholarship. A high levelcommittee will be formedto decide the workingmodalities of the schemeincluding the criteria forselection," R Kishore

Kumar, senior principal,St John's InternationalResidential School, saidat the XVI annual day oft h e i n s t i t u t i o n scelebrated last week.

According tohim, the school has also

set up a research anddevelopment d iv is ionwhich wi l l s tudy thel e a r n i n g d i f f i c u l t i e snormally experienced bythe students and work onCorrecting Techniques' toc o u n t e r l e a r n i n gdisabilities. Chandraayan I& II project director MAnnadurai, Central Boardof Secondary Education(Chennai Region) jointsecretary N Nagaraju and

United States vice consul inChennai Ravindra MSrivastava participated int h e a n n u a l d a ycelebrations, a pressrelease said.

-Agencies

St John's school announces

scholarships

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e n n a i , F e b . 2 6I n d i c a t i n g t h e

il Nadu government'sdiness to reconsiderfication of the amendedion of the Code of

minal Procedure (CrPC)he state, finance ministernbazhagan told the statembly on Wednesdaythe government woulda suitable decision on

matter within a week.Advocates have

n opposing amendmentshe present form of theC, and have been urgingstate government not tofy the amendments

ch had already beened by the both housesthe Parliament and

ained the Presidentialent on January 21.owing this, lawyers in thee had abstained fromrts on February 18testing the possiblei f i c a t i o n o f t h e

ndments in the state.On Wednesday,

A n b a z h a g a n , w h i l ereplying to a debate on theb u d g e t , s a i d t h egovernment would take anappropriate decision on thematter within a week. Asper the amended Section401 of the Code, policecannot arrest any persona c c u s e d o f h a v i n gcommitted an offencecarrying a sentence of lessthan seven years. Insteadof the arrest, the accusedshall be served with amemo of appearancedirecting them to appearbefore the jurisdictionalpolice for inquiry.

Assail ing thisprovision, lawyers havebeen arguing that thiswould prompt the police tobook every accused forgrave offences so that theperson concerned could bearrested instead of simplybeing asked to appear forinquiry.

H o w e v e r , asenior advocate of the

Madras high court said theamended Code, whichreceived the Presidentialassent on January 21codifies several mandatorypre-arrest formalities laiddown by the SupremeCourt in the D K Basu ando t h e r c a s e s , a n de x p r e s s e s a l o t o fsensit ivi ty to womenvictims of grave offencessuch as rape.

"Ranging from incamera hearing, preferablyby a woman judge, insexual harassment cases,t o a u s e f u l v i c t i mcompensation scheme,this version of the CrPC isfull of pro-human rightelements," he said, addingthat the amended Section372 even empowers av i c t i m , b e s i d e s t h eprosecution, to appealagainst the acquittal oraward of lesser sentenceto an accused.

- TNN

CrPC amendments may be sacrificed

nnai, Feb. 26 T h e s t a t e

ernment on Wednesdayointed deputy inspectorn e r a l o f p o l i c e ,inistration, M Ravi ast commissioner of policethe city's north zone. SNh a s a i , w h o w a s

sferred and posted asnt commissioner, north

e, following the police-yers clash at the hight had not taken charge.

has now been posted as, CB-CID, Chennai. Theer joint commissioner,h, M Ramasubramani,er whose jurisdiction thecourt police station falls,been shifted as DIG

ways, but he has gonee on leave. He is now onwaiting list said a

fication on Wednesdaym the Government

Coimbatore DIG Pnandi, Madurai DIG SS

Krishnamoorthy, MaduraiSP M Manohar, who hadbeen ordered to be shiftedby the election commissionin previous elections havenow been transferred toposts unrelated to electionwork. In the run-up to the2004 Lok Sabha elections,then DIG intelligenceSivanandi had beenordered to be shifted by thee lec t ion commiss ion ,following a complaint bythe DMK. Krishnamoorthiand Manohar were shiftedduring the recently heldTirumangalam by-election.

Sivanandi wason Wednesday transferredas DIG railways, whileKrishnamoorthy becomesD I G , C B - C I D , S I T,Chennai in an existingvacancy. Manohar hasbeen posted as deputycommissioner of police,t ra ff ic po l ice , sou th ,

Chennai.Ashok Kumar

D a s , D I G , t e c h n i c a lservices, was transferredas Ramanathapuram DIG.VA Ravikumar, DIG ofCBCID will be the new DIGfor Coimbatore range.Nirmal Kumar Joshi, DC,traffic, Chennai sourth willb e t h e d e p u t yc o m m i s s i o n e r o fP u l i a n t h o p e v i c e SPanneerselvam.

TiruvannamalaiSP V Balakrishnan wastransferred as Madurai SPand Panneerselvam will bet h e n e w S P f o rTi r u v a n n a m a l a i . N KSenthamaraikannan willb e t h e n e w D C ,Washermanpet in the city.S Santhi is the SP for thenewly created Tirupurdistrict.

-Agencies

Reshuffle in police department :Ravi is new JC for Chennai North Zone

nnai , Feb 26 : The Ministry of

rism, Government ofa has conferred theonal Tourism Award7 - 0 8 i n Tw o - S t a rgory to Hotel Pandian inore for the second time.

U n i o n H o m eister P Chidambaramented the award inence of the Union

ister for Tourism andure, Ambika Soni at ation in New Delhi last

ning, a release fromel Pandian said here onnesday

P F M a n o r a j ,cutive Director of Hoteldian and his spouse Nitaela Manoraj receivedaward at the Nationalism Awards Function atvention Hall, The Ashok

in New Delhi.''It is indeed a

honour and a grea tprivilege to be chosen toreceive the NationalTourism Award for thesecond time'', an elated MrM a n o r a j s a i d a f t e rreceiving the prestigiousaward.

Hotel Pandian, aunit of Harrington HotelsPrivate Limited, PandianGroup of Companies, is anISO-Certified Two-StarHotel in Egmore, theaccommodation hub of thecity.

It has 90 air-conditioned and non-a/crooms, 24-hour check-out,round-the-clock roomservice, Multi-CuisineRestaurant, Permit Room(Bar), Banquet Halls, On-

line reservation, WiFi,internet browsing, safedeposit, money changing,western money, travelcounter, same day laundry,doctor on call and businesscommunication.

The hotel had thehonour of having receivedthe best Two Star Hotel inTamil Nadu in 1996. 1997-9 8 a n d 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 0Regional Tourism Award forExcellence in Two-Starcategory by Ministry ofTourism, Government ofIndia and 2003-2004 -National Tourism Award foroutstanding performancein Two-Star Category byM i n i s t r y o f To u r i s m ,Government of India.

-Agencies

Tourism Ministry confers nationalaward for Hotel Pandian

DRDO to make indigenous Arjun tank hi-techChennai Feb 26 :

T h e D e f e n c eR e s e a r c h a n dDevelopment Organization(DRDO) will be developinga r o u n d 1 2 f u t u r i s t i csystems in five years forincorporation into India'sfirst indigenously builtArjun main battle tank(MBT), an official saidhere.

"The futuristict e c h n o l o g y s y s t e m sinclude automatic targettracking, defensive aids,l a s e r w a r n i n g , t a n ksimulator systems. We arelooking at developingrobotic vehicles that wouldwork on tele-link," R.Jayakumar, associatedirector of the DRDO'sC o m b a t V e h i c l e sR e s e a r c h a n dD e v e l o p m e n tEstablishment (CVRDE),t o l d r e p o r t e r s . T h eorganisation also plans toautomate the tracking oftargets.

"With the firingand mobility powers of thetank being satisfactory, thefocus is now on making thevehicle invisible to thee n e m y t h r o u g hdevelopment of detectionavoidance and laserwarning systems," said

Jayakumar. One of the labsunder the DRDO, CVRDEis also in the process ofdeveloping tank simulatorssimilar to flight simulators.

" A f t e rundergoing s imula tortraining, a soldier cancomfortably operate thevehicle," said Jayakumar.When asked about thestatus of the Indian Army'sorder for 124 Arjun tanks,C V R D E d i r e c t o r S .Sundaresh said: "Theorder will be completed thisyear. We are confident ofgetting more orders, whichwould enable us to havemore local componentcontent in the battlemachine."

Presently, thelocal content is around 50percent. The engine andpower train has beenimported from Germany.

" We p l a n t osource engines fromCummins India for futureorders. If more orderscome by, we can reducethe imported content to 25p e r c e n t , " S u n d a r e s hadded.

The researcho r g a n i s a t i o n h a stransferred the technologyto the Heavy VehiclesFactory in Avadi town.

"More than 10,000drawings running in toaround 2,000 pages havebeen passed on to thevehicle manufacturer,"Sundaresh said.

Asked about thedelays in developing thetank, officials said the armyfroze its specifications onlyin November 1985.

The tank wasunveiled in 1995. It takes atleast 10 years for anycountry to develop a battletank from the scratch. Thearmy put the pre-productiontanks (15 units) to rigoroustests totalling more than70,000 km and fired over7,000 rounds. No other tankwould have undergone suchtests," said Jayakumar.

M e a n w h i l e t ocommemorate the DRDO'sgolden jubilee, five of its labs- C V R D E , Ve h i c l e sResearch and DevelopmentE s t a b l i s h m e n t ,Ahmednagar; Research andDevelopment Establishment(Engineers), Dighi; Snowa n d Av a l a n c h e S t u d yEstablishment, Manali; andC e n t r e f o r A r t i f i c i a lIntelligence and Robotics,Bangalore - will hold a twoday exhibition here startingFeb 28.

-Agencies

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Times Chennai E-Paper Feb. 26, 2009ge 4

w Delhi, Feb 26: T h e S u p r e m e

rt has upheld a UGCwhich says that no

ent shall be eligible for

M a s t e r s d e g r e e ,uding under the Openversity System (OUS),ess he or she hascessfully completes ae-year degree course.

"The provisions ofUGC Act are binding onUniversities whether

ventional or open. Itswers are very broad," ao - j u d g e b e n c h o fices S B Sinha andk u n d a k a m S h a r m

erved.T h e b e n c h

sed the observationle upholding a Madrash Court judgement that

Mas t e r s Degreerded by the Anamalaiversity to a candidateer the OUS system wasvalid as the requisitee-year prior degreerse was not fulfilled incase.

In the instant, the High Court had

aside the appointmentN Ramesh as inchargecipal of the Film andvision Institute of Tamil

Nadu a f t e r a r i va lcontender Sibi MadanGabriel challenged hisappointment that theformer's MA degree

awarded by the universitywas not valid as it was notrecognized under theUGC rules.

Under the UGCAct, provisions for thesaid rules made in 1985no student shall beeligible to seek admissionto a Master's (post-graduate) degree unlesst h e c a n d i d a t e h a ssuccessfully pursued ath ree -yea r s deg reecourse of BA/BSc/BCom( G e n e r a l / Honours/Special).

Interpreting thevarious provisions of theUGC and the IndiraGandhi Open University(IGNOU) Act, the apexcourt said that the formerwill prevail as it wasintended to regulate ands e t u p m i n i m u mstandards of highereducation.

"In the matter ofhigher education, it isnecessary to maintainminimum standards ofi n s t r u c t i o n s . S u c h

minimum standards ofinstructions are requiredto be defined by UGC.

"The standardsand the co-ordination of

work or facilities inuniversities must bemaintained and for thatpurpose required to beregulated," the apexcourt said.

Under the UGCAct provisions for thesaid rules made in 1985no student shall bee l i g i b l e t o s e e kadmission to a Master's(post graduate) courseunless the candidatecompletes his or herthree-year degree.

Howeve r, i nviolation of the rules theuniversity awarded theMasters Degree toRamesh who did notundergo the mandatorythree-year course as perthe UGC guidelines.

"The UGC rulesapply equally to OpenUniversities as also toformal convent ionaluniversities," the apexcourt clarified.

- Agencies

No PG degree unless studentcompletes 3-year graduation: SC Chennai, Feb. 26

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Kolkata, Feb 26:A local court on

Wednesday grantedregular bail to the Editorand Publisher of Englishdaily 'The Statesman'who were arrested onFebruary 11 on thecharge of insulting thereligious belief of acommunity, followingstreet protests against anarticle published in thenewspaper.

The interim bail

given to Ravindra Kumar,Editor of The Statesman,and Anand Sinha, itsPrinter and Publisher,earlier was confirmed byC h i e f M e t r o p o l i t a nMagistrate S S Anand.

They had beenarrested on the complaintby Mohm Shahid at theBowbazar police stationunder sections 295A(maliciously insulting thereligions or the religiousbelief of any class) and

34 (common intention) ofIPC and given interim bailon February 11.

A fresh petitionwas, however, filed duringthe day by a person namedQuddus to prosecute themunder section 302 of CRPC(permission to conductprosecution).

The CMM fixedthe hearing of the petitionon March 25.

- Agencies

Court grants regular bail toStatesman' Editor, Publisher

n d o n , F e b . 2 6Scientists claim to

e found evidence that a00-metre mountainge, called Gamburtsev,overed beneath thearctic ice, looks almostthe Alps in Europe.

The Gamburtsevunta ins were f i rs tted 50 years ago bysian scientists. But little

known about their

e and morphology.w, an international teamclaimed that the viewu ld l ook l i ke t heopean Alps if ice couldtripped away.

"We now know not only are the

untains the size of theopean Alps, but they

have similar peaksvalleys. This adds

n more mystery aboutw the vast East Antarctic

sheet formed," Faustoaccioli of the Britisharctic Survey was

oted by the 'Newentist' as saying.

The Gamburtsevge is thought to be thehplace of the ice sheet.ts at the centre of thetinent, far from warming

air, and reachesween 3000 and 4000res above sea level.

According tothe scientists, this meansthat some 35 millionyears ago when the icesheet started to form, therange would have beenvery cold. It is unclear,though, how fast the ices p r e a d a c r o s s t h econtinent, and whetherthe ice formed the jaggedlandscape or the peakswere there first.

If the ice sheetf o r m e d s l o w l y ,g l ac io log i s t s wou ldexpect to see roundedplateaus in places whereit eroded the rock, but thesurveys found no suchsoft landscapes. Thismay suggest that the iceg rew ve ry r ap id ly,effectively preserving anancient Alpine landscapebeneath kilometres ofice.

On the otherhand, Ferraccioli, wholed the team, said itwould be foolish to ignorethe possibility that theflow of rivers and glacierscarved deep valleys asthe ice formed.

H o w t h emountains came to be inthe first place is alsosomething of a mystery.One theory -- that they

were volcanic peaks --was weakened by datapublished last year,which found that thesediment downstreamfrom the peaks is notvolcanic in origin.

Yet it is difficultto see how the peakscould have grown out ofthe collision of twotectonic plates -- EastAntarctica is thought to

be a homogenous, stableplate.One of the first

tasks in sifting throughthe data, Ferraccioli said,will be to see if there isany evidence of majord i f f e r e n c e s i n t h eg e o l o g y o f t h em o u n t a i n s . " S u c hdifferences could be asign that there is aninactive fault line beneaththe ice that could haveformed the range."

Alternatively, ab r o a d c o l l i s i o nelsewhere could havepushed the mountains upwithin the plate -- a bit likea lump of play doughbeing squished betweentwo wooden blocks, thescientists said.

- Agencies

Alpine mountain rangebeneath Antarctic ice'

Nongnah, Feb 25 This is perhaps the only 'PCO' where there are no telephones but is the lone

spot from where villagers can connect with the world outside.A small concrete pulpit atop a hillock in this remote village of Nongnah, about

130 km west of Shillong, has been christened as 'phone booth' by the locals. For, this isthe only place where they get mobile phone network. We have to climb up this hill andreach this 'public booth' to make and receive calls. Most of the villagers have to walk forabout 20 minutes to reach here," one of them said.

There are about 3,000 residents in this nondescript village of Meghalaya'sWest Khasi Hills district and the nearest PCO is more than 15 km away. More than 50per cent of the villagers have mobile connections, either Reliance or BangladeshGrameen Phone. The villagers said that though the 'public booth' is the onlycommunication link for them to the outside world, they sometimes fail to get networkeven from there.Government officials, who visit the place, are also caught in thiscommunication trauma.

While this village is yet to enjoy the advent of new technology wheredistances are cut short through mobile or telephone communication, sub divisionalofficer of the area K Nongbri said, "I am aware of the problems. Development will takeplace even if slowly."

'PCO' without phones

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w Delhi, Feb 26 A senior BJP

mber demanded in thek Sabha t ha t t heernment confer "Bharatna" on legendarye d o m f i g h t e r Vi rarkar, whose birthiversary is celebratedy.

Raising the issuema t t e r o f Pub l i c

ortance, Mr Hansrajer said the highestlian award should go toarkar by taking intosideration the sacrificesad made for the nation.

He said Savarkarght against the British

me since his childhood

and was in prison for along period of time. Hewas even incarcerated inthe jail in AndamanNicobar.

E a r l i e r , M rBasudeb Acharya (CPI-M) appealed to thegovernment to takeimmedia te s teps toincrease the salary of the300,000 Gram DakSevaks who formed thebackbone of the postalservices.

He said theyconstituted 80 per cent ofthe to ta l workforcemanning the rural postalservices.

Mr P C Thomas

(Kerala Congress) urgedthe government to open aregional office of theKendriya Vidyalaya inKerala in the context ofthe increase in thenumber of schools. Thestate now had 800schools and another 200are being opened.

M r Va r k a l aRadhakrishnan (CPI-M)wanted the governmentto issue notification,b e f o r e t h eannouncement of the pollschedule, sanctioning abench of the Kerala HighC o u r t i nThiruvananthapuram.

-Agencies

Confer Bharat Ratna on Savarkar,BJP member demands in Lok Sabha

w Delhi, Feb 26:India's borders

h Bangladesh areure" and there are noats to the 4,095-kmndary in the wake of theellion in Bangladeshl e s (BDR) in t heghbouring country,m e M i n i s t e r P

dambaram said onrsday."Our borders are

ure. Our BSF is on thet. I don't think the BDR-m y d i s p u t e i ngladesh will spill overour border," he said

when asked about thesituation in Bangladesh.There is "no threat to theborders," Chidambaramsaid.

Following therebellion that had brokenout in BDR headquartersin Dhaka yesterday,External Affairs Minister

Pranab Mukherjee hads a i d t h a t i t w a s"exclusively an internalmatter of Bangladesh."

Replying to aquestion on the trucebetween the Pakistanauthor i t ies and the

Taliban in Swat and otherprovinces, Chidambaramsaid the arrangementbetween the two sideswas a matter of concernfor South Asia.

"It has beenstated in Parliament thatt h e a r r a n g e m e n tbetween Pakistan and

the Taliban in respect ofSwat does raise concernfor the entire South Asianregion. Beyond that, I donot wish to say anything,"the Minister said.

-Agencies

India's border with Bangladeshsecure: Chidambaram

New Delhi, Feb 26: A s 1 , 0 4 2

hectares of railway landcontinue to be underi l l ega l occupa t ion ,Railway Minister LaluPrasad today said the

government has nopolicy to "beat away"encroachers but it willpersuade them to moveaway.

" T h e U PAgovernment has nopolicy to beat awayencroachers. We followa policy of persuasion,"he said replying tosupplementaries duringQuestion Hour in LokSabha.

Prasad said theMinistry of Railways alsom a k e s e f f o r t s t oe s t a b l i s h c o n t a c t

be tween the s t a t egovernment and theencroachers to helpt h e m f i n d p r o p e rhousing.

However, heasserted that there was

no policy to pay anycompensation to theillegal occupants ofrailway land.

M i n i s t e r o fState for Railways RVelu said railway landmeasuring about 1,042hectares is under illegaloccupation and thenumber of places havingencroachments is about1.42 lakh.

In reply to asepa ra te ques t ion ,Prasad said the mainreasons for delay incompletion of railway

pro jec t s have beenpaucity of funds, delay inland acquisition andforestry clearance, failureof contracts, adverse lawand order conditions andother market forces

affecting the progress.F u n d s f o r

p ro jec t s have been"increased considerably"over the last few yearsand contract conditionsmodified to bring inefficiency in contractmanagement, he said.Prasad said states haveb e e n r e q u e s t e d t oregularly review theprojects to sort outpending issues.

-Agencies

No policy to 'beat away' encroacherson railway land: Lalu

New Delhi, Feb 26: Civil Aviation

Minister Praful Patel onThursday sa id tha thuman error led to the

Feb 9 incident in whichPresident Pratibha Patil'sc h o p p e r n a r r o w l yescaped crashing into anAir India aircraft inMumbai."There was human error

in the incident, the matteris being investigated. Wehave taken serious noteof the matter," Patel saidwhile relying to a query ofK S Manoj, a Communist

Party of India-Marxist(CPI-M) MP from Kerala,in the Lok Sabha.In a major safety breachon Feb 9, a New Delhi-

bound Air India flight with170 passengers and 10-member crew narrowlyescaped colliding with ahelicopter which was partof the president's fleet,minutes before taking offfrom Mumbai Mondaymorning.This is the first time thatthe government hasaccepted that there washuman error in the

incident, although, theminister didn't name theperson responsible for theincident.Patel also said that the

government has recruiteda sizeable number ofpeople to positions in AirTraffic Control, who will bew o r k i n g w i t h t h e i rcounterparts in the armedforces to avoid suchincidents in future.

-Agencies

Human error in President'schopper incident: Praful Patel

w Delhi, Feb 26: The Indian Navy

provide around 30tors on a temporary

s to the Maldivesowing a request madePresident Mohamed

heed to Indian Navyef Admiral Sureeshhta, an official saidrsday.

P r e s i d e n tsheed has a skedhta, who is visiting theldives , to provideors on a temporarys to work at the Indiradhi Memorial Hospital

MH) in Male."The navy chief

received the requestit has been accepted.navy will now forward

r e q u e s t t o t h eernment to take asion," a navy officialIANS on condition of

nymity.M a l d i v e s h a s

ed long-standing tiesh India and has been an

important member of theIndian Ocean NavalSymposium (IONS).

"Indian doctors

will work both in IGMHand in different districtsthroughout the Maldives,"the president's officep r e s s s e c r e t a r yMohamed Zuhair saidWednesday.

P r e s i d e n tNasheed said that hemade the request with theobjective of providingrelief to the long queuesof patients waiting fort r e a t m e n t a n dconsultations.

Speaking at thenews conference held atPresident Nasheed'soffice Wednesday, Mehtasaid the Indian Navy cana c c o m m o d a t e t h epresident's request andthat efforts will be made tofulfil the request in thecoming days.

Mehta said toppriority would be given to

the matter as it was ofhumanitarian nature andthat further details will bep r o v i d e d o n c e a l l

arrangements are inplace. He said just asIndia stood by Maldivesin national emergencies,will do so in future.

"To provide 20or so doctors, to work for3 0 o r s o d a y s i ssomething the IndianNavy can do," said theadmiral.

Mehta was on afour-day visit of theMaldives from Feb 21-25for talks on maritimesecurity with the leadersof the island nation.

M e h t a a l s ocalled on the Maldives'Minister for Defence andNational Security AmeenFaisal, Minister forForeign Affairs AhmedShaheed and Chief ofDefence Staff Mossa M.Zalil.

-Agencies

Indian Navy to provide 30 doctors toMaldives on a temporary basis

Nashik, Feb 26: Accusing the

UPA government ofhandling Pakistan withkid gloves post Mumbaiattacks, Gujarat ChiefMinister Narendra Modih a s s a i d t h eneighbouring countrymust be taught a lessoni n a l a n g u a g e i tunderstands.

"Unless youreply to Pakistan in thelanguage it understands,terrorism will not bewiped out from thiscountry and the UPA isincapable of doing this,"he said addressing a

p u b l i c m e e t i n g i nPimpalgaon near hereyesterday.

Modi said 26/11happened because of theUPA's "ineffectiveness".T h e g o v e r n m e n tcompromised on nationalsecurity because of theirvote bank politics, headded.

He said, "26/11was a war on India, butour government sendsletters to Pakistan andPakistan has the audacityto respond with 30questions."

"Give me thosequestions and I will teach

the government how torespond," he said.

Q u e s t i o n i n gM a n m o h a n S i n g h ' sleadership capabilities, heclaimed that not a singleCongressman in thec o u n t r y s a y s t h a tManmohan Singh is theirleader.

" T h e y t a k esomebody else's name.Have you seen such asituation where the PM ofthe country is not acceptedas the leader by his ownparty? How can he run thecountry?" he asked.

-Agencies

Pakistan must be taught a lessonin a way it understands: Modi

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nnai, Feb. 26Music maestro,

'Mozart of Madras' isfident that a Tamil film-sic director- had everynce of bagging thestigious Oscar inre.

''Definitely, theyear-old Rahman, whorned home from Los

geles, to tumultuouscome at Chennaiort, holding up the

den statuettes he hadn for his compositionsSlumdog Millionaire'',s e r v e d , i n b r i e ferate interaction withw s p e r s o n s a n dvision channels later.

He was welcomed backhome by percussionistSivamani's orchestraand the traditionalKerala 'Kottu Melam'- apercussion instrument.

R a h m a nobserved tha t h i sachievement has donethe spadework for aTamil film to win theOscar and said hewould now use histriumph as inspiration tobag the Oscar for aTamil film. Unable tocontrol his joy at thewelcome extended tohim by music lovingpeople even at that hourof the day, Rahman

waved to them.' 'The br idge

has been built now.Certainly this wouldhappen'', he observedadding this was thebeginning for him.

R a h m a n ' smother said her son'sachievement has doneIndia and Tamil Naduproud.

R a h m a n ' ssister Reihana said she,her brother and otherfamily members wouldgo on a thanksgivingpilgrimae to Muslimshrines (Dargahs).

-Agenciesa

Rahman 'predicts'Oscar in future forTamil film, will do better

Taiwanese javafans accustomed topouring sugar into theircoffee now have theoption of flavoring theirbrew with another whitepowder: salt.

T a i p e i ' sbuzzing 85C BakeryCafe is offering a T$40($1.15) drink which meltssea salt into the coffeefoam to give a morecomplex mouthful forcustomers constantlyseeking out the new inthe island's competitivecoffeehouse market.

The cafe chainexpects salt to hold, saidcompany's publicitydirector Kathy Chung.The cafe's 326 storesislandwide have soldabout 15,000 cups ofsalted drinks since theconcept was introducedin December, Chung

said. "Taiwanese arevery greedy, so theywant lots of flavors in onemouthful," she said.

"Also we have a lot ofproducts, more than 50kinds of drink, and ourb o s s i s a l w a y spressuring us to keepcoming up with newthings."

S e a s a l t i sconsidered heal thy,Chung added.

At the cafe,b a r i s t a s m a r i n a t eunrefined salt in a thickcream while making alight Arabica brew, sugarpre-added. The coffee ispoured into the cup andthe foam mix, with a dashof cocoa powder, isplaced on top.

"We haven ' theard any strong viewsabout it," Taipei baristaLin Yi-wu said, thoughsome customers are "abit surprised."

Hung Hsiao-yu,who purchased a salty

take-out coffee this week,said the trend couldp e r h a p s b e c o m emainstream."Most people are used to

a sweet flavor, but thereare two kinds of drinkers,"said Hung, 21, who aspiresto work in the coffeebusiness. "Some will keepdrinking salted coffee, andsome will go back to thesweet stuff."

The coffee shopchain aims to launch seasalt drinks at its stores inShanghai and Australialater in the year, Chungsaid.

T a i w a n ' sbeverage business isknown for creating bubbletea, a beverage containinggelatinous tapioca pearlswhich has spread to otherparts of Asia.

In a bid to lurecoffee connoisseurs, someTaiwanese coffee farmersare using seeds partiallychewed by Formosan rockmonkeys, long a scourgeto coffee growers because

they eat the ripe berries, toproduce a naturally sweetblend.

-Agencies

Salt in your coffee?

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