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We OCTOBER 28 TO NOVEMBER 03, 2013 POSTAL REGD. MP/BHOPAL/4-323/2013-15

RNI NO. MPENG\2012\46415

Online edition available at wethestate.com and wethestate.blogspot.in

Vidya Balan, Farhan Akhtar unveil

first trailer of Shaadi Ke Side Effects

Vidya Balan, Farhan Akhtar unveil

first trailer of Shaadi Ke Side Effects

...Car toon by K G OJHAkgojha@redif fmail.com

Rahul adds a new dimension

to election campaign

Ho w W E lo o k it ! 

The aggressive mood of Rahul Gandhi’s

speeches in Rajasthan and Madhya

Pradesh has added a new dimension to

the election campaign. Active in politics for 10

years now, the impression of Rahul as a soft-

spoken, laidback and hesitant politician has

endured. His reclusiveness was tolerated when

the going was good. But things changed when

the UPA-II government and its Prime Minister

failed to address the rising tide of public anger

against corruption, crimes against women, or

the surging inflation. For BJP Narendra Modi’s

candidature has created a buzz around the par-

ty campaign that was missing in 2009.

The onus was squarely on Rahul to meet thischallenge. With Sonia Gandhi recovering from

an undisclosed ailment and PM Manmohan

Singh not a viable option to spearhead an elec-

tion campaign, Rahul’s choices were limited:

shed the diffidence or fade out in due course.

His uncharacteristic assertiveness while de-

manding that the ordinance sparing convicted

legislators be torn up, confusing then, makes

sense now. A clear shift in his campaign st rate-

gy has been visible since. In Madhya Pradesh’s

Shahdol and Rajasthan’s Churu, Rahul

strained his vocal chords to deliver high-

pitched speeches. With the new-found aggres-

sion, softened by repeated references to his

family’s sacrifices, Rahul has left no one in

doubt that this time he is leading from the

front. But the references to Sonia’s struggles

and father Rajiv’s and grandmother Indira’s

martyrdom, were superfluous and will hardly

strike a chord with today’s young voters.

However, his speech at Sagar marked a re-

freshing departure. Rahul stayed focussed on

the message without the customary reminder

of his pedigree. He courted the rural voters

with confidence, brandishing the food security

legislation, and accused the BJP of snobbery.

But later at Indore, Rahul’s and Congress’ un-

ease with urban, middle-class voters was evi-

dent. His rambling speech had a passing men-

tion of Rajiv, a vague pledge to alleviate In-

dore’s infrastructure woes, and a confused ef-

fort at blaming the BJP for communal riots in

Muzaffarnagar. Divulging intelligence alerts at

strategic junctures is the government’s job. If 

Rahul had knowledge of ISI feelers to ag-

grieved Muslim youth, a public rally was

scarcely the occasion to reveal it. He won no

friends in the Muslim c ommunity either. Mus-

lim leaders were quick to respond that Rahul

was trying to woo voters of minority commu-nity but the community will not be misled by

such allegations.

Vol-02. Issue-5. Bhopal. Monday Page-12. Price-`5/-

he State

Polls to see direct confronta-

tion between Rahul and Modi?

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WE THE STATECapital2 BHOPAL October 28 to November 03, 2013

Rahul leaves rural people disappointedINDORE

C

ongress yuvraj Rahul Gandhi

left the people of rural areas of 

Malwa and Nimar region disap-

pointed as his speech was only focused

on Indore and he didn’t speak a word

about them and their region. Majority

of the people in the mammoth crowd

present to listen Rahul Gandhi had

come from the rural areas.

People from the rural areas had come

only to get a glimpse of Rahul to com-

paring him with Rajiv Gandhi. In his

speech, the Congress vice president

only spoke about making Indore as a

commercial city and its comparison

with Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mum-

bai.

The people from Nimar region were

waiting that the Congress leader willspeak about their region and its devel-

opment but in vain. Maniklal Yadav, a

resident of Behrampur in Khargone

district said that he had come to hear

the speech of Gandhi and it’s his first

chance to see him as well.

“I am very sad as Gandhi did not men-

tion us in his speech. We had come

from a far region but disappointed,” Ya-

dav said. Similarly, Ramesh Bhilala, a

resident of Kushalgarh, also expressed

the same view.

Turnout from the urban areas was

very and only the supporters of the as-

piring candidates took part on behalf 

of city people. Only a handful of 

women turnout to hear the Congress

vice president. Supporters of the aspir-

ing candidates had also not let any

stone unturned to shine their leaders

before the senior Congress leaders.

They also shouted slogans in their sup-

port.

Supporters of two or more aspiring

candidates from the same assembly

had also come face to face many times

and showed their strength to each oth-

er. The aspiring candidates also served

the supporters well and also received

them at the entry gate and entered the

venue along with the supporters only.

Rahul Gandhi’s speech left most of 

the senior Congress leaders high and

dry as he neither targeted the BJP-led

state government nor Chief Minister

Shivraj Singh Chauahan on any ac-

count. Rather, most of his speech was

focused on development and an urge to

the voters to give Congress a chance to

show its mettle.

However, in their respective speeches,

senior leaders of Congress including

Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia,

state Congress president Kantilal

Bhuria and Union minister Kamal

Nath left no stone unturned in accus-

ing BJP of several shortcomings and

misleading people especially youth.

Most of the Congress senior leaders

of the state had their fingers crossed

about him dragging BJP into the issues

of corruption, and biased politics.

Rather than targeting any of the state

government policies or the chief min-

ister, Rahul discussed development and

requested voters to give his party a

chance.Only at one place did Rahul mention

that government should lend its ears to

the cry of the public. The senior Con-

gress leaders had come to inspect the

venue and its preparations but they did

not notice the mistake on the dais

which was aptly caught by the national

media. The banner pasted on the main

dais, on which Gandhi and other lead-

ers were giving speeches, had written

‘Indore Cosangress Committee’ instead

of Indore Congress Committee. The

sign of Congress, ‘Hand’ was also print-

ed in reverse colours.

Poll panel seeks reporton Rahul’s speechBHOPAL

The office of the chief electoral of-

ficer (CEO), Madhya Pradesh has

sought a report from collector, In-

dore on the statement made by Congress

vice president Rahul Gandhi pertaining

to the communal violence in Muzaffar-nagar while ad-

dressing a rally

recently. BJP

state president

Narendra Singh

Tomar had

made a com-

plaint to the

election com-

mission of India (ECI) demanding ac-

tion against Rahul Gandhi for soliciting

votes on religious grounds and violating

the model code of conduct. Sources at

the office of the CEO said that once the

report from the collector, Indore reach-

es them, it would be forwarded to the

election commission of India. Mean-while, the video recording and other ev-

idence collected from the rally in Indore

has been sent to the ECI already.

Rahul Gandhi had said that ISI of Pak-

istan was approaching 10-15 victims of 

riots in Muzaffarnagar who had lost

their near and dead ones to exploit them

for communal ends.

RAJNATH HITS BACKAT CONGRESS

Meanwhile, BJP national president

Rajnath Singh hit back atCongress and sought to know

from Union Government the course of 

action it is likely to initiate after remarks by

Rahul Gandhi on ISI activities in the

aftermath of Muzaffarnagar riots. Whether

or not the Union Government was aware

of any such move by ISI and if answer is in

affirmation then what action has it

initiated, quizzed Singh. His remarks came

in response to media query on Rahul's

earlier statement that consequence of 

Muzaffarnagar riots have snowballed to

dizzying height and to such an extent that

even ISI was trying to exploit the situation

by roping over Muslim youths in riot hit

area. Singh slammed the congress,

Samajwadi Party and BSP for hypocrisyand its communal character. The

(Congress, SP and BSP) so-called secular

political parties attempt spreading

communal passion and hatred during

election time. On the contrary BJP is true

secular party with human centric approach

in its philosophy leaning, said Rajnath.

Row over bogus votersin Rohani’s constituency Bhopal:The row over bogus voters in assembly Speaker Ishwar Das Rohani’s con-

stituency in Jabalpur is unlikely to subside soon. Now chief electoral officer of 

Madhya Pradesh Jaideep Govind will hear the complaints in this regard.

District returning officer of Jabalpur has already deleted over 15,000 duplicate

names of voters from Cant Area’s electoral rolls following objection by local Con-

gress leaders who moved a PIL in this regard in

High Court. Over 35,000 bogus voters were re-

portedly to be in the electoral rolls in the saidconstituency where Congress leaders conducted

survey to find out the actual figure, creating

controversy.

Official sources said most of the names, which

were found duplicate, were removed through

software. CEO of MP and district collector both

checked the voters’ list in detail. Now the offi-

cials said, CEO Govind will make final hearing

in this regard, before publication of electoral

rolls finally that is on October 28.

Election office has asked Bhopal collector Nis-

hant Varwade to remove duplicate names of vot-

ers from electoral rolls after Bhopal DCC presi-

dent PC Sharma raised the matter. Sharma said

no proper check was carried out in electoral

rolls. There is unprecedented rise in number of 

voters in some constituencies in Bhopal district.The DCC leader also filed a complaint against Bhopal Municipal Corporation for

launching e- building permission system amid the model code of conduct being ef-

fective for Assembly polls. He said BMC decided to launch new system on the order

of urban administration and development minister and mayor.

Election commission permitted MPs and MLAs to take benefit of services being

provided by the state or Centre to them. Railway coupons or other facilities, which

are being given to them, as individual would continue, the EC said.

7/27/2019 We The State - Issue 5 Vol 2

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WE THE STATEEditorial3 BHOPAL October 28 to November 03, 2013

ASTROLOGY

30-10-2013- Wednesday - Kartik 

Mah Krishnapaksh-Ekadashi

Positive directions - North and East

Bad time - 12:55 pm to 2:24 pm

Good time - 6:44 am to 8:41 am

and 2:24 pm to 5:30 pm31-10-2013-Thursday - Kartik Mah

Krishnapaksh-Dwadashi

Positive directions - East and South

Bad time - 2:24 pm to 3:54 pm

Good time - 6:44 am to 7:12 am

and 10:08 am to 2:24 pm and 3:54

pm to 5:30 pm

01-11-2013- Friday - Kartik Mah

Krishnapaksh-Tryodashi (Dhanteras)

Positive directions - East and South

Bad time - 10:08 am to 12:55 pm

Good time - 6:24 am to 10:41

am and 12:55 pm to 2:24 pm and

3:54 pm to 5:30 pm

02-11-2013- Saturday - Kartik Mah

Krishnapaksh-ChaturdashiPositive directions - West and South

Bad time - 8:41 am to 10:08 am

Good time - 7:12 am to 8:41 am

and 12:55 pm to 3:54 pm

03-11-2013- Sunday - Kartik Mah

Krishnapaksh-Amavasya

(Mahalakshmi Poojan)

Positive directions - West and South

Bad time - 3:54 pm to 5:30 pm

Good time - 7:12 am to 12:55

pm and 2:24 pm to 3:54 pm

04-11-2013- Monday - Kartik Mah

Shuklapaksh-Ekam (Annkoot)

Positive directions- West and North

Bad time - 7:12 am to 8:41 am

Good time - 6:44 am to 7:12 am

and 8:41 am to 10:08 am and 2:24pm to 5:30 pm

05-11-2013- Tuesday - Kartik Mah

Shuklapaksh -Dwitiya (Bhai Dooj)

Positive directions- West and North

Bad time - 2:24 pm to 3:54 pm

Good time - 8:41 am to 2:24 pm

By AACHARYA SARVESH

E-Mail: acharya.sarvesh@yahoo.com

Mobile: 9826609192

SPECIAL TIPS FOR DEEPAWALI

POOJAN-LAKSHMI POOJAN

• Perform Lakshmi poojan facing West

direction.

• Good time(s) to perform Pooja – 5:30P.M. to 8:27 P.M. – Godhuli Pradosh

Velaa. 6:33 P.M. to 8:27 P.M. – Sthir

Sangyak Vrishabh Lagna 01:01 A.M. to

3:16 A.M. – Midnight Sthir Sinh Lagna

• If possible wear red color clothes while

performing pooja.

• Use kalaawa(laal moli) for making baati

of deepak to be lightened for pooja.

• Buy a small silver box on Dhanteras and

fill it with Naagkeshar and honey, then

keep the box in Lakshmi Poojan. After

two days cover the box with a red cloth

and put it inside your locker(tijori).

• If possible perform a havan in Sinh

lagna 01:01 A.M. to 3:16 A.M. For havan

use kamal gatta (Lotus stem) and ghee

while chanting “Shree Sukta”and

“Kanakdharaa Shtrot”or alternatively

count beads(malaa japna) of kamal

gatta malaa at least for 11 to 101 round

and while doing so keep facing West

direction.

• After Mahalakshmi poojan, chant any

Saraswati mantra at least 108 times.

Polls to see direct confrontation

between Rahul and Modi?

Even if the Congress did not ini-

tially want it, there is every possi-

bility that next year’s general elec-

tion will see a direct confrontation

between Rahul Gandhi and Naren-

dra Modi. The reason for the Con-

gress’s earlier disinclination to

field the heir apparent in a straight

fight was never wholly clear – un-less Rahul was deemed too diffi-

dent – just as there is no plausible

explanation about why the percep-

tion has changed even if there has-

n’t been any formal announce-

ment.

However, it was apparently

Rahul’s forceful intervention in

compelling the government to

withdraw the ordinance on con-

victed legislators, which seems to

have changed the contours of the

battlefield. From this standpoint, it

was Rahul himself who appears to

have decided that there is no point

in remaining in the backgroundany longer.

It is possible that Modi’s energetic

campaigning has made the Con-

gress vice-president change his

mind. He probably realised that the

Congress was leaving the field open

to the challenger from Gujarat by

not taking him on more purpose-

fully. Arguably, the Congress dis-

covered that it did not have anyone

who could match Modi’s combative

approach. It couldn’t be either the

soft-spoken prime minister or So-

nia Gandhi with her deadpan read-

ing from a script.

To make an impact, it has to be

someone who can revv up the audi-ence with his voice and rhetoric.

Rahul meets these requirements to

a large extent. Not only is he a flu-

ent speaker with a command over

the vocabulary, but he also exudes a

sense of confidence and, above all,

sincerity. He may still be somewhat

woolly in his thinking, as when he

said that poverty is “a state of the

mind” or that Dalits will have to ac-

quire the escape velocity required

on the surface of Jupiter to rise

above their present lowly condi-

tion.

Even then, what comes through is

an earnestness suggestive of a will-

ingness to grapple with the coun-try’s myriad problems. What is

more, he apparently wants to do so

in his own way, with or without the

inputs of experts. As much was

clear from his trashing of the ordi-

nance when the experts would have

advised him to act with circum-

spection as, indeed, his mother did.

Yet, as he reportedly told the prime

minister even while apologising for

his conduct, he could not be expect-

ed to defend the indefensible.

It is not impossible that more such

instances of his sincerity as, for in-

stance, on the inclusion of political

parties under the Right to Informa-tion Act against the government’s

wishes, will enable Rahul to put his

stamp on the campaign. He may be

criticised for suddenly finding his

voice after 10 years of silence. But,

if he can crack the Congress’s

crusty, cynical mould, he will be

emerging in a new light, which will

deflect Modi’s single-minded focus

on the Congress’s corruption and

subservience to the dynasty.

Not that these points will go away.

But, a serious attempt by Rahul to

reset his party’s wavering moral

compass will do a world of good to

his own image and that of the Con-

gress. It will also compel Modi andthe BJP to rethink their tactics,

which have been based till now on

the public anger and disillusion-

ment with the Congress’s habitual

cynicism, of which the most bla-

tant example was the crude at-

tempt to protect crooks in politics.

Modi and the BJP may make fun

of Rahul at last listening to his “in-

ner voice”, especially when his

mother has been complicit in the

Congress’s crony capitalism and

minority appeasement, as when

Salman Khurshid promised reser-

vations for the backward castes

among the Muslims, knowing full

well that the proposal ran afoul of the Constitution. But, notwith-

standing such criticism, Rahul’s

detractors will not find it easy to

deny that he is on the right track,

even if belatedly.

As for Congressmen, their volte-

face on the ordinance after Rahul’s

castigation was an indication, if 

any was needed, that their supine

cowardice would make them follow

the dynasty unquestioningly. It is-

n’t only their lack of spine which

will make them Rahul’s obedient

foot-soldiers, but also the realisa-

tion that all may not be lost as yet,

and that it is just possible that thepitch for honesty by the young

prince will enable the party to

cross the electoral hump.

Devoted as the Congressmen are

to their own well-being, they will

not hesitate to root for probity in

public life if that is the price they

will have to pay for another stint in

power.

This admiration for honesty will

be a new line for them, considering

that they seem to have been bank-

ing till now on the possibility that

Modi will be hobbled by his divi-

sive image, his critics in the BJP

and the absence of any saffron in-

fluence in southern and eastern In-dia.

But, irrespective of whether

Rahul can throw a lifeline to the

Congress, it is strange that a 128-

year-old party is so dependent on a

single family for survival.

(Share your views at editor

@wethestate .com)

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WE THE STATEPolitics4 BHOPAL October 28 to November 03, 2013

Social media: Cong files complaint against BJPINDORE

W

hile the Election Commission of 

India (ECI) is drafting a circular on

‘political parties and social media’,

the Congress has filed a complaint against

the BJP alleging violation of Model Code of 

Conduct on social networking websites.

“Despite the fact that Model Code of Con-

duct is in force for the November 28 Assembly

elections in the State, the ruling par ty is cam-

paigning on social networking sites like Face-

book, Twitter and WhatsApp,” Congress state

spokesperson Narendra Saluja said in his

complaint to the ECI. He said that the BJP on

Friday prepared an App for Chief Minster

Shivraj Singh Chauhan and running his pho-

tographs, and giving information regarding

various schemes introduced by him.

“Madhya Pradesh Anthem is also on the App.

The anthem was prepared by the

Government for which it had paid also. “It’s

not a BJP’s property,” he said demanding

strict action from the ECI. The Congress even

said that the BJP should be directed to discon-

tinue the App. “ We even demanded action

against the Modi- Run,” Saluja said. The Con-

gress spokesperson also accused the BJP of 

putting his party senior leaders in poor light

by uploading some misleading photographs

of them. “ The photographs have been up-

loaded to tarnish the image of Congress lead-

ers,” he said and sought the ECI’s interven-

tion into the matter.

CM in dilemma, under pressure

to deny tickets to minister

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan

is faced with dilemma with regard to

a dozen Ministers in his council of 

Ministers. Chauhan is under pressure to

deny ticket to these Ministers in the coming

Assembly polls but the Chief Minister is re-

luctant to sack them.

Chauhan has been told that re-nominating

these dozen Ministers who said to have per-

formed below par would seriously under-

mine BJP position in Assembly polls where a

somewhat resurgent Congress under Jyotira-

ditya Scindia is trying to stage a comeback.

The anti-incumbency against over a dozen

Ministers, is posing threat to the dreams of 

the BJP to make a hat trick by winning the

Assembly elections scheduled on November

25.

Besides these Ministers, Chief Minister

Shivraj Singh Chauhan is enjoying clean im-

age. There had been some problems with the

alleged involvement of Chauhan's family

members, but even the main opposition in

the State Assembly time and again endorsed

publicly that Chief Minister has good image.

In Madhya Pradesh, while his ministers are

in trouble in their own constituencies, Shiv-

raj Singh Chauhan is riding on pro-incum-

bency wave. There are at least half a dozen

Ministers who are facing enquiries against

them.

Following the anti-incumbency factor, 11

ministers of t he BJP Government are seek-

ing tickets by changing their present con-

stituencies. The ruling BJP is almost ready

with the first list of its candid ate, but it is

keeping the list on the hold as several incum-

bents might be dropped to refurbish the

part's sagging image in some constituencies.

Some sitting MLAs could be shifted to other

seats.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan,

State BJP chief Narendra Singh Tomar and

organisational general secretary Arvind

Menon have drawn up a list which would be

presented before the state election committee

during a two-day session early next week.

This could leave the party's central leader-

ship with very little time to finalise the

names.

Candidates’ fatemay be decided by

a slim margin BHOPAL: A minor swing of votes will be

crucial to decide the fate of candidates in 21

out of 230 Assembly constituencies in Mad-

hya Pradesh where elections are scheduled

to be held on November 25.

This is because the victory margin in the

2008 Assembly election was low in these

seats. Even a small swing in the votes could

change the fate of a candidate on these seats.

Last time, the most interesting case was in

Dhar constituency, where Neena Verma, wife

of senior BJP leader and former MP Vikram

Verma, was declared elected by a margin of 

 just one vote.

However, the result was challenged in court

by Bal Mukund Gautam, who finished sec-

ond. He waged a long legal battle and was de-

clared a winner.

There are a number of big names who

scraped through with quite small victory

margins. Madhya Pradesh Minister Jayant

Malaiya defeated Chandrabhan of Congress

in Damoh seat by only 130 votes.

Sajjan Singh Verma (Congress), who is now

a Lok Sabha member, got elected from the

Sonkutch constituency defeating

Phoolchand Verma of the BJP by only 191

votes. Congress won the Junnardeo seat

from Chhindwara district by a small margin

when its nominee, Tejil Saryan, defeated

Nathan Singh Kavreti of the BJP by just 194

votes.Former State Chief Minister Kailash

Joshi’s son Deepak Joshi was elected from

Haatpipaliya, where he defeated his Con-

gress opponent Rajendra Singh Baghel by

220 votes. In Kolaras of Shivpuri district,

BJP’s Devendra Jain defeated Ram Singh by

239 votes.

Ashwin Joshi of the Congress won from In-

dore-3 seat after defeating Gopi Krishna

Nema of the BJP by 402 votes.

Shivmangal Singh Tomar of BJP won by

256 votes from Dimni in Morena district

against Ravinder Singh Tomar of BSP. For-

mer State Assembly Speaker Sriniwas Ti-

wari lost to Rajkumar Urmaliya (BSP) from

Sirmour by 309 votes.

In Panna, Shrikant Dubey of Cong ress de-

feated former state minister Kusum Mehdele

(BJP) by only 42 votes. Dr Vijay Laxmi

Sadho, who is now a Rajya Sabha member,

won from Maheshwar seat over Rajkumar

Mev by 673 votes. Besides, in Jatara, Haris-

hankar Khati of BJP defeated Dinesh Ahir-

war of the Bharatiya Janashakti by 847

votes.

4 parties in touch with me to offer ticket: BJP leaderRAIPUR

State Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) Vice President Sachchi-

danand Upasane, who has

been denied ticket this time

round to contest Assembly

polls from Raipur (North),

has said that atleast four po-

litical parties are currently in

touch with him for offering

hima ticket to contest polls.

‘There are four political par-

ties which are in touch with

me right now to offer a poll

ticket. I have sought time

with Chief Minister Dr Ra-

man Singh and central party

leadership in New Delhi for reconsidering my

name for a party ticket,’ a distraught Upasane

told The Pioneer when contacted.

‘This is against party principles. I have

worked very hard campaigning for the party

in all the Raipur’s constituencies at least four

months before polls dates were announced. If 

party colleague Srichand Sundarani was to be

offered a ticket from Raipur North, atleast an

alternative seat should have been considered

for me to contest polls,’ he said.

Upasane said that he harboured no reserva-

tions about party colleague Srichand Sun-

darani offered a ticket to woo Sindhi commu-

nity votes but ‘an alter native seat should have

been earmarked for me to contest poll’, he

said. ‘I am already in touch with the party’s

central leadership and have not lost hope. The

talks are already underway

in New Delhi’, he said.In the 2008 Assembly polls,

Congress candidate Kuldeep

Singh Juneja defeated Up-

asane by a margin of 1,436

votes from the Raipur

(North) constituency. This

time round, Upasane while

confident of being given a

ticket had started campaign-

ing well in advance in

Raipur city to prepare for the

polls.

Meanwhile, the supporters

of Upasane have threatened

to resign from their respec-

tive posts if the party leader-

ship does not change its decision on denying a

ticket to their leader.

The supporters of the BJP leader stated that

nearly 70 per cent of them supported Up-

asane’s name when party surveyors were do-

ing their survey for recommending

candidates to the senior leaders of the party

to be considered as potential candidates for

Assembly polls.

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WE THE STATEFeature5 BHOPAL October 28 to November 03, 2013

How an Indian Stranger’s Blood Saved a Young Pakistani in Delhi

Iended up in India, oddly, because I

could not get to Pakistan. I had lived

half my life in Pakistan. Both of my

parents are Pakistani, with family roots in

and around the city of Lahore as far as ei-

ther one could see. But I am a citizen of 

America. I was born in the United States

and had spent the other half of my life liv-

ing in this country. I was a few hours’ drive

from New York when the planes struck in

September 2001.

Months later, I saw on a college notice

board that the American Fulbright pro-

gram was inviting American applicants to

travel and study in countries with large

Muslim populations. And so I immediately

decided to apply. But I quickly found that

there wasn’t an opportunity to go to Pak-

istan — it was deemed too dangerous.

One day as I looked at a map, pondering

where to go, my eyes settled on the mam-

moth country along Pakistan’s eastern

border. It was so opaque to me that it mightas well have been a blank space on the map.

I did know that in that country of a billion

people there were nearly as many Muslims

as there were in Pakistan. And so I sent in

my application listing the city 300 miles

east of Lahore, as my preferred location:

Delhi.

I arrived in India in the fall of 2004, at a

time when relations between the two

South Asian nuclear powers had never

been warmer. Pakistan and India had

fought four wars, one in nearly every

decade since the two countries became in-

dependent in 1947, but in the months be-

fore my arrival, Pakistan and India inau-

gurated a bus and a train line connecting

Lahore and Delhi. Islamabad and Delhi

opened up a nuclear hotline, to expedite

the exchange of quick and frank informa-

tion in case of any misunderstanding re-

garding the countries’ nuclear weapons.

Most important, the two countries had

started playing cricket against each other

for the first time since the tit-for-tat nu-

clear weapons tests of 1998.

Still, it was virtually unheard of for a

Pakistani civilian to be living in India, or

vice versa. A tiny fraction of people from

either country would ever get a visa to

travel across the border, and even those

who did could stay for only a few days at a

time. For both Pakistanis and Indians, the

neighbor was always like an itch in a phan-tom limb that could never be scratched.

The technicality of my being an Ameri-

can enabled me to spend a full year in In-

dia. Here was an opportunity like none

other, and I could not wait to plunge right

into it. Looking back, it was that attitude

that probably got me in trouble in the first

place.

It took me only three days to find an

apartment. It was a small studio in the

leafy neighborhood of Vasant Vihar, near

a block of foreign embassies, and I signed

a lease on the spot. My landlord was a tow-

ering but jovial Punjabi Sikh man with

gray eyes who wore a magnificent blue tur-

ban. He didn’t budge much on the price,

but he insisted that he had given me a good

deal because his grandfather, like mine,

was from Lahore.

Early the next morning, I left my apart-

ment to meet a group of local outdoor ad-

venturers for a rock-climbing trip. I had

picked up rock climbing years ago, explor-

ing the wilderness of the American South-

west. If passion for cricket was my Pak-

istani badge, this thrilling and deeply per-sonal adventure sport was my American

one. I thought I was going out for the day

and so I packed a banana and a water bot-

tle. Little did I know that morning that I

would not return to my apartment for al-

most two weeks.

It was just before noon when I fell off a

tall rock face and came crashing to the

ground. Caa-rrrack. It sounded like a thick

branch snapping off a tree. At first, it did-

n’t seem like a noise that could have possi-

bly come from a human body. It did not

hurt either. But as soon as I tried to stand

up, my left leg gave way, and I collapsed to

the ground. That’s when I saw that my leg

was dangling at a right angle halfway up

the shin. Then I saw the rhythmic spurts

of blood sprouting through my track

pants. The bone had torn

right through the skin. I

felt a numbing current

run up my body and I

began to scream,

very loudly. My

memories from

the next several

hours regis-

ter only in

flash-

es.

The horrified faces of the people I had met

only hours before crowded into my vision

as I lay on my back. I panicked when I re-

alized that I had not learned the name of a

single person yet.

Someone wrapped my leg in a dirty insu-

lation pad and I was hauled to and laid out

in the backseat of a van. The smell of 

sweaty climbing shoes stuffed my nostrils

and mixed with the metallic taste in my

mouth. A woman wearing a parka peered

over my face and apologized for the traffic

we were apparently stuck in. It was the be-

ginning of Diwali, the most important an-

nual Hindu religious holiday, she ex-

plained. Delhi was experiencing some of 

its worst traffic jams of the year.

When I came to, it was very dark and qui-

et. My mouth felt like it was lined with

thick paper and I had barely enough

strength to open my eyes. I saw my left leg

suspended in the air, wrapped up in white

bandages, lifted off a hospital bed by awire. “Paani,” I called out for water, using

the word common to Urdu and Hindi.

A nurse briskly approached my bedside

in the dark and poured water into my

mouth with a pipette. “Is it over?” I asked

in Urdu. “You need to rest, go back to

sleep,” the young female voice instructed

me in strongly Indian-accented English.

The doctor who had operated on me

walked in the next morning and intro-

duced himself pleasantly as Dr. Dey. I fired

all the questions I had been pondering in

the hours I had lain there awake and alone.

“Will I walk again? Will I walk with a limp?

How long will I have to stay in bed?” He

told me that I was bedridden for at least

eight weeks. It was a long surgery, six

hours in total. I had lost many ounces of 

blood in the hour I was stuck in traffic. I

had lost a small piece of my tibia and now

had a pound of metal rods and screws in-

side my leg holding it together. I would

have to stay in the hospital for about 10

days.

He didn’t answer my other questions.

“You’re very weak right now and you need

time to recover,” he said in English. Then

scanning the empty room he asked, “Don’t

you have anyone coming for you?” I did not

tell him that my family was in Pakistan. I

grew weaker with every passing day. I had

noticed that the doctors had started to

whisper outside the door to my privateroom. On day five, Dr. Dey burst in,

dressed in a white coat, studying a

clipboard of notes, and without

missing a beat declared, “We need to get

blood in you.” He explained that my hemo-

globin had dipped below the point where

my system could lift it up again on its own.

I had hit a slippery slope. “I don’t need it,

Dr. Dey,” I lied. “I feel better today.”

He repeated himself, this time looking

straight at me. Within minutes, a tall rick-

ety rack was carted over by my bedside

and a needle was inserted into my fore-

arm. I traced with my flailing eyeball the

stream of ruby-colored blood up to a

plump plastic pouch. It sat there, resolute-

ly dripping, one drop at a time, and I felt a

chill crawl over me. It was the first time

someone else’s blood had run through my

body.

I began to shiver and a nurse walked over

and placed a blanket over my chest. It was

normal to feel cold, she whispered. I didn’t

respond. My heart did not even have the

energy to race, and I closed my eyes. In

that moment I began imagining, like amovie, a story my mother had told me

about her life as a young teenager in La-

hore: It was the war of 1965 between India

and Pakistan. The fighting on the border

was intense. Hundreds were being killed

every day, and my mother, only 16 years old at

the time, had snuck out to the Mayo Hospi-

tal without telling her parents. She wanted

to donate blood for the soldiers, but the

nurse on duty told her that to do so, she

had to be at least 18 years old. But my

mother pleaded with her, begging to take

her blood. It was needed badly on the bat-

tlefield and so, eventually, the nurse gave

in. My mother had watched with satisfac-

tion as the soft plastic pouch full of her

deep purple blood was carted off to an-

other room to be spilled elsewhere on the

land. I opened my eyes now, to see myself 

in India receiving the blood of an Indian.

(SSSooouuurrrccceee NNNeeewww YYYooorrrkkk TTTiiimmmeeesss)

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WE THE STATERegion6 BHOPAL October 28 to November 03, 2013

Mewar: Epicentre of

politics in RajasthanSANGEETA SHARMA

E-mail: sangeeta.dsharma@gmail.com

Mewar has always been the

epicentre of politics in Ra-

 jasthan. Whenever the state

has been looking for a king, the re-

gion has played the role of a king-

maker. Mohan Lal Sukhadiya, Heer-

alal Devpura, Haridev Joshi and

Shiv Charan Mathur, all former

chief ministers of Rajasthan, hailfrom Udaipur division. In the last

two elections as well Mewar was re-

sponsible for the politics that led to

the formation of the BJP and Con-

gress governments in state.

A close look at the political histo-

ry of Udaipur division and the

state shows that gaining

majority in this re-

gion is a prereq-

uisite to form

a govern-

ment.

Prior

to

2003

elections, when Vasundhara Raje

was declared the BJP chief, the first

thing she did was to pay obeisance at

the Tripura Sundari Temple, a move

which is believed to have created a

wave in BJP’s favour. The party won

22 out of 28 seats from this region

and BJP formed a government in

Rajasthan that year. During the elec-

tions, Congress was left with only

six Assembly seats.

There was a reversal of fortunes inthe 2008 elections in Mewar. Con-

gress president Sonia Gandhi start-

ed the campaigning in state from

Mewar, then. Mewar rewarded the

party with 22 seats. However, anti-in-

cumbency was also a major factor in

the hammering of BJP candidates

in Mewar this time. Having

pocketed the major chunk

of seats in this division,

the Congress went

on to form the

government

under

chief 

min-

is-

ter Ashok Gehlot.

With history threatening to repeat

itself, both Congress and BJP are be-

lieved to be leaving no stone un-

turned to bag the maximum seats in

Mewar. Both parties are undoubted-

ly seeking an entry to the political

corridors of Jaipur via Udaipur.

While BJP state head Vasundhara

Raje kicked off party’s statewide

Swaraj Sankalp Yatra from Mewar,

Congress also roped in the Gandhiscion and party’s V-P to whip up sup-

port in tribal belt of this region like

Salumber and Udaipur. To counter

the Congress offensive, RSS organ-

ised a ‘Virat Hindu Sammelan’ in

Beneshwar, Wagad region, to woo

the tribal electorate that abounds

here. The BJP is expected to make

similar effort to bring the voters to

its fold with its ‘Adivasi Sammelan’,

where its prime ministerial candi-

date Narendra Modi will address a

rally in Udaipur on October 29.

Though majority of voters here are

tribals, both the Congress and BJP

do not have a prominent tribal

leader in the region. Congress hasbeen bestowed with leaders like Dr

Girija Vyas and CP Joshi represent-

ing the region at Centre and BJP has

comfortably accommo-

dated personalities

like Kiran Ma-

heshwari and

leader of 

the Opposition Gulab Chand

Kataria. But none of them are trib-

als.

While Congress does flaunt Raghu-

veer Meena and Tarachand Bhago-

ra, and BJP, Mahavir Bhagora, these

MPs lack a stronghold over the trib-

al region. None of these names are

competent enough to sway the vot-

ers off their feet. This is the reason

why both the parties are pulling out

all plugs to gather support.Sensing a big void in the region,

tribal leader Kirori Lal Meena has

already started campaigning in the

region. Though Kirori Lal may not

be able to sway voters in large num-

bers in his favour, he is sure to eat

into BJP’s and Congress’ vote banks.

While the Third Front is also in-

creasing its activities in the region,

their success in the region is ques-

tionable because history goes

against their claims.

Out of the 28 seats in the region,

BJP won 22 in the 2003 elections,

while there was a complete reversal

of the situation in 2008 as Congress

won the same number of seats toromp back to power. Though Con-

gress has initiated various schemes

for the tribals and its workers are

enthusiastic about the outcome of 

these flagship schemes, slow imple-

mentation and anti-incumbency fac-

tor are a big concern for the party.

BJP, on the other hand, has various

reasons to be happy, including

the influence its prime ministe-

rial candidate Narendra Modi

holds over the region.

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7 Glamour  WE THE STATEBHOPAL October 28 to November 03, 2013

Micromax ropes inHugh Jackman as itsbrand ambassador

Micromax has announced that they have singed up

Hollywood star Hugh Jackman as its brandambassador. Micromax has also teased their

upcoming smartphone, the Canvas Turbo in a video,

which would be launched soon. He will also be seen

endorsing Canvas series of smartphones for Micromax.

The Micromax Canvas Turbo is rumored to pack a 1080p

full HD display and powered by a 1.5 GHz quad-core

processor. Shubhodip Pal, Chief Marketing Officer,

Micromax said in a

press release announc-

ing the association,

“We are very excited to

welcome Hugh

Jackman in the

Micromax family as he

truly embodies the

aspirational, reinvent-

ing and fearless per-

sona of the brand

Micromax. As we lookto expand our footprint

across the globe in vari-

ous international mar-

kets, the association

with the Hugh Jackman

is an ideal partnership

for us to connect with

audiences as he is the

leading name in the

entertainment industry

in the world.”

Talking about the association with Micromax, Hugh

Jackman said, “I am extremely thrilled and honored to

be part of the Micromax family. I am a huge lover of 

India as it is one of the most exciting countries in the

world and we also share our love for cricket. Phones are

genuinely time saving devices that can help you live a

better life while juggling around with different situa-

tions. The new Canvas phone from Micromax is a leap ininnovation with great sense of fun and amazing features

that helps me balance my work with all the different

roles that I play in my everyday life.”

The first observation is that the investment made in

Jackman will be leveraged in countries other than India,

in some way answering the question, “why not sign on an

Indian celebrity?” In India, Micromax is clearly one of 

the leading manufacturers of mobile phones – and the

Made in India tag does them little harm. Micromax came

in as a price warrior, occupying a sweet spot between the

clearly international players such as Samsung, Nokia,

LG, Apple and the Chinese brands. In terms of ‘country

of origin’ preferences, one would imagine that India was

below the American, European and Korean brands – but

ahead of the Chinese. As long as Micromax’s ambitions

were limited to India, they used Indian cricket and

Bollywood celebrities including Dhoni, Akshay Kumar

and Kalki Koechlin. The use of such celebrities allowed

them to rise to the top of the Indian brands in the space.

Out of India, though, there are problems with the Made

in India brand. While India may be known for yoga,

ayurveda, IT and so on, there is certainly no positive rub-

off for brands from India in the tech product space. On

the contrary, Indian products will be thought of as cheap,

unreliable and inferior. What Micromax is attempting to

do by signing on Hugh Jackman is to gloss over their

Indian roots. It is most unlikely that Micromax will high-

light the fact that the brand is Indian. The communica-

tion will focus, in all likelihood, on Jackman, an

Australian star, plugging the phone effusively. Jackman’s

signing will also benefit the brand in India, as his images

would make the brand less Indian and more

International and move (to some extent) the clearly

Indian brand closer to the American, European and

Korean competition, further away from the Chinese.

This is not the first time that a Hollywood star has been

used in communication in India. Visa did it years agowith Richard Gere, but that campaign ran not only in

India, but across the Asia Pacific market. Cricketers

including Vivian Richards, Brian Lara, Steve Waugh,

Brett Lee have been used to market Indian brands to

Indians. But no brand has used an international celebri-

ty in the manner that Micromax is doing – to suppress

the fact that the brand is from India. If this works for

Micromax, there are many Indian brands with global

ambitions that could take a cue from this strategy.

Priyanka Chopra Loves To Look Picture Perfect!A

ctress Priyanka Chopra is a style diva in

the Bollywood industry. People love the

way she looks and dresses. PC is one such

female star, who looks fab at any point of the day.

Explaining about her perfect looks, Priyanka

said that she is quite conscious about the way

she looks or dresses up. When a leading daily

asked how do celebrities manage to look fresh,even after a long fight, to which Priyanka

Chopra said that it's due to the photographers,

who stand outside the airport to take snaps of 

the celebs. The actress said that she wears lip-

stick, even at 3 am in the morning before getting

out the flight, since she knows there would be

photographers outside the aiport to click her

She further said that she has been very partic-

ular about how she looks. "It's not that today be-

ing an actress, I am concerned about how I look.

I liked to be well-turned-out even when I was in

school. My dad hated it if I looked like a jhalli. It

was a rule in our family for all the women, to be

presentable and well-turned-out," Priyanka told

the daily. "My mother and I were never allowed

to walk out in our nighties. So when I walk outof an aircraft, I make my hair and wear my jack-

et. And I do that not only in India, but also when

I land abroad as there are people all over to look

at you", she added.

Vidya Balan, Farhan Akhtarunveil first trailer of Shaadi Ke Side Effects

Actress Vidya Bal-

an and actor-film-maker Farhan

Akhtar, who are sharing

screen space for the first

time, unveiled the first

trailer of their film

Shaadi Ke Side Effects

on Monday.

"It was wonderful to be

part of the film and to

work with Farhan. He is

also a fellow Capricorn.

There are many Capri-

cons in the film. I had a

great time and I must

say Farhan's comic tim-

ing is amazing," Vidyasaid.

Shaadi Ke Side Effects,

a sequel to Pyaar Ke Side

Effects, presents the sto-

ry of a husband and wife

(played by Farhan and

Vidya) and how they deal

with life's complexities.

When Farhan, who is

married to popular hair

expert Adhuna, was

asked whether he had

ever lied to his off-screen

wife, he said: "I would

like to avoid your ques-

tion. I think it's a philos-

ophy which works forsome people but, in per-

sonal life it doesn't work

for me."

The movie, which will

release on February 14,

is directed by Saket

Chaudhary.

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WE THE STATEMust Read8 BHOPAL October 28 to November 03, 2013

The onion and India: A many layered relationship

Why not the potato? A short-

age of that tuber caused a

devastating famine in Ire-

land. So it’s not a vegetable devoid of 

political symbolism. When the French

opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq,

an irate US Congressman wanted

America’s beloved French fries to be

renamed Freedom fries.

But in India, it’s onions that have

emerged as the political bellwether.

It’s onions that traders hoard. Instead

of tea leaves our pundits are readingonion skins as a bunch of states go to

the polls next month. The mango per-

son might soon be replaced by the

onion person in political commentary.

Perhaps the onion’s association with

tears provides headline writers with a

lot of grist for their mill.

Whatever the reason, there’s some-

thing about onions. What makes it

odder is the fact that onions are rarely

the star performer in our dishes. Un-

like the French we don’t have an icon-

ic onion soup. We do have the batter-

fried pyaaji but then you can batter-

fry just about anything and people

would devour them. “Onions are the

food equivalent of a feisty, over-the-top Amjad Khan in ‘Sholay’ – essential

to the action – but certainly no hero

like Amitabh Bachchan or Dharmen-

dra!” writes Lavina Melwani. Yeh

pyaaz mujhe de de thakur. Sometimes

it’s not even as showy as Gabbar

Singh. The pyaaz can, in a tomato-

onion gravy base kind of way, be a sol-

id omnipresent AK Hangal-type char-

acter artiste. If our ongoing and re-

curring onion crisis has any lessons

beyond predicting elections it’s to re-

mind us to cherish the character

artiste, the one taken for granted. If 

you took the Hangals and Iftekhars

and Asranis out of our films, Bolly-

wood would implode. Likewise with

the onion. “It’s hard to imagine civi-

lization without onions,” said the fa-

mous chef Julia Child. Civilization is

different from life. It is difficult to con-ceive of life without the aloo.

It’s easier to live without onions.

Many Indians have done so for cen-

turies for a variety of religious rea-

sons but for the rest of us, it would

mean a far less flavourful life. At the

railway station not far from my house,

the roadside chow seller likes to chop

onions with theatrical flourish. Lately

he’s been making do with shredding

papaya.

It’s not quite the same. At the Prema

Vilas restaurant, I order a tomato-

onion-cheese uttapam without think-

ing. The waiter comes back to say

sheepishly that will be an extra eight

rupees. These days my mother an-nounces with great fanfare whenever

the dinner entree has been cooked

without onions. Firstpost columnist

Rajyasree Sen devoted an entire blog

on India Real Time to “a three-dish

menu to suit these expensive onion

times”. The daily cooking shows on

television have theme weeks – 

desserts one week, hilsa recipes an-

other week. As onion prices hit Rs 100

a kilo a week-without-onions theme

must be in the of fing. Our onion-crisis

is forcing us to understand something

that lies at the root of the word itself.

As Josh Spiro points out in The

Wilder Voice , “(t)he word ‘onion’

comes from the Latin uniothat, mean-

ing oneness or unity, because an

onion, like a union, is destroyed as it

is gradually taken apart.” More than

its tears, it’s its layers that give theonion its symbolic value and affects

us on so many levels. As it becomes a

luxury item, it threatens our national

unity as traders in Bengal blame sup-

pliers in Karnataka while Bhopal at

Rs 100 a kg looks suspiciously at

Chandigarh at Rs 50. Now there is

even talk of importing onions. The

horror of it! We might have to risk

sweet Vidalia onions in our dal! Writ-

ers have actually cottoned on to the

symbolism of onions for a long time.

University of California Berkeley lin-

guistics professor Thera Marie Crane

has carefully put together a com-

pendium of onions in literature. The

most famous perhaps is The BrothersKaramazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. In

it Grushenka tells Alyosha a story she

had learned from her cook about a

very wicked woman who had not a sin-

gle good deed to her name. As she was

plunged into a lake of fire her

guardian angel remembered one. She

had once pulled up an onion in her

garden and given it to a beggar

woman. God said, “You take that

onion then, hold it out to her in the

lake, and let her take hold and be

pulled out. And if you can pull her out

of the lake, let her come to Paradise,

but if the onion breaks, then the

woman must stay where she is.” As

the guardian angel pulled her up gin-

gerly, other sinners caught hold of her

and tried to climb out of the lake with

her. The woman kicked them off say-

ing “It’s my onion, not yours.” As soonas she said that the onion broke and

she plummeted into the lake of fire.

That’s a story politicians would do

well to remember come electoral sea-

son. Sheila Dikshit is worried about

onions hitting a century as she gears

up for the polls. She should be more

worried whether in the final reckon-

ing, she can go to the electorate with

more good deeds in her kitty than giving

away onions at a discount. But for us

ordinary people, the small ‘A’ aam

aadmi, the onion is teaching us to

count and relish the small luxuries.

On my birthday this year, friends and

relatives asked what specialties were

being cooked at home. The stars werenot the usual ones – biryanis, fish

fries, kheer. “We are having dishes

with onions,” I replied. “Like a do-pi-

aza? wondered a friend. “No, no,” I

said hastily. “Nothing that extrav-

agant.” I mean it’s just a birthday. We

don’t have to go completely overboard.

(((SSSooouuurrrccceee FFFiiirrrssstttpppooosssttt)))

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WE THE STATECommerce9 BHOPAL October 28 to November 03, 2013

Indian HIV /AIDS patients can have life insurance cover

The In-

suranc

e Regu-

latory and Develop-

ment Authority (IRDA)

has asked insurers to pro-

vide life insurance cover to

people living with HIV/AIDS

(PLHA) from April 1, 2014. How-

ever, the insurers said that the lack

of proper data about the ailment will

be a hurdle determining premiums of 

the product.

In the draft guidelines last week, the

regulator said that the board-approved un-

derwriting policy should be kept in place by

all insurance companies. It said that a PLHA

cannot be denied a life insurance c over, if they

satisfy the eligibility criteria mentioned in

board-approved underwriting policy.

Pricing

the risk is a major

concern for the life insurance

companies. While, they have been asked

by the regulator that the mortality study con-

ducted by the Institute of Actuaries of India with

the support of the working group constituted by the

National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) could

be referred for pricing, which insures don’t find vi-

able. The regulator also said that the insurance

companies can also take the standard underwriting

guidelines for life insurance products framed by the

Life Insurance Council into consideration.

The biggest concern was that PLHA conditions

are still not completely curable, said a senior offi-

cial from the industry, adding, “On one hand, while

we are finding it difficult to price conditions such as

cancer, a product for PLHA would become unaf-

fordable for the masses.”

Further, the guidelines said the board-approved

underwrit-

ing policy should

provide clear guidelines on

PLHA and clearly indicate all possible risks

to be considered for underwriting, along with the el-

igibility criteria to consider such proposals in

terms of medical and non-medical parameters.

The policy should also specify all the risks that

would be deferred and denied/declined, it added.

The regulator, on the health insurance segment,

said that if an insured is HIV negative at the time

of signing the policy, and later found to be HIV pos-

itive during the policy term, the insurance compa-

ny can’t reject/deny any claim, on such grounds.

India’s Central Bank Program Brings in BillionsI

ndians living abroad are putting up

billions of their hard-earned dollars

to help bring confidence back to In-

dia and its rupee.

The Reserve Bank of India has beentrying to increase the country’s foreign

exchange reserves by making it cheap-

er for Indian banks to borrow abroad

and helping them set up attractive de-

posit programs for the world-wide web

of non-resident Indians.

In early September–not long after the

rupee hit an all-time low against the

dollar– the RBI said it would start sub-

sidizing some of the cost of hedging

against currency risk in foreign cur-

rency deposits and loans. The program

has raised $10 billion since it was start-

ed in early September, according to an

RBI announcement Wednesday.

Foreign exchange reserves are a

rainy-day fund central banks use to bol-ster their currencies. When local cur-

rencies are sliding in times of stress,

central banks dump their dollars and

buy their own currencies. Foreign re-

serves is a key parameter used to assess

a country’s resilience against heavy

capital outflows, such as those seen this

summer after the U.S. Federal Reserve

hinted it will end its easy-money policy.

When the rupee hit a record low of 

68.80 to the dollar on Aug. 28, India’s for-

eign exchange reserves stood at $275 bil-

lion. That was enough to cover just sev-en months of imports, the lowest ratio

of reserves to imports in 15 years. Since

then, reserves have risen to almost $280

billion, mainly due to the RBI’s incen-

tive program.

The RBI’s program works like this: In-

dian banks accept deposits denominat-

ed in foreign currency from Indians liv-

ing overseas. The money is then

changed into rupees. The overseas Indi-

ans eventually have to be paid back in

dollars when the deposits mature, so In-

dian banks risk losing money if the ru-

pee depreciates.

Under the RBI’s initiatives, banks that

collect deposits with maturities of 

longer than three years can hedgeagainst that currency risk through the

central bank for just 3.5% per year.

That’s well below the regular market

rate of around 6.5%, said Gyan Harlal-

ka, managing director and head of In-

dia markets at The Royal Bank of Scot-

land N.V. in Mumbai.

“The scheme works for the country by

increasing foreign exchange reserves, it

works for the banks by giving them

cheaper funds and it works for deposi-

tors by giving them an attractive rate of 

interest,” Mr. Harlalka says.

He expects the program to raise morethan $15 billion before it ends on Nov.

30.

The interest rate on the NRI deposits,

around 4% at some banks, is so attrac-

tive that some international banks have

even been offering loans to non-resi-

dent Indians for the deposits.

Since the interest on the loans is low-

er than the interest on the deposits, the

depositors can pay off the loans and

still make money.

However that lower rate to hedge risk

comes at a cost to the central bank.

The RBI has to shell out around $250million of its own money for every $10

billion raised through the program,

said RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan in

a news conference last month. That is a

small price to pay, he said, if the initia-

tive succeeds at arresting the rupee’s

scary decline against the dollar.

(SSSooouuurrrccceee WWWSSSJ)

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World10 BHOPAL October 28 to November 03, 2013 WE THE STATE

No consent given by govt for drone strikes: Pakistan tells UN

UNITED NATIONS

Pakistan has strongly denied a UNreport that members of its gov-

ernment had given consent to

controversial drone strikes in the coun-

try and demanded an end to such at-

tacks which incite hatred. Pakistan’s

Permanent Representative to the UN

Ambassador Masood Khan told a UN

general assembly rights committee de-

bate yesterday that all drones strikes in

his country are a “chilling reminder

that reprisal strikes by terrorists are

around the corner”. “They put all Pak-

istanis at risk. The psychological im-

pact of the use of drones on the rela-

tives of civilians killed in an inhumane

manner incites sentiment and hatred

and radicalises more people,” he said

adding that drone strikes are “counter-

productive.” Khan’s remarks came as

Special Rapporteur on the ‘Promotion

and protection of human rights andfundamental freedoms while counter-

ing terrorism’ Ben Emmerson submit-

ted his interim report on the use of re-

motely piloted aircraft in counter-ter-

rorism operations to the General As-

sembly.

In the report, Emmerson said there is

”strong evidence” to suggest that be-

tween June 2004 and June 2008 drone

strikes in Pakistan’s lawless Federally

Administered Tribal Areas were con-

ducted with the ”active consent and ap-

proval of senior members of the Pak-

istani military and intelligence service,

and with at least the acquiescence and,

in some instances, the active approval

of senior government figures.” Khan

rebutted Emmerson’s claim saying, “let

me also state authoritatively that no ex-

plicit or implicit consent, approval or

acquiescence has been given by theGovernment of Pakistan for the drone

strikes.” He said use of drones violates

Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial

integrity. “In the asymmetric terrorist

war, the well established humanitarian

principles of distinction, proportional-

ity and precaution must be observed.

This is not being done.

“There is also obvious geographical

disjunction between the location of 

drone strikes and primary battle-

field…It is not justifiable to launch

strikes in the context of non-interna-

tional armed conflict in the context of 

Pakistan-Afghanistan border area,” he

added. Khan said there is no “grey”

area in the use of armed drones when

they kill innocent men, women and

children. “Killing unarmed, innocent

civilians is a clear breach of interna-

tional law. We call for the immediatecessation of drone attacks inside the

territorial borders of Pakistan,” he

said. Khan further said that Pakistan

does not agree with the Special Rappor-

teur that while the fact that civilians

have been killed or injured does not

necessarily point to a violation of in-

ternational humanitarian law, it un-

doubtedly raises issues of accountabil-

ity and transparency. “We believe that

civilian casualties as a result of the

drone strikes do violate international

humanitarian law, as well as interna-

tional law and human rights law.” Pak-

istan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had

urged the US to end drone strikes dur-

ing his meeting this week with US Pres-

ident Barack Obama in Washington.

Iran hangs 16 in reprisal for Pakistan border killingsTEHRAN

Iran hanged 16 “rebels” of an un-

specified armed group on Saturday

in retaliation for the death of 14 bor-

der guards in clashes near the frontier

with Pakistan, a semiofficial news

agency reported. The executions took

place hours after the rebels ambushedthe border guards near the town of Sar-

avan in southeast Iran, Fars agency

quoted local judicial official Moham-

mad Marzieh as saying. State TV said

that rebels had crossed the border from

Pakistan and fled back there after the

clash. Drug smugglers have occasional-

ly ambushed Iranian troops in the

mountainous area, which lies astride a

major transit route linking Afghanistan

to Europe and the Persian Gulf. Ethnic

Baluch armed groups also operate

there, but recently have been much less

active.

The report provided few other details

of the hangings. It did not mention a tri-

al, suggesting the prisoners may al-ready have been convicted and sen-

tenced to death, and their executions

moved up after the ambush. The state

news agency IRNA had earlier de-

scribed the attackers as “bandits,” and

said authorities were investigating

whether the attackers were drug smug-

glers or an armed opposition group. An

Iran official meanwhile said that au-

thorities would probe claims by the

daughter of detained opposition leader

Mir Hossein Mousavi that she was bit-

ten and hit by a female guard during an

argument that broke out after she was

allowed to visit her parents.

IRNA quoted an unnamed security of-ficial as saying that the Intelligence

Ministry, which supervises the deten-

tions of the elder Mousavi and his wife,

will investigate any failures or fault by

the guard. However, the official said

Mousavi’s daughter was at fault in the

incident, claiming that she insulted and

attacked the guard. The opposition

Kaleme website on Friday recounted

the allegations by Nargess Mousavi:

that she was abused by the guard, who

demanded that she and her sister con-

sent to a strip search after visiting her

parents, who have been under house ar-

rest since early 2011. Nargess Mousavi

claims the guard struck her in the headand bit her on the wrist after she re-

fused to be searched. The elder

Mousavis and fellow opposition figure

Mahdi Karroubi were placed under

house arrest after leading protests in

2009 over the disputed re-election of 

then-President Mahmoud Ahmadine-

 jad.

Activists post video of woman inSaudi Arabia driving a car,

defying ultraconservative kingdom Riyadh:Activists have posted a video of 

a woman in Saudi Arabia driving a car,

as their campaign urging women in the

ultraconservative kingdom to defy a

ban on getting behind the wheel kicks

off. A video posted Saturday on the offi-

cial Arabic YouTube account of the

driving campaign shows a woman iden-

tified as May Al Sawyan driving in

Riyadh. She wears sunglasses and her

hair is covered by the traditional black

headscarf worn by Saudi women, but

her face is otherwise visible.In the run-up to the campaign, police

warned that anyone disturbing public

order would be dealt with forcefully. Ul-

traconservative clerics and have also

warned against defying the country’s

driving ban on women. The campaign

for women to drive is a rare show of de-

fiance in the kingdom.

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WE THE STATESports11 BHOPAL October 28 to November 03, 2013

Rahul Dravid: The guy whorelished ‘overshadowed’ conditionsA

s the old Malayalam adage goes -

what is born out of fire will not with-

er away in the sun.

Hiking into dried up and grimy battlefields

under the scorching sun in the sub continent

has been a routine walk in the park for all leg-

endary batsmen India had produced till date.

The imaginary line, Tropic of Cancer runs

through the heart of India, and rightly so

they were born out of fire. No visitor from the

West, the East, the North or Down Under

could wither us away. They, eventually, had to

bit the red dust. Well, if they triu mphed to

spoil our legacy once a while, blame it on the

sun that failed to reach its zenith at the

Tropic of Cancer.The ‘Warriors of Sun-Light’ but lost the

sheen during their sojourns to meadows of 

the West. Clouds up above are heavy and

dark. Cold breeze twirls the air with damp-

ness. The red ball waggles around and zip

past the warriors’ willow untamed. Embar-

rassment gives way to numbness. Fire won’t

help, they realised. The pantheon of cricket

Lords described it as ‘overcast conditions’.

The brashness and belligerence of the war-

riors welded under the sun was found rusty,

hence none of them savoured the overcast or

‘overshadowed’ conditions of the West, in

particular. One among them, who was pre-

sumably inducted late into the Indian squad,

however possessed in his blood the natural

remedy to cure the cold feet. The guy who rel-

ished overshadowed conditions, Rahul

Dravid.

Rahul Dravid characterised the gentleness

of a breeze that blew across the cricket field

than the chillness of it biting hard at your

arthritic ligaments. In the early mornings of 

Test cricket, when the dressing room is as fog-

gy as the weather outside off incapacitated

regiment with little left in the kit, he strolls

down to endure the first few hours of whirl-

wind created by swinging and swaying red

ball around the middle and off stump. Only

then, his co-sergeants ever indulged in the

croons of little morning birds, which had

perched upon the surrounding trees wishing

a good day.Dravid’s predilection for overcast

conditions has to be seen as innate. He ex-

celled in alien conditions though he was over-

shadowed many an occasion. A mesmerising

debut just fell short off as brilliant a debut as

his fellow mate Ganguly’s. His valiant efforts

to successfully stack up more runs than any

batsmen in the 1999 World Cup held in Eng-

land was flushed down with the sewage of 

team’s failure to cross the threshold of the

knockout stage. When Ganguly molested Sri

Lanka at Taunton, Dravid galloped to another

chivalrous ODI ton. However, the molestation

found headlines over chivalry. Another re-

markable instance was, when Sachin scored

his highest one day score against New

Zealand in Hyderabad, the other end was gal-

lantly guarded by Dravid. Dravid co-authored

the historic win along with VVS Laxman at

Eden Gardens against the mighty Aus-

tralians. His innings was as special as Lax-

man’s very- very special innings. Time and

again he was eclipsed and overshadowed by

his teammates. His countrymen honoured

him the medal of “unsung hero”. Probably, he

was gifted to shine bright amidst the dark and

mysterious shadows.

When the country idolised the Little Master,

Dravid was content and happy about the role

of second fiddle he had to play, and that he

was a master at it. He once said, “The talk is

always about Sachin and in some ways it

suits me as I get away quietly scoring a lot of 

runs”. His mysticism with murky shadows

enabled him to don a golden halo during

many such overshadowed conditions. He

went unmentioned but he was never

forgotten and desecrated. His presence was

felt. He was like a crescent of sun glowing be-

hind the greyish clouds of ambiguity. As long

as he was there, there was hope. Hope to pre-serve the tribe’s pride, its legacy. He was a

true ‘Warrior of Light’.

Dravid is a refined personality fine tuned

with qualities of civility and elegance. He is

an avid reader and a continuous learner. Al-

though he picked books to take his mind off 

the game initially, his habit of reading shaped

him into a rare breed of a sportsman, who is

no non-sense, eventua lly. Reading ma kes a

man complete. So was he. His thoughts spread

so vast, his perspectives so estimable.

Former Indian coach John Wright in his

book Indian Summers mentions of the deba-

cle the team confronted when Dravid

abruptly declared Indian innings against

Pakistan at Multan. Sachin Tendulkar was

batting on 194; hence there was a “hot potato

in their hands”.

Before the situation got worse, when Ten-

dulkar felt let down, Dravid had the audacity

to chat over the matter with the little master.

Had it not been Rahul Dravid and Sachin Ten-

dulkar, the issue would have snowballed and

created a rift in the team. Wright, rightly said

“Dravid, like his batting is a combination of 

steeliness and serenity”. He envisions the big-

ger picture of an issue. Nothing fazes him,

nothing overcasts his head. He stands tall,

head straight just as he would face Alan Don-

ald on a Durban turf.

Dravid’s latest fame to glory too sprouted

out off overcast conditions within his IPL

franchise, Rajasthan Royals. A man of in-

tegrity and self-respect was least deterred

when a few of his trusted teammates

betrayed him. For a cricketer who played the

game with dignity above anything else, loyal-

ty of team members is not too much of an

asking. The reputation of his franchise was

overshadowed by corruption, dishonesty and

infidelity. Dravid’s equanimity ‘power-played’all adversities. He found opportunities in

overcast conditions. He majestically led his

team to the coveted platform of Champions

League grand finale.

As he left the field for one final time, the

cricketing fraternity felt ‘the gentleness of a

breeze that blew across the cricket field than

the chillness of it biting hard at your

arthritic ligaments’. He simply relished the

‘overshadowed’ conditions.

India to start ICC WorldT20 2014 campaign

against Pakistan

 The Indian team will open its campaign in

next year’s World Twenty20 Championships

against arch-foes Pakistan when the event is

staged in Bangladesh from 16 March to 6 April. As

many as 60 tournament matches (35 men’s and 25

women’s) will be played across Chittagong, Dhaka

and Sylhet in the 22-day tournament. As in the

past, the women’s semifinals and final will be held

on the same day as the men’s semifinals and final,

and at the same venue, the ICC said in a statement.

 The format for

the men’s event

in next year’s

tournament

has been

changed

following an

increase in

teams from 12 to 16.

As the teams’ seeding are based on the T20I

 Team Rankings as on October 8, 2012, the topeight sides following the conclusion of last ICC

World Twenty20 will play directly in the Super 10

stage and India is one such side. Bangladesh and

Zimbabwe, which finished outside the top eight,

will participate in the first round that will be held

from 16-21 March. The first round of the men’s

event will include eight sides that will be divided

into two groups of four teams each, with the table-

toppers progressing to the Super 10 stage. In the

first round, Group A will feature host Bangladesh

alongside three teams that will qualify from the

ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2013, to be

staged from November 15 to 30. Group B will

include Zimbabwe, which will be joined by

another three teams from the upcoming qualifiers.

As such, the two groups will be finalised on

November 30. The Super 10 stage will start with an

evening match between former champions India

and Pakistan in Dhaka on March 21. Defending

champions West Indies will launch their title

defence against India in an evening match on

Sunday March 23. Earlier on the same day, Pakistan

will lock horns with Australia, looking for the only

global title that has eluded them to date. If 

Bangladesh reach the Super 10 stage, they will

play all their matches in Dhaka, facing the West

Indies on March 25, India on March 28, Pakistan on

March 30 and Australia on April 1. The prize money

for the men’s event will be $3 million, with the

winner receiving $1.1 million and the losing finalist

collecting $550,000. The ICC Women’s World

 Twenty20 2014 has been increased from eight to

10 teams after a recent Board decision. The firstround matches of the women’s event will take

place in Sylhet from March 23 to April 2, with the

top two sides from each Group progressing to the

semifinals. Defending champions Australia will

kick-off their campaign on Sunday March 23 when

they will take on New Zealand. This game will be

followed by the match between South Africa and

Pakistan, who, along with Sri Lanka, qualified for

the Bangladesh event after having reached the

final of the qualifying tournament held in Dublin

in August. Hosts Bangladesh will make their

maiden appearance on the world stage on March

26 when they will play last year’s semifinalists West

Indies. 2009 champions England will start their

campaign on March 24 against the West Indies.

 The prize money for the women’s event will be

$180,000, with the winner collecting $65,000 and

the losing finalist getting $25,000. The two groups

of the men’s Super 10 stage are: Group 1: Sri Lanka,

England, South Africa, New Zealand, Group B

Qualifier 1 (Q1B) Group 2:- West Indies, India,

Pakistan, Australia, Group A Qualifier 1 (Q1A) The

women’s groups are: Group A: Australia, New

Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, Ireland Group B:

England, West Indies, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh.

Pune Warriors terminated by BCCI from IPL over default paymentsChennai: The BCCI today terminated Pune War-

riors from the IPL after the Sahara-owned franchise

defaulted on its payments and refused to furnish the

bank guarantee for the next season. The decision

was taken at the Cricket Board’s all-powerful work-

ing committee meeting here, a top BCCI official told

PTI. The Pune Warriors have been on collision

course with the BCCI after the Board encashed its

bank guarantee due to non-payment of franchise

fee. The Sahara group announced its pull-out from

the IPL after that even though that is yet to be for-

mally conveyed to the BCCI, which in turn wanted

the team to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 170.2

crore to remain a part of the league next year. The

BCCI, after reportedly reminding Sahara about the

payment several time, has now terminated it from

the IPL. IPL governing council members were also

present in today’s meeting where the Board issued

a 30-day termination notice to Pune Warriors. Sa-

hara has been demanding the completion of the ar-

bitration proceedings on the issue of franchise fee,

which, it feels, should be lowered since the BCCI did

not deliver on its promised number of IPL matches

for the team. The arbitration process has not yet

started because of the differences between BCCI

and Sahara over the judges to be appointed for it.

Pune, bought by Sahara for USD 370 million (approx

Rs 1702 crore) in 2010, was the most expensive fran-

chise on the IPL roster and its termination would

cause substantial financial loss to the BCCI.

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WE THE STATENation12 BHOPAL October 28 to November 03, 2013

Owned Printed and Published by M.M.Baig. Printed at lucky, 267, Pragati Nagar, Shahanshah Garden, Bhopal (MP) and published from H.No.101, A-SECTOR INDRAPURI BHEL, WARD NO.63 DIST BHOPAL-462021, M.P.

Tele/FAX 0755-4292545,Mob.09425029901 email-editor@wethestate.com RNI No. MPENG\2012\46415 Editor: M.M. BAIG -Responsible for selection of News & Articles under PRB Act, Subject to Bhopal jurisdiction

Part of Asaram’s

ashram burnt downin Gujarat villageVALSAD (GUJARAT)

Aportion of self-styled godman

Asaram Bapu’s ashram was re-

centlyburntdownin Pariya vil-

lage at Pardi taluka here by a group of 

ex-followers, who are upset after alle-

gations of sexual assault surfaced

against him. According to the police,

some people who had provided land toAsaram Bapu for building his ashram

in this remotetribal area burnt down a

part of the structure.

They had earlier donated land to

Asaram, but are no longer his support-

ers after the allegations of sexual as-

sault resurfaced against him and his

son Narayan Sai. Surat Police had re-

cently registered complaints filed by

two sisters – one against Asaram and

another against his son Narayan Sai – 

of rape, sexual assault, illegal confine-

mentand othercharges.The complaint

against Asaram was transferred toChandkheda police station in Ahmed-

abad as the incident took place in his

ashram here. The case is going on in

Gandhinagar court as Chandkheda

area falls in Gandhinagar district.

The elder of the two sisters, in her

complaint,had accused Asaram of sex-

ual assault between 1997 and 2006 dur-

ing the time she had been living in his

Ashram on the outskirts of Ahmed-

abad city. Theyoungersisterhad filed a

complaint against Sai, accusing him of 

repeated sexual assault between 2002

and 2005 when she was living in theirSuratAshram. The whereabouts of Sai

are not known.

Both Asaram and Sai had filed peti-

tions in the Gujarat High Court seek-

ing quashing of sexual assault com-

plaints against them. Sai has already

filed for anticipatory bail in a court in

Surat. Earlier, Asaram was arrested by

Jodhpur police in a sexual assault case

filed againsthim by a schoolgirlstudy-

ing in his ashram.

The two sisters had come forward to

register case against Asaram and Sai

after family of the brave schoolgirl reg-istered a case against the senior. His

son Sai is absconding after sexual as-

sault case was filed against him by

younger sister.

A mystifying treasure

hunt grips nationI

f you had not heard of Daundia

Khera until recently, it would have

been perfectly fine. However, if you

havestill notheard of Daundia Khera,it

means you have missed the biggest

newsstory unfolding in the country. For

all youknow, this nondescript village in

Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district could

possiblyhold the key to replenishingIn-

dia's economic deficits! If a local seer isto be believed, several thousand tonnes

of gold lieburied around theShiva tem-

ple at Daundia Khera. The story goes

that the 19th century king, Rao Ram

Baksh Singh, visited Swami Shobhan

Sarkarin theseer's dreams and told him

about the treasure that he had hidden

while fleeing the British during the

First War of Independence in 1857. The

Raja was eventually hanged and his

wealth all but forgotten — until now,

thatis. The Swami, after‘consulting’ his

dead gurus, contacted the Government

and amazingly even managed to con-

vince the authorities to investigate.

Equally astonishingly, a preliminaryex-

amination by the Archaeological Sur-vey of India found that there might in-

deed be some sort of treasure buried

about 20 feet under the temple. And so,

starting this Friday, anASI team has be-

gun digging in Daundia Khera.

The tiny village is clearly enjoying itsPeepli Live moment. Irrespective of 

whether the gold is found — the Swami

has warned that if the Government

touches the treasure without the per-

mission of his gurus, the wealth will

vanish — the legend of Daundia Kherahas already spread far and wide.

Though the excavation site has been

cordoned and is currently off limits to

the public, hundreds have descended

upon the tiny place to view the treasure

hunt from the sidelines. Security in the

village has been tightened, with police-

men keeping vigil round-the-clock. The

media is also present in full force, re-

plete with its outside broadcast vans

and in-your-face cameras. Residents of 

Daundia Khera who had left for the

citiesin search of greener pastures, are

returning, lured by the possibility of 

better jobsin thevillage. Theybelieve inthe Swami, who has demanded that if 

the treasure is found, 20 per cent of it

must be used for the development of 

Daundia Khera — the village chief has

already sent a list of employable candi-

dates to thePrime Minister — whilethe

Government can keep the rest.

Of course, suchdistribution of wealth

(if found) will be easier said than done.

For one, thedebate over thestate's right

to temple booty will be re-ignited. Also,

there will be competing claims between

the State Government and the Centre.

The ‘temple authorities' whoever they

may be — no temple board or trust ex-

ists at the moment but that may come

soon enough — will also claim owner-ship,andso will RaoRamBakshSingh's

descendants, who can be expected to

mushroom all over the place. In some

ways, the sleepy Daundia Khera has al-

ready hit the attention jackpot.