CMYK

CMYK

CMYK

CMYK

THURSDAY October 10 | 2013 | 04 Zul Hijjah 1434 AH | PAGES 12 | VOL NO: 3 | ISSUE NO: 253 | RS: 2/- (AIR SURCHARGE FOR JAMMU /DELHI/LEH 50 PAISA)Pen For JusticeLargely Circulated, No. 1 Bilingual Daily of J&Khttp://www.zabarwantimes.com

WEATHER

TEMPERATUREMAXIMUM MINIMUMSUNSET ON(TUESDAY)SUNRISE ON (WED)

06:08 pm06:32 am

14.4 0C29.5 0C

FORECAST FOR NEXT 24 HRS:

FORECAST OF SRINAGAR:

Weather will be mainly dry over the state.

Mainly clear sky. Maximum & Minimum temperatures will be around 29°C & 13°C respectively.

Srinagar, Oct 9:

The State Legislative Assembly was on Wednesday adjourned sine die amid pro-tests by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders, BJP and Panthers Party on issue of privilege motion moved against former Army chief V K Singh for his allegations that Jammu and Kashmir ministers re-ceived funds from army.Speaker Mubarak Gul had to adjourn the house twice amid

protests and sloganeering from PDP mem-bers who demanded that the retired general should be summoned to face the House.Earlier, just after the question hour ended the speaker had informed the House that he will write a letter to V K Singh asking for his position on the funding remarks made by him. Mir Saifullah, minister for law and parliamentary affairs minister stood up and said that since the privilege motion moved by National Conference against former

army chief seeking his personal appear-ance has been accepted by the Speaker and the NC is grateful to the Speaker for his an-nouncement.This infuriated PD members who came into the well of the House and started raising slogans against what they called double standards of the government. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti opposed the Speaker’s announcement saying the matter stands already discussed and the

See Speaker on Page 11....

Srinagar, Oct 09:

The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Me-hbooba Mufti Wednesday said that National Conference (NC) once again got exposed in the Legislative Assembly after Speaker Mubarak Gul and Law Minister spoke in different tones. She said that PDP has been assured by the Speaker that former Indian Army chief General V K Singh would be summoned within a month.Ad-dressing media persons at her Gupkar residence, she said that NC once again played a ‘drama’ in the House

See Mehbooba on Page 11....

Srinagar, Oct 9:

The National Conference today welcomed the summoning of the for-mer general VK Singh calling it ‘victory of democracy’ while hitting back at PDP terming their politics dirty and chameleonic “PDP is enacting a drama by dancing and shouting about the Privi-lege motion accepted by the speaker and his subsequent summoning the former general in which they(PDP) have not even an iota of con-tribution,” Omar Abdullah’s Political Secretary Tanvir Sadiq said. “It was Ministers and NC members of both Legislative assembly and council which brought a privilege motion against the revelation of former general VK Singh” “Members of

See Tanvir on Page 11....

We should wait for GoI response to resolution, CM’s letter: SozSrinagar, Oct 9:

Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz today said everybody should wait for Government of India’s response to the resolu-tion adopted by the Legislative Assembly and the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s letter seeking probe into former army chief V K Singh’s remarks against political mainstream of Jammu and Kash-mir.Talking to KNS, Soz said that since the former army chief was working under Government of India, both the resolution and Omar’s letter have been addressed to the union government. “I think everybody should wait for the government of In-dia’s response as the resolution adopted by the House and Chief Minister’s letter have sought one and the same thing that is a credible probe,” the PCC chief said. On September 25, Omar had shot a letter

See Soz on Page 11....

Kupwara, Oct 9: Lack of teach-ing staff and inadequate in-frastructure is adversely af-fecting the education in the government run educational institutions in the Kupwara district. Despite the fact that huge funds are being pumped in for improvement of educa-tion sector in rural areas under centrally sponsored scheme SSA, the schools in this fron-tier district are lacking the facilities, especially the staff. “The pitiable condition of gov-ernment schools and the poor quality of education could be gauged with the fact that Gov-

ernment Middle school Rang-ward (Chowkibal) has only three teachers for more than 70 students,” the locals told KNS, adding that the students upto 9th standard are accom-modated in just one tin-shed . “During rainy days the stu-dents of UKG upto 8th class are over-crowded in one room and on normal days, the students of lower classes are made to sit in the compound of school under open sky. We worry about the future of our children,” Shabir Ahmad, a resident of Ragward added.When asked to a

See Staff on Page 11....

Mirwaiz concerned over escalation on bordersSrinagar, Oct 09:

Expressing serious concern over the escala-tion in Indo-Pak border tension in Keran and other areas, Hurriyat Conference (M) today said the loss of life in the region at any given time is related to pending resolution of Kash-mir dispute.This was resolved during a Hurri-yat executive council meet convened by APHC Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq at party headquarters in Rajbagh.In a statement issued to KNS, the participants said that since past seven decades, endless blood had been spilled within the valley and on the borders. They said till the lasting resolution of Kashmir is not found, the bloodshed and instability would continue to mar the region.The participants further reiterated APHC’s stand that loss of life and bloody incidents could not be stopped till all the stake holders sit and hold meaning-ful dialogue to solve the vexed dispute. If the dispute remains unsolved,

See Mirwaiz on Page 11....

Srinagar, Oct 9 (KNS): Expediting disposal of pending passport applica-tions, the Passport Office Kashmir has issued 38000 passports in nine months since January this year. Moreover, to ease up the cumbersome process of collecting Line of Control Permit forms from the office, the Passport au-thorities have now made these forms available online.Taking to KNS, Fir-dous Iqbal, the Passport Officer Kash-mir said: “Keeping in view the urgen-cy of applicants, we have expedited the process by easing up many procedural formalities.” Iqbal said that since January upto October 8, his office had received 49000 passport applications out of which 38000 cases have been dis-

posed of by issuing passports in favour of the applicants.“Rest of the applica-tions are under process and I hope by the end of this year we will be able to dispose of the pending applications provided these applications fulfill all the prerequisites,” the Passport Of-ficer Kashmir added. Pertinently, in year 2012 the Passport Office Kashmir had issued 61500 passports which was a record number of passport issued in the history of Passport Office Kashmir, sources said. “That year the number of passports issued reflected 48 per cent increase in passports issued in 2011,” sources added. In order to reduce the number of days involved in po-lice verification, the Passport Officer

Kashmir said the physical movement of personal particular forms from Passport Office to concerned agencies has been done away with. “Now these forms can be downloaded by the con-cerned verification agencies on the same da of granting of application at the Passport Office,” Iqbal informed KNS.He disclosed that now the LoC permit forms can also be downloaded by the intending applicants through a website (www.passportindia.gov.in) under permit/print application form link. “This process has already been started by us some few days ago,” Iqbal told KNS. Stating that Jammu and Kashmir has the privilege

See Haj on Page 11....

Aseem Sawhney

NEW DELHI, Oct 9, 2013: The Supreme Court of India, Bench comprising of Justice R M Lodha and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh have directed the counsel for the respondent Mr Aseem Sawhney to study the is-sue vis a vis the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to transfer a petition under Section 13 for Divorce under the J&K Hindu Marriage Act, outside the state.This point of Constitutional importance arose in a Trans-fer Petition filed under section 25 of the CPC (Central CPC) before the Apex Court filed by one Bhavika Bharti against the

respondent Nakul Mahjan a resident of J&K.Mr. Harish Khanna, Adv. for Mr. Rajinder Mathur,Advocate appeared for the petitioner whileas Mr Aseem Kumar Sawhney and Mr Dharmendra Kumar Sinha Advocates ap-peared for the respondent.Mr Aseem Sawhney while making submissions before the Bench of the Supreme Court of India submitted that the trans-fer powers of the Supreme Court under section 25 of the CPC to transfer the cases from one state to another were not applicable to the State of J&K as the Central CPC

See Divorce on Page 11....

New Delhi should engage MirwaizSummoning Singh would not solve problem: A.S.DulatSrinagar, Oct 9:

Expert on Kashmiri affairs and former head of In-dia’s premium Intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), A.S.Dulat Wednesday said that Government of India should engage Mirwaiz Umar Faooq in dialogue over Kashmir issue so that deadlock between separatist groups and New Delhi would be over. “Mirwaiz is an important leader and a complete politician. He has started behaving as a mature politician now and time has come that Govern-ment of India engage him over Kashmir issue,” Dulat told Srinagar based news agency CNS add-ing that talks between Centre and Separatist groups must continue. He advised Mirwaiz to take some bold initiatives and come forward for talks with New Delhi. “We cannot blame Mirwaiz only, but New Delhi too is at fault. New Delhi has failed to address immate-rial issues like the clearances

See New Delhi on Page 11....

SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 09:

Describing senior citizens role model and asset of the so-ciety, the Minister for Social Welfare Ms. Sakina Itoo, said that senior citizens were once young and strong, giving the best years of their lives to the society by working hard in contributing for the welfare of people in particular and State in general and now they need affection and due respect from the society, adding that it the responsibility of younger gen-

erations to give back to them a little bit of what they deserve.The Minister said this while chairing a meeting convened to discuss the demands and issues of senior citizens and improv-ing the functioning of the state Level Advisory Council for Senior Citizens of the State at Banquet Hall here on Wednes-day.Responding to various sugges-tions put forth by the senior citizens includes issuance of special card in hospitals,

See Sakina on Page 11....

LA adjourned sine die amid uproarious scenes on privilege motion against V K Singh

PDP’s politics dirty, chameleonic:TanvirNC from first day sought probe

in VK Singh’s revelations

Speaker promised us V K Singh would be summoned within a

month: Mehbooba‘NC played a dual role in House; Speaker,

Law Minster spoke in different tones’

“PDP is enacting a drama by dancing and shouting about the Privilege motion accepted by the speaker and his subse-quent summoning the former general in which they(PDP) have not even an iota of contribution,”

“Speaker changed statements thrice. He first stated that he will write a letter then changed his statement. Law Minister said that Speaker would summon retired general V K Singh, it was after our legislators who stormed into the well of the House thrice that finally the Speaker said that he will summon former army chief within a month,”

Staff crunch hits education in Kupwara schools

Can Divorce petition filed in J&K be transferred out of State?

SC to examine issue in Constitutional perspective

38000 passports issued in 2013; LoC permit forms available online 21697 applications received for Haj-2013

Senior citizens are asset, role model for

Society: SakinaAsks younger’s to pay due respect

and regards to senior citizens

Will summon former army chief: Speaker

Service rifle snatched from CRPF

man in TralSrinagar, Oct 9:

Unidentified persons snatched a service riffle of a CRPF personal in south Kashmir town of Tral today, the police said.A spokes-man of the police told KNS, that an Insas rifle was snatched from the CRPF man. “The unidenti-fied persons who snatched the rifle resorted to aerial firing and fled from the spot,” locals in Tral told KNS, pleading anonymity. A search operation has been launched by police to nab the unidentified persons.

2 Die, 6 Injured in road mishaps

Srinagar, October 09:

Two persons died and six others were injured in different road ac-cidents across the Kashmir Val-ley.An unidentified Tractor hit and injured a pedestrian Sameer Ahmad Shah son of Mohammad Yaqoob resident of Khargund at Kund Crossing, Kulgam, in the jurisdiction of police station Qa-zigund. The injured was shifted to SKIMS, Soura Srinagar for treatment, where he succumbed to his injures. A case has been registered in this regard. A Tavera bearing registra-tion number JK02R/7181 hit and injured a pedestrian Abdul Rashid son of Babu resident of Kerie Terth, Kalakote at Drang-bal Pampore, Awantipora, in the jurisdiction of police sta-tion Pampore. The injured was shifted to Sub District Hospital, Pampore for treatment, where he succumbed to his injuries. A case has been registered in this regard.A Tavera bearing registration number JK01P/9566 hit a Motor-cycle bearing registration num-ber JK03D/0368 at National High-way near Green tunnel, Sangam, Anantnag, in the jurisdiction of police station Bijbehara, result-ing in injuries to Motorcyclist and pillion Sabzar Ahmad Ganai son of Ghulam Mohammad resi-dent of Khudwani and Moham-mad Mohammad Ismail Nakioo son of Mohammad

See Mishap on Page 11....

Police takes cognizance in arson at Padshahi Bagh

Srinagar, October 09:

Srinagar police has taken cognizance of an incident of arson that took place at Padsahi Bagh, Srinagar. A case has been registered and investigation has been started.Lat evening, a mob attacked a joint residential house of Gow-har Sidiqi and Uzair Sidiqi sons of Mohammad Sidiq residents of Padshahi Bagh, Srinagar, in the jurisdiction of police station Sadder. The mob set ablaze two motorcycles parked in the premises of house and also pelted stones on the house.Police restored the order and has started the investigation after registering a case in this regard.

How stress affects humansOpposition stalling

pro-people billsFight against terrorism has to be unrelenting

Owner , Printer, Publisher & Editor Chief-Suhail-Malik RNI NO. JKBII/2011/39764, Email: zabarwantimes@gmail.com Publised at Govt. Quarters ( M-13 Magarmal Bagh Srinagar-190001 J&K, Printed at:- Sangarmal Offset Press Humhama Sheikhpora Tele/Fax: 2478370 Cell No. 09999964750, 9796 787844

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ZONE:NAGAMRef: No.HSLP/13/408 DT: 04/10/2013

TENDER NOTICESealed tenders are invited from authorized dealers for supplying of one number Desk Top. The tenders should reach the office of the undersigned upto 11-10-201, 2.00PM

Sd/- HeadmasterGovt. High School

LooliporaRP

T

Passport lostI have lost my passport bearing No. K5583190 some-where. Now I have applied for its duplicate. Anybody having any objection in this regard, he/she may pro-duce the same before Passport Office Srinagar within seven days from the date of publication of this notice. After that no objection will be entertained.

Name: Shabir Ahmad Mir S/o: Bashir Ahmad Mir R/o Badipora Chadoora Distt: Budgam Pin code: 191113 DOB:13/02/1985B

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From the front page

Speaker

Mehbooba

Haj

Sakina

Mishap

Staff

Divorce

New Delhi

Speaker

Mirwaiz

Mirwaiz

Speaker must summon the retired general instead of writing him for his position.

She said the NC led government has created complete confusion by giving different statement on the issue. “The Speaker has said that he will write a letter to Singh and Saifullah sahib has said that NC demand of summon-ing the retired general has been accepted by the Speaker. This is what has given a notion that Kashmiri leadership is a saleable commodity. These double standards have led us to this kind of a situation where a former army chief has insulted this House,” Mehbooba said.The CPI (M) MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami also agreed with the viewpoint of Mehbooba saying that the government must clear the confusion vis-à-vis issuing summon to Singh. “There is a marked difference between what the honourable Speaker said and what the law minister is saying. Please clear these confusions. The issue should not be taken so easy it is a serious issue which involves the credibility and the respect of this House,” Tarigami said.However, BJP and NPP Members, opposed sum-moning of Singh. They raised slogans against members who according to them were forcing Speaker to issue a particular direction on the issue.The Speaker adjourned the house for 20 minutes and when the members of the House re assembled, the Speaker clarified that he will summon Singh but at an appropriate time. “Let me write to him first to explain his position under rules and procedures. Later If I think his personal appearance is needed I will issue summon or for that matter, I will call a special session of the House,” Gul said.On Monday the House had unanimously adopted a reso-lution asking government of India to conduct an inquiry into the allegations in a transparent manner. On the same day, Omar Abdullah, the Chief Minister had in his address told the House: "If money was given, then he (V K Singh) must mention that to whom was it given and the purpose for which it was given. I request the govern-ment of India not to dismiss these allegations. We will not jump to conclusions but probe the matter and don’t dismiss these serious allegations."Omar had also shared contents of his letter written to Prime Minister Dr Man-mohan Singh on September 25, demanding a thorough probe into the issue in order to restore the credibility of political mainstream of the state.A report carried by In-dian Express two weeks back had claimed that V K Singh set up Technical Service Division (TSD) a special unit in the Army intelligence which tried to topple the Jammu and Kashmir government. The issue not only created hue and cry in the political mainstream but remained a hot issue during the entire autumn session of Legislative Assembly and the Council that concluded today.Misus-ing secret service funds to de-stabilize Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's government in Jammu and Kashmir by giving Rs 1. 19 Crores to agriculture minister Ghulam Hassan Mir, paying off an NGO to try change the line of succession in the Army top brass, buying off-air inter-ception equipment, to conduct "unauthorized" covert op-erations, are among some of the charges against Singh, the national daily had reported.

to Dr Manmohan Sigh seeking a thorough inquiry into the allegations leveled by former army chief V K Singh

against Jammu and Kashmir ministers.Pertinently, National Conference has moved a privilege motion against V K Singh seeking his personal appear-ance to face the House. The speaker of the Legislative As-sembly Mubarak Gul when contacted was not available for the comment over the issue.Peoples’ Democratic Front (PDF) chairman Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen when contacted by KNS alleged that the Government is not serious in resolving former army chief’s issue. “The statements are creating doubts in the minds of people. Former army chief’s remarks have dented the democratic institutions of the state and the is-sue deserves a thorough consideration.”However, the Agriculture minister Ghulam Hassan Mir when contacted refused to comment on the issue. “Al-ready much has been said and heard, I will not comment further.”

it would continue to remain the source of tension and instability, Hurriyat said.Terming the action of state As-sembly against former army Chief VK Singh where he has revealed about the Pro-Indian politicians in Kashmir were given money as a mere show off, the hurriyat said such exercises were aimed to mislead the common Kash-miris.The participants noted that instead of unmasking the politicians involved in taking money from army, the demand of meaningless probe was to actually protect the corrupt politicians. They said since everybody was in-volved in one way or the other with army’s money, ef-forts was on to bury the issue for once and all. The meet-ing was attended by all the executive members including Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, Bilal Gani Lone, Mukhtar Ahmad Waza, Musadiq Adil, Moulana Abbas Ansari, and Agha Syed Hassan Al Moosvi Al Safvi. (KNS)

the NC moved an adjourned motion and it was for the first time that the treasury benches pressed for a discus-sion but PDP preferred to be an obstructionist force and walkedout and choose not to be a part of the discussion,” said Sadiq. “From the very first day the NC members and Minis-ters have been not only demanding a probe but also were the first ones to move the privilege motion against VK singh” said Sadiq “It was clearly stated on the floor of the house by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah about the letter he sent to Prime Minister on 25th September seeking a thorough probe into all the allegation and on his instance a resolu-tion was passed in the assembly to seek a through probe into the matter” said the political secretary of the Chief Minister. “From the beginning the PDP has avoided any discus-sion on the revelation of former general in both lower house and the upper house, pointing only towards some hanky panky” said the political secretary "It is therefore for the general public to see for themselves why has she been silent over the issue from the beginning” “Neither have their patron spoken nor did Mehbooba speak about VK Singh and hardly used his name twice when she spoke for two hours in the Assembly” said Sadiq adding “ It was evident to one and all that she was trying to either hide something or confuse the people by

saving the former general” “Even her party leader Muzzaffar Beigh snubbed her by stating that her speech was unwarranted and unneces-sary since the discussion was on a specific issue but she lowered it to a street fight” said Sadiq, asking where was the PDP sleeping till now?“The credit must go to the members and the ministers of the National conference who from the inception de-manded a high level probe into the matter and exposing all the people who have been allegedly involved” said Sadiq.

over the issue of privilege motion. “Speaker changed statements thrice. He first stated that he will write a letter then changed his statement. Law Minister said that Speaker would summon retired general V K Singh, it was after our legislators who stormed into the well of the House thrice that finally the Speaker said that he will summon former army chief within a month,” Mehbooba said.She said that PDP would hope that the Speaker fulfills his commitment so that all faces who have ‘taken money’ from the army in 2010 would get exposed. “I must say that retired army general is a tip of ice berg. There are other agencies who are playing their part in Kashmir to manipulate the democratic in-stitutions,” she said.Mehbooba further said that it has always been a policy of New Delhi to manipulate and fiddle with the Jammu and Kashmir’s democratic set-up through money and power. “Due to that Kashmir’s lost faith in Delhi and Delhi lost faith in Kashmiris. It is a very serious matter and is on since 1947,” she said.Asked why did not PDP move a privilege motion against the former army chief, she said that the House was not anybody’s property. “We had moved an ad-journment motion on which there was a threadbare dis-cussion after which a resolution was passed. Now that NC had moved a privilege motion, we played our part as a responsible opposition,” she said. The PDP president was flanked by PDP chief spokesman Nayeem Akther, and senior party leaders, like Mansoor Hussain, Syed Basharat Bukhari and Abdul Razak Zawoora. (KNS)

student how other students manage to attend the lec-tures, he replied that only one lecture is attended by a particular class, others have to wait for their turn. “That means every student wastes 90 percent of his /her valu-able time while waiting for attending a lecture. we have lake of teachers and infrastructure in our school, we are worrying about our examination are near to start but we are not fully prepare because of over-crowed in one room tin shed,” said a student Nissar Ahmed.Mohammad Hus-sain, the Headmaster of the school said: “ We have lot of problem in our school like infrastructure, accommoda-tion and staff .Many a times we brought the matter into the notice of the ZEO sahib, but nothing has been done till date.”When contacted Chief Education Officer (CEO) Kupwara, Ashok Kumar Sharma told KNS that he will look into the matter. “I will send a team to give a proper report and after that we will see what to do.”The situation is no different in other schools of the valley and the Directorate of School Education has become a si-lent spectator. Its main interest is in the transfers of mas-ters and teacher were so many interests have developed including to please the influential bureaucrats and poli-ticians by offering prize postings to their nears and dears at a stones throw. It has no other field of interest where it can use its resources to effect some healthy changes in the educational system including the development of basic infrastructure.

did not extend to the State.Besides this the petition which is being sought to be transferred is filed under the J&K Hindu Marriage Act and therefore the J&K Hindu Marriage Act being sepa-rate from Hindu Marriage Act in the rest of India, cannot be said to be corresponding.Further Mr Aseem Sawhney submitted before the Apex Court that the J&K High Court's Division Bench has in a verdict held that the marriage which is solmenized in the state of J&K will be governed under the J&K Hindu Marriage Act and vice versa a marriage which is solmen-ized outside the state of J&K will be governed under the Central Act irrespective of the fact of permanent resi-dentship.In the present case the marriage was solmenized in Jam-mu and the respondent - boy hails from Jammu whileas the girl is from Delhi.After hearing the arguments of Mr Sawhney, the Bench presided by Justice R M Lodha asked Mr Aseem Sawh-ney about the Constitutional provisions on the subject and the Supreme Courts Rules.Whether we have powers under the Constitution and the Supreme Court Rules, the Bench asked Mr Aseem Sawh-ney to advance arguments on this issue on the next date..." Learned counsel for the respondent prays for time to study the question of jurisdiction.List the matter after three weeks.In the meanwhile, petitioner may file rejoinder affida-vit..." the Bench directed.Now the matter is likely to be listed on 1st November 2013 for further arguments on the issue of Constitutional powers of the Supreme Court vis a vis the State of J&K.

of passports and other matters related to common peo-ple. I think New Delhi should too take some initiatives and give a positive signal to the separatist groups,” Dulat said. While replying to a question, A.S.Dulat said that there is a need to take separatist leaders especially Mirwaiz into confidence and start a meaningful dialogue. Reacting over the recent revelations made by former Indian Army Chief, General V.K.Singh, he said that nothing positive would come out even if the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir would summon him. “Why Singh made such revelations and what was his intention is a matter that needs to be probed. But, I think, this controversy is over now and it would lead us no-where if we continue to raise this issue,” Dulat told CNS. He said that if Jammu and Kashmir Government had a feeling that Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir has done something wrong then Mir should have been ousted from the Cabinet. “Inaction against Mir clearly indicates that he is innocent before the government. I fail to understand what Government of Jammu and Kashmir would get by summoning V.K.Singh,” he said. Reacting over the recent statement made by Chief Min-ister Omar Abdullah that accession with India is condi-tional, Dulat said that his father has been maintaining day in and day out that accession is final. “New Delhi

doesn’t take all comments made on Kashmir seriously. If you analyze his (Omar Abdullah’s) speeches minutely, you would find that he considers accession with India unconditional,” he said. Dulat further said that Army has no role in politics. (CNS)

to be among the top five states as far as state wise num-ber of applications received for Haj 2013 is concerned, the Passport Officer Kashmir said 21697 applications were received by the Haj authorities for the year 2013 in Jammu and Kashmir.It is pertinent to mention here that the Passport authorities have received two prestigious awards for its marvelous services including CSI NIHI-LENT e-governance award for the year 2011-12 and e-gov-ernance certificate of excellence Government to Citizens (G2C) initiative.The online appointment process started by the Passport authorities has been hailed be people and now keeping in view the overwhelming response from the people, the Passport Office has eased up this process further. “The online appointment process has also been eased and even the facility of depositing money online has also been provided to the people,” Iqbal informed. (KNS)

establishment of free help line telephone services, time bound issuance of senior citizens cards, seat reservation in public transport, concession in public services, the Minister assured that the issues will be taken up with the concerned authorities for early redressal.Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Director Social Welfare Department, Kashmir, Director Composite Re-gional Center, Director Rehabilitations, Managing Di-rector Women’s, Development Corporation, representa-tives J&K Pensioners Welfare Association and Senior Citizens Civil Society were present in the meetingUnderscoring the need of better healthcare policy for senior citizens, Ms. Itoo said that the matter would be taken up with the concerned authorities so that old age people could feel respite during ailment.Regarding employee pension, the Minister assured them that she would do her best so that all retired personnel could get their pension well in time and matter would be taken up with the higher authorities on priority.Ms. Itoo said government is keen for the dignified and honourable life of destitutes, poor under privileged class of the society by extending various facilities through the welfare schemes in vogue. She said that senior citizens have their positions in society and can play great role for the transformation and reformation of the society, add-ing that there is a great need to infuse spirit of respect among younger generation for aged persons.Emphasizing for the mass awareness through print and electronic media, besides holding awareness camps Ms. Itoo, directed the Director Social Welfare to formulate moral lessons regarding care and affection for elders to be broadcasted and telecasted through radio, televi-sions and other channels, besides carrying the message through print media so that the people in general and youngster in particular would be educated about their responsibilities towards elders.On the occasion, the Minister gave patient hearing to the demands and suggestions raised by the representatives of senior citizens and assured them that all the genuine demands and healthy suggestions would be examined and implemented on ground so that this important sec-tion of the society feels respite and comfort.

Sultan resident of Shamsipora Wapoora. Both the in-jured have been shifted to Sub District Hospital, Bijbe-hara for treatment. A case has been registered in this regard. A Tavera bearing registration number JK01R/7839 driven by Tariq Ahmad Mir son of Mohammad Shafi res-ident of Wager Budgam hit and injured a pedestrian Mst. Afroza daughter of Ghulam Mohammad Teli resident of Waghama near HDFC Bank , Bijbehara, Anantnag. The injured was shifted to hospital for treatment. A case has been registered in this regard. A Sumo bearing registration number JK09/9822 collided with a Motorcycle bearing registration number JK05A/1179 near JIC Kupwara, resulting in injuries to Motorcyclist Nassir Ahmad son of Fareed Ahmad, Asif Khan son of Mohammad Yousf resident of Candoosa, Baramulla and Shaista Bano daughter of Muzaffer Lone resident of Kalarooch traveling in the Sumo. The injured have been shifted to hospital for treatment. A case has been registered in this regard. A case has been registered in this regard.

DDC Shopian reviews the progress of employment generation schemes

PULWAMA, OCTOBER 09:

In order to discuss the achievements recorded against targets fixed under various Employment Generation schemes during current financial year, District Development Commis-sioner Shopian, Mr. Bashir Ahmad Bhat took a meeting of Bank Manag-ers and Sectoral Officers from Agri-culture, Horticulture, KVIB, Indus-tries, Employment, EDI and Animal Husbandry departments. It was stated that total 21,000 Kissan Credit Cards have been is-sued by the Agriculture department

with the cooperation of banks, dur-ing current financial year. As many as 29 cases have been sponsored by the Animal Husbandry department under Dairy Entrepreneur Develop-ment Scheme. As many as 10 cases have been sponsored by the District Industries Centre, out of which 8 have been sanctioned by the banks, while 107 cases have been sponsored by the Employment Sector against the target of 6 mini sheep farms with 50 ewes, all the 6 have been sanctioned and established till September. As many as 18 cases have been sponsored by the EDI, 29 cases by Handloom & 84

cases by the Handicrafts Sector. District Development Commis-sioner Shopian directed the financial institutions to expedite the disburse-ment of all sponsored cases and fur-ther directed the sectoral departments to reconcile the number of cases with banks every month on 7th & 21st regu-larly. In case of holiday on the scheduled dates, the next date was fixed for necessary reconciliation. The CD ratio of the district was found quite comfortable at 121 percent (highest of all) and total Annual Credit Plan for the financial year 2013-14 is slated at Rs. 325.88 crores.

Navratra fest enters 4th day

Soujanya distributes awards among winners

KATRA, OCTOBER 09 -

The Navratra Festival 2013 being organized by Shree Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, J&K Tourism Depart-ment and District Administration, Reasi in collabora-tion with various local organizations entered into 4th day last evening. Director Tourism, Soujanya Sharma, was the chief guest on the occasion. On the 4th day, different events were organized which attracted huge participation of locals and tour-ists as well. In All India Devotional Song Competition be-ing organized in the premises of Yog Ashram, Katra, Banasree Sarkar from West Bengal, Mr. Rakesh Deol from Jammu and Ms. Mavish Sharma from Jammu adjudged Ist , 2nd and 3rd position respectively. Soujanya Sharma gave away cash prizes and gift hamper of Rs. 5000/-, Rs. 3000/- and Rs. 2000/- to 1st, 2nd and 3rd winners. Dr. Surinder Sharma from Himachal Pradesh, Dr. Usha Bhagati and Mrs. Parveen Sabherwal both from Jammu were educator of the programme. Chairman of the competition, Mr. Rakesh Wazir, said that final of the competition will be adjudged by the famous personalities from media and Bollywood in-cluding Actor Aftab Shivdasani, Ganesh Jain Managing Director Venus Records & Tapes Ltd., Ramesh Taurani Managing Director Tips Industries Ltd., Mohinder Bat-la Chairman cum Managing Director MH Group, Vikas Mohan Producer and trade analyst, Barkha Arora CEO Zee Jagran and Ramesh Raina CAO Disha Channel. The dignitaries will meet the press at Hotel Ritz Manor, Jammu on 11th Oct. 2013. Earlier, a shobha yatra comprising various Jankies was taken out from Asia Crossing where Direc-tor Tourism lit the sacred Joyti. Thousands of pilgrims were seen standing on both sides of the passage of pro-cession showering flowers and raising slogans in praise of Goddess Durga. Likewise, in Hassya Vayang contest, 12 con-tenders participated in the semi final, of which, 8 contestants qualified for final round. The participants who will give their hilarious performances in the final included Rohit, Shazi Khan, Sonu, Amit Raja, Atul, Khabri Lal, Abhishek and Sudesh. Other event which were organized during the 4th Navratra at the base camp of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine included cultural programme by Song and Drama Division in the premises of GHSS, Katra and Bhagawat Katha at Raghunath Mandir, Katra. Among others, Assistant Commissioner Revenue, Reasi, Mr. Tilak Raj Shastri, Additional SP Katra, Mr. Pawan Parihar, Project Officer (DRDA), Dr. Jagdish Mehra, President Hotel & Restaurant Associa-tion Katra, Sham Lal Kesar, President, Hassya Vanyag, Mr. Gopal Padha, prominent of the town, Sardari Lal Dubey, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Swami Joganand, Harish Dubey, Advocate Surinder Sharma and Virender Kesar were also present on the occasion.

Career counselling, guidance programme organized

KISHATWAR, OCTOBER 09-

The District Employment and Counselling Centre Kishtwar today organized a career counselling and guidance programme in Govt Degree College Kishtwar in which students were familiarized with various ca-reer options including civil services, army and corpo-rate sector. Principal GDC Kishtwar Dr Shafqat Hussain Rafiqi presided over the function which was attended by more than 200 students belonging to vari-ous streams. Speaking on the occasion, Assistant Director Em-ployment Kishtwar Ata-Ul-Munim Tak discussed vari-ous career opportunities available with the students. He called upon the students to choose their goals according to their aptitude and strive hard to achieve them. Expert panelists of the session were Mr Vinay Kumar DIO for civil services, Mr Vishwajeet Singh AD Handicrafts for career in corporate sector and Major Raghav for career in Indian Army. All the speakers explained various aspects of their respective areas, competitive exams and other avenues available with the students.The speakers impressed upon the students to develop a positive outlook and keen interest in pursu-ing their goals.

11 Thursday 10 October 2013 Zabarwan Times

SRINAGAR, OCT. 09-

The 34th Research and Extension Advisory Committee Meeting for Kashmir and Ladakh Zone (Rabi- 2013) was held to-day at SKUAST-Kashmir, presided over by Prof. Afifa S. Kamili, Director Extension Education.

The meeting discussed performance of various technologies vis-a-vis their adoption by field functionaries as well as farmers, and for-mulate programmes for the benefit of the farm-ing community. During the meeting the Package of Practices for Commer-cial Flowers (Vol-I) was released based on the de-mand of farmers and En-trepreneurs of Kashmir.

At the outset

Prof. Afifa S. Kamili delib-erated on the importance of holding of REAC. Chair-person was of the opinion that our main objective is to take the technology to the farmers for their overall socio-economic development and that farmers should switch over to mechanization of agriculture, horticulture production systems, uti-lizing low cost machin-ery. Chairperson stressed that feedback from both line departments as well as SKUAST Scientists is required to strengthen the farmer – scientist re-lation.

The house was of the opinion that KVKs of the concerned districts should organize trials, demonstrations for the farmers especially for

tribal farmers of the val-ley. Scientists as well as KVKs of SKUAST-K have been asked to make re-finement in the Technolo-gies. Chairperson stressed that Scientists of SKUAST-K should come up with improved publications, extension bulletins and package of practices for the benefit of the farmers.

The meet-ing was attended by Prof. M.A.A. Sidiqui, Associate Director Extension Edu. (Agri.), Jt. Director Agri-culture Kashmir, Associ-ate Directors of Regional Stations, besides all Head of Divisions, Stations, Units and Programme Coordinators of various KVKs of SKUAST-Kashmir and officers of the Devel-opment Departments.

KULGAM, OCT. 09:

The Minister for Social Wel-fare Ms. Sakina Itoo, Tuesday visited many areas of Kulgam District and took stock of vari-ous developmental works un-derway.

The Minster visited the resi-dence of Ilyas Ahmad Bhat of Chatripora Kulgam who died recently in a road accident. She expressed her sympathy and condoled with the bereaved family, besides prayed for the eternal peace for the departed soul.

Ms Itoo gave cheque of Rs. 10 thousand to the next of kin of the deceased, besides sanc-tioned pension in favour of wife of deceased person from Social Welfare Department. She also directed district Adminis-tration, Kulgam for providing other possible help to the next of kin of the deceased.

During the visit, several deputations called on the Min-ister and put forth their de-mands before her. Ms, Itoo gave patient hearing to all the people and assured them that all genu-ine demands will be redressed in a phased manner.

Ms. Itoo, also directed the concerned officers for the nec-essary repairs of roads and elec-

tric poles and wires at Chatripo-ra and other villages of the area. She also directed for taking nec-essary steps to improve supply of drinking water in the area.

The Minister was accom-panied by the Legislator, Mrs. Bimla Luthra, Deputy Commis-sioner Kulgam, officers of Social Welfare Department and other concerned departments.

34th Research and Extension Advisory Committee Meeting held

Sakina tours Kulgam, takes stock of on-going dev works

THURSDAY OCTOBER | 10 | 2013Daily ZABARWAN TIMES NEWS

Action should be your main priority, especially when it comes to love and romance. You may not be too con-cerned about what sort of action you take. Your only concern is that you aren’t sitting still at any time. Once you figure out what you want, you’re unlikely to stop until you get it. Your power is forceful and extreme.

A surprise in love and romance is on its way to you. Things are coming full circle, and the investment you made in this realm is finally paying off. Something new is cropping up, but in reality, this is a result of things you set in motion long ago. Be open to embracing the tremendous flow of love and beauty that’s coming your way.

Be more aware of your personal appearance and how you’re perceived. Make sure that your attire is appropri-ate for the people you’re with and the situation. Fashion is a consideration, so don’t look like a slob. You may be urged into a fancy store today where you’re talked into buying some new items to spruce up your wardrobe.

Know what you’re getting yourself into, especially if it has to do with love and romance. You may be like a fly on a tree branch, carefully inspecting the beautiful spider web at your feet. You’re tempted to step on the silky strands, yet once you place one foot on the sticky web, you’ll be tangled there for a long time - maybe forever.

Your heart may be hurt by misfortunes that have befallen you. Thinking about times past is just pulling up buckets of tears from a well. Don’t keep doing this to your-self. It’s time to move forward. Your heart is eager to start something new and bring adventure into your life. Use your emotions as fuel for the future instead of restraints from the past.

You’re filled with joy! There’s a tremendous wave of love coming your way. Everything involving romance could be taken to extremes. An extreme in the direction of love and boundless creativity means that at some time there will be a dramatic swing in the opposite direction. Today you only need to concern yourself with the upswing.

You may experience writer’s block in every sense of the phrase. Even if you don’t consider yourself a writer, for some reason it may be difficult to get even the simplest words down on paper. Don’t get upset. Your verbal juices may not be flowing freely, but they haven’t disappeared. Use this time to read other people’s works and visit museums for inspiration.

Instead of dragging on with something old, tired, and worn out, why not start something new? If you refuse to give up on a project that’s doomed to fail, you’ll be in for a long, frustrating road ahead. You’ll find this to be espe-cially true of anything involving music, beauty, creativity, and the arts. Redirect your energy toward something more promising.

Social engagements will be your saving grace. Without them, you may be confused and sad about issues that are reaching a climax. In some form or another, you’re being asked to make some major transformations. These changes are slow and perhaps subtle, but they’re important and need addressing. This is where the help of friends can come in handy.

The intensity should increase around an issue regarding love and romance. Friction is building. Unfor-tunately, this tension may be unavoidable. It’s likely that some sort of power struggle is being thrown into the mix, and you may fight for control of your emotions. Try not to get sucked into a bottomless pit.

Let your heart shine. Love surrounds you like a beautiful pink cloud, and you can’t help but attract people to you. Take romance to a higher level with someone really special tonight. You’ll find that whatever you give will come back to you tenfold. Your aura glows brightly with emotion, so let it light your way.

There’s a great deal of transforming energy in the air that you should harness and capitalize on. You may be a fan of the diet that you’ll start “tomorrow.” When tomorrow comes and there’s a huge meal of pizza, soda, and fries, sud-denly the diet once again starts “tomorrow.” Use the power-ful energy of today to break out of this habit and make a real change in your life.

SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 09:

Minister for R&B, Mr. Abdul Majid Wani today informed the House that construction work of 9

bridges involving total cost of Rs. 15.74 crore is apace in Sangrama Constituency under Projectiza-tion and NABARD against which

Rs. 5.31 core have been expended upto last financial year and Rs. 1.02 crore are being expended on con-struction of these bridges during current fiscal.

Replying to a question by Syed Basharat Ahmad Bukhari, the Minister while giving details of these bridg-es said that construction works of Waripora, Shrak-wara, Pethgam, Choora, Dongdara and Dardhajan bridges have been taken up under Projectization plan at the total cost of Rs. 9.28 crore against which Rs. 3.13 crore were are utilized upto last fiscal. He said Rs. 1.01 crore are being expended on these bridges during current financial year, add-ing that Waripora Bridge, Choora Bridge would be completed during this fi-

nancial year. Shrakwara, Pethgam, Dongdara and Dardhajan bridges are targeted to be completed in next financial year, he said.

The Minister said that con-struction work of Bngdhara, Chan Mohalla and Chandpora bridges involving total cost of Rs. 12.51 crore was taken up under NABARD against which Rs. 5.13 crore was expended till last fiscal and bridges at Chan Mohalla and Chandpora are expected to be completed this

fiscal while as Bngdara bridge is targeted to be completed during next financial year.Ms. Mehbooba Muti, Mr. G. M. Saroori, Mr. Harsh-dev Singh, Peer Mansoor Hussain, Mr. Ashok Kumar, Haji Mohammad Ashraf, Mr. A. R. Veeri, Mr. Irfan Shah, Dr. Shafi Ahmad Wani, Syed Bashir and Mr. G. M Saroori urged

for time bound completion of on-going road and bridge projects besides upgradation of road con-nectivity with release of adequate funds in their constituencies.The Ministerassured the concerned Legislators that appropriate steps would be taken by the Government in this regard well in time.

10 check dams each to be constructed for GW recharge in both divisions

SRINAGAR, OCT. 09:

Minister for PHE, Irriga-tioMinister for PHE, Irriga-tion and Flood Control Mr. Sham Lal Sharma informed the Legislative Council to-day that matter to regular-ize or extend the life span of Special PHE, Sub-Divisions of Khalsi, Nubra, Nyoma and PHE Division Leh is under process with the Govern-ment.

This information was

given by the Minister while replying to a question by Nurboo Gialchan.

Mr. Sham Lal informed that the DDO powers have been granted/ extended on adhoc basis for six months up to September, 2013. As these divisions are func-tioning on adhoc basis, hence the DDO powers are also accorded on adhoc basis. However, the Minis-ter added that the Deputy Commissioner/ CEO LAHDC has taken up the matter with the Ladakh Affairs Department to extend the DDO powers and life span of these Divisions on per-manent basis.

In reply to another question by Master Noor Hussain, the Minister in-

formed that there is no laid down policy for rain water harvesting as such, but the thrust is being given on development of rain harvesting structures like check dams, ponds and tanks in the water deficit areas especially in the Kan-di belts of the state.

He said the depart-ment is planning to con-struct 10 check dams each in both the divisions, add-ing that these would help in recharging the existing ground water aquifer and also to restore springs and other water sources of the areas.

Mr. Sham Lal further in-formed besides submission of schemes for construction of 38 rain water harvesting

structures under the 13th TAC, as many as 64 projects worth Rs. 21.98 crore have also been formulated and submitted to Union Minis-try of Water Resources for recharging the existing wa-ter sources and raising the ground water level.

The Minister informed that Village Level Sani-tation Committees have been formulated in which members of PRIs and ASHA workers have been in-volved for creating aware-ness among the people. He said that the members of these Committees would meet once in a month and sensitize people about the benefits of clean water and the steps to be taken for im-proving water quality.

Arrangements for Id-ul-Azha finalized at

Baramulla

Sheep, Sheep products, Live Stock back bone of rural economy: Gurezi

Regularization of PHE Leh Sub-Di-visions under consideration: Sham

Work on 9 bridges in Sangrama Constituency apace: Wani

Wool Board earned Rs 1.24 cr last year, target for this year

Rs 6.83 crSRINAGAR, OCTOBER 09:

Terming the Sheep, Sheep Products and allied Live-Stock as back-bone of the rural economy, the Minister of State for Animal and Sheep Husbandry Mr. Nazir Ahmad Gurezi today said that this sector is playing a vital role in changing the socio economic condition of 80% population of ruralities of the State.

The Minister, who is also the Chair-man of Sheep and Sheep Products Devel-opment Board popularly known as Wool Board said this after inspecting office-cum-godown of the Board at Nowshera today.

Legislator Aga Syed Ahmad Rizvi and Executive Councillor, LAHDC, Kargil Mr. Ghulam Rasool Naqvi accompanied the Minister.

Mr. Gurezi said that State government is committed to eradicate poverty from the face of the society, especially from the far flung, remote and hilly areas and with this aim the Wool Board was set up in the State in 1981.

The Minister said that 40 lakh people of the State are directly involved in the rearing live-stock, adding that with the aim to secure their future the Govern-ment initiated measures to revive the Wool Board last year which has yielded positive results. He said the revival plan

will continue and government will pro-vide all facilities required for the uplift-ment of the people engaged in live-stock breeding.

Stressing upon the management of the Board for organising a campaign of mass awareness among the people about the benefits of sheep and sheep products, the Minister emphasised for usage of local made woollen items instead of synthetic items to benefit the people connected with the trade and also to avoid various diseases. He said this will not only help in promotion of local wool only but a large number of people will earn their liveli-hood with dignity and honour.

The Minister was informed that the Wool Board has sold 1. 39 lac kg wool last year and accordingly earned a whoop-ing amount of Rs 1.24 cr in the State. He was informed that the Board has set a target to earn an amount of Rs 6. 83 cr by selling 7.36 lac kg wool this year, out of which 73500 lac kg wool has been sold so far, while as booking of 76500 lac kgs has been recorded. There are 2.75 lac kgs wool in stock in the godowns of the Board at present the meeting was informed.

The meeting was informed that the wool is procured mainly from the Gujjar and Bakerwal and from the people living in the hilly areas without engaging mid-dleman at the rate of Rs 81/- per kg which was earlier Rs 55/- only in 2011-12.

The Minister was informed that the Board has manufactured 1800 woollen blankets, each costing Rs 900,ready for sale.On this occasion, Managing Direc-tor, Wool Board Dr. Goutam presented a detailed resume of the activities of the Board.

All the candidates who have applied for the post of Sr. Programmer / Programmer

for NIELIT Sub Centre LEH,are hereby informed through this notification that NIELIT

J&K shall be conducting a written test for the aforesaid posts at below mentioned

venues on 14th of October 2013(Monday)

1. NIELIT Srinagar, SIDOC Electronics Complex, Old Airport Road, Rangreth

Sirnagar.

2. NIELIT Jammu, New Campus University of Jammu.

3. NIELIT Sub-Centre Leh, SP Complex, Skalzling, Airport Road, Leh.

List of Applicants is availiable at www.jk.nielit.in

The candidates can appear in the written test at the nearst location. No TA/DA is

permissible.The date and time will be:

1. Sr. Programmer: 14-10-2013 at 10:00 AM to 11:30AM

2. Programmer: 14-10-2013 at 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM

The Selection criteria shall be as following:

80% weightage shall be given to the writtten test and 20% weightage shall be given

to the interview

WWWWWrittenrittenrittenrittenritten TTTTTest fest fest fest fest for the Por the Por the Por the Por the Post ofost ofost ofost ofost of Sr Sr Sr Sr Sr..... Pr Pr Pr Pr Prooooogggggrrrrram-am-am-am-am-mer and Programmer for NIELIT submer and Programmer for NIELIT submer and Programmer for NIELIT submer and Programmer for NIELIT submer and Programmer for NIELIT sub

centre LEH.centre LEH.centre LEH.centre LEH.centre LEH.

A.H.MoonDirector

National Institute of Electronics &Information Technology Srinagar/Jammu

SIDCO Electronics Complex, Rangreth Srinagar

Website: www.jk.nielit.inPhone: 0194-2300502, 2300805

[Advt. No.23/2013-NIELIT(S) Dated: 09-10-2013Hunain-23

BARAMULLA, OCT. 09:

An officers meeting was held under the Chair-manship of District De-velopment Commissioner, Baramulla, Khawja Ghulam Ahmed here today, con-vened to take stock of the arrangements being made for smooth and peaceful forthcoming Id-ul-Azha celebrations.The meeting discussed the steps being taken for providing essen-tial commodities, potable drinking water and ad-equate power supply, be-sides ensuring clean envi-ronment in the district.

The meeting constituted various special checking

squads for eradicating the menace of profiteering, hoarding by vested inter-ests, besides a special team was constituted to super-vise the sale of sacrificial animals for Id-ul-Azha.

The District Develop-mental Commissioner directed the officers to ensured clean roads lead-ing to Idgah, Mosques and Khankahs of the district, besides providing health-care facilities for the people. He directed the officers of Animal Husbandry depart-ment to open sale centres for sacrificial animals at dif-ferent prominent places of the district and also make available poultry birds.

SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 09

The Government will formu-

late a policy for regularization of all daily wagers/casual labour after the requisite information is ob-tained from different Departments and in this regard a Cabinet Sub-Committee vide Government Or-der no. 345 of GAD of 2009 dated 27-02-2009 pursuant to the cabi-net decision dated 19-02-2009 to go into the extent, magnitude of problems relating to casual work-

ers that is financial, legal and ad-ministrative has also been consti-tuted.The Information was given by Minister for Finance and Lada-kh Affairs, Mr. Abdul Rahim Rather while replying to a question by Syed Naeem Akhtar Indrabi.The Minister said that after SRO-64 of 1994 came into vogue 56000 daily wagers have been regularized and the remaining 2000 will also be regularized. He said the informa-tion regarding the daily wagers appointed after the SRO-64 was is-sued has been sought from differ-

ent departments on a format made for the same and after requisite information would be furnished the same would be placed before the Cabinet Sub-Committee and a policy regarding regularization would be formulated.Mr. Khalid Najeeb Suharwardy, Syed Asgar Ali, Mr. Ravinder Sharma, Mr. G. Q Pardesi, Mr. Jahengir Mir, Syed Rafiq Shah, Ghulam Nabi Monga, Mr. B. R. Kundal, Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, Ajatshtru Singh and Mr. Ju-gal Kishore raised supplementar-ies to the question.

Policy formulation for DWs after requisite information made available: Rather

Daily Zabarwan Times Thursday 10 October 2013

EDITORIAL/ OPINIONEDITORIAL/ OPINIONDaily Zabarwan Times Thursday 10 October 2013

Daily Zabarwan Times Thursday 10 October 2013

National Skill Development SchemeNational Skill Development Scheme was announced by the Union Finance Minister in his Budget Speech of 2013. The scheme titled ‘National Skill Certification & Mon-etary Reward Scheme’ encourages skill development for youth by providing monetary reward for successful completion of approved training programs. The scheme is to be implemented by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) through Public-Private and Public-Public partnerships.

ObjectivesThe objectives of the scheme were delineated by the Union Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram when he announced the scheme at a function held recently in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. He said “A large number of youth must be motivated to voluntarily join skill development programmes. I propose to ask the National Skill Develop-ment Corporation to set the curriculum and standards for training courses. At the end of the training, the candidate will be required to take a test conducted by autho-rized certification bodies. Upon passing the test, the candidate will be given a certificate as well as a monetary reward of an average of 10,000 per candidate. Skill-trained youth will give an enormous boost to employability and productivity. On the assumption that ten lakh youth can be motivated, I propose to set apart Rs.1, 000 crore for this ambitious scheme. I hope that this will be the trigger to extend skill development to all the youth of the country.”

Specifically, the Scheme aims to:· Encourage standardization in the certification process and initiate a process of creating a registry of skills;· Increase productivity of the existing workforce and align the training and certification to the needs of the country; and· Provide Monetary Awards for Skill Certification to boost employability and productivity of youth by incentivizing them for skill trainings.

Key Features of the Scheme

The Scheme will provide monetary reward on successful completion of, market-driven skill training to approximately ten lakh (10, 00,000) youth in a span of one year from the date of implementation of the scheme. All train-ings will be specifically oriented for developing skills in specific growth sectors. Assessing and training bodies for all purposes of the Scheme will be separate and no overlap of roles will be allowed to maintain transpar-ency and objectivity. The monetary reward will be wholly funded by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Appropriate consideration will be provided to the economically backward sections.”

Eligible Sectors and Job Roles While the Scheme is intended to cover all job roles in all sectors, it will initially cover only a limited number of high-market-demand Job Roles in specified economic sectors from Levels I to IV in the NVEQF/NSQF. National Occupational Standards (NOS) and Quality Packs (QP) for these roles will be prepared by the respective Sector Skill Councils (SSCs), and will constitute 80% of the entry-level workforce in priority sectors.

In order to ensure that the benefit is extended only to the trainees taking courses which are aligned to NOSs and QPs for eligible Sectors and Job Roles, a select list of training institutions to offer these courses will be approved for the purposes of this Scheme. All institutions, government or private (who, during the last two years, have been selected byany State Government or any Ministry of the Government of India to implement any Government funded or sponsored Scheme), or are NSDC partners, shall be deemed to be part of the approved list of training providers under this Scheme. All such deemed approved training providers will need to get each training course they propose to offer, aligned to NOS and QPs of various eligible job roles corresponding to Levels 1 to 4 as designed by SSCs. Those

training providers, who have no prior affiliation with any government institution or NSDC, will go through a pre-screening process of the SSCs according to an Affilia-tion Protocol prepared by NSDC/SSC. The list of all the training providers in the skill development space that are NSDC partners shall be available on the NSDC website i.e. www.nsdcindia.org in addition to the QPs, NOS, Approved Sectors and Job Roles. Training programs will be for a minimum of 30 days duration. It will be ensured that assessments are planned by SSCs only after completion of the training. The duration of training may also include on the job training, Internships etc. if required.

Training Content and Eligible Providers

The NSDC provides services for the following

sectors in India:· Automobile / Auto components· Electronics hardware· Textiles and garments· Leather and leather goods· Chemicals and pharmaceuticals· Gems and jewellery· Building and construction· Food processing· Handlooms and handicrafts· Building hardware and home furnishings· IT or software· ITES-BPO· Tourism, hospitality and travel· Transportation/ logistics/ warehous ing and packaging· Organised retail· Real estate· Media, entertainment, broadcasting, content creation, animation· Healthcare· Banking/ insurance and finance· Education/ skill development· Unorganised sector

No entity that is engaged in providing training under this Scheme shall be eligible to be approved as an assessment and certification agency. All assessment agencies will be pre-screened and approved by the SSCs and their details updated on the Skill Development Management System (SDMS). Initially a select set of assessment agen-cies with national presence and having demonstrated ability to assess the eligible training content w.r.t. NOS and QPs, will be selected by SSCs. Later the Scheme would be made open to all eligible assessment agencies. In due course, any institution or body offering assessment services can apply to work with specific SSCs, for designated NOS and QPs for eligible sectors and job roles. All assessments will conform to assessment guidelines laid down by the concerned SSC for each QP. Assessment Fees charged to candidates by the assessment agencies for each assessment will be capped as follows:-

i. Courses aligned to shop floor job roles in manufacturing – maximum Rs. 1,500ii. All other Courses – maximum Rs. 1,000

Assessment and Certification

Eligible Beneficiaries In line with the objectives stated above, this Scheme is applicable to any candidate of Indian nationality who: Undergoes skill development training in an eligible sector by an eligible training provider as defined above; Is certified during the span of one year from the date of launch of the scheme by approved assess-ment agencies as defined above; and Is availing of this monetary award for the first and only time during the operation of this Scheme. The scheme is currently meant only for candidates availing themselves of skill development training from eligible providers.

Monetary Rewards The banking network will be used for direct trans-fer of the funds to the candidates/training provider. The reward corpus will be placed with a nodal bank in each District in consultation with the Indian Bank Associa-tion. Monetary Reward for certification is as follows:

SectorsNSQF Level 1 & 2NSQF Level 3 & 4

Manufacturing Courses

Rs. 10,000Rs. 15,000

Service & other Sectors

Rs. 7,500Rs. 10,000

Each category would have pre-defined number of awards. Once the number for a particular category gets exhausted, only proposals for the remaining catego-ries would be entertained. In order to enable the financially disadvantaged to use the award money to fund a part of the training cost, the training providers will allow candidates to pay part of the course fee (minimum 25% of the prescribed fee) and the bal-ance will be paid to the training provid-er from the monetary award whenever the candidate is eligible for its receipt. Evaluation and Monitoring

Skill Development Management System will have the central repository of data which can be utilized by various stake holders to monitor this Scheme. All agencies like SSCs, training insti-tutions, assessment agencies etc. will have access to SDMS to maintain a cen-tral, repository of training data. Independent evaluation of the Scheme will be done by the NSDA based on agreed criteria with NSDC.

Process for Availing the Benefits of the Scheme

The candidate can enrol in any

course from the list of registered cours-es in specified high demand sectors. The candidate can pursue the course with any of the approved training providers. The candidate needs to intimate the training providers that he/she in-tends to participate in the Scheme. Candidates from economically disadvantaged sections will be al-lowed to pay initial fees equal to the difference between the training cost and the reward money they are eli-gible for. In such cases the candidate can authorize payment of the reward money to be directly transferred to the

training provider after the candidate successfully passes the assessment. After completion of the training, the candidate may get assessed by any of the approved assessment agencies as specified above. The assessment agency, in association with SSCs, will award a secure certificate with a QR bar code for successful completion and assessment of a course through the SDMS. The certificate will be electroni-cally verified using a CAM device and linked to Unique Identity Number (UID)/ National Population Register (NPR) num-ber of the candidate.

Disclaimer : The contents and comments appearing in any article published in this paper are purely the personal opinion of the writer

The winter is yet to set in but the electricity has started hide and seek play with Kashmiris who will be left high and

dry after the Shahi Darbar moves to Garam Pathri (winter capital) of the state. This has been now the fate of Kashmiri people for years together. Every now and then the government swears to improve the power situation in the valley at the beginning of every year and by the end of the year the people do not find any betterment in the power scenario. Billions of dollars have been spent so far onpower genera-tion, many mega power plants set up across the state, millions spent on micro hydel projects and other sources of energy but the plight of a common man does not seem to end in near future. The Salal proj-ect, the Dull Husti, the Uri hydel, the Baglihar etc etc but the Kash-miri homes remained dark weath-er summer or winter. The condi-tion becomes pathetic as soon as the Darbar along with all viceroys and lords moves from Srinagar and hardly anybody amongst them is seen anywhere in the valley and if at all anybody is seen, he is not even ashamed of declaring that he has directed the directionless administration to improve power situation even though he him-self knows that when there is no electricity how can they improve it. These rhetoric have been nar-rated time and again and people are now fed up and do not believe even a single word of these politi-cal viceroys whose only aim is to show their faces on official electronic media as no private channel ever bothers to include these false announcements in their news bulletins. Gone are the days when a minister’s state-ment used to be the final word and law unto itself but nowadays these statements are treated with utter disdain by Babus who are only interested in their own com-forts. The state has a potential of generating over 24,000 Mega Watts of electricity but who is bothered to tap and harness this natural wealth in this state. No past gov-ernment has ever tried to do something in this regard and it is because of that inaction that the state is suffering at present. If the previous governments would have given prominence to this field the state would have gone miles ahead on the path of self sufficien-cy in the field of power generation which in turn would have made it possible for this state to progress and prosper in leaps and bounds.

Never ending electricity woes

of Kashmiris

HEALTH AND FITNESS

ZABARWAN TIMES Sunday 06 October 2013

Smart substitutes that match onion's tasteIf onion prices are taking the bite out of your meals, here's a top chef's guide to smart alternatives that match the bulb's tasteLast week in Lucknow, a customer tried shooting a local streetfood vendor for the thelawalla's spartan use of onions in the omelette he had ordered. Although we have narrowly escaped yet another onion crisis, most of us continue to suffer from the (expensive) absence of our favou-rite flavour-packed ingredient. Instead of getting tearyeyed about soaring costs, we spoke to Mumbai chefs known for stirring up delicious Indian fare to help you discover economical alternatives to the kanda.

This species of the Asian allium's first recorded cultivation dates back 7,000 years, and ever since, the bulbs that grow underground have turned into a prized commodity all over the world thanks to their flavour and crunch. Chefs and mamas alike use them raw, pickled and flash fried in sabjis, sambhars, curries and meat gravies. Any cook worth his salt will readily agree that almost all Indian gravy-based dishes use onions for their base — usually paired with tomatoes, garlic and ginger.

If you try and peel away the factors that set this sulphur-rich tearjerker apart from other key ingredients, there are a few things that this bulb provides bet-ter than any other. Think in threes — taste, bite and thickening. "The most obvious crunch-providing substitutes for onions include cucumbers, carrots and spring onions," says Ananda Solomon, executive chef at Vivanta by Taj President, referring to our penchant for serving onion wedges sprinkled with lime as an indispensable aside to any Indian meal. What the alternatives lack in taste, they make up for with ample munch.

Save up for a rainy dayWhen onions are in cheap supply, take out some time to make onion powder at home. Peel and finely chop your onions. Spread them out on a tray and heat in a 150 degree oven until dry. You know they are dry when you can easily crumble the chopped pieces in your hand. Allow to cool before you grind (rough or fine) it in a food processor. Store the powder in an air-tight container in a cool, dry spot or refrigerate.

For pungent taste Chef Nachiket Shetye suggests using onion powder if you are unwilling to compromise on taste

For crunchMooli — the way Khar's Mini Punjab uses in its radish raita — and doodhi are smart options if you want to make a raita and kachumber

For thickening gravy While onions are indispensable to make a curry or gravy base, cashewnut paste works just as well. Although kaju are more expensive than onions, you'll need to grind just a handful with water or milk to give the gravy a luscious consistency

Instead of getting tearyeyed about soaring costs, we spoke to Mumbai chefs known for stirring up delicious Indian fare to help you discover economical alternatives to the kanda.

9 simple tricks to fall into deep slumberLying awake in bed unable to doze off? We give you nine simple ways to trick yourself into a peaceful slumberWe all know that a glass of hot milk and a warm bath are supposed to relax us before bed. But what when you still can't slip into a good sleep? Trick yourself to shuteye by using these expert natural tips:

Left nostril magic This yoga method is known to reduce blood pressure and calm you. The way to do it is to lie on your left side, and rest a finger on your right nostril to close it. Start slow, deep breathing through the left nostril. This technique is par-ticularly good when overheat-ing or menopausal hot flushes are preventing sleep.

Squeeze and relax Relaxing all your muscles can prepare your body for sleep. Lie on your back, take a deep, slow breath in through your nose and, at the same time, squeeze your toes tightly as if you are trying to curl them under your foot. Then release the squeeze. On another slow breath, curl your foot up toward your knee, then release. Breathe again, contract your calf muscles, then your thighs, buttocks, belly, chest, arms, and so on until you have moved all the way up your body, squeezing and releasing the muscles one by one. When you have gone from head to toe, your breathing should be steady and you should feel ready for sleep.

Stay upChallenge yourself to stay awake, and your mind will rebel. This phenomenon is called the sleep paradox. Keep your eyes wide open, and repeat 'I will not sleep'. The brain doesn't process negatives well. It will interpret this as an in-struction to sleep and eye muscles tire quickly as sleep creeps up.

Press rewind Remembering the mundane details of the day in reverse order clears your mind of worries. Recall conversations, sights and sounds as you go.

ImagineVisualisation meditation works best when you use at least three senses. Imagine yourself in a situation where you feel content — a tropical paradise, sailing on calm waters, walk-ing in flower fields.

Everyday habits that are damaging your backBack pain is one of the most common fallouts of everyday life. But even dumping your heels and stretching may not help your spine.New research shows that a vast majority of backaches are the result of cumulative effects of lifestyle that we often ignore. Simple daily habits such as hunching to read your smart phone or slouching in front of your computer can, over time, strain your spine and the surrounding muscles, leaving you vulnerable to serious back injury. Here are the habits to watch out for:

Sitting stillForget heavy lifting — sitting hunched over a computer all day is poison for your back. Research has found that people with desk jobs suffer more back pain than those working in manual jobs. Using your joints and spine strengthens them, reducing risk of injury. But inactivity weakens them, which makes you more prone to problems.Fix it: Get up and walk around for two minutes, at least once an hour, and improve your posture while you're sitting down. Aim for a "neutral spine position", in which everything is in line, with no strain spots. Your shoulders should be relaxed, feet flat on the floor, and eyes in line with the middle of your screen.

SneezingThis seemingly innocuous, activity is apparently a very common cause of back pain — thanks to its sheer force. A sneeze's speed of release can be up to 100 miles per hour, and our first instinct is to cover our faces and turn away. According to Janet Wakley, author of The Smart Guide to Back Care, this instinctive turn is terrible for our backs. "Spontaneously twisting to the side, combined with the force used by the chest muscles to sneeze, can wrench back muscles in a second," she says.Fix it: Turn your body when you're about to sneeze, so that your back remains straight.

Wearing high heels, pumps Yes, tottering in high heels for long periods can make your back sore, but too much time in the wrong flats can do just as much damage. Heels cause problems because they force your foot forward, altering your body's angle. Since your weight isn't evenly distributed over the spine, it can trigger pain from your knees all the way up to your back. But ballet pumps and flip-flops aren't any better as they allow your foot to slide around. The lack of stability that this causes puts pressure on your spine.Fix it: Ensure your shoe holds your foot firmly in place. Alternate between high heels, mids and flats. By wearing different shoes every day, you lessen your chance of experi-encing long-term problems caused by using only one type of shoe.

Your favourite bra Figures suggest 80 per cent women wear an ill-fitting bra. This can cause several mus-cular problems. A bad bra can lead to hunching and sore neck and back muscles, while one that gives proper support can minimise that forward hunch and relieve pain.Fix it: Get measured by a trained bra-fitter. Go for styles with wider shoul-der straps or a racer-style back, which offer better support and draw you to pull your shoulders back.

Your pot bellyEven an extra couple of pounds around your middle makes your pelvis tilt forward. This puts it out of alignment as your body works to rebalance itself. Also, this means that your spine isn't getting enough support from your abdominal muscles, which can cause excessive strain on your lower back.Fix it: Don't do sit-ups — they won't flatten your tummy if there's fat on top. Fat-burning cardiovascular exercises, such as running or swimming, for 45 min-utes, three times a week, are more effective at shifting the bulge.

Your Smartphone The head-down position that you use to look at phones, iPads and laptops strains the muscles in the neck and the pain can extend to your lower back. Using them for hours on end means your body will eventually start to adopt this hunched position.Fix it: Make sure you take frequent screen breaks. Try to look straight ahead and not down at your screen.

5 exercises you can do while at work

Here are some exercises that you can do while you are at workSitting at your desk and staring at the computer screen for hours is not something that most of us, who have regular nine-to-five jobs, can avoid. However, what is most worrying about this kind of a sedentary lifestyle is that it takes a toll on our health and fitness. With all of us running after time constantly, and not getting ample time to workout at home or at a gym, exercising while at work, may be the only possibility.This will not only reduce stress and keep you energized, focused and healthy, but will also increase your productiv-ity at work. All you need is a break of a few minutes. If you are not blessed with a gym in your office premises, do keep the following tips in mind and make the most of it. You can practice these without leaving your office. Do them every day and notice the difference.Take it to the matKeep a fold-able exercise mat in your office, which can be used to carry out basic exercises like stomach crunches, push-ups and leg lifts. This can help to burn off carbohy-drates and revitalize you for the rest of the day.Take the stairsWhen given the choice between taking the elevator or climbing the stairs to your floor at work, opt for the latter. Climbing stairs is an easy exercise and also one of the best every day exercises for office-goers. It not only burns calories, but this cardiovascular activity also gets your heart pumping and helps in boosting blood circulation.

3 foods we think are totally healthyYou may have already made the switch from white bread to brown bread in a conscious bid to eat healthy and save your diet. But have you thought the brown bread you pick up every time from your local general store could well just be a brown colour bread?Blame our new found consciousness for healthy eating that has led FMCG companies to up the ante by inundating the market with a host of high nutrition foods and then suavely marketing them as essential lifestyle products. From heart-healthy cooking oil, crunchy granola bars, fruit-flavoured yoghurt, to dry fruit-sprinkled muesli, we have begun hoarding everything that screams 'low calorie' in a last ditch effort to save our health.Despite the number of hours at the gym we wonder where we are going wrong. Well, the reason behind this is foods we think are healthy, but are actually not. Delhi-based wellness expert Dr Shikha Sharma helps us identify such foods and their possible substitutes.

Healthy food trap: Breakfast cerealsYou have been stocking all sorts of breakfast cereals for a while since you discovered parathas are lousy for breakfast. But re-consider a moment. Not all breakfast cereals on the market are low-calorie, or the least bit healthy. When buying breakfast cereals be extremely picky about the ingredients of your pack; check for the sugar content, artificial colouring, salt, fibre and fat content. It is always advisable to steer clear of the sugar-frosted, chocolate-coated varieties as you don’t want your first meal to do anything but pump sugar into your body

Healthy food trap: Flavoured yoghurt/milkYour local dairy shop will first produce a strawberry-fla-voured yoghurt cup when you ask for yoghurt. Such is the hoopla surrounding every food that's flavoured. Its novel and apparently healthy. But it is only preposterous to think that they contain real fruit pulp and probably as good as plain yoghurt. All your strawberry, blueberry and mango flavoured yoghurts are loaded with sugar and chemicals to get the desired colour and sweetness, for real fruit pulp can never be that sweet. The same goes with flavoured milk.

Healthy food trap: White riceDevoid of nutrition, white rice is nothing but a refined grain that has been stripped of its vitamins, minerals and fibre. Cooked white rice is all starch that easily converts to glu-cose in our body and shoots up our blood pressure, or gives a tummy bulge. White rice should especially be avoided by those who are carb sensitive as even a little bit of rice could make them feel full, and even fat. Also, white rice leaves you hungry too soon as your body takes very little time to break it down and digest it.

Exercise for 3 mins, burn fatThose who feel

lazy to go to gym or do not have

time to exercise may be literally jumping once they read this

news.Scientists say we don’t

need to work for hours at the gym to cut flab, as just three minutes of exercise a week could be enough to help you lose weight.

The secret is short bursts of intense exercise - known as high-intensity in-

terval training.According Scientists

at Birmingham and Not-tingham universities, such a session once a week is far more effective at -burning fat than daily workouts, the

Daily Express reported.HIT triggers the release

of fat-burning hormones helping to shift those un-wanted love handles. It also

moves glucose from the blood into muscle tissue where it is burned as energy rather than converted to fat.

And vigorous bursts of physical activity also have the effect of killing your ap-

petite, whereas longer work-outs can leave you wanting to eat more.

This means people keen to lose weight would

be less likely to be tempted to snack on unhealthy treats if they ditched the gym and went for a short brisk walk. HIT sessions can include running, riding a bike or walking.

“HIT is really good at improving glucose uptake into the muscles in a very, very short time,” Professor James Timmons, leading the research at Birming-ham, said.

“With really intense exercise, you release hor-mones that can help break down fat. This may help burn that fat over time, af-ter HIT is done. Also, we think, but don’t know, that HIT will subdue appetite, while traditional exercise will stimulate appetite. This last point is key and will be researched by our team,” he stated.

Climate model can predict malaria outbreaks

UK researchers are working with computer modelling specialists in India to predict areas of the country that are most vulnerable to malaria outbreaks, following chang-es in monsoon rainfall. The number of heavy rainfall events in India has increased over the past 50 years, but research has tended to focus on the impact this has on agriculture rather than the vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and Japanese Encephalitis. The University’’s School of Environmental Sciences is working with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’’s (CSIR) Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation

(C-MMACS), Bangalore, to develop technology that will help decision makers and planners target areas that are prone to large scale cli-mate variability and malaria epidemics. The model could help inform early interven-tion methods to prevent the spread of malaria at key points in the seasonal mon-soon cycle, reducing the eco-nomic and health impacts of the disease. “We already know that an anomalous season of heavy rainfall, when heat and hu-midity are high, allows in-sects such as mosquitoes to thrive and spread infection to humans,” Dr Andy Morse, from the University’s School of Environmental Sciences,

said. “In order to prepare health services and prevent epidemics we must have a way of predicting when these events are likely to occur in areas that are not accustomed to annual out-breaks of malaria.

“Liverpool has devel-oped human and animal disease models that can be integrated into seasonal forecasting systems to give a picture of what the climate impacts on disease risk will be like in four to six months time.” Dr Prashant Goswa-mi, from C-MMACS, India, said that they are “rapidly developing our computer modelling capabilities us-ing technology that can ad-dress the impacts of climate

variability on agriculture and water systems.” “This knowledge, together with the Liverpool models of vector-borne diseases, will help us develop systems to predict when changes in the monsoonal rain may occur and which areas are most likely to see an increase in malaria.

“Health authorities in India are already very suc-cessful at controlling ma-laria cases, but this new research should support decision makers in keeping ahead of the more serious occurrences of the disease, which is starting to increase across the country alongside the changing climate condi-tions,” Dr Goswami added.

5 Rules to flawless complexionHere are five clev-er skincare tricks

that keep your complexion clear

and your pores almost invisible.

To get the flawless face you crave, follow these five easy rules.

Keep skin cleanNever ever go to bed

with your makeup on (it

gets pushed deep into pores while you toss and turn), and when washing, spend a minimum of 30 seconds massaging in a cleanser. Use a face wash that suits your skin type -- milky creams

if you tend to be dry and foams or gels for normal or acne-prone com-plexions.

Prevent black-heads

Dampen skin then lightly rub a facial scrub on ar-eas prone to clog-ging; like the nose, cheeks, and chin using a circular motion. Exfoliat-

ing loosens dry skin that can cause blockage. For oily complexions, use a scrub that contains a chemical ex-foliator, three times a week. If you have dry or sensitive

skin, use a gentle, nonabra-sive, creamy exfoliator twice weekly.

Remove impuritiesClogged pore expand,

so the opening becomes wider. To decrease blemish-causing debris apply a clay-based mask to your T-zone (forehead, nose, and chin) one or two times a week. Clay acts like a vacuum and pulls dirt and oil to the surface. Ex-perts never recommend pick-ing, but if you’re going to do it, use an extraction. The oval shape creates an even pres-sure that forces the debris up and out.

Absorb excess shineOil reflects light and

brings more attention to a pore’s size. Soak up excess sebum with paper blotting sheets or a mattifying cream instead of reapplying a com-pact powder throughout the day. Layers of makeup will lead to congestion .

Use oil-free productsIf you have large pores,

avoid cleansers and mois-turizers that contain any type of oil, especially min-eral oil or petroleum, which can create a clogging film. Skip waterproof and stay-put makeup .

According to S.K. Love of Vedicure Wellness Clinic, an estimated 5 to 10 per cent people suffer from chromato-phobia.

“Heredity, genetics and brain chemistry, combined with past experiences, play a major role in the develop-ment of phobias. Intense negative experience from the past can cause chromatopho-bia,” Love told us.

There are specific pho-bias for specific colours.

The phobia of the colour white is leukophobia, while for black it is called melano-phobia.

The fear of purple is called porphyrophobia, fear

of yellow is xanthophobia, fear of red is erythrophobia, fear of green is called chlo-

rophobia and fear of blue is known as cyanophobia.

Chromatophobia can surface for a variety of rea-sons -- even due to some-thing as simple as the use of names of colours in popular phrases.

“ ‘Scarlet Woman’ de-

notes an adulterous or pro-miscuous female. ‘Black-guard’ is used to describe a

rogue or criminal, ‘Feeling blue’ is a way of expressing melancholy and sadness. For some, the mental and emotional connections be-tween colours and emotions make them averse to certain colours,” explained Anil Patil of Vedicure Wellness Clinic.

People suffering from colour blindness are also likely to develop phobia for colours.

“Many people with colour blindness develop chromatophobia. They will be unsure about what colours they are seeing, and things may seem off-kilter.

“Any life problems created by colour blind-ness, such as bad memories or ca-reer problems, will be potent triggers for chro-m a t o p h o b i a , ” said Patil.

Chromato-phobic reactions

can be mental, emotional and physical.

The anxiety and fear can go from mild feelings of ap-prehension to a full-blown panic attack. People suffering from this phobia can often complain of headaches, nau-sea and dizziness.

Fear of colour? Here’s how to cure it

Remember Rizwan Khan of “My Name Is Khan”? Just like he panicked when he saw the colour yellow, there are people who suffer from chromatophobia - the fear of colours. But it can be cured with therapy and coun-

selling, say experts.

Tech-ing a toll on your health?

Spending long hours on the com-puter or constant chatting on the phone, irregular postures are causing more harm to you than you know.

One of the recent disorders that is commonly seen among profession-als with excessive use of a phone or a computer is none other than the Car-pal Tunnel Syndrome.

The cause This is due to compression of

the median nerve in the carpal tun-

nel. Carpal tunnel is roughly two fin-ger breaths beginning from the distal palmar crease towards the palm. Dr Ashish Agarwal, joint replacement surgeon, Bombay Hospital, says, “Any condition that exerts pressure on the median nerve at the wrist can cause carpal tunnel syndrome. Carpal tun-nel syndrome from repetitive maneu-vers has been referred to as one of the repetitive stress injuries. Some rare diseases can cause deposition of ab-

normal substances in and around the car-pal tunnel, leading to nerve irritation.” Symptoms

People with car-pal tunnel syndrome initially feel numb-ness and tingling of the hand in the distri-bution of the median nerve (the thumb, in-dex, middle, and part of the fourth fingers). These sensations are often more pro-nounced at night and can awaken people from sleep.

The reason symp-toms are worse at night may be related to the flexed-wrist sleeping position and/or fluid accu-mulating around the wrist and hand while lying flat. Carpal tun-nel syndrome may be

a temporary condition that completely resolves or it can persist and progress. Treat it right

“Initial treatment usually includes rest, immobilisation of the wrist in a splint, and occasionally ice applica-tion. Those whose occupations are aggravating the symptoms should modify their activities. For example, computer keyboards and chair height may need to be adjusted to optimize comfort,”says Dr Agarwal.

Spring onions add great nutritive

and taste value to a dish and can be used in different

ways.Spring onions were

grown in Chinese gardens 5000 years ago! Do you know the onion bulb was worshipped as the symbol of the universe by ancient Egyptians? Nutritionally, green onions have a com-bination of the benefits of onions and greens. They

are an excellent source of vitamin K and vitamin C, and a very good source of vitamin A too.

Spring onions can be added to dal and make it a much tastier dish. Simi-larly, you can add it to veg-etables like cauliflower and potatoes and it will make an excellent dish. Mush-rooms go very well with spring onions and interest-ingly spring onions can be added to soy nuggets while making a Chinese dish. Spring onions are used in salads as the flavor tends to be milder than other onions. It is used widely in oriental food both as an in-gredient and as a garnish.

Spring onion is a nu-

tritious plant, and there-fore it provides a host of health benefits to us. It is a rich source of vitamins and minerals which aids in cur-ing the various ailments. It is seen to have helped in reducing the harmful im-pacts of various diseases.

Some of the health benefits of spring onions are as follows:

- Spring onion lowers the blood sugar level.

- It is a support against gastrointestinal problems.

- It is often used as a medicine for common cold.

- It is used as an appe-tizer as it helps digestion.

- It speeds up the level of blood circulation in the body.

Health benefits of spring onions

How stress affects humansBy studying social stress that

moulds monkey immune system, researchers have

shed light on how the stress of low socioeconomic status may impact human health and how individuals’ bodies

adapt after a shift in their social environment.

Researchers, who conducted the study with rhesus macaques at the Ye-rkes National Primate Research Cen-ter, insisted that if a monkey’s social status changes, her immune system changes along with it. Researchers led by Jenny Tung, PhD, said they can pre-dict a rhesus macaque’s rank within a small group by examining gene ex-pression levels in her immune cells. Primate researchers can tell macaques’ social rank by watching them engage in competitive interactions, such as grooming and accessing food and wa-ter. Tung and her colleagues studied 10 groups of female macaques (five each) in which researchers could manipulate individuals’ social rank. Before being placed into new groups, all of the ma-caques started out as middle rank.

“In the wild, macaques inherit their social rank from their mothers” Tung said.

“But in our research, the order of introduction determines rank; the newcomer is generally lower status. When some macaques’ status changed after a newcomer arrived, so did their patterns of immune system gene activ-ity.” The researchers used microarrays, a technology that allows them to scan thousands of genes and read the ex-pression levels, to look at the macaques’ immune cells. The gene activity that changed the most depending on social rank was what controlled inflamma-tion. Previous studies have found low-er status macaques have higher levels of inflammation and have changes in their levels of hormones that indicate they’re under more stress.

BMI may be understating obesity epidemicBody-mass index BMI, the 200-year-old formula widely used by medical ex-perts, health insurers and the fitness industry, may be categorising almost half of women and just over 20 per cent of men as healthy when their body-fat composition suggests they are obese, a US new study has found.

The study uses a pa-tient’s ratio of fat to lean muscle mass as the “gold standard” for detecting obe-sity and suggests that it could be a better bellwether of an individual’s risk for health problems. The research-ers suggested that body fat would predict individuals’ health risks better than the BMI, the LA Times report-

ed. To measure fatness, they used a costly diagnostic test called dual-energy X-ray ab-sorptiometry, or DXA, and calculated subjects’ level of obesity based on fat-compo-sition standards used by the American Society of Bariat-ric Physicians. The results also suggest that the BMI is a poor measure of fatness in men - but not always in a way that underestimates their obesity. In all, 20 per cent of the study’s men shift-ed from normal and healthy into the obese column un-der the new measure. But far more frequently than was the case among women, men who were obese by the BMI standard were reclassi-fied as normal and healthy

when they were measured with the DXA.

“We may be much further behind than we thought” in addressing the nation’s crisis of obesity, the researchers wrote. In an interview, Braverman derided the BMI as “the ba-loney mass index” and said that its widespread use was “feeding the failure” of pub-lic health policies and treat-ments aimed at fighting obesity. The 1,393 patients in the study were from his Manhattan practice. Efforts to get patients to shed ex-tra pounds have produced weight loss in the short term but fatter patients in the long run as weight is re-gained, Braverman said.

Moderate drinking halves hepatitis risk

NALFD is the most common liver disease in the United States, affecting up to one third of American adults. It is characterized by abnormal fat accumulation in the liver. The specific cause or causes is not known, though obesity and diabetes are risk factors. Most pa-tients with NAFLD have few or no symptoms, but in its most progressive form, known as nonalcoholic steato-hepatitis or NASH, there is a significantly heightened risk of cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver-related death. NALFD is also a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Patients with NAFLD are approximately two times more likely to die from coronary heart disease than from liver disease. The national team of scientists led by research-ers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine wanted to know if the well-documented heart-healthy benefits of modest alcohol consumption outweighed alcohol’s negative effects.

THURSDAY | OCTOBER 10

Agencies

Bhubaneswar: Odi-sha and Andhra Pradesh are prepping for the possibility of a major cyclone that could hit on Saturday evening.

A cyclonic storm hit the Andaman and Nicobar is-

lands today and is expected to reach the coast of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha over the next 48-72 hours, the MeT department said.

In Odisha, officials of 14 coastal districts have been asked to ensure emergency plans and assistance are ready.

But in Coastal Andhra Pradesh, thousands of gov-ernment employees are on strike, protesting against the Centre’s decision to carve out the region of Telangana as its own state. The coastal regions of Seemandhra have been in shutdown mode

since Friday, since the Union Cabinet green-lit the process to di-vide the state.

Chief Min-ister Kiran Kumar Reddy met with ministers and senior admin-istrative offi-cials to review

their arrangements. A gov-ernment statement said Mr Reddy has asked for helicop-ters, boats and coast guard services to be ready to evacu-ate people He has also asked officials handling power to draft exigency plans.

Several parts of the re-gions of Rayalaseema and

Coastal Andhra have been grappling with blackouts be-cause thousands of govern-ment employees at power plants are on strike against the bifurcation of the state. The latest in a string of talks between their unions and the chief minister today did not deliver a breakthrough.

“We are monitoring the situation. As the cyclone gets closer, we will issue fresh alerts,” said Odisha’s special relief commissioner Pradeep Kumar Mohapatra.

The state has also written to the central government requesting them to keep choppers ready, he said.

The depression has formed over the north An-daman Sea and was centred about 1250 km east-south-east of Paradip in Odisha, and 1200 km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

The system would inten-sify into a deep depression and further into a cyclonic storm, the official said to news agency IANS.

THURSDAY OCTOBER | 10 | 2013ZABARWAN TIMES 7

Delhi building col-lapse: Two dead, owner booked

New Delhi: A three-storey building collapsed near Bara Hindu Rao area of north Delhi at around 7:20 am on Wednesday, killing two persons. One person has been injured.

The building, believed to be 150 years old, was in a deplorable state and the police had informed the civic agencies seeking evacua-tion, sources said.

Nakki, who was in his 60s, and his sons Bunty, 35 and Salman, 28, were in the building when it col-lapsed. While Salman and Bunty were taken out of the debris and taken to the Bara Hindu Rao hos-pital, Nakki died before he could be extricated.

Bunty later died in hospital. Nakki had a jewellery shop in

the Sadar Bazar market. Police officials added another

person living in the house had gone out when it collapsed.

Delhi fire department, disaster management team and policemen have been pressed into rescue op-eration, said an official.

Meanwhile, a case has report-edly been filed against the owner of the building at the Bara Hindu Rao police station for negligence.

Nomura: BJP government with Narendra Modi at helm will be good for markets

Agencies

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N CNEW DELHI: Given BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s track record of an impres-sive performance on the eco-nomic front, a BJP government at the centre in 2014 will be good for market sentiment, believes Alastair Newton, Senior Political Analyst at Nomura.

However, Newton admitted to the problems of a coalition gov-ernment in India, stating that it is difficult to push structural re-forms. “The caste-based and re-gional interests of some parties serve as a hindrance,” he opined.

In an interview with ET Now, Newton said that the state elec-tions will be a litmus test for all political parties, especially the BJP. “The state elections results will be important to BJP and its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi,” Newton said.

“A good solid performance by BJP will help give them a good platform to move forward to gen-eral elections,” he opined. Accord-ing to Newton, BJP is likely to retain its governments in the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

“The big question however is whether BJP will be able to win back Rajasthan,” he said.

In September 2013, Christopher Wood, Chief Equity Strategist at CLSA had also said that the Indian

stock market’s greatest hope is the emergence of Narendra Modi. “Amidst all these negatives, the one potential positive is that the gathering macroeconomic crisis could trigger an improvement in governance. The Indian stock mar-ket’s greatest hope in this respect is the emergence of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate,” Wood had said.“While the odds are definitely stacked against him, our

view is the worse the sense of crisis the better Modi’s chance of win-ning. Modi is certainly raising the rhetorical level with his growing public attacks on a direction-less government and focus on the col-

lapsing rupee,” Wood opined.Considered a semi-final

before the Lok Sabha polls, as-sembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Mizoram will be held in a single phase between November 25 and December 4, while it will be two- phased in Chhattisgarh on November 11 and 19.

Counting of votes in all the states will be on December 8, Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath said last week.

While Madhya Pradesh will go to polls on November 25 to

elect its 230-member assembly, elections for the 200-member Rajasthan assembly will be held on December 1. Assembly polls in Delhi with 70 constituencies and Mizoram with 40 seats will be held on December 4.The Election Com-mission has also decided to hold bye- elections to the Surat (West) assembly constituency in Gujarat and Yercaud assembly seat in Tamil Nadu on December 4.

Cyclone alert for Odisha and Coastal Andhra, already struggling with protests

Delhi gang-rape case: Two death row convicts

get new counsel

Fight against terrorism has to be unrelenting: Jaitley

Agencies

New Delhi: An advocate today informed the Delhi High Court he will represent two death row convicts in the December 16 gang-rape Mukesh and Pawan, whose counsel had withdrawn from the case yesterday. But the court rejected his plea for recusal of one of the judges from the case.

Appearing before the bench of justices Reva Khet-rapal and Pratibha Rani, ad-vocate ML Sharma said he has filed a ‘vakalatnama’ for Mukesh and Pawan and their relatives including Mukesh’s brother Suresh were also present in the court.

The bench recorded the presence of Sharma for Mukesh and Pawan and that of advocate AP Singh, ap-pearing for convicts Vinay and Akshay Thakur as de-fence counsel in the case.

Sharma told the bench that he should be supplied with relevant documents for both the convicts to file the appeal against the sentence within the stipulated time period of 30 days which ex-

pires on October 13.The court, meanwhile,

discharged advocate VK Anand and Vivek Sharma who withdrew themselves from the case yesterday.

Further, it directed the prosecution to supply the documents pertaining to convict Mukesh to Sharma.

Meanwhile, Vivek Shar-ma handed over to Sharma the paperbook pertaining to convict Pawan.

During the course of hearing, Sharma submitted that Justice Pratibha Rani should recuse from hear-ing the case as she had dis-missed a plea filed by the ac-cused for quashing of the FIR in April.Reacting to his argu-ment, Justice Pratibha Rani said, “Mr counsel, change of counsel doesn’t mean change of the bench.

If you want you can move a petition seeking transfer of the case from this bench.

“There is no question of a bench partner to recuse... Absolutely, there is nothing personal. Unless it is taken away by the Chief Justice, we will not change,” the bench said.

Agencies

India has said that the fight against the scourge of terror-ism has to be unrelenting and nations cannot adopt selective approaches in dealing with ter-

rorist groups.Talking tough on terror, vis-

iting Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said resorting to the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy is short-sightedness.

“The fight against terror-ism has to be unrelenting and fought across all fronts. The in-ternational community cannot afford selective approaches in dealing with terrorist groups or in dismantling the infrastruc-ture of terrorism,” Jaitley said here yesterday during a session on ‘Measures to Eliminate Inter-national Terrorism’.

Jaitley, who is part of a del-egation of Indian parliamentar-ians attending sessions of the

UN General Assembly, reiter-ated India’s call for the adop-tion of a holistic approach that ensures zero-tolerance towards terrorism.

“Terrorists are waging an asymmetric warfare against

the international com-munity, and are a major most threat to the in-ternational peace and security. India holds the firm view that no cause whatsoever or grievance could justify terrorism.

“India condemns ter-rorism in all its forms and manifestations, includ-ing those in which States are directly or indirectly involved, including the State-sponsored cross-

border terrorism,” he added.He said India strongly sup-

ports all efforts, particularly within the purview of the UN that strengthen international and regional cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

“We must step up our col-lective efforts with real coop-eration among member states to confront the scourge of ter-rorism squarely and decisively. Terrorism is a Frankenstein monster. Indeed, those who have taken recourse to it have invariably themselves suffered immensely from it proving the age old dictum that those who play with the sword, shall also perish by it,” he said.

Opposition stalling pro-people bills: Rahul

Agencies

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked the Opposition for “creating hurdles at every step” for the UPA government in bringing pro-people legislations

like the food and land acquisition bills.

He also attacked the Akhilesh Yadav government saying it was not implementing the National Food Security Act thinking it would ben-efit Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

He said he, along with party chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Min-ister Manmohan Singh, fought hard

to get the two ambitious legisla-tions passed by Parliament.

“Efforts were made to create hurdles at every step in Parlia-ment... We were stopped by the Op-position,” he said, adding that the bills were stuck at various stages

including the Parliamentary Stand-ing Committees. “Even Parliament was not allowed to function,” he said.

Addressing a gathering in Ram-pur, Mr. Rahul said the bills were passed as it was a promise made by the Congress-led alliance.

He recalled the death of people in Bhatta-Parsaul villages nearby during an agitation over land rights

in 2011.He said after the 2014 general

elections, a “government of youth” will be formed which will “change the country”.

Targeting the Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment, he claimed that it has re-fused to implement the Food Act at this stage. “They want to implement it after the 2014 polls. Perhaps the thinking is that it will benefit Con-gress in the elections.

Now the Congress workers will have to put pressure on ministers and officials to implement the Act now,” he said.

Terming the Food Act as a revolu-tionary measure, Mr. Rahul said the earlier slogan ‘Aadhi roti khayenge, Congress ko layenge’ (will do with little food, but will bring Congress to power) will have to be changed to ‘Bhar pet khayenge, Congress ko layenge’ (will have a hearty meal and bring Congress to power).

He said it was time to bring change in Uttar Pradesh as succes-sive SP and BSP governments have given “zero” results.

“We do not indulge in politics of violence between religions and castes. We practice politics of non-violence and development,” he said.

Referring to the RTI Act, Mr. Ra-hul said it should be used by the common man to enter the rooms of bureaucrats and politicians which are closed for him.

“If they do not give information (under the transparency law), they should be jailed,” he said.

Agencies

HYDERABAD: Talks between Andhra Pradesh government and striking Non-Gazetted Officers Association, to end the ongoing indefinite strike by government employees, did not bear fruit as the latter vowed to continue agitation against pro-posed bifurcation of the state.

The talks between the government and the APNGOs association failed even as chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy sought to assure them that he would not let the state be divided as long as he re-mained the CM.

Reddy held talks for over three hours with the APNGOs association leaders at the state secretariat this afternoon to end the impasse, caused due to the indefi-nite strike by government employees in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, launched on August 12 in protest against the proposed bifurcation of the state.

“The chief minister requested us to call off the strike to avoid inconvenience to the people. He assured us that he would not let the state be divided as long as he remained the chief minister. But we told him that the strike will continue till a specific assurance was given on the bi-furcation issue,” NGOs Association leader U Murali Krishna told reporters after the meeting.

The NGOs association said it would discuss the government’s proposal with

its general body and take a decision on ending the strike.

“We will get back to the Cabinet sub-committee in a day or two after discuss-ing the issue with our general body,” Mu-rali Krishna added.

The chief minister requested the em-

ployees to bear in the mind the cyclone threat to the coastal region and withdraw the strike to meet any emergency.

The NGOs Association, however, as-sured the chief minister that employees of revenue, panchayat raj and other de-partments concerned would take part

in relief and rescue operations in case of cyclone despite being on strike, its presi-dent P Ashok Babu said.

The Association requested the chief minister to lead a delegation of em-ployees to New Delhi to present their concerns to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and others over the proposed bi-furcation of the state.

Jagan continues fast despite deterio-rating health (IANS reports from Hyder-abad)

YSR Congress party YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s indefinite fast against the Cen-tre’s decision to divide Andhra Pradesh entered fifth day Wednesday even as his condition continued to deteriorate.

Jagan, as the MP from Kadapa is popu-larly known, is suffering from dehydra-tion and is having fever, doctors who ex-amined him said. With the young leader turning weak and the sugar level coming down, doctors have advised him to take fluids. They warned that if he continues the fast, he may slip into coma. Jagan is also refusing to take fluids or any medi-cines. People from different parts of the state continue to pour in at his office-cum-residence at Lotus Pond to meet and declare their support.

Jagan is demanding the Centre with-draw its decision to carve out separate Telangana state. He argued that a state can’t be divided without a resolution be-ing a passed in the state assembly.

Seemandhra employees will continue stir as talks with govt fail, Jagan’s health deteriorates

Ahmedabad po-lice procure transfer warrant to question

AsaramAgencies

Agencies:

The city police have procured a transfer war-rant from a court in Gandhinagar to question self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, currently lodged in a jail in Jodhpur, in connection with a sexual assault case lodged by two sisters from Surat against him and his son. “We have got evidence against Asaram during probe. We want to inter-rogate him and so we have procured a trans-fer warrant from a court in Gandhinagar,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Sector-I) J K Bhatt told reporters here. A police team from the city is ex-pected to leave for Jodhpur any time to bring and produce the self-styled godman before a judicial magistrate in Gandhinagar. A case was lodged in Surat’s Jehangirpura police station, which was later transferred to Chandkheda police station in Ahmedabad, against Asaram on the allegations of the elder of the two sisters that she was repeat-edly sexually abused at his ashram in Motera in Gujarat. The elder sister, in her complaint, had ac-cused Asaram of repeated sexual assault between 1997 and 2006 during the time she had been liv-ing in his ashram on the outskirts of Ahmedabad city. The younger sister had filed a complaint against Asaram’s son Narayan Sai, accusing him of repeated sexual assault between 2002 and 2005 when she was living in their Surat ashram.

The whereabouts of Sai are not known. Six police teams formed by Surat police to

trace Narayan Sai claim to have got vital clues re-garding the case. Yesterday, the police had started videographing the entire ashram and conducted a thorough inspection of the premises. “We have got evidence against Sai and the case is progress-ing expeditiously,” Surat Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana told reporters in Surat.

Agencies

MUMBAI: Their focus on the number one spot up for grabs in the upcoming ODI series against In-dia, Australian captain George Bai-ley and coach Steve Rixon said the visitors are no longer intimidated by the sub-continental conditions courtesy the exposure they have

got through the IPL.The Aussies will start the tour

with a one-off Twenty20 match in Rajkot on October 10 followed by seven ODIs.

“If you look at the tournament, it is not just a tournament but a chance to be number 1 in the world in one of the three formats,” said

Rixon at the first media conference of the squad after its arrival on Sat-urday night.

“So, it is very important to the players, the coaching staff and Cricket Australia. At the end of the day, we want to sit back and want to be part of the number one side,” he added.

If Australia win the series hand-somely, they will go over India to become the world’s No.1 ranked ODI team and if the hosts win they will retain their top spot.

Going into the in-tense contest against India, both Rixon and team captain George Bailey saw the advan-tage of having quite a few squad members with the Champions League Twenty20

exposure.“Yes, we do know a few players that certainly I think one of the great things about the IPL, over the years. We have played at a lot of grounds that we are about to play at. Most of our players have played with and against a lot of In-dian players, vice-versa, they have played with a lot of us,” said Bailey

who is leading the squad in the ab-sence of injured regular ODI captain Michael Clarke.

“We know a lot about strengths and weaknesses and lot about the personalities, so there is absolutely some advantage for both the teams but also some areas to try and ex-ploit,” added Bailey who played for Chennai Super Kings, led by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, in CLT20.Rixon, a part of the support staff of CSK as its fielding coach, agreed with his captain, adding the squad still had plenty of work to do to get the better of the ICC World Cup and Champions Trophy holders

“Its all very well knowing the players but also knowing that you combat those players having just spent time in the Champions League. To see the likes of Suresh Raina, the way he is playing, the likes of Dhoni, the way he is play-ing, and even to a degree (Ravichan-dran) Ashwin. You still have to be able to combat that.“We still have got plenty of homework to do but the advantage as George rightfully said, we get to see them regularly now. We actually have more chance combating them,” he said.

Rixon said the plus point for his team is that five of the players fig-ured for their respective franchises

in yesterday’s CLT20 final between eventual winners and IPL champi-ons Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals.

“Coming into a tournament like this, you need performance players. A lot of the Indian players, in fact all of the Indians, would have played in the previous tournament so that has got to be an advantage for ev-eryone playing.

“We have been fortunate to have five in the final, so to us, we are in a reasonable position as well. End result is, the guys who haven’t been playing a lot of cricket, get them upto speed for the remaining, lead-ing upto the T20 and the one-day-ers. Once that happens, it’s an even contest,” he said.

Both Rixon and Bailey rued the absence of Michael Clarke, who was ruled out of the tour due to his back problem.

“You take Dhoni out, that prob-ably answers your question,” said Rixon candidly, while Bailey said, “We would love to have Michael here.”

Bailey, however, brushed aside the criticism of former Australia captain Ian Chappell that the se-ries was ill-timed as it was being held just ahead of the Ashes series against England.

District Sports Councils take shape, Taj convenes meeting of chairmen

Agencies

District Sports Councils take shape, Taj convenes meeting of chairmen

Srinagar, October 09: The first meeting of chair-

men of District Sports Councils was held here today under the chair-manship of Minister for Medical Education, Youth Services & Sports, Mr. Taj Mohi ud Din.These coun-cils were constituted in the last meeting of gen-eral council of J&K State Sports Council, of which Mr. Taj is the chairman, with a view to take sports promotion at the grass-

root levels and hunt for talent among youth be-yond the cities of Srinagar and Jammu.

The Minister has been impressing upon for an inclusive approach to tap

the sports talent of youth across regions, boundar-ies, gender and age.Chair-ing the meeting, Mr. Taj asked the office bearers of newly constituted district councils to work in tan-dem with other organisa-tions and agencies work-ing in their areas for the promotion of sports. He asked them to work close-ly with NYKs in their dis-tricts and formulate new

programmes and policies for betterment of youth.

Mr. Taj specifically di-rected these district coun-cils to start talent hunt in their respective districts at the school level. He said

many new centrally spon-sored schemes are coming in sports which need to be implemented to raise in-frastructure and increase sports activity in J&K.The meeting was attended by Dr. Sheikh Mustaffa Kamaal, Secretary, Youth Services & Sports, Mr. Parvez Malik, Secretary, J&K State Sports Council and chairmen of District Sports Councils.

Agencies

With Tillakaratne Dilshan set to announce his retirement from Tests, a lot of questions will be asked about the future Sri Lankan crick-et. This is a transitional phase for Sri Lanka but can they cope without one of the key members going into an uncertain future, writes Shrikant Shankar.

Every team in any sport goes through a transitional phase, where a set order is re-placed by a new one. It is not the easiest of times for any team, especially a successful team. A well-established player or a few well-established players retire or are forced to re-tire so that youngsters can be blooded in. This process takes time and sometimes decades are spent in rebuilding an entire team. The mile-age for any successful team lasts for about six years on an average. There are exceptions of

course where teams go the full distance and last for almost a decade.

In cricket, there have been two legendary sides — first the West Indies from the 1970s to 1980s, then Australia from the late 1990s to the near end of the first decade of the new millen-nium. West Indies have never gotten back to their heydays, while Australia have struggled since the likes of Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Brett Lee, Michael Hussey, Ricky Pon-ting and many more have called it a day.

India’s 1983 World Cup-winning team was great, but the departure of some of their stal-warts led to a down phase in Indian cricket. India were the best team in Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODIs) around 2010 and the ear-ly part of 2011. This culminated in India being the top-ranked team in Tests and winning the ICC World Cup 2011. But till the team won the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, the team was in

transition and struggled, especially away from home.

Another team facing such a transitional phase is Sri Lanka. For long have the likes of Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan carried this team forward. When the trio broke into the Sri Lankan team around the late 1990s and early 2000s, the national team was in the pink of their health. Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva, Chamin-da Vaas, Marvan Atapattu, Arjuna Ranatunga and Muttiah Muralitharan were there in the team. Sri Lanka had won the 1996 World Cup and were among the strongest teams in world cricket at the time.

With Jayawardene, Sangakkara and Dilshan, Sri Lanka reached the final of the ICC World Cup 2007 and the ICC World Cup 2011. They also were losing finalists in the ICC World T20 2009 and ICC World T20 2012. Yes they did

not win any of the big prizes, but were always there. After the 2011 World Cup final, Sangak-kara handed over the captaincy to Dilshan. But the latter stepped aside and Jayawardene was forced to take over again. Now Angelo Mathews is the leader. But many would be-lieve, Mathews was the default captain, as there are no other candidates. This proves to show that Sri Lankan cricket is facing a tough time ahead.

With Dilshan set to announce his retire-ment from Tests, it brings together a lot of question that Sri Lankan cricket will face. First and foremost, who will replace him? Sri Lanka were never a powerhouse in Test cricket. But Dilshan’s numbers cannot be replaced easily. He scored 5,492 runs at an average of 40.98. He notched up 16 centuries and 23 half-centuries with a highest of 193 against England at Lord’s. And most of this came as an opener.

THURSDAY OCTOBER | 10 | 2013ZABARWAN TIMES6

‘Tillakaratne Dilshan’s Test retirement is the beginning of Sri Lankan cricket’s transitional phase’

Agencies

Kane Williamson. File photo / Getty Images New Zealand experienced a di-sastrous final hour of play as Bangladesh came roar-

ing back in to the contest on the opening day of the first cricket test in Chittagong.

Kane Williamson was trapped lbw from the bowl-ing of Shakib Al Hasan for 114 in the 89th over of the day and the Kiwis then lost

skipper Brendon McCul-lum for 21 in the next over as New Zealand closed day one on 280-5.New Zealand had also lost No 4 Ross Tay-lor for 28 earlier in the final hour of the day’s play after they had built such a steady start.The Black Caps were cruising at 244-2 with Wil-liamson and Taylor at the crease but Taylor tried to turn a delivery from left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak to the onside, only to get a leading edge where a catch was greatfully accepted at cover.Al Hasan’s first six overs produced little of note as they disappeared for 30 runs but in the final stages of the day he was tossed the ball by skipper Mushfiqur Rahim and the left-armer delivered the wicket of Williamson.When Razzak

then decieved McCullum and trapped him in front with what turned out to be the last ball of the day, the home side left the field with their heads held high.

Earlier in the day, Mc-Cullum won the toss and elected to bat, which saw Hamish Rutherford (34) and Peter Fulton (73) put on 57 for the first wicket before Rutherford tried one big stroke too many from the spin bowling of Sohag Gazi and was caught at mid-off.

Rutherford’s departure brought Williamson and Fulton to the crease and the pair ground out 126 for the second wicket before Fulton flashed a loose shot to cover and was dismissed just be-fore the tea interval from the part-time off-spin of Nasir Hossain.

Agencies

Andy Murray pulls out of ATP World Tour finals following back surgery

Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has confirmed his with-drawal from the ATP World Tour Finals as he recovers from back surgery.

Murray, the world No 3, had an operation on his long-stand-ing back problem in September and was always likely to miss the season-ending championships at The O2 from Nov 4-11.

“I’m really disappointed not to be playing this year, I love play-ing in front of my home crowd,” Murray said in a statement on the ATP website. “All the players look forward to competing in London and I’ll be doing my best to qualify again for the tournament next year.”

Murray, a two-time semi-finalist at The O2, was one of four players to have already booked their spot at the World Tour Finals,

the others being Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokov-ic and David Ferrer.

The back injury forced him to skip the

French Open in May and was carefully man-aged by his support team during his run to the Wimbledon title in July before flaring up again as he helped Great Britain book their spot in the Davis Cup World Group in 2014, prompting the decision to undergo an ex-ploratory operation.

Cricket: Honours even after day one

Andy Murray pulls out of ATP World Tour finals following back surgery

Agencies

The BAI had ruled out considering Jwala for selection in any international event in the next one month, pending a decision by the three-member committee that was formed on Mon-day by President Akhilesh Das Gupta.

Jwala Gutta. Embattled shuttler Jwala Gutta on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court against the Badminton Association of India (BAI) after its disciplinary committee recommended a life ban on her for an alleged code of conduct breach in the Indian Badminton League.

“We decided to go ahead with legal action in the case and accordingly filed a petition in the Delhi High Court today,” Jwala’s father Kranti Gutta told PTI.The BAI had ruled out considering Jwala for selection in any international event in the next one month, pending a decision by the three-member committee that was formed on Monday by President Akhilesh Das Gupta.

It means the Commonwealth Games gold medallist won’t be able to play in Denmark and French Open.

Jwala’s coach Syed Mohammad Arif had ad-vised the top shuttler to file a defamation suit against BAI for going to press with-out issuing her a ban notice.

The Sports Min-ister Jitendra Singh also said today that he can look into Jwa-la’s dispute with the BAI if she approaches him.The BAI’s disci-plinary committee had recommended a life ban on Jwala for trying to stop some players of her franchise Delhi Smashers from play-ing a match against Banga Beats in the recent

Indian Badminton League.BAI demanded an “unconditional apology” from the feisty shut-tler to reconsider her case.With the BAI mount-ing pressure, Jwala had a series of meetings

yesterday with her IBL franchise Krrish Delhi Smashers and lawyers here to chalk out the next course of action.The three-member dis-ciplinary panel comprises Indian Olympic Association (IOA) joint secretary Anandeshwar Pandey, Luge Federation of India president Deepa Mehta and Swati Shukla, a former associate of the Common-wealth Games Organising com-mittee.The committee is awaiting an answer from Jwala within a

week.The controversy had erupted during the August 25 tie when Delhi Smashers threatened to pull out against Banga Beats over the last-minute replacement of injured singles player.

Jwala Gutta moves court against Badminton Association of India’s life ban threat

BCCI and Srinivasan prove that cricket fans are still the biggest suckers

India series a chance to become No. 1 ODI side: Australia coach

Agencies

Look in the mirror. Now look at your forehead. Can you read the word? It should be pretty clear. The word on your forehead is SUCKER!

It is what you are. Don’t feel bad, you aren’t alone. The nation is right there with you.

The Supreme Court has ruled that N Srinivasan can return as head of the BCCI.

And there you were all this while innocently thinking that the whole IPL saga would change things for the better.

Here is the kicker of the Su-preme Court ruling: While Srini-vasan can assume his duties as president, he cannot interfere with the IPL probe panel but at the same time must extend all the cooperation required by the investigators.

Let me see if I get this straight. The man whose son-in-law is one of the accused in the IPL

betting case has to co-operate with and provide evidence to the investigation panel?

If only Laloo Prasad got such a break.Is Srinivasan going to be honest in helping

with the investigation? Well, we have no cause to doubt him. After all the only thing he has done is change the constitution of the BCCI to allow himself to own an IPL team, been accused of manipulation in the player auction (no evidence produced yet to support this claim), and described his accused son in law as “cricket enthusi-ast” and not a team owner despite all evidence to the

contrary. So why doubt such a man?Srinivasan also cannot concern himself with

matters related to the IPL. That is like telling Cyrus Mistry that he can head the Tata Group but not concern himself with TCS.

If you were one of the idiots who believed that the scandal would cause a huge change in the system and things would become transpar-ent then you are disillusioned.

The scandal saw the return of Jagmohan Dalmiya in a triumphant but brief comeback till Srinivasan sent him back to the bench. We also saw the return of Lalit Modi on our TV screens. While I am a fan of what Lalit Modi created it must be said that he has become a bore. Since his departure he has promised that he would blow the lid on the entire IPL saga and take Srinivasan down. What are you waiting for Lalit? Srinivasan to become Prime Minister? If you have some-thing then spit it out or else stop making vague threats. You are starting to sound like a disgrun-tled ex-wife.So we are back to where we started. It was bittersweet when the fixing scandal broke. Bitter as a fan of course, but sweet that the people responsible were caught. We were all impressed by what the warring Delhi and Mumbai police uncovered. It was an opportunity to investigate and see how deep the rabbit hole really is.