Vijayakanth releases fresh list of DMDK candidates

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NATIONAL DAILY
VOL. XXXIV NO. 130
8
Santhosh Narayanan
is special:
Karthik Subbaraj
FOUNDER EDITOR: T.R.R
H CHENNAI H
SATURDAY 16.4.2016 (EVENING) H OTHER STATIONS SUNDAY 17.4.2016 (MORNING) H 8 PAGES Rs. 4.00 H Regd. No., TN/CC(S) DN/223/15-17, RNI No: 33810 / 82
‘Over Rs 24 crore seized
so far by flying squads’
Lakhoni launches election handbook
Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni and Additional Director General of
Press Information Bureau K Muthu Kumar releasing the Election Handbook 2016 at Shastri Bhavan in Chennai today.
MALAVIKKA SRIDHARAN
Chennai, Apr 16:
The State’s Chief Electoral Officer
(CEO) Rajesh Lakhoni today said the
EC was leaving no stone unturned as
it gears up for the 16 May Assembly
elections and pointed out that the
about the evolution of elections from
1952 to 2011. This is the first time
that such a book is released for public
reference,’ said Additional Director
General of PIB, K Muthu Kumar.
Referring to a 2011 rule with regard
to the elections, Lakhoni said if a
EC begins new campaign
The last date of registration for voters came to an end on Friday and so
did the 100 per cent voting campaign of the State Election Commission.
‘So far 6,84,000 persons have registered online this time. Those who have
failed to register will be entitled to do it only in the next election,’ said Chief
Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni. Interestingly, a 58-year-old first-time
voter had called Lakhoni on the night of 15 April and sought instructions to
register. ‘There was only few minutes left before the deadline closed and
he managed to do it right away,’ Lakhoni added.
The next campaign for the EC started on Tamil New Year day. This time,
the theme seems to be ‘no vote for rupee note’. The campaign kicked off
with the release of the first set of videos in this regard this week.The video
shows an attempt to bribe a farmer. But he refuses to take it and even adds
that he would not vote for the party that tries to buy them.
‘We think twice before giving even one rupee to a beggar if it is our hard
earned money. This clearly indicates that your money is black and we would
not sell ourselves,’ he says, portraying a dutiful citizen.
Commission’s flying squads had so
far seized over Rs 24 crore, of which
Rs 16.8 crore had been returned to
the people concerned.
‘For people who submit the proper
documents, money is returned within
24 hours. The inspection details are
updated then and there to the EC
through a mobile app and we are doing our best to reduce inconvenience
to people carrying cash,’ he said after
releasing Press Information Bureau’s
(PIB) Election Handbook 2016.
‘The book contains information
party-owned channel broadcast an
election campaign, it should come under the expenditure accounts as per
the advertisement rate of the channel.
Speaking about election preparations, he said that 12 IRS and 10
IAS officials would be reviewing
the preparedness for expenditure
monitoring in Tamilnadu. ‘They
will be visiting Chennai, Madurai,
Tiruchi and Coimbatore,’ he said.
‘They are expected to reach on
19th or 20th and will leave on 24
April,’ he added.
q Final countdown begins for TN Assembly polls
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
Exactly a month is left for the
16 May Assembly elections, and
political parties are gearing up for
a tough contest, with battle lines
becoming more clear.
Perhaps for the fi rst time in the
history of Tamilnadu, a six-cornered
contest is in place-- AIADMK, DMK,
DMDK-led PWF alliance, BJP-led
front, PMK and Naam Tamizhar of
Seeman. This apart, actor Karthik,
who heads Naadalum Makkal
Katchi, is said to be stitching a
‘mega alliance’ of small parties.
AIADMK, led by Chief Minister J
Jayalalithaa, stood first this time
too in naming candidates and
starting campaign. By giving seven
seats to allies (who too would
contest in Two Leaves symbol),
the ruling party has fielded its
candidates in a record number
of 227 constituencies. Jayalalithaa, who hit the campaign trial
Saturday last in Chennai, has
so far addressed mega rallies in
different parts of Tamilnadu and is
attracting huge crowds.
Perhaps for the first
time in the history
of Tamilnadu, a sixcornered contest is
in place — AIADMK,
DMK, DMDK-led PWF
alliance, BJP-led
front, PMK and
Naam Tamizhar
The DMK, which finalised the seat
sharing deal with Congress and other
partners after much discussions, announced its candidates list a few days
ago. Its manifesto, unveiled by party
president M Karunanidhi Sunday last,
promised a plethora of things, including implementation of prohibition,
waiver of farm loans etc.
While Karunanidhi will start campaigning from 23 April, his son and
party treasurer M K Stalin has already
commenced his tour. Accepting
DMDK president Vijayakanth as their
Chief Ministerial candidate, PWF
members (MDMK, VCK, CPI(M)
and CPI) and TMC have formed a
mega alliance. Though seats have
been identified, the complete candidates list is yet to be released. But
leaders of the alliance have started
campaign tours.
PMK is perhaps the first party in
Tamilnadu to start election campaign, as it announced Anbumani
Ramadoss its Chief Ministerial
candidate more than a year ago and
started working towards achieving
the ‘dream’. Recently, it released
its manifesto and two sets of candidates list. The rest is expected to
be out soon.
BJP has tied up with IJK and few
other parties, after its efforts to partner with DMDK and PMK failed. It is
betting on the achievements of the
Central government led by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi.
Naam Tamizhar leader Seeman
has named candidates for all 234
constituencies and is carrying out a
whirlwind tour of Tamilnadu.
Vijayakanth releases fresh
list
of
DMDK
candidates
q Vaiko to contest from Kovilpatti, hits campaign trail
DMK changes
candidates for
two constituencies
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
The DMDK today announced the
fifth list of candidates for the 16 May
Assembly elections.
With this, the DMDK has announced
candidates for 94 of the 104 seats
it would contest under the grand
alliance that also included the fourparty combine People’s Welfare Front
(PWF) and the G K Vasan led Tamil
Maanila Congress (TMC). The PWF
consisted of MDMK, the left parties-CPI and CPI(M)--and the VCK.
The DMDK was yet announce
candidates for 10 seats, including
for Rishivandhiyam, from from Vijayakanth was elected to the State
Assembly in the 2011 polls as part
of the AIADMK-led alliance.
Though party sources said that Vijayakanth would seek re-election from
the same constituency, an official
announcement was yet to be made.
It was also not clear whether his
wife Premalatha and his brother-inlaw Sudeesh, who were instrumental
q By 2018, Chennai's water needs will fully
be met by desalination plants: Report
water from 200 km away to the city,
but still all these sources of water
were dependant on the rains, which
still were not dependable. Looking
for a perennial source of water,
the State government bet big on
desalination.
With no experience in desalination and not having much of an
option, the government went ahead
with the project in 2005 to build
a desalination plant in Minjur, in
outskirts of Chennai. Later, the
government planned constructing
a 100 MLD desalination plant in
Nemmeli on the East Coast Road.
Advanced Integrated Membrane
Technology was chosen for the
Nemmeli project. Not only was
it five per cent cheaper in terms
of capital costs, but it also had
relatively low running costs and
uestioning the ‘business model’ of long-grounded
Kingfisher Airlines for Vijay Mallya’s mounting
woes, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said the airline
sector as such is doing well in India with many carriers
making good profits. Mallya, the owner of Kingfisher
Airlines and many other companies that owe over Rs
9,000 crore of dues to lenders, is currently in London,
defying Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons.
Jaitley’s remarks came on a day when the External
Affairs Ministry suspended Mallya’s diplomatic passport
for four weeks and threatened to revoke it if he fails to
respond within a week on why his passport should not
be impounded.
In Mumbai, veteran Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar who
has been admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in suburban
Bandra for respiratory problems early today, is under
observation with doctors attending on him stating that
the next 72 hours are crucial.
However, family sources maintained that there is nothing to worry. In cricket, getting his team composition right
will be Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s primary aim as Rising
Pune Supergiants meet an out-of-sorts Kings XI Punjab
in an IPL match at Mohali tomorrow.
While the IPL debutants Supergiants have a win and a
loss to show for their efforts, Kings XI Punjab has been
beaten comprehensively in both their matches as they
are already at the bottom of the heap.
30 days to go...
Sea to quench city’s thirst
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
Despite monsoon in the State not
being reliable and water scarcity
reeling its ugly head in some areas,
the city is expected to become
drought proof by 2018, thanks to
four desalination plants which would
quench the needs of Chennai. By
2018, the combined capacity of the
desalination plants would be 750 Million Litres Daily (MLD), just 50 MLD
lesser than the requirement of the
city (800 MLD).
According to report in Business Today, when Chennai was under acute
water shortage (2003-04) and all its
reservoirs had dried up, the then Jayalalithaa government was looking at
ways to make the city drought proof.
During that time, the Veeranam
project was envisaged to transport
Turning it on
consumed 20 per cent less power
than rival technologies.
The Nemmeli facility took up
just 20 acres of land compared to
Minjur’s 60 acres and cost Rs 533
crore to build.
Today, water from Nemmeli costs just
two paise per litre. As a follow-up to
Nemmeli’s success, Chief Minister J
Jayalalithaa had announced recently
that two more large desalination plants
of 150 and 400 MLD capacity would
be constructed based on the Nemmeli
model. These are expected to be up
and running by 2018 almost fulfilling
with the city’s water requirement.
According to experts, coastal cities
must use the sea. They say water
scarcity is a global problem and the
model used in Chennai could be
used across India in coastal regions
to solve water crisis.
READY FOR THE RACE
MDMK leader and PWF convenor Vaiko campaigning at Anna Nagar in
Chennai today.
Photo: M SRINIVASAN
in forming the grand alliance, would
Releasing the list of candidates for
contest the polls.
29 seats allotted to, Vaiko said he has
nominated senior leader Mallai SathVaiko from Kovilpatti
ya from Thiruporur, besides nominatAfter a gap of two decades, MDMK
ing M Bhoominathan from Madurai
general secretary Vaiko will test his
South. Bhoominathan was arrested
electoral fortunes in the 16 May Asalong with Vaiko under POTA. The
sembly elections by contesting from
list contained three women.
Kovilapatti constituency.
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
DMK today changed candidates for
two constituencies (Arakkonam and
Orathanadu).
N Rajkumar will replace S Bhavani for Arakkonam (Reserved)
constituency and Ramachandran replaces SS Rajkumar for
Orathanadu.
According to sources, the decision
was taken after Rajkumar refused to
contest. However, candidates of few
other constituencies against whom
the partymen were protesting has not
been changed.
Yesterday, hundreds of cadres
gathered at party chief M Karunanidhi’s residence at Gopalapuram
here and staged a protest. Party workers from Palayamkottai
reached the Gopalapuram residence of Karunanidhi to show their
ire against the party’s decision to
field TPM Mohideen Khan as its
candidate from the Assembly constituency.
DMK workers belonging to Anaikattu Union in Vellore gheraoed party’s
candidate for Anaikattu constituency
Nandakumar when he arrived at the
party office on Thursday.
Met office recalls heat wave warning
q Some respite for Chennaiittes q Predicts dry weather will continue
M BALASUBRAMANI
Chennai, Apr 16:
There is some relief for people of the
State as the Regional Meteorological
Centre (RMC) here recalled its heat
wave warning today. Talking to News
Today, Met officials said the sky will
be partly cloudy with the maximum
temperature in the city reaching up to
37 degrees Celsius and the minimum
staying at 29 degrees C.
‘There will be no heat wave warning
as there won’t be much rise in the
temperature throughout the State.
However, dry weather will prevail
and there are no chances of summer
showers,’ the official said.
The weather today was not as hot as
yesterday as the maximum temperature recorded today till 12.30 pm was
34.9 degrees C, compared to 35.5
degrees C in the same time on Friday.
As the temperature hovered above
normal ahead of ‘Kathri’ month,
Chennai and its neighbourhood were
THE DIP OF GOOD HOPE
The heat is on in Chennai as the temperatures have soared past the 37
degrees Celsius mark forcing residents to look at ways to keep cool. A
scene at the Marina where youngsters took to the water.
Photo: R THIYAGARAJAN
issued heat wave warning for the past
and urged the public not to venture
few days. Armed with the heat wave
out between noon and 3 pm.
forecast of yesterday, the city administra‘The public are hereby requested
tion advised the public to take precautionnot to go out between 12 noon and 3
ary measures and stay indoors.
pm unless it is necessary. People are
requested to drink large quantities of
Chennai Collector K Govindaraj
water,’ he said in an official release.
referred to an IMD report yesterday
which said the temperature was set
To avoid dehydration, they should
to rise around 41 degree C over the
drink fruit juices or buttermilk, he
next few days from 37 degrees C,
advised.
2 SATURDAY
16 APRIL 2016
CHENNAI
CONSTITUTENCY
ROUND-UP
AMBATTUR
A
DMK ON
DAMAGE
CONTROL
MODE
R RANGARAJ
Chennai, Apr 16:
The DMK has been rocked by dissidence and protests in several parts
of Tamilnadu, largely led by angry
ticket aspirants and sidelined seniors
in some cases.
While there were disagreements in
the past, the party high command is
shocked by widespread protests on
the roads, in front of party offices,
and in public glare, captured by the
24-hour news channels. Though the
leadership is putting on a brave face,
protests are spreading to other areas.
The protests are directed against
former ministers in some areas, while
in a few places, former ministers
denied party tickets are said to be
behind the demonstrations.
The question is who will blink first
-- the leadership or the protestors. The
party image has been sullied by the
protests and demonstrations. The DMK
leadership is in a Catch 22 situation -- if
it responds with a healing touch, it could
lead to more defiance and dissidence.
A day after the DMK released its
list of candidates for the Assembly
elections, protests broke out in several parts of the State, demanding
removal of some candidates. The protests were violent in Anaicut constituency in Vellore district, and marked
in three constituencies in Tiruchi and
one constituency in Pudukottai district
over the choice of candidates. The
protests prompted DMK president
M Karunanidhi to issue a statement
appealing to the cadres to sink their
differences and work for the party’s
victory. Howver, protests continue
unabated.
DMK workers opposed the party
tickets for Alangudi, Vridhachalam
and Jolarpet constituencies. Protests spread to Sirkazhi constituency in Nagapattinam district as DMK
workers were angry over ticket given
to Killai Ravindran. They said Ravindran hailed from Killai in Cuddalore
district and had no connection with
the constituency. DMK workers have
The protests are directed
against former ministers in some
areas, while in a few places,
former ministers denied party
tickets are said to be behind the
demonstrations
TRADITIONAL TOUCH
A police bike rally in Thoothukudi about election awareness was
flagged off by central observer for Tamilnadu elections Ashish Goyal.
District collector M Ravi Kumar and district superintendent Ashwin
Kotnis were also present.
To encourage people vote in the upcoming Assembly
elections, traditional dance method of ‘Kummi’ was used at
Pachaimalai in Trichy.
been resorting to road roko for the last
two days in Sirkazhi, demanding that
the candidate be changed.
Widespread protests have been
held against ticket given to Kavitha
Dhandapani for Jolarpet constituency. Party workers in Vellore and
Jolarpet staged demonstrations
against Kavitha and also raised slogans condemning DMK strongman
Duraimurugan for fielding Kavitha
in the Jolarpet constituency, though
she hailed from Tirupattur and had no
connection with Jolarpet. In Vaniyambadi, DMK cadres tried to set themselves on fire. Police prevented any
mishap and took them into custody.
In AIADMK, too, there has been the
odd incident of dissidence but few in
number. AIADMK ward councilor M
Usha Nandini resigned from the councilor post and primary membership
of the party as she was upset that no
woman candidate was fielded in Vellore constituency. She will contest as
an independent in Vellore.
Tiruvannamalai town secretary
P Kanakaraj was axed from the
AIADMK on 13 April but hundreds
of party workers in Tiruvannamalai
came out in his support and marched
to AIADMK headquarters in Chennai,
and protested against ticket given to
district secretary Perumal K Rajan for
Tiruvannamalai constituency.
The high command of both the AIADMK and DMK do not want to be seen
as bowing to protests and the pressure
tactics of the disgruntled elements.
The situation is fraught with dangerous consequences for the DMK high
Command as any attempt to bow to
the pressure and the protests will send
wrong signals to the cadre and could
bommerang on the party. The protests
could spread to more areas if they
achieved even partial success. On the
other hand, inaction could lead to more
dissidence in the affected constituencies and could affect the party image
and morale. The DMK leadership, while
seeking damage control, doesn’t want
to open the floodgates of dissidence.
mbattur is a newly formed Assembly constituency after delimitation. The locality’s proximity to the city and its inclusion to the
Greater Chennai Corporation has made it a sought after location
by companies to set up factories.
Ambattur, which comes Sriperumbudur Lok S a b h a
constituand
in 19
ency, was made a township during 1960s
1975 it
nic
was developed into a selection-grade municipaliy. In 1992, it was raised to special-grade
ty.
m u A
nicipality which included Padi, Korattur,
Anna
ssion,
Nagar
Western Exten-
Mogap
Mogappair,
Ayappakkam
TNHB an
and the
Ambattur Industrial Estate
areas.
ernment submitted a me
In 2011, the Tamilnadu govmemorandum to the Central government
seeking to expand the city limits
by which the Ambattur Municipality would come under the Metropolitan
city. Since 2011, it has been a part of Chennai Corporation as Zone 7
with 15 wards.
In political terms, the constituency went on polls for the first time in the
year 2011, when S Vedhachalam of AIADMK took on B Ranganathan of
DMK. In the tough battle, Vedhachalam bagged 99,330 votes to defeat
Ranganathan who garnered 76,613 votes. The winning margin was
22,717. The voter turnout was 70.59 per cent.
POPULATION (2011)
Male
Female
Total
:
:
:
234,923
231,282
466,205
ELECTORS (2011)
Male
Female
Total
:
:
:
136,076
128,884
264,990
CURRENT MLA
NName
DOB
Gender
Occupation
Residence
:
:
:
:
:
S Vedhachalam
18-6-1953
Male
Business
Korattur, Chennai
TN PEOPLE WANT
CHANGE: JAVADEKAR
Coimbatore, Apr 16:
Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has claimed that the
people of Tamilnadu were waiting for
change and a corruption free government and BJP was getting good
support for the 16 May Assembly
elections.
‘People of Tamilnadu want a change
and corruption free government. Both
Dravidian parties have not been
able to provide good governance
to the people in the last 50 years,’
Javadekar told reporters at the city
airport here.
‘Considering this, BJP was getting good response and very good
support, as people repose faith in
the leadership of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and his government,’
he said, adding Tamilnadu deserves
‘much better governance’.
Modi will be coming to Tamilnadu for
campaigning and the date would be
decided soon, Javadekar said.
On the vexed Tamil fishermen issue,
Javadekar, who is also in-charge of
Tamilnadu for polls, said NDA government ‘is pro-active in protecting
fishermen and also the interests of
Sri Lankan Tamils.’
‘Modi will be coming
to Tamilnadu for
campaigning and
the date will be
decided soon’
Modi had visited Jaffna in Sri Lanka
and taken initiative to solve the issues
faced by the Tamils there.
‘The Prime Minister ensured the release of Tamil fishermen who were to
be hanged. Several Tamils, who were
given capital punishment, when UPA
was in power (at the Centre), were
also freed,’ he said.
Javadekar reiterated his allegations
against AIADMK government that
Tamilnadu was the only State that
had not accepted the UDAY power
scheme, by which 20 States, includ-
IT’S MEME
ing the non-BJP ruled States, benefitted. ‘The people of Tamilnadu are not
getting the benefit,’ he said.
Javadekar was here to address a
few election meetings in the city and
will visit Erode tomorrow and Chennai
on Sunday.
Q
UICK bytes
Of 29 seats allotted to MDMK,
one each will
be given to
Tamizhar
M u n n e tra Padai and
Tamil Puligal
Katchi.
VAIKO, PWF
Co-Ordinator
We will begin our poll
campaign on
20 April from
Thanjavur
and release
the manifesto
on 21 April
— GK VASAN, TMC leader
The DMK
has mentioned around
60 per cent of
our schemes
drafted by
PMK without
even changing
page numbers
in its manifesto
— Dr S RAMADOSS
PMK leader
Around Town
CHENNAI
Chennaiyil
Thirugnanasambandar
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
A special programme on Chennaiyil Thirugnanasambandar will be
organised by
Chennai 2000
Plus Trust, in
association
with Sri Krishna Sweets,
at Marundheeswarar
Temple, Thiruvanmiyur, on
19 April.
S p e c i a l
songs comVarshaji
posed by Thirugnanasambandar at
the Marundheeswarar temple will be
sung by Varshaji as a Pradosham
special tomorrow at 6.30 pm. The
session will be devoted to Thirugnanasambandar songs.
Varshaji will speak about the visits
undertaken by Tamil savant Thirugnanasambandar in various parts
of Chennai where he composed
and rendered songs. These songs
have a special place in the history
of Tamil literature and music
The Chennai 2000 Plus Trust
organises programmes to highlight
the antiquity of Chennai and to
throw light on the various cultural,
literary and archaeological treasures relating to ancient Chennai
in particular, said its president R
Rangaraj.
3
Able and WILLING
q Chennaiite specialises in training differently-abled sportspersons
NAOMI N
Chennai, Apr 16:
It’s amazing the lengths that M S
(John) Nagarajan goes to understand the problems of the differently-abled. He blindfolded himself
for six months on alternate days to
understand the everyday problems
of the visually-challenged.
He has dedicated his whole life
to teaching, training and resource
development in adapted physical education, which is training
differently-abled persons in various sports.
‘Sports has therapeutic value,
which you cannot achieve through
medicines.
Unlike a normal person, the
differently-abled have accumulated
energy and show willingness to
involve in sports: it’s just that they
lack opportunities,’ explains the
senior manager of Special Olympics, Asia-Pacific, sitting at his
offi ce at the aquatic complex of
the Sports Development Authority
of Tamilnadu, Velacheri Main Road.
‘They want to travel, sing, dance
and show their ability,’ stresses
the trainer.
WHAT’s
SPECIAL
Before venturing into teaching,
Nagarajan took up various challenges as part of his course at
YMCA - like blind-folding himself
for six months before teaching the
blind how to overcome day-to-day
challenges.
‘I would carry out the day-to-day
activities blindfolded from 6 am to
6 pm every alternate day. While
being monitored, the final examination was to leave the YMCA campus, reach Central Station, make
an enquiry at the counter, take a
train to Park, reach Saidapet, and
get back to the campus only with
the help of the public. Being in
Apollo Hospitals chairman Dr Prathap C Reddy with JIYO managing
director Dr Deepak Chopra and Telugu actor Ram Charan during the
launch of Apollo JIYO app.
ness of being. This is key to personal
transformation and wellbeing,’ said
JIYO managing director Dr Deepak
Chopra.
For corporate houses, the app
will help them reduce HR medical
insurance spends, absenteeism and
increase productivity. Companies will
also get a group profile at the begin-
MEDAL TALLY
At the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2015, held from 25 July to
2 August, 224 athletes from India won
178 medals of which 18 were from
Tamilnadu. They returned home with
16 medals, informs Nagarajan.
That is the happy news. The sad part
is that many State governments fail to
recognise the achievements of these
differently-abled sportspersons with
award money.
The Special Olympics World
Games are an international
sporting competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities, to showcase their skills
and accomplishments.
The next Special Olympics
is scheduled for March 2017.
Apollo comes out
with wellness app
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
Apollo Hospitals has launched a
wellness app for corporate professionals. Known as ‘Apollo-JIYO’, the
app will track sleep patterns, stress
reduction and will provide exercise
tips.
Apollo Hospitals chairman Dr Prathap C Reddy said, ‘We are committed
to provide timely access to health and
enable people to make informed on
healthcare choices. We are happy
to have partnered with Dr Deepak
Chopra, leading wellness guru for
this initiative. Through this partnership, we will be able to bring global
experts, products and services faster
and directly to the smart phones and
the desktops of the user’.
‘With ‘Apollo-JIYO’ we will create
an eco-system, which will help people to easily participate in both the
prevention and treatment of chronic
illness. The goal of this initiative is to
help employees experience a joyful
energetic body, loving compassionate heart, restful alert mind and light-
SATURDAY
16 APRIL 2016
ning of the programme to check the
Health Score Card of their workforce.
With experts like the renowned
Yoga guru Eddie Stern and noted
nutritionist Kimberly Snyder, the
platform will bring together the intellects from around the world through
contents, programmes and products
for corporate India.
M S Nagarajan
their shoes helped me train them
in sports.’
The differently-abled he has trained
now play kabaddi, volleyball, tennis
and kho-kho. In fact, they fare well
in international sports events.
On his office table lies a laminated world map as Nagarajan,
popularly known as John, globetrots through the year with several
international sports events being
lined up.
Nagarajan, with 30 years of experience, has a full-size photo of a Delhibased child hugging a basketball on
the wall in his office. The bespecta-
cled child, who gives a wide smile,
has Down syndrome and low vision,
but he is now a player. Going back
to his earlier years, Nagarajan says
that it was a documentary which
was aired on Doordarshan in the
‘70s that drew him to the cause of
encouraging the differently-abled in
the field of sports.
‘The documentary showed a rock
on the roadside which many people
ignored but not a visually impaired
person who walked with the help of
a stick. He taps on the rock with his
stick, folds the stick and keeps it on
the ground. He then pushes the rock
away. The documentary ended with
Rotary Award
for India Pistons
chairman
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
Rotary Club of Madras East’s
prestigious ‘Corporate Citizen
Award’ for 2016 was presented to
India Pistons chairman and managing director N Venkataramani at
a function held here recently.
A press note said the award was
given away by Brakes India Ltd
chairman and managing director R
Ramanujam in the presence of the
club president Jayanthi Govindan.
In her address, Jayanthi
Govindan said, ‘Over the past few
years, the Rotary Club of Madras
East, has been conferring this
award on companies by studying
their track record and evaluating
their CSR activities.’
In his speech, Venkataramani
said, ‘India Pistons has been
built on a firm foundation of enduring values, instilled in each
one of us by founder S. Anantharamakrishnan. Our commitment
doesn’t stop with producing better
products, but extends beyond to
offer more to the community in
which we do business with.’
Union Minister of Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya
presenting the golden trophy to CMRL managing director Pankaj
Kumar Bansal and L&T team in New Delhi.
Golden trophy for
Chennai Metro
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
The Chennai Metro Rail Limited
(CMRL) and its contractor Larsen
& Toubro (L&T) has been awarded
the prestigious first level award
‘Sarvashreshtha Suraksha Puraskar
Award’ (Golden trophy) in the construction sector by the National Safety
Council of India (NSCI) for the year
2015.
The award was announced during
the golden jubilee celebrations of
NSCI held in New Delhi on 6 April.
Tasmac shops to
be closed 19 Apr
Matching with the right person
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
In view of Mahaveer Jayanthi on
19 April , all Tasmac shops will remain closed in the city, according
to a press release from the District
Collector G Govindaraj.
As per the Rule 12 of the Tamilnadu Liquor Retail Vending (in
shops and bars) Rules 2003 and
Rule 25 II (a) of the Tamilnadu
Liquor (Licence and Permit) Rules
1981, all Tasmac IMFL retail vending shops and attached bars and
those bars attached to hotels shall
remain closed.
q Datri’s stem cell donation reaches to 150 patients
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
Datri, India’s largest blood stem
cell donors’ registry, has successfully completed facilitating over 150
unrelated blood stem cell donations,
on road to transforming lives of patients suffering from blood cancers
and other fatal blood disorders.
The 150th donor, Premangshu
Choudhury, aged 37 and based out of
Delhi, was called as a potential match
for a patient suffering from Multiple
Myeloma, a deadly blood disease, a
release said.
Choudhury, who is a journalist, had
registered with Datri earlier hoping to
be a match for his friend’s four year
old son, but unfortunately wasn’t a
match for the child. However, when
he received a call recently from Datri
for being found as a potential match
for a patient in need of a blood stem
cell transplant, he didn’t hesitate to
the question, ‘Who is really blind?’
This changed my perspective,’ he
narrates.
Nagarajan says that he gave up his
job as physical director at a government higher secondary school in
Tamilnadu after 21 days as he was
dissatisfied with the attitude of the
students and his colleagues. Instead,
he chose to take up a short-term
project at YMCA which did not have
job security, retirement benefits or
an impressive salary.
But looking back, Nagarajan is a
happy man who has come a long
way creating an impact on a community.
say yes. Confirmatory tests established that Choudhury was the best
match and he went ahead with donating his blood stem cells.
For many blood cancer patients
suffering from various forms of Leukaemia (ALL, AML, CML), Sickle
Cell Anaemia, Lymphoma, Thalassemia, a blood stem cell transplant is their only chance of survival.
The transplant can replace the diseased blood stem cells with healthy
ones from the donor and hopefully
cure the ailment.
‘Launched in 2009, we facilitated
our first blood stem cell donation in
April 2011 and have come a long
way to achieve this milestone of
150 donations as of March 2016.
Being a blood stem cell donor is a
step towards creating a healthier
world,’ said Datri Blood Stem Cell
Donors Registry co-founder and
CEO Raghu Rajagopal.
Union Minister of Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya presented
the golden shield and certificate to
CMRL managing director Pankaj
Kumar Bansal and L&T team.
The award recognises and encourages excellence in occupational
health and safety management systems in project construction activities.
The award is based on the safety
performance and OHS management
systems followed at site by the establishments during the assessment
period of one year, a release said.
Cancellation of tains
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
The following suburban Electric Multiple Units have been cancelled on Saturday and Sunday owing to line block
to facilitate engineering works between
Villivakkam and Ambattur stations on
Chennai-Arakkonam section.
The Moore Market Complex - Avadi
EMU leaving MMC (train no 43027)
at 10 pm and the Avadi - MMC EMU
(train no 43615) leaving at 11.15 pm
on Saturday. The Avadi - MMC EMU
(train no 43002) leaving at 4 am and
Avadi - Chennai Beach EMU (train no
43602) leaving at 4.20 am have been
cancelled on Sunday, a southern railway press release said.
‘Court ruling should be taken in a positive way’
q HC tells govt it may appoint panel to manage Anna Centenary Library
q Writers want facility to be maintained for book-lovers’ sake
M P SARAVANAN
Chennai Apr 16:
Hailing the Madras High Court ruling regarding maintenance of Anna
Centenary Library located at Kotturpuram, book-lovers and writers say
that the government should take the
orders positively and look to rectify
the deficiencies.
The Madras High Court on Friday
came down hard on the Tamilnadu
government for being unable to rectify
alleged deficiencies in implementation of suggestions made by a twomember advocates commission for
upkeep of Anna Centenary Library
and orally observed that it may be
constrained to appoint a committee
to take over and manage it.
The First Bench, comprising Chief
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and
Justice M M Sundresh, made the
observation after going through the
additional report
filed by the Commission on the
factual position of
implementation
of its suggestions
for upkeep of the
facility.
The court observed it cannot
S Tamilselvan be expected to
every now and then supervise,
despite giving repeated orders
on the matter. The bench asked
Additional Advocate General P H
Arvind Pandian to specify the date
by which nothing would be left to
be done further and said it would
send the Commission to see if all
aspects had been attended to in
every manner.
The AAG, on instructions, said 30
June may be taken as the cutoff date
for everything to be completed.
Speaking on the issue, Tamilnadu
Progressive Writers Association pres-
ident and writer S Tamilselvan says,
‘We welcome the Madras High Court
ruling, regarding library authorities in-
ability to provide the basic amenities
to Anna Centenary Library.’
Explaining, he says, ‘the library at
Kotturpuram is one of the best in
South India. The seven-floor structure houses some of the best books
available in the country. But since
it was constructed by the previous
government, the present regime
didn’t take it positively. When library
authorities tried to transfer the library
and its contents to DPI centre, we
even organised a large-scale protest.
After which, the authorities concerned
dropped the plans. Since then they
didn’t take care to maintain it. This
has severely hurt book-lovers and
readers for the past five years’.
‘The Rs 172 crore library with world
class features got completely paralysed because of poor maintenance,
including library authorities not
buying books. They shut down the
air-conditioning system. Four elevators in wing A and wing B were not
working. When readers took it up with
the officials, they did not show any
intention to repair the same,’ he said.
Noted writer Manushyaputran says,
‘It is very sad that libraries which are
knowledge powerhouse are not given
importance. Authorities must not see
the politics behind it. When we make
the issue big, the ultimate loser will
be the readers. When High Court issued notices to the State government
regarding the problem, the officials
should have take immediate action to
solve the issue. But they didn’t budge.
For the past five years when the government implemented various orders
including helmet rule, why can’t they
follow simple orders of the court? The
current ruling must be taken seriously
and government should respond in a
positive manner,’ he says.
Blend
4 SATURDAY
16 APRIL 2016
WHAT NEWS TODAY PRINTS IS NEWS THAT COUNTS
Odd and uneven
A
problem with the ads that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal take out is that they invariably exaggerate and,
very often, spread plain falsehood. To give but one example, the
Delhi CM has been tom-tomming that under him a saving of Rs.
121 crore was effected in the construction of a road project. The
truth, however, is that instead of saving, actually Rs. 20 crore more
was spent over and above the earlier sanctioned amount. The truth
about an additional expenditure of Rs. 20 crore over the sanctioned
amount was revealed by the Kejriwal Government itself in response
to a query under RTI filed by a former Congress MLA. Yet, this
has not prevented the Delhi CM to claim a saving of Rs. 121 crore.
Such false and misleading propaganda, then, defines Kerjriwal
and his government. But nowhere is the falsehood starker than in
the claim that the implementation of the odd-even rule for privatelyowned four wheeled vehicles has led to a perceptible fall in pollution
in the capital city of India. Here again, the driving force behind
Kejriwal enforcing the odd-even driving rule for private vehicles
a second time for a fortnight within three months is his quest for
personal glory.
He and his loudmouths do not tire of citing as a great testimonial
a mention in an American paper about the odd-even scheme. For
days on end, Delhiites have had their ears filled with incessant
propaganda about the scheme. And, yet no scientific study proved
that it led to reduced pollution levels earlier. It has been again
imposed arbitrarily on Delhi, beginning 15 to 30 April. Reducing
traffic cannot be the sole objective of the scheme while reducing
pollution requires a holistic approach. Road dust, public transport,
trucks, illegal industries in residential colonies, adulterated vehicular
fuels, burning of farm waste, building construction, etc., are some of
the major culprits. Private cars at the most account for some eleven
percent of the total pollution in the city, while on a given day half
of them are still allowed to run.
It means there would only be a reduction of mere six percent in the
number of vehicles on the road. Besides, Delhi also gets polluted by
what goes on in the neighbouring Haryana and UP. Unfortunately,
the real reason behind Kejriwal’s love for odd-even is not fighting
pollution but to bestow favours on his core constituency of auto and
taxi drivers. Besides, the scheme gives an excuse to pay some 5,000
AAP workers/ supporters about Rs. 500 per day from the coffers of
the Delhi Government. These volunteers are supposed to help the
traffic police enforce the odd-even formula.
Chetan Bhagat @chetan_bhagat
Why is it when you tweet about
religion, twitter goes mental but if
you talk about economy or jobs
nobody cares?
Goal is dream with a deadline..
-Napoleons hill . In filmmaking this
is the golden rule.
P C Sreeram @pcsreeram
Twitter hires new exec
to woo China advertisers
SAN FRANCISCO:
Twitter introduced a new head of operations today for what it calls Greater
China despite still being banned in
the mainland, as it attempts to boost
already booming ad- vertising.
While San Franciscobased
Twitter is not allowed
to operate in mainland China under the
country’s strict Internet
censorship, it does have
an office in Hong Kong
that courts advertisers over
the border.
Twitter chief Jack
Dorsey fired off a tweet
from his @jack account
welcoming former Microsoft and Cisco general
manager Kathy Chen as
managing director of Twitter’s
Greater China operations.
‘I’m really excited to find more
ways to create value for our advertisers, enterprises, creators,
influencers and our developers,
and partners as well,’ Chen said in
a video snippet posted in a tweet
from @TwitterGCN.
Twitter shared a link to a story in
Hong Kong’s South China Morning
Post that reported the company has
seen advertising triple in Greater
China since it opened an office in
Hong Kong in March last year.
Twitter has been banned in mainland China since 2009, but the
service is a way for businesses
there to get advertising messages
to potential customers in other parts
of the world.
We’ve seen success with Greater
China export advertisers and publishers using Twitter to reach global
audiences, Twitter chief operating
officer Adam Bain said in a tweet
welcoming Chen to her new job.
Twitter last week added a PepsiCo
executive and a British entrepreneur
to its board as Dorsey continues an
effort to shake up
the stagnating oneto-many messaging
service.
Twitter marked its 10th
birthday last month, having become a powerful communication
tool but still struggling
to win users and reach
profitability.
Since making a
star-quality entrance
a decade ago, Twitter has
become a must-have tool for journalists, activists and celebrities but
has struggled to show it can expand
beyond its devoted twitterati to become a mainstream hit.
Twitter’s woes include a slump
in its stock price to all-time lows
this year -- down nearly half from
its 2013 stock market debut -- and
ongoing losses, even as its revenue
grows.
Twitter’s base of monthly active
users remained stuck at 320 million
at the end of 2015. While that is a
big accomplishment, Twitter has
failed to keep pace with fast-growing
rivals and to expand beyond its
base.
Dorsey said Twitter priorities for
this year include making it more intuitive to use; live-streaming video,
and making it safer for people to
freely express themselves on the
platform.
L
CHENNAI
Terminal Truths
ooking back on the incident in
which a CISF personnel picked
me out from a long queue for extra
security search at the Chennai airport
last week, I should confess that the
mistake was entirely mine: I did not
speak or understand Hindi. This may
be Tamil Nadu. And I am a complete
Tamilian. Still, it was extremely unreasonable on my part, especially as
this involved the extremely sensitive
and serious subject of security, to be
not able to converse in Hindi.
Let me explain: It was a morning
flight and I was travelling on a deathrelated emergency in the family.
Since it was a last-minute eventuality,
I had to literally rush to the airport so
that I can check in, as per laid-down
procedures, an hour ahead of the
scheduled take-off, which is usually
two hours before the actual take-off.
And then there was this fear of the
glass roof at Chennai airport that has
the tendency to come crashing down
when someone so much as sneezed
or when there is a blast at the airport
in Brussels. Also, at that hour of
my check-in the temperature was
already hovering around 30 degree
Celsius. So it was no surprise that
I was sweating profusely and look-
‘Iraq crisis
threat to fight
against IS’
BAGHDAD:
The United Nations warned that
political turmoil that has repeatedly
delayed efforts to change the Iraqi
cabinet is a threat to the country’s
war against the Islamic State group.
Iraq is battling to retake more ground
from IS, which seized large areas
north and west of Baghdad in 2014,
and Washington has also expressed
concern that political disputes could
distract from efforts to combat the
jihadists.
Instead of voting on a new cabinet
lineup, lawmakers tried to sack the
parliament speaker and his deputies
yesterday, while the two previous sessions ended in a sit-in and a fistfight
among MPs.
The only party that benefits from the
political divisions and chaos as well
as the weakening of the state and its
institutions is Daesh. We should not
allow this to happen, Gyorgy Busztin,
the acting head of the UN Iraq mission, said in a statement, using an
Arabic acronym for IS.
The political leaders of Iraq should
place the high national interest over
any other consideration and work
relentlessly to ensure the political
process produces solutions that
would lead Iraq out of its crisis and
strengthen the state and its institutions. Only through unity can Iraq win,’
Busztin said.
Abadi has called for
the cabinet of party-affiliated
ministers to be replaced by a government of technocrats, but has
faced significant resistance from the
powerful parties that rely on control of
ministries for patronage and funds.
VOICE MAIL
Can Trump
make it big?
Sir
In some good news to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton
ahead of the crucial primaries
here, the two US Presidential
front-runners who suffered a
string of losses recently were
declared the winners of the
close
Missouri primaries, nearly a
month after the polls were held.
The votes in both parties were
too close to call.
In the Republican primary
polls, Trump and rival Texas
Senator Ted Cruz were neckand-neck, as were Clinton and
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic contest.
On the Democratic side, the
68-year-old former secretary of
state also led Sanders also by
0.2 percentage points 49.6 per
cent to his 49.4.
She won the election by about
1,500 votes of the 630,000
cast in the Democratic primary.
Each candidate will receive 34
delegates, but with superdelegates included, Hillary Clinton
will have 46.
MICHAEL
(By email)
ADDRESS YOUR LETTERS TO :
The Editor, News Today, 85, Mount Road, Guindy,
Chennai - 600 032.
or e-mail to : letters@newstodaynet.com /
newstodaydaily@gmail.com
ing, in my dishevelled clothes, every passed muster, but I don’t know how),
bit the hero that director Bala might they let me join the queue again,
sign up for his next film. It was then a whereupon I was welcomed by a felsecurity personnel, toting what looked low traveller with the most sensitive
like an automatic gun, walked up to and reasonable words: ‘You should
me and pumped in verbal bullets in have at least tried to speak in Hindi’.
‘Yeah, my bad! Next time when I
rapid Hindi, to which I replied –-- in
that silly perky voice and needless have to travel on an emergency, I
bright smile that we use when dealing will first sit for the Prathmic exam and
with security personnel –-’I speak no then try to take the flight’. This should
have been my comeback, or worse,
Hindi. Ask in Tamil or English’.
I thought I was being sensible. But should have taken him out with the inflight katti roll, but as
he looked as if I had
ever I smiled weakly
committed an act of
and proceeded for
sedition, as he put
boarding.
a firm hand on my
Inside the plane, I
shoulder and took me
K BALAKUMAR
was seated behind a
aside from the queue
for a thorough check. Here I must … shrieking infant irritatingly shriller
add that I might have further brought than Laila in Pithamagan or 150-kg
upon extreme suspicion on myself bulky behemoth who technically
because I was travelling with my 80+ must be loaded in the cargo secyears-old mother. If I were planning tion? No, that would have been too
to commit an act of terrorism it was pat, as if the entire airline industry
entirely logical that I would take along itself was working for the success
my barely-able-to-walk mom with me. of this humour column (especially
To be singled out from among the when the industry can barely work
hundreds there for such a scrutiny for itself). My seat was behind
was certainly demeaning, but since what appeared to be a honeymoon
the search of my belongings didn’t couple. Why I say they were a
yield anything incriminatory (even my honeymoon couple is because they
dubious underwear seemed to have were totally lost to the world, I mean
so lost that they –- unmindful of
the fact that the entire aircraft was
bound to look at them with curiosity
–- went ahead and ordered in-flight
food service, which was primarily a
moody samosa that seemed to have
logged quite a few flier points. At
Rs.150 a piece, it was as criminal
as any act of terrorism. The couple
was the only ones to order that on
that short-haul flight, which is defined as that flight service in which
you spend more hours waiting than
actually travelling.
The lady wouldn’t let go off the
man’s hand at any point, except
when he went for a short loo break,
during which time she proceeded
to take roughly 235 selfies. And
upon his return from the toilet, she
showed him how she looked like
during his absence for those twothree minutes. All through, they
didn’t talk much. But it was clear
that they were having a great time.
Just as well. This is the beauty of
love. It is beyond all words and language. But still, for safety sake, it may
be better to learn Hindi.
e-mail the writer at
balakumarkb@gmail.com
(Courtesy: Talk Media)
New Japan quake
kills 16, many injured
Triggers massive landslide
Waves of aftershocks reported
MASHIKI (JAPAN):
A more powerful quake hit southern
Japan early today, killing at least 16
people, toppling large buildings and
triggering a massive landslide just
over a day after an earlier tremor
which left nine dead.
The quake on the southwestern
island of Kyushu sparked a fresh
wave of destruction and was followed by a wave of aftershocks in
the region where nerves are already
frayed following Thursday’s deadly
earthquake.
The powerful shaking set off a huge
landslide that swept away homes and
Separately, an active volcano in the
area erupted today morning, a local
government official said, cautioning,
The powerful shaking set off a huge
landslide that swept away homes and
cut off a highway in one area and larger
buildings were damaged
cut off a highway in one area, and
unlike the earlier quake which mostly
affected old houses, larger buildings
were damaged and some toppled
across Kumamoto prefecture, the
epicentre of the quakes.
however, it was unclear if the smallscale event was linked to the quakes.
Takayuki Matsushita, an official with
Kumamoto prefecture, said seven
were confirmed dead, citing police
and fire departments.
London Mayor hails ‘glorious’
Brexit as G20 issues warning
LONDON:
London Mayor Boris Johnson
launched a scathing attack on
Brussels, urging Britons to vote for
a glorious alternative free from the
whims of unelected bureaucrats,
as official campaigning began
ahead of a
referendum on Britain’s EU membership.
With G20 leading economies
warning of the threat to global
growth if Britain voted to leave,
Johnson told a rally in Manchester,
northwest England, Britain could
thrive outside the bloc.
Boris Johnson
Activists from both camps hit the
streets today, firing the starting gun
ceron a tense battle over the nation’s
tainty.
future, the British people’s first
G20 finance ministers meeting
direct say on Europe in 41 years.
in Washington listed Brexit among
It’s time for us in this country to other factors that complicate the
speak up for millions of people global economic environment, a
around Europe, tens of millions, day after IMF chief Christine Lawho think like we do, who share g a r d e urged Britain and the
our anxieties, who are fed up with
EU to save their long
the remoteness of
KER marriage through diaA
M
Brussels, Johnson NEWS e day
logue.
of th
told the crowd.
In the Remain corner
If we hold our nerve
is Cameron, who says Britain
and we’re not cowed
and we has a special status within the
vote for freedom and we vote for EU thanks to a renegotiation he
democracy on June 23 then I be- sealed in February, and that the
lieve this country will prosper and country will be richer and stronger
thrive as never before, he said.
if it stays in.
Opinion polls suggest the British
In Covent Garden in the heart of
public is evenly split 10 weeks rain-soaked London, anti-Brexit
ahead of the vote, which could volunteers were handing out leafbring down Prime Minister David lets to workers during their lunch
Cameron and plunge one of the breaks. ‘Financially, it would be a
world’s leading economies into un- disaster if we left the EU,’
Public broadcaster NHK, meanwhile, put the death toll at nine and
said there were at least 760 people
injured, while a government spokesperson said scores were trapped or
buried alive.
Eleven people were stuck in a
damaged apartment building in
Minami-Aso near the landslide,
another Kumamoto prefecture official said.
‘We don’t know their condition,’ he
said, declining to be named.
Meanwhile, a large fire that broke
out at an apartment complex in Yatsushiro city killed one person, city
official Kiichiro Terada confirmed.
UN strongly
condemns N Korea
missile test
UNITED NATIONS:
The UN Security Council has strongly condemned North Korea’s testfiring of a missile, saying that the
launch violated UN resolutions even
if it was a failure.
The council yesterday demanded
that North Korea refrain from further
actions in violation of resolutions
barring Pyongyang from developing
ballistic missile technology.
In a unanimous statement, the
council said it would closely monitor
the situation and was ready to take
further significant measures against
the reclusive State.
‘Although the DPRK’s ballistic missile launch was a failure, this attempt
constituted a clear violation of United
Nations Security Council resolutions,’
the statement said.
Last month, the council imposed its
toughest sanctions to date on North
Korea after Pyongyang carried out its
fourth nuclear test and fired a rocket
that was widely seen as a disguised
ballistic missile test.
Since the adoption of the new sweeping
sanctions, North Korea has carried out at
least two sets of ballistic missile launches
that the council has condemned.
During yesterday’s attempt, the missile disappeared from tracking radar a
few seconds after its launch and was
believed to have exploded in midair,
according to a Seoul intelligence official
quoted by the Yonhap news agency.
Asked about the failed launch, UN
spokesman Farhan Haq said: ‘We
certainly are aware of the recent
reports of activity by the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea, which
is alarming.’
Enterprise
CHENNAI
DCB Bank Q4 net
climbs 10.5%
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
Private lender DCB Bank on Friday
reported a 10.5 per cent rise in net
profit at Rs 70 crore for the fourth
quarter ended 31 March.
According to a press release, the
total income of the company grew
19.86 per cent to Rs 509.56 crore,
from Rs 425.12 crore a year ago.
DCB Bank had posted a net profit
of Rs 63 crore in the year-ago period.
Overall provisions rose to Rs 27.25
crore, from the earlier Rs 14.32 crore.
DCB Bank’s gross non-performing
assets ratio improved to 1.51 per cent
compared with 1.76 per cent last year.
Its net NPA ratio stood at 0.75 per cent
as against the earlier 1.01 per cent.
Speaking about the performance
MD and CEO Murali M Natrajan,
said, ‘Given the current market
conditions we are satisfied with our
performance. We continue to expand
distribution while investing in technology. We believe there are enough
opportunities in retail and MSME/
SME banking. However, we need to
be cautious and calibrated’.
SATURDAY
16 APRIL 2016
G20 bats for transparency
Seeks crackdown on tax havens, shell companies
Washington, Apr 16 (PTI):
Acting in the wake of the ‘Panama
Papers’ scandal, the G20 economies,
including India, on Friday sought a
crackdown on tax heavens, shell
companies and terror financing by
increasing financial transparency and
sharing of key information in a timely
manner.
A communique in this regard was
issued by G20 countries after meeting of its Finance Ministers and Governors of Central Banks here on the
sidelines of the annual Spring Meeting
of the International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and
the Reserve Bank of India Governor
Raghuram Rajan attended the meeting on behalf of India.
For India a crackdown on tax heavens and shell companies is a top
priority, particularly in the aftermath of
the release of ‘Panama Papers’ that
‘Tough to counter Brexit challenge’
The G20 leading economies warned that the possibility that Britain would
pull out of the European Union is a significant challenge to the world
economy.
Finance ministers of the elite group meeting in Washington said the global economy continues to face significant dangers from volatile financial
markets, collapsed commodity prices and low inflation, as they pledged to
work to shore up growth.
‘Geopolitical conflicts, terrorism, refugee flows, and the shock of a potential
UK exit from the European Union also complicate the global economic environment’, they said in a statement. IMF chief Christine Lagarde had also
called on Britain and the EU to save their ‘long marriage’ through dialogue.
have thrown up 500 names of Indians
having opened up shell companies
overseas allegedly to evade taxes.
‘The G20 reiterates the high priority
it attaches to financial transparency
and effective implementation of the
standards on transparency by all,
in particular with regard to the benefi cial ownership of legal persons
and legal arrangements’, the G20
communique said.
Improving the transparency of the
beneficial ownership of legal persons
and legal arrangements is vital to protect the integrity of the international financial system and to prevent misuse
of these entities and arrangements
for corruption, tax evasion, terror
Math of money crimes
survey which was conducted by the
organisations across 17 industry sectors in the country between July, 2015
and February, 2016.
‘Companies need to adapt their risk
assessment and control frameworks
fast enough to prevent such
crimes. Many companies
no longer want compliance
to be just a ‘tick in the box’
exercise and are investing
more and more in comprehensive compliance and
monitoring programmes’,
PwC India partner and
leader, forensic services,
Dinesh Anand said.
‘The true cost of economic crime to
the country’s economy is difficult to
estimate, especially considering that
actual financial loss is often only a
Say yes to plastic
Finance Ministry working towards
a less-cash society
New Delhi, Apr 16:
Finance Ministry is preparing a
blueprint in consultations with other
departments to make India a lesscash society by incentivising card
transactions and doing away with
charges on digital payments. The
blueprint for less-cash society, according to an official, is likely to be
ready in the next two months.
EARLIER...
The Union Cabinet in February
had already approved withdrawal
of surcharge, service charge and
convenience fee on card and digital
payments to promote use of plastic
currency.
‘We are in discussion with the related departments for implementing
the decision. It will take about two
months’ time to give effect to it,’ a
senior Finance Ministry official said.
WHAT’S IN STORE
The move primarily discourages
transactions in cash by providing
access to financial payment services
to citizens to pay through cards and
digital means and shifting payment
ecosystem from cash dominated to
non-cash or less cash payments.
The Cabinet has also approved
mandating payments beyond a pre-
scribed threshold only through a card
or digital mode.
It also suggested withdrawal of
surcharge, service charge and convenience fee on card and digital
payments currently imposed by
various government departments,
organisations.
AND THE BENEFITS ARE...
‘This will help in reducing tax avoidance and migration of all government
payments and receipts to cashless
mode,’ the officials say.
NEXT IN LINE
The other measures which were
approved by the Cabinet include
rationalisation of Merchant Discount
Rate (MDR) on card transactions
and a differentiated MDR framework
for some key segments. It also suggested rationalisation of telecom
service charges for digital financial
transactions and promotion of mobile
banking.
FRAUD CHECK
To increase reliance on card
transaction, the Finance Ministry
is also working on a mechanism to
create assurances for quick resolution of fraudulent transactions and
reviewing the payments ecosystem
in the country.
small component of the fallout from a
serious incident. The reputation cost
of such crimes is often much higher’,
he added.
According to the survey, asset misappropriation was the most common
type of economic crime in the country
over the last 24 months, followed by
procurement fraud and bribery
and corruption.
Around 56 per cent of
the residents in the
country perceived an
increased risk of cybercrime over the past
two ears as compared
to 53 per cent globally.
Again, 16 per cent of the organisations in the country against 14 per
cent globally, experienced cybercrimes amounting to more than $1
India gets $250 mn
for renewable energy
Washington, Apr 16 (PTI):
India was among the first four countries to get a loan from the newly established BRICS New Development
Bank which gave a $250 million funding to Canara Bank for a renewable
energy project.
The China-based NDB has approved four green renewable energy
projects from India, China, Brazil and
South Africa entailing Bank financing
of $811 million.
The project from India entails provisioning of a multi-tranche loan of $250
million to Canara Bank for lending to
renewable energy ventures.
The project will result in generation
of 500 MWs of renewable energy and
savings of about 800,000 tonnes of
carbon emissions.
‘New Development Bank sanctioned
four loans including a loan of $250 million for a renewable energy scheme in
India. Good beginning’, tweeted Shaktikanta Das, Secretary for Economic
Affairs. This loan is the first such loan
from the development financial institution, according to officials.
The New Development Bank was
formed by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia,
India, China and South Africa)leadership with the objective of funding
infrastructure projects in emerging
economies and to meet the aspirations of hundreds of millions of people
through sustainable development.
Delhi is ‘future-ready’
City ranks 44th in global list
New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI):
The national capital has been
recognised as one of the 50 futureready cities around the world that
are embracing technology to adapt
and thrive in an ever-changing and
globalised future, according to a
report by IT major Dell.
Delhi is ranked 44th on the list
which is topped by San Jose, followed by San Francisco.
The ‘Future-Ready Economies
Model’ scores large, high-growth
global metropolitan areas based on
attributes that enable people and organisations to access new tools and
ideas that deliver better connectivity,
better economic performance and a
greater ability to attract talent.
The cities positioned in the list
were evaluated along three dimensions – human capital, infrastructure
and commerce.
‘We are extremely proud to have
The cities
positioned in the
list were evaluated
along three
dimensions–human
capital,
infrastructure
and commerce
Delhi feature on this list. The efforts put in by the Delhi and central
government to make the city a
better place has made this possible’, Ravinder P Singh, director
(Solutions Strategy and Business
Development, IoT, Smart Cities
and Digitisation) Dell India said in a
statement.
He added that the Centre has
launched some ambitious initiatives
aimed at creation of a digitally enabled nation, one that allows for last
mile connectivity and helps improve
the quality of life.
‘Delhi’s ranking on this list is validation of India’s progress in the right direction. We look forward to partnering
with the government and creating a
future-ready India’, Singh said.
financing and money laundering, the
communique said.
In the communique, the G20 Finance
Ministers reiterated that it is essential
that all countries and jurisdictions fully
implement the Financial Action Task
Force (FATF) standards on transparency and beneficial ownership of legal
persons and legal arrangements and
expressed determination to lead by
example in this regard.
‘We particularly stress the importance of countries and jurisdictions
improving the availability of beneficial
ownership information to and its in-
ternational exchange between, competent authorities for the purposes of
tackling tax evasion, terrorist financing
and money laundering’, the communique said.
‘We ask the FATF and the Global Forum on Transparency and
Exchange of Information for Tax
Purposes to make initial proposals
by our October meeting on ways to
improve the implementation of the
international standards on transparency, including on the availability
of beneficial ownership information
and its international exchange’, it
said. Seeking a crackdown on terror
financing, the G20 Finance Ministers
called on all countries to join its efforts
including through swift and effective
implementation of FATF standards,
the new Consolidated Strategy on
Combating Terrorist Financing and
provisions of the UN Security Council
Resolution 2253.
Railway stations now have
wi-fi, courtesy Google
Employees in 31-40 age group guilty in 61% cases: PwC
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
Around 61 per cent of the economic crimes in the country are
committed by employees within an
organisation which fall under the age
group of 31-40 years, according to
a report by PwC.
Besides, more than one in every four
organisations is getting impacted by
economic crimes, the report which
was unveiled here today, said.
As per the report, in 43 per cent of
the cases, a middle level employee is
the main perpetrator of the crime as
against 35 per cent globally. Around
61 per cent of them are in the 3140 age-group, which is significantly
higher than the global average of 42
per cent, the report said.
The report is the outcome of a
5
million in the past two years, the
report said. Only 45 per cent of the
organisations have fully trained cybercrime first responders. Around
88 per cent of the responding organisations in the country have a
formal business ethics and compliance programme, it said.
Around 56 per cent of the responding organisations in the country
witnessed an increase in their spend
on compliance programmes and
resources, while 94 per cent of them
stated that their organisations had a
clear code of conduct.
However, 15 per cent of respondents
indicated their leaders did not walk the
talk, 24 per cent mentioned unclear
communication and training, and 19
per cent feared retaliation for reporting
a violation, the report said.
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
Indian Railway’s arm Railtel which
provides internet services as RailWire via its extensive fiber network
along with Google on Friday announced the launch of free highspeed public wi-fi service at nine new
railway stations.
According to a press release, users
in Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal,
Ranchi, Raipur, Vijayawada, Kacheguda (Hyderabad), Ernakulum Jn
(Kochi) and Vishakhapatnam will
be able to access the network using
their smartphones for free.
With these launches, Google has
now rolled out public wi-fi service
across ten key railways stations,
enabling access to over 1.5 million
Indians everyday. The service will
be formally inaugurated by Railway
Job growth falls to
7-year low: Survey
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
Employment generation in eight
key sectors, including gems &
jewellery, handloom, leather and
automobiles, was
at seven-year low
of 1,35,000 jobs
in 2015, a survey
by Labour Bureau
showed.
Employment was
increased by 4.21
lakh in 2014, 4.19
lakh in 2013, 3.21
lakh in 2012, 9.29 lakh in 2011, 8.7
lakh in 2010 and 12.8 lakh in 2009,
as per the earlier surveys.
Moreover, the October-December
quarter of 2015 saw job losses of
20,000 in eight key sectors compared to previous quarter. The
July-September period had seen job
addition of 1.34 lakh over the level
of April-June.
Labour Bureau, a wing of Labour
Ministry has been conducting quarterly employment surveys since
January, 2009 to study the impact
of global economic slowdown on
employment in selected sectors --
textiles including apparels, leather,
metals, automobiles, gems and
jewellery, transport, IT/BPO and
handloom/powerloom.
‘Comparison of
the results for the
period December,
2015 over December, 2014 shows
that the employment at overall
level has increased
by 135,000,’ said
28th Quarterly Report on Changes
in Employment in
Selected Sectors by Labour Bureau.
The survey found that gems and
jewellery sector saw 19,000 job loss
during 2015 followed by handloom/
Powerloom at 11,000. The employment decreased by 8,000 each in
leather and automobiles sectors
while 4,000 jobs loss was recorded
in transport sector.
In 2015, IT/BPOs sector led the
race with 76,000 employment generation during the year. Other sectors contributing to the increase in
employment during 2015 are textiles, including apparels (72,000)
followed by metals (37,000).
PUBLIC NOTICE
PUBLIC NOTICE
This is to inform general public that
my client T.S. Vasantha, Wife of P.S.
Mani, Hindu, aged 62 years, residing
at No.7/14, Vinopa Nagar 9 th Street,
Tondiarpet, Chennai-600 081,has
misplaced/lost the original Sale Deed
Registered as Document No.787 of
of SRO, Royapuram, Chennai, the
vacant land bearing plot No.144,
admeasuring 2550Sq.ft., comprised
in survey No.3889/2 and 3890,
Burma Garden, Vaidyanathan Mudali
Street, Tondiarpet, Chennai-600081,
within the SRO, Royapuram, Chennai
and Registration District of North
-Chennai.
Any one who is in possession of the
said Original Registered Sale Deed or
having any claim shall contact under
mention person within 7 days from the
date of this Publication failing which
it shall be deemed that no one is in
possession Original Registered Sale
Deed or having any claim.
M/s.K. Bommuraj,
A.Santhana Sinakarthan,
Advocates
No.264, New Addl. Law Chambers,
High Court Campus,Chennai-104.
M.Nos. 9444013656,9840645643
It is hereby informed to the Public
that my clients Mr. Mohamed
Saleem, and G.M.Mohamed Ali have
entered into an sale agreement with
M.Marimuthu, M.Sundarraj, M.Sankar
Raj and Sangeetha for purchase of
the property bearing Plot NO.1027,
Old Door No.947, New Door NO.1266,
Bakthavatchalam Colony, Vyasarpadi,
Chennai 600 039 measuring an extent
of 1.05.5 sq. meter and the same was
registered as document No.4960 of
Purasawalkam. It is further represented
that the original sale deed bearing
Document No.2332 of 1988 was
! "#
on 11.8.1999 and not traceable and
"#
$
Therefore it is hereby informed that if
anybody found or having the aforesaid
document kindly produce the same
undersigned address and raise claim if
any within 15 days from the date of this
publication. If no claim or objection is
received by, it is informed that my
clients will proceed further to complete
the sale with the above said persons.
V.CHANAKYA,
No.129, Shanmugarayan Street,
G.T.Chennai 600 001.
Cell No. 9444429428
Minister Suresh Prabhu soon.
‘The network is now live in ten key
stations across the country and we are
scaling up our efforts to roll out the network quickly to cover some of smaller
stations where connectivity is much
more limited. With 100 stations live,
this project will be the largest publicly
accessible high speed wi-fi network in
the country, but our real hope is that
this project will set new benchmarks
in delivering a reliable and consistent
network connectivity in the country’,
said Gulzar Azad, head of Access
Project, Google India.
Railtel CMD R K Bahuguna said,
‘While the service will be free for a
reasonable amount of time, our longterm goal is to make this project selfsustainable to allow for expansion to
more stations and places, with RailTel
and other partners, in the future’.
‘Next IMF chief
should be from
emerging economy’
Washington, Apr 16 (PTI):
India has told the IMF that the next
managing director of the top global
financial body should be from an
emerging economy and not from
Europe, which traditionally has been
the case.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed Christine
Lagarde of France for her second
five-year term beginning 5 July. There
was no other candidate in the race
and India had supported her candidacy.
‘This time, there was no candidate
from any other country. It was proposed by all European countries.
India supported her candidature.
But while doing so we have indicated, we have informed the Fund
that in the next round the managing
director (MD) position should go
to an individual from an emerging
economy’, said Union Finance Secretary Shaktikant Das.
‘Considering today’s global economic reality, it is time that it (IMF’s
MD post) goes to a non-European,
from an emerging economy. We have
communicated our view (to the IMF).
This round there was no other candidate as such’, Das said in response to
a question on the election of the IMF
Managing Director during a round
table with Indian mediapersons.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF
JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
(Testamentary and Intestate Jurisdiction)
O.P.No.848 of 2015
In the matter of the Indian
Succession Act XXXIX of 1925
And
In the Matter of the Last Will and
Testament of Mrs. Prema Pratap
- deceased
P. Maheshwaran,
S/o. Dr. R. Chitraa, No.29/30,
Rose Garden, 1st Floor,
Flat No.4, Kungumam Nagar,
II Street, Porur, Chennai - 600 116.
... Petitioner
-VsB.Samanthakamani,
W/o. Late R. Balaraman,
No.404, 18th Street,
Housing Board Colony, Korattur,
Chennai - 600 080.
... Respondent
All persons claiming to have any interest in
the estate of the above named Mrs. Prema
Pratap who was resided at Old No.6/4 New
No.1/4, Tara Chand Annex, Virugambakkam,
Chennai - 92 and died on 15.06.2014 are
hereby cited to come and see the proceedings before the Learned master sitting in the
original side of High Court of Judicature at
Madras on 28.04.2016 at 10.30 a.m. and
grant of letters of administration.
Dated at Chennai on this the 7th day of
April 2016
K.ARIVALAGAN
Asst. Registrar,
Original Side - I, High Court,
Chennai - 104.
M/s. D. Jayasingh,
D.Prabhu Mukunth
Arun Kumar & V.S.Manimekalai
No.168, Law Chambers,
High Court Buildings, Chennai - 104
6 SATURDAY
16 APRIL 2016
LOCAL SPORTS
Sports quota
selection trials at
Hindustan varsity
Sports
Mishra was game-changer: Miller
Zaheer sounds warning to rivals after first win
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
Hindustan University will conduct
selection trials for sports admissions
(engineering, arts and science) on 29
and 30 April at its Guindy campus.
A press note said that the criteria for
selection was that the student should
have performed and achieved accolades at nationals, inter-university and
State-levels in following games: Athletics, Basketball, Badminton, Boxing,
Chess, Cricket, Football, Gymnastics,
Horse Riding, Martial Arts, Sailing,
Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis
and Volleyball (men and women).
Interested candidates are requested
to report at 9.30 a.m. at the venue with
original academic and sports certificates along with attested photo copies.
For information, contact B Selvamuthu Krishnan (Director of Sports) at
8056296924 or K Deepak (assistant
director of sports) at 9952035336.
Email: ped@hindustanuniv.ac.in.
but then they won the game. So yes,
Maxwell’s over was a bit too late. He
could have come early. I guess we
need to chop it up.’
Both Miller and Maxwell were dismissed in the same over by Mishra
and the skipper admitted it was a
painful coincidence.
‘Mishra was bowling really well. But
as trump batters, we needed to express ourself and play with freedom
as well. There is a very fine line between batting with irresponsibility. I
give credit to them. I guess we need
to chat about that in the next couple
of days,’ he said.
‘It (Maxwell’s shot) was not needed
at that time to be honest. But then
if Max would have hit a six then we
would have been praising him. So
may be at that
stage
Inzy wants time
to decide on
selector role
Karachi, Apr 16 (PTI):
Former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq
has asked for more time for him
to take a decision on the chief selector’s position offered to him by
Pakistan Cricket Board. An official in
the Board confirmed to PTI that PCB
chairman Shahryar Khan had invited
Inzamam to his residence and had a
detailed meeting with him.
CHENNAI
Amit Mishra spun the game DD’s way with the key wickets
of David Miller and Glenn Maxwell in quick succession.
New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI):
Kings XI Punjab skipper David Miller
heaped praises on Amit Mishra stating that the leg-spinner was ‘unlucky’
not to end up with a five-for after having changed the course of the game
with wickets of Shaun Marsh, Glenn
Maxwell and himself.
Mishra’s 4 for 11 in 3 overs was
instrumental in Daredevils notching
up a comfortable eight-wicket win
over Kings XI Punjab.
‘Mishra was unlucky not to get five
wickets. He is a great bowler, he got
myself, Maxwell and Marsh as well,
so he has been a game-changer out
there,’ Miller told reporters after their
second loss.
Not ready to blame the Feroz Shah
Kotla wicket, Miller said: ‘It was a
low-scoring game but I think we lost
too many wickets in different stages
which changed the momentum of the
match. I think the wicket was right.’
Asked why didn’t he introduce
Glenn Maxwell early in the innings,
Miller said: ‘I didn’t want the bowlers
to bowl too many overs at once. We
didn’t have enough runs on board. I
thought I will bring Maxwell later on
ECB’s new helmet rules draw flak
Test captain Cook faces ban if he fails to adopt of safety measures
London, Apr 16:
England batsmen Nick Compton
has criticised the ECB’s new helmet
regulations as Test captain Alastair
Cook was reportedly warned he
could be banned if he failed to adopt
the new safety measures.
The England and Wales Cricket
Board announced a change in policy
in regards to helmets last November, with all players in professional
matches required to wear helmets
that meet the updated British Safety
Standard.
The decision came around 12
months since Australian batsman
Phillip Hughes was killed when he
was struck in the neck by a delivery
during a Sheffield Shield match, and
six months after Englishman Craig
Kieswetter retired due to the serious
facial injuries he suffered when a ball
went between his helmet and grille
during an English county match.
Compton was one of Hughes’s closest friends having been his flatmate
in London during their time together
at Middlesex, while they were also
Mallya absent but
business as usual
for Force India
Shanghai, Apr 16:
India’s move to suspend embattled
tycoon Vijay Mallya’s diplomatic
passport made headlines in Mumbai
and New Delhi on Friday but it was
business as usual for his Force India
Formula One team in China.
Mallya has yet to attend a grand prix
this year, absent from the seasonopener in Australia and Bahrain,
and the team said the 60-year-old
never had any intention of travelling
to Shanghai for Sunday’s third round.
‘He does not usually attend this
race,’ said a team spokesman after
the day’s free practice sessions.
Mallya’s immediate whereabouts
were unclear and he was not available for comment. Deputy team principal Bob Fernley told Reuters this
month that Mallya, who is a member
of the Upper House of India’s Parliament, had no plans to travel to any
races until the Spanish Grand Prix in
Barcelona on 13-15 May.
teammates at Sydney grade club
Western Suburbs. Compton flew
from the UK to Australia for Hughes’s
funeral in December 2014. But
32-year-old right-hander says the
new measures have gone too far.
‘For me there are so many rules
and regulations now,’ Compton was
quoted as saying by The Telegraph.
You look at the Phil Hughes incident. It was well publicised that he
was one of my best friends and I’m
always thinking of him, but what
happened was a freak accident.
‘Those helmets have been used by
thousands of players in the past and
have done very well.
Compton’s comments come as
Cook was reportedly warned by England’s Managing Director Andrew
Strauss - his former opening partner
- that he risked being suspended if
he continued to wear a helmet that
didn’t meet the new standards.
A report in The Times said Cook
could face a disciplinary committee
if he continued to wear a non-sanctioned helmet, as he did in county
cricket last week. All eyes will
be on the helmet Cook wears
when he captains Essex in
their county clash against
Sussex, starting this weekend.
Last October, Australia batsman Shaun Marsh was
reprimanded for failing to comply with
the updated regulations during a
Matador BBQs
One-Day Cup
match. The
findings from
a coroner’s
inquest into
Hughes’s
death are
yet to be released.
Alastair Cook
Blatter regrets ‘not
reforming’ FIFA
Basel, Apr 16:
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter acknowledged on Friday that he
failed to reform the scandal-ridden
world soccer organisation but asserted he was not responsible for
corruption in its regional organisations.
Blatter spoke to more than 400 people at the University of Basel, where
a student group has been preparing
proposals on how FIFA should address the scandal.
The disgraced FIFA head appeared
at the event with Luis Moreno Ocampo, a former International Criminal
Court prosecutor who accused the
80-year-old Swiss citizen of turning a
blind eye to corruption within regional
soccer organisations.
Dozens of officials, including former
members of FIFA’s executive committee, have been indicted in the
‘You
look at the
Phil Hughes
incident. It was
well publicised
that he was one of
my best friends
and I’m always
thinking of
him’
in their first leg.
Bayern manager Pep Guardiola
misses what would have been a difficult semi-final for him against City,
the Premier League side he will take
charge of next season.
City will host Real on 26 April and
Atletico face Bayern the following
evening.Real, record 10-times champions, are unbeaten in their last eight
games against English clubs. Their
Kings XI Punjab batsman Glenn
Maxwell was reprimanded by match
referee Roshan Mahanama for showing dissent at an umpiring decision
during his team’s crushing eightwicket defeat against Delhi Daredevils
in an IPL match yesterday.
Maxwell had a particularly poor
match as he was out without scoring
and gave away 11 runs in the only
over that he bowled.
He just missed the ball. It was a
Catch-22 situation.’
Miller said he would look to stick to
what worked for them in the past and
hoped that they will back to winning
It
ways soon.
‘It doesn’t change. I thought
was a lowto go with the same mindset,
scoring game but I
same process, stick with the
things that I did in the past.
think we lost too many
I have been hitting the ball
wickets in different stages
nicely and as a batsman, I
which changed the momentum believe we need to stick to
what worked in the past.’
of the match. I think the
Miller again rued his team’s
batting
collapse but is hopeful
wicket was right’
of a quick turnaround in their
- Miller
next match on Sunday.
‘Obviously, not enough runs, we
have to look at the positives. We
he though he
have a long tournament and hoping
needed to take him on at that stage.
for a quick turnaround on Sunday.
Bengaluru set to
host IPL 2016 final
New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI):
Its schedule thrown haywire after
the Bombay High Court ordered
the shifting of 13 IPL matches out of
drought-hit Maharashtra, the cashrich league picked Bengaluru as
the venue for its finale and offered
four alternate home options to the
State’s affected franchises.
In a meeting between IPL chairman
Rajeev Shukla and representatives
of the Rising Pune Supergiants and
Mumbai Indians, it was decided to
allot IPL’s final and the first Qualifier
to Bengaluru.
The second Qualifier and the Eliminator, on the other hand, have been
proposed to be moved to Kolkata to
implement the Bombay High Court’s
order that asked the BCCI to shift all
the IPL matches after 30 April from
Maharashtra due to the acute water
crisis in the State.
In yesterday’s meeting, the two
affected franchises were asked to
pick from Raipur, Jaipur, Visakhapatnam and Kanpur as their alternate
home base.
While Pune opted for Visakhapat-
nam, Mumbai Indians sought two
days’ time to choose their new base.
‘We will propose before the Governing Council that Final and Qualifier 1 be shifted to Bengaluru,
while Qualifier 2 and Eliminator to
Kolkata,’ Shukla told reporters after
the meeting.
‘After speaking to the franchises,
we have given them four options:
Raipur, Jaipur, Kanpur and Visakhapatnam. Mumbai Indians have
asked for time (to give their preference),’ he added.
‘Pune has given Visakhapatnam
as its preference. We will put the
proposal of Pune team before the
Governing Council.’
The logistical crisis was triggered
despite the BCCI assurance to the
High Court that IPL franchises of
Mumbai and Pune had agreed to
contribute Rs five crore each to
CM’s drought relief fund.
‘As far as giving Rs 5 crore is
concerned, it will be as per the directive of the High Court. They (the
franchises) are supposed to get a
written order on this,’ Shukla said.
Monfils mows
down Granollers
Nadal juggernaut rolls on as Swiss challenge fizzles out
United States and Blatter has been
banned for six years by its ethics
committee.
‘I regret I have not done enough to
bring back FIFA on the right track,’
Blatter told the meeting. But he
insisted that while he led FIFA, the
actions of leaders of regional soccer
organisations did not fall under his
purview.
Monaco, Apr 16:
A ninth Monte Carlo Masters title is
getting closer for Rafael Nadal with
most of his rivals out of the
way - including Roger
Federer, who again
misses out on one
of the few trophies
not already in his
glittering collection.
Frenchm a n
Gael
All-Madrid finale still a chance
Paris, Apr 16:
A repeat of the 2014 Champions
League final between Real Madrid
and Atletico Madrid is still possible
after Friday’s semi-final draw.
Real, who won that game 4-1 after
extra-time, will play first-time semifinalists Manchester City, with the
first leg in north-west England.
Atletico, who beat holders Barcelona
in the last eight, host Bayern Munich
Maxwell pulled
up for showing
dissent
semifinal
here against Andy
Murray. Federer
lost 3-6, 6-2, 7-5
to Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga, despite bei n g
Semifinal line-up
Real Madrid vs Manchester City
(26 April, 1st leg)
Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich (27 April, 1st leg)
only previous game against City
came in 2012 when the Spanish side
won 3-2 at home before drawing 1-1
in Manchester.
Monfils, seeded 13th, stormed into
the semis with a facile 6-2, 6-4 win
over Spaniard Marcel Granollers on
a d a y when Nadal defeated Stan
Wawrinka and Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga upset Federer.
But Federer - a four-time
runner-up on the French
Riviera - was not too disappointed, considering that his
priority was to come back safely after more than two months
out following knee surgery.
N a d a l beat Stan Wawrinka 6-1,
6-4 on Friday to
s e t
up a third
Monte Carlo
two points
from victory when 5-4 up in the
decider with Tsonga 15-30
down on his serve
This was Federer’s first tournament
play since arthroscopic surgery on
his left knee for torn cartilage on 3
February, and defeat was softened
by relief at avoiding any relapse.
‘It was good to play back-to-back,
yesterday and today, good to play 2
hours 10 (minutes) today,’ Federer
said. ‘It was nice to play an intense
match. I’m happy how the body
reacted.’
With top-ranked Novak Djokovic
and Wawrinka - the French Open
champion - also out, Federer himself
picked Nadal when asked about the
favourite.
‘He is still a major player on clay,’
Federer said of Nadal, whose last
title here came in 2012.
The statistics agree with Federer.
Nadal leads Murray 16-6 in career
meetings and 6-1 on clay. For
the other two semifinalists,
Nadal is 11-2 up on Gael
Monfils - 4-0 on clay - and
8-4 on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga,
having beaten him here in the
semifinals three years ago.
Nadal went on to lose the 2013
final to Djokovic, who was stunned in
the second round this year by Czech
Jiri Vesely, an unheralded Czech
player ranked 55th.
Mixed Bag
CHENNAI
Dilip Kumar
hospitalised
Mumbai, Apr 16 (PTI):
Veteran Bollywood
actor Dilip Kumar,
who has been admitted to the Lilavati
Hospital in suburban Bandra for respiratory problems
early today, is under observation with
doctors attending on him stating that
the next 72 hours are crucial.
‘The next 72 hours are crucial. He is
under observation. We are keeping
a close watch. He might have to be
shifted to the ICU,’ Dr Jalil Parker of
Lilavati Hospital told PTI.
The 93-year-old cinema legend was
hospitalised around 2 am, sources
said.
Asked to comment on Kumar’s
present condition, Parker said, ‘It
takes time for a patient to respond
to the treatment in the same way
as it takes three hours for the food
to digest.’
However, family sources maintained that there is nothing to worry.
‘He is normal. He is fine. There is
nothing like that,’ they said, when
asked whether Kumar was in a serious condition.
Earlier, Parker said that Kumar had
fever and had vomited a few times.
‘He was suffering from pneumonia as
well. His white blood cells had shot
up. We thought it would be better to
admit him to hospital.’
Minister’s son
booked
for rash driving
Hyderabad, Apr 16 (PTI):
Union Minister of State for Science
and Technology Y S Chowdary’s son
Karthik has been booked for rash
driving by Hyderabad Traffic Police
which also seized his Porsche car.
During a special road safety drive
conducted last night by traffic cops,
Karthik was found driving the vehicle
allegedly in a ‘rash’ manner between
Jubilee Hills Check Post and KBR
Park gate here, Banjara Hills Traffic Police Station Inspector N Vidya
Sagar told PTI.
‘We caught him along with some other (motorists) during the special drive
for different violations,’ the Inspector
said, adding a case was booked on
charge of rash driving against Karthik
under section 184 (B) of MV Act and
the Porsche car was seized.
Summer holidays
for students
from 1 May
NT Bureau
Chennai Apr 16:
Tamilnadu School Education Department has announced that summer holidays for students will commence from 1 May. Schools will
reopen on 1 June.
According to a release, the exams
for Municipal and primary schools will
conclude on 30 April and for sixth and
eighth standards by 21 April. The
board exams for Tenth and Plus Two
ended recently.
SATURDAY
16 APRIL 2016
No climate of intolerance
in India, says Jaitley
q ‘They are rare in a large country’ ‘It is a creation made by media’
Washington, Apr 16 (PTI):
There could be ‘stray’ incidents of
people on either side of the political
spectrum making irresponsible statements but this could not be generalised
as prevalence of a climate of intolerance in the country, Union Minister
Arun Jaitley has said.
Dubbing such incidents as ‘terrible’,
the senior BJP leader, however, said
that they are ‘rare’ in a large country
like India.
‘There could be stray incidents of irresponsible statements by individuals
on either side of the political spectrum,
that does not mean that zamin per koi
iss tarah ki activity hai (intolerance exists),’ Jaitley said during a
media roundtable with Indian reporters here.
‘These are bad incidents. These
are terrible incidents, but these are
extremely rare in a large country.
Historically stray incidents have taken
place,’ he said when his attention was
drawn towards some of the specific
such incidents.
Responding to a question on alleged
prevalence of intolerance in the country,
Jaitley described this as a creation of
‘Mallya’s biz model could be at fault’
Questioning the ‘business model’ of long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines for
Vijay Mallya’s mounting woes, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said the
airline sector as such is doing well in India with many carriers making
good profits.
Mallya, the owner of Kingfisher Airlines and many other companies that
owe over Rs 9,000 crore of dues to lenders, is currently in London, defying
Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons.
‘I am not giving a final opinion on it. It could be attributed to the business
model of a particular company,’ Jaitley yesterday said here in response to a
question on Mallya, on which he refused to be directly dragged into.
‘As far as the recoveries are concerned, in this (Mallya) case, banks are
taking all possible steps. And whether there have been violations of some
penal provisions, the investigating agencies are looking at it,’ he said.
media. ‘On the ground, my own understanding of the subject is, are there a
lot of things happening that show this
(intolerance)? The answer is no’.
‘There could be in a large country like
India some incident or the other, which
takes place one time, which could be
considered highly improper and condemnable,’ he said.
When asked if there is any introspection within the party, he said:
‘Actually neither in the party agenda
nor on the ground there is any such
activity wherein in a large country like
India it (incidents of intolerance) is
happening state after state.’
‘A news channel can show same
four people giving irresponsible
statements and build a story around
it. That seems to be more of what is
happening. What gets projected is in
a large body of politics there
would always be three or four people who would react aggressively
and disproportionally to events,’ he
observed.
‘So loose comments, loose state-
Theri: Theatre owners
blame Dhanu
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
The war of words between theatre
owners and producer of Theri Kalaipuli S Thanu escalated over the
non-screening of the Vijay-starrer in
several cinema halls in Chengalpet.
Several screens in Chengalpet area
did not release Theri on Tamil New
Year day. This resulted in Tamil Film
Producers’ Council deciding not to
screen any upcoming big films in
Chengalpet theaters, which refused
to screen Theri.
The theatre-owners were apparently
told that biggies like 24 and S3 starring Suriya and Rajinikanth’s Kabali
will not be given to them.
In retaliation, the honchos of Tamilnadu Theatre Owners Association
Bomb threat to bank
on Mount Road
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 16:
In yet another incident of its kind, the
city police was kept on its toes by a
hoax caller who issued a bomb threat
at a commercial complex on Thousand
Lights.
According to the police, yesterday at
around 11.50 pm, the police control
room received a call that a bomb would
go off at a three storey commercial
building which houses a private bank.
‘Indian economy is
like one-eyed man’
q We have still to get to a place
where we feel satisfied: RBI Guv
Washington, Apr 16 (PTI):
Ministers and Central Bank Governors.
With India being often described as ‘We feel things are turning to the point
‘the bright spot in the global economy’, where we could achieve what we
believe is our medium-run growth poReserve Bank Governor Raghuram
tential. Because things are falling into
Rajan sees this as a case of ‘the
place. Investment is starting to pick
one-eyed man’ being king in the land
up strongly. We have a fair degree of
of the blind.
macro-stability. Of course,
Amid gloomy global
not immune to every shock,
economic conditions, Inbut immune to a fair number
dian economy has been
of shocks,’ Rajan said in an
described by many as
interview to MarketWatch.
one of the few bright
MarketWatch is published
spots, including by IMF,
by Dow Jones & Co and is
while RBI under Rajan
part of The Wall Street Dighas also been credited
ital Network. Rajan, known
with necessary steps
to have frank views on state
to minimise the impact
of affairs in the Indian and
of external shocks on
global economy, said ‘a
Raghuram Rajan
the country’s financial
bunch of good things
system.
have happened’ in India, but there
‘I think we have still to get to a place
were ‘still some things to do’.
where we feel satisfied. We have this
saying -- ‘In the land of the blind, the
He listed out achievements on
one-eyed man is king’. We are a little
fronts like current account and fiscal
bit that way,’ Rajan said when asked for
deficit and said inflation has come
his take on the ‘bright spot’ theory and
down from 11 per cent to below 5 per
what was his ‘secret sauce’ to ensure
cent, making room for interest rates
this positioning.
to come down.
Rajan, a former chief economist of
‘Of course, structural reforms are
the International Monetary Fund and
ongoing. The government is engaged
in bringing out a new bankruptcy
an on-leave professor of finance at the
University of Chicago Booth School of
code. There is Goods and Services
Business, was here for Spring Meet- Tax on the anvil. But there is a lot of
ings of the World Bank and the IMF, exciting stuff which is already hapas also for the G20 Meeting of Finance
pening,’ he said.
The control room relayed the information to the city police who combed the
building, and later established that the
call was a hoax. The police subsequently traced the call to one Velpari
(43) of Guduvancheri, who was found
absconding. The police said, in 2014,
Velpari had made a similar hoax call to
the police and was arrested.
A case has been registered, with
a team of police launching a search
for him.
blamed Thanu for the fiasco. They
said, ‘We were screening films based
on percentage basis. Unfortunately,
Thanu insisted that we pay a minimum guarantee amount for releasing
Theri. It would mean every theatre
owner spends not less than Rs one
crore, which we feel would burn a
hole in our pockets’.
‘When theatres in Chennai were allowed to release on percentage basis,
why we should be asked to tread a
different path’, they asked.
‘Our executive committee would
meet soon in Chennai and take a final
decision on TFPC’s announcement
that big films would not be given to
us for release’, they added.
Driver killed in
road mishap
Salem, Apr 16 (PTI):
A State government bus driver
on his way to buy pooja articles for
devotees going to Sabarimala died
when his motoribike hit a tree at
Valpadi today, police said.
The 35-year-old man was proceeding to a shop to buy the articles
when he lost control of the two
wheeler at a turn and was killed,
they said.
He is survived by his wife and two
children.
ments, improper statements, when the
television camera confronts you, you
say what you should not say, aise char,
panch, chhe log hai (there are four, five,
six such people), usko aap environment of intolerance kah do? (and you
describe them as an environment of
intolerance)?’ the Minister asked.
The Finance Minister is currently on
a week-long tour of the US primarily to
attend the annual Spring meeting of the
International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank.
7
Sushma to raise
Masood issue
with China
Mumbai, Apr 16:
External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj who will leave today to attend the Russia-India-China (RIC)
trilateral in Moscow, will raise the
proscription of Jaish-e-Mohammad
(JeM) chief Masood Azhar with her
Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the meeting.
‘I am going to Moscow. The final
investigation report into fire tragedy
in which we lost Pooja Kallur and
Krishma Bhonsle is on my agenda,’
Sushma tweeted.
She added that she will also be
taking up the matter of Yasir, an
Indian national from Srinagar who
was killed in Kazan in Russia.
After the attack on the Pathankot
airbase in January, India in February had written to the UN calling
for immediate action to list Masood
Azhar under the UN Sanctions
Committee.
All were told that if there are no
objections were raised, the designation will be announced after
the expiry of the deadline, but just
hours before the deadline, China
requested the UN. committee to
keep on hold the designation.
China said, that any listing would
have to meet the requirements,
stressing that it was the Council
members’ responsibility to ensure
that the criteria were followed.
India close to buying
36 Rafale fighter jets
q Rs 60,000 cr deal with France in final stage
New Delhi, Apr 16:
The negotiations over the purchase of
36 Rafale fighter jets have entered the
‘final stages’ as both India and France
have managed to narrow down their
differences over the pricing.
Government sources said that the
deal has not been concluded yet but it
is in ‘final stages’.
Euros for smaller Indian companies
The development came nearly four
and creating thousands of new jobs
months after Prime Minister Narendra
in India through the offsets.
Modi and French President Francois
In fact, the toughest phase in the
Hollande signed a memorandum of
negotiations that began in July 2015
agreement (MoU) to purchase 36 - three months after Modi announced
Rafale combat jets.
in Paris India’s plan to purchase 36
The Indian side has been negotiat- Rafale jets - was to get the French
ing hard to bring down the price of the
to agree to 50 per cent offsets in
Rafale deal.
the deal.
Sources said the price for 36 RaInitially, Dassault Aviation was
fales, as per the UPA tender, keeping
willing to agree to reinvest only 30
per cent of the value of its contract
the cost escalation and dollar rate in
in Indian entities to meet the offset
mind, comes to a little over Rs 65,000
obligations.
crore. This includes the cost involved
The French side finally agreed to inin making changes India has sought
vest 50 per cent of the value following
in the aircraft, including Israeli helmet
a phone conversation between Modi
mounted display and some specific
and Hollande late last year.
weaponry, among others.
The commercial negotiations, as in
‘The effort is to bring down the price
the pricing of the planes, equipment
to less than Euros 8 billion (Rs 59,000
and other issues, actually began only
crore),’ the sources said.
in mid-January this year.
Sources said the French have more
Under the proposed deal, French
or less agreed to Indian terms.
companies apart from Dassault AviaThe expectation is that the final deal
tion, will provide several aeronautics,
will be clinched by May-end.
electronics and micro-electronics
The deal comes with the clause of
delivering 50 per cent offsets, creat- technologies to comply with the offset
obligation.
ing business worth at least 3 billion
Upbeat Daredevils runs
into top-heavy RCB
Bengaluru, Apr 16 (PTI):
Riding high after an emphatic
victory against Kings XI Punjab, a
rejuvenated Delhi Daredevils will
aim to pose a serious challenge to a
formidable Royal Challengers
Bangalore when the two teams
square off in an IPL encounter,
here tomorrow.
After being battered in the first
game, Daredevils have come back
strongly with an eight-wicket win
over KXIP but they will now be facing RCB, who have also notched
up a comprehensive 45-run win
over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their
opening game.
On paper, RCB is a far better side
with the most prolific batting lineup IPL that boasts of skipper Virat
Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers
and Shane Watson.
Not to forget the presence of
young talent Sarfaraz Khan and
domestic heavyweight Kedar
Jadhav.
But Delhi has experience in their
bowling ranks with Zaheer Khan
leading the pack showing what
is still left in his armoury. Currently India’s best leg-spinner Amit
Mishra has time and again risen
upto the occasion as he did against
RCB will look to Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to continue smashing
runs in the games to come.
KXIP with figures of 4 for 11.
a challenge for Mishra and Zaheer
to stop the duo from sending them
Together, they would like to stop
on a leatherhunt.
the RCB from going all-out on a
ground, whose boundaries are too
But it is the Delhi batting that will
short for comfort.
be put to test as they floundered
in the first match getting all-out for
de Villiers (82) and Kohli (75)
98 and then went untested in the
added a whopping 157 runs in their
second game as the target was a
win against Sunrisers and it will be
meagre 112.
Looking for an elusive title, RCB will like to come out
all guns blazing.
For academic
interest, RCB
are placed
second in the
league table with two points from a
game whereas Delhi have identical
points having played a game more.
With the league just starting off, the
table is of little or no consequence.
Watson, who proved his worth by
producing an all-round show against
Hyderabad by picking up two wickets and making a quickfire 19 off 8
balls alongside Sarfaraz Khan, will
hope to repeat the exploits.
Sarfaraz impressed one and all for
his 10-ball 35 will face the guiles of
Mishra and experience of Zaheer.
Bangalore also will be keen on
hearing the progress of West Indies
leg-spinner Samuel Badree, who is
yet to recover from a shoulder injury
suffered during the World T20.
In Badree’s absence, Yuzuvendra
Chahal led the spin attack, and
would like to repeat his feat of bagging two wickets in the previous
match in the company of Parvez
Rasool, who claimed the prized
wicket of Shikhar Dhawan.
8
SATURDAY
16 APRIL 2016
, CHENNAI
Licensed to post without prepayment under WPP. No. TN / PMG / (CCR) / WPP-470 / 15-17
Movie on perils
of social media
T
J
One more from
ARM’s hut
oining the long list of filmmaker A R Murugadoss’ assistants making it as
director is Vijay Balaji. He is coming out with a movie titled Vidhi Madhi Ulta.
The movie produced by Right Media Works stars Rameez Raja of Darling 2
in the lead role. Janani Iyer is the heroine. The cast also includes Daniel Balaji
and Karunakaran. The movie has music by Aswin and camera by Martin Jo.
Speaking about the film, the director, says, ‘It is a battle between fate and
common sense. What when things go topsy turvy in a man’s life forms the
crux. A major portion of the movie was shot in Pudhucherry and Pollachi.
Rameez Raja is tailor-made for the role and plans are on to release Vidhi
Madhi Ulta soon, says Vijay Balaji.
– NT Bureau
hough technological
advancements have shrunk
the world, yet many individuals
find themselves in a spot of bother.
My forthcoming movie Inaya
Thalamurai is about how social
media networks like Facebook and
Twitter put a few in trouble, says
filmmaker Ilanthirumaran.
Produced, written and directed
by him, Inaya Thalamurai features
Ashwin Kumar and Manishajith in
lead roles. Ravi, Sathyan, Sanjay,
Sarath, Thennavan among others
are also in the cast.
Music is by J Gopinath
and cinematography by Aaro.
Lyrics are by Ilaya Kamban and
Ilanthirumaran. A major portion
of the movie has been shot in Sri
Villiputhur and Rajapalayam.
– NT Bureau
Innocent
to act in
Tamil film
I
Filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj, actors Vijay Sethupathi, S J Suryah, Bobby Simha, producer C V
Kumar among others at the audio launch of Iraivi in Chennai.
raivi songs are special and different. Music composer Santhosh
Narayanan has done a wonderful job,
says director Karthik Subbaraj.
The movie is produced by C V
Kumar and stars Vijay Sethupathi,
Bobby Simha, S J Suryah, Anjali,
Kamalini Mukherjee, Pooja Devaria,
Karunakaran, Cheenu Mohan, Radha
Ravi and Vadivukarasi in key roles.
Cinematography is by Sivakumar
Vijayan and editing by Vivek Harshan. This is Karthik Subbaraj’s
third directorial venture after Pizza
and Jigarthanda. Iraivi is likely to be
release in May.
Speaking at the audio launch, S J
Suryah, said, ‘This is a dream come
true movie for me and I thank Karthik
Subbaraj for the opportunity’.
Producer C V Kumar & Karthik
Subbaraj have opened the gates for
of young and energetic movie-lovers,
he added.
VIjay Sethupathi, said, ‘ After watching the movie, everyone will realise
the importance of women in society.
And Iraivi will be a movie to reckon
with in my career’.
Anjali and Pooja Devaria were also
present on the occasion.
NT Bureau
Santhosh Narayanan is special: Karthik Subbaraj
Tomorrow’s
matches:
Kings XI Punjab vs
Supergiants
at Mohali, 4 p.m
Mumbai Indians vs
Gujarat Lions
at Mumbai, 8 p.m
Hyderabad:
Seeking to shrug off the defeat in
their IPL campaign opener against
Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to put
their best foot forward in tonight’s
match against Kolkata Knight Riders, coach Tom Moody said.
He also brushed aside the injuryenforced absence of veteran pacer
Ashish Nehra and said there were
adequate replacements in the form
of Barinder Sran and Abhimanyu
Mithun
‘Even though, we lost the first
game, we are going to this with lots
of confidence. (There are) lots of
things we can take away from that
game in Bangalore. It gave us lot
of confidence with the bat and ball,’
Moody said at the pre-match press
conference at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Friday.
The Sunrisers lost by 45 runs to
RCB in Bengaluru earlier this week.
Noting that KKR are a strong side,
‘Unfair to judge team
on basis of one match’
Hyderabad:
Kolkata Knights Riders captain Gautam Gambhir expressed confidence
that his side can put up an impressive performance in their IPL match
against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday, notwithstanding their loss to
Mumbai Indians earlier.
‘One game ... you cannot judge
a team just by one game. I think
we were very convincing in the first
game. Obviously, we could not
defend 187. Sometimes, you need
to give opposition credit as well.
Mumbai played really smart cricket.
They chased the target very well,’
Moody said the Sunrisers would
like to come up with a competitive
performance tomorrow.
‘KKR are a strong team. They
have shown it over time. So, it is
going to be a tough contest. I think
every side in the competition is
pretty well balanced. There is no
so called easy game. We certainly
have to play our best cricket to
score winning points tomorrow,’
he said.
Though Sunrisers’ seasoned
bowler Ashish Nehra is injured,
the team has back up replacement
options in Barinder Sran and Abhimanyu Mithun, he said.
‘Obviously, with Ashish Nehra
injured, a bowler of that quality, it
is going to have an impact on any
side. We are conscious to make
sure we have strong support behind
our bowling. With Sran and Mithun
we got capable and talented backup
pace bowlers. So we are confident
we have potential replacement,’
Moody said.
The team does possess ‘depth
and quality’ in batting, though the
experienced Yuvraj Singh is injured
for now, said the Australian.
No Nehra,
no problem,
says Moody
SRH coach expects Mithun, Sran to step up
Filmmaker L G Ravichandran,
who made films like Masani and
Aindham Thalaimurai Vaidhaya
Sigamani is ready with his next.
Titled Nan Avalai Sandhithapodhu stars Santhosh Prathap and
Chandni in lead roles.
Santosh Prathap shot to fame
playing the lead in Kadhai Thirai
Kadhai Vasanam Iyakkam.
Popular Malayalam actor Innocent plays comedian in the
movie. The cast also includes
G M Kumar, Imman Annachi,
Chaams, Bharath Kalyan
among others. Cinematography
is by R S Selva and music by
Hithesh Selvah.
The movie is produced by V
T Ritheesh Kumar, was shot in
Tenkasi, Coutrallam, Papanasam among other areas. Says
the director, ‘the movie is based
on real life incident that took
place in Tamilnadu in 1996’.
– NT Bureau
Actor Innocent
9
Gambhir told reporters at the press
conference on the eve of the match
against Sunrisers.
‘I think they were very measured in
their approach. They did not go really
hard throughout the 20 overs. Rohit
Sharma anchored the innings. You
got to give credit to the opposition as
well,’ he said.
KKR pulled off a superb win against
Delhi Daredevils, but lost badly to MI.
‘As I said, we are a quality side.
We got a quality bowling attack. If
we can put that kind of runs on the
board, most of the time, we will end
up defending it.
Parthiv hails Ponting’s
coaching methods
‘We aren’t too worried about off-field matters’
Mumbai:
Defending IPL champions Mumbai Indians have been hit hard by
the Bombay High Court decision to
shift all their home games out of the
Wankhede Stadium, but the side
were focused only on the game,
according to wicket-keeper Parthiv
Patel.
He also praised former Australian
captain Ricky Ponting’s coaching
method and said his calm demeanour
had a great influence on the team and
its fortunes.
‘It’s something not in our control. I
don’t think we can think about them.
There are still four (actually three)
games here. We would rather put
our energy into it,’ said Patel at the
press conference on Friday ahead
of tonight’s game here against table
toppers Gujarat Lions.
‘We have played two games and
that includes away games as well
(against Kolkata Knight Riders in
Kolkata). As players we have been
taught not to focus on external things
and (instead) focus on the game.
Home and away game don’t matter.
As a sportsman you always want
challenges and MI is a team which
can play anywhere,’ he said.
‘It’s just start of tournament and
we are getting some momentum. I don’t think it
makes any sense in
shifting our focus
nto something
into
which is not in our
control. We would rather focus on playing cricket rather
than other things,’
he added.
The two affected franchises -- MI
and Rising Pune
Super-
giants
-- were
asked by
the IPL to
pick from Raipur,
Jaipur, Visakhapatnam and Kanpur
as their alternate home
base.
While Pune opted for Visakhapatnam, Mumbai Indians
sought two days’ time (till 17 April)
to choose their new base.
Patel said though the team will miss
West Indian batsman Lendl Simmons,
ruled out of the tournament because of
a lower back injury,
it has given him an
opportunity to
bat with
h i s
in-form ca
captain Rohit Sharma.
h been a brilliant player
‘Lendl has
for us and has scored a lot of runs
over the last two years. We had
ope
good opening
partnerships last
year. Now it gives me an opportunity to pla
play with Rohit. He’s in great
form and makes batting look easy
and that g
gives me confidence at the
other end as well.’
Meanwh
Meanwhile,
Simmons’ replacement, New Zealander Martin Guptill,
reach here and he did prachas reached
F
tice on Friday
with the squad but is
unlikely to make it to the playing
eleve
eleven tomorrow.
Ahmedabad-born Patel,
wh
who made 23 in the previou
ous game against Kolkata,
b
backed the team thinkt
tank’s
move to promote
all-rounder Hardik Pandya to bat at number
three followed by Mitchell
McClenaghan.
‘
‘He’s
(Pandya) a quality
player He got lot of runs in the
player.
Mus
Syed Mushtaq
Ali T20 trophy here
batting at number three. Him batting
at number
numbe three gives a very good
balance. IIt gives (Ambati) Rayudu,
P
(Kieron) Pollard
and (Jos) Buttler
pla to bat on,’ said Patel.
a nice place
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