Cop beaten up by MIM

Hyderabad: Trouble broke out in Mallepally for the second time this week, after two Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) functionaries allegedly beat up a police sub-inspector after he told their group of around 10 people to leave the area. Mallepally had recently witnessed clashes between members of two rival groups of the Tableeghi Jamaat (TJ).
    Upon receiving orders from seniors, sub-inspector Ghouse Khan from Habeeb Nagar police station went to Bharat Ground in Mallepally to disperse the group, who the police feared could create trouble.
    Habeeb Nagar police had intensified patrolling to keep mischief makers at bay in the aftermath of clashes between two rival groups of the non-political TJ which rocked the Jama Masjid Moazzampura, in the same area on April 8 and caused tension the next day.
    Locals miffed with the minor disturbances said that they were vexed with the developments and only wanted normalcy in the area restored.
    The latest incident occurred around midnight when the two MIM workers and brothers Mazhar Quadri and Asghar Quadri, both residents of Mallepally, refused to budge from the place despite requests by Khan.
    Khan tried to reason with them but they refused to leave. They became aggressive and allegedly used abusive language, after which the policeman tried to take them to the police station.
    This resulted in a heated argument and the duo allegedly attacked Khan, injuring his arm. According to Khan, one of the brothers was also carrying a licensed weapon.
    “I told them not to argue and leave the place immediately, but they threatened to not only to get me transferred but also to get me suspended. I also told them that it was people of their own neighbourhood who had called and informed us about their group sitting in the area till late in the night,” Khan said.
    A case under section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) has been slapped against both Asghar Quadri and Mazhar Quadri. The duo is yet to be arrested and are at large, police said.

US hikes Pak aid by 40% in 2014 budget

Washington: US President Barack Obama on Wednesday proposed a 40% increase in American aid to Pakistan, amounting to $1.4 billion, as part of his $3.77 trillion budget that focusses on job creation and economic growth.
    Obama among other things proposed to increase the US aid to Pakistan under overseas contingency operations to $1.4 billion for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2013, an increase of 40% than the $1 billion that he had proposed in the last year’s budget for the fiscal 2013. Obama also proposed to reduce the deficit by another $1.8 trillion.
    According to Obama’s budget proposals, the state department’s $47.8 billion budget includes $6.8 billion for the frontline states of Iraq ($2.1 billion), Afghanistan ($3.4 billion), and Pakistan ($1.4 billion). The proposals included $3 billion in base funding and $3.8 billion in overseas contingency operations funding. In view of the terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi in Libya last year, the budget provides over $4 billion to secure overseas personnel. PTI

‘By 2050, warming will make air travel bumpier

London:Air travel is all set to get bumpier on transatlantic flights.
    A first of its kind study has found that climate change will affect aviation by increasing air turbulence and causing flights to get bumpier. The study found that, by the middle of this century the chances of encountering significant turbulence will increase by between 40% and 170%, with the most likely outcome being a doubling of the airspace containing significant turbulence at any time.
    The average strength of turbulence will also increase by between 10% and 40%. The aviation industry has long been accused of contributing to climate change. Now the study finds that rise in carbon dioxide emissions, longer journey times and increased fuel consumption will cause severe turbulence.
    Dr Paul Williams from the University of Reading, together with Dr Manoj Joshi from the University of East Anglia, analysed supercomputer simulations of the atmospheric jet stream over the North Atlantic Ocean. Dr Williams said: “Most air passengers will have experienced the uncomfortable feeling of mid-flight air turbulence. Our research suggests that we’ll be seeing the ‘fasten seatbelts’ sign turned on more often in the decades ahead. Air turbulence does more than just interrupt the service of in-flight drinks. It injures hundreds of passengers and aircrew every year—sometimes fatally. It also causes delays and damages planes.

Social media spells doom for couples

London: Engaging in too much social media activity may damage strong relationships, a new Oxford study has warned. Research by Dr Bernie Hogan of Oxford University tested the theory of ‘media multiplexity’ (the ability to communicate via several communications channels) which was first posed in 2005.
    The theory suggests that there is a clear link between the number of media channels used to communicate, the frequency they are used and the strength of relationship ties.
    “This theory was first put forward in an era of email, chat and telephone conversations. However, we are now firmly in the age of digital communication with social media really taking off,” Hogan said.
    “We wanted to see if these more diverse communications channels strengthened relationship ties in the digital era,” Hogan added.
    Over 24,000 people in marital relationships took part in the new research, using 10 media channels.
    “We found that those using more media tend to report no greater relationship satisfaction and some even reported decreasing satisfaction,” Hogan said. PTI

Forget typing password, your thought is the key

Washington: You may be spared from typing pesky passwords in future! Instead of typing your password, you may only have to think about it, thanks to a new wireless headset device developed by researchers.
    Remembering passwords for all your sites can get annoying. There are only so many punctuation, number substitutes and uppercase variations you can recall, and writing them down for all to find is hardly an option.
    Researchers at the University of California Berkeley School of Information developed the device that explores the feasibility of brainwave-based computer authentication as a substitute for passwords. By measuring brain-waves with bio-sensor technology, researchers are able to replace passwords with “passthoughts” for computer authentication, website ‘Mashable’ reported. A $100 headset wirelessly connects to a computer via Bluetooth, and the device’s sensor rests against the user’s forehead, providing a electroencephalogram (EEG) signal from the brain. The NeuroSky Mindset looks just like any other Bluetooth set and is more userfriendly, researchers said.
    Brainwaves are also unique to each individual, so even if someone knew your passthought, their emitted EEG signals would be different. “Other than the EEG sensor, the headset is indistinguishable from a conventional Bluetooth headset for use with mobiles, music players and other devices,” they said. PTI

’84 riots: Court wants Tytler probed

New Delhi: The ghost of the 1984 riots has returned yet again to haunt Congress leader Jagdish Tytler. A sessions court on Wednesday ordered reopening of the case against Tytler despite CBI giving him aclean chit twice.
    The former Union minister is accused of instigating a mob on Nov 1, 1984, whose actions led to the death of three persons taking shelter in a gurdwara.
    Setting aside the order of a magisterial court, which had accepted the CBI’s closure report in 2010, the court directed the agency to record the statements of purported witnesses. “CBI is directed to conduct further investigation… and to record statements of witnesses, who it had come to know during the investigation itself, and are claiming to be eyewitnesses of the incident,” additional sessions judge Anuradha Shukla Bhardwaj said.
    “Let the law take its own course,” Tytler told TOI, putting up a brave front. “CBI has nothing on me and I will come out clean. Today, the court has asked CBI to further investigate and has said nothing against me. This matter is purely between CBI and Lakhwinder Kaur (complainant). I am not in the picture.”
    The court’s order on Wednesday came on a plea challenging the magisterial court’s order that accepted CBI’s closure report. Appearing for the riot victims and Lakhwinder Kaur, whose husband Badal Singh was one of the victims, senior advocate H S Phoolka had sought the court’s direction for further investigations. Phoolka had alleged that the agency disregarded the statement of material witnesses. Kaur in her plea had claimed that four persons, Resham Singh, Chanchal Singh, Alam Singh and Santosh Singh, witnessed the incident.
    The CBI had sought dismissal of Kaur’s plea saying the probe had made it clear that Tytler was not present on Nov 1, 1984, at Gurudwara Pulbangash in north Delhi where three people were killed during the riots. He was at Teen Murti Bhawan, where Indira Gandhi’s body lay in state, on that day, the agency had said.
    While the CBI has given a clean chit to Tytler twice in the past citing the witnesses as “unreliable”, Wednesday’s order left the investigating agency red-faced as the court found fault with the probe for not examining all available witnesses.
    “We understand that the CBI reserves its right to conclude that these witnesses were planted and not truthworthy and thus to file a closure report giving its opinion on the issue, however, it did not have any right to have not recorded the statements of these witnesses and thus to have prevented the court from forming its own opinion regarding reliability of these witnesses,” it said in its 12-page order.
    The CBI had contended that the statements of eyewitness Surinder Singh, who had died, were contradictory. The court, however, cited an SC judgment in another 1984 riots case against Sajjan Kumar, in which it was held that contradictions in statements were a matter to be decided during the trial.
    The sessions court also pulled up the trial court which had accepted CBI’s plea that Surinder was not reliable and, as he had died, the contradictions in his statements could not be explained. “On the contrary, the trial court was required to consider if there was material on record which could corroborate the statements of the witness,” the ASJ said.
    The court said CBI had an “obligation” to record the statement of three persons based in the US, whose names were taken by Singh as fellow witnesses.
BACK IN THE DOCK
NOV 1984 | Anti-Sikh riots claim around 3,000 lives in Delhi. Jagdish Tytler is MP from Delhi Sadar at the time JAN 1985 | Tytler becomes Union minister in Rajiv government after elections AUG 10, 2005 | Resigns as minister in UPA govt after Nanavati panel on ’84 riots recommends registration of case against him. Tytler accused of instigating a mob that killed three men hiding in a gurdwara on Nov 1 SEPT 2007 | CBI files closure report, gives him clean chit DEC 2007 | Court rejects closure report APR 2, 2009 | CBI again files closure report. Accepted by court APR 10, 2013 | Sessions court orders reopening of case, on plea of the widow of one of the victims Premature to act against Tytler: Cong
New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday refused to act against party leader Jagdish Tytler, saying it was "premature" to take action till something conclusive came out against him in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
    “That is to be examined. We cannot transgress into the court's jurisdiction. If there is something conclusive, we will examine it. It will be premature for us to discuss before that," party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury told reporters.
    Chowdhury was responding to reporters’ query whether Tytler, who is AICC in-charge of party affairs in Odisha, would be removed in the wake of a Delhi court ordering reopening of a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case against him. She said, "I am not the competent authority. We never ever divert (such issues). We take the bull by the horns (after guilt is established)."
    The former Union minister is accused of instigating a mob on Nov 1, 1984, whose actions led to the death of three persons taking shelter in a gurdwara. TNN

Mom dies while saving daughter from assault

Guntur: In a shocking incident, a mother was crushed under a lorry when she resisted the attempts by drunk men to sexually abuse her daughter at Tenali on Monday night. The 40-year-old woman, who was injured grievously, died a few hours later while undergoing treatment.
    All accused are Congress activists and two of them are said to be relatives of former municipal chairman V Ramachandra Rao, . Guntur district police have arrested all the accused.
    According to information, Bethala Sunila went to the market along with her daughter, an engineering student, on Monday evening. They were returning home at around 9pm when a group of drunk men came out of a bar at Gandhi Chowk centre and picked up an argument with the girl. When the girl objected to their behavior, one of them reportedly made an attempt to sexually abuse her. The others also took advantage of the darkness in the area to harass the two women.
    Sunila took on the assailants and pushed them before trying to run away. Enraged over her resistance, the accused grabbed her and pushed her on to the street where a lorry ran over her. With the daughter shouting for help, the accused fled the scene. Locals rushed to the spot, alerted the police and shifted Sunila to a hospital in Mangalagiri where she died.
    The girl lodged a complaint with the police, who found that the bar from where the accused came was owned by former municipal chairman Ramanchandra Rao. It is alleged that Rao’s son Nagaraju was present when the incident took place. He was also taken into custody late in the night.
    As per Guntur SP (rural) J Satyanarayana’s instructions, Tenali police formed special teams and picked up the accused. “We have arrested all the accused, ” the SP told TOI and named them as Garapati Vinod Kumar, Maddali Kasi, Mopidevi Ramu, Samudrala Anil Kumar, Shaik Jaffer. Moka Subramanyam and Dasari Pratap Kumar. A case under IPC section 302 (murder) has been registered.

Rajiv was middleman for Swedish jet firm: Wiki

New Delhi: The latest Wikileaks revelations of Rajiv Gandhi having been a conduit in negotiations for a Swedish fighter plane in the 70s injected a fresh dose of acrimony in the already bitter Congress-BJP ties.
    The Wikileaks revelation flows from newly-released secret “Kissinger” cables dispatched by US embassy in India between 1973 and 1976 that claim Rajiv was the “negotiator” for a Swedish firm trying to sell fighters to Indian Air Force (IAF) by referring to a Swedish embassy official in India.
    The allegation is, perhaps, the first time a reference has been brought on record about the possibility of a member of the Congress party’s first family being involved in an arms deal, though the fighter that Rajiv purportedly tried to sell did not win the contract finally.
    The cable notes that while as a transport pilot, Rajiv would hardly be qualified to evaluate a fighter jet, the connection to the prime minister is what mattered.
    Viggen, manufactured by Saab-Scania, was competing against British Jaguar and French Mirage fighters for a contract as part of India’s efforts to wean off from the over-riding dependence on Russian equipment then. Viggen finally pulled out of the competition under US pressure because the latter refused to permit sale of the fighter, with several US equipment on board, to India.
    The more than three-decade-old US cable triggered a political fight with BJP taking pot shots at the Congress asking how was it that the Gandhi family seemed linked to all major arms deals while the ruling party angrily denied the allegations.
    BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, "These are serious accusations and we would want the documents of that period be made public by the government. Also the Congress party and the Gandhi family must throw light…because the country wants to know why every time Sweden, Italy and Gandhi family come to the forefront in all defence scams."
    AICC media head Janardan Dwivedi accused Wikileaks founder Julian Assange of "spreading lies and falsehoods". He said "having noted what the Swede (official referred to in the cable) has said, the cable makes the comment that there was no additional information to either refute or confirm the information. The foundation of the whole story falls flat here."
    CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said the cables revealed how foreign firms have over the years recruited persons wielding political influence to swing large contracts. Both CPM and BJP referred to the alleged involvement of Congress leaders in deals from the Bofors to the AgustaWestland contract.
    A US Embassy cable from New Delhi on October 21, 1975 said, “Swedish emboff (embassy official) has informed us that main Indian negotiator with Swedes on Viggen at New Delhi end has been Mrs. Gandhi's oler (sic) son, Rajiv Gandhi.”
    The cable said Rajiv’s “only association with aircraft industry (to our knowledge) has been as pilot for Indian Airlines and this is first time we have heard his name as entrepreneur.” Swedish embassy official told the US diplomat that French Dassault, which was pitching Mirage fighters, had the son-in-law of then IAF chief Air Chief Marshal O P Mehra as the agent. The Embassy cable quotes the Swedish official as saying that Indira Gandhi had “made personal decision not to purchase British Jaguar because of her prejudices against British.”
    The contract went to Jaguar, a British fighter, in 1978 after the anti-Congress coalition swept to power in 1977.
    Another cable from the US Embassy in New Delhi said, “The Swedes here have also made it quite clear they understand the importance of family influences in the final decision in the fighter sweepstakes. Our colleague describes Ranjiv (sic) Gandhi in flattering terms, and contends his technical expertise is of a high level. This may or may not be. Offhand we would have thought a transport pilot not the best expert to rely upon in evaluating a fighter plane, but then we are speaking of a transport pilot who has another and perhaps more relevant qualification.”
    Even as Swedes were making their aggressive efforts in New Delhi, the US was growing concerned about the sale because of large numbers of American equipment onboard the fighter. In August 1976, US ambassador in Stockholm summoned the Saab-Scania president Curt Mileikowsky. “I informed him that USG (US government), after careful consideration, has concluded that no version of the Viggen containing any classified U.S. components would be acceptable for transfer to India. I said USG would also oppose any transfer to India, for local production, of the advanced U.S. technology represented in the Viggen's aerodynamic design, engine and flying controls, navigation system, electronic components and weapons systems.”
    The latest revelations, regarding Rajiv about a role that he probably played much before joining active politics and when he was an Indian Airlines pilot, set off a fresh round of political uproar.
    CPM general secretary Prakash Karat on Monday said the cables was the latest revelation to show how foreign firms have been recruiting people with political connection in India to swing contracts. “In this case while no deal was made it should not be forgotten Bofors deal was made with the same country. Nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and arms companies continues. The latest being the AugustaWestland helicopter deal," Karat said.
    Congress discarded Wikileaks revelations. "There are no grounds for WikiLeaks story and it is baseless and unfounded," Dwivedi said while questioning the credibility of the accusations made in the cable.
Allegations baseless: Cong New Delhi: Congress on Monday trashed allegations made by Wikileaks that Rajiv Gandhi may have been a middleman for a Swedish arms firm in the 1970s as “baseless and unfounded”.
    “There are no grounds for the Wikileaks story and it is baseless and unfounded,” Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said.
    Stung with the fresh revelations, the ruling party lashed out at Wikileaks founder Julian Assange for “spreading lies and falsehoods” and questioned his motives by saying he wanted to form a political party.
    Dwivedi quoted the last line of the cable to emphasize that there was no foundation to the allegations. “The cable makes the comment that there was no additional information to either refute or confirm the information. The foundation of the whole story falls flat here,” he said.
    The Congress leader questioned the credibility of Wikileaks, saying the allegations made by the outfit in the past had not been verified till date. “An agency, which had sometime back collected a lot of so-called information or got it somewhere and published quoting American embassy... Till date it has not been verified. I do not understand what is the basis of what has been published in the newspaper today,” he said. TNN

Bangla on boil as Islamists rally against bloggers

Kolkata: Two people were killed as Bangladesh’s radical religious group Hefajat-e-Islam (HeI) activists clashed with anti-fundamentalist Shahbag protesters in Dhaka on Saturday.
    Bangladesh has been on the boil since the Shahbag movement started in February. There was high tension over the past few days over HeI’s mega rally to demand punishment for ‘blasphemous’ bloggers of the movement.
    To counter the HeI, 25 pro-Shahbag organizations called a nationwide shutdown. Shahbag activists swarmed the roads to challenge the HeI and the majority of private transport organizations supported the anti-fundamentalists and suspended their services. The resistance angered HeI and other outfits like Jamat-e-Islami and Islamic Chhatra Shibir, whose activists clashed with police and Awami League supporters in several parts of the country. The Brammhanberia railway station was ransacked.
    The slain included a ruling Awami League leader, who was killed in Faridpur. An anti-fundamentalist activist was killed in Dhaka. A large group of HeI activists gathered at Shapla Chattar in Dhaka to demand death for the ‘atheist’ bloggers.

8k litres kerosene seized from minister spouse’s plant

Mahbubnagar: Police and revenue department officers confiscated 8,000 liters of kerosene that was found at a stone crushing plant reportedly belonging to I&PR minister D K Aruna’s husband D K Bharathasimha Reddy at Dharoor village of Gadwal mandal in Mahbubnagar district on Friday night.
    Acting on a tip off provided by local YSRCP leaders, revenue officials along with police personnel went to the stone crushing plant and found the kerosene tanker belonging to the public distribution system
there. Another empty tanker was also found parked at the site and seized.
    Briefing the media, Gadwal DSP N Govind Reddy said a case had been registered based on a complaint by the stone crushing plant manager that a YSRCP leader had entered the plant premises with an empty oil tanker and tried to create a ruckus.
    Police registered cases against 20 people belonging to the plant and also the YSRCP leader.
    When contacted, I&PR minister Aruna alleged that the YSRCP leaders had hatched a plot to defame the image of her family. She, however, said the matter should be investigated and the guilty should not go scot-free.

‘Cure-all’ cow urine finds many taker

Hyderabad: A long queue of people at the break of dawn outside a goshala (cowshed) with jars in their hands may seem mundane considering the daily requirement of milk in families here. But a quick look into one of the jars of the people leaving the place reveals that there is something unusual. The container is actually filled with not milk but urine.
    Not a delayed April Fool’s Day prank, as every morning, the 400-year-old goshala in Puranapul has about 100 people queuing up with containers and glasses hoping to fill it with their daily quota of cow urine, which they believe contains curative powers. Of late, there is a huge surge in demand for cow urine as evidenced by long queues at many of the 30-odd goshalas in the city and its outskirts.
    “Half a decade back, there were hardly anybody interested in taking cow urine from our cowshed which is quite a contrast from today’s scenario,” said Purushottam Gupta of Samarth Kamadhenu Ghoshala in Puranapul, which has about 2000 cows.
    “In the early morning as well as evenings after sunset, people flock here to collect cow urine. Some even fill it in large jars as they take it for their family and friends. Since we do not do business and encourage people to have it, we do not charge anything,” Gupta said.
    With medicinal plants, vegetables and fruits making their way into shampoos and face washes too, the renewed belief in nature cure for ailments has caught denizens’ fancy and cow urine seems to be the new ‘penicillin’ of sorts. The curative properties of cow urine has been propagated by the traditional medicine system Ayurveda since time immemorial.
    However, the recent popularity of it is being attributed to the spiritual leaders, religious heads as well as Ayurveda gurus, who are promoting it as a cure for many ailments and diseases.
    “Cow urine contains large amounts of sulphur, proteins and other nutrients. This is a rare combination and since this is in a liquid form, it injects and mixes with blood stream quickly and gives desired results,” said N Satya Prasad, former principal, BRKR Government Ayurveda College.
    According to him, cow urine is useful in treating brain diseases, diabetes, cancers, skin infections and arthritis and since these ailments are common in the city, its intake has increased.
    The demand for cow urine has also given rise to a successful
small scale business model as about 12 units have sprung up in the city manufacturing distilled cow urine (Gau-arka) which can be stored and consumed for a year. This packaged product is sold for anywhere between Rs 50 and Rs 70 for half a litre.
    “When we started a decade ago, the sales were very dull during the first three years,” said G Gangadhar of Maharshi Valmiki Yoga Anusanandha Samstha near Gandipet. “We now supply about 300 half litre bottles to ayurveda shops and clients every month. The demand is growing and we are buying another machine to increase the output.” The Ayurveda shops selling these bottled cow products say that in the last couple of years, the increase in sales has been more than 200%.
    “We are selling close to 25 bottles everyday and it is surprising the way people are opting for this drink. Right from youngsters to working professionals, our customer base is wide,” said NN Kalyani, store owner of Patanjali Chikitsalaya in Tarnaka.

IPS officers bristle at minister Danam

Hyderabad: After ensuring that a criminal case was registered against labour minister Danam Nagender, the IPS officers in the state went on the offensive on Saturday by condemning the assault on an aide of a senior cop by Danam and his men and vowed to keep up the pressure until the minister is punished for such “high-handed behaviour.”
    “A general body meeting of the AP IPS Association will be held shortly to discuss the issue of interference in police functioning by politicians,” said V S K Kaumudi, secretary of AP IPS Association. In a statement, the association expressed concern over the incident and decided to seek an appointment with home minister P Sabita Indira Reddy to convey its concern over the incident.
    On April 4, S Sambasiva Rao, camp clerk of additional director-general (Greyhounds) J V Ramudu, was assaulted by Danam’s aides at the entrance of Banjara Hills police station after a tiff over a minor incident. Incidentally, it was a sub-inspector who brought Sambasiva Rao outside the police station at the behest of the labour minister.
    The police personnel belonging to the police station watched helplessly when the assault was taking place but later, a criminal case was registered against Danam, his two aides, Balu and Narasimha, and an unknown person.
    After taking stock of the incident, top police officials on Saturday sought an explanation from Banjara Hills sub-inspector Syed Nayeemullah who had asked Sambasiva Rao, who was inside the police station, to go out and meet Danam only to be assaulted by his aides.
    The senior cops are also looking into reports that the CCTV footage in the Banjara Hills police station that captured the attack was tampered with after the incident. When contacted, the Banjara Hills police said investigation was on and evidence was being gathered. `As of now, there are no arrests in this case. We are in the process of gathering evidence,'' Banjara Hills inspector P Murali Krishna told STOI.
    Police sources said the home minister would be urged to come up with strict guidelines that would deter politicians from taking the law into their hands. “It is not the first time that Danam has behaved in this manner. If need be, we will take up the matter with chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy,” said one official. Incidentally, Danam is a staunch supporter of Kiran Kumar Reddy. “Therefore, it remains to be seen as to how far the state would go against Danam,” said a police official.

N Korea asks embassies to evacuate

Moscow: North Korea has warned foreign diplomats in its capital of Pyongyang that it can’t guarantee the safety of embassies in the event of a conflict and suggested they may want to evacuate their staff, Russia’s top diplomat said Friday. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is demanding an explanation from the North Koreans — asking whether the warning is an order to evacuate or merely a proposal that they should consider doing so. “This proposal has been sent to all the embassies in Pyongyang,” Lavrov said. “We are now trying to clarify the situation.”
    About two dozen countries have embassies in North Korea. Lavrov was quoted during a visit to Uzbekistan as saying that Russia is in touch with China, the US, Japan and South Korea to try to figure out the motivation behind the warning.
    Britain’s foreign office confirmed that it had received the warning. “The British embassy in Pyongyang received a communication from the North Korean government on Friday saying that the North Korean government would be unable to guarantee the safety of embassies and international organizations in the country in the event of conflict from April 10th,” it said. Britain said it had no immediate plans to withdraw.
    Other nations with diplomatic missions in North Korea, such as the Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria, also said they were weighing the situation carefully. The Czechs said they had no plans to withdraw; the Romanians and Bulgarians said they were speaking with the EU about the situation. AP
North’s missiles put on launchers
    North Korea has moved a second mid-range missile to its east coast and loaded both on mobile launchers, a report said on Friday, fuelling fears of an imminent firing that will further ramp up tensions. Yonhap news agency, citing a top South Korean official, said two intermediate Musudan missiles had been transported by train earlier in the week and “loaded on vehicles equipped with launch pads”. The defence ministry, which on Thursday had confirmed the movement of one missile with “considerable range”, declined to comment on the new report. It was the latest incremental move by North Korea which, incensed at fresh UN sanctions and South Korea-US military drills, has issued a series of apocalyptic threats of nuclear war in recent weeks. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the barrage of rhetoric fitted a “regrettable but familiar” pattern of North Korean behaviour. AFP

Thane building collapse: 56 dead, 60 injured

Several Still Missing; All Seven Builders Absconding; CM Orders Probe

Nitin Yeshwantrao TNN

Thane: Mumbra in Thane district became the focus of widespread public outrage on Friday as the toll from the Thursday collapse of a sevenstorey building swelled to 56 fatalities and 60 injured. Moreover, it has emerged that the building was constructed in violation of every norm in the rulebook.
    According to the civic body, among the 56 dead were 19 children, 21 men and 16 women. A few people were still missing till late Friday though about 250 rescue workers laboured through the day, searching for survivors and bodies in the sizeable heap of concrete and steel.
    Till late in the evening, the rescuers – including a team of the National Disaster Response Force – had managed to pull out 116 people, 60 of them alive.
    And in the first round of punitive action, the government suspended deputy commissioner of Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) Deepak Chavan for “dereliction of duty” and senior inspector K P Naik of Shil-Daighar police station for “colluding” with the seven builders. The seven developers – including a former scrap dealer, Jamir Qureshi, and Salim Shaikh – were booked for endangering lives and culpable homicide. All seven are absconding.
    Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, who visited the site of the tragedy, ordered a probe and announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured.
    Locals alleged that substandard material was employed in the construction of the seven-storey building that was commenced in February and raised in mere three months. Worse still, the developers appropriated private forest land and tribal land where construction is forbidden, did not obtain an occupancy certificate from the municipal corporation and, according to reports, had no approved plan.
    To make official demolition proceedings tough, the developers made construction workers and autorickshaw drivers’ families take up free, but temporary, residence in the building as each floor came up. Twenty-five tenements on five storeys were complete and the sixth and seventh floors were under construction. The developers intended to sell the apartments, admeasuring 175 sq ft on average, at Rs 1,100 to Rs 1,400 per sq ft. They planned to build six to eight such unauthorised buildings in the area.
    A civic engineer said the Thursday accident was waiting to happen since the building was built on a marshy plot and the foundation depth was about 8ft instead of the 30-35ft required in such soil conditions

Pak tests candidates’ knowledge of Islam

Islamabad: Over the past few days, Pakistanis have been treated to the spectacle of politicians struggling to recite Quranic verses and answer questions about Islamic law as part of the scrutiny of nomination papers for the next month’s general election.
    In footage aired on news channels, returning officers across the country were seen asking prospective candidates to recite specific Quranic verses from memory and to explain the method for offering the ‘namaz’.
    In one instance, a candidate from the Jamaat-e-Islami, a hardline religious party, struggled to recite a Quranic verse that is known to most Muslims. One candidate from a religious party in Sindh told the media that the returning officer had asked him if it was permitted to offer the namaz after wearing perfume.
    The candidate cheekily replied that it was permissible if the perfume contained no alcohol. The persistent focus on such issues made the scrutiny process seem like a “religious studies exam”, The Express Tribune said in a report.
    In some cases, the questioning of candidates took a distinctly personal turn. In Lahore, candidate Tayyaba Sohail Cheema was told by provincial election commissioner Anwar Mehboob that she didn’t look her age.
    “You don’t seem to be 35, show your face to all around so that people can see that you seem much younger,” Mehboob was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.
    Shahid Sohail, the husband of another candidate, Sadia Sohail, was given a lesson on marital life by Mehboob. “When your wife will become (a parliamentarian or legislator), all the arrangements at your home will be ruined and no one will be there to attend to your children and they will be ruined,” he said.
    The officers have not spared even persons with powerful connections. Owais Muzaffar Tappi, a PPP candidate in Sindh and a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari, was asked how many times Muslims have to pray every day. In a TV footage, Tappi looked visibly uncomfortable as he explained the method for offering pre-dawn prayers. In Karachi, Sunni Tehrik candidate Zahid Ahmad faced embarrassment when he could not give the full form of LLB or spell the words ‘graduation’and ‘superintendent’. PTI
Sharif’s beardless bro faces opposition
    Two Pakistani men have formally objected to PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif’s candidature in the May 11 polls on the ground that he does not have a beard, which they contended is the mark of a good Muslim. Babar Amin and Saeed Iqtidar challenged the nomination papers filed by Sharif to contest polls from two constituencies of the Punjab assembly in Lahore. They told returning officers that all the prophets of Allah had sported a beard but Sharif, the younger brother of former PM and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, did not follow Islamic teachings despite being a Muslim. PTI

Naxalites set up own military school in Dandakaranya

New Delhi: The CPI (Maoist) has formed its own elite training ‘institute’ in the Dandakaranya forests, a Naxalite bastion, to transform tribal cadres into Communist professionals equipped to handle tasks related to the Central Committee, the outfit’s apex decision-making body.
    The Buniyadi Communist Training School (BCTS), a brainchild of CPI (Maoist) top gun Ganapathy, has been churning out professionallytrained Communists since 2009 with basic military skills and knowledge of Hindi, social studies, mathematics and science.
    Each tribal cadre undergoing the six-month course at BCTS, which operates in Dandakaranya only, with the actual venue changing with every batch, is taught military intelligence and action team subjects, a surrendered courier for the CPI (Maoist) central committee recently told the Chhattisgarh police.
    Dandakaranya special zonal committee (DKSZC) member K Ramachandra Reddy alias Raju is in charge of the school and key Maoist leaders like Takalapalli Vasudeva Rao alias Ashanna are training Maoist cadres between 14 to 21 years in military intelligence and action team missions such as assassination of legislators and senior police officers.
    The BCTS has trained four batches so far. The fifth batch is reportedly undergoing training in Dharba area. The motive behind the decision to form BCTS – taken at a 2009 DKSZC meeting attended by CC members Ganapathy, Katakam Sudarshan alias Anand and Tippiri Tirupati alias Devuji – was to overcome the acute leadership problem being faced by the CPI (Maoist). The surrendered central committee courier, who is barely 19 and hails from a poor Gond family in Maad area of Chhattisgarh, has revealed that the Takalapally Vasudev Rao alias Ashanna heads both the Dandakaranya action team as well as military intelligence (MI).
    The action teams have been actively plotting to go after high-profile targets, according to the surrendered Naxalite who was barely 12 when inducted into the dalam. He told the police that the DK action team had last year attempted to kill a senior police official and even tried to attack a DGP-rank officer traveling in a train from Raipur to Howrah. The Maoist courier said actions teams conduct reconnoitres ahead of important raids. The DK action team, he revealed, had looted 17 tonnes of explosives from Bhanupuri and 17,000 explosive devices from Narayanpur in 2009, as well as 16 tonnes of explosives from Gadchiroli in 2010. Ashanna is currently planning to reconstitute the action team and has identified cadres from different companies for the same.
    The surrendered courier put the strength of armed cadres in Dandakaranya at about 3,000 and that of the militia at 5,000 cadres. The Dandakaranya committee has a technical wing with a manufacturing unit near Gobel in Kucoanar area.

‘40% of Pak youth prefer Sharia, 29% democrac

Islamabad: Ahead of crucial elections marking the first democratic transition in Pakistan’s history, more than 90% of the youth believe the country is heading in the wrong direction while nearly 40% think that Sharia or Islamic law would be the best political system, a survey said.
    These are among the key findings of a new survey by the British Council that focussed on youths between 18 and 29 years, who are expected to play a vital role in the May 11 general election.
    The ‘Next Generation Goes to the Ballot Box’ report, published on Wednesday, indicated deep pessimism among the youth, many of whom will be voting for the first time.
    While pessimism was a worrying trend in the last ‘Pakistan: The Next Generation’ report, it is ‘significantly worse’ in the new report, said columnist Fasi Zaka, a member of the task force behind the survey.
    “In 2007, 50 % of the youth thought Pakistan was heading in the wrong direction, today that figure is 94%,” Zaka said.
    A majority of respondents — 38 %— said Islamic Sharia would be the best system for Pakistan while 32 % backed military rule and only 29 % favoured democracy, according to the survey that covered over 5,200 youths across the country.
    Those who backed Islamic law said it was the best system for ‘promoting moral behaviour’, eradicating corruption, ensuring access to electricity and water, and providing people with healthcare and education.
    Sixty-four % of male youths described themselves as conservative or religious while the figure for females was 75%.
    Asked about the most important events in their lives, most of the youths did not point to a positive event or collective achievement.
    Most referred to the devastating earthquake of 2005, floods in 2010 or the 2007 assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, which topped the list. “More worrying is the fact that a quarter of all young people have been directly affected by violence or witnessed a serious violent event,” said Zaka. PTI
Voters to get ‘none of the above’ choice?
    For the first time, Pakistani voters may get the choice of not voting for any of the candidates in the fray for the May 11 general election, with the Election Commission on Wednesday deciding to incorporate “none of the above” option in ballot papers. The decision to include the “none of the above” option in ballot papers was made at a meeting of the poll panel chaired by chief election commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, officials told the media. Since the measure will require legal backing, a formal proposal will be sent by the Election Commission to the prime minister about issuing an ordinance, the officials said. A blank slot will be included in ballots along with the names of candidates in every constituency. If 51% of voters opt for the blank slot, a re-election will be held in the constituency, the officials said. PTI

53 killed as Taliban attack Af courthouse to free comrades

Kabul: In one of the most deadly insurgent attacks in the decade-long war in Afghanistan, nine Taliban fighters dressed as Afghan soldiers stormed a government compound in the western part of the country on Wednesday morning, leaving at least 44 people dead and wounding more than 100 in a hostage standoff.
    The complex assault began at around 8:45 am, when two suicide attackers detonated explosives packed into an army truck at the entrance gate of the provincial government compound in Farah, according to police officials. After the explosion, which ripped through the mayor’s office and neighbouring buildings, insurgents rushed the packed provincial courthouse, taking civilians and a handful of employees hostage.
    Afghan security forces surrounded the building, firing at the Taliban fighters tucked away on the second floor. At some point during the nearly seven-hour gunfight, the insurgents took the hostages downstairs to the basement and shot them, the police said.
    By 4 pm, the fight was over, leaving behind a scene of carnage and destruction. The death toll: 34 civilians, 10 Afghan security forces and all nine insurgents, the Farah police said. More than 100 people, mostly civilians, suffered wounds.
    The attack highlighted the deteriorating security situation in Farah, a restive province that borders Iran to the west. The last major assault in the province occurred in May, when four insurgents dressed as police officers staged an attack on the governor’s compound, killing at least 11 people and wounding a dozen others. But violent attacks in general have been on the rise recently in the province.
    Officials from Farah said the province has become a hotbed for the insurgency and drug traffickers, as the government focuses its resources on more violent areas of the country. Humaira Ayobi, a member of the Parliament representing Farah, said a recent effort by the police to stem the drug trade may have contributed to the violence seen Wednesday. Last month, five police officers were killed in the province while conducting a poppy eradication campaign. NYT NEWS SERVIC

‘We are sitting on a plastic time bomb’

Pollution Control Board Says Metros Produce 2,000 Tonnes Of Plastic Waste Daily

Dhananjay Mahapatra TNN

New Delhi: “We are sitting on a plastic time bomb,” the Supreme Court said on Wednesday after the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) informed that India generates 56 lakh tonnes of plastic waste annually with Delhi accounting for a staggering 689.52 tonnes a day.
    “Total plastic waste which is collected and recycled in the country is estimated to be 9,205 tonnes per day (approximately 60% of total plastic waste) and 6,137 tonnes remain uncollected and littered,” CPCB told the court.
    The four metros are major culprits in plastic waste generation with Delhi producing 689.52 tonnes a day, followed by Chennai (429.39 tonnes), Kolkata (425.72 tonnes) and Mumbai (408.27 tonnes). The figures only serve to confirm the common sight of waste littering industrial, residential and slum areas of Indian cities and towns.
    A shocked court asked civic authorities of five cities – Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Faridabad and Bangalore – to submit reports on steps taken under relevant rules to contain dumping of plastic waste and implementing the ban on gutka.
    As 40% of plastic waste is not recycled, the daily addition to untreated plastic in Delhi is estimated at 275.6 tonnes, followed by Chennai (171.6 tonnes), Kolkata (170 tonnes) and Mumbai (163.2 tonnes). This waste is a source of continuing pollution as plastic is not bio-degradable and poisons the environment for decades. CPCB said a survey conducted in 60 major cities found 15,342.46 tonnes of plastic waste was generated every day amounting to 56 lakh tonnes a year. While ASG Mohan Jain presented a worrying report on plastic waste management, another ASG Indira Jaising painted an equally grim health scenario by informing that the ban on ‘gutka’ and ‘pan masala’ laced with tobacco had not been effective due to manufacturers beating the law while a lethargic state machinery compounded matters.
    Responding to the situation, a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and Kurian Joseph felt non-implementation of law due to abject “failure of governance at the grass-root level” could be countered by adopting a two-pronged strategy for effective implementation of plastic waste management and ban on gutka and pan masala mixed with chewing tobacco and nicotine.
    Taking a cue from CPCB’s survey, it chose Delhi, Bangalore, Agra, Faridabad and Jaipur and asked the commissioners of civic bodies to file affidavits within four weeks detailing steps taken under the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 and the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 to dispose the waste in a safe place.

Mumbai cops kick up row with circular on Jihad

Mumbai: Mumbai police have kicked up a controversy following its circular which says the women’s wing of an Islamic organisation is “brainwashing and training girls for Jihad”. The outfit has now threatened legal action if no apology is tendered by the police.
    The “internal circular” said the Girls Islamic Organisation (GIO) of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, one of the country's largest Islamic organisations that runs 40 high schools and three junior colleges in Maharashtra, has been operating with the objective of “brainwashing college and school girls and train them for jihad”.
    “The group GIO is related to Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and it was established in Kerala. The purported aim of this organisation is to make more and more Muslim women aware of their religion and the holy Quran. But the real objective of this organisation is to brainwash school and college girls and train them for jihad,” the circular, issued in March, says.
    The document, meant for internal circulation, got leaked and has invited the wrath of Jamaat with its Maharashtra spokesman Mohammad Aslam Ghazi threatening to sue the police department if it does not apologise. Ghazi alleged it was a deliberate attempt to tarnish the image of the socio-religious organisation. “The circular was leaked with vicious intentions. The allegations against GIO are false and baseless,” he said.
    “The Mumbai police either has to prove the allegations or apologise for the error. Otherwise, we would sue them for defamation,” said Ghazi, adding their organisation worked for “peace, justice and to fight against prejudice of the state machinery”. Mumbai police spokesman Satyanarayana Choudhary, however, said “the circular was meant to be only for the department and not for public”. PTI

Power shortage renders 2 lakh jobless

Hyderabad: Over 6,000 small and medium units, especially in the textiles, steel and ferro alloys sectors, have been forced to down their shutters, resulting in more than 2 lakh people being rendered jobless in the last 18 months due to the ongoing power crisis in the state, said state’s industry and trade body Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Fapcci) on Monday.
    To add to the woes of industry, power tariffs have doubled in the last three years from Rs 3.50 per unit in 2010 to over Rs 7 per unit in 2013, said Fapcci president Devendra Surana, while addressing the media here on Monday to highlight the power woes of industry.
    According to Surana, the high power tariffs coupled with erratic power are slowly but surely choking to death the state’s manufacturing sector, which has degrown by 11.5% in 2012 and currently contributes a meagre 1% of the state’s GDP. He pointed out that the latest Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) order has imposed a heavy burden of 25 to 60% power tariff hike on industrial consumers, which industry cannot afford to pay.
    Narsing Rao of the Medak Small Scale Industries Association, said that most of the small units located in and around Medak are resorting to distress sales of their units due to tariffs and acute shortage of power.
    Federation of Andhra Pradesh Small Industries Association (Fapsia) president J Nageswara Rao said production has drastically come down by 45% and employment by 40% in the small scale sector due to the acute power shortages. “Incentives and subsidies have been pending for the last four years to the tune of Rs 1,200 crore,” he said.
    Steel Manufacturers’ Association president Suresh Kumar Singhal said that the steel industry in the state is dying as it is getting only 35% of its total power requirement over the past 18 months. “Power is the main input for the steel industry but not only are we getting only a fraction of our total requirement, its cost too has escalated, pushing up our input costs as power accounts for 30-35% of our total input costs.”
    According to Surana, while the total power shortage in the state is about 18%, the industry is being subjected to 50% power cuts for the past 18 months. “The state of industry in AP is becoming worse day-by-day. We are not only being neglected by the government but are being singled out to pay through our nose for the power usage of the agricultural sector in the state,” Surana said.
    According to Fapcci, the total cost of supply of subsidised power in AP was Rs 7,552 crore in fiscal 2012-13 and the government bore 73% of the total cost at Rs 5,532 crore, while the rest of the burden has been passed on to the industry as Fuel Surcharge Adjustment (FSA).
    In 2013-14, while the total cost of subsidized power has been pegged at Rs 14,866 crore, the government has decided to bear only 40% of it (Rs 5,884 crore), implying that it would be dumped on the industry. “It doesn’t take an intelligent guess to figure out who will bear the rest of the burden,” said Surana, pointing out that this will only worsen the already critical condition of industry in the state.
    The government has not only turned a blind eye to the woes of industries in the state but has also failed to keep its earlier promises such as refund of value added tax on diesel and removal of electricity duty on captive generation, said Fapcci secretary general M V Rajeshwara Rao. Another Fapcci official warned that the government will not be able to fulfill its promise of adding 2,200 MW this year and will only be able to add 860 MW, leading to a long-drawn shortage of power in the state

Novartis loses 7-yr patent battle

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected pharma giant Novartis AG’s plea to preserve its patent over a life-saving cancer drug, Glivec, drawing a huge sigh of relief from thousands of patients in India and in dozens of developing countries as the fear of
an almost 15-fold escalation of drug costs receded. It is the biggest setback for multinational pharma companies, which have been denied patent protection for a series of life-saving drugs in recent years.
    Invented in 1991, Glivec is a miracle cure for a type of blood cancer called chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). In this form of cancer, certain bone marrow cells go rogue and produce excessive white blood cells, causing mild fatigue and hip pain initially, but slipping into an out-of-control crisis of zooming platelet and white cell counts. It used to be fatal, but with Glivec, the survival rate is over 95%. Imanitib, the active component, is on the National Essential Drugs List in India.
    India has an estimated 3 lakh CML patients, with 20,000 added every year. Glivec is sold by Novartis for about Rs 1.2 lakh per month. Indian manufacturers sell the same drug at a monthly cost of Rs 8,000. This was the reason why Novartis launched a seven-year-long legal battle to protect its patent on the drug. Novartis case: A victory for cheaper Indian medicines
New Delhi: Novartis, which reported a net profit of $9.6 billion in 2012 on sales of $57 billion, criticised the judgment. In a statement Ranjit Shahani, vice chairman and managing director, Novartis India said, “This ruling is a setback for patients that will hinder medical progress for diseases without effective treatment options.”
    When the drug was first commercially sold in 2001, India was moving over from the old patent regime to a new one after signing the international trade and patent related agreements in 1995. The new patent law came into force in 2005. Novartis could not get a patent on Glivec as it dated from an earlier time when a different patent law prevailed. It tried but the patent tribunal rejected the claim in 2006.
    After going through various appeals, Novartis ended up in the apex court pleading that a crucial section 3 (d) of the new patent law was not applicable to Glivec. This section says that just discovering a new form of a substance is not enough to grant a patent, if it does not enhance its “known efficacy”.
    Novartis was arguing that a new “beta crystalline” form of Glivec is more effective and hence qualifies as a new invention, and hence should get patent protection.
    The Supreme Court, in a 112-page analysis of all the claims and counter-arguments, disagreed. It said that the beta crystalline form was nothing new. It has always existed in the original amorphous form.
    The landmark judgement means that Indian companies such as Natco and Cipla can continue making and selling Glivec, not only for India but to most third-world countries.
    Monday’s Supreme Court judgment dims hopes for some other pharma giants fighting legal battles on patents. Pfizer's cancer drug Sutent and Roche's hepatitis C treatment Pegasys and Merck & Co's asthma treatment aerosol suspension formulation lost their patented status in India last year, decisions the companies are fighting to have reversed.
    Many pharma giants are concentrating their legal fire-power on India because it is an $11 billion a year market growing at 13-14 percent annually. Equally important is that India has emerged as the ‘pharmacy of the world” selling over $26 billion worth of cheap generic (non-patent) drugs to most of the poor and still developing countries. It is estimated that about 80% of the HIV/AIDS patients in the developing world are surviving because of cheap Indian drugs.

Bangla rights panel slams govt over Hindu safety

Dhaka: Amid nationwide violence in Bangladesh over 1971 war crimes trial of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, the country’s human rights body has criticized the government for inadequate steps to protect Hindus from recent attacks as the minority community demanded more security.
    “The government must answer why the people of religious minorities were living in insecurity in Bangladesh,” Mizanur Rahman, the chairman of Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission, said at a seminar on Saturday.
    Jamaat activists have torched or vandalised several Hindu temples and damaged hundreds of homes in the violence. Kajal Debnath, vice- president of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad, said the minority community might face more violence in the coming months when the tribunals deliver verdicts against Jamaat leaders for 1971 crimes against humanity. PTI

Student counselling centres growing in city

Hyderabad: With youngsters increasingly unable to cope with the rising pressures in academics and personal life, the city seems to have become a hub of counselling and psychiatric centres. Rough estimates suggest that in the last five years alone, the number of these facilities has doubled, with Hyderabad currently hosting as many as 150 such centres and clinics.
    And flooding them with calls and personal visits are students from across age groups with varying problems and fears. From schoolgoers contemplating suicide after a tiff with parents to teenagers resorting to sleeping pills due to peer pressure, these centres routinely face situations that are both sensitive and complex. Alarmingly, the rate of occurrence of such incidents is rising consistently, admit counsellors.
    “There is also a considerable change in the issues bothering students compared to a decade ago. There is so much competition now that they are always under pressure. Be it studies, relationships or their expectations from friends and family, everything is more convoluted today,” said M Uma Shankar, psychiatrist and in-charge professor at Osmania Medical College. She added that this has resulted in a change in treatment being adopted by psychiatrists and counsellors. “There has been a huge change in psychiatric services in the last couple of years. We have now started offering treatment depending on the profile of a student,” she said.
    Attempts are also being made to use ‘modern’ technologies to deal with cases involving young people. “On many occasions, we try to befriend the students and follow them on social networking sites. We also keep in touch with them via smartphones. ,” said a senior psychiatrist from the city.
    But the job isn’t easy and is not always a success, admit experts. “Once, a student called me and said he wanted to die but I talked him out of it then. I also asked him to visit the centre before he hung up. But when I tried to call him back, he did not respond. I called on the same number after a few days only to reach his brother who told me that the boy had killed himself,” a distraught Usha Kiranmayi, psychologist with ‘Know Yourself ’ clinic, said.
    What seems to be irking many counsellors is the lack of cooperation from educational institutes. “We asked several schools and colleges to let us interact with their students and tell them about our services so that they can contact and confide in us. But these institutions are rarely forthcoming and insist that all was good with their students,” said Akheel Siddiqui, director of Roshni Counseling Centre, which gets close to 100 calls every month from students suffering from depression and anxiety. According to him, student suicides can drop significantly only if they become aware about who to approach when in a crisis situatio

Menopause starting to hit women in 20s

Bangalore: Aarti Sharma, a 29-year-old program manager with an IT major, was enjoying a successful run professionally and was about to tie the knot in November this year. But some seven months ago, she started experiencing anxiety and mood swings. Also, she began suffering sleepless nights twicethrice in a week. Her menstrual cycle, too, became irregular.
    Referred to a gynaecologist by her physician, Sharma (name changed to protect identity) got the shock of her life when she was told that she was entering menopause. “I was shocked. I went blank. My
marriage had already been planned and here I was being told that I am on the verge of entering menopause. Soon, I was put on hormonal balancing therapy to support my menstrual cycle. I was also suggested to try integrated treatment of homoeopathy and yoga, which has finally started showing results,” Sharma said.
    Sharma’s is not an isolated case and it can be a warning bell for many urban women. Doctors are finding a drastic change in the biological clocks of women as the mean age of contracting menopause has come down to around 35 years—about 10 years early than what it was a decade ago. Gynaecologists confirmed treating women entering menopause as early as in their late 20s or early 30s.
WORRYING TREND
    Gynaecologists say many women now
entering menopause in late 20s or early 30s
    5-yr long study in Bangalore found that almost half of the 980 women surveyed entered menopause at
between 30 and 35 yrs
    Urban lifestyle and rising stress among possible factors Modern lifestyle a major reason: Docs
Banglore: A five-year long study conducted by Sattvam, a city-based care centre for women and children, found that 432 of the 980 women covered entered menopause in the age group of 30-35 years, while 216 were between 35-40 years age. The centre has also treated 68 women, who entered menopause in the age group of 25-30 years, while 264 women were above 40 years of age.
    “What is worrying is that 42% of these women are working women. Ramifications of early menopause in some cases have been so extreme that it has adversely affected their profession and in some cases their personal life too. Most of them complained of frequent mood swings, depression, anxiety and sleeplessness. All these are capable of causing many other lifestyle diseases,” said Dr Deepak Shah, a homoeopath and director, Sattvam. Dr Gayatri Karthik, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, Manipal Hospitals, said: “Entering menopause in late 20s or early 30s is not very common, but still we get about 2-3 such cases in a year. I treated a 27-year-old patient for menopause about a year ago. Urban lifestyle, increasing use of artificial reproductive techniques and stress among others can be the reasons behind this. But with science making so much of progress and techniques available for assisted reproduction women need not worry.”

Obama throws weight behind yoga

Washington: The White House has wholeheartedly embraced Yoga as a worthy physical activity at a time some schools in America are railing against the ancient Indian practice, saying it promotes Hinduism.
    The White House announced last week that President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will include a ‘yoga garden’ for children and their parents who attend the traditional Easter Egg Roll festivities on Monday. “Come enjoy a session of yoga from professional instructors,” the White House exhorted thousands of workaday Americans parents and their
kids from across the country who will troop into the Presidential lawns, reminding participants that the event’s theme is ‘Be Healthy, Be Active, Be You!’
    It is not the first time that Obama’s residence has hosted a yoga garden for Easter, but this year’s event is significant because of an ongoing lawsuit in California challenging the teaching of yoga in schools. In fact, the case came up for hearing in a San Diego courtroom on Thursday with a mirthful opening.
    In an indication of how deep-rooted mainstream yoga has become in the US, it turned out that the presiding judge himself is a yoga practitioner. “Does anybody have a problem with that?” San Diego Superior Court Judge John Meyer was reported asking at the start of the case.
    Dean Broyles, representing parents suing the Encinitas Union School District in a lawsuit that has gained international attention, said he was fine with Meyer presiding over the case if the judge can keep an open mind about the plaintiff’s argument regarding spiritual connections to yoga, according to reports in the local media.
    At the heart of the case is the argument by some American parents that yoga is inherently religious. FITNESS MISSION White House: Yoga a universal language of spiritual exercise
    This is a contention most Americans, including the judge, seem to disagree with. Meyer is reported to be a practitioner of Bikram Yoga, likening it to simple stretching exercises. “If you think there’s something spiritual about what I do, that’s news to me,” he was quoted as saying.
    The White House meanwhile is stretching every muscle and sinew to get Americans, including children, to get more concerned about the decline in the nation’s overall well-being and its soaring healthcare bill. The drive is led by Michelle Obama, a health and fitness, and herself a yoga enthusiast.
    The yoga garden is conducted by Leah Cullis, a certified yoga teacher who the White House reached out to in 2009 as soon when the Obamas came to office. Cullis, whose husband, event producer John Liipfert, handled Obama’s Presidential inauguration, selects yoga instructors
from all over the US to put parents and children through basic yoga drills.
    “The mission of the event is to share ways where families and children can use simple tools for an active lifestyle — tools that require no props and money and which they can go home and do themselves,” Cullis told TOI, speaking of her association with the White House initiative.
    In fact, the White House has taken its yoga drive one step — or one stretch — further. It has now initiated a Presidential Active Lifestyle Award, a Obama White House Challenge designed to motivate Americans to make physical activity and healthy eating part of their everyday life. In embracing the practice, the White House also dismissed any specific religious connotation sought to be attached to yoga.
    “Yoga has become a universal language of spiritual exercise in the United States, crossing many lines of religion and cultures,” the White House said without any reference to the ongoing controversies and lawsuit.

1) Obama throws weight behind Yoga

Obama throws weight behind Yoga