Billboards and BMW herald the Party’s Aam Aadmi

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibj2dzxoJ8qCxLQD5TW4ndvu_JZFUBobYJatWgisyINJdOL-eYLTpoDiL969cAeHU0qZuJk6rKsIWXa0rupz_KYoDPHPN3AcSLPIWpOdp5VsM83S3h95bAEtd3S_m-cERwuV_XpMziWyU4/s1600/dfg.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibj2dzxoJ8qCxLQD5TW4ndvu_JZFUBobYJatWgisyINJdOL-eYLTpoDiL969cAeHU0qZuJk6rKsIWXa0rupz_KYoDPHPN3AcSLPIWpOdp5VsM83S3h95bAEtd3S_m-cERwuV_XpMziWyU4/s1600/dfg.PNG" /></a></div> <div style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;"> <span style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">It was a Saturday morning, three months before an election, and the sight before them was all too familiar. A group of policemen blocked their path, enabling a convoy to whiz by without stopping. It had more than a hundred vehicles, most of them large and expensive, with even a BMW in the mix. </span></div> <div style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;"> Each car had a sticker that paid homage to their leader. The posters were similar to a large billboard that stared down at them, sponsored by a local party worker hopeful of a ticket. The aam aadmi of Uttar Pradesh watched as nothing, not even toll booths, stopped Arvind Kejriwal’s roadshow. Impressive as the show of strength was, some quietly asked the question all of them were thinking. The Aam Aadmi Party had started with the premise that they had arrived to change politics. What if politics had changed them?</div> <div style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;"> Over three days, the convoy, ever changing as it was, covered more than 1,000 km. For most of the journey, Kejriwal travelled in a Toyota Innova, only to emerge on top of an open jeep when he addressed the crowds in towns along the way. Those who followed him identified themselves by stickers on their vehicles, juxtaposed with their own pictures and welcoming him on his first visit to UP. These vehicles betrayed their wealth. A few were in a rickety jeep, or a tempo, but most rode in Toyota Fortuners, Mahindra Scorpios and Toyota Innovas. One ticket hopeful from Meerut followed Kejriwal in a BMW. As they passed, a local laughed: “How can these be the aam aadmi?”</div> <div style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;"> At several places, local volunteers waited, garlands in hand. They made a beeline for Kejriwal, often stopping other traffic on the busy national highway. At most places where he chose to step out of his vehicle and address the townspeople, he did so right by the main road. What ensued was long traffic jams, and to avoid them many used the wrong carriageway. In Bareilly for instance, once Kejriwal had passed by, traffic came to a standstill.</div> <div style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;"> If people had to stop for the Aam Aadmi Party to pass by, toll booths didn’t slow the cavalcade down either. At most booths, nearly every vehicle, including those of the media, just sped by. Booth attendants waved the vehicles on, with no money or receipts exchanged.</div> <div style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;"> Some of those asking the questions were Aam Aadmi Party volunteers themselves. On the way back to Delhi from Kanpur, Kejriwal’s cavalcade turned into a small clearing in Aurraiya, where a group of 50 had collected to listen to him. He didn’t emerge out of the car. One man in an AAP cap ran to Kejriwal’s Innova and asked, “Utar ke do minute baat kar lijiye sir.” The answer he got was that there weren’t enough people to speak to.</div> <div style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;"> In the three days that marked his first foray into UP, bar the one at the rally in Kanpur, each speech mirrored the other. He spoke of himself, and his Aam Aadmi Party as a collection of “smallpeople, without money, or influence.” The cars, the billboards and the police that lined police argued against him.</div> <div style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;"> <strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Meeting with Tauqeer Raza</strong></div> <div style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;"> Months after his meeting with cleric Tauqeer Raza stoked a controversy ahead of the Delhi elections, Arvind Kejriwal met Raza again Tuesday. After the last meeting, the BJP had alleged Raza was known for issuing fatwas, including one that Taslima Nasreen should be beheaded; Raza had then denied this.</div> <div style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;"> Raza, who called on Kejriwal at his home Tuesday, said the meeting was aimed at finding a secular option to fight an election being waged “almost completely on communal lines”. “We aren’t ruling out the possibility of aiding Kejriwal’s party,” he said.</div> <div style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;"> He belogs to a family of clerics with a large number of Sunni followers in Bareilly. He also heads the political Ittehad-e-Millat Council, which won an assembly seat in UP in 2012. This year, Raza said, his party is not looking to contest.</div> <div style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;"> AAP sources said his support might prove decisive. “Historically the Muslim vote in UP has decided who wins,” said a leader.</div> </div>

Billboards and BMW herald the Party’s Aam Aadmi

It was a Saturday morning, three months before an election, and the sight before them was all too familiar. A group of policemen blocked...

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Tamil Nadu govt betrayed Sri Lankan Tamils: TNCC chief

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR4UstskzZWVeBCz5yptEMX5il2UR4LXxUd5NpI_kJglHrfdemcdaaOADJghm53H1uDo4UPd9N92JWAC7lKPBmcdWPotywZazWFjFT8cnT0_OZY3A47IjT9zw4KxvNMMeiJxUoQRb5xZwk/s1600/jayam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR4UstskzZWVeBCz5yptEMX5il2UR4LXxUd5NpI_kJglHrfdemcdaaOADJghm53H1uDo4UPd9N92JWAC7lKPBmcdWPotywZazWFjFT8cnT0_OZY3A47IjT9zw4KxvNMMeiJxUoQRb5xZwk/s1600/jayam.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">CHENNAI: Joining issue with chief minister J Jayalalithaa for criticizing the Congress-led UPA government the Centre, </span>Tamil Nadu<span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"></span>Congress<span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> Committee chief </span>B S Gnanadesikan<span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> on Wednesday refuted her allegations that the national party had acted against Tamils.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-led UPA government came under sharp attack from Jayalalithaa during her Lok Sabha election campaign on Monday and Tuesday. The AIADMK leader listed out nine areas where the Congress had betrayed Tamil Nadu's interests, including frequent arrests fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy, retrieval of Katchatheevu island and defence training to Sri Lankan Army.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The Congress leader said neither the Congress nor the UPA regime betrayed Tamils and the rest of the country. "Betrayal is not in our dictionary," he said, listing out the initiatives taken by the Centre over the last ten for the welfare of Tamils.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">While the chief ministers of opposition-ruled states like Bihar, Gujarat, West Bengal, Odisha had got along with the Centre for welfare projects of their states, Tamil Nadu chief minister had been confronting the Centre from the day of her assuming office, he said.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Gnanadesikan recalled India's stand against Sri Lanka in the US-sponsored resolution at UNHRC, even as several countries opposed it.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Tamil Nadu parties went gaga over the British Prime Minister David Cameron's visit to the Tamil-dominated northeast province of Sri Lanka on the sidelines of CHOGM in Colombo last year. "Why not Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does a similar gesture? By passing a resolution in the state assembly against the PM's visit to Lanka, Jayalalithaa betrayed the </span>Sri Lankan Tamils<span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">," he charged.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The </span>TNCC<span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> chief also found fault with the Tamil Nadu government for putting off bilateral talks between fishermen of India and Sri Lanka, despite Union government sending repeated correspondences for the same. Retrieval of Katchatheevu islet ceded to Sri Lanka could be resolved only through bilateral talks between governments concerned and not through legal means, he said, in an apparent reference to Tamil Nadu government's petition in the Supreme Court.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">In the power front, Gnanadesikan cited the integration of southern power transmission grid with national grid in January as promised by the Centre. The state also could have easily realized more than 600MW of power had the state police taken action against protesters in Kudankulam.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">He reminded the Prime minister's intervention in releasing 9tmcft from Karnataka reservoirs, despite knowing the impending assembly elections and notifying the final award of the Cauvery water disputes tribunal.</span></div>

Tamil Nadu govt betrayed Sri Lankan Tamils: TNCC chief

CHENNAI: Joining issue with chief minister J Jayalalithaa for criticizing the Congress-led UPA government the Centre,  Tamil Nadu Congres...

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UP doctors' strike: HC orders judicial probe, transfer of cops

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnLVodFiYpwY2sPMDm5GxbAMbkGlG8M80DFdNarmA_i5TAwzgwp7KpeRCPp_u5MpdcPelAZrt9t_qb32HqfpDNzdIQaggUSAJ1bVb0oQbtLTVMnxCRaxlr8bdmnvtrH2fY2WPirE9IdS46/s1600/docs-med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnLVodFiYpwY2sPMDm5GxbAMbkGlG8M80DFdNarmA_i5TAwzgwp7KpeRCPp_u5MpdcPelAZrt9t_qb32HqfpDNzdIQaggUSAJ1bVb0oQbtLTVMnxCRaxlr8bdmnvtrH2fY2WPirE9IdS46/s1600/docs-med.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 5px 0px;"> LUCKNOW: Stepping in to end the deadlock over doctors' strike against attack on their colleagues, <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Allahabad-high-court" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #024d99; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Allahabad high court</a> on Wednesday ordered a judicial probe and directed the UP government to transfer SSP Kanpur, Yashaswi Yadav, and other officials involved in the February 28 incident.</div> <br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Taking suo motu cognisance, the Lucknow bench comprising justices Imtiyaz Murtaza and Devendra Kumar Upadhaya clarified that the order of transfer is only to resolve the situation and should not be taken as a "stigma" on the officials, while requesting the doctors to resume their duties immediately. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">As the court assembled this morning, it directed that the matter be registered as a PIL and sought replies from principal secretary medical/health, SGPGI administrator and others by March 10, the next date of hearing. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">It also permitted the striking doctors to intervene in the matter and appointed senior advocate Jaideep Narain Mathur as amicus curiae. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">During the first half of the hearing, the court directed a probe by retired Justice V K Mathur into the matter. However as the court resumed the hearing in the second half, the state government informed it that a one man judicial commission of retired justice RMS Chauhan has already been set up. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Following the submission, the court kept its order in abeyance and directed the state government to file Justice Chauhan Commission's report in three weeks. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Also, the state government informed the court that with the model code of conduct coming into effect from today, police officials cannot be transferred but the court refused to consider it. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The six-day-old strike has adversely hit medical services in several parts of the state. The medicos are protesting after their colleagues at GSVC medical college were allegedly beaten up by Kanpur Police and supporters of SP MLA Irfan Solanki on February 28 following an altercation with him. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The doctors have been demanding arrest of Solanki, action against SSP Yashasvi Yadav and withdrawal of charges against 24 junior doctors. </span></div>

UP doctors' strike: HC orders judicial probe, transfer of cops

LUCKNOW: Stepping in to end the deadlock over doctors' strike against attack on their colleagues,  Allahabad high court  on Wednesda...

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To control soaring obesity, Britain plans to slap hefty sugar tax

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaORI-IJk72ccIikm-hqdk-ZKIzVR0wmXVAC2lcXoLnM-iZwhiGATvjFvdh-MBzEFcThnvU7o9hK-o-fNY0nPuUeIzmBthD4d-EjzAehdPCYqB-aO8oHN2j56IeXGuKN2w1TFUzAeo8d2s/s1600/df.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaORI-IJk72ccIikm-hqdk-ZKIzVR0wmXVAC2lcXoLnM-iZwhiGATvjFvdh-MBzEFcThnvU7o9hK-o-fNY0nPuUeIzmBthD4d-EjzAehdPCYqB-aO8oHN2j56IeXGuKN2w1TFUzAeo8d2s/s1600/df.PNG" /></a></div> <span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">LONDON: Britain may soon slap a hefty sugar tax to curb rocketing obesity rates in UK. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The country's chief medical officer has told a parliamentary committee of MPs that sugar was addictive and the introduction of a sugar tax was needed urgently.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Speaking to the committee, Dame Sally Davies said that she believed that "research will find sugar is addictive". </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">She said "We may need to move toward some kind of sugar tax. I do fear this generation of children will live less than my parents' generation." </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">"They will be the first generation that live less, and that is of great concern". </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">UK consumes more than 5,727 million litres of </span><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/sugary-soft-drinks" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #024d99; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">sugary soft drinks</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> a year. Adding a 20 pence tax for every litre sold would raise more than £1.1 billion.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">About 64% of adults in the UK are considered to be overweight or obese. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Professor Terence Stephenson, chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said sugar gave people a "rapid high" which then drops while they are still producing insulin, resulting in a "craving" for more. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">UK's Department of Health already has a responsibility deal - a series of voluntary pledges by industry designed to tackle issues such as obesity.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Under the deal, Britain has asked all fast food companies to cut down sugar content in their products by 30% from immediate effect. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">One in four adults in England is obese with the numbers expected to climb to 60% of men, 50% of women, and 25% of children by 2050. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Three in every 10 children aged between two and 15 are overweight or obese. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Obesity and diabetes already costs the UK over £5 billion every year which is likely to rise to £50 billion in the next 36 years. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">An Action On Sugar campaign launched recently has calculated that a 20 to 30% reduction in sugar added by the food industry which, given a reasonable timeframe (3-5 years) is easily achievable, would result in a reduction in calorie intake of approximately 100kcal/day. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Experts said added sugar in our diet is a very recent phenomenon (150 years) and only occurred when sugar, obtained from sugar cane, beet and corn, became very cheap to produce.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">No other mammal eats added sugar and there is no requirement for added sugar in the human diet. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Chairman of Action on Sugar, professor Graham MacGregor said "We must now tackle the obesity epidemic both in the UK and worldwide. The present government and Department of Health Responsibility Deal has been shown to have had no effect on calorie intake and we must start a coherent and structured plan to slowly reduce the amount of calories people consume by slowly taking out added sugar from foods and soft drinks. This is a simple plan which gives a level playing field to the food industry". </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Liverpool, UK, Simon Capewell says "Sugar is the new tobacco. Everywhere, sugary drinks and junk foods are now pressed on unsuspecting parents and children by a cynical industry focussed on profit not health. The obesity epidemic is already generating a huge burden of disease and death. Obesity and diabetes already costs the UK over £5billion every year. Without regulation, these costs will exceed £50billion by 2050". </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">UK's largest group of doctors — the 2.2 lakh strong Academy of Medical Royal Colleges recently asked the David Cameron led government to immediately impose a 20% tax on sugary drinks to save Great Britain — the 'fat man' of Europe from the serious threat of obesity.</span></div>

To control soaring obesity, Britain plans to slap hefty sugar tax

LONDON: Britain may soon slap a hefty sugar tax to curb rocketing obesity rates in UK.  The country's chief medical officer has told ...

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Dark clouds hover over Vijay Mallya's empire

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHstpk49Og2ear3ZOQs2tCYKZ9cc4al8gPdHDSTCp6tynRswzHnvfftXX-Ba63D6rzFmQSQ32wis9jPJFRexa0qZA2vIYMS0C3KSf8DpaudtNG7aFawTsFXS6KjwwOR51lRU5MhkQDXN9L/s1600/Screenshot+from+2014-02-05+17:29:38.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHstpk49Og2ear3ZOQs2tCYKZ9cc4al8gPdHDSTCp6tynRswzHnvfftXX-Ba63D6rzFmQSQ32wis9jPJFRexa0qZA2vIYMS0C3KSf8DpaudtNG7aFawTsFXS6KjwwOR51lRU5MhkQDXN9L/s1600/Screenshot+from+2014-02-05+17:29:38.png" width="320" /></a></div> <span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">MUMBAI: More than a year after one of India's top airlines, Kingfisher, stopped flying, its flamboyant owner </span>Vijay Mallya<span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> is battling against losing control of his $2.2-billion corporate empire.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Mallya, once the self-proclaimed "King of Good Times", made his fortune in the liquor business and controls a conglomerate spanning beer, airlines, fertilisers and engineering. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">But in several firms in his United Breweries Group, 58-year-old Mallya's ownership has substantially shrunk, while in others, large portions of his holdings are pledged with banks -- and in some cases are starting to be sold off. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">"The legacy of the empire, which he inherited from his dad, is at risk," said a Mumbai-based analyst from a group that has lent to Mallya's companies, asking not to be named. </span><br /> <div id="gads" style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Mallya, owner of a Formula One team and host of lavish yacht parties with Bollywood stars and politicians as guests, was India's 29th richest man in 2007, worth an estimated $1.5 billion, according to Forbes. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">But pressure on Mallya has mounted over the past two years since </span>Kingfisher<span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> Airlines' fortunes went into a downward spiral, hit by high fuel prices, fierce competition and heavy interest costs. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The company, which has never made a profit since it began flying in 2005, owes vast sums to banks, airports, fuel suppliers and staff, while owners of Kingfisher's grounded planes have taken them back. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Bitter legal battle</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Last year, banks which say they lent more than $1.5 billion to Kingfisher started demanding immediate repayment after Mallya failed to come up with a convincing airline revival plan. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Mallya is now in a bitter legal battle with lenders to prevent them from selling properties and assets given as security against loans, which the banks say include his beloved personal villa in Goa. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">As part of a money-raising strategy, Mallya in 2012 abandoned control of his United Spirits to British drinks group Diageo -- although a court has since annulled the decision in response to a petition from Kingfisher creditors chasing their dues. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Meanwhile, Dutch brewer Heineken last year upped its holding in United Breweries, which makes Kingfisher beer, to near 39 percent, overtaking Mallya's stake. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">"These are difficult times for the Mallya group," said Sonam Udasi, head of research at Mumbai brokerage IDBI Capital. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Mallya took over the </span>United Breweries group<span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> in 1983 when he just 28 after his father died. After re-launching the Kingfisher beer brand and consolidating arms of the business, he expanded into aviation.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Mallya is reportedly still keen to find an outside investor to get Kingfisher back into the air, a year after India liberalised investment rules for foreign airlines, but no deals have materialised. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Airline staff, some of whom have not been paid for 15 months, have little faith in his intentions. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">"If he wants to shut the airline, do so. But pay us first," a Kingfisher engineer, asking not to be named, told AFP. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Low-key birthday</strong><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">There is also talk Mallya may also end up a minority shareholder in his fertiliser business, Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">As Mallya struggles to stay on top of his business, his appearances have become rarer -- he celebrated his birthday in uncharacteristically low-profile style at his south Mumbai home in December. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Kingfisher spokesman Prakash Mirpuri declined to comment on Mallya's financial future, although analysts say it may be too early to write his empire's epitaph. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Forbes magazine in October said Mallya's net worth had halved to $750 million, but that rising stock prices of United Breweries have kept him "afloat". </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">In need of cash to recover their dues, lenders are eyeing Mallya's personal properties, analysts say -- but this would depend on the extent, if any, of Mallya's personal guarantees for the loans. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Mallya has argued that it is the airline that owes money, and not him personally. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">In India, recovery of sums through the legal system is time-consuming but "it's better than countries like China and Indonesia," said H. Jayesh, founder-partner at advocate firm Juris Corp. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">India's government has told banks to be firm against "wilful defaulters" -- those able but unwilling to pay or who have diverted loan proceeds for unstated purposes. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Mallya has not yet been declared a defaulter. But both the Reserve Bank of India and the government want to send a message to corporate India that the country cannot "afford to have affluent promoters and 'sick' companies", the finance minister said last year. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Banks could recover dues from Mallya if they are "really serious and there is no political interference", said Jayesh. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">But "it will take time as you will need to go after individuals and their assets around the world", he said.</span></div>

Dark clouds hover over Vijay Mallya's empire

MUMBAI: More than a year after one of India's top airlines, Kingfisher, stopped flying, its flamboyant owner  Vijay Mallya  is battli...

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<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_BQphw2Hdk6se1XOV4Kgot5onE9g_ennkK25RD0xBWNhanWLzB7qBbKNUm4kioNJNOkTAEA7DcWv6tl91X2aXkEs71L5-mKZavAJ_UVqjTebqhn_G-JX2HmsxV7dDLJdiFuOuVf7GDiOH/s1600/trpar3145454.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_BQphw2Hdk6se1XOV4Kgot5onE9g_ennkK25RD0xBWNhanWLzB7qBbKNUm4kioNJNOkTAEA7DcWv6tl91X2aXkEs71L5-mKZavAJ_UVqjTebqhn_G-JX2HmsxV7dDLJdiFuOuVf7GDiOH/s1600/trpar3145454.jpg" width="205" /></a></div> <a href="http://beautypageants.indiatimes.com/feminacontestform2014.cms" target="_blank">MIS INDIA REGISTRATION FORM</a>......<br /> click the above link in order to registrate.....in miss india context......</div>

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Why did the elephant cross the road? To avoid the drunks

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYXSNUurGQUw73OIzr_ju5LJ2fWfdddlZGXv1LTQ8SIfwRDypxxICQKwiHudQWMhP38WuB03cTRslVkK6jsxusaDPsgUa2VijZM4ReIqWcJQyI334QWBTb6Vu3SVn1ZRcXVpC0ppEAwmwe/s1600/140116144142-elephants-without-borders-5-horizontal-gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYXSNUurGQUw73OIzr_ju5LJ2fWfdddlZGXv1LTQ8SIfwRDypxxICQKwiHudQWMhP38WuB03cTRslVkK6jsxusaDPsgUa2VijZM4ReIqWcJQyI334QWBTb6Vu3SVn1ZRcXVpC0ppEAwmwe/s1600/140116144142-elephants-without-borders-5-horizontal-gallery.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div class="cnn_strylftcntnt" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="cnn_strylctcntr" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 166px;"> <div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">STORY HIGHLIGHTS</strong></div> <ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 9px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <li style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/global/red_bull.gif); background-position: 0px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 9px 7px; vertical-align: baseline;">Africa's largest elephant population can be found in Botswana</li> <li style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/global/red_bull.gif); background-position: 0px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 9px 7px; vertical-align: baseline;">Elephants Without Borders is testing small-scale urban wildlife corridors</li> <li style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/global/red_bull.gif); background-position: 0px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 9px 7px; vertical-align: baseline;">The goal is to see whether these passages can be used to avoid human-wildlife conflict</li> <li style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/global/red_bull.gif); background-position: 0px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 9px 7px; vertical-align: baseline;">Conservationists say elephants learn to adapt to changes in their environment</li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="cnnEditorialNote" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Every week, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/insideafrica/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Inside Africa</a> takes its viewers on a journey across Africa, exploring the true diversity and depth of different cultures, countries and regions. Follow host Errol Barnett on<a href="https://www.facebook.com/subaindia" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a>.</em></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(CNN)</strong> -- Crossing the road can be dangerous -- even if you're the largest land animal on the planet.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <a href="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/140113132503-spc-inside-africa-elephants-botswana-b-00054430-story-body.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="box-image" height="120" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/140113132503-spc-inside-africa-elephants-botswana-b-00054430-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="214" /></a>Thousands of elephants roam Chobe National Park in northern Botswana, a wildlife haven that's home to one of the highest elephant concentrations in Africa. Right next to the vast park lies Kasane, a small town situated on the banks of the Chobe river. Here, humans live side by side with large herds of migrating elephants that wander through the area in search of food and fresh water -- and this has created a lot of tension.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> "The conflict here is about space," says Tempe Adams, a PhD candidate monitoring the movement of animals in Kasane as part of her work with conservation group Elephants Without Borders. "That's what it comes down to," she adds. "Allowing wildlife to have space to move through."</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <a href="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/140113125229-spc-inside-africa-elephants-botswana-a-00002118-story-body.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="box-image" height="120" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/140113125229-spc-inside-africa-elephants-botswana-a-00002118-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="214" /></a>Adams's research is looking at the functionality of small-scale wildlife corridors within urban communities, examining whether they can be an effective way to avoid human-wildlife conflict before it happens. Using motion detection cameras, the researcher is monitoring eight different corridors in the area, some of which are as small as five meters wide.</div> <div class="cnn_strylftcntnt cnn_strylftcexpbx" id="expand15" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 27px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="clickToPlay" id="clickToPlayvideoContainerexpand15" style="background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/video/416_player_Click_to_play_off.png); border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 42px; left: 45px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 27px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 136px; zoom: 1;"> </div> </div> <div class="cnn_strylftcntnt cnn_strylftcexpbx" id="expand25" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 27px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="clickToPlay" id="clickToPlayvideoContainerexpand25" style="background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/video/416_player_Click_to_play_off.png); border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 42px; left: 45px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 27px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 136px; zoom: 1;"> </div> </div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br />One of the key points of the human-wildlife conflict in Kasane is a two-lane highway that cuts through the corridors the elephants use as they make their way to the Chobe river to drink and bathe.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <a href="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/140113140823-spc-inside-africa-elephants-botswana-c-00010001-story-body.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="box-image" height="120" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/140113140823-spc-inside-africa-elephants-botswana-c-00010001-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="214" /></a>"All the corridors I'm monitoring have to go past this road," explains Adams. "There are a high number of accidents each year," she adds, "generally in the evening when visual acuity is poor, which coincides with the busiest time for wildlife utilization."</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> As part of her study, Adams is looking at the frequency of car usage and whether that correlates to how the herds of elephants are moving through the area.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> As it turns out, the majestic mammals are adapting to human behavior -- especially on weekends.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> "It's amazing," she says. "There's a bar at each of the corridors they have to pass by. I was looking at the results and I could suddenly see there's this big drop in wildlife coming through on Friday and Saturday nights. I thought what's going on? It's so obvious ... animals are adapting to our habits -- and our drinking habits," adds Adams.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> "It's amazing to think they know when it's going to be lots of people and rowdy and very busy and they just don't come at that time; or they'll come in later or come in when it's quieter."</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Why corridors are important</strong></div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Elephants Without Borders was recently tasked with leading what's being called the Great Elephant Census, a pan-African aerial survey aimed at securing more accurate data on the continent's elephant population.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> But while the group is known for its extensive, cross-border research, it believes that urban small-scale corridors, the effectiveness of which is examined now for the first time, could be just as important.</div> <div class="cnn_strylftcntnt" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylctcquote" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial; font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 244px;"> <div class="cnn_strylctcqcntr" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 27px 20px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/mosaic/60x50_quote_marks.gif); background-position: 100% 100%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 10px 20px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Elephants are extremely intelligent and have the capability to learn how to adapt to changes within their environment.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="border: 0px; color: #999999; display: block; font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 8px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kelly Landen, program manager, EWB</span></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> "It's such a basic concept," explains Adams. "Just give wildlife the space to come in; they will use and the conflict will be reduced."</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Kelly Landen, EWB program manager, says that in a human-dominated landscape, corridors provide safe passage for wildlife to access valuable resources like food and water. "If corridors aren't provided for or are blocked, then the wildlife will do what they must to get to those vital resources, as their survival depends on it -- even if it means having to forge through villages, homesteads and farms. And that creates human and wildlife conflict, in which both people and the wildlife suffer."</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> EWB says that currently if a passage is labeled a wildlife corridor it is designated on the town's land management and development plans, indicating that the area cannot be allocated for another use other than as an access route for wildlife.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> However, the group is pushing for more stringent terminology and adapted legal rules to be applied to these passages. The overall plan is to have designated wildlife corridors in legislation, so as towns grow there are set paths for elephants to use and ultimately lessen the impact of their growing numbers.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> "Elephants are extremely intelligent and have the capability to learn how to adapt to changes within their environment," says Landen. "So, as a town becomes more and more developed, they will look for new routes allowing them access to what they need -- as long as there are those access routes."</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Returning to ancestral homelands</strong></div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> With around 130,000 African elephants, Botswana has the continent's largest elephant population. It is seen as the last stronghold of the magnificent mammals in the continent; while other countries rare facing declining populations, Botswana must deal with rising elephant numbers and their impact on local communities and the environment.</div> <div class="cnn_strylftcntnt" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylctcquote" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial; font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 244px;"> <div class="cnn_strylctcqcntr" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 27px 20px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/mosaic/60x50_quote_marks.gif); background-position: 100% 100%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 10px 20px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Elephants are repopulating ancestral homelands where they were evicted from 30 years ago.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="border: 0px; color: #999999; display: block; font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 8px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mike Chase, founder, EWB</span></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph24" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> "That's the tragedy and the paradox of conservation in Botswana," says Mike Chase, founder of EWB. "Elephants have become a victim of their own success.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> "Can this environment sustain 130,000 elephants, eight elephants per square kilometer that are chewing up 250 kilos of vegetation per day?" asks Chase. "Clearly not -- so we've got to create safe passages and corridors so that these elephants can move out of Botswana, release this bottleneck and repopulate areas such as southeast Angola and southwest Zambia, where elephants occur at very low densities and can be a magnet for eco-tourism."</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph26" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Research has shown that the home ranges in northern Botswana are the largest ever recorded for African elephants, which are free to roam across Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola and Zambia. The EWB's findings helped create the world's largest wildlife preservation known as The Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, or KAZA. This is an international conservation region in southern Africa, spanning 440,000 square kilometers across five countries. The initiative is protecting some of the wildlife corridors and habitats identified by EWB.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph28" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> "Despite all the despair and loss of hope, there's a glimmer of opportunity here in the KAZA area, where elephants are repopulating ancestral homelands where they were evicted from 30 years ago," says Chase.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph29" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> "KAZA is really the last hope for elephants," he adds. "This romance of elephants moving from the coastal plains of Cape Town, through Victoria Falls, across the Zambezi river to the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro -- I yearn for that; I see that in elephants and KAZA provides for conservation at a scale at which these species evolved."</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph30" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> This is a grand vision for these great giants -- reestablishing their footprint across the continent.</div> <a href="" name="em1" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><a href="" name="em2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><a href="" name="em3" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br /> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph32" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></div> </div>

Why did the elephant cross the road? To avoid the drunks

STORY HIGHLIGHTS Africa's largest elephant population can be found in Botswana Elephants Without Borders is testing small-scale...

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She danced to conquer hearts

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoFclpEAR1_f1t-_SLhSNCEVToMDuYW_hNQI9bpv2aEiqI9OLlKCdKx1yCiU5wJMlTOweTxSEVWiZqPJp0WwiVd77XEWjqnC-VEeiGe5NuMvO9loKPjo5henwl3KfO6UHjY5VgTKb3xviI/s1600/HYF13LEELA1_1682868g.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoFclpEAR1_f1t-_SLhSNCEVToMDuYW_hNQI9bpv2aEiqI9OLlKCdKx1yCiU5wJMlTOweTxSEVWiZqPJp0WwiVd77XEWjqnC-VEeiGe5NuMvO9loKPjo5henwl3KfO6UHjY5VgTKb3xviI/s320/HYF13LEELA1_1682868g.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;">Leela Samson performing along with Spanda group. Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam</span><br /> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;"><br /></span> <br /> <div class="articleLead" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <h2 style="border: 0px; color: #999999; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Event: Leela Samson’s dance piece was a perfect combination of raga and tala.</h2> </div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> It was an evening of remarkable charms of Bharatnatyam at Kalabharati Visakhapatnam. Dance lovers were treated to a piece by renowned dancer Leela Samson.’ The virtuosity capped Visakha Music Academy’s seven-day 44th annual festival of music and dance.</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> It is one thing to have an illustrious guru and it is totally different to evolve into one and carry its worthy legacy. Leela Samson perfectly fits into it. A proud product of the maestro Rukminidevi Arundale’s Kalakshetra, she was impeccably imaginative in her approach and expression. It, in a way, is a manifestation of inside experience and expression. It was impeccably within the confines of classicality and novel in presentation. The novelty stood pronounced well in ‘Spanda matrike’, exploration raga Kalyani in the kinetic idiom of dance and Charishnu. These numbers, in a way, carried the feel of her ingenuity in every frame. The patterns of movement in perfect sync with lyric remained exhilarating all through. It opened with her disciples presenting a verse taken from Kalidas’s Malavikagnimitram in praise of Lord Siva. It was in quite a meditative mood which found extended to the rest of the session. Spanda matrike explored a series of rhythmic cycles and finely hooked up the patterns of movements. The choreographic floor designs were executed to a set of <i style="outline: 0px;">talas</i>. The adavus set in an aesthetic way of formations and vivacious movements were simply splendid.</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> In ‘Charishnu’ was remarkable for its quick tempo set of adavus. The amazing team spirit of the dancers and their concentration on delectably diverse formations in sharp light and shade effects twinkled in electronic precision of movements. It in short encapsulated the spirit of the journey of life from despair to hope with love and compassion. From the traditional repertoire a javali and padam wove a magic of their own in a pretty presentation. Leela Samson presented the romantic import of javali ‘Era rara’ in subtle suggestiveness through apt sancharis and expressional élan. ‘Etuvanti vade vaadu’ a padam of Kshetrayya in a subtle and soft gestural interpretation found an excellent treatment brought out its nuances enhancing its emotional appeal.</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> <br /></div> </div> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/eIoZpWq0bqU?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe><br /> <h3 style="background-color: #e7e6e6; border: 0px; color: #373535; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin: 3px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"> <a alt="Updated: November 10, 2013 at 13:35 IST Published: November 10, 2013 at 13:35 IST in DANCE" href="http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/dance/article5335119.ece?ref=video" style="color: #1f57a5; font-size: 16px; outline: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: none;" title="Updated: November 10, 2013 at 13:35 IST Published: November 10, 2013 at 13:35 IST in DANCE">The Unseen Sequence - Official Trailer</a></h3> <div> <span style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">In Malavika Sarukkai - an artist rooted in tradition but with a uniquely contemporary sensibility - one of India's most profound classical arts, Bharatanatyam, is being re-interpreted, renewed, invigorated. The film is not simply about Malavika Sarukkai; it deliberates the valuable connections and departures that the artist makes from a hallowed and, often, unforgiving tradition. The film will be screened as part of The Hindu Friday Review </span></div> </div>

She danced to conquer hearts

Leela Samson performing along with Spanda group. Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam Event: Leela Samson’s dance piece was a perfect combinati...

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Organic farmer shows the way in paddy cultivation

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj29tbJcGajjyhMM3V_K44GlP4C0tx_F_qUGeACBrsc6g0vbrs__rIOAkQrBowx1c7cWEbqxPgy_pGQRTXi3QylRNlI_6rz9me8K4vmFHozcZuH1dAu8M1GGucWjNXzyhcUv-Dfv6fANjU1/s1600/12VZELURUREG2_1682470f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj29tbJcGajjyhMM3V_K44GlP4C0tx_F_qUGeACBrsc6g0vbrs__rIOAkQrBowx1c7cWEbqxPgy_pGQRTXi3QylRNlI_6rz9me8K4vmFHozcZuH1dAu8M1GGucWjNXzyhcUv-Dfv6fANjU1/s320/12VZELURUREG2_1682470f.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div class="articleLead" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <h2 style="border: 0px; color: #999999; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Innovative techniques have helped Satish Babu withstand the onslaught of successive cyclones</h2> </div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> Gadde Satish Babu, a graduate-turned organic farmer from Seetampet, under Denduluru mandal in West Godavari district, remains unaffected even as his counterparts elsewhere have been affected badly from a series of cyclones in the current kharif season.</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> Swarna, the high-yielding paddy variety, which was flattened due to the swirling gales and turned susceptible to pests, dashed the farmers’ hopes. But Mr. Satish Babu, however, is sitting pretty even after raising the same variety in his field, thanks to the method of organic farming which he has taken to.</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> He attributes his success to the soil health enriched by organic manures which helped him reap 29-34 bags per acre with no traces of chemical residues. He raises a single crop in his field in a year, leaving it to become fertile with organic manure in the rest of the period. He has about 50 buffaloes which are left to roam freely in the field, enabling it to get enriched with their dung and urine during the period of ‘crop holiday’. The same animals are then shifted to his other fields of coconut, paddy and maize at Signarajupalli near Nallajarla on a rotation basis for a similar purpose.</div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <b style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; outline: 0px; text-align: left;">Ryots wary of Swarna</b></div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> Farmers in the delta region are now wary of Swarna variety for its inherent drawbacks which make it prone to lodging at times of calamities. Yet they are still enamoured of it for its high-yielding properties. “It all (lodging and pest attacks in Swarna) happens in the soil when its health deteriorates because of use of pesticide and chemicals in heavy dosages. It is not the case in my field and that it is the secret of my joy,” says Mr. Satish.</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> He said he could manage to save his crop from pests by applying neem cake. He has brought down the cost of cultivation by making his fields zero tolerant to chemicals and pesticides. In addition, he sells his produce (rice) at a price of Rs 99 per kg which is, still, in great demand.</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> M. Bharatalakshmi, Associate Director of Research, Agricultural Research Station (ARS) at Maruteru, endorses the views of Mr. Satish Babu, stating that the field trials revealed that organic farming is a panacea to all the ills associated with the Swarna variety. An acre and half demo plot with Swarna developed at the research station yielded similar results, she added. Heavy use of urea in traditional farming resulted in vegetative growth in Swarna leading to lodging, she said.</div> <br /></div>

Organic farmer shows the way in paddy cultivation

Innovative techniques have helped Satish Babu withstand the onslaught of successive cyclones Gadde Satish Babu, a graduate-turned or...

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Chennai International Film Festival gets off to a glittering start

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMjZRf092z5oci7Qot1_fV0RzmjESlf0EhMF4869tASSFBq4ndRRt4tqMLsuczX7-_r4KCYfUMujRwSHK2uc3WRRtoXeO0fLpRxjAh4BQWdAL6bDgRElEkGtosyPVAiLcrVYE0xYHKcCa4/s1600/13TH_CHENNAI_FILM__1683084f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMjZRf092z5oci7Qot1_fV0RzmjESlf0EhMF4869tASSFBq4ndRRt4tqMLsuczX7-_r4KCYfUMujRwSHK2uc3WRRtoXeO0fLpRxjAh4BQWdAL6bDgRElEkGtosyPVAiLcrVYE0xYHKcCa4/s320/13TH_CHENNAI_FILM__1683084f.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div class="articleLead" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <h2 style="border: 0px; color: #999999; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Kamal Haasan spins the focus on script writing</h2> </div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> The Eleventh Edition of the Chennai International Film Festival got off to a glittering start at a star-studded event in the city on Thursday. It witnessed the coming together of iconic Tamil actor film-maker Kamal Haasan and Hindi film star and path-breaking television anchor, Aamir Khan.</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> While answering a question on censorship, Mr. Haasan, in his trademark, candid way, urged the film industry to take the responsibility of censoring films as those on the Censor Board were not qualified enough to do so. “They like cinema … they like to watch films ... there are Censor Board officials who sometimes tell young film-makers ‘you could make your film shorter.’ It’s ridiculous,” he said in an open stage interaction with actor Suhasini Maniratnam, who asked questions on behalf of many film personalities.</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> To a question on closing the gap between Tamil and world cinema, Mr. Haasan said the industry was in need of new writers. “There are books, but books will not make cinema. Even Shakespeare will have to learn script-writing. The Malayalam industry is making films from books. I became a writer by default.”</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> <b style="outline: 0px;">‘Chain of theatres’</b></div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> Mr. Khan appreciated the efforts of the Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation (ICAF), especially its founder and general secretary E. Thangaraj, in bringing the Indian panorama and world cinema to the Chennai audience. He said sometimes he wished the country had a chain of theatres that showcased films from different parts of the world and the country … that have programmes for art house cinema. “There is a considerable audience for such cinema and it will be a step towards healthy cinema.”</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> The Festival presented by The Hindu and Pudhuyugam, will be on till December 19 and the films will be screened in eight screens at five venues — the Woodland Theatre Complex, Inox Screens, Abirami Mega Mall, Rani Seethai Hall and Casino Theatre.</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> <b style="outline: 0px;">163 films to be screened</b></div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> A total of 163 films from 58 countries will be screened.</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> Musician Anil Srinivas and playback singer Karthik presented a selection of songs from a few films. As an introduction to the music session, actors Rohini and Poornima Bhagyaraj read out poetry from a selection of Tamil film songs. Actor dancer Shobana and her students presented three choreographed pieces, including Vande Mataram. The event was compeered by actor Abirami and CIFF’s Ramya.</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> Actor-dancer Swarnamalya and her students presented a thematic presentation on classical dance in Tamil cinema. Kasturi and Sons Chairman N. Ram, The Hindu Editor-in-Chief N. Ravi, actor Lakshmi, South Indian Film Chamber president Kalyan, ICAF president S. Kannan, vice-president B. Ramakrishnan, incumbent president of the Film Federation of India, Ravi Kottarakara, Pudhuyugam CEO Shyam Kumar and Mohammad Ali of SIS graced the occasion.</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> The Tamil film competition jury was introduced and jury chairman, director R.V. Udhayakumar, and members, actor Sripriya and writer S. Ramakrishnan, were honoured. A souvenir was released to mark the occasion. Actors Sachu, Mohan, Y.G. Mahendra, Lissy Priyadarshan, Mohan Raman, and directors Balu Mahendra and Santhana Bharati, among others, were present.</div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px;"> Mr. Thangaraj thanked the Tamil Nadu government for its support for the festival.</div> <br /></div>

Chennai International Film Festival gets off to a glittering start

Kamal Haasan spins the focus on script writing The Eleventh Edition of the Chennai International Film Festival got off to a glitteri...

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The Long Breakup: Looking back at the fall of the Soviet Union

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="no-text-decoration" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 2.8em; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;"> The Long Breakup: Looking back at the fall of the Soviet Union</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Mx0MNppwjWdgWCeevKJuzmpJxqR2HJKwz3ci2IUHTtnszyCSKKaZ-FyRDnjA1L6MaMPfH-id3a97ilm7uL_ttH-ufHYOqoBX9yj8DuoSJfj5fFRDXMqRc0catSJw-uj0oIKac6gs32Rz/s1600/SovietLead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Mx0MNppwjWdgWCeevKJuzmpJxqR2HJKwz3ci2IUHTtnszyCSKKaZ-FyRDnjA1L6MaMPfH-id3a97ilm7uL_ttH-ufHYOqoBX9yj8DuoSJfj5fFRDXMqRc0catSJw-uj0oIKac6gs32Rz/s320/SovietLead.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <br /> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div class="article" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.6em; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Twenty years ago, the Soviet Union came to an end. It was a drawn-out and difficult journey, full of passion, hope, anger, betrayal and re-awakening.</div> <div class="article" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.6em; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Between now and the end of the year, The Post will track the major developments, in real time, of the last six months of the U.S.S.R. With the benefit of hindsight, it's possible to see harbingers of the future: Russians alarmed by the sudden visibility of corruption, angry Muslims occupying a government office in Dagestan, disdain for democracy and fear of disorder.</div> <div class="article" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.6em; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Moscow correspondents Kathy Lally and Will Englund were there that year as witnesses. Now, together with readers, they will relive that dramatic moment of history.</div> </div> </div>

The Long Breakup: Looking back at the fall of the Soviet Union

The Long Breakup: Looking back at the fall of the Soviet Union Twenty years ago, the Soviet Union came to an end. It was a drawn-o...

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Gay sex, homosexuality is an offence: Supreme Court upholds Section 377. Black day for LGBT community

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Gay sex, homosexuality is an offence: Supreme Court upholds Section 377. Black day for LGBT community</span></span></div> <div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none;"> <br /></div> <div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none;">  </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_33Nyk-DnPw18A-icfWHBR3oc1y5M4j9qDIcviXxbu01t82SVAwDizia35_aXf7HOzZnIql_is-jLHZmn_BbcBpokSHZZvfssWbZW5gkZamNaM-JkQkflsybljPBbd-pDECyxxDyL2u1c/s1600/gays-parade_660_121113104140.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_33Nyk-DnPw18A-icfWHBR3oc1y5M4j9qDIcviXxbu01t82SVAwDizia35_aXf7HOzZnIql_is-jLHZmn_BbcBpokSHZZvfssWbZW5gkZamNaM-JkQkflsybljPBbd-pDECyxxDyL2u1c/s320/gays-parade_660_121113104140.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">In a blow to gay rights activists, the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the constitutional validity of the penal provision making gay sex an offence punishable with upto life imprisonment.</span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpnXltfJAYO0XPE7dlkyY6Y2XvSJTFicIdfz0FWjNA0drEUO3zVXVqxyhKY2ISQf-8mJh0D3KuljZlb82EQBmvMP_iJ1c3BQ90CuyTdkuw82Nls-zilcSesfQyDkoF-bPE1ZTrCAcEVVzo/s1600/gay-sex2_660_121113024143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpnXltfJAYO0XPE7dlkyY6Y2XvSJTFicIdfz0FWjNA0drEUO3zVXVqxyhKY2ISQf-8mJh0D3KuljZlb82EQBmvMP_iJ1c3BQ90CuyTdkuw82Nls-zilcSesfQyDkoF-bPE1ZTrCAcEVVzo/s320/gay-sex2_660_121113024143.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">A bench of justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya set aside the Delhi High Court's verdict which had in 2009 decriminalised gay sex among consenting adults in private.</span><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">The bench allowed the appeals filed by various social and religious organisations challenging the high court verdict on the ground that gay sex is against the cultural and religious values of the country.</span><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">The bench, however, put the ball in Parliament's court to take a decision on the controversial issue, saying it is for the legislature to debate and decide on the matter.</span><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">With the apex court verdict, the operation of penal provision against gay sex has come into force.</span><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">As soon as the verdict was pronounced, gay activists in the court looked visibly upset. </span></div> <table align="right" border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; width: 350px;"><tbody style="outline: none;"> <tr style="outline: none;"><td style="outline: none;"><b style="outline: none;">SC verdict must be respected by government: Sibal</b><br style="outline: none;" /><br style="outline: none;" />It is the Supreme Court's prerogative to test the constitutionality of the law and their verdict on homosexuality as an offence must be respected by the government, Law Minister Kapil Sibal said Wednesday.<br style="outline: none;" /><br style="outline: none;" />"It is the prerogative of the Supreme Court to judge the constitutionality and validity of the law. The opinion of the Supreme Court must be respected by the government. They have exercised their prerogative now, we shall exercise ours," Kapil Sibal told reporters outside parliament.<br style="outline: none;" /><br style="outline: none;" />Supreme Court Wednesday held that consensual sex between adults of the same gender is an offence as it set aside the Delhi High Court verdict of 2009. The Delhi High Court had decriminalised sexual relationship between adults of the same gender under Section 377.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">The bench said Parliament is authorised to delete section 377 of IPC but till the time this penal provision is there, the court cannot legalise this kind of sexual relationship.</span><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">After pronouncement of the judgement, gay rights activists said they will seek review of the apex court's verdict.</span><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">The court passed the order on a batch of petitions of anti-gay right activists and social and religious organisations against the high court's verdict decriminalising gay sex.</span><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">The bench had reserved its order in March last year after granting day-to-day hearing of the case from February 15, 2012.</span><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">While hearing the appeal, the apex court had pulled up the Centre for its "casual" approach on the issue of decriminalisation of homosexuality and also expressed concern over Parliament not discussing such important matters and blaming judiciary instead for its "over-reach".</span><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">While pleading for decriminalisation of gay sex, the Centre had subsequently told the court that the anti-gay law in the country had resulted from British colonialism and Indian society was much more tolerant towards homosexuality.</span><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">The Delhi High Court had on July 2, 2009 decriminalised gay sex as provided in Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and had ruled that sex between two consenting adults in private would not be an offence.</span></div> <div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none;"> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXEQwZoOVmJP2ilCK_FMF9OBuhT0eC7umWbL-eb6oBWZxu7SEato881uQhXrb4Zn74RbyGwY2kxTaP-4GniOjDGr7pQMuMcdVhJR15QBsKiZujsODtPy1fs-alth2EcsF7A8IuVE2wwpPZ/s1600/gay-sex1_660_121113024143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXEQwZoOVmJP2ilCK_FMF9OBuhT0eC7umWbL-eb6oBWZxu7SEato881uQhXrb4Zn74RbyGwY2kxTaP-4GniOjDGr7pQMuMcdVhJR15QBsKiZujsODtPy1fs-alth2EcsF7A8IuVE2wwpPZ/s320/gay-sex1_660_121113024143.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Section 377 (unnatural offences) of IPC makes gay sex a criminal offence entailing punishment upto life imprisonment.</span></div> <div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none;"> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2vXzIchOIOe_VLJ4lfSQ1HLMyl1x3tFu17s9-M3cN1ahyQjpd6Tde2rHHq28HZF22oI6Y2ha_sozUUD8NPsgDezXqqxVUn7YHyz0A7FL5Sv32_uNWFEz3WcsR5R5qD-etmmkLHndKYq6c/s1600/gay-sex_660_121113024143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2vXzIchOIOe_VLJ4lfSQ1HLMyl1x3tFu17s9-M3cN1ahyQjpd6Tde2rHHq28HZF22oI6Y2ha_sozUUD8NPsgDezXqqxVUn7YHyz0A7FL5Sv32_uNWFEz3WcsR5R5qD-etmmkLHndKYq6c/s320/gay-sex_660_121113024143.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">The petition seeking to decriminalise gay sex was filed in the high court by Naz Foundation.</span><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Senior BJP leader B P Singhal, who died in October last year, had challenged the high court verdict in the apex court, saying such acts are illegal, immoral and against the ethos of the Indian culture.</span><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Religious organisations like All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Utkal Christian Council and Apostolic Churches Alliance too had challenged the judgement.</span><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Right, Tamil Nadu Muslim Munn Kazhgam, SD Pritinidhi Sabha, Joint Action Council, Raza Academy, astrologer Suresh Kumar Kaushal, yoga guru Ramdev's disciple S K Tijarawala, Ram Murti, Bhim Singh, B Krishna Bhat had also opposed the verdict.</span><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><br style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-align: left;" /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">The Centre had earlier informed the apex court that there are an estimated 25 lakh gay people and about seven per cent (1.75 lakh) of them are HIV-infected.</span></div> <div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none;"> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEMhcIdjy9H_7qYfmvjdWtZOJ6zjqDehelLY-F_OZq6HDr1pSoLgtrpM-3Q_Jxv8v3FqmzXQfh7sv0bg3urxqFg-zmrLaKoQMnZL_LOduoH1C8e8FFCId5koBfqHeJYIr3vxJXaUEy_Hwz/s1600/gay-sex-3_660_121113024143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEMhcIdjy9H_7qYfmvjdWtZOJ6zjqDehelLY-F_OZq6HDr1pSoLgtrpM-3Q_Jxv8v3FqmzXQfh7sv0bg3urxqFg-zmrLaKoQMnZL_LOduoH1C8e8FFCId5koBfqHeJYIr3vxJXaUEy_Hwz/s320/gay-sex-3_660_121113024143.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none;">  </div> <div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none;">  In its affidavit, the Union Health Ministry had said it was planning to bring four lakh high-risk 'men who have sex with men (MSM)' under its AIDS control programme and it has already covered around two lakh of them.</div> <div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none;"> <br /></div> <div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none;"> <br /></div> </div>

Gay sex, homosexuality is an offence: Supreme Court upholds Section 377. Black day for LGBT community

Gay sex, homosexuality is an offence: Supreme Court upholds Section 377. Black day for LGBT community   In a blow to gay rights ac...

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