1 february 2014 issue

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FOCUS ON GLOBE

RNI Regd No JKENG/2013/50569

o In Focus o State Scan o Wild LIfe o Current Affairs o Global Warming o Neighbourhood o Women’s Issue o Indian Civil Service o Science o Cover Story o Religion o World @ Glance o Science and Nature o HIstory o Between the Lines o Sports o Entertainment o Health

OVERBIAL REMAIN THE APRROUND THE ALBATROSS NECK! ARMY’S

E K A F L A B I R H T A R P E T N U O C EN

r o r r e T d Re R I M H S A OF K

Message Dear Readers “Focus on Globe” is a complete News Magazine for the readers of the subcontinent. It shall be our primary concern and top priority to highlight the grievances of the people at large, for their redressal at the hands of the concerned so that sufferings of the people are mitigated within the shortest possible time frame work.

The basic idea for creation of this magazine and to get it on the stands is to provide our valued readers, a variety of material on different topics viz current affairs / History/ finance / development/ information technology / travel / agriculture / media/ health / society / woman’s issue/ culture/ Qur’anic wisdom/ entertainment / sports / unemployment issues and so on and so forth.

It is hoped this Magazine shall serve as a useful source to our readers particularly the student community to remain abreast of the latest happenings in the world particularly in our parts of the globe.

The writer’s of this Magazine belong to different shades of opinion and we hope the readers would definitely enjoy the content of the magazine and will provide us with their valued suggestions for improvement of the magazine. The content of the articles reflect the views of the author and does not necessarily reflect our opinion and views what so ever.

(c) The contents of the magazine cannot be reproduce in any form without the prior written permission of the Editor–in-Chief of this Magazine.

To connect with the magazine please feel free to contact us on our email address at: focusonglobe@gmail.com

Thank you ADVISOR ER. N. A. JAN FOCUS ON GLOBE

email us:-focusonglobe@gmail.com wwww.issuu.com/focusonglobe

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1

Vol:1

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August- 2013

Page: 40

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Complete News Magazine

RNI Registration No:- JKENG/2013/50569

H HISTORY H STATE SCAN H CURRENT AFFAIRS H GUJRAT H NEIGHBOURHOOD H RED TERROR H COUNTRY AFFARIS H COVER STORY H H HEALTH H WORLD AT GLANCE H WOMENS ISSUE H BUSINESS H LEGAL H SOCIETY H RELIGIOUS H SPORTS H RNIWOMENS RegdERANo JKENG/2013/50569

VOL:2

stone

ISSUE 02

FEBRUARY 2014

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Muhammad Haneef Mahajan COPY EDITOR H.Basharat yousuf EXECUTIVE EDITOR Nasir Ahmad Khan

THERE ARE SEVERAL IMPORTANT POINTS THAT MUST BE TAKEN NOTE OF:

(SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT) Er. Abdul Majid Maharaji

KASHMIR BOIL AGAIN

CORESPONDENTS Abdul Hafiz Lakhani (Ahmadabad) Dr. Atif Suhail Siddiqui, Ph. D (UP) Abrar Bhat Sumaiya Rafiq Zargar GENERAL MANAGER Sadat JOURNALISTS Gool inocentsPHOTO Aijaz Ahmad Parray crushed by BSF, ADVISORS Kil ed 4 personsEr. Nazir Ahmad Jan Syed Manzoor Ahmad Shah 48 Dr.Khursheed injured Ahmad Mahajan Gh. Jeelani Ghani Shabir Ahmad Wani

BETWEEN INDIA AND SRI LANKA

Focus On Globe August 2013

Legal Advisor Bilquees Rathore Gousia Rashid GRAHPHICS Tamin Art Gallery 9419056944 PRINTER, PUBLISHER & OWNER Muhammad Haneef Mahajan PUBLISHED FROM: 24/Gulistani Mahajan SKIMS Road Upper Soura Srinagar-190020-Kmr (India) PRINTED AT: S.S.Printer Soura Near Police Station Soura Srinagar Kashmir Phone NO: +91 9796 363738, 9419078647 email: focusonglobe@gmail.com

1) In order to be a super power, India must maintain its supremacy over other countries especially against smaller and less resourceful countries. Even when citizens of country like USA are caught with a floating armory the government of the republic of India thinks several times before prosecuting them.

2) Palk Strait is not the only place where the fish is available in abundance. Provided the necessary resources, the fisherman can move in other directions into the sea and have plentiful of fish.

The agreement between India and Sri Lanka to empty their jails of each other’s fishermen is an encouraging sign that both sides have the will to resolve a long-standing irritant in bilateral ties. At the meeting between Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Sri Lankan Fisheries and Aquatic Minister Rajitha Senaratne, both sides agreed to release all fishermen in their custody except those who face charges other than crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line. With this confidence building measure, both sides must now sit down to the challenge of finding a long-term solution to the problems of the fishing communities in the region. Over the years, Tamil Nadu fishermen have with increasing stridency made the demand for the right to fish in the entire Palk Bay, describing it as their “traditional fishing grounds”. It is no longer just about fishing rights around Kachchatheevu. The reason is that the catch is better on the Sri Lankan side. This is no accident. Bad practices such as the indiscriminate use of trawlers that dredge right down to the sea bed have depleted the resources along the Tamil Nadu coast. On the other side, the long years of conflict during which fishermen in Northeast Sri Lanka were barely allowed by the Sri Lankan Navy to put their boats out a few hundred meters into the sea has ensured that fish and other marine resources are still plentiful. Now that there are no military restrictions on fishing off Northeast Sri Lanka, Tamil fishermen there who are still struggling to rebuild their lives find themselves in daily competition with Tamil Nadu fishermen for what they claim is rightfully theirs. Worse, the fishermen from the Indian side, better organised and equipped with bigger boats and better nets, use the same practices that ravaged their side of the bay.

It is no surprise that an agreement — finalised in 2008 when the Sri Lankan military operations against the LTTE were intensifying — that was favourable to Indian fishermen is now seen by the Sri Lankan side as requiring re-negotiation. The solution to the problem may well come from the fishermen themselves. With the backing of the two capitals, they are to hold a meeting of their representatives on January 20 and may explore options such as licensing and placing restrictions on the number of fishing days. Ultimately, however, the real solution for both, especially on the Indian side, lies in preserving what is left by moving away from coastal to deep sea fishing. The State government and the Centre must also encourage fishermen to diversify into related activities such as deep-freezing, preserving and canning. That could even pave the way for collaboration between Indian and Sri Lankan fishing communities. The way forward is to find ways to complement each other’s livelihoods, instead of just competing over scarce resources.

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1 Febuary 2014

By.Dr. Al Alawi Saudi Arabia

IN FOCUS

MUSLIMS REMAIN SILENT AGAINST THE SAUDI WAHHABI’S The Washingtonbased Gulf Institute estimated that 95 percent of sacred sites and shrines in the two cities have been destroyed in the past twenty years.

The Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) birthplace was turned into a library and the house of his first wife, Khadijah, was replaced with a public toilet block. Also the expansion and development might threaten many local homes, but so far most Muslims have remained silent on the issue.

“Mecca is a Holy Sanctuary as Stated in the Qur’an It Is Not Ordinary City” “Masjid-an-Nabawi the world’s oldest mosques 1,000 years old, which hold the tombs of Prophet Mohammed(SAW)and two of his closest companions, Hazrat Abu Bakr Sideeq(RA)and Hazrat Umar Farooq(RA)”.

Saudi Arabia to raze Prophet Mohammed’s(SAW) tomb to build larger mosque The key Islamic heritage site, including Prophet Mohammed’s(SAW) shrine, is to be bulldozed, as Saudi Arabia plans a $ 6 billion expansion of Medina’s holy Masjid an-Nabawi Mosque.

However, Muslims remain silent on the possible destruction. Work on the Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, is planned to start as soon as the annual Hajj pilgrimage comes to a close at the end of November. “After the Hajj this year, in one months’ time, the bulldozers will move in and will start to demolish the last part of Mecca, the grand mosque which is at least 1,000 years old,” Dr. Irfan Alawi of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, told RT. After the reconstruction, the mosque is expected to become the world’s largest building, with a capacity for 1.6 million people. And while the need to expand does exist as more pilgrims are flocking to holy sites every year, nothing has been said on how the project will affect the surroundings of the mosque, also historic sites. Concerns are growing that the expansion of Masjid an-Nabawi will come at the price of three of the world’s

oldest mosques nearby, which hold the tombs of Prophet Mohammed (SAW) and two of his closest companions, Hazrat Abu Bakr(RA) and Hazrat Umar(RA). The expansion project which will cost 25 billion SAR (more than US $6 billion) reportedly requires razing holy sites, as old as the seventh century. The Saudis insist that colossal expansion of both Mecca and Medina is essential to make a way for the growing numbers of pilgrims. Both Mecca and Medina host 12 million visiting pilgrims each year and this number is expected to increase to 17 million by 2025. Authorities and hotel developers are working hard to keep pace, however; the expansions have cost the oldest cities their historical surroundings as sky scrapers, luxury hotels and shopping malls are being erected amongst Islamic heritage.

A room in a hotel or apartment in a historic area may cost up to $ 500 per night. And that’s all in or near Mecca, a place where the Prophet Mohammed (SAW) insisted all Muslims would be equal. “They just want to make a lot of money from the super-rich elite pilgrims, but for the poor pilgrims it is getting very expensive and they cannot afford it,” Jabal Omar(RA) complex – a 40 tower ensemble – is being depicted as a new pearl of Mecca. When complete, it will consist of six five star hotels, seven 39 storey residential towers offering 520 restaurants, 4, 360 commercial and retail shops. But to build this tourist attraction the Saudi authorities destroyed the Ottoman era Ajyad Fortress and the hill it stood on. The Washington-based Gulf In-

stitute estimated that 95 percent of sacred sites and shrines in the two cities have been destroyed in the past twenty years. The Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) birthplace was turned into a library and the house of his first wife, Khadijah, was replaced

“Some of the Sunni channels based in the United Kingdom are influenced by Saudi petro dollars and dare not to speak against the destruction, but yet are one of the first to condemn the movie made by non Muslims,” Dr. Al Alawi said”. with a public toilet block. Also the expansion and development might threaten many local homes, but so far most Muslims have remained silent on the issue. “Mecca is a holy sanctuary as stated in the Qur’an it is no ordinary city. The Muslims remain silent against the Saudi Wahhabi destruction because they fear they will not be allowed to visit the Kingdom again,” said Dr. Al Alawi.

The fact that there is no reaction on possible destruction has raised talks about hypocrisy because Muslims are turning a blind eye to that their faith people are going to ruin sacred sites. “Some of the Sunni channels based in the United Kingdom are influenced by Saudi petro dollars and dare not to speak against the destruction, but yet are one of the first to condemn the movie made by non Muslims,” Dr. Al Alawi said.

Focus On Globe

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1 Febuary 2014

FLAGGED OFF BY SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE SRINAGAR MR. HASEEB-UR-REHMAN “WHEN YOU ARE ON THE ROAD PEHLE AAP”

25TH ROAD SAFETY WEEK

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ontinuing with 25th Road Safety Week Celebrations, Traffic Police City Srinagar organized a Motor Cycle Rally of students, traffic police contingents which was flagged off by Superintendent of Police Traffic City Srinagar, Mr. Haseeb-Ur-Rehman at Hyderpora Bye pass 0n January 13. A cultural programme was also organized in which prominent artists participated besides a Nukked Show was organized at Lal Chowk near Ganta Ghar, where huge gathering witnessed, the performance of the artists which carried some traffic awareness related messages and the general public has suggested that such programmes be organized regularly.

The purpose of the Bicycle Rally and Cultural programme was to disseminate the traffic awareness among public in general and road users in particular.

Meanwhile, the Motor Ve-

hicles Department (MVD), Kupwara also organised a rally from Kupwara to Fruit Mandi Bumhama which was flagged off by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Kupwara.

An awareness programme was also organised by the Motor Vehicles Department, Kupwara on the topic, “When you are on the road Pehle Aap” in connection with 25th Road Safety Week, the speakers threw light on the topic and made transporters aware about the traffic rules and safe driving to avoid accidents.

The Assistant Regional Transport Officer Kupwara, Dy. S.P Traffic Rural, Baramulla and Kupwara, besides officers of JKP, Traffic and transport also spoke on the occasion.

The Assistant Regional Transport Officer Kupwara informed that Rs. 10 lakh were realised as fine from the offenders while 1647 vehicles were registered in the district during the current fiscal.

Traffic Week at Budgam DIG Police Syed Afadullah Mujtehba flagged off the sumo rally from DC office to New Bus stand Budgam The Deputy Commissioner Kupwara who was the chief guest on the occasion distributed trophies among the transporters, traffic and media person Traffic Police Budgam also organized awareness rally. The function was organised by Dy.SP Traffic, Budgam, while DIG Police Syed Afadullah Mujtehba flagged off the sumo rally from DC office to New Bus stand Budgam.

Speaking on the occasion, DIG Police said that without the cooperation of people, traffic system cannot be managed effectively.

It’s also a duty and responsibility of people to follow traffic norms and avoid parking their vehicles on wrong places. Syed said, adding that there is a need to educate and aware people about the traffic rules and also to initiate tough action against the offenders. He appealed all vehicle owners not to use mobile phone while driving and not to drive over speed.

STATE SCAN

celebrated across different districts of the Valley

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Focus On Globe

SHOW CAUSE NOTICE TO SUSPENDED TEHSILDAR NORTH SRINAGAR

STATE SCAN

INVOLVEMENT OF TRANSFER OF LAND WORTH MORE THAN RS. 19 CRORE

1 Febuary 2014

REPRESENTATIVES OF SRINAGAR, BUDGAM, GANDERBAL PUT FORTH THEIR SUGGESTIONS

The Committee of Inquiry (COI) through its member Secretary, Additional Deputy Commissioner Srinagar has issued a show cause notice to Ex-Incharge Tehsildar North Srinagar, Mr. Mohammad Bashir Rather presThe Show cause ently attached with the office of notice was issued to Divisional Commissioner Kashsuspended Tehsildar mir asking him to explain his North Srinagar on the position within 21 days from the basis of involvement date of the issue of the notice of transfer of land, and in case of default, report attesting mutations shall be submitted to the Diviin the garb of Hiba sional Commissioner, Kashmir Zabani, covering on merits for further action illegal transfer under Civil Service Rules and other relevant rules governing the subject. The Show cause notice was issued to suspended Tehsildar North Srinagar on the basis of involvement of transfer of land, attesting mutations in the garb of Hiba Zabani, covering illegal transfer of such landed properties thereby evading legitimate stamp duty levy-able under normal circumstances worth more than Rs. 19 crore.

As per the statement, the Ex-Incharge Tehsildar was suspended and attached with Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, and in the meanwhile a committee headed by Commissioner Survey and Land Records J&K was constituted to conduct a detailed inquiry in the matter.

The Chairman of the Committee through its members, Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue, Srinagar and Deputy Commissioner Stamps for Commercial Taxes, Srinagar after proper securitization of the documents in the details of the landed properties covered under mutation on the basis of Hiba Zabani established that this illegal mode of transfer of landed properties

Cabinet Sub-Committee which met on January 13 for seeking suggestions from people belonging to all walks of life particularly from Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts for creation of new Administrative Units, held deliberations with representatives of various political parties and Civil Society at Banquet Hall.

Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. Tara Chand presided over the meeting whileas Minister for Urban Development, Mr. Nawang Rigzin Jora, Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Mr. Sham Lal, Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Ghulam Hassan Mir, Minister for Higher Education, Mr. Akbar Lone, Minister for Labour and Employment, Mr. Ajay Sadhotra and Minister for Law and Parliament Affairs, Mir Saifullah were present in the meeting.

Several MLA’s including MLA Amira Kadal, Mr. Nasir Aslam Wani put forth their suggestions on the occasion. MLA Batmaloo, Mr. Mohammad Irfan Shah at the outset demanded block status for Takenwari and Tehsil or Niabat for Shalteng.

District President Congress, Shamima Khan raised various issues of Bemina and adjoining areas and demanded Block status for Bemina.

National Conference representative of Khanyar Constituency demanded Tehsil and Niabat for Khanyar while Congress representative of Eidgah demanded Tehsil for Eidgah. Besides, representatives of Zadibal Constituency demanded four Tehsils for Srinagar and a Niabat for Hawal.

Representatives of PDP Srinagar demanded two districts for Srinagar with four Tehsils each. Haz-

MLA Budgam, Syed Ruhullah Mehdi while addressing on the occasion, lauded the Government for taking the step of creation of new Administrative Units. He said Government prioritized decentralization and it is the objective of the Government to bring administration at the doorstep of the people.

He demanded sub-district status for Beerwah and Tehsil Headquarter at Magam. He also demanded bifurcation of Halqas.

Later, representatives of Ganderbal district presented their suggestions before the sub-committee. Minister for Higher Education, Mr. Mohammad Akbar Lone on the occasion, suggested setting up a block at Safapora so that the people are facilitated. Senior leader National Conference of Ganderbal, Sheikh Ishfaq Jabbar demanded creation of Development Block for Sherpathri Ganderbal which comprises of 30 villages and a population of about 80,000 educationally and economically backward people, a long pending demand of the people of the area besides, development block for Allaqa Phek which is far off from district headquarter Ganderbal. The area consists of about 30 villages and a population of 60,000 to 70,000 people. He also suggested for creation of revenue Halqa for Wattal Bagh, Larson, Repora, Bagoo Rampora and Tehsil status for Wakoora.

The representatives of Kangan Constituency suggested for giving status of hilly area to the Kangan tehsil besides suggested for making Gund area as a Tehsil. Concluding the meeting, the

in tehsil north Srinagar during the stay of suspended Tehsildar is disproportionate to the quantum of land transfer by this method of transfer in whole of the State, giving coverage to the modes of transition purely classified as sales for evasion of stamp duty for such an huge amount.

ratbal representatives demanded Tehsil Office in Fateh Kadal. MLA Amira Kadal in his speech said that it is a revolutionary step taken by Government and setting up of new Administrative Units is need of the hour.

Chairman of the Sub Committee, Mr. Tara Chand assured the representatives that their point of view with regard to creation of new Administrative Units have been noted and shall be given due consideration at appropriate time.

EXPANSION OF HEALTH FACILITIES IN FOCUS

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nderscoring the need for strict observance of the guidelines in the implementation of various components of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the Minister of State for Health, Mr. Shabir Ahmad Khan emphasized upon the Health functionaries to put in their best efforts for the improvement of medical facilities in various health institutions. He asked them to work with missionary zeal

and take all necessary measures to improve the healthcare. He also stressed on strengthening the monitoring mechanism and plugging the loopholes, if any.

Reviewing the physical and financial status of several health care schemes implemented in Jammu Division under Centre and State plans at a high level meeting held on Sunday 12 January, the Minister said that focus of the present government has been on consolidation

and now expansion part would also receive a considerable fillip.

National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has helped in a big way to reach out people in rural areas in healthcare sector. He said that better perks and salaries being offered to doctors and paramedics under NRHM has enhanced the chances of placing qualified medical staff in the rural areas.

Commissioner Secretary Health

Focus On Globe and Medical Education, Mr. Gazanfar Hussain, Director Health Services, Jammu, Mission Director, NRHM, Director, ISM, Director Family Welfare, Financial Advisor, Joint Director Planning, Deputy Directors of Health Department, Chief Medical Officers , Medical Superintendents were among others attended the meeting Expressing concern on the decline in female sex ratio in the State, the Health Minister said that this is the area which calls for unified approach by the civil society and government departments together. He urged the need to eradicate this evil from the society “we have to gear up at all levels and reverse the unfortunate trend”, he said asserting that the religious leaders, imams of mosques, pujaries in temples, priests in churches, granthies in gurudawaras and heads of other religious places need to sensitize the society about the most dan-

gerous evil of female feticide.

Latest medical equipment’s and machines installed in hospitals should be fully utilized for treatment of patients. He said government has also taken different measures to provide specialists, doctors, staff nurses and other para-medics in the health institutions to improve health care service to the people. Mr. Shabir received a brief on the progress registered under various state and centrally sponsored health schemes, under construction hospital buildings and the functioning of various disciplines in the health services, Indian Systems of Medicine, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Drugs and Food Control Organization and Medical Supplies Corporation. He instructed for discouraging the unnecessary referrals from rural hospitals to tertiary hospitals to avoid crowds. He called for equipping the district hos-

pitals properly to attend all types of patients except of serious nature which require specialized treatment in the tertiary centers. “The concerned doctors will have to give the reason for referring the particular patient to the higher institutions”, he ordered.He emphasized the need for universal access of people to the fleet of ambulances procured under NRHM asking for making 102 Phone Number fully operational for ensuring hassle free ambulance services to the needy patients.

The Minister interacted with each Chief Medical Officers and enquired about the problems which they face at the grass root level. He issued necessary instructions to the higher authorities for plugging the gaps so that patients get best medical facilities in the government institutions. He also stressed for coordinated approach to achieve better results.

FLAGSHIP PROGRAMMES HAVE BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN CHANGING THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE OF THE PEOPLE

inister for Social Welfare and ARI Trainings, Ms. Sakina Itoo has reiterated the government’s commitment to provide improved facilities to the people living in far-flung, remote and hilly areas of the State. Government believes in persistent developmental achievements than rhetoric slogans and during the past five years the Government has taken several vital steps in this direction and change can be well acknowledged at the ground level.

Maintaining that the development has been registered in every domain, the Minister said that special thrust has been laid on the vital sectors of health, education besides providing effective road connectivity to the villages, augmentation of water supply schemes and power generation has also been done. The Government has undertaken these initiatives without giving the preferential treatment to any area but on equitable basis by undertaking several flagship programmes which have been instrumental in changing the socio-economic profile of the people living in these areas.

Government of J&K has ensured need based development of people living in backward and remote areas and in this regard several schemes have been launched which have been responsible in changing the socio-economic profile of the people living in these areas, besides providing a much needed employment opportunities to the people at their doorsteps. People should not get swayed by the hollow promises and lies of defeated political parties and should themselves differentiate between their real friends and foe.

She said report card of developmental achievements made by the present coalition is before the people and the record

development in all the sectors which has taken place, during last five years has unnerved the

opposition parties so are they speaking lies to hoodwink the public opinion.

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STATE SCAN

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1 Febuary 2014

HANGUL IS BATTLING FOR HIS LIFE Project Hangul under the Department of wildlife conservation & protection is proving nothing for the preservation of this endangered species. Hangul is battling for his life in the 141 sq. kms. Dachigam National Park located on foothills of Zabarwan range on the outskirts of Srinagar which was once distributed widely in the mountains of Kashmir.

Hangul out from Endangered species list, Awarded Least Concerned Status - Official Negligence Blames “SRVES”

Social Royal Voluntary Environmental Service NGO Demands Probe in the official Apathy towards endangered species particularly Hangul in state.

WILD LIFE

The writer is CEO of SRVES “NGO”

Social Royal Voluntary Environmental Service (SRVES), A state based environmental faction have expressed serious concern about the official negligence towards the maintainance of data regarding the status of Hangul which was listed in endangered species in 2008 & now is Awarded Least concerned species Status in 2014 .

While talking to press, Er.M.M.Idrees-ulhaq Beigh (C.E.O SRVES) said;

"The Kashmir stag (Cervus Hanglu) , which is the state animal and was listed as critically endangered by IUCN in his Red list, as their population was counted 160 ma-

ture individuals in the 2008 census- has been awarded the status of Least concerned status according to IUCN's recently published list on their website.

"The Hangul which once were numbered from about 5,000 animals in the beginning of the 20th century. Unfortunately, were threatened, due to habitat destruction (cement factories), over-grazing by domestic livestock, and poaching. This dwindled as low as 150 animals by 1970."

Project Hangul under the Department of wildlife conservation & protection is proving nothing for the preservation of this endangered species. Hangul is battling for his life in the 141 sq. kms. Dachigam National Park located on foothills of Zabarwan range on the outskirts of Srinagar which was once distributed widely in the mountains of Kashmir.

The justification provided by International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources to put the Hangul from endangered species to least concern species is due to a wide circumpolar distribution

and presumed large populations.

According to IUCN There have been range contractions and presumably population declines in some parts of the species' range but it is not believed to approach the threshold for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three

generations) which is Not true & aptly shows the official negligence to maintain the data regarding Hangul.

We highly express our concern towards this official negligence regarding the maintenance of the Data for endangered species & sending it to IUCN. We request to Government of Jammu & Kashmir to officially start a probe regarding this negligence & we also request to Government to shut the industrial sector (cement industries) around “khrew” which is mostly responsible for degradation of habitat of this endangered species. If Government fails to protect & preserve the natural habitat of these endangered species of Jammu & Kashmir we are left with no option but to stage a state wide agitation regarding this apathy. Mr.Beigh said.

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cancelled.

The private companies involved in the case have been given three weeks time to respond to Cen-

:T

M A R

U ES S C O S C C M

I T E R L I O M N F A E E O R D T C UP UE VA S SS RI I P T TO

t r e’s notice and the government will have one week after that to study the company’s responses, as per reports. h e The Cabinet Committee on CenEconomic Affairs (CCEA) had met tre on Wedneson Monday to discuss the criteria for day 15th of Jande-allocation of coal block licenses in the uary endorsed the coalgate scam.

Supreme Court’s obserThe meeting came in the wake of the vation in the coal blocks alloCentral Bureau of Investigation producing cation same that matters related to the a fresh status report in the coal scam before case should not be kept pending for long and Supreme Court on Monday. said that it had issued notices to private firms An inter-ministerial group had earlier reasking them to clear deficiencies within six viewed and decided to de-allocate 218 coal weeks. blocks. Notices were issued to 47 blocks but According to reports, The Attorney General had in September a decision is still the Centre told the apex 2013 submitted that coal blocks allocation pending on 29 court that with respect to was merely a letter of intent and does not cases. confer any right to the companies over the the 41 companies given The Attorney natural resource which is decided by the General had reclicenses for coal explorastate government. ommended the tion in 61 blocks have been He had contended that decision of coal Supreme Court asked to clear deficiencies blocks allocation to companies is only the to put a clearwithin 4-6 weeks for obfirst stage and firms get rights over coal cut criterion for taining mining lease. only when they start mining for which they The Centre also sought de-allocation. have to take various clearances. a permission from the apex During a precourt to put forward to the vious hearing in Home Ministry the proposal the case, the Centre for issuance of Letters Roghad admitted before atory to foreign countries in the Supreme Court its probe into coal scam. that something went The centre further inwrong with the coal formed the highest court that blocks allocation and the 41 companies have been that it could have given notices asking why been done in a more their allocations should not refined manner.

“We took decision in good faith but something turned out to be wrong,” Attorney General Goolam, E.Vahanvati had told a three-judge bench headed by Justice R M Lodha.

“In hindsight, we can say something has gone wrong and some correction is required to be done,” he said, virtually accepting that mistakes were committed by the government in coal blocks allocation.

Vahanvati’s response came after the bench observed that the exercise could have been done in a “far better manner”.

The Attorney General had in September 2013 submitted that coal blocks allocation was merely a letter of intent and does not confer any right to the companies over the natural resource which is decided by the state government.

He had contended that decision of coal blocks allocation to companies is only the first stage and firms get rights over coal only when they start mining for which they have to take various clearances.

The mining states of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, how-

The private companies involved in the case have been given three weeks time to respond to Centre’s notice and the government will have one week after that to study the company’s responses, as per reports. ever, had earlier told the apex court that coal blocks allocation was “entirely controlled and regulated” by the Centre and they only played a minimal role in the whole exercise.

The court is scrutinising coal blocks allocation since 1993 on three PILs seeking cancellation of blocks on the ground that rules were flouted in giving away the natural resource and that certain companies were favoured in the process.

CURRENT AFFAIRS

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INDIAN DIPLOMAT INDICTED IN THE U.S., BUT SET TO LEAVE COUNTRY

1 Febuary 2014

USA’S DOUBLE STANDARD POLICES

Devyani Khobragade returns from US but India still the loser

CURRENT AFFAIRS

AT THE CENTER OF A TESTY DIPLOMATIC INCIDENT, DEVYANI KHOBRAGADE WAS SET TO LEAVE THE U.S. DESPITE BEING INDICTED ON CHARGES IN NEW YORK

By Charlotte Alter Associated Press reports The Indian diplomat who has been in legal trouble since last month for lying about her domestic worker’s wages on a U.S. visa application was granted diplomatic immunity and reportedly left the country Thursday just as she was indicted for visa fraud, the Associated Press reports.

Devyani Khobragade was charged with making false statements and fraud after she allegedly claimed on visa documents that her housekeeper was making minimum wage, but actually paid her much less.

Khobragade’s Dec. 12 arrest and subsequent strip search before being released on bail has strained U.S.-Indian relations over the past month. India claimed all along that Khobragade—who was the country’s deputy consul in New York and did advisory work at India’s U.N. mission—deserved diplomatic immunity.

Khobragade, for her part, publicly criticized the “indignities” of her arrest, including an alleged body cavity search that U.S. officials have denied conducting.

In a letter to the judge, prosecutors said that the chargers against Khobragade will stay pending until she returns to court to face them, with or without immunity status.

Devyani Khobragade

By R Jagannathan This is not the first time what UAS has did with Khobragade if Indians refresh their minds we can found such kind of heartbroken mistakes done by US with our high ranked and great personalities of our country vis-à-vis, the then President of India Mr.APJ Ab.Kalam visited US a world renowned scientist and great personality the US officers have detained him at US Airport for security check. why? did not they aware about his official visit to US and another one is super star Mr. Sharuk Khan a famous film actor only because of this, his name was khan why government of India is not trying to understand now enough is enough. India’s decision to bring Devyani Khobragade back after the US granted her diplomatic immunity is actually a near defeat for us - assuming we are going to let it rest there. Khobragade’s return merely removes the immediate threat of her facing charges in court, but the charges remain and Khobragade cannot obviously return to the US without diplomatic immunity. And there is little chance the US will ever gracefully give her that, even though her husband and children are American citizens. Moreover, the US has not even apologised for failing to respect Khobragade’s diplomatic immunity - which ultimately led to her arrest and strip and ‘cavity search’. The US marshal service has denied any cavity search but there is no reason why we should believe them rather than our own diplomat.The situation as it stands now is a mere stalemate - and totally unsatisfactory from an Indian point of view. There is clearly more we need to do to set Indo-US relations on a foundation of respect and reciprocity. We cannot let the matter rest here and there are lessons to learn from it. First, we have to go after every US diplomat who breaks our laws with the same diligence the US does even after Khobragade is back. We have to get them booked and brought to court, though we can spare them the “cavity searches.” It does not matter if the offences relate to traffic violations or underpayment of Indian staff. If we do not have a US citizen facing arrest here, we cannot have a bargaining chip to get the charges against Khobragade dropped. Second, the measures taken against US embassy staff and others - withdrawal of liquor permits, removal of the road barriers outside the Delhi embassy, etc - should remain. These were unilateral benefits we gave without any need to do so. The US does

not give us any such concessions on its territory. Nor should we. Unlike what US commentators have said, this is not about compromising security since the vigil has actually been enhanced after the removal of barriers. Third, we have to now develop our own capabilities to track US spies operating in India under the guise of diplomacy. In Pakistan, the CIA and other US spies are tracked and checked at every point.

They are watched all the time. While it is true that they (the Pakistanis) have much to hide (their terror outfits, etc), if we do not do the same it will give us no leverage. The reason why the US will not help us bring David Coleman Headley to justice for his role in 26/11 is because he was a double-agent - he spied for the US and helped the jihadis. This is the price we pay for harbouring a naïve belief that US spies operating in India have nothing but our best interests at heart. We cannot be so foolish. Four, we have to ensure that the Richard’s family - which was spirited away from India under the plea that Khobragade was indulging in human trafficking and her family was under threat here - continue to face trial in Indian courts. If they can keep Khobragade away from her US husband, we should ensure that the Richard can never return here - unless it is to face justice. Five, the special entry and freedom from frisking that we offer US officials should be withdrawn. And remain so, unless there is complete reciprocity. Six, there is this business about maids. Perhaps we have to abandon the idea in future, or pay our diplomats more, so that they can afford creches and maids at US rates for their children. Or we may have to negotiate a deal with the US that dependent nannies need not be paid local wages - just as Indian employees of US consular staff need not be paid US wages. However, we should continue to insist on US consulate staff giving us all the details of the staff they employ, the wages they pay, and the hours they work - to check if they are in contravention of our laws. We must rigorously pursue this even after the Khobragade affair is buried. Seven, a complete eye-opener to us should be how the US media behaved with regards to Khobragade. Barring a few stray voices, almost all US newspapers had no sympathy for India’s side of the story, even though there was huge criticism in our media - even bitter and insulting ones - on

why the US will not help us bring David Coleman Headley to justice for his role in 26/11 is because he was a doubleagent - he spied for the US and helped the jihadis. This is the price we pay for harbouring a naïve belief that US spies operating in India have nothing but our best interests at heart. We cannot be so foolish.

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The ethical or moral one relates to Richard, who used Khobragade to realise her dream of settling in the US. So the key lesson for us Indians is this: we have to stand by our people when they are targeted abroad. It does not matter if those Indians may not be so well thought of here. The US stood by a man - Raymond Davis - who killed two people in Pakistan but the Americans bailed him out even though he was not a diplomat and had no immunity. This is what we should learn from the US: stand by your own people when they are in trouble. And fight your local battles locally.

Khobragade. Many on our side actually stood with the US against our own diplomat. Almost no US journo did so on their side. What does this tell us about our fawning attitude to the US? Eight, the diplomatic immunity and maid underpayment issues have been needlessly conflated in the Indian media. Quite apart from the fact that Sangeeta Richard was not ill-treated in any way by Khobragade, and that she was a willing partner in the visa misstatement (she went along with it as she wanted to emigrate to the US), we cannot use Khobragade’s alleged local standing (she was apparently a beneficiary in the Adarsh Society flat allotments) to conclude that the US can violate her diplomatic status. To give a more extreme analogy - should we condone a molestation just because the woman concerned may not be all that squeaky clean in her financial dealings? The two crimes have to be dealt with separately.

She may be a victim in one crime and a perpetrator in another. But that does not give us the freedom to abandon her in the crime where she is the victim. Nine, too much nonsense has been written on the subject of maids and their treatment in India just because Khobragade’s case involves a maid and her underpayment. Richard was well looked after by Indian standards, and this case has nothing to do with the general issue of ill-treatment of maids in India. Khobragade’s crime is underpayment

by US standards - which is a legal lapse but not an ethical or moral one.

The ethical or moral one relates to Richard, who used Khobragade to realise her dream of settling in the US. So the key lesson for us Indians is this: we have to stand by our people when they are targeted abroad.

It does not matter if those Indians may not be so well thought of here.

The US stood by a man - Raymond Davis - who killed two people in Pakistan but the Americans bailed him out even though he was not a diplomat and had no immunity. This is what we should learn from the US: stand by your own people when they are in trouble. And fight your local battles locally.

CURRENT AFFAIRS

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Focus On Globe

US & INDIA START DISCUSSIONS ON DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY NEW YORK INDIA'S AMBASSADOR

CURRENT AFFAIRS

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ndia and the US are holding preliminary discussions to resolve their differing interpretations of diplomatic immunity as they look to mend ties damaged by the row over American treatment of an Indian diplomat who was arrested and strip-searched in New York, India's ambassador said.

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India's new envoy in Washington, said his priority is to raise the "morale" of a relationship that remains fundamentally good despite the spat over Devyani Khobragade, who was expelled from the US this month after she was indicted on accusations of exploiting her housekeeper.

"As you would say in the markets, the fundamentals are good, it's the sentiment that needs improving," Jaishankar told The Associated Press in an interview.

The US and India, the world's largest democracies, have forged closer economic and defence ties in the past decade, but relations took a tumble because of Indian outrage over the treatment of Khobragade, who was the nation's deputy consul general in New York. She was strip-searched after her December 13 arrest, which US Marshals say is common practice for a suspect taken into custody, but was viewed in India as unnecessarily humiliating.

India unleashed a steady stream of retaliatory measures against US diplomats, including restrictions at the American Center in New Delhi and revoking new ID cards for some diplomats. Key to

1 Febuary 2014 the dispute was Washington and Delhi's differing interpretations of what type of immunity was due to Khobragade. US officials argued that as a consular official, she was immune from prosecution from acts performed in the exercise of consular functions, and not full diplomatic immunity.

Jaishankar said while that's the rule for foreign diplomats in the US, he questioned whether Washington expects its diplomats abroad to be treated in kind. He said India has issued new identity cards for US consular officials to specify that their diplomatic immunity does not cover "serious crimes", referred to as "felonies" in the US.

"There is an issue of what does the US expect abroad and what does the US give at home. I think there's a reconciliation there that needs to be done," the ambassador said. "What fairness would dictate is we would expect and give what you (the US) expect and give."

He said India is starting to work through the issue with the State Department, and US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid discussed it when they met Wednesday on the sidelines of a conference on Syria in Switzerland, their first face-to-face since the imbroglio over Khobragade.

Striking the positive tone set in the past two weeks since Khobragade returned home, Jaishankar said he was looking to advance a bilateral relationship that has grown stronger in the past 10 to 15 years. Two-way trade has grown to USD 100 billion.

"It's big economically, there's a high degree of political comfort," he said, noting the importance of more than 5 million Indian-Americans in helping to foster it. But Jaishankar acknowledged that commercial relations have not been "plain sailing."

Big US companies have concerns over what they claim are unpredictable and unfair tax demands; pharmaceutical companies complain over what they view as unfair competition from manufacturers of generic drugs; foreign investors, such as Wal-Mart, have grumbled over local content requirements as they look to break into the untapped Indian market.

Jaishankar said India has responded to pressures to remain business-friendly, and considers "corrections" where they are needed.

But he noted that India has its own concerns, including over whether US immigration reform proposals, currently mired in Congress, that he said could hurt the competitiveness of Indian service industries in the US whose business is worth USD 40 billion.

"It's an industry which actually keep American business competitive," he said. "We help the American economy function 24-7."

Growing military cooperation and some USD 9 billion in US defence sales to India in the past decade also reflect a further deepening of the relationship. Delhi, however, has been careful not to align too closely to Washington in international affairs, although it's been strongly supportive of the reconstruction of a post-Taliban Afghanistan through its development aid.

Jaishankar said India wants to see peace and stability, but he would not be drawn on whether Afghan President Hamid Karzai should sign a security agreement with Washington to allow some US forces to stay past the end of the NATO mission in the country, scheduled for this year. Karzai has demurred so far.

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GLOBAL WARMING

INDIA, CHINA AMONG 7 COUNTRIES MOST RESPONSIBLE FOR GLOBAL WARMING

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ndia and China are reportedly among the world’s seven countries that are responsible for global warming, a new study has found.

The study conducted by Concordia University found that the United States, China, Russia, Brazil, India, Germany and the United Kingdom as the biggest contributors to the rising temperatures of the world.

It has been found that these countries were collectively responsible for more than 60 percent of pre-2005 global warming.

The study, under the leadership of an associate professor in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, Damon Matthews, ranked the US as an unambiguous leader, responsible for a global temperature increase of 0.15 C, which is close to 20 percent of the observed warming. China and Russia account for around 8 percent each; Brazil and India 7 percent; and Germany and the UK around 5 percent each.

It was found that less industrialized countries, including Brazil and Indonesia, ranked so highly because their positions reflect carbon dioxide emissions related to deforestation.

Matthews and his colleagues experimented with scaling the emissions to the size of the corresponding area. Western Europe, the U.S., Japan and India are hugely expanded, reflecting emissions much greater than would be expected based on their geographic area. Russia, China and Brazil stay the same.

The study also revealed that amongst the 20 largest total emitters, developed countries occupy the top seven per-capita positions, with Canada falling in third place behind the UK and the United States and this ranking places China and India to the bottom of the list.

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1 Febuary 2014

PAKISTAN'S PESHAWAR WORLD'S 'LARGEST RESERVOIR' OF POLIO: WHO

NEIGHBOURHOOD

World Health Organization The World Health Organization declared Pakistan's troubled northwestern city of Peshawar as the world's "largest reservoir" of polio and called for urgent action to boost vaccination.

Almost every polio case in 2013 in Pakistan, one of only three countries where the crippling disease remains endemic, could be linked genetically to strains of the virus circulating in Peshawar, said the WHO.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital, and adjoining tribal districts where Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants have hideouts are particular polio hotspots.

Efforts to stamp out the disease have been hampered by opposition from militant groups, who see vaccination campaigns as cover for espionage, as well as long-running rumours about the drops

causing infertility.

"With more than 90 percent of the current polio cases in the country genetically linked to Peshawar, the (city) is now the largest reservoir of endemic poliovirus in the world," the WHO said in a statement.

Polio is also endemic in Afghanistan and Nigeria, but of the three countries only Pakistan saw a rise in cases from 2012 to 2013, said the global health body.

Tests have found that 83 out of the 91 polio cases in Pakistan last year were genetically linked to strains in Peshawar, while 12 out of 13 cases reported in Afghanistan were also linked.

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akistan's former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf was charged along with six others in the Rs 22 billion Rental Power Scam by a court.

All the accused, including the former federal minister for water and power, refused to plead guilty to the charges before the Accountability Court.

The bench conducting the trial sought all relevant evidence from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the next hearing of the case which was adjourned until February 4.

Later, Ashraf said his character assassination by the media was highly regrettable, adding his hands were clean and he performed his duty with utmost honesty.

The case had earned him the Nickname "Rental Raja".

His lawyer Farooq H Naek said Ashraf has been charged on three counts, "which has proved that he didn't cause any loss to the exchequer and he didn?t indulge in

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any corruption".

He said that the charges framed against him include violation of PEPRA rules and other allegations.

Naek expressed confidence that Ashraf would soon be acquitted honourably.

Ashraf, who served as premier between June 22, 2012 and March 25, 2013, is accused of receiving kickbacks and commissions from nine rental power project firms for awarding contracts for setting up their projects in 2008 to overcome electricity crisis in the country.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has been investigating 12 RPP cases in which nine firms reportedly received more than Rs 22 billion as mobilisation advance from the government to commission the projects, but most of them were accused of failing to set up plants.

The bureau had already recovered Rs 13 billion in the case.

The case had earned him the Nickname “Rental Raja�.

P l a t M n P e R x E n o s i l e l i g B r sR 22 n Court Cha a t s i Pak

NEIGHBOURHOOD

, m a c S r owe

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Focus On Globe The Supreme Court on Wednesday 15 January issued notice on a law graduate’s plea to put in place a permanent mechanism to attend to the complaints of sexual harassment by both sitting and former judges at all levels of judiciary, including the apex court.

The notice, returnable by Feb 14, has been issued to the centre, the secretary general of the Supreme Court, Justice (Retd.) Swatanter Kumar, and Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati.

An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam, while issuing the notice, made it clear that “at this moment we are not expressing any opinion on averments or allegations by the law graduate”.

In view of the importance of the issue to evolve a permanent mechanism to address the complaints of sexual harassments by the judges at all level, the court said it appointed eminent counsel Fali Nariman and KK Venugopal as amicus curiae to assist the court.

The court order came on a petition of a former law intern who alleged sexual harassment by then Supreme Court judge Swatanter Kumar.

At the outset of the hearing, Chief Justice Sathasivam asked: “What is the date of alleged incident?” When told that it relates to May 28, 2011, he asked why did she take so long to report the matter.

The then law intern had written to Chief Justice Sathasivam complaining about the alleged sexual

1 Febuary 2014 harassment, the court said while noting that the intern had informed her parents and professors about the incident but did not inform the court.

“Being a law graduate”, why did she wait for so long, Chief Justice Sathasivam asked. “Our apprehension is that there are so many retired judges and someone levels charges after 20 years when the retired judge is 85 years old.”

At this senior counsel Harish Salve said there is no permanent mechanism to attend to complaints of sexual harassment against judges and the existing grievance redressal committee was “inappropriate” to entertain complaints against judges.

Salve said let there be a permanent mechanism to look into the complaints of sexual misconduct with a time frame.

The law intern from Kolkata-based National University of Juridical Sciences has alleged sexual harassment against former apex court judge Swatanter Kumar. Justice Kumar at present heads the National Green Tribunal.

Besides seeking inquiry into her complaint, the intern in her petition also sought direction for setting up a permanent mechanism to inquire into the complaints of sexual harassment against all the judicial officers sitting or retired, whether holding office or not.

She said such a permanent mechanism is contemplated in Vishaka direction issued by the apex court to take cognizance of sexual harassment at work place.

WOMEN’S ISSUE

L : A U X SE MENT S T S R A U R O HA EME C R N P O U S S E V O M AW L TE’S A U D GRA PLEA

IAS Topper 2012 Debasweta Banik (IAS Our Dream) By.Muhammad Haneef Mahajan

An estimated 400,000 applicant’s sign up for the exam each year but only between 600 and 1,000 make the grade.

timated 400,000 applicant’s sign up for the exam each year but only between 600 and 1,000 make the grade.

Ms. Banik, who passed first time, believes the rush to enroll in coaching classes or to study from paid-for preparatory material, is where most aspirants go wrong. “Following the textbook can make you rigid,” she said. Round-theclock coaching classes leave little room for self-study, according to Ms. Banik.

So, when the Delhi University economics graduate began to make a timetable 10 months ago, she opted to break free from the monotony of studying from readymade notes and, instead, turned to news papers to brush up on current affairs and learn to frame her essays

better..

A typical day, she says, would begin by studying three out of seven English-language e-news dailies her father – an engineer at a Noida-based staterun firm – subscribes to her staples were The Indian Express, Hindustan Times and The Hindu, but she would also dip into others.

“I made cuttings out of articles – commentaries and news stories – which interested me,” said Ms. Banik, who ranked 14th in the exam. “These were my notes.” Opinion pieces written by political analyst Ramachandra Guha and economist Abhijit Banerjee helped her better frame long answers in the exam, she added.

In the final round – the interview stage – a panel of diplomats quizzed Ms. Banik on women’s safety in India, a subject which has received widespread media attention in the wake of the gang rape of a young woman on a moving bus in New Delhi last year.“People under-

estimate the knowledge in newspapers,” said Ms. Banik, who is from Noida. “I don’t know how I would have done this without them. They were my lifeline,” she said.

Ms. Banik says she first became fascinated by the role played by government bureaucrats while in high school. But she decided to put herself forward for the Indian civil service exams only in the final year of college, when she actively began debating about governance and policy making in competitions.

“I thought to myself one day, ‘I can change policies we’re debating today. Why not stop talking and start changing?’ That’s when I made up my mind,” she said. Ms. Banik, who will attend a four- month training program before being allocated her posting later this year, says there’s a lot she would like to change about India’s bureaucracy.

On the top of her agenda, she says, is to help make federal government ministries more transparent.“We read about corruption every day,” she said. “This needs to stop.

LIFE BECOMES EASIER WHEN YOU DELETE THE NEGATIVE PEOPLE FROM IT

W

hen Debasweta Banik applied to take one of the toughest exams in the country, she didn’t reach for textbooks or attend coaching classes. Instead, she turned to her favorite pastime – reading newspapers.“I quoted out of editorials in my answers,” said 22-year-old Ms. Banik.“They were my Bible.”And her preparation method paid off. This month she became one of the youngest to pass the exams for the Indian civil service. For decades, aspiring diplomats have pondered ways to ace the civil service exams – a set of nine papers which determine eligibility for coveted government jobs, including the foreign and the administrative services.

The exams – widely believed to be India’s toughest – grill applicants on topics ranging from current affairs to critical reasoning. Many revise for them for several years.Haritha V. Kumar, the highest achieving candidate in this year’s exam, had failed in three previous attempts.

Shena Aggarwal, last year’s highest scorer, tried to pass the exam three times. Still, there is no guarantee the brightest minds will make the cut even after years of grueling practice. An es-

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1 Febuary 2014

INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE

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Focus On Globe

1 Febuary 2014

By: Sources

Odds of survival...How long to wait before moving to better shelter after a nuclear attack is a complicated question,writes a scientist who has come up with a model on how best to survive an atomic bomb.

SCIENCE

HOW TO SURVIVE A NUCLEAR BOMB ATTACK “Reaching adequate shelter rapidly could save between 10,000 and 100,000 individuals from fatal exposure in the event of a single, low-yield detonation, said the study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society ‘A”

A

SCIENTIST has published a guide to help authorities limit deaths from fallout after a city is hit by a nuclear bomb.

Taking cover in existing buildings is widely accepted as a critical first action after a nuclear blast in a major city but how long people should stay there before moving to better shelter is a more complex question. Buildings that are lightweight or lack a basement are more easily penetrated by radioactive dust.

Writing in a British scientific journal, Michael Dillon of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, has now come up with a mathematical model for the “optimal shelter exit time’’ to minimize radiation risk.

Based on his calculations, if adequate shelter is 15 minutes away, individuals should remain in their initial, poor-quality shelter no longer than 30 minutes after detonation.

If, however, the better shelter is only five minutes away, individuals should move there

immediately and forego the closer but unsafe buildings altogether, he wrote.

Reaching adequate shelter rapidly could save between 10,000 and 100,000 individuals from fatal exposure in the event of a single, low-yield detonation, said the study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society ‘A’.

“These methods are intended to assist emergency planning officials in the development of an optimal low-yield nuclear detonation response strategy,’’ wrote Mr Dillon.

A low-yield blast is described as 0.1-10 kilotons.

One kiloton (kT) is an explosive force equivalent to that of 1000 tonnes of TNT. The US bomb that killed more than 200,000 people in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945 was about 15 kT.

More than a fifth of American households lack basements or are considered too lightweight to offer shelter in the fallout phase of the emergency, the study said.

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1 Febuary 2014

RED TERROR OF KASHMIR

DENIAL OF JUSTICE

Remain the Proverbial Albatross Around the Army’s neck!

A man offers his prayers to the deceased Pathribal and Brakpora victims near a graveyard in Brarangan South Kashmir

“PATHRIBAL FAKE ENCOUNTER”

COVER STORY

Kashmir’s still looking for justice

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COVER STORY

T

Focus On Globe

he Indian Army has not covered itself with glory by closing the cases against the officers involved in the infamous Pathribal fake encounter in Jammu and Kashmir in which five civilians were killed. Taking over the investigation of the case after an uproar over the 2000 incident, the Central Bureau of Investigation concluded that a Brigadier, a Lieutenant Colonel, two Majors, and a Subedar of 7 Rashtriya Rifles had staged the encounter, picking up civilians from the Anantnag of Kashmir area and killing them in cold blood. They lied to the . “It was clearly police that the five were established that it was foreign militants who had a joint operation by the carried out the massacre of Police and the Army, Sikhs in Chattisinghpora a few days earlier. Backed based on specific by the Ministry of Defence intelligence. The case and the Army top brass, has since been closed by the officers named contestthe Army authorities” The ed the CBI charge sheet, CBI, which investigated making the argument that under the Armed Forces the case, has already Special Powers Act, prior concluded that the sanction was required to encounter was fake and prosecute them. When the the persons killed were legal battle reached its porinnocent civilians. The tals, the Supreme Court upheld the officers’ case. It investigating agency has also directed the Army to identified and charged either sanction the prosfive senior army officials, ecution of the officers or including a brigadier, court-martial them. The for abduction, murder, Army was offered the same options back in 2001, but criminal conspiracy chose to prolong the legal and the destruction of battle. This time, its back to evidence in the fake the wall, it chose the latter encounter case. option. The Army court has egregiously concluded that “the evidence recorded could not establish a prima facie case against any of the accused.”

The finding flies in the face of the CBI investigation, but that was only to be expected. The last hope the families of the dead had that justice might be done, lies buried.

It was only in December 2013 that the Army was patting itself on the back for ordering the court martial of three officers involved in the Machchil fake encounter case, citing that as evidence of its willingness to improve its human rights record. But the Pathribal case, through all its legal twists and turns, ending in the exoneration of the accused officers, sends exactly the opposite message. It is a textbook illustration of why the AFSPA is flawed, and strengthens the case to do away with the provision that requires “previous sanction” from the Central government for prosecution, if not to repeal the law itself. The Army’s whitewash job can only increase resentment against the military in Kashmir, and feed into the sense of alienation. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who understands this well, has rightly said Pathribal “can’t be closed or wished away”. The leader of the National

1 Febuary 2014 Conference, already criticised as a Congress “stooge”, will have to face the political backlash from the exoneration. If the Centre is serious about winning hearts and minds in Kashmir, it should step in to undo the damage, and find a legal way to reopen the case and pave the way for a civilian trial.

ARMY SAYS NO PRIMA FACIE CASE AGAINST ACCUSED PATHRIBAL ‘FAKE ENCOUNTER’ CASE CLOSES

In 2012, the Army had decided to try its five personnel accused of staging the fake encounter following the Supreme Court judgment which called on the Army to make a choice between a trial for the accused in a civilian court or a court martial The Army has decided to close the thirteen year old infamous Pathribal fake encounter case in which five innocent persons were allegedly killed by the Army and passed off as the terrorists responsible for the massacre of 36 Sikhs at Chittisinghpora. “The evidence recorded could not establish a prime-facie case against any of the accused persons,” an Army spokesman said. “It was clearly established that it was a joint operation by the Police and the Army, based on specific intelligence. The case has since been closed by the Army authorities” The CBI, which investigated the case, has already concluded that the encounter was fake and the persons killed were innocent civilians. The investigating agency has identified and charged five senior army officials, including a brigadier, for abduction, murder, criminal conspiracy and the destruction of evidence in the fake encounter case. The accused are Brigadier Ajay Saxena, Lt Col Brajendra Pratap Singh, Major Sourabh Sharma, Major Amit Saxena and Subedar Idrees Khan. The Army’s decision is being seen as brazen denial of justice by the people in Valley. Reacting to the decision, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter: “A matter as serious as #Pathribal can’t be closed or wished away like this more so with the findings of the CBI so self evident.” He also wrote that his government will examine options to pursue the case. “Extremely disappointed with the decision of the army reg#Pathribal. Will ask the Law Dept & Advocate General to examine options”. Similarly, the opposition People’s Democratic Party has rejected the Army’s decision to close the case and termed it as a miscarriage of justice. The party’s patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said the decision is a huge setback to the efforts at reconciliation and trust building in the state. “Pathribal could have been a test case for our institutions to rise above other considerations

and uphold the supreme principles of justice to open a new chapter of reconciliation in the state,” Mufti said. “But the opportunity has clearly been wasted”. In 2012, the Army had decided to try its five personnel accused of staging the fake encounter following the Supreme Court verdict which called on the Army to make a choice between a trial for the accused in a civilian court or a court martial. The Army’s decision to go for court martial had been cautiously welcomed by the human rights groups in the state, besides raising hope among people that the justice in the case will finally be delivered. Pathribal, which has become one of the primary cases of the human rights abuse in the state, was a part of the three successive and related massacres between 20 March 2000 to 3 April 2000 in which 49 innocent people were killed. On March 20, unidentified gunmen – itself now shrouded in controversy – killed 36 Sikhs at Chittisinghpora followed by the Pathribal fake encounter on March 25, 2000 and the killing of nine civilians who were part of the protest against this encounter at Brackpora South Kashmir on 3 April.

NEARLY 14 YEARS AFTER THE PATHRIBHAL FAKE ENCOUNTER THAT ROCKED JAMMU AND KASHMIR “SERIOUS” MATTER CAN’T BE CLOSED OR WISHED AWAY LIKE THIS. In a major decision, Army on Thursday 23 Jan. 2014 closed the Pathribal fake encounter case saying that the evidence recorded could not establish prime facie charges against any of the accused persons. “The evidence recorded could not establish a prime facie case against any of the accused persons,” a defence spokesman said in Jammu, adding that, however, it was “clearly established that it (the Pathribal encounter) was a joint operation by police and the Army based on specific intelligence”.

“The case has been closed by Army authorities and intimation given to the Court of the judicial magistrate in Srinagar,” the spokesman said. CBI had in 2006 indicted five Army personnel for staging the fake encounter while giving a clean chit to state police. After it was handed over the case in January, 2003, CBI alleged that officials and jawans of the Seven Rashtriya Rifles – Brig Ajay Saxena, Lt Col Brahendra Pratap Singh, Maj Saurabh Sharma, Maj Amit Saxena and Subedar Idrees Khan – had staged a fake encounter and killed five innocent civilians whom they said were terrorists involved in an attack on Sikhs at Chittisinghpora in south Kashmir. Five people were killed on March 26, 2000, at Pathribal in South Kashmir. Army had claimed that those killed were mercenaries who were responsible for gunning down 35 members of the Sikh community in an attack on March 21 while the then US President Bill Clinton was on a visit to India. Consequent to the CBI probe and an order from Supreme Court in March, 2012, Army had taken over the case from the Court of the Srinagar chief judicial magistrate, the spokesman said. “Over 50 witnesses were examined, including a large number of civilian witnesses and state government and police officials,” he added. The 18-page CBI charge sheet stated that following the gunning down of the Sikh community members, the Army unit based in the area was under “tremendous psychological pressure” to show results. In the past, 123 Army personnel have been found guilty in 59 cases of human rights violations in J&K, the spokesman added.

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OMAR DISAPPOINTED Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah expressed his extreme disappointment over Army’s decision to close the Pathribhal fake encounter case and said the state law authorities will be asked to examine options to address this “serious” matter can’t be closed or wished away like this, more so with the findings of the CBI so self evident,” he tweeted. Nearly 14 years after the Pathribhal fake encounter that rocked Jammu and Kashmir, Army has closed the case saying the evidence recorded could not establish prime facie charges against any of the five accused persons.

COMMENTS OF FOLLOWERS ON PATHRIBAL FAKE ENCOUNTER CASE.

Maroof Mir (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) Another example why India could not own Kashmiri despite ruling for over half a century… “Killers of innocent civilians killed in the fake Pathribal encounter let free by the Army” Even if you rule for another 100 years you will only occupy Kashmir… You are totally insensitive to the collective consciencse of Kashmiri people and you keep on satisfying the collective conceinse of all others as you did in the case of Shaheed Afzal Guru hanging! INDIAN MEDIA, INDIAN JUDICIARY, INDIAN ARMY ALL BECOMES BLIND WHEN IT COMES TO KASHMIR! -----------------Romesh Sharma (Germany) 117 Followers Happen to read many a times “Fake Encounter “here and many other places in the country, very disappointed.

Guts (Delhi) replies to Romesh Sharma 36 Followers Technically, encounter isn’t even a correct word for killing someone as it means to come across someone. It’s an example of euphemism in India. Many terms are wrongly used here.

But suspected encounter won’t be right as well. What’s there to suspect in encounter? It has happened already beyond a shred of doubt. It should be suspected fake encounter, as the suspicion here is about whether it’s fake or not, the encounter itself isn’t under suspicion.

Kapil B (Delhi) 101 Followers Humble Request: Watch “Insha Allah” Kashmir before commenting on You Tube….You will see the real situation in which fellow Kashmiris are living!!!

Krish S (Mumbai) 46 Followers Kashmir is paradise, Feel sorry (Heaven) for those innocent who died Anupam Kaler (Jaipur) 17 Followers Hope like Pathribal fake encounter will not repeat again in Kashmir very disappointed over army’s decision.

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Awaiting Justice: Fatima Begum, mother of Muhammad Yusuf Malik who was killed along with four others in Pathribal encounter.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah led the chorus rising from the entire political spectrum, from the mainstream to the separatists, complaining of a denial of justice.

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“PEOPLE OF KASHMIR EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED WITH THE DECISION OF THE ARMY” The involvement of military personnel in the Pathribal fake encounter has taken everyone by surprise and this shocking news has expectedly and very rightly been received with widespread anger and outrage. Pathribal means a lot to the people of Kashmir as it is a case in which there is conclusive proof that innocents were killed and then passed off as ‘terrorists’ and thus, the demand for justice is legitimate.

Yet, with the CBI giving a ‘clean chit’ to the J&K Police and implicating the army and the army in turn finding ‘no prima-facie case’ against those indicted by the CBI, it appears (like in the Jessica Lal case), that ‘no one killed five innocent men in Pathribal’!

The army authorities may claim that there is no evidence against its personnel indicted by the CBI for having been involved in the fake encounter but still, it has a lot to answer for. Firstly, can it deny that army men were involved in the ‘encounter’ in which the five innocent civilians were killed? Secondly, can it deny the fact that the army unit

1 Febuary 2014 which carried out this operation did Infact lodge a FIR after the ‘encounter’ was over with the Police claiming that weapons were recovered from the site of the incident? Thirdly, can the army deny that it had claimed that those killed were ‘foreign mercenaries’? Lastly, can the army tell us why did it not contest the CBI indictment of army personnel in court if it felt that the CBI was prejudiced and had falsely implicated them?

Though exonerated by the CBI, the Police on its part too has a lot to answer for. Despite claiming to have an extensive intelligence network, how could the Police be fooled by the army into reinforcing its false claim that those killed in the Pathribal ‘encounter’ were ‘foreign mercenaries’? Why did the Police not expose the dubious role played by the army in this entire episode even after it became amply evident that the victims were innocent people and not militants? When the exhumation of the dead bodies and collection of DNA samples were being done under Police supervision, how did switching of DNA samples occur? In 2003, when Farooq Khan, a Police officer was found guilty of fudging DNA samples of the victims by In a scathing attack the Justice GN Kuchay on the army, Christine Commission, why was he Mehta, Researcher for merely suspended and no Amnesty International efforts made to ascertain under whose orders or India has stated that, directions had this been “Given the (CBI) evidence done? Knowing fully, well against these soldiers, that those who switched the army’s decision to the DNA samples were conduct a new probe into either the real culprits, or their accomplices, why has the case is baffling… but the Police failed to identiit isn’t surprising that the fy them and bring the perarmy, after deciding to petuators of this heinous investigate its own alleged crime to book?

While the CBI deserves abuses, has given itself a credit for having atleast clean chit.” reached to some conclusion, why has it given a ‘clean chit’ to the J&K Police? The Police, by its admission has accepted that though not involved, its personnel were present at the site of the alleged ‘encounter’. Then, how is it possible that the Police men at the site could have been so naïve that they were unable to discern whether the army men were actually engaged in an encounter, or were merely ‘staging’ one? When it failed to expose the false claim of the army regarding the so called ‘encounter’ even after facts of the case became public knowledge, then how can the Police be given a ‘clean chit’ and not treated as an abettor in the crime? How has the CBI given a ‘clean chit’ to the Police when one of its officers was indicted by a Judicial Commission for his involvement in the deliberate attempt made to derail the investigations by switching DNA samples?

There is something rotten in the entire episode, something much more than what meets the eye - five innocents have been murdered and no one knows who killed them! While the widespread anger amongst one and all is understandable, the need of the hour is to control our emotions and proceed ahead rationally. This is no doubt

In a file photograph, protesters clashing with paramilitary forces against fake encounter in Pathribal. a very difficult proposition, as I myself cannot but feel outraged, but then we must ensure that the truth is not silenced in the cacophony of emotional outbursts. We need to follow-up this case and pursue it till the killers of the innocent The army may have Pathribal victims are brought ‘closed’ the case and to book. The army may have ‘closed’ the case and the Pothe Police may have lice may have been given a been given a ‘clean ‘clean chit’ by the CBI, but as chit’ by the CBI, but this case remains unresolved, as this case remains it is now for our legal fraterniunresolved, it is now for ty to ensure that it is pursued diligently until justice is done our legal fraternity to and the guilty punished. ensure that it is pursued Though I have only an averdiligently until justice age knowledge of law and the is done and the guilty legal process, yet relying on punished. my logic and common sense,

I feel that the CBI, which has investigated this case and indicted the military personnel, will certainly challenge the army’s verdict of having found no prima- facie case against them. And even if it does not do so, with two contradictory versions regarding the involvement of

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army personnel in the Pathribal fake encounter emerging, the judiciary would have to intervene by asking both the parties to clarify the basis on which one has indicted the army men, while the other has found no prima- facie case against them and then after deliberating on the same, decide the case on merit.

In a scathing attack on the army, Christine Mehta, Researcher for Amnesty International India has stated that, “Given the (CBI) evidence against these soldiers, the army’s decision to conduct a new probe into the case is baffling… but it isn’t surprising that the army, after deciding to investigate its own alleged abuses, has given itself a clean chit.” This observation of hers, echoes the inner feelings of the people of Kashmir and thus, it is now for the army to come up with a convincing explanation for having arrived at the decision to close the case against its personnel, both to assuage the anger of the people of Kashmir as well as convince the Amnesty International and the world community regarding the manner it has proceeded in this case and how it has come to the conclusion that its personnel are ‘not guilty’. Unless it does so, Pathribal will remain the proverbial albatross around the army’s neck!

Roshan Jan, widow of Juma Khan, displays pictures of her husband (left) who was killed in the Pathribal-encounter and her son (right) who was killed during a protest against the encounter

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THE HOLY QUR'AN AND MODERN SCIENCE “THE ONLY WAY TO AVOID SUCH ERRORS IS TO POSSESS A SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND AND TO STUDY THE QUR'ANIC TEXT IN THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE”.

INTRODUCTION OF AUTHOR

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DR. MAURICE BUCAILLE IS AN EMINENT FRENCH SURGEON, SCIENTIST, SCHOLAR AND AUTHOR OF "THE BIBLE, THE QUR'AN AND SCIENCE" WHICH CONTAINS THE RESULT OF HIS RESEARCH INTO THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN REVELATION AND THE QUR'AN. IT IS A UNIQUE CONTRIBUTION IN THE FIELD OF RELIGION AND SCIENCE. Being an outstanding Scientist, he was selected to treat the mummy of Merneptah “Pharaoh” (Firon) which he did. During his visit to Saudi Arabia he was shown the verses of the Holy Qur'an in which Allah says that the dead body of the “Pharaoh” (Firon) will be preserved as a "Sign" for posterity. An impartial scientist like Dr. Bucaille, who (being also a Christian) was conversant with the Biblical version of Pharaoh's story as being drowned in pursuit of Prophet Moses. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that unknown to the world till only of late, the Holy Qur'an made definite prediction about the preservation of the body of that same Pharaoh (Firon) of Moses' time. This led Dr. Bucaille to study the Holy Qur'an thoroughly after learning the Arabic language. The final conclusion of his comparative study of Qur'an and the Bible is that the statements about scientific phenomena in the Holy Qur'an are perfectly in conformity with the modern sciences whereas the Biblical narrations on the same subjects are scientifically entirely unacceptable.

FROM THE ORIGIN OF MAN As most people in the West have been brought up on misconceptions concerning Islam and the Qur'an; for a large part of my life, I myself was one such person. Let me cite one or two specific examples to indicate the kind of inaccurate ideas generally current.

MISCONCEPTIONS As I grew up, I was always taught that ' Prophet Muhammad

(SAW)' was the author of the Holy Qur'an; I remember seeing French translations bearing this information. I was invariably told that the 'author' of the Qur'an simply compiled, in a slightly different form, stories of sacred history taken from the Bible; the 'author' was said to have added or removed certain passages, while setting forth the principles and rules of the religion he himself had founded. There are moreover Islamic scholars today in France whose duties include teaching and who express exactly these views, although perhaps in a more subtle form. This description of the origins of the Qur'anic text, which is so out of touch with reality, might lead one immediately to assume that if there are scientific errors in the Bible, there must also be errors of this kind in the Holy Qur'an! This is the natural conclusion to be drawn in such circumstances, but it is based on a misconception. We are well aware that at the time of Prophet Muhammad (SAW)- the Qur'anic Revelation took place between 610 and 632 A.D - scientific obscurantism prevailed, both in the Orient as well as in the West.

In France, for example, this period corresponded roughly to the reign of King Dagobert, the last of the Mrovingians. This approach to what was supposedly the Qur'anic text may on first sight seem logical, but when one examines the text with an informed and impartial eye, it becomes clear that this approach is not at all in keeping with reality. We shall see in a moment the truth of this statement, which is obvious from the texts.

Whenever there is textual proof of the existence in the Holy Qur'an of statements that are in agreement with modern knowledge, but which in the Bible are related in a manner that is scientifically unacceptable, the stock response is that, during the period separating the two Scriptures, Arab scientists made discoveries in various disciplines which enabled them to arrive at these supposed adaptations. This approach takes no account whatsoever of the history of the sciences. The latter indicates that the great period of Islamic civilizations, during which, as we know, science made considerable progress, came several centuries after the communication of the Holy Qur'an to the communication of the Holy Qur'an to man.

Furthermore, scientific history informs us that, as far as the subjects dealt with in this present book are concerned; no discoveries were made during, the period separating the Bible from the Holy Qur'an.When this aspect of the Holy Qur'an is mentioned in the West, however, we are likely to hear it said that while this may indeed be so, nowhere is this fact referred to in the translations of the Holy Qur'an which we possess today, or in the prefaces and commentaries that accompany them. This is a very judicious remark. Muslim-and indeed non-Muslim-

Translators who have produced a French version of the Holy Qur'an are basically men of letters. More often than not, they mistranslate a passage because they do not possess the scientific knowledge required to understand its true meaning. The fact is, however, that in order to translate correctly, one must first understand what one is reading. A further point is that translators - especially those mentioned above - may have been influenced by notes provided by ancient commentators often came to be regarded as highly authoritative, even though they had no scientific knowledge - nor indeed had anybody else at that time. They were incapable of imagining that the texts might contain allusions to secular knowledge, and thus they could not devote attention to a specific passage by comparing it to other verses in the Holy Qur'an dealing with the same subject - a process that often provides the key to the meaning of a word or expression.

From these results the fact that any passage in the Holy Qur'an that gives rise to a comparison with modern secular knowledge is likely to be unreliably translated. Very often, the translations are peppered with inaccurate - if not totally nonsensical - statements.

The only way to avoid such errors is to possess a scientific background and to study the Qur'anic text in the original language.

SCIENTIFIC ERRORS On the subject of man, as well as the other topics mentioned earlier, it is not possible to find any corresponding data in the Bible. Furthermore the scientific errors contained in the Bible - such as those describing man's first appearance on earth, which, as we have seen, may be deduced from the Genealogies that figure in Genesis are not to be found in the Holy Qur'an. It is crucial to understand that such errors could not have been 'edited out' of the Holy Qur'an since the time they first became apparent: well over a thousand years have elapsed since the most ancient manuscripts and today's texts of the Holy Qur'an, but these texts are still absolutely identical. Thus, if Prophet Muhammad (saw) were the author of the Holy Qur'an (a theory upheld by some people), it is difficult to see how he could have spotted the scientific errors in the Bible dealing with such a wide variety of subjects and have proceeded to eliminate every single one of them when he came to compose his own text on the same themes. Let us state once again, that no new scientific facts had been discovered since the time the Bible was written that might have helped eliminate such errors.

In view of the above, it is imperative to know the history of the texts, just as it is essential to our understanding of certain aspects of the Bible for us to be aware, of the conditions in which it was written.As we have noted earlier, experts in Biblical exegesis consider the books of Old and New Testaments to be divinely inspired works. Let us now examine, however, the teachings of Muslim exegetes, who present the Holy Qur'an in quite a different fashion.

When Prophet Muhammad (saw) was roughly forty years old, it was his custom to retire to a retreat just outside Mecca in order to meditate. It was here that he received a first message from “ALLHA” via the Angel Gabriel,at a date that corresponds to 610 A.D. After a long period of silence, this first message was followed by successive revelations spread over some twenty years. During the Prophet's lifetime, they were both written down and recited by heart among his first followers. Similarly, the revelations were

1 Febuary 2014 divided into “Suras” (chapters) and collected together after the Prophet Muhammad (saw) death (in 632 A.D.) in a book: the Holy Qur'an. The Holy Qur’an contains the Word of “ALLAH”, to the exclusion of any human additions. Manuscripts dating from the first century of Islam authenticate today's text, the other form of authentication being the recitation by heart of the Qur'an, a practice that has continued unbroken from the time of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) down to the present day.

UNCORRUPTED NATURE OF THE HOLY QUR'AN In contrast to the Bible, therefore, we are presented with a text that is none other than the transcript of the Revelation itself; the only way it can be received and interpreted is literally. The purity of the revealed text has been greatly emphasized, and the uncorrupted nature of the Qur'an stems from the following factors: First, as stated above, fragments of the text were written down during the Prophet's lifetime; inscribed on tablets, parchments and other materials current at the time. The Holy Qur'an itself refers to the fact that the text was set down in writing. We find this in several suras dating from before and after the Hejira (Prophet Muhammad's departure from Mecca to Medina in 622 A.D.) In addition to the transcription of the text, however, there was also the fact that it was learned by heart. The text of the Qur'an is much shorter than the Old Testament and slightly longer than the New Testament. Since it took twenty years for the Qur'an to be revealed, however, it was easy for the Prophet's followers to recite it by heart, “Sura by Sura”(chapter by chapter). This process of recitation afforded a considerable advantage as far as an uncorrupted text was concerned, for it provided a system of double-checking at the time the definitive text was written down.

This took place several years after the Prophet Muhammad's (saw) death; first under the caliphate of Hazrat Abu Bakr, his first successor, and later under the caliphate of Hazrat Omar and in particular that of Othman (644 to 655 A.D.) The latter ordered an extremely strict recession of the text, which involved checking it against the recited versions.

TEXT OF QUR'AN UNCORRUPTED After Prophet Muhammad's (saw) death, Islam rapidly expanded far beyond the limits of the area in which it was born.

Soon, it included many people’s whose native language was not Arabic. Very strict steps were taken to ensure that the text of the Holy Qur'an did not suffer from this expansion of Islam: Othman sent copies of his entire recession to the principal centers of the vast Islamic empire. Some copies still exist today, in more or less complete form, in such places as Tashkent (U.S.S.R) and Istanbul. Copies have also been discovered that date from the very first centuries after the “Hejira”; they are all identical, and all of them correspond to the earliest manuscripts.

Today's editions of the Holy Qur'an are all faithful reproductions of the original copies. In the case of the Holy Qur'an, there are no instances of rewriting or corruption of the text over the course of time. If the origin of the Holy Qur'an had been similar to those of the Bible, it would not be unreasonable to suppose that the subjects it raised would be presented in the light of the ideas influenced by certain opinions of the time, often derived from myth and superstition. If this were the case, one might argue that there were untold opportunities for inaccurate assertions, based

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Focus On Globe on such sources, to find their way into the many and varied subjects briefly summarized above. In actual fact, however, we find nothing of the kind in the Holy Qur'an.

But having said this, we should note that the Holy Qur'an is a religious book par excellence. We should not use statements that

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The Holy Qur’an contains the Word of “ALLAH”, to the exclusion of any human additions. Manuscripts dating from the first century of Islam authenticate today’s text, the other form of authentication being the recitation by heart of the Qur’an, a practice that has continued unbroken from the time of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) down to the present day. have a bearing on secular knowledge as a pretext to go hunting after any expression of scientific laws. As stated earlier, all we should seek are reflections on natural phenomena, phrases occasioned by references to divine omnipotence and designed to emphasize that omnipotence in the eyes of mankind throughout the ages. The presence of such reflections in the Holy Qur'an has become particularly significant in modern times, for their meaning is clearly explained by the data of contemporary knowledge. This characteristic is specific to the Holy Qur'an.

UNEXPECTED DISCOVERIES It was not until I had learnt Arabic and read the Holy Qur'an in the original that I realized the precise meaning of certain verses.

Only then did I make certain discoveries that were astounding.

With my basic ideas on the Holy Qur'an - which to begin with were inaccurate, just as those of most people in the West - I certainly did not expect to find in the text the statements that I in fact uncovered. With each new discovery, I was beset with doubt lest I might be mistaken in my translation or perhaps have provided an interpretation rather than a true rendering of the Arabic text.

Only after consultations with several specialists in linguistics and exegesis, both Muslim and non-Muslim, was I convinced that a new concept might be formed from such a study: the compatibility between the statements in the Holy Qur'an and firmly established data of modern science with regard to subjects on which nobody at the time of Prophet Muhammad (saw)- not even the

1 Febuary 2014 Prophet himself - could have had access to the knowledge we possess today. Since then, I have not found in the Holy Qur'an any support given to the myths or superstitions present at the time the text was communicated to man. This is not the case for the Bible, whose authors expressed themselves in the language of their period.

In 'La Bible le Coran et la Science' (The Bible, the Qur'an and Science), which first appeared in the original French in 1976 and which subsequently appeared in English in 1978, I set forth the main points of these findings. On November 9, 1976, I gave a lecture to the “Academia de Medecine” (French academy of Medicine) in which I explored the statements of the origins of man contained in the Holy Qur'an; the title of the lecture was “Donnees physiologiques et embryologiques de Coran”(Physiological and Embryological Data in the Holy Qur'an). I emphasized the fact that these data - which I shall summarize below - formed part of a much wider study. The following are some of the points which arise from a reading of the Holy Qur'an:

* A concept of the creation of the world which, while different from the ideas contained in the Bible, is fully in keeping with today's general theories on the formations of the universe; * Statements that are in perfect agreement with today's ideas concerning the movements and evolution of the heavenly bodies; * A prediction of the conquest of space; * Notions concerning the water cycle in nature and the earth's relief, which were not proven correct until many centuries later.

All of these data are bound to amaze anyone who approaches them in an objective spirit.

They add a much wider dimension to the problem studied in the present work. The basic point remains the same, however: we must surely be in the presence of facts which place a heavy strain on our natural propensity for explaining everything in materialistic terms, for the existence in the Holy Qur'an of these scientific statements appears as a challenge to human explanations.

That does not mean to say, however, that the statements in the Holy Qur'an - especially those concerning man - may all of them be examined in the light of the findings of modern science.

The creation of man as described in both the Holy Bible and the Holy Qur’an totally eludes scientific investigation of the event per se.

Similarly, when the New Testament or the Holy Qur'an informs us that Jesus was not born of a father, in the biological sense of the term, we cannot counter this Scriptural statement by saying that there is no example in the human species of an individual having been formed without receiving the paternal chromosomes that make up one half of its genetic inheritance. Science does not explain miracles, for by definition miracles are inexplicable, thus, when we read in both the Holy Qur'an and the Holy Bible that man was moulded from the ground, we are in fact learning a fundamental religious principle: Man returns from where he came, for from the place he is buried, he will rise again on the judgment.

Side by side with the main religious aspect of such reflections on man, we find in the Qur'an statements on man that refer to strictly material facts. They are quite amazing when one approaches them for the first time. For example, the Holy Qur'an describes the origins of life in general and devotes a great deal of space to the morphological transformation undergone by man, repeatedly emphasizing the fact that “ALLAH” fashioned him as He willed. We likewise discover statements on human reproduction that are expressed in precise terms that lend themselves to comparison with the secular knowledge we today possess on the subject.

INTEREST TO MEN OF SCIENCE The many statements in the Holy Qur'an that may thus be compared with modern knowledge are by no means easy to find.

In preparing the study published in 1976, I was unable to draw on any previous works known in the West, for there were none. All I could refer to were a few works in Arabic dealing with themes treated in the Holy Qur'an that were of interest to men of science - there was, however, no overall study. Over and above this, research of this kind requires scientific knowledge covering many different disciplines. It is not easy, however, for Islamologists to acquire such knowledge, for they possess a mainly literary background. Indeed, such questions hardly seem to occupy a place in their field of classic Islamology, at least as far as the West is concerned. Only a scientist, thoroughly acquainted with Arabic literature, can draw comparisons between the Holy Qur'anic text - for which he must be able to read Arabic - and the data supplied by modern knowledge.

There is another reason why such statements are not immediately apparent: Verses bearing on a single theme are scattered throughout the Holy Qur'an. The book is indeed a juxtaposition

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of reflections on a wide variety of subjects referred to one after the other and taken up again later on, often several times over.

The data on a precise theme must therefore be collected from all over the Book and brought together under a single heading. This requires many hours' work tracking down verses, in spite of the existence of thematic indexes provided by various translators, for such lists may perhaps be incomplete and indeed, in many cases, they often are.

In ‘La Bible le Coran et la Science’ (The Bible, the Qur’an and Science), which first appeared in the original French in 1976 and which subsequently appeared in English in 1978, I set forth the main points of these findings.

On November 9, 1976, I gave a lecture to the “Academia de Medecine” (French academy of Medicine) in which I explored the statements of the origins of man contained in the Holy Qur’an; the title of the lecture was “Donnees physiologiques et embryologiques de Coran”(Physiological and Embryological Data in the Holy Qur’an).

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WORLD @ GLANCE

ISRAELI DEFENCE MINISTER MOSHE YAALON APOLOGISES TO KERRY OVER DIATRIBE

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srael's Minister of Defence Moshe Yaalon apologised to US Secretary of State John Kerry after he accused the American of having an "obsession" with Middle East peace, sparking a furious diplomatic row between the two allies.

The White House had described Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon's initial comments as "offensive," in a mark of the degree of outrage in Washington at the latest public spat between the two countries, which follows a major row over Iran policy.

However, in a statement, a contrite Yaalon said: "Israel and the United States share a common goal to advance the peace talks be-

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tween Israel and the Palestinians led by Secretary Kerry.

"We appreciate Secretary Kerry's many efforts towards that's end.

"The defence minister had no intention to cause any offence to the secretary, and he apologises if the secretary was offended by words attributed to the minister."

In private conversations with Israeli and American officials, revealed by the top-selling Israeli newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, Yaalon was quoted as expressing the hope that Kerry, who has made 10 trips to Israel since March, would end his peace push and focus his energies elsewhere.

"The American plan for security arrangements that was shown to us isn't worth the paper it was written on," Yaalon was quoted as saying, accusing Kerry of being naive.

"Secretary of State John Kerry -who arrived here determined, and who operates from an incomprehensible obsession and a sense of messianism -- can't teach me anything about the conflict with the Palestinians," Yaalon reportedly said.

"The only thing that might save us is if John Kerry wins the Nobel Prize and leaves us be."

His comments provoked fury in Washington causing fresh tension between the governments of President Barack Obama and of Netanyahu.

US President Barack Obama's spokesman Jay Carney said Yaalon's remarks "if accurate, are offensive and inappropriate, especially in the light of everything Secretary Kerry is doing to support Israel's security needs".

"Secretary Kerry and his team have been working nonstop in their efforts to promote a secure peace for Israel because of the deep concern the United States has and the deep commitment the United States has for and to Israel's future and the Israeli people," Carney said.

"To question Secretary Kerry's motives and distort his proposals is not something we would expect from the defence minister of a close ally."

'Put this right'

A State Department official called on Netanyahu to publicly disavow his minister's comments.

"We expect the prime minister to put this right by expressing publicly his disagreement with the statements against Secretary Kerry," the official told AFP. Speaking earlier in the Israeli parliament, Netanyahu had chided Yaalon for the personal nature of his criticism of Kerry, although he did not take issue with his comments about US policy.

"Even when we have disagreements with the United States, it is about the matter at hand and not about the person," Netanyahu said.

Kerry coaxed Israelis and Palestinians back into direct negotiations last summer and has since shuttled tirelessly between the two leaderships in a bid to keep the talks alive.

His proposals include a security plan for the border between a future Palestinian state and neighbouring Jordan, involving high-tech equipment to enable Israel to reduce or end its troop presence on the ground, Israeli media say.

Yaalon's remarks came on the back of a US-Israeli spat over a landmark deal Washington and other world powers reached with Iran in November on its controversial nuclear programme.

Israel publicly opposed the plan, which will see limited relief for Tehran from Western sanctions in exchange for rolling back parts of its civil nuclear programme, describing it as a "disaster" and a "gift" to its biggest foe.

Israel has also been at loggerheads with its US ally over its drive to expand its settlements in the occupied West Bank, including annexed Arab east Jerusalem, even while the peace talks with the Palestinians that Kerry helped relaunch are under way.

Just last week, Israel unveiled plans to build another 1,800 new settler homes, hot on the heels of Kerry's latest visit.

A senior US official on Tuesday reiterated Washington's opposition to settlement building, which it has called "illegitimate."

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“Cap ta

gon p THE D ills” R U SYRIA G BEHIND N BLO T H E O D The S S H y E rian war D ci is

Th hun ere are and cdreds of mreports t them onsump illions o he dru have endure tion by S f dollars gi generat exper not been long ba yrian fighn revenu es e ts told inde ttles. t pe Th ers helps, S R seizutate med euters it ndently v ese claim fightere of “C ia oftenis highly erified, y s le milita rs bases aptagon documlikely. et e , s Fromhot at thebegged period oafter an u S yria's nt group are raide pills” whents the f f sad's or de the A prisin here m. d , o r m f e g dabb Assad reg Hezbolla and theen rebel ocrac rab S twee gime, the c by l i p h, w n gov desc ount i Islam f n m y u r g , the in nd e, i ry en er T Syria g. offici ing", accon the drug"has a lohich backic dead wo yearsnment a ded into, under P n a rd l, trade ng his s to A Matth ing a sand , four m later, nd anti a natio reside t Hom drug co ew Levittformer Uo help witry ruin s have illion armore tha-governmnwide wnt Ass S n . t T t r o reasu h drug old R army with sobeen im e displa n 120,0 ent gro ar bery euterl officer o n 0 c m p " u b e W 0 r i s p fi d l n e am, 1 ocka e wou ghter of th citize isoned and t people s. the c d s e f 2 l e e . d e i el he ty eff n a the w ,000 a s. In o ns for The b co s of th re re ce n whilethe pain. eat them,ld for quects of thof in M On Ater of 20 expectede town, Md to sta untry is oue a w s n a e t d n i h e said were d y of t they oning:e used 13. ugu to di uada rve du in . wo ealing hem w e fro miya e It dr to slaust 21, 20 Th t them ould uldn't m sta t al- o e dru t r i S h g b callinew wor ghter c 13, the n rvati h eavy laugh u on b blows war, tor to this now se chem g it theldwide itizens erve ag y a e e ," slowe s all oth functio n as a m Huss ical we "most condem - includ ent Sari d n e a r i j n ein u apon signi natio ing c n wa i o e o n g r co con f in of th s s n fi se h S contr frastructue countromic acti the Syrianan figo with and them"a. gainst cci ant con, with thildren. v y o . r i l t e fi e i v , wea The by a es ha n warilian rmed UN for hters, expen s sin ital”. torn counrmed forckened bodestructiove ce Sa use of utersfunding ait is claimsive war n try in r e ddam n o e r to thes has turders and Altho Syriaeported. d relief frd they han the han n u s “ e i Capta d the gh tp om t pro v is he hoe turnedds of Syri gon c Turkeoint for dSyria has markducer ofnow the apr t o r y r l o u o d a e r n g wealt s of w rugs nd Le s g Drug ted u the st numb c b o e m e h b n a y e i n a n r i non Gulf , Rea tra itsel g fro ove exper der t mulan r one accorf the majstates, theand destinm Europnas Lertaken prts say thehe bran t drug exporte o d e c Crim ing to t r produ ountry d for the, drop banon oductio Middled name Fenethyr and he U e. cer o e now in pr - who n fro l E l “ i N Offi fi f Not o m re astern c Captag ne, oduc The h a ce on “Ceptagonds s p n ills to once stimu tion f encou giona ountr on”. ly are Drug n”, also t stay aw Syrian ture used t lant d rom 20 ntered l players y has s and urned ake, o fight a 90 s e u r and and haso treat Arug, crea 11. c y e h d t r r p o d s a e y i t u a n r t cent the c nti-gov alleged DHD, ed in t "Th horro he drug toary citizesing the ivil w ernm ly be is ch he 19 incre e use ors. endu ns hav ar. ent f en us eap to 60s a re the e civiliaased after f Captag orces ed b n m d eva to fu y gove nufacnomi ns becau the revo on and nd w rnm o c s l u t e h t p o i e Geor eapo ent ge ressure f psych on eve r pills ns fo r With told Reuts," a psy ological an among chiatr nd ec ers. effec euph o ist n petiteoria, incrts of Capt amedit is e , and the eased en agon ran popu asy to se drug sel ergy and ging fro m lar in li e la despewhy the ng for $5 ck of aprate a drug h and $2 nd de 0 a adly Ss become, The face of despair in Syria. Source: AFP A wounded Syrian woman walks with her children yria. following air strikes on a rebel area of the war-torn A rebel fighter prepares to throw a fire ball on a front northern city of Aleppo.

line of Syria’s north-eastern city of Deir Ezzor

WORLD @ GLANCE

is de hardcor vil sper e. It a te an It's b d e d e e adly. n on pro As tthesters dugoing sin army e peop ring th ce 2011

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1 Febuary 2014

FOLLOW THE LEADER

Birds fly in 'V' formation to save energy

SCIENCE & NATURE

By.Florian Muijres and Michael Dickinson of the University of Washington The next time you see birds flying in a "V'' formation, consider this: A new study says they choreograph the flapping of their wings with exquisite precision to help them on their way.

That's what scientists concluded after tracking a group of large black birds, each equipped with a tiny GPS device to record its position and every wing flap. One expert in animal flight said just gathering that data was a remarkable accomplishment.

Scientists have long theorised that many birds adopt a "V'' formation for aerodynamic reasons. When a bird flies, it leaves a wake. The idea is that another bird can get a boost from an updraft of air

in that wake by flying behind the first bird and off to the side. When a group of birds use this trick, they form a "V.'' It's been difficult to study this in the wild. Researchers from the University of London's Royal Veterinary College and elsewhere studied 14 ibises as they migrated between Austria and Italy. The birds had been taught to follow an ultralight aircraft as part of a conservation program.

An analysis of a seven-minute period showed that when the ibises flew in a "V,'' they positioned themselves in just the right places to exploit the updraft in another bird's wake, which lets them conserve their energy.

They also appeared to time the flapping of their wings to take full advantage of that updraft, by making a wingtip follow the same undulating path through the air

as the wingtip of the bird up ahead.

And when one bird flew directly behind another instead, it appeared to adjust its flapping to reduce the effects of the wake's downdraft. So birds can either sense or predict the wake left by their flock mates and adjust their flapping accordingly, a remarkable ability, the researchers said.

The scientists reported their results online on Wednesday 15th January 2014 in the journal Nature. It's the first experimental evidence that birds can adjust their flapping to take advantage of the wake, Florian Muijres and Michael Dickinson of the University of Washington wrote in an accompanying commentary.

Kenny Breuer of Brown University, who did not participate in the work, said collecting the study data from the free-flying birds was "quite an astonishing feat.''

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Japanese soldier who refused to surrender after World War Two ended and spent 29 years in the jungle has died aged 91 in Tokyo.

Hiroo Onoda remained in the jungle on Lubang Island near Luzon, in the Philippines, until 1974 because he did not believe that the war had ended.

He was finally persuaded to emerge after his ageing former commanding officer was flown in to see him.

Correspondents say he was greeted as a hero on his return to Japan.

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1 Febuary 2014

As WW2 neared its end, Mr Onoda, then a lieutenant, became cut off on Lubang as US troops came north.

The young soldier had orders not to surrender - a command he obeyed for nearly three decades.

"Every Japanese soldier was prepared for death, but as an intelligence officer I was ordered to conduct guerrilla warfare and not to die," he told ABC in an interview in 2010.

"I became an officer and I received an order. If I could not carry it out, I would feel shame. I am very competitive," he added.

While on Lubang Island, Mr Onoda surveyed military facilities and engaged in sporadic clashes with local residents.

Three other soldiers were with him at the end of the war. One emerged from the jungle in 1950 and the other two died, one in a 1972 clash with local troops.

Mr Onoda ignored several attempts to get him to surrender.

He later said that he dismissed search parties sent to him, and leaflets dropped by Japan, as ploys.

"The leaflets they dropped were filled with mistakes so I judged it was

JAPAN WW2 SOLDIER WHO REFUSED TO SURRENDER HIROO ONODA DIES

HISTORY

Archive footage showed Hiroo Onoda returning from the jungle in 1974

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1 Febuary 2014

Mr. Onoda refused to surrender until his former commanding officer rescinded his orders

HISTORY

a plot by the Americans," he told ABC. Survival training Finally in March 1974 his former commanding officer travelled to the Philippines to rescind his original orders in person.

Mr Onoda saluted the Japanese flag and handed over his Samurai sword while still wearing a tattered army uniform.

The Philippine government granted him a pardon, although many in Lubang never forgave him for the 30 people he killed during his campaign on the island, the BBC's Rupert

Wingfield-Hayes reports from Tokyo.

Following his surrender, Mr Onoda ran a ranch in Brazil, and opened a series of survival training schools in Japan.

Mr Onoda was one of the last Japanese soldiers to surrender at the end of World War II. Private Teruo Nakamura, a soldier from Taiwan who served in the Japanese army, was found growing crops alone on the Indonesian island of Morotai in December 1974.

Mr.Nakamura was repatriated to Taiwan where he died in 1979.

Mr. Onoda surrendered to the Philippine president in March 1974

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M

any of President Barack Obama's closest advisers have embraced a controversial assessment of one of the National Security Agency's major data collection programs - the belief that the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks could have been prevented had government then possessed the sort of vast trove of Americans' telephone records it holds now.

Critics of the NSA program, and some scholars of America's deadliest terrorist attack, strenuously dispute the view that the collection of phone data would necessarily have made a difference or that the possibility justifies the program now. The presidential task force that reviewed surveillance operations concluded

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1 Febuary 2014 1 Febuary 2014

He believes the main problem with the program is one of perception: Many Americans don't trust the NSA, one of the most secretive of spy agencies, to respect civil liberties.

In 10th .Jan. Friday's speech 2014, the president is expected to propose steps that he hopes will make Americans more comfortable with the program, but not greatly reduce its scope as a counterterrorism tool. One such change would be to shift the assembling and archiving of telephone "meta-

for a good reason,'' said a senior administration official who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive deliberations.

"The question we have to examine is whether the perception of privacy intrusion outweighs the operational value. It's possible we could get that same information ... in other ways, but it's slower.''

Shifting the NSA archive to private control would b e

data'' from NSA servers in Fort Meade, Maryland., back to the telephone companies, or to a private third party. But aides say he is unlikely to end the program altogether.

Under the current program, the government collects and stores metadata - numbers dialled and call times - involving virtually all telephone calls in or through the United States. The program does not collect the contents of conversations.

"This capability was put in place after 9/11

"tricky'' said Democrat Senator Richard J. Durbin, a member of the Judiciary Committee.

If the NSA can access the data too easily, Durbin said, "there's an assumption that it's partly created or controlled by government, and that doesn't change people's scepticism.''

Privacy and civil liberties activists say the government has overstated the utility of amassing billions of phone call logs. They argue that it is too far-reaching and too intrusive, and that other effective counterterrorism tools exist.

The "big question ... (is) whether our government is going to spy on Americans,'' said Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

last month that the program "was not essential'' to preventing terrorist attacks.

But as the president finalises plans for a speech on Friday 17th of Jan. announcing his proposals to change intelligence operations and oversight, the widespread agreement at the most senior levels of the White House about the program's value appears to be driving policy.

As a result, the administration seems likely to modify, but not stop, the gathering of billions of phone call logs.

In recent White House meetings, Obama has accepted the "9/11'' justification, aides say, expressing the belief that domestic phone records might have helped authorities identify some of the skyjackers who later crashed passenger jets in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people.

The World Trade Centre in New York collapses following attacks by terrorists who flew two airliners into the towers.

Over the last half-year, government officials have had to abandon several of their claims about the effectiveness of the metadata collection program. When former NSA contractor Edward J. Snowden began disclosing classified documents to the news media,

BETWEEN THE LINES

A T A D S E ’ V A A S H N E M H A T R R E D G L B O COU TION PR SEPTEM C ?

E E S H L K T L C A CO ENTED T T A R V PRE 1 TERRO 1

BETWEEN THE LINES

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1 Febuary Febuary 2014 2014

intelligence officials initially said the ability ment to revoke the visas, didn't ask immi- puter. And FBI managers ignored a warning to secretly trace a suspect's network of calling gration authorities to bar Khalid Mihdhar or by a field agent in Phoenix that Osama bin partners had helped prevent scores of terror- Nawaf Hazmi at the border and didn't inform Laden might be sending pilots to train at US the FBI that suspected terrorists were in Cal- flight schools. ist attacks.

Today, as part of the initiatives implePressed for details by members of Conmented since 2001, federal watch lists bar susgress and others, officials steadily backed Whether US authorities pected terrorists from boarding US-bound away from those assertions. would have used similar aircraft or entering the country, and US law In the end, they cited only one US case in data to identify any of the enforcement and intelligence agencies share which they still say the NSA archive played a crucial role: A San Diego cab driver and 19 hijackers before Sep- more information and work far more closely three others were convicted in November of tember 11, and whether in counterterrorism cases. sending about $8,500 to AL-SHABAB, the that would have stopped James R. Thompson, a former governor extremist group in Somalia that has launched others in the plot, is im- of Illinois who served on the September 11 murderous attacks across East Africa, thanks possible to know. The Commission, said the value of the bulk data in part to clues collected from the phone logs.

Whether US authorities would have used presidential commission collection was "a given'' for counterterrorism similar data to identify any of the 19 hijackers that investigated the 2001 efforts even if it might not have prevented the 2001 attacks. He also said the concerns about before September 11, and whether that would attack blamed more fun- abuse were overblown. have stopped others in the plot, is impossible damental problems, in"We don't have any examples of how the to know. The presidential commission that cluding the CIA's failure to average American citizen's privacy is being investigated the 2001 attack blamed more fundamental problems, including the CIA's inform the FBI that several harmed by the collection of this data,'' he failure to inform the FBI that several suspectsuspected al-Qaeda mem- said.

NSA officials say they authorise analysts ed al-Qaeda members had entered the Unitbers had entered the Unit- to access the database only a few hundred ed States and were living in San Diego. ed States and were living times a year, and only to determine if susThe strongest argument for how the proin San Diego. pected terrorists or spies overseas are in congram might have helped, one cited in White tact with people in the United States.

House discussions, involves Khalid In 2012, NSA analysts looked into Mihdhar, a Saudi who helped fly an calls involving 288 telephone numAmerican Airlines jet into the Penbers, John Inglis, the NSA's top civiltagon. ian official, said in a recent interview After arriving in San Diego in with NPR. Examining the numbers January 2000, Khalid Mihdhar made that were in contact with those initial several phone calls to an al-Qaeda 288 as well as those in contact with safe house in Yemen. US intelligence that second tier meant the agency was monitoring calls made to the safe looked at about 6,000 phone numbers house, then-FBI Director Robert S. in total that year, he said.

Mueller III told Congress last sumTo date, Snowden's disclosures mer, but didn't realise the caller was US President Barack Obama has reportedly accepted the ‘9/11’ have produced no evidence to suggest in America. justification for the NSA data collection programs. Picture the NSA or other agencies have sought If the telephone archive had existed at the time, Mueller said, the NSA could ifornia.

If the FBI had been warned, have linked the numbers in Yemen and San Diego, identified Khalid Mihdhar and "de- agents already had ample legal aurailed'' the plot. General Keith Alexander, the thority to review Khalid Mihdhar's telephone records or get a warrant head of the NSA, made a similar argument.

According to the September 11 Commis- to tap his phones, read his emails sion, however, the NSA already had learned and track his movements.

The FBI missed other opportuKhalid Mihdhar's name in 1999 in a call that linked him to al-Qaeda, but did not pass his nities to thwart the 2001 plot that name or that of his friend Nawaf Hazmi, an- it likely would pursue today.

Al-Shabab fighters march with their weapons during military exercises on In summer 2001, agents had the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia other future hijacker, to the FBI. In December that year, the CIA broke into arrested Zacarias Moussaoui, anKhalid Mihdhar's hotel room in Dubai and other al-Qaeda member, who aroused suspi- to search details about the personal lives or photographed his passport, which had a US cion at a flight school in Minnesota. But they activities of Americans other than terrorism visa. The CIA didn't warn the State Depart- failed to obtain a search warrant for his com- suspects.

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1 Febuary 2014

35

There is much being spoken about Salman Khan and his latest film Jai Ho. Some say that thefilm is a typical potboiler, some say it has nothing new to offer, some are of the view that the film will not be able to set records and some feel that Jai Ho may not turn out to be a milestone as expected.

From the past three days, January 24, 2014 to January 26, 2014, there has been a lot of debate about the monies that Jai Ho has raked in during the first three days, or if Jai Ho will enter the 200 crore club.

What we are going to tell you is something that no one has even bothered to pay heed to and have even conveniently ignored.

The reason why Jai Ho has been a slow starter and could not roar at the Box Office is the fact that with Jai Ho, Salman Khan has tried to actually change his game.

With Dabangg‘s release on September 10, 2010, Inspector Chulbul Pandey gave birth to a brand called Salman Khan.

What fallowed were films like Ready, Bodyguard, Dabangg 2 in which Brand Salman Khan was very similar to Inspector Chulbul Pandey. He was fun, he was riotous, he was cute, he was lovable and he could laugh at himself.

Salman even carried forward this image in Bigg Boss, (the reality show that he anchors), at all the awards functions and public appearances that he made. This demeanor became his second nature and everyone fell in love with it.

With Jai Ho, Salman has tried to be serious, very brooding and no-nonsense kind of person – something that the audience is talking time to digest. Salman fans have not been disappointed with his film, but simply talking time to adjust to this new Salman.

All said and done, it’s a given that the film shall enter the 100 crore club in the first week. With films like Abhay Deol‘s One By Two that releases on January 31, 2014, Parineeti Chopra andSidharth Malhotra’s Hasee Toh Phasee on Feburaty 07, 2104 and Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh starrer Gunday on February 14, 2014, Jai Ho will enjoy a good run at the Box Office.

ENTERTAINMENT

SALMAN KHAN: THE REAL GAME CHANGER

SPORTS

36

CBI DIRECTOR RANJIT SINHA

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1 Febuary 2014

CBI SET UP A SPECIALISED UNIT TO PROBE SPORTS FRAUD

oothry sm untry. e v e e co n perat rks o iently in thread eve f o w t e e i c n p fi h s f C e s d n BI ly an y of i ntacle he C ositorlated to Their te towns," t p e r oms t in c fasmall act a d data re n l l o e i t w m s ce ogy i unit nce an orts. other said. dvan l ng owing, tellige tion in sp nate with ies of He said an techno h of betti r g i t p e c s o t i d u h n w r t r t r gro cor age spo coo of nica t nodnote rruption ininha on "It shallforcement ct as a with muitating the emen g n i l . i o a nforc istake S k n s e c c e t e o e t f d i r t Ta a j o n p a n n i a m be law ce law rd dic Ra ry menaDirector 5 Janua Bureau the worldy to coo s. It shall co- synom the it will be auption in c e r 1 r , l r d c n I ke F r a o n e " d r B v y c i C to cric woul Cent lice fo liase a ons esda that al ag spect Wednd that the n (CBI) cialised states' poavour to s federati kle per conclude a is limited d betting pose vestigatio new spe s` relat- our ende with sport es to tacrac- to rts in Indi organise nge their spo ne. The just cha e entire t p ate biliti of In set up a ate sport ordin ild capa nd corrup th to g n ii t alo t o s o a u s it eacket has otball and ve a form ", inve stig r to b fixing a n e o u v t n t e i i a h o r h t f h i t e h d . un ime. c l d u d t w o l i i t w n a u w fr sa no al ma ho us ed cr ew sports be set uph of the tices," he estioned n there is ing foc tball worldsary to de n b u e r d o c l o q h e e o r n u f v w e Th e bra ffifor p When work le ad nit wo ounc rtion upecial crim the annpol na- plans to mework rts, CBI ocor- dabsaid. tly ang n e a r s o r c e g f e e p t r e e l h i n r t s i k th bet Mak ns irecto legal IFA-In nal n in o tac persogapore onrigin and CBI. at the F p, CBI D lack of corruptio d a law t s in the fiorts e m i o o t So d in Sin Indian men l worksh ighlighted e main cials sai n sports by the Sp these ste s are of g for ations e n r o l tiona it Sinha h ork as th related ruption i f drafting e oper o the o t tak harge Ranj al framewng cases osal t etting c would noshift their tagesry. p s o i r g b p e t t l o s i i on, t r a o n a is t on ccasi Minis aid. ups t . e in p ew u send hurdl orts fraud of this n ake of "We will overnmen ugh there on gro ndia, he s n the oior Vice to sp setting upificant in wxing in central g Even thostill carry 002 in I eaking o tta, Sen Football The mes sign match fi y crick- this unit. we can did in 2 law Sp brata Du ll India d that in beco ations of especiall a spe- no law, like we fixing till stry Su sident, Aannounce commitalleg us sports on set-up ses re- enquiries t match orts Mini ose Pre eration, executive propose vario BI will so handle caing and in cricke by Sp The purp is Fed coming he would orruption law sed the eeting, n anti-c use to ng. et. C ed unit to fraud, fix propo s into bei red when aid. of a ll ho tee m pol e e u s a cialis to sports n d f com be prep r official g and setting uphe footba ith Inter e . k d g a e t t n w o t i la fixin is to ace senio are l bett have dem t in illega in CBI, ing men gener- there," a aid matchrts frauds eld uni rk in tan wo "We, e of growsports in football Sinha s s of spo d in the fi BI. and C notic ption in nges in rticular. other formncentrate n e o the ng corru d challe rts in pa t up a so far c t. o all ti al another spo shall seon unit of cricke known t s that bet and soon wenvestigati l crime "It is now t agencie Very s fraud i er specia in his forcemen sport CBI undnha said aid this in the hes," Si ss. He s brancote addre keyn

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1 Febuary 2014

China`s Li Na stormed to her second Grand Slam title on Saturday January 25, 2014, battling past brave underdog Dominika Cibulkova 7-6 (7/3) 6-0 to become the oldest woman ever to win the Australian Open.

T

he 31-year-old fourth seed was crowned the Melbourne Park champion on her third attempt after losing in the 2011 and 2013 finals, adding to the French Open title she won three years ago.

In doing so, she became the oldest winner of the women`s title, surpassing Margaret Court who was 30 when she became champion in 1973.

The Chinese star also joins an exclusive list of just seven other players to win a Grand Slam at 30-plus, with her name now in the history books alongside greats such as Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert and Serena Williams.

The win pushes her one place higher in the world rankings to three, just 11 points adrift of Victoria Azarenka in second behind Serena Williams.

It was a gutsy effort by the Chinese star, who overcame the pressure of having lost twice before while bearing the weight of expectation from her homeland of 1.3 billion people.

While the diminutive Cibulkova, nicknamed the "pocket rocket" has been in the best form of her life, Li was the favourite and used her experience to take out the Slovak after a tight first set lasting 70 minutes.

Li got off to the best possi-

ble start, going 1-0 up on the Cibulkova serve when the Slovak gifted her, the game with a double-fault on a second break point.

The Chinese star comfortably, with the 24-year-old Slovak struggling to produce any decisive returns as her shots repeatedly failed to find their mark.

But she crucially came through the third game, fighting off two break points, one with a lovely passing shot, to stay in touch at 1-2.

Li held in the next as she dictated the rallies, but her first serve was becoming a serious problem.

After three service games she had only got 13 percent of first serves in and was seen looking at her husband Jiang Shan in the crowd while pointing to her racquet.

This opened door for Cibulkova, with two Li double-faults allowing her to break back for 3-3.

A decisive service game then put the Slovak in front for the first time as the momentum began swinging in her favour.

But Li soon ironed out her issues and it went with serve till 5-5 when she pounced, stroking a sumptuous cross-court backhand for break point. A Cibulkova backhand into the net put Li 6-5 up and serving for the set.

But Li was unable to ram home the advantage with the Slovak breaking back to force a tiebreak, in which Li finally prevailed after producing some scintillating winners.

She kept up the pressure, holding serve in the second set then breaking Cibulkova, who pushed a forehand wide, to take a firm grip on the final.

Li raced to a 3-0 lead then broke again as Cibulkova ran out of steam as the pressure got too much.

Li won on the Cibulkova serve when the Slovak sent a forehand long, raising her arms in celebration before climbing into the stands to greet her husband, Jiang Shan, and her coach Carlos Rodriguez.

The victory helps Li, the poster girl for a huge push by women`s tennis into Asia, make up for the misery of losing the final twice before.

She was a set up before falling to Kim Clijsters three years ago, and in 2013 was also ahead against Victoria Azarenka but rolled her ankle twice, banging her head hard on the court the second time.

Despite her defeat, Cibulkova, who has impressed at Melbourne with her relentless energy and eye-catching shots, will move up to 13 when the new world rankings are released on Monday 27 January this month.

SPORTS

CHINA'S LI STORMS TO WIN AUSTRALIAN OPEN TITLE

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A controversial study has found that a pregnant woman’s lifestyle could influence their child’s IQ or sexuality.

Dr Dick Swaab – professor of neurobiology at Amsterdam University – claims that drinking, taking drugs or living in a area with high pollution levels have an impact on the development of foetuses and could affect children later in life.

Taking synthetic hormones and smoking while pregnant can increase the chances of girls becoming lesbian or bisexual, while drinking and drug-taking could lower a child’s IQ, Dr Swaab suggests.

And the more older brothers a boy has, the more it is thought to increase his chance of being gay, it is reported. The study claims this could be because the mother’s immune system develops stronger responses to male hormones with each son that is born.

Dr Swaab also believes living in an area of high pollution is linked with an increased risk of autism.

He told the Sunday Times: ‘Pre-birth exposure to both nicotine and amphetamines increases the chance of lesbian daughters.

‘Pregnant women suffering from stress are also more likely to have homosexual children of both genders because their raised level of the stress hormone cortisol affects the production of foetal sex hormones.’

He added: ‘In women who drink a lot, cells that were meant to migrate across the foetal brain can end up leaving the brain altogether.’

However, Dr Swaab recognised lifestyle factors were a small influence and added that genetics play the most important role in child development.

Focus On Globe

1 Febuary 2014

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