Hindustan Times: July 2009

Organic does not mean healthier

Organic food is no healthier and provides no significant nutritional benefit compared with conventionally produced food, according to a new, independent study funded by the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA).

But its conclusions have been called into question by experts and organic food campaigners. The findings contradict previous work that found organically grown food to be nutritionally superior. Dr Alan Dangour, who led the review by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "Most studies were based on the hypothesis that eating organic food is beneficial. Looking at studies published in the last 50 years, we have concluded there's no good evidence that organic food is beneficial to health based on nutrient content."

Organic food campaigners criticised the study for failing to consider fertiliser and pesticide residues in food.

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Labels: food, food campaigners, healthier, nutrient content, nutritional benefit, organic food

United States defence pact won't compromise India: Prime Minister

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday cleared the air on a controversial defence pact with the US that empowers Washington to inspect sensitive Indian military installations where US-sold equipments are deployed.

He said there was no provision in the end-use monitoring agreement (EUMA) for on-site inspections or granting of teh US access to any military site or sensitive areas.

The PM told Lok Sabha there was no provision in the EUMA for any unilateral action by the US.

Singh said, "India has the sovereign right to jointly decide the verification procedure.

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Labels: defence pact, indian military installations, Lok Sabha, Prime Minister, united states access, us defence pact, verification procedure., Washington, wnd use monitoring agreement

The last of Mumbai's truly romantic figures

Leela Naidu incarnated an ideal of luminous beauty and flawless elegance that was almost too perfect to bear, perhaps most of all for herself. The truth of this poetic speculation can only be borne out by her future biographers, but for many of Mumbai's citizens, Naidu's death on Tuesday closes yet another chapter in the city's history as a cosmopolitan hub. Her claim to the public sphere was not based on her career as an occasional, though memorable, actor. She was, quite simply, a legend, the symbol of a Zeitgeist.

Although she had, for over a decade, withdrawn into a private world peopled mainly by memories, Naidu never lost her hold over the city's imagination. To those who cherish Mumbai as it was before the decades of ethnic tension and road rage, Naidu embodied the grace of a city that allowed actors, poets, journalists, scientists, painters and filmmakers to come together and produce a vibrant culture of conversation and collaboration.

This writer vividly recalls Naidu's home in Colaba, south Mumbai, from the late 1980s. She and the celebrated poet and memoirist Dom Moraes, to whom she was then married, had crafted around themselves an environment replete with carefully chosen books, paintings, textiles and ritual objects.

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Labels: actor leela naidu, actress leela naidu dead, beauty queen leela naidu dead, hindi actor, journalists, leela naidu passed away, Mumbai, painters, poet, poetic speculation, scientists

Sania tosses aside Coin

Competing in only her second Challenger event, Sania Mirza clinched the $50,000 ITF title in Lexington, USA after an upset win over top seed Julie Coin.

The Indian, who was seeded second in the event, defeated France's Coin 7-6 (5) 6-4 on Sunday.

The last time Sania competed in a Challenger event was way back in 2003.

There was more good news for Sania, who recently got engaged. The 22-year-old rose three places to 80th in this week's WTA singles rankings.

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Labels: challenger event, itf title, julie coin, lexington, lexington challenger title, Sania Mirza, sania wins challenger title in usa, second challenger event, usa, wta singles ranking

Youngest Indian golfer to win on Asian tour

wo years ago, in his first season as a professional golfer, Gaganjeet Bhullar came tantalizingly close to winning the $400,000 (Rs 1.92 crore) Indonesia President Invitational Cup. But a stunning shot by rival Juvic Pagunsan put paid to his hopes.

On Sunday, Bhullar, 21, came good in the same tournament, becoming the youngest Indian player ever to do so. Jeev Milkha Singh and Shiv Kapur had won the title when they were 23.

It was also Bhullar’s maiden Asian Tour title. He now has three titles in the current season of the professional golf tour of India and is second on its order of merit.

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Labels: asian tour title, indian golfer, indonesia, merit, professional golf tour of india, professional golfer gananjeet bhullar, win, win asian tour, youngest indian golfer

10 years later: The war that India forgot

It used to be an eerie landmark; the tree I saw everyday in the summer of 1999, blackened and ripped by incessant bombing at the old brigade headquarters, is green again.

But much else has withered. The legacy of the Kargil war, one of the toughest wars of modern military history — far tougher than Iraq and Afghanistan — has been shortchanged by India’s politics.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government has mostly looked away since 2004 when it came to observing the anniversary of the BJP government-era war. President Pratibha Patil was requested to come to Drass, but declined, army sources said.

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Labels: brigade headquarters, drass, india and pakistan war, india forgot, indian army, indian soldiers, Kargil, Kargil war, military history, Pakistan, singhs government

4 minutes of gawk and yawn

Clouds proved a dampener for the millions who gathered at planetariums, rooftops, parks and riverbanks across north India to watch this century’s longest total solar eclipse. Sun-struck

The eclipse mesmerised millions and disappointed many more who got up at the crack of dawn to watch the eclipse, which was first seen at 5.28 am in Surat, Gujarat, and last at 7.40 am in Dibrugarh in Assam.For Varasnasi’s teenaged daily wager Raj Kumar the sun was a sickle that turned into a round platter (gole tashtari), for Delhi’s Mayank Dube, a diamond in the sky — but the sentiment was the same: of awe.

The eclipse mesmerised millions and disappointed many more who got up at the crack of dawn to watch the eclipse, which was first seen at 5.28 am in Surat, Gujarat, and last at 7.40 am in Dibrugarh in Assam.

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Labels: Assam, effects of solar eclipse, longest total solar eclipse, next solar eclipse, planetariums, solar eclipse, solar eclipse 2009, solar eclipses 21st century, sunlight, surat

Clinton urges India to be a global power

Hillary Clinton ensured there was a lot of Barack and a bit of Bill in her five-day state visit to India.

The US secretary of state laid out an agenda of global problems for New Delhi and Washington to explore. That was President Barack Obama’s priority. But she also met a wide swathe of Indian civil society, from the captains of industry to women activists, in an echo of her husband’s historic visit.

New Delhi gave a guarded welcome to working with Washington, with Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna saying the two countries were “partners” prepared to work on “global issues together.”

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Labels: barack, clinton urges, five day india visit, global problems, group of eight, hitech military equipment, India, indo united states relations, nuclear technologies, obama priority, women activists

Judge forgives 33 cheating students

A metropolitan magistrate acquitted 33 young people, including five girls, who were caught cheating in an examination, saying he did not want to ruin their future.

The young people were accused of receiving answers on their mobile phones, while taking an exam at the Delhi Engineering College in 2005.

The CBI had been called in by the college authorities after all the 33 candidates submitted identical papers and scored the same marks. The CBI alleged they had paid for the answers, which they received on their cellphones.

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Labels: 33 students cheating, cheating, cheating in examinations, college authorities, delhi engineering college, forgives, identical answers, judges, mobile phones, receiving answers, students

India, Pakistan move forward, step back in 2 hours

ours after he and his Pakistani counterpart issued a joint statement that said “action on terrorism should not be linked to the composite dialogue”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh insisted there was no change in India’s position that “any meaningful dialogue cannot begin without addressing our main concern — terrorism.”

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, at his post-summit press conference, said he had told Singh terrorism and the Mumbai attack should not be bracketed with dialogue and that “Singh had agreed.”

But Singh said he did not agree with Gilani’s interpretation. While India believed talks were the only way to improve relations with Pakistan, “the starting point of any dialogue will be the issue of terrorism.”

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Labels: action against terrorism, agreed, dialogue, gilanis interpretation, indo pak, issue of terrorism, share real time information on terrorism, sign statement

168 killed in Iran plane crash

A Tupolev aircraft crashed in Iran on Wednesday on its way to Armenia killing all 168 people on board and one senior Iranian official said the plane had caught fire in the air after suffering technical problems.

In the worst crash in Iran for six years, the Russian-built Caspian Airlines plane ploughed into farmland with 153 passengers and 15 crew on board, gouging a deep smoking crater in the ground.

The aircraft, travelling to Armenia’s capital Yerevan from Tehran, crashed near the northwestern city of Qazvin shortly before noon (0730 GMT) after about 16 minutes in the air.

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Labels: 16 minutes, 168 people killed, air, armenia, caspian airlines plane, iran plane crash, plane caught fire, russian built caspian airlines plane, technical problems, yerevan airport

Hillary to stay at Taj

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will kickstart her much anticipated visit to India from Mumbai. Clinton, the highest-ranking American official to visit the country since Barack Obama took charge, will be in India on July 17 for a five-day visit.

In what could be a reaffirmation of the United State’s support to India in its fight against terrorism, Clinton will stay at the Taj Mahal Hotel, one of the places targeted by terrorists during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Clinton will fly into Mumbai in a special military aircraft. According to the final itinerary — subject to last-minute changes — prepared by US officials in consultation with their Indian counterparts, Clinton and her delegation of top US officials will land in Mumbai at around 9 p.m.

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Labels: five day india visit, highest ranking american official, Hillary Clinton, hillary clinton stay at taj, special military aircraft, taj mahal hotel, top united states officialls

In 8 years, a Maruti 800’s price spent on drinking water

Had the Bishts settled down in Central Delhi or even Mayur Vihar, they would have had a spare car in the garage by now. But their decision to make Dwarka their home eight years ago has cost them roughly Rs 2 lakh towards packaged drinking water.

“We buy our drinking water, which is very costly. DDA had promised us four hours of water supply a day, but we don’t get even an hour’s supply regularly,” said Virender Singh Bisht, resident of DDA flats in Sector 14.

At Rs 70 for 20 litres, packaged water works out as expensive as the monthly electricity bill — Rs 1500-2000 — for a typical family of four adults. However, in Dwarka, unless a housing society has its own reverse osmosis (RO) filtration plant, residents are constrained to buy potable water at steep rates.

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Labels: dda flats, drinking water, housing society, maruti 800, maruti 800 price, maruti car, monthly electricity bill, packaged drinking water, reverse osmosis filtration plant, water supply

Metro Man quits after 6 die, told to stay

Six persons died Sunday morning when a portion of the elevated Metro rail under construction near Lady Shri Ram College in South Delhi collapsed, bringing down a huge mass of steel and concrete.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation chief E Sreedharan put in his papers, shortly after taking moral responsibility for the accident. But Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit asked him to continue, saying, earlier, Metro ought to be careful.

The accident took place on the 20-km Central SecretariatBadarpur line, which runs mostly overground, through crowded residential and commercial areas like Lajpat Nagar, Kailash Colony and Nehru Place.

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Labels: commercial areas, crowded residential, delhi, delhi bridge, mass of steel, Metro rail, under construction

You’ve always been my hero

Like my first meeting with Sunil Gavaskar.

I was a ball boy at the Wankhede during the 1987 World Cup. My interest in cricket really took root after we won the 1983 World Cup, and for an aspiring youngster, to be at the ground during the next edition of the Cup and watch his heroes from close quarters was an unforgettable experience.

What made it even more special was when he called me to the Indian dressing room and introduced me to the team’s superstars. I had just entered my teens and couldn’t believe my eyes. These were the men I adored, and here I was, shaking hands with them.

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Labels: 1983 World Cup, birthday wishes, former indian cricket player, gavaskar birthday, ranji trophy debut, sachin tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, sunil gavaskar turns 60

South Korea hit by cyber attack

South Korea has been hit by a suspected cyber attack similar to one that knocked out US government websites earlier this week, officials in Seoul said on Wednesday.

The suspected attack took out some of South Korea’s most important websites, including those of the presidential Blue House, the defence ministry, the national assembly, Shinhan bank, Korea Exchange bank and the top Internet portal Naver.

Ahn Jeong-eun, a spokes- woman for Korea Information Security Agency,said the websites of 11 organisations had either gone down or had access problems since last night.

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Labels: access problems, cyber attack, cyber crime, north korean hackers, south korea, south korea hit by cyber attack, top internet portal, top internet portal naver, us government websites

After 57 years, return of the Cheetah

The world's fastest land animal, the cheetah, extinct in India since 1952, may soon return. The government intends to bring in some from foreign lands.

“The cheetah is the only animal to have been declared extinct in India in the last 1000 years,” Jairam Ramesh, union minister for environment and forests, told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.“We have to get them from abroad to repopulate the species here.”

Indiscriminate hunting led to the cheetah’s disappearance. Although no census was conducted then, accounts by wildlife enthusiasts claim there were several thousand cheetahs in India in the early 20th century.

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Labels: cheetah, cheetahs in india, emperor akbar, environment and forests, foreign lands, return of the cheetah, worlds fastest land animal

Ethnic riots in west China, 140 dead

A prolonged clash on Sunday evening between hundreds of civilians brandishing bricks, rocks and knives against armed police in China’s remote northwest region of Xinjiang, left 140 dead and over 800 injured.

This was the worst ethnic riot in China since Tibetan protests against Chinese rule spread on the streets of Lhasa last March. The official death toll of 140 also makes it the deadliest demonstration to have erupted anywhere in China since years.

Hundreds were arrested after the bloodbath on the streets of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, where rioters also torched 261 vehicles and ransacked property.

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Labels: 140 dead, bloodbath, china, chinese rule, clash, deadliest demonstration, ethnic riot, rioters, Tibetan protests, urumqi, west china, worst ethnic riot in china

5 killed, 40 hurt in in Madhya Pradesh factory blasts

Massive explosions in two chemical factories at the Baidhan industrial estate in Singrauli district, 780 km northeast of Bhopal, on Sunday evening left at least five people dead and 40 injured.

“Rescue operations are on,” said A. K. Shrivastava, Inspector General of Police, Rewa range, confirming the figures.

The blasts occurred at around 7.30 pm at two private factories, Indian Detonators Ltd and Rajasthan Chemical Explosives Ltd, both of which manufacture detonators used in mining, and other explosives. There are a number of coal mines in the region.

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Labels: bhopal, explosives, factories, factory blast, industrial estate, manufacture, rajasthan chemical explosives ltd, Rescue operations

Lalu, Mamata in head-on collision at Budget station

Mamata Banerjee on Friday cast doubts over claims relating to profits and performance of the Indian Railways during the tenure of her predecessor Lalu Prasad and promised to reassess the numbers.

“Railways will come out with a white paper indicating its present organisation, operation and financial status based on its performance in the last five years,” she said in her budget speech.

The record profit posted by the railways during Prasad’s tenure — Rs 90,000 crore during 2004-09 — was one of the most publicised success stories of the last United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and was even taken up as a case study by some of the world top business schools. But Banerjee hinted that her predecessor could have juggled the finances.

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Labels: budget speech, claims, izzat for poor, lalu and mamata, Lalu Prasad Yadav, mamata banerjee, mamatas budget, railway budget 2009, railway budget highlights, top business schools

Survey seeks policy shift, taxes slashed

The government’s pre-budget economic survey has recommended radical policy changes including foreign investment in multi-brand retail, increasing work hours for factory workers and allowing overseas institutions in higher education.

The survey, which predicted the economy to grow 7 per cent this fiscal year, also pushed for abolishing fringe benefit tax (FBT), surcharges and cesses. It also set a Rs 25,000 crore annual revenue target by divesting government equity in public sector undertakings.

But question marks hang over how many of these recommendations could fructify as a persisting global economic crisis, political compulsions and a shaky monsoon at home loom in the backdrop.

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Labels: backdrop, compulsions, crisis, economy, factory workers, fiscal year, fringe benefit tax, Monsoon, multi brand retail, pre budget, predicted, radical policy, revenue target, surcharges, survey, tax

Cart-puller’s daughter is the new Chak De girl

Rani’s father is a cart-puller. Her brothers make a living as carpenters. Making ends meet is a struggle for the family.

It is from abject poverty that Rani, 15, has risen to emerge as the deadliest striker in the national women’s team. She was adjudged Young Player of the Tournament at the recently concluded Champions Challenge-II in Kazan, Russia, which India won.

Now Rani wants to follow the footsteps of Indian captain Surinder Kaur, chosen Player of the Tournament in Kazan. She wants to change the fortunes of her family like Kaur did some years ago.

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Labels: carpenters, cart puller, chak de girl, champions challenge, hockey player, kazan, poverty, rani shahbad, Russia, women hockey international, women hockey team

Jet with 153 crashes off Comoros, boy survives

An Airbus A310-300 from Yemen with 153 people on board crashed into the sea off the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros on Tuesday, but a child was pulled from the sea alive.

A Yemeni aviation official said a young boy, who was plucked alive from the Indian Ocean after the passenger jet crashed, was brought ashore.

Mohammed Abdul Qader, the Yemeni civil aviation deputy chief, said the boy is five years old and has been hospitalised in the Comoros.

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Labels: airbus, boy survives, comoros, hospitalised, indian ocean, island nation, jet crash, paris airport, passengers, plane crash, sea alive, sea off, strong winds, yemen

Hindustan Times

Friday, July 31, 2009

Organic does not mean healthier

Thursday, July 30, 2009

United States defence pact won't compromise India: Prime Minister

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The last of Mumbai's truly romantic figures

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Sania tosses aside Coin

Monday, July 27, 2009

Youngest Indian golfer to win on Asian tour

Friday, July 24, 2009

10 years later: The war that India forgot

Thursday, July 23, 2009

4 minutes of gawk and yawn

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Clinton urges India to be a global power

Monday, July 20, 2009

Judge forgives 33 cheating students

Friday, July 17, 2009

India, Pakistan move forward, step back in 2 hours

Thursday, July 16, 2009

168 killed in Iran plane crash

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Hillary to stay at Taj

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

In 8 years, a Maruti 800’s price spent on drinking water

Monday, July 13, 2009

Metro Man quits after 6 die, told to stay

Friday, July 10, 2009

You’ve always been my hero

Thursday, July 9, 2009

South Korea hit by cyber attack

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

After 57 years, return of the Cheetah

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Ethnic riots in west China, 140 dead

Monday, July 6, 2009

5 killed, 40 hurt in in Madhya Pradesh factory blasts

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Lalu, Mamata in head-on collision at Budget station

Friday, July 3, 2009

Survey seeks policy shift, taxes slashed

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Cart-puller’s daughter is the new Chak De girl

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Jet with 153 crashes off Comoros, boy survives

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