Thursday 29 March 2012

DC has a few stars, but no chargers

                                                                       
HYDERABAD: With England’s flamboyant batsman Kevin Pietersen opting for the Delhi Daredevils, pace bowler Ishant Sharma ruled out because of ankle injury and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha moving over to the Mumbai Indians, the first big show of the Deccan Chargers for the IPL-5 was off colour.

With other top players like skipper Kumar Sangakkara, who was busy in the home Test series against England, Dale Steyn and JP Duminy, both of South Africa, yet to return from the New Zealand series, the Deccan Chargers could only bring players like Parthiv Patel, former Australian T20 captain Cameron White and leg spinner Amit Mishra for their press conference here on Wednesday, ahead of their first match against the Mumbai Indians in Visakhapatnam on April 7.


Coach Darren Lehmann put up a brave face and said they had a young team this season.

“We have a younger side than in the past.

So we have to give opportunity to some younger guys which is good.

They will get the opportunities,’’ he said.

He was happy with local talent like DB Ravi Teja, Akshath Reddy and Ashish Reddy.

E Venkat Reddy, COO, took pains to dismiss rumours that the franchise was up for sale and that they were also looking for a partner.

“Deccan Chargers never put up such a thing..it was totally a unit of Deccan Chronicle Holdings and will be with the Deccan Chronicle only,” he clarified.

The Chargers also signed international airline Emirates as team sponsors for the next three IPL seasons.

starting with the soon-to-start fifth edition.

“We are proud to have a leading global brand like Emirates as our Team Sponsor for the next three seasons of the IPL,” Gayatri Reddy, co-owner of the Deccan Chargers, said.

Deccan Chargers will be playing their first four matches outside Hyderabad, two in Visakhapatnam and two in Cuttack before playing the next four in the city.

The team had their first serious net session at the Gymkhana grounds in the afternoon

Congress to take on Jagan loyalists on development plank in AP

                                                                 
Hyderabad, Mar 29  The ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh would fight the ensuing bypolls to 17 Assembly constituencies, which were represented by loyalists to Kadapa MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, on the plank of development and welfare schemes launched by the state government. "Development and welfare will be our plank. We are confident of winning over people's confidence," state unit Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana told reporters here today. The bypolls for 16 out of the 17 seats are necessitated as the sitting Congress MLAs were disqualified by the Assembly Speaker for switching their allegiance to Jagan by violating the party whip, while the sitting member of another segment quit in support of the Kadapa MP which caused the byelection. The legislators were disqualified on March 2 and the bypolls are supposed to be held in six months. Though the schedule for the byelections is not yet announced, Congress, Telugu Desam and other major parties have begun their preparations in the right earnest. Both TDP and Congress have informally finalised candidates for some of the constituencies, while the YSR Congress of Jagan is expected to field those who were disqualified. Asked whether the allegations of corruption against Jagan would be an issue in the elections, the PCC president said the Congress would definitely inform people about it. He said the party would conduct a mass-contact programme at the grass roots level to raise people's awareness on the state government's decision to constitute a Cabinet sub-committee to oversee the implementation of SC and ST sub-plans.

DMK cautions UPA against weak response on Ram Sethu

                                                      

DMK MPs, belonging to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, led by its Parliamentary Party leader T R Baalu met UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and impressed upon her the need to quicken the legal process over the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, which is essential for the economic development of the state.
The DMK's move comes a day after its bitter rival Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asking the Centre to declare Ram Sethu as a 'National Monument' without further delay.
"As a member of the UPA, it is our bounden duty to bring to the Government's attention that any weakened response of this government to such a crucial issue will only expose the betrayal of hope and promise given to Tamil Nadu...," a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister said.
The memorandum was given to Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanaswamy.
Noting that completion of this project would go a long way in furthering the economic development of the southern peninsular region, it said "any stand taken by the Government of India in abandoning the Sethusamudram ship canal project will run against the wishes of people of Tamil Nadu".
Recalling that Singh had inaugurated the project on July 2005 in the presence UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and DMK Leader M Karunanidhi, the memorandum said Gandhi had "expressed her desire in the presence of thousands of people that work should be completed within the stipulated time frame of three years".
It said after major portions of the work were completed and only 22 km of dredging work left, "some vested interests" approached the Supreme Court and obtained a stay.
Keeping in mind the huge investment in the project, DMK said it would urge the Centre "not to hamper the progress of the project" and take all necessary steps to expedite the judicial process and honour its commitment made to the people.

Team Anna and their seditious speeches

                                                         
The Parliament has mildly reprimanded Team Anna with Speaker Meira Kumar reading out a statement saying any comment that lowered the dignity of Parliament was "unwarranted and unacceptable". If India were an authoritarian state, it would have indubitably charged Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal with sedition. The Indian Penal Code defines sedition as under:
"Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine."
There can be no mistake in that confronting Parliament and using derogatory language to describe it is, in essence, challenging all the laws made by Parliament. It is a mockery of the Indian people since Parliament represents us all. It is trite to say that all the 125 crore Indians cannot agitate on issues peacefully. Thus our representatives are sent to represent all of us in the Indian Parliament. However, the charge of sedition for an offender in a nation which holds its democratic principles far too close to its heart may not fit for the present given our high tolerance levels. The Constitution enables freedom of speech, but that freedom is qualified in the words of the celebrated Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes: "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre, and causing a panic. It does not even protect a man from an injunction against uttering words that may have all the effect of force."
It was not even that those making the speeches were established statesmen of stature. Anna Hazare is a country bumpkin with little education and has even less understanding of the Constitution and separation of powers. Arvind Kejriwal is an IIT Graduate, but the IIT does not provide lessons on civics, nor even does it provide education on civility. Consequently, the only thing that Kejriwal has in plenty is ambition. But with no perspective to go alongwith it, his ideas for the nation find appreciation with the mediocre rabble-rousers and anarchists. The Bhushans are experts in 'shock and awe' - their law practice has its foundation in this form. When a regular practitioner in the Supreme Court makes an outrageous claim that half of the Chief Justices in the last few years have been corrupt - like the Bhushans did - any appearance before any Court in the Country ought to yield favourable judicial orders, since no judge would wish to fall foul of the Bhushans. Kiran Bedi is a scorned and disgruntled person. She has even vented her frustration over being denied the Police Commissioner of Delhi's job on foreign shores recently.
The Arab Spring began on Facebook and Twitter. The revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world began on 18 December, 2010. Regime changes were witnessed on account of the Spring in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. Civil uprisings erupted in Bahrain and Syria. Major protests broke out in Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, and Oman and minor protests in Lebanon, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Western Sahara. Clashes at the borders of Israel in May 2011 as well as protests by Arab minority in Iranian Khuzestan have also been inspired by the regional Arab Spring.
The protests are typically civil resistance in sustained campaigns involving strikes, demonstrations, marches, rallies, as well as the use of social media to organize, communicate, and raise awareness in the face of state attempts at repression and internet censorship. Many demonstrations have met violent responses from authorities as well as from pro-government militias and counter-demonstrators. These attacks have been answered with violence from protesters in some cases. A major slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab World is said to be "the people want to bring down the regime." While the revolution seems purposeful, it is heady and full of adventure. The Spring in all these nations aspired to achieve a vibrant democracy like we have in India.