After defeat, Aussies practice on fifth day track

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March 7, 2013

HYDERABAD, Mar 6: Australian batsmen haven’t been able to survive enough overs in the last two Tests to know what it is like batting on a typical Indian track on the fifth day of a match and that prompted them to practice on the Test-match strip here today.

Having batted only nine overs on the fifth day of the first Test and the second Test getting over in less than three and half days, the Aussies got a “virtual test” of batting on a “fifth day Indian track”.

It was inevitable that playing spinners would be their focus of attention during the final practice session in Hyderabad but what was interesting was some of their top batsmen opted to bat on the Test-match wicket.

With enough rough created on both sides and the cracks widening, Australian captain Michael Clarke spent the maximum time facing the likes of Nathan Lyon, Xavier Doherty and leggie Steve Smith.

The two other batsmen who spent quality time facing the spinners on the match-strip were David Warner and Shane Watson.

While watching the Aussies practice, it became evident that apart from Clarke, Watson and Warner are the two batsmen, who are at least expected to take on India’s spin trio.

“Any day, we would like to practice on a Day 5 wicket. Practice a huge amount on that. As I have said earlier that Watson and Clarke are among top-eight batsmen, who have experience of playing here. So more the boys get a chance to practise on a fifth day track, better it will be for their careers,” chief coach Mickey Arthur reasoned when asked about the specific reasons for training on fifth day pitch.

“We want our batsmen improving against spin bowling. Just like whenever India comes to Australia, we take them to WACA (Perth). Our batsmen are still young and learning to bat on Day 5 wickets. You learn that with experience,” he added.

Skipper Clarke seemed to be walking the talk about taking more responsibilities. Although he got a “bruise” being hit on the knuckles by a Mitchell Johnson snorter, he carried on manfully ignoring the pain.

The captain was seen standing at the umpire’s position and keenly watching likes of Warner and Watson bat. He was seen individually speaking to each and every player.

“He (Clarke) had a chat with our batsmen. He spoke about forming partnerships. And when Michael talks, others listen. Our goal is to ultimately ensure that when these guys come back later to play a series, they do so as better players,” said Arthur.

Asked about how different it is playing spin in Australia compared to that in India, the coach explained, “It’s like North Pole and South Pole. In Australia, the start of a Test match, it’s all quick, quick and quick and then it becomes slow. It’s completely opposite in India, where it is slow to begin with but suddenly things start getting quicker on the fourth and fifth day. Therefore, we want to make them aware about the conditions and may be find a way to cope it.” (PTI)

PSC, KU postpone exams

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Daily Excelsior

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March 7, 2013

Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 6: The Public Service Commission (PSC) postponed the exams of Political Science and International Relations-1 and Public Administration-I of Combined Competitive (Main) Examination2012 scheduled for today as the majority of candidates could not reach the examination centre at Srinagar due to the prevailing law and order situation.
According to the spokesperson of PSC, the remaining papers scheduled to be held from 07.03.2013 to 26.03.2013 will be held as per the schedule, while the date sheet for Political Science and International Relations-I and Public Administration-I will be announced separately.
Kashmir University has also postponed all examinations till March 8 because of prevailing situation.
Spokesperson of the KU Showkat Shafi said all the University examinations scheduled to be held on March 7 and 8 are postponed.
He said fresh dates will be notified later separately. This is the second time the examinations were postponed in the Kashmir valley.
Earlier, the examinations were postponed after curfew and restrictions following the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru in Delhi’s Tihar jail on February 9.

NSF constitutes SKUAST-J unit

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Daily Excelsior

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March 7, 2013

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 6: National Secular Forum today constituted its unit for Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Jammu.
Akshay Deep Sharma has been appointed as president while Gurminder Singh was nominated as chairman of the unit.
Balwinder was appointed as senior vice-president while Sunil Thakur, Pankaj Sharma and Karandeep Singh have been given the responsibility of vice-president. Sushasini Pradhan is the general secretary while Abhishak Kanagat and Divya Gupta are secretary. Vikas Koul, Amanjeet Singh Sodhi and Moolchand Jakhar have been appointed as publicity secretary, cashier and press secretary, respectively.
Kapilashiv, Tundup Dorjay, Sanjeev Sharma, Komal Raina, Nipunta, Rizam Kour, Tasmeen, Nidhika Jamwal, Shivam Kakkar, Heena Jamwal, Vanee, Neeraj Kumar, Rupali Sharma, Neelakshi, Shivani, Kanak Mahajan, Raman Thapa, Vishaw Deepak Chaturvedi, Yudhistar, Preet Kour, Grusha Abrol are executive members of the unit, which was constituted during a meeting of the NSF, held under the chairmanship of Vikas Sharma.

Dr Agarwal Hospitals treats degenerative diseases through DNA Gene Therapy

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Daily Excelsior

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March 7, 2013

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 6: Through DNA Gene Therapy, Dr Agarwal Hospitals and Gene Research Foundation, Bangalore have prevented and treated major degenerative diseases over a span of over 9 years and cured more than 12000 patients.
DNA Gene Therapy- practiced by Dr Agarwal Hospitals for the last decade, has proved successful in treating most of the common known medical ailments and also rare genetic disorders. The process involved is minimally invasive, where one drop of the patient’s blood is enough to get his or her DNA profile and is used as the raw stock of giving the patients back their own fetal or healthy DNA. This young DNA has the capacity to regenerate any defective DNA sequencing in the body thereby regenerating the diseased organ and removing the ailment in total.
Dr Agarwal Hospitals propose to diversify into pharmaceutical market by the way of bulk producing its Mana – DNA Gene therapy formulation and already is in talks with multinational companies to export and market the product overseas.
Pertinent to mention that Dr Agarwal Hospitals and Gene Research Foundation are in the service of medicine for over 100 years and 4 generations. A product for gene therapy has gone through 20 years of research with over 12000 patients clinically successful for 9 years.
Gene therapy can be used for a variety of ailments ranging from congenital errors, diabetes, blindness, heart attack, cancer, infections to anti-aging. Degenerative diseases treated by gene therapy, include; Alzheimers, Parkinsons, Atherosclerosis, Neurologial disease, Prostatitis, bone disease, Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease etc.

China’s ICBC keen to be yuan clearing bank in London – President

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March 7, 2013

BEIJING, Mar 6: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s biggest bank by market value, aims to become the clearing bank for offshore yuan business in London, the bank’s President Yang Kaisheng said on Wednesday.

‘We are striving to be the clearing bank in London, but whether we can succeed will hinge on the decision of regulators and central banks of the both countries,’ Yang told reporters on the sidelines of China’s annual parliament meeting.

‘London is a famous international financial centre and it intends to become an offshore yuan trading centre,’ he said.

London and other global financial centres like Singapore are seeking to capitalise on the rapid growth of the off-shore yuan bond market, which is dominated by Hong Kong.

The Bank of England said last month it would discuss setting up a reciprocal three-year yuan-sterling swap line with the People’s Bank of China to finance bilateral trade and investment.

Britain, always anxious to bolster London’s status as Europe’s biggest financial centre, launched an offshore yuan currency and bond market, and a swap deal would cement its role as the leading centre in the Group of Seven industrialised nations for offshore yuan trade.

China’s central bank has named ICBC as the clearing bank for offshore yuan business in Singapore and Bank of China as the clearing bank in Hong Kong.

‘We (both banks) will cooperate, but there will be some competition,’ Yang said.

ICBC will see steady profit growth in 2013 as China’s economy is likely to grow around 7.5 percent in line with the official target, Yang said without giving specifics. (AGENCIES)

Vikram kick starts construction works

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Daily Excelsior

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March 7, 2013

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 6: Continuing with series of development works for the welfare of general public, senior Congress leader and former general secretary, All India Youth Congress (AIYC), Vikram Malhotra kick started construction work of building complex of Government Primary School and Ayurvedic Dispensary at Dhonthali Dhaki, (Panjtirthi), here today.
For construction of school building and dispensary, the funds amounting to Rs 16 lakh have been provided by Amrit Malhotra, Chairman, Legislative Council from his Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
Speaking on the occasion, Vikram Malhotra categorically emphasized on the role of development of infrastructure in urban and semi-urban areas of Jammu city, and said that problems of people need to be addressed in time so that they might not suffer for want of civic facilities.
Malhotra further assured the locals that more financial support would be provided for other development related works of the Ward and adjoining localities when required.
Construction of school building and dispensary was the long pending demand of the locals, which was fulfilled by Amrit Malhotra.

Kudankulam-1 likely to be commissioned by Apr: Govt

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March 7, 2013

NEW DELHI, Mar 6:
The much-delayed Kudankulam nuclear power project is expected to be commissioned by April, government told the Lok Sabha today.
“All efforts are being made to commission units 1&2 of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project by April 2013 and October 2013 respectively,” Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanasamy said in a written reply.
Of the 2,000 MW electricity to be generated by the two units, Tamil Nadu has been allocated 925 MW, Kerala (266 MW), Karnataka (442 MW) and Pondicherry (67 MW), he said.
“Government has also agreed to consider providing additional 100 MW power to Tamil Nadu,” Narayanasamy said.
Some power generated by the two units has not been allocated.
In reply to a separate question, Narayanasamy said the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) had given clearance for the second heat up and full system tests of the unit-1 of Kudankulam nuclear power project on January 24.
Engineers of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) were carrying out a series of integration tests in the presence of AERB team, which has been camping at the project site for the past one-and-a-half month.
On the safety of nuclear plants, Narayanasamy said atomic power stations in the coastal areas were designed taking into account technical parameters related to earthquake, tsunami, storm surges, wave run-up, floods and tides.
Narayanasamy said the shore protection measures include construction of civil structures like break waters, bunds, walls etc to minimise the effect of these natural events.
“Safety is a moving target in nuclear power plants and is continuously evolving based on the reviews by utilities and AERB besides internationally evolving standards,” he said.
He said a framework to periodically review safety issues in context of national as well as global nuclear industry events and incorporate necessary measures to strengthen the safety, as required, was in place.
In December, AERB had given its nod for the ‘second heat up’, under which all systems of the entire nuclear power plant will be put to test to demonstrate its operability and safety.
It was during these tests that engineers found certain deviations in some plant equipment and it was felt that some maintenance operations needed to be carried out.
The permission for repeating the second heat-up and to carry out the hydro-test was granted by AERB on January 24.
A specially-designed robotic arm had begun loading 163 bundles of enriched uranium fuel on September 18 and the process was completed on October 2. (PTI)

Hora Ashtami celebrated with religious fervour, gaiety

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Daily Excelsior

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March 7, 2013

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 6: The Hora Ashtami was celebrated with traditional religious fervour and gaiety. In this connection night long bhajans and Kirtan was held in various ashrams and temples.
A large number of community members attended the celebrations of Hora Ashtami at KP Sabha Ambphalla here. The religious discourses on Shiv Mahamatya and bhajans in the praise of Goddess Parvati were also organised on the occasion.
The function among others was attended by KP Sabha chief K K Khosa and his team of office bearers.
Another function was held at Bhagavaan Gopinathji Ashram Udaywala Bohri. Hundreds of devotees thronged the Ashram and participated in night long religious function. They offered prayers to the Lotus feet of Bhagavaan Ji. The reputed artists including Iqbal Ji, Darmesh Ji, Tej Krishan Dhar, Dr Usha Kher, Subash Langer, Arti Razdan, Virji Bhat and many others sung bhajans. The night long prayers were held to invoke the blessings of Mother Goddess followed by mass prayers. The function culminated with Bhagavaanji’s Arti at 5-30 am. The Hora Ashtami was also celebrated at Bhagavaanji’s Ashram at Kharyar.
Hora Ashtami the festival of Shakti Pujan was celebrated at Jagat Amba Sharika Chakreshwar Sanstha Hari Parbat, Devi Angan, Paloura (Doke ) here.
A large number of devotees attended the function to have blessings of Asthadashbuja Mata Sharika Bhagwati. The devotees were served with Prashad after performance of Special Puja. It was followed by Bhajan Kirtan by O N Ambardar, Kakajee Chattabali and others for entire night.
Hora Ashtami was celebrated with religious fervour and gaiety at Swami Kumar Ji Geeta Satsang Ashram Muthi in which a large number of devotees including saints participated.
Hora Ashtami was also celebrated in Pushkara Swami Sewa Ashram Chinore and Najab Ghar, Delhi with full fervour and gaiety. The Bhajan Kirtan continued for the entire night. A large number of devotees attended the function to invoke blessings of Goddess Durga.
Hora Ashtami was also celebrated at Sanjeevani Kuteer Gareeb Dham Bohri with religious fervour and gaiety.
The atmosphere was surcharged with the Guru Bhakths singing praises of Maa Parvati in traditional Mandli style throughout the night. On the occasion Anand Swami Bhaiji in his extempore unique style delved in detail on Amar Ved.
The Hora Ashtami was also celebrated at Sharika Peeth Subash Nagar where a large number of devotees attended the function.
The night long bhajan Kirtan continued in the premises of Sanstha and the devotees were also served with prashad. The function was held under the chairmanship of Sanstha president M K Jalali.

Somdev bows out of Indian Wells Masters qualifiers

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Daily Excelsior

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March 7, 2013

IINDIAN WELLS (USA), Mar 6: Somdev Devvarman’s bid to enter the main draw of the Indian Wells ATP Masters tournament fell flat as he lost the opening round of the qualifiers in straight sets to Italian 27th seed Matteo Viola, here.

The Indian, playing under protected ranking, suffered a 2-6 2-6 basing at the hands of world number 127.

Somdev, ranked 250, lost his serve six times in the opening-round match of the USD 5,030,408 hard court event. (PTI)

JD(U) terms present Govt as most corrupt

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Daily Excelsior

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March 7, 2013

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 6: Terming the present Coalition Government of the State as most inefficient and corrupt, Janta Dal (United) said that it will launch a campaign to organize the masses to get rid of this dispensation.
Addressing the Janta Dal United Students Front (JDUSF) here today, State president, JD(U), Ghulam Qadir Wani said that NC-Congress coalition is a congregation of unprincipled politicians just to share the loaves and fishes of power. The result is the loot of Central funds is going on without check.
A large number of students from different colleges and Higher Secondary Schools joined the JDUSF under the leadership of provincial president, JD(U) SF, Ranjeet Singh.
Meanwhile, Amit Rajput of Commerce College was announced as general secretary of JD(U) SF, Jammu province.