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Rs.1653.73 laklhs for
Sikkim under NLCPR Scheme |
Gangtok: The Minister for Development of North
Eastern Region and Mines, Shri B. K. Handique has
said that for the year 2009-10, Rs. 700.00 crore has
been earmarked for the North Eastern States
including Sikkim under NLCPR Scheme. The amount
earmarked for Sikkim under NLCPR Scheme of the
Ministry is Rs.1653.73 lakhs.
These funds are released to the North Eastern States
including Sikkim in instalments in the sanctioned
projects on first cum first served basis. Since the
annual budget for 2010-11 is yet to be approved by
Parliament, the Ministry does not have information
regarding earmarked funds for the year 2010-11.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday he
said, as on 28.02.2010, Rs.39630.29 lakhs have been
released for all the North Eastern States including
Sikkim and Rs.30369.71 lakhs are lying unspent under
NLCPR Scheme. (PIB) |
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Much progress, but women still face
inequity: Meira Kumar |
New Delhi: A lot more needs to be done to end gender
discrimination, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said on
Monday. “Much progress has been made but even today nowhere
in the world can women claim to have the same rights and
opportunities as men and they still face inequity and
marginalisation,” Ms. Kumar told the House in her reference
to International Women's Day. Describing it as an occasion
to celebrate and honour achievements of ordinary women in
their quest for equality, justice, peace and development and
highlight the needs and concerns on national, regional and
global agendas, Ms. Kumar said gender equality and women's
empowerment were fundamental to the global mission of the
United Nations to achieve equal rights and dignity for all.
“These ideals so firmly rooted in our democracy are
enshrined in our Constitution.” The Speaker said: “Even in
this first decade of the 21st century, we find women still
have less access to basic health care, education, employment
and decision-making. Maternal mortality remains unacceptably
high. Female foeticide, dowry deaths, honour killing of
girls and the growing violence against women are a cause for
serious concern as we find majority of the disadvantaged
women living lives in close proximity with their oppressors
and perpetrators of crime. “There is an urgent need to
address these disparities and aberrations and shape public
opinion and perceptions so that women have freedom to define
and achieve their full potential and live purposeful lives.”
(Agencies) |
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The President, Smt.
Pratibha Devisingh Patil presenting the Stree Shakti
Puruskar 2008 to Dr. Sunita Devi (Rohtak, Haryana), in
New Delhi on March 08, 2010. The Deputy Chairman,
Planning Commission, Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Women and
Child Development, Smt. Krishna Tirath, the Minister of
State of External Affairs, Smt. Preneet Kaur and the
Chairperson, National Commission for Women, Dr. (Miss)
Girija Vyas. |
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HRD Min to develop syllabus for
geospatial info studies |
Mumbai: In a bid to enhance innovative and technical
education in India, Union HRD Ministry will develop a
syllabus for geospatial information studies.
"Presently, we are working with Rolta in preparing a
syllabus for geospatial study. It is being developed to
create more workforce in the geospatial space as India is
lacking speciality technical education. We are trying to
expand more opportunities in the education space," HRD
Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters on the sidelines of a
CII meet here today.
Geospatial information studies focuses on the interface
between human information constructs and spatial decision
making.
A national accreditation authority would be set up soon for
regulating foreign educational institutions in the country,
he said.
"A legislative proposal for regulating the entry and
operation of foreign educational institutions is under the
consideration of the Centre. It might come up by the next
academic year. (Media Watch) |
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Farmers highlight staggering
difference between farmgate price,MRP |
New Delhi: Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) and
Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers' Movement (ICCFM)
farmers on Tuesday demanded a check on increasing
cultivation cost and drew attention to the staggering
difference between farmgate prices and retail prices which
is affecting the 'Aam Aadmi's' pocket.
In an interaction with UNI here, ICCFM spokesperson Yudhvir
Singh said, ''The increase in cost of cultivation is killing
Indian farmers and the rise in food retail prices is not
translating into any benefit for the farmers.'' Pointing out
that farmgate prices in the country were far lower than the
prices at which goods reached consumers, he added, ''This
huge gap is benefitting food speculators and middlemen, not
farmers.'' The widely consumed wheat is procured by the
Government at a cost of around Rs 11 per kg but by the time
it reaches consumers, the retail price reaches around Rs
20-25 per kg.
In a memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,
the BKU and ICCFM have demanded implementation of
Swaminathan Committee recommendations.
The Committee recommended that Minimum Support Price (MSP)
should be at least 50 per cent more than the average cost of
production, which at present is much higher than the MSP.
''While fixing MSP, the Government must take into
consideration the ever increasing land rents, diesel prices,
labour of farmers' families and cost of inputs like seeds
and fertilizers,'' he added.
He also said, ''We demand an MSP of Rs 2,250 per quintal for
wheat and rice. Higher MSPs would restrict farmer
suicides.'' At present, farmers get an MSP of Rs 1,080 per
quintal for wheat while the figure for another
widely-consumed crop rice stands at Rs 900.
He also claimed that by bringing in private partners, the
Government is neither benefitting farmers nor consumers.
''Private players can buy goods from farmers at a low cost
since farmers need money but thereafter, they hoard and sell
them to markets urban consumers at a higher cost for their
profits,'' he alleged.(Media Watch) |
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WB govt names representatives for GJM talks |
Kolkata: West Bengal Municipal Affairs Minister Asok
Bhattacharya and Health Minister Surjya Kanta Mishra will
represent the state government at February 18
political-level tripartite talks with Grokha Janmukti Morcha
(GJM) on the Darjeeling issue.
"West Bengal government would be represented by Asok
Bhattacharya and Surjya Kanta Mishra," state Chief Secretary
Ashok Mohan Chakraborty told newsmen, adding that state Home
Secretary Ardhendu Sen would also be present at the meeting
to assist the two ministers.
Asked about GJM chief Bimal Gurung's reported opposition to
the presence of Bhattacharya at the meeting, the Chief
Secretary said it was the prerogative of Chief Minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to decide who will represent the
state government.
GJM general secretary Roshan Giri declined to comment
immediately on Bhattacharya's inclusion, saying "We will see
and comment.” (Agencies) |
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Home ministry issues alert |
New Delhi: The Home Ministry has issued an alert for metros,
particularly Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore on Monday, saying
terrorists could target the three major cities. The alert
was based on the interrogation of suspected Indian
Mujahideen terrorist Salman Ahmed. An MHA official said
governments of Maharashtra, West Bengal and Karnataka have
been asked to take all possible steps to foil any terror bid
to strike their cities. Other metros such as Delhi have also
been sounded out.
Ahmed, alleged to have been involved in serial blasts in
Ahmedabad, Varanasi and Gorakhpur, is believed to have told
interrogators that the Indian Mujahideen had set up bases in
Karachi, Kathmandu, Dubai and a few places in Middle East
under the so-called "Karachi Project". (Agencies) |
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Human rights activist Irom Sharmila honoured |
Imphal : Human rights activist and poetess Irom Sharmila,
who has been on a fast unto death for nine years demanding
withdrawal of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers
Act (AFSPA) 1958 from Manipur, has been honoured by a Kerala-based
human rights foundation.
The Myilamma Foundation conferred the ‘Myilamma Foundation
Lifetime Achievement Award 2009’ on February 24 to Sharmila,
who has been staying at J N Hospital at Porompat here, which
has been converted into a jail for her, a spokesperson of
the Sharmila Kanba Lup (Save Sharmila Committee) said on
Monday.
The award was handed over to her by foundation chairman
Ramadas Kadirur, general secretary M N Giri and several
other human rights activists.
To spread the movement launched by Sharmila nationwide, a
protest would be launched till March 14 in different parts
of the country, including Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Uttar
Pradesh and Delhi, the spokesperson said. |
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Bhutan to produce hydro power for India |
Guwahati: Bhutan government will produce
10,000 MW of hydro-power for India by 2020 under a joint
venture, its Consul General Dasho Tsering Wangda said on
Monday.
India will provide Rs 35,000 crore for the venture.
“On India’s request we will provide power annually from this
project, which will be on a 70 per cent loan and 30 per cent
grant,” he told newsmen here.
The loan will be repayable in 12 years, while the entire
technical support will be provided by India, Wangda said.
The envoy rejected the oft-repeated charge that release of
excess water from dams in Bhutan constructed on rivers
flowing thorugh Assam caused flash floods, particularly in
lower Assam during the rainy season. |
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Mizoram women comprise 43.98%
of the workforce |
Aizawl: Women folk in Mizoram boasts to contribute a healthy
43.98% of the total work force, according to a new book
published here.
The population of working women is increasing in the state
as they are emancipated a lot here, and they now constitute
43.98% of the total work force, Dr Lalhriatpuii said in her
book ‘Economic Participation of Women in Mizoram’ published
last week.
Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl (MHIP) or Mizo Women’s
Federation leaders are upbeat due to the recent announcement
by the state government that six seats out of the total 19
seats of the Aizawl Municipal Council would be reserved for
the fairer sex.
MHIP leaders like Lalbiakengi said that reservation for
women in the Parliament and state assemblies would go a long
way to empower the women, especially in Mizoram which did
not have any women representation in the state Assembly
since 1989. |
|
| Women organise
rally and signature campaign |
Shillong: Miffed over Meghalaya Deputy
Chief Minister B M Lanong’s alleged derogatory remark,
women’s organisations on Monday abstained from participating
in the official International Women’s Day celebration in the
state and instead organised a protest rally and signature
campaign. Protesting under the banner of Civil Society Women
Organisation (CSWO), the women took out a protest rally and
a signature campaign here in front of the Additional
Secretariat.
Social activist Patricia Mukhim said the signature campaign
was organised to make the authorities aware that the women
in the state have been wrongly portrayed with a “rosy
picture”. (Media Watch) |
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Soon, unified health plan for country’s poor |
New Delhi : With an ambitious target to
ensure health facilities for the country’s poor, the
government is expected to launch a unified healthcare
programme the National Health Mission (NHM) with a budgetary
support of around Rs 15,000 crore.
The new flagship scheme will be framed by merging UPA-1
flagship venture National Rural Health mission (NRHM) and
the yet-to-be-launched National Urban Health Mission (NUHM).
According to sources, the new programme will focus on
strengthening the entire public healthcare system primary,
secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities — to cater to
both urban and rural poor across the country. “The new
proposal for merging both the schemes aims at getting rid of
multiplicity of central schemes catering to the same
sector,” said a senior health ministry official.
To make way for the comprehensive health scheme for the
entire country, the government is likely to shelve the
proposal for the launch of NUHM, which was conceived in
UPA’s previous tenure.
On the funding of the unified mission, sources pointed out
that the NRHM formula will continue. “Under the new health
mission, which will be a centrally-sponsored scheme, 100%
central assistance will be provided for fiscal 2010-11,”
said an official. He, however, added that the central help
would be brought down to 85% in 2011-12 (the last year of
the 11th five-year Plan). Most likely, the central support
would be cut down to 75% in the 12th Plan (2012-17).
Despite the launch of NRHM, the argument for NUHM was that
presently the pressure on urban hospitals is because of
non-availability of health facilities and doctors in rural
areas. The urban mission was being framed to provide
accessible, affordable and reliable primary healthcare
facilities to the 28 crore people living in urban slums in
429 cities and towns.
The Planning Commission and the health ministry are of the
view that by consolidating the two schemes, the government
can address the needs of public healthcare facilities for
the vulnerable in a better way. (Media Watch) |
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SKY IS THE LIMIT |
 |
Air India’s
women crew gesture to the media before flying the
Mumbai-New York flight as the company celebrates
International Women’s Day. (Agencies) |
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Designers Shantanu and Nikhil’s new sportswear for Adidas |
Mumbai : Designers Shantanu and Nikhil
entered the sports arena with their new S and N label for
Adidas Style Essentials at Lakme India Fashion Week (LIFW).
The collection called “Motochic” was showcased by the duo in
sporty silhouettes and a great colour story, which the
designers blended with striking drapes for easy comfort.The
colour palette included black, grey and yellow. Stripes and
Check patterns played an important part in adding interest
to the line for the jet setting fitness freaks.
Bollywood actor Deepika Padokone glided down the ramp as a
showstopper adorning a diagonal striped sleeveless Tee with
a shimmering clinched waist teamed with metallic balloon
micro shorts. Meanwhile, designer Narendra Kumar also
showcased his collection for Jeans as a 21st century style
statement. The collection inspired with future, had a clever
blend of luxurious ethnic inspirations and modern shapes.
Sprayed, laminated, bleached and coloured, the denims in
Kumar’s collection were shredded, dyed and patched.
Men’s jacket had net insets or was contoured with piping and
contrast patches. Trench and long coats, biker and cropped
jackets, with military style detailing, epaulets and zippers
were ideal for a trip to the moon. Women’s wear was short
with the fitted dresses, tiny tops and skinny jeans ideal
for cocktail hours.
Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh, who walked the ramp for Kumar,
ended the show wearing a sharply cut denim jacket with
leather trims. (Media Watch) |
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Scientists transform polyethylene into a heat-conducting
material |
Washington : A research team from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has found a way
to transform the most widely used polymer, polyethylene,
into a material that conducts heat just as well as most
metals, yet remains an electrical insulator.
The new process causes the polymer to conduct heat very
efficiently in just one direction, unlike metals, which
conduct equally well in all directions.
This may make the new material especially useful for
applications where it is important to draw heat away from an
object, such as a computer processor chip.
The key to the transformation was getting all the polymer
molecules to line up the same way, rather than forming a
chaotic tangled mass, as they normally do.
The team did that by slowly drawing a polyethylene fiber out
of a solution, using the finely controllable cantilever of
an atomic force microscope, which they also used to measure
the properties of the resulting fiber.
This fiber was about 300 times more thermally conductive
than normal polyethylene along the direction of the
individual fibers, according to the team’s leader, Gang
Chen, the Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power
Engineering and director of MIT’s Pappalardo Micro and Nano
Engineering Laboratories.
The high thermal conductivity could make such fibers useful
for dissipating heat in many applications where metals are
now used, such as solar hot water collectors, heat
exchangers and electronics.
According to Chen, most attempts to create polymers with
improved thermal conductivity have focused on adding in
other materials, such as carbon nanotubes, but these have
achieved only modest increases in conductivity because the
interfaces between the two kinds of material tend to add
thermal resistance.
But using this new method, the conductivity was enhanced so
much that it was actually better than that of about half of
all pure metals, including iron and platinum. If such fibers
could be made in quantity, they could provide a cheaper
alternative to metals used for heat transfer in many
applications, especially ones where the directional
characteristics would come in handy, such as heat-exchanger
fins, cell-phone casings or the plastic packaging for
computer chips.
Other applications might be devised that take advantage of
the material’s unusual combination of thermal conductivity
with light weight, chemical stability and electrical
insulation. (Media Watch) |
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| India urges
quick resettlement of IDPs |
Colombo: India has welcomed the relaxation
of movement restrictions that had been imposed on the
displaced Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka.
It has also expressed the hope that the resettlement process
could be expedited, especially in Killinochchi and
Mullaithivu, so that the Internally Displaced Persons could
resume normal lives in their original places of habitation.
A press statement issued by the Indian High Commission here
at the end of Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao’s visit to Sri
Lanka said that during her interaction with President
Mahinda Rajapaksa she conveyed these sentiments to him.
Ms. Rao was here on a three-day visit on Sri Lanka’s
invitation for interaction on a range of issues of mutual
interest. Her visit came days after External Affairs
Minister S.M. Krishna told the Rajya Sabha that the war in
Sri Lanka was over but the search for a political settlement
was continuing.
The Foreign Secretary congratulated Mr. Rajapaksa on his
electoral victory as President on January 26. She underlined
the fact that the elimination of terrorism and the holding
of elections had provided Sri Lanka with a historic
opportunity to initiate a process of political
reconciliation where all communities can live in peace and
harmony.
The Foreign Secretary said she had formally invited the
President to visit India, and he had agreed to come to India
after the April 8 general elections in Sri Lanka. According
to official sources, the dates of his visit would be worked
out in due course. (Agencies) |
| |
| Iraq vote: PM
Maliki emerges front-runner |
| Suleimaniya (Iraq): The coalition led by
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was said on Monday to be
leading in the parliamentary race in nine of the country’s
18 provinces, giving him an edge over competitors seeking
the top job. Maliki’s chief rival, secular Shia Iyad Allawi
of the nationalist Iraqiya list, made a strong showing in
five Sunni majority provinces while Maliki, a religious Shia,
was popular in conservative Shia areas. The result in the
capital, Baghdad, could be decisive. Sectarian violence and
cleansing dramatically reduced the Sunni majority to a
minority and transformed Shias into the majority. However,
internally displaced and exiled Sunnis casting ballots
outside the capital could boost the number of votes for
Allawi and narrow the gap between him and Maliki. No single
bloc is expected to secure a majority in the 325-seat
parliament, making it likely that formation of a coalition
could involve weeks of horse-trading. (Agencies) |
| |
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RIL revised its takeover offer twice: LyondellBasell |
New York/New Delhi: Petrochemicals major
LyondellBasell on Monday said the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance
Industries had revised takeover offer twice after the first
bid was made last November.
LyondellBasell, which termed its restructuring plan to exit
bankruptcy as “superior” to RIL’s offer, also said it had
provided substantial due diligence materials to the Indian
petrochemicals firm. A spokesperson for LyondellBasell said
RIL made an “unsolicited, preliminary non-binding offer” to
acquire for cash a controlling interest in its reorganised
company, in November last year. “Since that time, Reliance
made two other non-binding offers. LyondellBasell provided
substantial due diligence materials, allowed for more than
20 visits to our facilities, and made senior management
available for discussions,” LyondellBasell’s spokesperson
David Harpole told pressperson.
According to him, the proposal from RIL was carefully
evaluated by our board, taking into consideration a host of
relevant factors, including views of key creditor
constituencies. (Agencies) |
| |
| India among
global top 10 in industrial production |
New Delhi: India has emerged as one of the
world’s top ten countries in industrial production,
according to UNIDO’s (United Nations Industrial Development
Organisation) ‘Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2010’. In
2009, India overtook Canada, Brazil and Mexico and moved up
to the ninth position, three places up from the 12th
position it held in 2008.
The top ten in 2009 were: the U.S., China, Japan, Germany,
the Republic of Korea, France, Italy, the U.K., India and
Brazil. As per the yearbook, the sectors in which India
figures among the global top ten are textiles; leather,
leather products and footwear; coke, refined petroleum
products, nuclear fuel; chemicals and chemical products;
basic metals; electrical machinery and apparatus; and other
transport equipment, other than motor vehicles, trailers and
semi-trailers.
Despite the global financial crisis, India maintained its
industrial growth and overtook its major competitors in the
developing world as a consequence. Alongside, however, the
country’s manufacturing value added (MVA) per capita at $283
is still way below that of Brazil ($631) and Mexico
($1,093).
According to the yearbook released last week, China is now
the world’s second largest producer of manufactured goods.
“With this development, China unseats Japan and is (only)
trailing behind the U.S.,” it said. UNIDO estimates that the
top three countries the U.S., China and Japan jointly
account for 50 per cent of the world’s manufacturing output.
(Agencies) |
| |
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Corporate India M&A deals jump
five-fold
|
New Delhi: Corporate India’s shopping spree continued
unabated in the second month of this year, as deals worth
over $1.3 billion were announced, a five-fold jump from
year-ago period, a report by global consultancy firm Grant
Thornton said.
Driven by the significant momentum in the merger and
acquisition (M&A) space in February 2010, the total deal
tally in the first two months of this year has risen to
nearly $4 billion. Though there has been a significant
uptrend in the Deal Street this year but, the deal volume so
far this year is much less than February 2008, when it was
close to $3 billion. (Agencies) |
| |
| Kapil Dev
inducted in ICC Hall of Fame |
Dubai: Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev, who
led India to their only ODI World Cup triumph in 1983, was
on Tuesday inducted into the International Cricket Council’s
Hall of Fame here. A commemorative cap was presented to
Kapil by ICC President David Morgan, in front of fellow Hall
of Famer Clive Lloyd, as well as an audience of ICC
officials and other invited guests at the governing body’s
headquarters here. The Hall of Fame, run in association with
the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations
(FICA), recognizes some of the legends of the game.
“I am proud and happy to have been inducted into the ICC
Cricket Hall of Fame and it’s amazing to think that I have
been picked as one of the greats of Indian cricket,” Kapil
said. “I am delighted to have been named alongside so many
great players of the game but for me, when I was growing up,
the man I always looked up to was Sunil Gavaskar from the
moment I started playing cricket. Now to be named also
alongside greats of the game such as Clive Lloyd, Richard
Hadlee and Wasim Akram it truly fantastic,” he said. Born on
January 6, 1959 in Chandigarh, Kapil played in 131 Test
matches and 225 ODIs in an international career that spanned
16 years. He made his ODI debut in 1978 against Pakistan in
Quetta while his Test debut came two weeks later in
Faisalabad against the same opposition.Kapil is considered
one of the greatest pace bowlers India has produced besides
being the country’s finest bowling all-rounder. He took a
remarkable 434 Test wickets and 253 ODI wickets.
In 1994, he became the leading wicket-taker in Tests when he
overtook Richard Hadlee, a record that was eventually broken
by West Indies pacer Courtney Walsh. In 1988 he leapfrogged
another West Indies fast bowler, Joel Garner, to become the
most successful bowler in ODIs, a record he held until 1994
when his tally of 253 wickets was passed by Wasim Akram.
Kapil’s best bowling figures in a Test match were 11-146
against Pakistan in Chennai in 1980 while in ODIs his best
match figures came in the group stage of the 1983 ICC
Cricket World Cup when he took 5-43 against Australia.
With the bat Kapil made 5,248 Test runs, including eight
centuries and 27 fifties, at an average of 31.05. He also
scored 3,783 ODI runs. ICC President David Morgan, who
presented Kapil with his hand-crafted Hall of Fame cap,
praised the latest inductee.
“Kapil was an all-time great player. He did everything. He
batted, bowled and he was a fine fielder. I remember the
great catch he took to dismiss Viv Richards in the 1983
World Cup final - he was on the run and the ball came over
his shoulder, possibly the most difficult of catches,”
Morgan said. (Agencies) |
| |
| Raise fitness
levels or perish hockey experts to
India |
New Delhi: After India failed yet again to
finish in the top bracket at the Hockey World Cup, the
experts have a simple panacea: Raise fitness levels or
perish. They feel only a fit side that can play total hockey
can survive internationally. Master coaches Horst Wein,
Roelant Oltmans and March Lammers and Olympian Ashok Kumar
agree that the eight-time Olympic champions have a long way
to go before they can match top teams Australia, Germany and
the Netherlands.
They all accept that Indians are skillful, but to play on
synthetic turf, they feel, the players need more than skills
to succeed.
India's chief hockey coach Jose Brasa, who led the Spanish
women's team to gold in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, has
conceded that India are not in the league of of world's top
teams yet. "We are not yet ready to take on world's top
teams. For us to rise to their level, we need to raise our
fitness and then play them frequently," said Brasa. Since
taking over as chief coach last May, Brasa has tried to make
the team adapt to the European style of play and to do that,
Dutch drag-flicker Taeke Taekema feels, fitness is the key
as only a fit team can play total hockey. "Today European
hockey means total hockey, there is no positional play
there. A defender should also be able to go up and score
goals. That is how the European teams have been confusing
the Asians," said the Dutch star.
"If fitness levels are high, it is easy to swap positions
quickly. When we play India or Pakistan, we know their
positions and it is easy for us," he said. Dutch legend
Oltmans says a European coach with an Indian to assist can
work wonders for Indian hockey. "Brasa is a good coach and
he should stay here till the next Olympics with a competent
Indian assisting him. Brasa is well aware of how things work
in the European structure and given time, I am confident
that he can surely improve the fitness levels of his
players," he said.
German hockey and football guru Wein wants India to
concentrate on a system that develops the youngsters
mentally at the grassroots level. "Modern hockey is no more
a physical game. Today teams have different plans for a
given situation. Hockey is now a thinking game," he added.
Ashok, son of legendary Dhyan Chand, thinks that Indian
players should practice 8-10 hours daily on synthetic turf
to improve their fitness. "We need more synthetic turfs in
the country, if Indian hockey has to develop to be truly
international," he said. (Media Watch) |
| |
| Haddin hundred
gives Australia 2-1 lead |
Hamilton: Brad Haddin's second one-day
international century gave Australia a 2-1 lead and the most
one-sided victory of the tour, as they chased down their
target with 16 balls to spare. Haddin's 110 was his highest
ODI score and he ended Daniel Vettori's hopes of winning
what he said before the match was "the most important game
of the series".
Ricky Ponting was annoyed in the opening two games at his
batsmen's inability to capitalise on their starts, and they
resolved that problem at Seddon Park. Ponting made 69 and
combined with Haddin for a matchwinning 151-run partnership
that justified Ponting's rare decision to send New Zealand
in. It is a gamble he has taken 24 times in his ODI
captaincy career for a remarkable 20 victories.
His bowlers did the job early by dismissing New Zealand for
a thoroughly gettable 245 and in the chase, Haddin set about
determining the result early. Haddin loves batting against
New Zealand; his only two ODI hundreds and his first Test
century have come against them, and in all three forms of
the game he averages 52.06 against New Zealand compared to
an overall career mark of 34.55. He did cruel things to
Michael Mason, who at 35 was playing his first international
since mid-2008 and must have finished the day wondering if
fighting back into the team was all worthwhile. Mason's
opening delivery, a no-ball, was dabbed by Haddin for four
past the wicketkeeper and the subsequent free-hit was
slapped contemptuously back over his head for six.
It left Mason with the extraordinary economy rate of 66
after one legal delivery. Haddin drove two more boundaries
in the over, which cost Mason 20, and the bowler was lucky
that his ten overs cost only 68. Haddin brought up his fifty
from 51 deliveries and also attacked with confidence against
Scott Styris, who was hit back over his head for six.
Haddin's timing was exquisite and his shots appeared
effortless. Every one of his seven fours and five sixes was
felt by Shane Bond, who had put down an extremely tough
caught-and-bowled chance when Haddin was on 8, and later by
Tim Southee, who put him down on the boundary when he had
83.
He ended up being stumped advancing to Vettori with 16 runs
still required, and Cameron White and Adam Voges finished
the job at a reduced pace. It was the Haddin-Ponting
partnership that buried New Zealand. Ponting's half-century
came at nearly a run a ball and featured seven boundaries
but it was a support role. The best bowlers, Vettori and
Bond, were respected while Styris and Mason were targeted by
the two Australians. They knew that Vettori's bowling
options were limited and the only wicket in the first 30
overs was the run-out of Shane Watson for 15. (Agencies) |
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