വിമതരില്‍ മൂന്നുപേര്‍ മനംമാറി തിരികെ പാര്‍ട്ടിയിലേക്ക് വരാന്‍ ബുധനാഴ്ച സന്നദ്ധത പ്രകടിപ്പിച്ചെങ്കിലും ഇവരെ തിരിച്ചെടുക്കില്ലെന്ന നിലപാട് ബി.ജെ.പി. സ്വീകരിച്ചു

ജനകീയ അടിത്തറ നഷ്ടമായ സര്‍ക്കാരിന് അധികാരത്തില്‍ തുടരാന്‍ അര്‍ഹതയില്ലെന്ന് കെ.പി.സി.സി പ്രസിഡന്റ് രമേശ് ചെന്നിത്തല പറഞ്ഞു

The consultancy predicted global wealth would grow at an average annual rate of nearly six per cent from year-end 2009 through 2014. This was slower than the 2009 recovery but still higher than the 4.8 per cent annual growth rate from year-end 2004 through 2009. But the rebound in wealth should not be seen as a return to business as usual, the report said, adding that client trust and wealth manager performance are still lower than they were before the global economic crisis. The United States had by far the most number of millionaires at 4.7 million, followed by Japan, China, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

“I’ll complete 10 years in the industry with ’Raavan’. I’ve learnt a lot in these years. I didn’t know anything at that time. There has been tremendous learning and I’m still hungry to do a lot more. It’s been a great journey and it makes me happy and proud that I’m part of this industry,” Abhishek told IANS in an exclusive interview.

The 34-year-old, who bowed in with J.P. Dutta’s “Refugee” in 2000, says failures have played an important role in his growth.

“The low phase that I went through, I think it was necessary. It teaches you a lot. I believe there is no success without failure. It keeps you grounded and makes you appreciate things,” said Abhishek who gave a string of flops before “Dhoom” happened to him.

After “Dhoom” Abhishek played all kinds of roles in box office successes like “Yuva”, “Bunty Aur Babli”, “Bluffmaster”, “Dostana”, “Delhi-6″ and “Paa” among others.

“Thankfully I’ve managed to break the mould with all my films. I’ve broken the mould in ’Raavan’ too from my last performance in “Paa” where I played a clean cut politician,” he said.

Filmmaker Mani Ratnam’s “Raavan” is slated to hit the screens June 18. The bilingual, co-produced by Reliance BIG Pictures and Madras Talkies, features Aishwarya Rai as a dance teacher who is happily married to a cop, played by Tamil superstar Vikram, and shows how Abhishek’s character Beera spoils that tranquillity in their lives.

Commenting upon his role, Abhishek said: “It’s very exciting to get roles where you can push yourself and challenge yourself to do a role you have not attempted before. I’m happy that I’m doing different roles, I’ll be really bored if I had to do the same thing every day.”

Earlier Ratnam had given Abhishek two of his memorable roles in “Yuva” and “Guru” and now “Raavan” is their third outing together. The actor shares a great comfort level with the director who understands him and his potential very well.

“I share a great comfort level with Mani. As far as I’m concerned, I can do anything for him. I also feel that Mani understands me and my potential as an actor more than even I do. I think that’s one major reason that two of the most memorable films I have done have been with Mani,” he said.

“’Raavan’ is a wonderful film and I’m very proud of it. I feel this is Mani’s most commercial film till date. I’m happy with the way it’s turned out. Mani has outdone himself. It is drastically different from his other films, which is a challenge, especially when the same team comes together.”

The actor was also offered the Tamil version of the film, but he declined due to the language problem.

“I was offered a role in the Tamil version as well. I had said yes initially, but when I read the draft, I realised this is not happening. I told Mani that I can’t do the Tamil version because I don’t know the language.

“I realised that my performance will become very mechanical. If you don’t understand what you are saying, you can’t give a good performance,” he said.

After “Raavan”, many big films, including “Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey”, “Game”, “Dum Maro Dum” and “Dostana 2″ will keep Abhishek busy for a year.

As we age, the protein gradually declines, allowing cheeks to sag and wrinkles to set it. But the new synthetic collagen, which is currently being marketed for medical purposes such as for bone and heart repairs, may someday be used cosmetically, the university said.

The research, appeared in the journal Biomacromolecules, is considered as an achievement with tremendous commercial implications for use in a variety of human medical procedures.

Commercially produced collagen (pro-collagen) is used in surgical implants and many wound healing devices in regenerative medicine. The current market for collagen-based medical devices in orthopaedics and wound healing exceeds $30 billion annually worldwide.

Shoseyov’s invention has already been patented and a company called ’CollPlant Ltd.’ has been set up to handle the patents coming from Shoseyov’s laboratory. “This is a very unique collagen,” said Noa Lapido, assistant vice president of CollPlant. “It is very very similar to human collagen and, as it has not come in contact with any animals, it is much better and much safer than other collagens.”

Currently, commercial collagen is produced from farm animals such as cows and pigs as well as from human cadavers. These materials are prone to harbour human pathogens such as viruses or prions (mad-cow disease).

But the new collagen avoids these risks, said the researchers. Producing human recombinant type I pro-collagen requires the coordinated expression of five different genes.

Prof Shoseyov has established the only laboratory in the world that has reported successful co-expression all the five essential genes in transgenic tobacco plants for the production of processed pro-collagen.

Cosmetic uses of the new collagen are currently unlikely, Lapido said, as the price is several hundred to several thousand times more expensive than other options. But it may become more reasonable, she said, “in a few years time.”

Lee Jung-soo and Ji-Sung Park struck the goals as the South Koreans played an inspired game to leave the fancied Euro 2004 champions in a daze and earn two full points in a thrilling contest at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium.

The South Koreans, ranked 47th in the current FIFA rankings, completely outplayed Greece, ranked 13th, with a combination of speed and flair to launch their campaign on a perfect note.

They also become the first team to resister a win in this edition of the World Cup after both the matches ended in a draw on the opening day. The South Koreans fired the first salvo as early as in the seventh minute of the contest with the hard-working Lee Jung-soo finding the target, much to the delight of his teammates.

The first goal was the result of a defensive lapse by the Greek defenders as Jung-soo was left unmarked inside the box following a free kick from the flank. The diminutive defender volleyed the ball in from barely three yards.

The goal virtually served as a tonic for the South Koreans as they threatened to tear apart the Greek defence with a series of raids from both the flanks. Striker Yeom Ki-hun masterminded most of the moves upfront as the Koreans came dangerously close to scoring a number of time in the fast-paced opening session but lacked the finishing to increase their lead.

The Asian team saw an easy chance go abegging in the 15th minute when medio Lee Chung-yong managed to break through the fragile Greek defence but failed to control the ball inside the box.

On another occasion, he was dispossessed close to the goalmouth before he could make an attempt.

The South Koreans dominated most part of the opening half as Greece appeared tentative in the defence while their forwards also did not show much cohesion or flair to pose serious problems for the rival custodian Jung Sung-ryong.

The Greek defence had another anxious moment in the 23rd minute as Kim Jung-woo broke through the cordon with deft footwork and passed the ball to Lee Chung-yong, who was unable to make a clean connection.

The South Koreans were distinctly unlucky not to pump in their second goal five minutes later when Perk Chu-young, after receiving a superb through pass from Ji-Sung Park, raced towards the goal but his close range poke was saved by the outstretched leg of Greece custodian Alexandros Tzorvas.

The South Koreans consolidated their position seven minutes into the second session through a brilliant solo effort by captain Park Ji Sung. In a lightning counter-attack, the Manchester United got possession of the ball about 30 yards from the goal, dribbled past a defender with deft footwork and then shot the ball over an advancing Tzorvas.

The goal prompted Greece coach Otto Rehhagel to make a couple of substitutions with captain Giorgos Karagounis, Samaras and Angelos Charoesteas being replaced but the move did not make much of a difference as the South Koreans continued to exert pressure.

This marks Mukesh Ambani group’s entry into telecom sector in less than a month of he and his younger brother Anil reaching a truce by ending all the no-compete agreements to enable each other an opportunity to enter and invest in areas hitherto barred under the family settlement reached in 2005 for division of Reliance empire.

Infotel is owned by the Anant Nahata, son of Mahendra Nahata, managing director of Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (HFCL) and is unconnected with HFCL

The government too has acknowledged the need for reconsidering some provisions of the legislation following Monday’s trial court judgment that held eight accused guilty of criminal negligence in the 1984 Bhopal gas leak disaster and sentenced them to two years’ imprisonment.

Shedding their ideological differences, the Left parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reacted in an almost similar manner to the Bhopal trial verdict.

They said the government should rethink the bill, a key step towards operationalising the India-US civil nuclear deal, and institute proper safeguards to protect the interests of victims in case of a nuclear accident.

“The nuclear liability bill will have to be redrafted. The whole approach towards the legislation will have to be revised,” Communist Party of India (CPI) leader A.B. Bardhan told IANS Tuesday.

“Full liability has be imposed on the operator as well as the supplier,” said Bardhan.

M.B. Rajesh, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP who is also a member of the parliamentary standing committee on energy, told IANS: “It is a pro-nuclear suppliers bill as it does not underline any responsibility to the American nuclear companies who would be supplying the reactors.”

The CPI-M said in a statement: “The Bhopal disaster and the utterly flawed legal framework shows how the American suppliers and owners have escaped any criminal liability.

“In this context the civil nuclear liability bill which excludes foreign suppliers from any liability may help more Warren Andersons,” said the party which fiercely opposed the proposed nuclear legislation during the last session of parliament.

“The bill limits compensation to even less than the paltry Bhopal settlement. Pushing ahead with the nuclear liability bill means playing with the safety and interests of Indian people,” said the party.

The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010, which has been referred to as the parliament’s standing committee on science and technology after fierce opposition from major political parties, fixes the maximum amount of liability in case of a nuclear accident at Rs.500 crore, to be paid by the operator of the nuclear plant.

The legislation makes the operator exclusively liable in case of an accident, but there is no mention of the suppliers’ liability.

These provisions have prompted parallels with the Bhopal gas tragedy. Lethal gas had leaked out from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984, killing thousands instantly and many more later. Twenty six years on, a court imposed a meagre fine of Rs.100,000 on the eight accused, including Keshub Mahindra, who then headed the Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL).

Within hours of the trial court’s verdict, the BJP seized on it to demand a revision of the civil nuclear liability legislation in the light of the painful Bhopal experience.

“The government should learn proper lessons from the Bhopal gas tragedy. In light of the bitter experience of the bill, the government should reconsider the nuclear bill seriously,” said senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad Monday.

The government has also been quick to acknowledge the need for a rethink on the nuclear liability bill.

“There is a need to take note of the lessons learnt [from the Bhopal case], while looking at [questions of] investigation, liability, compensation and punishment,” Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily said Monday when asked about whether the government would heed the message of Bhopal while finalising the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill.

Moily also stressed that laws relating to industrial disasters needed to be strengthened: “We could even think of a standalone legislation so that this kind of offence won’t be committed again.”

They are the residents of Shahid Nagar and Karon Colony, amongst those colonies that have come to be known simply as ’gas-hit localities’ since that night of Dec 2-3, 1984 when methyl iso-cyanate and other lethal gases leaked out killing 3,500 people instantly and maiming several thousand others for life.

An estimated 15,000 people have died over the years with some activists claiming that the figure is closer to 25,000.

The verdict from a local Bhopal court convicting eight people, including one who has died, of criminal negligence is another disaster, say the victims.

“What we had demanded was justice and this is what we have got in return. Endless wait and no punishment to those who ruined our lives,” said A.P. Shukla, who lives in Karon Colony, just a kilometre away from the now shut Union Carbide plant.

Shukla, who lost his two brothers and parents in the toxic leak, said: “We were first deceived on the compensation front, then there was no economic rehabilitation, and now the government cannot even ensure that the guilty are punished.”

Tarannum of Shaheed Nagar is equally furious.

“Our judicial system seems to acknowledge Americans and America more than Indians and India…,” said Tarannum, whose father died almost seven years ago from ailments caused by the gas leak.

Warren Anderson, who headed Union Carbide Corp, the parent company of Union Carbide, is now 89 and lives in near seclusion in the US. He has never been prosecuted and was not amongst the eight accused.

And the anger runs deep.

“Should we go to court or should we take law in our hand? This is the question in our mind after this shameful judgement,” said Aziza Sultan, a survivor who lives next to the Union Carbide plant.

She survived and regrets she lives to tell the tale.

“Those who survived the gas are the unlucky ones like me. The lucky are those who died that night. It would have been better if I too would have died then. I would have not seen this day at least.”

Said Mazhar Abbas, who was not in Bhopal that night: “It is a shame to award two years imprisonment to those eight accused… Is it money power or political connections that have come to the relief of the accused?”

“Had it been any other country, the culprits would have been either shot or hanged. Are Indian not humans?” I.H. Siddique, a retired bank official, asked. “Just imagine if Union Carbide were an Indian company located in the US. What would the US have done?”

Siddique said he had seen his relatives die a slow death over the years. Another relative has three daughters who have suffered gynaecological problems after being exposed to the gas; now, no one is willing to marry them.

According to retired insurance official Narendra Sharma, Monday’s ruling is a “cruel and inhuman” decision for those who had lost everything in the fight for justice and were only clinging on to the hope of appropriate punitive action against those responsible.

“Think of the families who lost everything. Think of the ones who don’t exist anymore. The justice system is terrible in India. Now it’s up to the media and the people to make a difference.”

Tarannum, Aziza, Mazhar, Narendra… voices of anger, dejection and defeat. They have spoken out for the last 25 years and there is no rest yet.

The minnows twice beat India and both were comprehensive victories. As if to prove it was no fluke, they thumped Sri Lanka in yesterday’s dead rubber as well to finish their league campaign with three victories from four outings. Key to their fortune has been Brendan Taylor’s sensational form that has already earned the opener three Man of the Match awards.

In Taylor, Zimbabwe have got a batsman who have the skill and the temperament to see them through. Hamilton Masakadza, Chamu Chibhabha, Tatenda Taibu and Charles Coventry are no dud with the bat either and they would put their best foot forward tomorrow to lift the title they have come so close to.

There bowling has been a revelation as well, especially their battery of spin bowlers. The likes of Ray Price, Prosper Utseya and Graeme Cremer have not only been accurate but also aggressive and the spirited support they got from the fielders made them all the more lethal.

In yesterday’s match, Sri Lanka threatened to run away with the game when Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga added 122 runs in 20-odd overs. Utseya’s double strike then unhinged the Lankans and the Zimbabwean eventually bowled them out for 236 inside 48 overs.

Sri Lanka, however, would do everything tomorrow to prevent a repeat. Skipper Dilshan will particularly expect Dinesh Chandimal, who scored his maiden ODI century against India the other day, to come good tomorrow and underline his talent with another significant knock.

In the bowling department, onus would be on Thilan Thushara and Dilhara Fernando to provide the early breakthrough and remove Taylor at the earliest.

Teams (From):
Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), Angelo Mathews, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Chamara Kapugedera, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thilan Thushara, Ajantha Mendis, Jeevan Mendis, Dilhara Fernando, Chamara Silva, Thissira Perera.

Zimbabwe: Elton Chigumbura (capt), Andy Blignaut, Chamu Chibhabha, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Greg Lamb, Hamilton Masakadza, Chris Mpofu, Ray Price, Ed Rainsford, Vusi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya.