Lahiri sets the pace at Panasonic Open

Anirban Lahiri spearheaded the Indian challenge on the opening day of the US$300,000 Panasonic Open at the Delhi Golf Club with a brilliant seven under 65 that placed him in pole position.Singapore’s Mardan Mamat is two shots back alongside Thailand’s Namchok Tantipokhakul in tied second place.

Anirban Lahiri, a seven-time winner on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), sizzled with two birdies on the front nine and five more on the back nine, including three on the trot from the 16th through the 18th.

“I’m feeling very comfortable on this course at the moment and have managed to make friends with the bushes. I hit it extremely close today especially on the 13th and the 17th. I also closed the round with a brilliant 20-footer for birdie on the 18th. It’s imperative to keep the ball on the fairway at this venue as the bushes are quite unforgiving.

“I feel I am on a roll at this juncture, having won an event on the PGTI last week. I also had a top-10 at the last Asian tour event played at the DGC two weeks back. That performance helped my confidence a great deal as well,” said Bangalorean Lahiri, who is yet to win his maiden title on the Asian Tour.

Meanwhile Mardan Mamat is hoping to rediscover his winning form at the same venue where he earned his career breakthrough in 2004. “The Delhi Golf Club brings good memories as this is where I won my first title on the Asian Tour and if things go in the right direction over the next three days, I think I can relive those memories again,” said the 43-year-old Singaporean. Namchok, who is seeking his maiden win on the Asian Tour, enjoyed a bogey-free round by marking his card with five birdies. “It’s only the first round and anything can happen on the next few
days. What I can do is to play my own game and the rest will take care of itself if I’m playing well,” said the 23-year-old Thai.

Maniram Sharma of Karnal and Vikrant Chopra of the Noida Golf Course
had the next best score among the Indians after Lahiri as they were
tied fourth at three under 69 along with four others.

Jyoti Randhawa and SSP Chowrasia, two of the pre-tournament favourites
from the host nation, are in tied 46th having shot matching scores of
one over 73.

The DGC’s Ashok Kumar posted a five over 77 to be tied 108th while
Gaganjeet Bhullar opened his campaign with a disappointing 78 that
placed him tied 121st.

State can't arm people to fight Naxals: SC

Supreme Court on Wednesday disapproved the idea of arming local people to counter the Maoists and sought an explanation from the Chhattisgarh Government for creating an anti-Naxal armed group of special police officers -Koya Commandos."What is this Koya Commandos? How are they appointed and how are they given training etc? It is very dangerous.., giving them arms to fight," a bench comprising justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar said.The bench directed the state government to file an affidavit on the raising of Koya Commandos and also state under what rule they were being supplied arms and ammunition.It posted the matter for further hearing on 15th April."The affidavit will tell under which rule the Koya Commandos are appointed and under which rule they are given arms and ammunition? We must know it," the bench said, while making it clear that the affidavit has to be filed by a senior officer.The special police officers have been given the name Koya Commandos after a tribe in the Dantewada region.

It was not for the first time that the apex court has expressed its concern over the creation of armed anti-Naxalite group.In February 2009 also it had questioned how the government could arm common people or those associated with Salwa Judum, a people's movement to combat the Maoists in Chhatisgarh.The court had said the state should not arm common people and encourage them to fight Naxalites as "it will create a dangerous situation".However, the Chhattisgarh Government has maintained that Salwa Judum was a dying movement and it was not giving any encouragement to it.
The court passed the order while hearing a petition against the existence of Salwa Judum in Naxal-infested regions of the state to fight the Maoists.The petition had been filed by sociologist Nandini Sundar, historian Ramchandra Guha, former bureaucrat E A S Sarma and others seeking a direction to the state government to refrain from allegedly supporting Salwa Judum.

During the hearing, Swami Agnivesh informed the court about last month's incident when he was attacked by a group of people -allegedly consisting of SPOs and Salwa Judum volunteers when he was visiting a Naxal region near Dantewada with activists of the Art of Living of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

The Chhattisgarh government informed the bench that it has already ordered an inquiry by the district and sessions judge, Bastar, into the incident and the notification in this regard was issued yesterday.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the state government, however, sought liberty from the court to persuade Chief Minister Raman Singh to order an inquiry by a Chhattisgarh High Court judge.

Salve said this was necessary considering the sensitivity of the incident and because of the different versions about it."Notwithstanding any advice he (the Chief Minister) may be getting, I will ask him to consider appointing a High Court judge for holding inquiry into the incident," Salve along with advocate Atul Jha said, adding that it was required as the conflicting versions were coming out in media about the incident as the society was divided into pro and anti-Maoist groups.They alleged that the police has recorded the speech of Agnivesh which was "pro-Maoist." "We don't go by media reports," the bench said, asking the state government to file an affidavit.

Earlier, advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan placed an affidavit on behalf of Agnivesh and said Salwa Judum was still active and the Chief Minister was indulging in double speak as no FIR has been lodged against any of its members as per the recommendation of the NHRC.The advocate said the state government should also consider the report of Harsh Mander, who has been appointed as Commissioner on Food Security by the apex court to visit the villages of Tadmetla, Morapalli and Timapuram in Chhattisgarh where food scarcity and hunger deaths were reported.It was during the visit to these villages Agnivesh was allegedly attacked by some people whom he claimed were members of Salwa Judum and special police officers.

He had visited the villages after reports appeared that several houses were destroyed and some women were allegedly raped by the security forces.The apex court has been monitoring the steps taken by the state government to disband Salwa Judum and also the measures taken by it for the relief and rehabilitation of the tribals who are caught in the crossfire between the Maoists and the security forces.It has also asked the authorities to free schools and ashrams from the occupation of the security forces

CWG scam: CBI searches at 20 premises

CBI carried out searches at 20 premises of DDA and CPWD officers besides that of a private firm in connection with alleged irregularities in laying of synthetic turf for lawn bowl event during the Commonwealth Games.The teams of agency officials, after registering a fresh case under the section 120-B of criminal conspiracy of IPC and relevant provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, swooped down at the locations here and in the National Capital Region, official sources said.Official and residential premises of several DDA and CPWD officials besides that of private company Jubilee Sports Private Limited are being searched by the agency, they said.This is the ninth case in connection with the alleged irregularities in the conduct of Commonwealth Games in New Delhi which were held during October 3-14 last year.

Kapil Sibal Inaugurates Electronics & Information Technology Exposition “E-Governance:

Information Communication Technology can play big role in effective governance and impressive delivery of public services. A number of initiatives in this regard have been taken by the Government. National e- Governance Plan (NeGP) and UID Project (Adhar) have the potential to change the way we feel and interact with the government. This was stated by Shri Kapil Sibal, the Minister of Communications & Information Technology, here today while inaugurating the two day Electronics & Information Technology Exposition (ELITEX-2011).The Minister said that 90,000 Common Service Centers (CSCs) in 31 states have already been established under NeGP and another 150,000 Common Service Centers are planned to be set up in next 3 years. With this every Village Panchayat will have a Common Service Center to provide a host of services through internet, on other hand, Adhar will help Government in identifying the correct beneficiary of government’s developmental and social security schemes, he added.

The theme of the discussion sessions at ELITEX-2011 is “e-Governance: Public Services Closer Home”.This exposition includes sessions on Empowerment through M-Governance, Cyber Security – Evolving Threats and Counter Measures, Challenges of Multilingual Web Services, Convergence Communications & Broadband Technologies, Shared Platforms for e-Governance, Government Service Delivery using ICT, Indigenous Initiatives – A Glimpse, Nano-electronics Infrastructure, Capacity Building & Technology Development, ICT for Common Man and Technologies in e-Governance.

Exposition will among other things deliberate on leveraging of emerging technologies – M-Governance and Shared Platforms for enabling public services. Mobile platform can be used for delivery of a wide variety of electronic services such as filing/receipt of applications for government services, identification and authentication of applicants, payment of fees for government services, tracking of status of applications, etc. Rapidly expanding user base of mobile phones in India can also be exploited for fostering financial inclusion using mobile banking technologies, especially in rural areas. The session would focus on these and other relevant areas.

Shri Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology, Shri R Chandrashekhar, Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Shri Shankar Aggarwal, Additional Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Dr. B K Gairola, DG , National Informatics Center and other senior officers from DIT were also present.

India win ICC World Cup 2011

Board of Control for Cricket in India, BCCI has announced cash reward worth one crore rupees for each player of the Indian team. Cricket coach Gary Kirsten and other support staff will get 50 lakh rupees each as reward for their contribution, while the selectors will be given 25 lakh rupees each.Media agenies
India win ICC World Cup 2011

2011-04-03 08:38:11 - Nksagar-Sagar Media Inc:With young blood showing their performance in tandem with star of Indian legendary players on their side India beat Sri Lanka with convincing gamesmanship on Saturday night regained the coveted World Cup after span of 28 years suppressed Sri Lanka with a six-wicket victory in a nerve-wrecking final to script a glorious new chapter in their cricketing annals.

Indians held their nerves as they rode on Gautam Gambhir's 97 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni's unbeaten 91 to overhaul the target with 10 balls to spare and send the cricket-crazy nation into a frenzy. The vociferous, jam-packed crowd at the Wankhede stadium erupted in wild celebrations as Dhoni hit the winning six runs to give India their biggest cricketing moment
and crown themselves the ODI world champions, in addition to being the number one Test team. The World Cup title triumph, coming as it did after more than two decades, was doubly special for Sachin Tendulkar since it was the only silverware missing from his collection. It was also a fitting farewell to coach Gary Kirsten, for whom it was the last day in office as the Indian coach.

It was a momentous Saturday night marked by high emotion and poignant scenes as India, for long the game's financial power, stamped their supremacy on the field as well, eight years after Sourav Ganguly's team had made an abortive attempt to scale the pinnacle. The players, many of them with tears in their eyes, rushed to the ground to hug each other as Dhoni finished it off in style by hitting a six, as fire crackers lit up the evening sky to mark the moment. The highlight of the Lankan innings was Mahela Jayawardene's rollicking 103 as Sri Lanka capitalised on the batting powerplay to post a decent 274 for six.

Electing to bat after winning the toss, Jayawardene used his vast experience to good effect and anchored the Lankan innings together. The islanders, desperate to regain the coveted cup after nearly 15 years, lost wickets at regular intervals against the Indians, who were spurred on by a vociferous jam-packed crowd. The Indian bowlers were disciplined in the first half of the innings but conceded as many as 63 runs in the batting powerplay to undo all the good work. Apart from Jayawardene's 88-ball knock, captain Kumar Sangakkara (48) Tillakaratne Dilshan (33) and Nuwan Kulasekara (32) were the other notable performers.

The Indian innings began on a disastrous note as the destructive Virender Sehwag was dismissed in the very second ball of the innings with paceman Lasith Malinga scalping the prized wicket. Sehwag was hit on the pads by an incoming delivery by Malinga as he went for a flick. Umpire Aleem Dar ruled him out before he asked for review but television replays showed that the ball would have hit the stumps. Tendulkar, playing in what probably is his last World Cup game, entertained his home crowd with a couple of delightful boundaries while Gambhir also looked for runs at the other end. The Indians suffered a huge jolt went Malinga struck again by dismissing the champion batsman as he snicked an away-going delivery and captain Sangakkara latched on to a low catch. A hushed silence descended on the Wankhede stadium as he started his walk back to the pavilion.

Gambhir drove Kulasekara for a boundary in the extra cover region to notch up 4000 ODI runs while Virat Kohli also pulled the bowler to the boundary in the same over. Gambhir was lucky to get a reprieve in spinner Suraj Randiv's first over when Kulasekara dropped him at the long off region. The third-wicket pair of Gambhir and Kohli put on 83 runs before Dilshan broke the partnership by taking a brilliant acrobatic return catch.

The out-of-form Dhoni came ahead of Yuvraj to keep the left-right combination going and was immediately given two 'lives' by the Lankans -- first Sangakkara messing up a stumping chance off Muralitharan and then Dilshan dropping a return catch as he collided with non-striker Gambhir.

Dhoni, however, made the most of the Sri Lankan lapses to rediscover his form which had deserted him in the mega event. Dhoni and Gambhir scored at a brisk pace to keep India in the hunt. The pair stitched 109 runs for the fourth wicket before Gambhir paid the price for a horrendous stroke, just three runs short of what would have been a well-deserved century.

Gambhir made room to cut the ball but missed it completely to see his stumps dislodged. Earlier, both the Indian new ball bowlers bowled a tidy line and length and did not allow the Sri Lankan openers to get off to a flying start while the fielding was also sharp. Pace spearhead Zaheer's first three overs were maidens and that put some pressure on the two Lankan openers who were not being able to capitalise on the powerplay overs.

Dilshan broke the stranglehold by hitting the first boundary of the innings in the 5th over by pulling Sreesanth to the square leg fence. In the same over, he produced a delightful cut to the point for his second boundary. Tharanga looked completely out of sorts at the other end as he found it difficult to find the gaps as Zaheer bowled a searching length right through his opening spell.

Zaheer drew first blood in his fourth over by evicting Tharanga with an outgoing delivery and Virender Sehwag holding on to diving catch at first slip much to the delight of a capacity crowd at the stadium. Tharanga scored just two runs off 20 balls. The Lankans could manage just 31 runs in the first ten overs, their lowest in the tournament. That was largely because of Zaheer's excellent first spell of 5-3-6-1.

Dilshan and Sangakkara put on 43 runs for the second wicket before Harbhajan Singh struck for his team by getting rid of Dilshan (33), who scored 500 runs in the tournament. Dilshan went for a sweep but the ball hit his gloves and lobbed onto his stumps to trigger off wild celebrations in the galleries. Sangakkara and Jayawardene then took upon themselves the task of rebuilding the innings and the duo scored at a decent pace to steer the team to a comfortable position.

Yuvraj Singh, who had a dream tournament with both the bat and the ball, was introduced into the attack in the 22nd over but the two experienced batsmen were not really troubled by his left arm spin. It was Yuvraj who finally broke the 62-run third wicket partnership which was assuming dangerous proportions by dismissing Sangakkara who tried to cut a wide ball outside the off stump but only succeeded in edging the ball to Dhoni behind the stump. His knock of 48 came off 67 balls and contained five boundaries.

It was left to the well-settled Jayawardene to hold the innings together and he found an able ally in Thilan Samaraweera to take the Sri Lankan total close to the 180 mark. Yuvraj was again instrumental in breaking the fourth- wicket partnership by accounting for Samaraweera. Umpire Simon Taufel turned down the leg before appeal but the Indians went for the referral and television replays showed that the ball would have hit the stumps.

New batsman Chamara Kapugedera did not survive long as he offered a simple catch to Suresh Raina at extra cover off a slower delivery from Zaheer, leaving the visitors in a spot of bother at 182 for five. Jayawardene and Nuwan Kulasekara then teamed up ensure that Sri Lanka had a competitive total on the board as they went about accumulating runs in the batting powerplay, which was taken in the last five overs.
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been declared man of the match and Yuvraj Singh has been adjudged played of the tournament. Triumphant Indian captain Dhoni said that they had set their eyes on the coveted goal a couple of years ago and wanted to keep key players fit and in form.An emotional Sachin Tendulkar admitted that it was the proudest day of his life. Tendulkar who did a lap of honour on shoulder of his teammates said that there were tears in his eyes once Dhoni hit that six.After playing a major role in India's World Cup title triumph, Yuvraj Singh revealed that he wanted to win the title for Sachin
Tendulkar.An emotional Gautam Gambhir also said that the World Cup win is for Sachin Tendulkar.Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara said, India's batting strength is such that even a total of 300 would not have been enough to defend
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Munaf Patel.

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Mahela Jayawardene, Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Kapugedera, Suraj Randiv, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan.

Umpires: Simon Taufel (AUS) and Aleem Dar (PAK)
TV umpire: Ian Gould (ENG)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)

AIRASIA X Celebrates 1st flight into Christchurch

AIRASIA X PLEDGES RM500,000 (NZD220,000) TO EARTHQUAKE HERITAGE RESTORATION: Celebrates 1st flight into Christchurch with more low fare offers!
CHRISTCHURCH, 2 April 2011- AirAsia X, the Malaysian based long-haul low fare affiliate of AirAsia celebrates the first flight into Christchurch at a ceremony held at the Westfield Mall in the city today. Following the arrival of its inaugural flight, D7 2754 with over 85% passenger load to New Zealand last night on the A330 aircraft, AirAsia announced it will donate a percentage of each ticket purchased by every passenger travelling to and from New Zealand to help fund the restoration of some of the Christchurch’s most iconic buildings.“We’ve set a target of raising RM500,000 (NZD220,000) and expect to reach the target within 12 months,” says AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani.“We thank our guests for all the support and hope this financial gesture will assist in some way to restore Christchurch’s heritage icons.”

Famous for being the world’s fastest growing low-cost airline, the AirAsia group continues to buck global airline trends and in 2010 reported a RM 1 billion (NZD 434 million) profit.Late last year Christchurch International Airport announced the airline was adding Christchurch to its 150-destination network, a move that AirAsia and Tourism New Zealand estimate will introduce 70,000 new visitors to New Zealand in the first year of operation – nearly half that which will be achieved by the Rugby World Cup.Azran said “ the airline’s shareholders and management were united in their desire to contribute in some way to the Christchurch’s recovery initiatives as well as offer New Zealander’s low fares to the destinations it flies to and use Kuala Lumpur as a gateway to South East Asia and beyond.”

“It made sense to contribute to preserving some of the things that almost every traveler to the South Island takes a photo of. The image presented by the Arts Centre, the Cathedral and other beautiful historic buildings is not only central to the city’s tourism image, when fully restored they will become an enduring reminder of the community’s remarkable resilience.” Severely damaged by the 22 February earthquake, Christchurch’s Anglican Cathedral alone is estimated to cost tens of millions to strengthen and reconstruct.The mayor of Christchurch, Mr. Bob Parker said, “We are very pleased to have AirAsia X begin flights to Christchurch and delighted that they have made this financial commitment to assist with the earthquake heritage restoration. We are very much looking forward to working closely alongside the airline as a tourism partner and as a newly arrived member of the Christchurch community.”Says Azran: “We believe every traveler arriving in Christchurch will be proud to have helped in some small way in Christchurch’s recovery and, in turn, this is linked to our commitment to the city.
“Contributing to putting up some bricks and mortar is something tactile and real. All AirAsia visitors will know they have left behind something that is special and long-lasting.”To mark the arrival of the first flight, AirAsia X is offering an unbelievable promotional all-in Economy fare from as low as RM*499 (NZD279*) one way and all-in Premium fare from as low as RM1799 (NZD799) one way from Kuala Lumpur to Christchurch for the booking period from 1 to 5 April, 2011 for the travel period from 11 November 2010 to 29 February, 2011.

“Fly Thru” connecting low fares are also available for guests departing Christchurch to popular AirAsia X destinations to India (Delhi, Mumbai), China (Chengdu), France (Paris), Uk (Stansted), and Taiwan (Taipei) from as low as RM1030* (NZD429*) one way for the same booking and travel period.And to top the icing on the cake, the airline is offering a 24hour sale of 15% off on all seats, all flights to all AirAsia X destinations for guests only departing from Christchurch to Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), India (Delhi, Mumbai), China (Chengdu), Taiwan (Taipei), France (Paris), and UK (Stansted). The 24 hours sale is available online from 4th (0000 NZDT) to 5th (0000NDZT) April, 2011 for travel between 1 August 2011 to 29 February 2012. This 24 Hour sale is not applicable for the RM 499* (NZD279*) and “Fly Thru” connecting promotion.

Promotional seats are limited and available on first-come, first-served basis and made exclusively available online via www.airasia.com.

Sonia appreciates Gogoi govt

Assam has changed "tremendously" in the last ten years and peace and development is returning to the state, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said.

"The situation changed tremendously during the last ten years of Congress rule under Tarun Gogoi, with peace and development returning to the state and schemes being speedily implemented," Gandhi told an election rally at Neelam Bazaar in Karimganj district.She said, "The state was in an all-round mess ten years ago when the AGP was in power with even government employees not getting salaries and people were not able to go out of their homes because of poor law and order."

The Congress government in the state has laid stress on education as the party considers it an investment for the children's future, the UPA chairperson said.
The state government has already given computers to children who secured first division in the matric examination and cycles to girl students of class VIII so that they could go to school without any difficulty, she said."The Congress also proposes to set up a Barak Valley Engineering College and a Polytechnic Institute in Karimganj, she said.Gandhi arrived to address three election rallies at Karimganj, Bokajan and Khumtai going to polls in the first phase on April four.