Sachin rested, Yuvraj dropped, Tiwary new face in Asia Cup squad

New Delhi, Jun 7 (UNI) National selectors today dropped all rounders Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan, while Sachin Tendulkar was rested from the 15-member squad for the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka starting next week.

Tendulkar had requested the BCCI not to consider him for the four-nation tournament saying that he needed to be with his family, and the selectors through their decision accepted the master blaster's request.

''Tendulkar requested the board not to consider him for the Asia Cup as he wanted to spend time with his children in view of the hectic cricket season ahead,'' BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni would lead the Indian side in four nation tournament involving Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh in Sri Lanka from June 15 to 24.

Continuous disappointing performances from Singh and Pathan left the selectors with no option but to axe them as they laid stress on fitness and form of the players.

Mumbai Indian's 20-year-old left-hand batsman Saurabh Tiwary was rewarded for his brilliant performance in the IPL-3 as he became the lone new face in the team. While Ashok Dinda, Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha were given another chance in the team.

Wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik and leg-spinner Amit Mishra failed to get berths in the Asia Cup squad.

Delhi's prolific batsman Virender Sehwag, who was out due to a shoulder injury and also missed ICC Twenty20 World Cup, made his return to the team.

''A lot of stress was given on the feilding and fitness of the players. We have gone through the record of last one year and put lot of stress on it. In recent past, we lost some matches or struggled in some because of poor fielding,'' chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth told reporters.

Srikkanth said that consistency also played a significant role in team selection.

''We have given lot of stress on consistent performance. Apart from the seniors, we have blooded some youngsters as well so that they know what international cricket is all about,'' he noted.

Skipper Dhoni also gave his inputs during the meeting, he added.

Seniors, who were rested during the tri-series in Zimbabwe - pacer Zaheer Khan, opener Gautam Gambhir and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh - were also included in the team.

Lanky medium pacer Ishant Sharma continued to evade selector's look.

Mumbai all-rounder Abhishek Nayar and Uttar Pradesh medium pacer Sudeep Tyagi who played against South Africa in a home series, also did not find favour from selectors.

Indian squad for Asia Cup 2010: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Ashok Dinda, Ravichandran Ashwin, Saurabh Tiwary.

Congress inefficient in curbing price rise: Vijender Gupta

New Delhi, May 15 (UNI) A day after his appointment as the president of Delhi unit of BJP, Mr Vijender Gupta today lambasted the Sheila Dikshit government for its inefficiency in controlling the price rise and its insensitivity towards people.

''There is an arrogance in the conduct of the Congress government in Delhi. I would advise them to abandon this arrogance and work for the betterment of the people,'' he said at a press conference here.

Charging the state government of indulging in dirty politics while dealing with the MCD and other local bodies, Mr Gupta asked them to provide support and financial help to the same.

He alleged that the Delhi Government was not giving requisite support to MCD in pursuit of political gains, thus hampering the developmental work in the city.

''The politics of the government in dealing with the MCD has impacted developmental work and provision of facilities to the common man,'' he said.

Talking about his priorities as the chief of the Delhi BJP, Mr Gupta said his endeavour would be fight the war of the common man against the insensitivity of the Sheila Dikshit government.

Mr Gupta warned that if the CM continues with her attitude, the BJP would be forced to come out on streets.

The focus of the BJP would be on price rise of essential commodities in recent months, which he said was the biggest issue today.

Criticising in this context, the Rs four difference in the prices of Diesel in Delhi as compared to the neighbouring state Haryana, Mr Gupta said the hike was reflective of the Delhi government's callousness towards the common man.

Mr Gupta's alleviation to the post of Delhi BJP chief is being seen as an attempt to present the youth face of the party.

''His appointment as the Delhi BJP chief will lend more energy and vigour to the party,'' outgoing Delhi BJP chief O P Kohli said.

Though the decision raised many eyebrows in the party leadership and many senior leaders, including Vijay Goel and Nand Kishore Garg remained absent, it has also been seen by many as BJP's attempt to woo the youth towards the party.

Replying to a question about prevailing fractionalism in the party, Mr Gupta said the BJP always believed in working collectively and followed a democratic path in its conduct.

''I have been given this job only after taking seniors into confidence,'' he said.

''There will be no bossism in the party. I will work as a convenor and try to create a balance between seniors and youths in the party,'' he added.

He also said the women, Dalit, Minority, Backward Classes and other regional groups would be given preference.

Emphasising the need to do result-oriented work for the people, the newly appointed president said the performance of the activists would be the only criteria for giving higher responsibilities to members in the party.

The youth wing of party also welcomed the party's decision to give Delhi's command into the hands of a young leader. Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) president Anuj Sharma and state general secretary Sunil Yadav noted that since the percentage of youths in the country was very high, appointment of a young president would attract youth towards the party.

Due to death of former Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the celebration at the party's state headquarters was kept to the minimum.

Hang Afzal, don't insult martyrs: BJP

New Delhi, May 19 (UNI) Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta today demanded that the process of execution of the Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru be expedited as any delay was an insult to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sovereignty of the country.

''Not hanging the terrorists like Afzal Guru is an insult to the security personnel who sacrificed their lives during the attack to save us and the sovereignty of our country,'' Mr Gupta said, addressing BJP Minority Morcha activists, who staged a protest demonstration at Parliament Street here on the issue.

Braving the scorching heat in the Capital, the activists raised slogans against the Delhi government, accusing it of delaying its reply on the mercy petition filed by Afzal.

He also claimed that it was BJP's 48-hour ultimatum that forced the Sheila Dikshit Government to file its reply.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Vijay Kumar Malhotra expressed concern over government's dilly-dallying on the issue.

He said, ''Giving an excuse that it will affect the law and order situation in the country is shameful.''

''They have lakhs of security personnel in the country to maintain the law and order situation. The only thing they lack
is will to take steps,'' he added.

BJP national vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, ''Terrorism has no religion and we should not see a terrorist as a Hindu or Muslim. If Afzal is hanged it will be the death of a terrorist not a Muslim.''

Saying that BJP does not look at terrorism through the prism of religion, Delhi BJP Minority Morcha president Atif Rashid alleged the Congress was sending a wrong message to people that Afzal is a Muslim not a terrorist.

''We will not give an inch of land for the burial of Afzal. His body will be sent to Pakistan, where he belongs to,'' Mr Atif stated.

Police was forced to use water cannons on the aggressive protestors as they tried to cross the barricades and detained many people for violating restrictions.

Govt school teacher clears IAS exam against all odds

New Delhi, May 7 (UNI) Monica Rani, a school teacher who hadto balance between taking care of her three-year-old child and her job, now finds that she has cleared the Civil Services examination.

It is all the more commendable as she did it without any special coaching and took care of her child single-handedly asher husband is posted in Kolkata.

''It is amazing. It was a difficult journey for me. I have athree-year-old child to take care of. I did not take coaching,despite that the result is amazing,'' Ms Rani told UNI. It was her third and last attempt for the prestigious civilservices.

''Many a times it had come to my mind that I should abandon mypursuit as it was too demanding for me. But I continued and finally with god's grace I succeeded,'' she said.

A Commerce graduate and a Masters degree holder in Economics, MsRani teaches Economics to 11th and 12th standard in a GovernmentGirls School in Bijwasan here. She took up History and Philosophy as her subjects of preference for the Indian Administrative Service(IAS) examination.

''Actually I used to teach History to students of sixth to tenth standard till 2008. It consolidated my base for the history. So Idecided to take up History as one of the two subjects,'' Ms Rani stated.

And about the second subject she said, ''I got interested in Philosophy during my pregnancy. I used to read Philosophy books and found them very interesting. So this way I decided on Philosophy as second subject,'' she added.

The success was hard earned for the 29-year-old woman as she started her day early in the morning. After coming back from school in the afternoon, she took care of her child. After completing all her chores, she hardly got 3-4 hours to study in a day.

''Before the exams, I sent my child to my mother's place, took leave from school and studied for 12-14 hours a day,'' Ms Rani said.

Her husband works in an IT company and has been posted in Kolkatafor the last three years.

She was ranked 70 in the Civil Services examination but it hardlyshows the efforts and sacrifices she had put in her pursuit of success.

Discoms say running into losses, demand 'cost reflective tariff'

New Delhi, May 6 (UNI) The discoms today denied reports of their earning profit in the year 2009-10 and demanded from the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) to provide them 'cost reflective tariff' so that their losses can be minimised.

A day after the reports of discoms (private power distributioncompanies) earning 'healthy surplus' emerged in the media, NorthDelhi Power Limited, BSES Yamuna Power Limited and BSES RajdhaniPower Limited today called upon a press meet to clarify how it wasbeing misinterpreted as the truth was that they were actuallyrunning into losses.

NDPL CEO Sunil Wadhwa explained, ''The figures were based on the accrued accounting system which included the yet to be recoveredrevenue through future tariffs to be fixed by DERC.''

The Rs 716 crore profit by NDPL during '09-10 included Rs 671 crore which were yet to be recovered. Thus, only Rs 45 crore is available with us to meet other expenses including employee costs and arrears paid for sixth pay commission, repair and maintenance expenses incurred, repayment of loans, interests and income tax, Mr Wadhwa said.

Replying to a question that what they want to communicate to the government, Mr Wadhwa stated, ''It is my duty to tell people that these could be the consequences and I would be grateful if you could tell me how to run this company at current tariff.''

Saying that due to non-completion of power projects on time, BYPL CEO Ramesh Narayanan said, ''We are buying expensive power from other distributors so that we can provide 24 hour power supply to our consumers.'' ''And we had a clear-cut instructions from DERC to buy power at higher rate,'' he added.

''The cost of purchasing of power for us was Rs 3.19 per unit but the tarrif given to us by the DERC was Rs 2.45 per unit. Based on Rs 2.45 per unit they are saying we have earned profit but we have actually spent Rs 3.19 per unit,'' Mr Narayanan said.

Demanding that the tariff should be cost reflective, he said ''if the government pay us on the basis of cost incurred by us then there would be no problem.''

''We have no money. We have it only on papers and the generator of power would not supply power on the basis of papers,'' the BYPL CEO stated.

Saying that it is difficult to run companies on present tariff, he asserted optimism that the government would definitely hear their plea and something would certainly be done in this regard.

Prithvi Raj Sawhney new Mayor; CWG, clean & green Delhi priority

New Delhi, Apr 30 (UNI) BJP councillor from Janak Puri (South) ward Prithvi Raj Sawhney today became Mayor of Delhi after defeating Congress' Tulsi Ram Sablania by a huge margin of 90 votes in a one sided contest.

Mr Sawhney secured 178 votes out of 275 total votes polled in the election while his nearest rival Mr Sablania managed only 88 votes. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Hari Chand Kardamwithdrew his nomination just before the commencement of the election procedure.

Mr Sawhney will replace his party colleague, the incumbent Mayor Kanwar Sain at the coveted post.

Mr Sawhney, a former teacher, has been holding the post of Chairman of Education Committee of Municipal Corporation of Delhi since his re-election in 2007.

He also remained Member of the MCD from 1997-2002 and heldvarious important posts including that of Chairman, Standing Committee,Conservancy, Sanitation and Engineering and Health Committee.

Before entering into politics, he had taught in Jammu College and in different schools of Directorate of Education for 30 years.

Addressing mediapersons, Delhi's first citizen MrSawhney said, ''I have been elected in a very important year not only for Delhi but also for the whole nation as Commonwealth Games will be organised in the Capital.''

Saying that the successful organisation of CWG is a question of prestige for the country, he urged the Delhi government to be more supportive.

''If needed, we will meet Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and LtGovernor Tajendra Khanna for their support to make the Gamessuccessful. Seventy per cent of the workin Delhi is to be done by the Corporation for which we expectsupport from the Chief Minister,'' he stated.

The Mayor also kept clean and green Delhi on top of his priority list as he asserted that it was the responsibility of the civic body and ''we will fulfill our responsibility.''

Congress-led UPA more interested in IPL than BPL: BJP

New Delhi, Apr 21 (UNI) Continuing its tirade against the murky IPL dealings, the BJP today criticised the Congress-led UPA government for ''being more interested in Cricket than the problems of commons''.

''The Congress-led UPA is more worried about IPL than BPL (Below Poverty Line). Their ministers are more interested in looking after Cricket than working for the uplift of poor in the country,'' Former BJP president Rajnath Singh said while addressing a huge gathering of people at Ramlila Ground here.

The government has become ''Incompetent Political League'', he added. Former Union Human Resource Minister Murli Manohar Joshi also took the government to task on the issue of involvement of itsleaders in the IPL.

''The leaders of the UPA government are busy in the game instead of necessary things which have direct relation with the lives of people,'' Mr Joshi said.