The Daily Indian

Patrice Evra has claimed he would relish the prospect of coming up against Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.

The Manchester United defender kept Arsenal’s Theo Walcott quiet in last night’s Champions League semi-final, first leg at Old Trafford and has backed himself to do the same with the tricky Argentinian should they meet in the final.

Evra said: “I can play against a player like Messi, I don’t fear anybody, I just play my game.

“But it’s too soon to start thinking about that. We have to play well in the second leg at Arsenal and then we can start to think about our dream.

“I watched the other semi-final and Chelsea defended very well and have given themselves a good chance at Stamford Bridge.”

Evra believes United can expect a sterner test from the Gunners in the return leg at the Emirates, but that it would be a mistake to view his duel with Walcott as being decisive.

The French full-back added: “The most important thing is the team and not me against Walcott, for example. I was not focused on that.

“Arsenal will attack more on Tuesday – I think [Robin] van Persie will be back and they need to win – but we need to go there with the aim of winning, rather than just trying to keep a clean sheet.”

Evra was disappointed United only emerged with a 1-0 victory from the first leg.

“Before the game, 1-0 looked a good result but, on the performance, I think 1-0 is not enough because we created a lot of chances – maybe four or five – and scored only one of them, so I’m disappointed about that,” said Evra.

“We played well and Arsenal could do nothing against us. Now we need to do the same at the Emirates and we can get to the final.

“The performance was good but I think it’s still 50-50.

“Congratulations to (Gunners goalkeeper) Manuel Almunia because, if he was not there, we could have won 4-0. Let’s hope he doesn’t have the same performance in the next game.”

‘Slumdog Millionaire’ actress Freida Pinto has added another feather to her already laden cap by featuring in People magazine’s list of most beautiful women, which was topped by Christina Applegate.

Pinto, a former model, who became an overnight sensation thanks to her turn in the Oscar-winning film has already featured in a similar list, compiled by Vanity Fair magazine.

The 24-year-old Indian beauty who is currently in Israel shooting for her second film ‘Miral, was previously feted as one of the world’s best dressed woman by fashion bible Vogue.

While the list was topped by 37-year-old Applegate, Oscar-winning actress and new mother Halle Berry came in second. Another ‘yummy mummy’ on the list was Christina Aguilera who bagged the sixth spot, one place ahead of Pinto who occupied the seventh slot.

Angelina Jolie was the last name on the list which also featured Michelle Obama.

The list which was dominated by women, also had a few male beauties thrown in like ‘High School Musical’ star Zac Effron, British actor Robert Pattinson and Channing Tatum.

Islamabad, Apr 30: Pakistan was reported to be moving troops from its border with India to boost its military campaign against Taliban in the restive NWFP, which has been meeting with fierce resistance as after two days of fighting militants continued to retain their hold on most of the Buner district.

The New York Times reported that Pakistan was moving 6,000 troops (more than a brigade) to fight militants on its western border with Afghanistan, quoting a Pakistani official who did not want to be identified.

Pakistan military, advancing on three fronts backed by fighter aircraft and attack helicopters in Buner, snatched the vital 8-km-long Ambela heights which overlook most of the Buner. In fierce encounters so far, at least 120 militants have been killed.

The military campaign, launched under intense US pressure, came as President Asif Ali Zardari appealed to the nation to stand behind the current offensive against Islamic extremists.

Pakistani troops claimed making advances in Buner, just 100 km from the federal capital, after inflicting “huge” casualties on the Taliban, who retaliated using suicide bombers to strike back on the security forces, the chief military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said.

New Delhi, Apr 30: In the midst of expectations of inflation turning negative, it rose to 0.57 per cent, the increase being for the second consecutive week, on the back of costlier food and other items, but still remained close to a three-decade low.

Inflation rose by 0.31 percentage points for the week ended April 18 over the previous week, despite a high base effect of 8.23 per cent during the corresponding week of last year.

“The increase in inflation over the previous week is due to food prices, which have been showing some rise and the rise was expected,” the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman, Suresh Tendulkar, said.

However, during the Lok Sabha elections, currently under way, rising food prices have remained overshadowed in the campaigning of parties because of issues like Bofors, terror and the Supreme Court’s order for inquiry into the role of some politicians during the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.

Besides food prices, manufactured and fuel items turned costlier during the week. On a weekly basis, food articles found in raw form rose 0.6 per cent, but turned expensive by 7.39 per cent year-on-year.

Prices of manufactured food items were up 1.9 per cent week-on-week, but rose 11.38 per cent on a yearly basis.

Many analysts had predicted inflation to turn negative by the end of last fiscal.

Guus Hiddink has hailed captain John Terry as the inspiration behind Chelsea’s superb defensive display in Barcelona.

The Blues held firm in the face of sustained pressure to secure a 0-0 draw at the Nou Camp in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against the Catalan giants.

Barcelona had scored in every home games this season – having last been held at home by Manchester United at the same stage of last year’s competition.

Frank Rijkaard was still Barca coach then and they have been a different prospect since he was replaced by Pep Guardiola in the summer.

However, they were kept at bay by a Chelsea backline marshalled superbly by the “inspirational” Terry.

“He was inspiring, an example for the rest of the team,” Chelsea coach Hiddink said after the match.

“You have to play courageously and play with a lot of intelligence against Barcelona, you cannot just play a tough game.

“This team has a lot of courage and a lot of blood, mentally it was great performance,” he added.

Hiddink also praised the contribution of goalkeeper Petr Cech, who began shakily but made great saves to deny Thierry Henry, Dani Alves and Samuel Eto’o.

“He did a good job defensively, he intervened in one or two situations and he saved the game for us,” he said.

The Dutch coach predicted on Monday Jose Bosingwa would thwart Lionel Messi and the Dutchman was pleased with the Portuguese full-back’s contribution on the night.

“Bosingwa did a good job and got good help from Malouda on the left. Also, when Messi moved inside, he got help from Terry,” he said.

Hiddink was even happier with the collective defensive performance of his side and, despite failing to score an away goal, declared himself happy with the result.

“We are pleased with the result,” he continued.

“If you look at the recent history of Barca, you will see it is a long time since they last failed to score in a home game.

“That’s quite an achievement against a beautiful team who play beautiful football.

“We were disciplined tactically and technically, I think we didn’t keep possession well in the first half, gave too many balls away, but in the second half we did a lot better.

“The result is a compliment to the team, achieved in a very difficult circumstances.”

Hiddink believes the tie is now very much in the balance ahead of the return match at Stamford Bridge on May 6.

“In the next game there is big advantage for either side, nothing is decided, we got a good result against a good team,” he added.

Messi was expected to shine for the Catalans but was kept quiet following a lively start and Hiddink was pleased with how his team coped with the Argentinian’s threat from the right.

“He was neutralised tactically tonight, we coped well,” he said.

Majority of the Indians live in the most inhuman conditions…

Prasoon S Majumdar

The issue of housing in the Indian context has such a phenomenal potential that tactical campaigning for it alone could bring any political party to power. But then if manifestos are any indication then one can say for sure that most of the political parties do not think likewise. For, when it comes to this basic necessity, India experiences one of the biggest paradoxes. Amidst all the modern buildings, luxury housing colonies and massive mansions, there is a beeline of slums and wrecked houses. The same city (Mumbai) that boasts of having the world’s most expensive private property worth nothing less than $2 billion and having an interior area of 4,00,000 square feet (sq ft) also has Asia’s largest slum which is home to 1 million people. Almost every year, successive Governments in their respective budgets have been announcing budgets for housing development. But then, in spite of thousands of crores being spent, hundreds of surveys and numerous policies notwithstanding, India continues to fail in providing basic dignified living to its people.

When it comes to housing, it’s just not that only homeless live in deserted conditions. Even those who have homes are not better off in any way. The fact fortifies when one goes through recent National Sample Survey Organisation’s (NSSOs) data. The survey reveals that around 32 per cent of urban houses are with area less than 258 sq ft with, on an average, 4.3 people living in a single house. The same can be reiterated for rural houses with an area of 312 sq ft and an average family of 4.8 persons. The personal living space is not even enough for one person to spread his legs comfortably. On an average, Indian houses have personal living space of less than 11.7 sq ft that includes living, sleeping, cooking and toilet!! Contrast India’s average housing area with that of US jails. Even a convict in the US gets more breathing space than what an Indian gets in his home (going by researches, a prisoner in the US jails gets a personal space of 60 sq ft with all basic amenities).

It is said that with time and economic development, the living standard of a nation also gets upgraded, but then nothing like that seem to happen in India. On the contrary things have been on a constant deterioration. Since independence, in spite of Indians moving out of cramped houses, the proportion of Indians residing in homes with an area less than 100 sq ft has increased manifold. Not just that, unlike US and other developed countries’ jails, where the convicts have access to basic living conditions, Indians have to struggle for that too. Around 60 per cent of rural households do not have access to electricity. As per World Bank reports, no city in India – till date – has been able to provide non-stop water supply to its people. Even the condition of sanitation is in complete tatters. Open toilets and open defecation is a common phenomenon as around 700 million Indians do not have access to proper sanitation.

Housing has always been an agenda on politico or socio forums. But even then nothing has been done with respect to converting slums into low-cost dignified homes. Shamefully, while convicts in the US enjoy better living conditions, even after committing heinous crimes, majority of the Indians have to spend their life in inhuman conditions without any faults of theirs’! And more shameful is the fact that this is yet not a concern for most of the leading political parties of the country! After all why would those who get exotic villas with uninterrupted power supply to stay in after winning elections would bother about the homeless?

(Prasoon S Majumdar is Editor Economic Affairs of Planman Media)

There might be ample reasons to blame the US for its imperialistic policies and United Nations for being weak and non transparent but if scrutinised, there are innumerable reasons for praising them too. The US and UN are often blamed for being too interventionist but the truth that should not be ignored is that their interventions somehow and somewhere have worked in favour of building nations, to a greater extent! It is said that peace and prosperity can’t be gifted – they can only be earned. But, for all those countries who failed to claim the same, the world should not forget how hard the US and UN have strived to help them in fetching the same. However, the US and UN are distinct in their approaches when it comes to their nation building operations. For instance, the US invades a country while the UN never does it.

US operations are very expensive compare to operations run by UN. UN spends $4 billion every year currently in its 17 nation building operations worldwide which is equal to one month’s spending of the US in Iraq. But howsoever different approaches they adopt, they have had significant contributions. The US endeavour in stabilising and democratising Germany and Japan during the Cold War era is outstandingly praiseworthy. History testifies how hard US fought to save Germany from anarchy. Japan was another challenge which made US realise that defeating emperors was easier than rebuilding and reconstructing a nation. It later formed two global bodies – Far Eastern Commission and Allied Council for Japan to engage elite countries for development of Japan and make sure that all of the surrender terms made in the Potsdam Agreement were fulfilled. The rest is history of how Japan emerged as a democratic, peaceful and a prosperous nation. However, of all the US led operations during the post Cold-War era, Bosnia and Kosovo have been successful while Somalia and Haiti proved to be less fruitful. According to the Brookings Institution, America’s sending of troops to a new country once in a decade notwithstanding, since Clinton’s regime it went up to once in every alternative year. UN had only 14 peacekeeping operations in the last four decades during Cold War but that had increased to 40 in the decade after the Cold War. Though its performance in Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, Cambodia, Eastern Slavonia, El Salvador, Sierra Leone and East Timor isn’t satisfactory but considering all the parameters from bringing peace to democratisation and ending wars, they weren’t complete failures either. There is now peace in most of these countries except Congo. Moreover, six out of above stated eight countries are democratic nations today.
The struggle in Afghanistan and Iraq might not yield expected results yet. And both the US and UN are already being criticised for the same. Yet the situations weren’t very different when they fought in Japan, Kosovo or Cambodia. People criticised the US severely then but they praise the US today for what it has done for them. When Iraq or Afghanistan will emerge democratic and peaceful in a decade or two’s time, same people who criticise today will praise them tomorrow. That’s perhaps the predicament of being leaders or change agents! Damn if they do, damn if they don’t, criticism would remain.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell, who is dating Russian property tycoon Vladislav Doronin, is planning to bid adieu to her successful career to settle down and become a full time mother.
Campbell who began her modeling carer as a teenager,achieved supermodel status at a young age but is now contemplating turning away from the spotlight to start a family with her billionaire boyfriend, Hello magazine reported.

“It’ll be 25 years (as a model) next year. In terms of fashion shows, I don’t really see myself doing every show everywhere. I’m a woman and I’d like to be a mother one day,” Campbell said.

The British supermodel, who is famous for her temper tantrums was recently in India to walk the ramp for a charity event. Campbell has also acted in ‘Karma and Holi’, a crossover film starring Sushmita Sen and Randeep Hooda.

Islamabad, Apr 29: Pakistan army today airdropped commandos to take control of the main Daggar town in embattled Buner district as the military expanded its operation to halt Taliban’s advance towards the federal capital.

Fighters jets and helicopter gunship struck well entrenched Taliban defences, atop mountains in various hamlets of Buner, just 60 kilometres from Islamabad.

The Commandos took control of Daggar, which is the main town of Buner with a population of over 25,000. But the militants continued to hold 60 security men hostage, whom they had captured in Pir Baba area.

Residents also reported, heavy artillery, tanks and ground troops in hundreds moving towards Buner as forces sought to drive the Taliban back into the Swat Valley. The army estimates there are 400-500 Taliban militants dug in in Buner.

Islamabad under intense US pressure to take a tough stance against Taliban has now expanded the arc of its military offencive to bring more and more Tehrik-e-Taliban militants under its line of fire, from Dir near the lawless tribal territory close to Afghanistan border to Buner in the Pakistani heartland.

As the military operation went into full steam, the US has held it as “exactly the appropriate response to halt the progress of Taliban”.

Mumbai, Apr 29: Frantic short-coverings on the last day of the April series as well as firm global cues helped the bellwether Sensex to rebound by 401.50 points to close at a six-and-a-half month high of 11,403.25.
Operators as well as speculators were seen covering short positions on the concluding day of the derivatives contract.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) as well as the National Stock Exchange (NSE) will remain closed on April 30 and May 1 for the Lok Sabha elections and Maharashtra Day, respectively.

The firm trend indicated that the operators preferred to roll over their long positions to the May series rather than book profits at higher levels.

The BSE 30-share barometer resumed better at 11,091.56 and ended with a net rise of 3.65 per cent from its previous close.

It had closed at 11,483.40 on October 14, 2008.

The Sensex, yesterday, had tumbled by a whopping 370.10 points or 3.25 per cent.

Similarly, the 50-issue Nifty of the NSE also bounced back by 111.60 points or 3.32 per cent over yesterday’s close to settle the day at 3,473.95.

Recovery was so strong that all the sectoral indices ended in the green.