Team Is Mentally And Physically Fit For Long Season: Ms Dhoni

MUMBAI: The Indian cricketers are geared up for the long season ahead and are both physically and mentally ready for the packed calendar, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said.

"The team is all fit from the physical and mental aspects. The one and a half months break (after last IPL) was very good from the physical and mental aspect.

"Even on the tour of Sri Lanka (where the team played five ODIs and a lone T20 game against the hosts) we had breaks between each game. We are quite ready for the packed season ahead," said Dhoni at the launch of a new national T20 jersey by the Indian Cricket Board's apparel sponsors Nike.

"Slowly we will get into the Test format now and then the T20s. There is lot of cricket ahead ending with the IPL. We have to look ahead every 15 days," he said.

Dhoni was referring to the start of the first home series of the season - against New Zealand - beginning with the Test match at Hyderabad on August 23. The visitors will play one more Test at Bangalore before ending their tour with two T20 Internationals at Vizag and Chennai.

This will be followed by the ICC World T20 Championship in Sri Lanka from September 18 to October 7. The season will continue with the visit by England and Australia before the IPL.

Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Irfan Pathan, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma were the other Indian cricketers present at the launch of the new T20 jersey for Team India.

Dhoni also said that with the return of Yuvraj in the team, the dressing room atmosphere will become very lively once again.

"When Yuvraj was not there Virat had taken upon that job. We missed Yuvraj as a character in the dressing room apart from his batting skills. With him being back the atmosphere in the dressing room will become livelier again," he remarked.

Yuvraj, who has recovered from a rare germ cell cancer, said he had trained hard at the NCA in Bangalore for the last two months and was feeling good but a bit nervous too after the long break from cricket.

"I am feeling good. I have worked hard for the last two months. I am nervous. I never thought I will get another chance (to play for India). I feel as if it is the first game for me," said Yuvraj who has been chosen in the Indian team for the series against New Zealand and the World T20.

Talking about the new T20 jersey, Dhoni remarked in a lighter vein that he did not know whether the research that has gone into it would translate into extra runs for the team.

"Lots of research has gone into it. I don't know whether the research will result in extra runs but we will definitely feel more comfortable.

"This is a very good start. When people are swapping channels they see white and immediately know it is Test cricket and blue with One Day cricket. Now that we have a T20 shirt there will be a strong association between the format and the T-shirt," said the captain.

Key features of the uniform include the new collar, a dash of tricolour near the left shoulder and three stars above the BCCI's logo signifying the three World Cup victories.

Sehwag said that the non-sweaty nature of the jersey would help the cricketers in the hot and humid conditions in South India and Sri Lanka.

"When I wear the india colours I have to give my best. That's what I always focus on. The jersey also has the colour of the national flag on it (along with blue) which is close to my heart. Makes it very special," Sehwag said.

Pathan said the new jersey felt lighter than the ones he had worn earlier.

"Pretty stylish. Colour and design are eye-catching," said Kohli about the jersey.

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Indian Defence Bases Well Protected: Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh

NEW DELHI: Against the backdrop of attack by militants on a Pakistani air force base, Army chief Gen Bikram Singh on Thursday said Indian military installations are "well protected and defended".

"We have our procedures in place. All our bases are protected and there are standard operating procedures and our bases are well defended," the Army chief told reporters on the sidelines of an event to felicitate Army sports persons.

Gen Singh said the armed forces also had the "means to generate intelligence regarding such threats that may come up to these bases".

Indian armed forces have taken several measures to strengthen their security to protect against such threats in the last few years, he said.

A group of terrorists armed with sophisticated weapons and suicide vests on Thursday stormed a key Pakistan Air Force base in Punjab province that is believed to house nuclear weapons, triggering an intense gun battle that left seven attackers and a security personnel dead.

Asked to comment on the violence in Assam, Gen Singh said the Army was "fulfilling its constitutional obligation" there.

Fresh incidents of violence were reported in Assam's Baksa and Kamrup (Rural) districts where unidentified persons set ablaze a car, a bus and a wooden bridge.

Baksa, in lower Assam and under the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District (BTAD), was one of the districts affected in the recent clashes between Bodos and immigrants that has claimed 77 lives so far.

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Chinese Influence In Nepal A Matter Of Concern: Seema Sashastra Bal Ig

KOLKATA: Avinash Chandra, inspector general, Seema Sashastra Bal (SSB), Siliguri Frontier, said on Wednesday that increasing Chinese influence in Nepal is a matter of grave concern. He also referred to the ISI's activities in Nepal and the sponsorship of terror activities. The IG was delivering a speech on the occasion of Independence Day at Ranidanga in Darjeeling. The SSB is in charge of patrolling the Indo-Nepal border.

""Difficult times are ahead as the Chinese influence in Nepal is increasing. Pakistan's ISI activities and sponsorship of terror activities too has increased. Hence, there is a need for each one of us to focus on our priority areas and not allow any scope for cross-border crimes to take shape. We need to be resolute in seizing FICN, drugs and narcotics, preventing human trafficking and the smuggling of arms and ammunition," Chandra said.

On Wednesday, Indian and Chinese troops participated in a Special Border Personnel Meet at Nathu-La (14,130 feet) in East Sikkim. The meet was organized to celebrate Independence Day at the historic silk route between the two ancient civilizations. The Indian and Chinese delegations were led by Brigadier Ravi Jhaldiyal and Senior Colonel Wang Ji Ping. A joint cultural program was organized to showcase the cultures of both countries.

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Manmohan Appeals For Peace As Northeasterners Continue To Flee Bangalore

BANGALORE/DELHI: Southwestern railway has sold over 2020 tickets for passengers from northeast who had booked tickets to go to Assam by 2pm on Thursday. The authorities have announced another special train to Guwahati, departing from Bangalore City station at 8pm.

The railways have already sent over 6900 natives of northeast home by two special trains and the regular Bangalore City-Guwahati express on Wednesday night. On Thursday, the situation at the city railway station was chaotic as thousands of northeast people and Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet nationals thronged to get tickets and leave the city, as early as possible. Many of them have not even got any tickets but are not ready to get back to their houses in Bangalore.

While most of them said that they heard some news on word of mouth that there is a threat to their lives, many said that their parents called them back to their native and some others shared their experiences of being harassed by unknown people.

"We work in the TVS company and we heard it from others of our clan in the city that there is a threat to our lives. The company officials asked us to leave the city until safety is reassured. We came by a train from Hosur and now waiting here to get tickets to go to our village in Odalguri district in Assam," said Pabitro Borua.

Even security guards and office helpers from Fortis Hospital and hotel workers of Bowring Institute have informed their offices and are fleeing from the city. "We are afraid what is going to happen. We have only heard of instances in Neelansandra where some of the northeast natives have been killed. We do not know who are these people who are threatening us, whether they are Muslims or Hindus but we are just scared and we trust no one," said Akash Ali, native of Tripura and an office helper in Fortis Hospital on Bannerghatta road.

"We got calls from our families in Assam that there is violence against northeast residents in Bangalore and south India. Although we are afraid of going home because the situation over there is equally worse, but we would be rest assured if we are amidst our people. We definitely feel insecure in these states," said Nirol Nagajhari, native of Odalguri district in Assam.

Nagajhari was working in a quarry in Kerala. He is now going back with many young boys, who had come to work with him from his village, in hope of earning money and helping their families.

Most of these folks who are afraid and who have received such messages or heard from others are either security guards or hotel workers or service boys or salon employees. Students in colleges and people working in IT sector or companies in the city belonging from the northeastern states were not among the ones who are thronging the railway stations.

Railway authorities and state police have deployed platoons of police force to monitor the chaos at the stations and also to ensure their safety here.

Manmohan calls for peace

Against the backdrop of panic among the people from northeast in Karnataka created by rumours, a concerned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said all parties should work together to give confidence to affected people and peace must be maintained at any cost.

Singh, who has spoken to Karnataka chief minister Jagdish Shettar, Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, underlined the need for remaining vigilant and maintaining communal harmony.

"All political parties must work together to give a feeling of confidence to all affected people," he told reporters at an Iftaar party hosted by him at his residence.

He was asked about the exodus of people hailing from Northeast from Karanataka after panic gripped them because of rumours that they could be targeted.

Singh said he had spoken to the Karnataka chief minister and the state government was doing its best to quash those rumours.

On his message to Shettar during the phone call yesterday, Singh said "we must work together to ensure that people from other states do not feel threatened by rumour-mongering and SMSes. We have to maintain peace at any cost."

Singh said the Karnataka chief minister was good enough to send his Home Minister to Bangalore railway station where people from northeast had gathered to board trains to Guwahati.

"They (Karnataka government) are taking all the steps to quash rumour-mongering," the Prime Minister.

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Unhealthy At 65: India Has 76% Shortfall In Government Doctors

After spending around 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) on health in the past five years, the government is proposing an increase in public spending by half a percentage point to make it 1.58% for the coming five years (2012-17) under the 12th Plan.

This is what the draft chapter on health in the Plan document says. Health experts and activists are up in arms at this meagre increase because even the Planning Commission's high-level expert group and the steering committee on drafting the Plan had suggested at least 2.5% of GDP as the public health spend.

But, what happens with low spending? The Planning Commission's own analysis of the state of the country's healthcare system reveals the rot within.

The latest available rural health statistics for 2011 show a shocking shortfall of human resources, be it doctors, nurses or other healthcare personnel . According to the Planning Commission's draft, the country's government-run healthcare system is hamstrung because the number of doctors is short of the target by a jaw-dropping 76%, there are 53% fewer nurses , specialist doctors are short by 88%, radiographers are short by 85% and laboratory technicians are short by 80%.

What the shortage of personnel means is that in many states where infrastructure is largely present, the absence of doctors and nurses renders the whole facility meaningless. Thus, Gujarat has only a 5% shortfall of community health centres but only 76 out of 1,220 specialists required are available. In Odisha, there are 377 CHCs although only 327 are required as per norms. But of 1,570 specialists required , only 438 are at work.

Health infrastructure poor in states

The shortfall of medical personnel in several states tells a sorry state of affairs of the health machinery. This is the situation after the Centre spent Rs 33,390 crore, that is 52% of its total NRHM budget, on human resources.

The picture is grim on physical infrastructure too, consisting of the gigantic network of health sub-centres (SC), primary health centres (PHC), community health centres (CHC) and district hospitals (DH). There are supposed to be 1,78,267 SCs in the country on the basis of about one per 1,000 population. In reality, there are only 1,48,124 — about 17% short. Even among the functional ones, more than 40,000 are working out of rented buildings ; buildings for 13,000 sub-centres are still being made. A quarter of them don't have water and a similar proportion has no electricity.

The situation is no different as one goes up the ladder. There is an 18% shortfall in PHCs, and an alarming 34% shortfall in CHCs. District hospitals are only 4% short of the target but since all lower centres are short and ill-equipped , the rush to district hospitals causes massive crowding. This is the result after the government spent Rs 17,380 crore or about 27% of its total NRHM budget on setting up infrastructure in the last five years.

Even the physical infrastructure available is unevenly spread across the country. In states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Odisha, J&K, Himachal Pradesh and many states in the northeast, there is no shortfall of CHCs. But in states like Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra , UP and Bengal, the shortfall ranges between 33% and 91%. This clearly shows that as much as finances , political will at the state government level is also a key determining factor in the fate of public healthcare.

So, by under-investing in key areas like infrastructure and deployment of qualified personnel, the government appears to have constrained the spread of health facilities for all — and apathy at the state governments' level has further worsened the situation.

Times View

The figures make it quite clear how abysmally successive governments have performed in putting in place a working public healthcare system. No wonder then that Indians spend more out of their pockets for illnesses than almost any other nation. This is a shame for 65-year-old independent India. More needs to be done to beef up the infrastructure. Much more importantly, the infrastructure that does exist must be adequately staffed. This is what our government must focus on urgently. If we do not provide for this very basic need for our citizens, we would have failed to keep the tryst with destiny that Nehru so eloquently spoke about 65 years ago.

Posted in: Day To Day National News

118 Pakistani Hindus Arrive In India

ATTARI, PUNJAB: With uncertainty writ large on their faces, 118 Pakistani Hindus arrived in India on board the Samjhauta Express, the peace train between India and Pakistan, here on Thursday.

Though most of the people arriving from Pakistan remained tight-lipped about their stay and future in India, some of them said that they were not sure whether they will return to Pakistan.

The Pakistani Hindus are under a cloud of fear following recent incidents of being forced to convert to Islam by Islamists in Pakistan. The Pakistani Hindus have complained that they were being subjected to threats, kidnappings and murders for refusing to convert to Islam.

"We have still not decided whether we will go back or stay here," said Anil Kumar, who arrived on Thursday with his family.

Authorities in Pakistan have been forcing Hindus there, who are coming to India, to sign documents assuring that they (Hindus) will return to Pakistan.

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