BENNETT, COLEMAN & CO. LTD. | ESTABLISHED 1838 | TIMESOFINDIA.COM | EPAPER.TIMESOFINDIA.COM BANGALORE | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2011 | PAGES 36 | METRO | PRICE .̀ 3.50 (`̀5 ALONG WITH BANGALORE MIRROR) *

CENTRE EXTENDS OLIVEBRANCH TO MAOISTS,NORTH-EAST REBELS 15

CAN’T SEE SOLDIERSKILLED BY FORCESANYMORE: KHAR 22

VIRENDER SEHWAG SAYS TEAMINDIA DOESN’T PANICWHATEVER THE SITUATION 25

C O N T R A P U N T O

Never fear the want of business. A man

who qualifies himself well for his calling,

never fails of employment.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

With global crude rates falling, petrolprice has been cut by 78 paise a litre,the second reduction in two weeks. InBangalore, petrol will cost Rs 73.51from Thursday. The reduction comeson back of a Rs 2.22 cut on Nov 16. �Bunks shut in Bangalore, P5

Bidari is new DGP: IPS officer Shan-kar M Bidari on Wednesday becameKarnataka’s 35th Director-General andInspector-General of Police. P3

Blast in Imphal ahead of PM visit:A powerful bomb exploded at Imphalon Wednesday, tearing a rickshaw-puller asunder and wounding four by-standers. PM Manmohan Singh andUPA chief Sonia Gandhi are to visit thetown on December 3. P 15

M’lore downloads ‘Kolaveri’ most:Mangalore tops the list of Indian citiesdownloading ‘Why this kolaveri di’, aTamil film song that has gone viralwith 1 crore hits on the web. P 17

MPs want red beacons on cars:The Lok Sabha Privileges Committeehas recommended that MPs be al-lowed to use red beacons atop carsand be given a leg-up in the officialpecking order – bring them on a parwith high court chief justices. P 17

Indians fifth most vacation -deprived:India is the world’s fifth most vacation-deprived nation as the average em-ployee doesn’t use 20% of the leave.The reasons vary from disapprovingbosses to lack of planning. P 17

NEWS DIGEST

Price cut again, petrolcosts ̀̀ 73.51 in B’lore

Visit epaper.timesofindia.com

Times Classifieds | P 10

I N C L U D E S 8 PA G E S O F B A N G A L O R E T I M E S

Sidhartha & Surojit Gupta TNN

New Delhi: Lacking majori-ty support for its decision toallow FDI in multi-brand re-tail and faced with reserva-tions in its ranks, the UPAgovernment has put on holdthe notification that wouldhave formally opened thedoors for global chains.

Official sources told TOIon Wednesday that the ruleswould have to wait till somesort of a solution to breakthe impasse in Parliamentemerged. “What is the rush?Let the dust settle down,” asenior official said. At thesame time, they made itclear that there was no reth-ink on the decision. Last Fri-day, the department of in-dustrial policy andpromotion (DIPP) which pi-loted the proposal, had saidthat the rules would be is-sued this week.

The pause has been dic-tated by the government’sinability to either muster

majority backing for the de-cision in Lok Sabha or ad-dress the concern in theCongress ranks that allow-ing FDI in retail would playout adversely in poll-boundUP and Punjab. The party’sattempts to rally two of itsdissenting allies, Trina-mool Congress and DMK,bore little fruit underliningonce again that the govern-ment’s decision does nothave majority backing inthe Lok Sabha. Parliamentagain remained shut onWednesday, darkening the

question mark on the fate ofcrucial bills. The Congressleadership, which was atbest lukewarm towards thedecision, is contendingwith rumblings within itsown ranks, Lok Sabha mem-ber from Bareilly PraveenSingh Aron articulating theconcern that the party’sprospects in the UP pollsmay be hurt.

Faced with the stale-mate, Congress’s crisis-management committee,the core group, went into ahuddle twice.

Govt puts off notifyingrules of FDI in retail

Bangalore: The KarnatakaHigh Court on Wednesday gaveBBMP the go-ahead to widen San-key Road, saying it was in publicinterest.

Disposing of a PIL challeng-ing the cutting of trees for theproject, a division bench headedby Justice N Kumar directedBBMP to complete the project in12 months. The bench, however,said the NGO, Hasiru Usiru,should be involved in monitoringthe planting of saplings in placeof trees cut and also in the caringof saplings already planted.

The court also asked BBMP totake steps to expedite civil suitproceedings over a portion ofland allegedly encroached by aneducation institution.

Pointing out that the road hadbeen earmarked for widening in1984, the bench felt it wasn’t acase of mining in forest area butwidening of a road in public in-terest.

“If it was proposed to widenthe road to 30 metres 26 years ago,given the growth of Bangalore,we now need a road 100 metreswide,” the bench observed. As ofnow, 17 of 19 trees have been cuton the stretch identified for wid-ening. Meenakshi Bharath andothers had filed the PIL challeng-ing the road widening.

HC gives nod to widening ofSankey Road

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: Villaments is the buzzwordin Bangalore’s real estate lexicon. A vil-lament is where an apartment ends and avilla begins. It’s a concept that’s gainingpopularity with those who want the lux-ury of a villa and yet crave the comfortand convenience an apartment affords.

“It’s a marketing strategy where weoffer the privacy of a villa and the facili-ties of an apartment,” says Syed Beary,CMD, Bearys Group, a Bangalore-basedreal estate developer. While prices of vil-las may be out of reach for many, and thedensity of apartment units too claustro-phobic for some, villaments step in tobridge the divide.

“There is a large section of peoplewho aspire to own a villa but can’t affordit. Here comes the concept of a villa-ment, which offers them a villa lifestyle

at affordable prices,” says Bijay Agar-wal, CMD, Salarpuria Sattva.

Villaments cost 30-40% more than av-erage apartments and around 20 to 30%less than average villas.

A villament gives you the privacy,

space, and oodles of greenery; at thesame time, it offers you the vibrancy ofapartments, security and the price of ahigh-end apartment.

In B’lore, villament is the ‘in’ thingAnshul Dhamija TNN

�Green space, balcony & terrace, P 3

VILLAS

�Independence and exclu-sivity; lifestyle state-

ment; privacy; ‘landed prop-erty’; garden area; parking infront of the house; flexibilityto accommodate specificneeds of each family

�Higher cost; fewer neigh-bours; most have surface

drive-around, posing a safetyconcern to residents; distantlocations

APARTMENTS

�Value and affordabili-ty; denser and more

vibrant community; lowermaintenance cost and ef-fort; security; amenitieslike club house, pool,sports facilities

�Lack of privacy; limit-ed or no outdoor/gar-

den area; less flexibilityfor lifestyle; no proximalparking

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: The economy grew at itsslowest in more than two years in theJuly-September quarter as the im-pact of high interest rates, stubborninflation, policy delays and a weakglobal economy hurt expansion drag-ging growth below the 7% mark.

Data released by the Central Sta-tistics Office on Wednesday showedthe economy grew 6.9% in the Sep-

tember quarter, slower than 8.4% inthe same year-ago quarter and 7.7%expansion in the April-June quarter.The September quarter growth wasthe slowest since the second quarterof 2009, data showed. Separate datashowed the key infrastructure sectorslowed to a 5-year low at 0.1% in Octo-ber piling more pressure on the gov-ernment and policymakers.

GDP growth slows to 6.9% in Q2Bangalore: If you’re plan-ning a last-minute groceriespurchase or a quick buy onBangalore’s high streets onThursday, take a deep breathand stay home. At least 1lakh trade establishmentsare participating in a 9am-to-5pm bandh on Thursdayin response to a call fromFKCCI against the Centre’sdecision to allow 51% FDI inmulti-brand retail.

Shops on Brigade Road,MG Road, CommercialStreet, Jayanagar, Chickpetand KR Market will remainclosed. Shops owing alle-giance to over 110 trade asso-ciations and 27 chambers ofcommerce will shutter down.

Traders argue that thegovernment’s decision to seta 51% ceiling in multi-brandretail has triggered fears ofpredatory pricing.

1 lakh traders in state to down shutters today

Shilpa Phadnis TNN SHUT

� High-street stores

� Vegetable mandis

� APMC yards

OPEN

� Malls,hypermarkets

� Neighbourhood stores(barring a few brands)

� Pharmacies

� Fuel stations, otheressential services �Traders in fear, P 6

Bellary: The battle for Bellary ballot, expectedto alter the state’s politi-cal map, now lies sealedin electronic voting ma-chines.

Though Wednes-day’s polling to the Bel-lary (Rural) constituen-cy was free of violence,there were sporadic

skirmishes between lo-cal leaders of rival par-ties and particularly be-tween independentcandidate B Sriramuluand BJP nominee P Ga-dilingappa. The overallpolling percentage was73% in an electorate of1.72 lakh. It was 61% in

2008. Counting of votes is on December 4. The bypoll was necessitated following the

resignation of Sriramulu. He quit stating hewas hurt by the BJP government’s attitudewith regard to his name figuring in the Lokay-ukta’s report on illegal mining.

The peak of the tense moment during thebypoll was a verbal duel between Bellary UrbanDevelopment Authority chairman Vinod andBJP corporator Sanjay and Bellary Town legis-lator Gali Somashekara Reddy when they cameface to face near a polling booth in Radio Gar-den area of Cowl Bazaar in the afternoon. Noone knows what transpired between them buttheir supporters started gathering at the spotpreparing for a showdown.

73% turnout inBellary bypoll

M B Maramkal & K N Aditya Bharadwaja TNN

BATTLEGROUND BELLARY | P 8

The government has decided to rope inpublic sector companies and financialinstitutions to bail it out of a cash crunch.With the stock market remaining bearish,the government has had to resort toingenious method such as buyback ofshares and permitting cross-holdingamong public sector companies. P 23

Govt leans on banks, PSUs to raise funds

�Growth to remain weak, P 23

Promotion of organizedretail and contract

farming as well as directmarketing initiatives areamong highlights of a reporton consumer affairs preparedby a group of CMs chaired byGujarat chief ministerNarendra Modi. P 19

Modi-headed panelbacked retail move

THREAT TO LOCAL STORES?

The result of thehigh-voltagebyelection inBellary (Rural)will be knownby Sunday noon

Himanshi Dhawan &

Mohua Chatterjee TNN

New Delhi: Conceding a major TeamAnna demand, the parliamentarycommittee examining the Lokpal Billhas decided to recommend that 57 lakh“Group C” central government em-ployees – or the entire lower bureau-cracy – be placed within the ambit ofthe anti-corruption ombudsman.

In a controversial decision, thepanel also decided to exclude theprime minister from the Lokpal’s ju-

risdiction as long as he holds office.This was at its final meeting to con-sider the bill on Wednesday.

BJP members decided to submit anote of dissent to protest against theomission of citizens’ charter, griev-ance redressal mechanism and protec-tion of whistleblowers from the legis-lation. BSP, the Left and SP will alsoput in dissenting notes on certain oth-er reservations they have on the bill.

Inclusion of Group C employeesshould take care of cutting-edge cor-ruption; the kind of extortion thatthe common man faces when seekingdelivery of a whole range of services– from getting a passport to an FIRlodged. This section includes offi-cials of the rank of police inspectors,clerks, supply inspectors and thelike, in other words the bureaucracythat a regular person has to deal with.

The draft Lokpal bill now coversvirtually the entire bureaucracy, tak-ing care of the criticism that restrict-ing the ambit to just Group A and Bwould have left people helplessagainst government employees whoare the face of the government to an

overwhelming part of the popula-tion. Significantly, the Hazare groupwas not impressed by the concession.Prashant Bhushan described it as amarginal improvement while criti-cizing the exclusion of the PM whilein office as unconstitutional. His col-league Kiran Bedi spoke in the samevein, setting the stage for a fresh con-frontation.

“Inclusion of Group C employeesis a marginal improvement but thiswill not satisfy us. The exclusion of thePM from the Lokpal’s purview as longas he is in office is unconstitutionaland is likely to be struck down. This isnot good enough and will not affectour plans to protest,” Bhushan said.

AMBIT GAMBIT57 lakh Group-C central govt staff to bewithin Lokpal ambit

Panel decides to exclude PM as long as heis in office

BJP members submit dissent note

BJP wanted inclusion of citizens’ charter,whistle-blowers’ protection and removalof Lokpal in Bill

BJP wants CBI director’s appointment tobe on lines of CVC

Lokpal panel expected to finalize report on Thursday

Entire bureaucracy to beunder Lokpal scanner

Serving PM To BeOut Of It, SaysStanding Panel

�Edit: Keep The Focus, P 20�Why keep babus out? P 19

�Going down despite fight, P 2

SBI CardPlok� fe �imp�e