Analysis: Modi's Gujarat growth model might not work across India

SURAT, India (Reuters) - Turning a single Indian state with a long tradition of entrepreneurship and a solid political majority into an investor-friendly economic powerhouse is one thing.

Replicating that experience across a diverse country of 1.2 billion would be a tougher prospect for Narendra Modi, whose leadership of booming Gujarat state has led to his being touted as a potential candidate to become India's next prime minister.

While Modi wins praise even from critics for cutting red tape and making government more responsive and predictable, many ingredients for Gujarat's run of growth were in place well before he took office in 2001.

"It is like an icing on cake sort of thing. You have a nice cake and Modi has done a lot of good icing," said Rakesh Chaudhary, director of Pratibha Group, a textile manufacturer in Palsana on the outskirts of the Gujarat city of Surat.

Industry in Gujarat is helped by a long coastline and plenty of barren land that is easy to turn over to factory use.

The power that comes from a long-standing and heavy majority for his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state also gives Modi an advantage that he would not enjoy on a national stage marked by fractious coalition politics.

Despite a controversial past - Modi is accused by critics of not doing enough to stop or of even quietly encouraging religious riots in 2002 that saw as many as 2,000 killed, most of them Muslims - he has established a reputation as an economic reformer in part by building on the strengths of Gujarat and marketing them heavily.

Modi's marketing savvy, aided by the Washington lobbying and public affairs firm APCO Worldwide, will be on display at the biennial "Vibrant Gujarat Summit" that begins on Friday.

Initiated by Modi in 2003 to attract investment after the violence and an earthquake in 2001, the event is attended by thousands of corporate officials who pledge billions in investment, although in reality only a fraction has seen the light of day. Of 12.4 trillion rupees ($225 billion) in investment proposed at the 2009 event, just 8.5 percent had been spent as of November 2011, according to state government data.

"Under Modi's regime, there has been significant improvement in infrastructure growth, significant improvement in industrialization, as well as agriculture," said Jahangir Aziz, senior Asia economist at JPMorgan. "But what has been overplayed is initial conditions were actually pretty decent in Gujarat."

HIGHER OFFICE?

The stocky Modi, who favors traditional Indian attire and a clipped white beard, plays down any prime ministerial ambitions.

But his popularity in Gujarat - the BJP won 115 of the state assembly's 182 seats in a December election - has fuelled speculation that he could lead his Hindu nationalist party in 2014 against India's ruling Congress party, which has been beset by corruption scandals and overseen a sharp economic slowdown.

"His economic record in Gujarat is obviously something which matters a lot to the middle classes. That, coupled with strong leadership," said Swapan Dasgupta, an analyst with links to the BJP who expects Modi to be the party standard-bearer in 2014.

Critics say that while Modi has indeed encouraged investment and helped bring reliable electricity and law and order, double-digit growth has not been shared broadly enough. In the five years through March 2010, some states - including Tamil Nadu and Karnataka - did better at bringing down poverty levels.

"Big business people get a lot from the government and scheduled caste people (minorities) get a lot, but people like us who are in between get nothing," said Bhupendra Thakkar, 50, who earns 6,000 rupees ($109) a month selling fruit near Surat's decrepit railway station.

FRIEND OF BUSINESS

Modi lured Tata Motors to the state in 2008 after the company's plans to build a factory for its low-cost Nano car were thwarted by farmers in West Bengal.

Ford Motor Co and Maruti Suzuki are also building plants in the western state - high profile investments that carry the added benefit of acting as marketing tools.

In the seven years through March 2011, Gujarat's economy grew an annual 10.08 percent at constant prices, against 6.45 percent in the eight years through March 2002 (Modi took office in October 2001), which was still ahead of the all-India average of 6.16 percent. A handful of states, including Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, clocked bigger gains over the same recent period.

By comparison, policy gridlock at the national level has contributed to a drop-off in corporate investment, putting India on track to record its slowest annual growth rate in a decade.

Accustomed to getting his way, Modi, 62, could struggle to negotiate the coalition politics that have become the norm at the national level and have hindered attempts at reform by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress-led administration.

"Policymaking has benefited from the fact that the BJP has had absolute majority in the state legislature - an advantage it certainly will not enjoy in the federal parliament," said Anjalika Bardalai, an analyst with the Eurasia Group in London.

Modi has also been able to leverage the business acumen of Gujaratis, a group that has long been known for trading and entrepreneurship and includes a prosperous global diaspora as well as billionaires such as Adani Group chief Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, who controls Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company.

"Modi might not be as successful as he has been here because the business mentality is unique to Gujarat," said Chandrakant Sanghavi, chairman of Sanghavi Exports International, a diamond trader and processor. "It could be prevalent in other states but the ratio may be less." ($1 = 55.0700 Indian rupees)

(Editing by John Chalmers and Alex Richardson)

Read More..

'Twilight' finale tops anti-Oscar Razzies shortlist

LOS ANGELES: The last installment of the blockbuster "Twilight" franchise has won the dubious honor of being nominated in every category for Hollywood's anti-Oscar Razzie awards.

"Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" topped the shortlist of the Golden Raspberries, handed out each year as an alternative to Tinseltown's annual back-slapping awards season, which moves into top gear this week.

Others tipped for Razzie shame include veteran diva Barbra Streisand for worst actress in mother-son road movie "The Guilt Trip," while Nicolas Cage, Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler are all up for worst actor.

"Twilight" stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are nominated for worst actor and actress, while the film's director Bill Condon was tipped for worst filmmaker, in shortlists for all 10 Razzie categories unveiled Tuesday.

The tongue-in-cheek dishonor award will not matter much to the makers of the "Twilight" films -- the fifth and final installment of the wildly-popular franchise has taken nearly $800 million at the box office worldwide, according to the IMDb movie industry website.

The other films shortlisted for worst movie of 2012 were "Battleship," family movie "The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure," Adam Sandler comedy "That's My Boy" and "A Thousand Words" starring comedy veteran Murphy.

The Razzie winners will be announced on February 23, the day before the Academy Awards. Nominations for the Oscars are due to be announced early Thursday in Beverly Hills.

Here are the full shortlists in the main Razzie categories:

Worst director: Sean Anders, "That's My Boy"; Peter Berg, "Battleship"; Bill Condon, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2"; Tyler Perry, "Good Deeds"/"Madea's Witness Protection"; and John Putch, "Atlas Shrugged II."

Worst Actress: Katherine Heigl, "One for the Money"; Milla Jovovich, "Resident Evil: Retribution"; Tyler Perry, "Madea's Witness Protection"; Kristen Stewart, "The Twilight Saga"/"Snow White and the Huntsman."

Worst Actor: Nicolas Cage, "Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance"/"Seeking Justice"; Eddie Murphy, "A Thousand Words"; Robert Pattinson, "The Twilight Saga"; Tyler Perry, "Alex Cross"/"Good Deeds"; Adam Sandler, "That's My Boy."

Worst Supporting Actress: Jessica Biel, "Playing For Keeps"/"Total Recall"; Brooklyn Decker, "Battleship"/"What to Expect When You're Expecting"; Ashley Greene, "The Twilight Saga"; Jennifer Lopez, "What to Expect When You're Expecting"; Rihanna, "Battleship."

Worst Supporting Actor: David Hasselhoff, "Piranha 3-DD"; Taylor Lautner, "The Twilight Saga"; Liam Neeson, "Battleship"/"Wrath of the Titans"; Nick Swardson, "That's My Boy"; Vanilla Ice, "That's My Boy."

- AFP/ck

Read More..

Kin bid tearful adieu to soldier killed by Pakistan troops

MATHURA: Hundreds of villagers joined family in bidding adieu on late Wednesday evening to deceased Lance Naik Hemraj Singh, who was killed by Pakistan troops during a ceasefire violation in Jammu and Kashmir.

In Singh's native village of Shernagar under Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, scores of locals flocked to the soldier's residence to honour him.

The inconsolable family of the soldier comprising an ageing mother, his wife, two daughters and a toddler son was seen being pacified by local women.

Army officials who escorted Singh's coffin from New Delhi participated in the last rite and also gave a rifle salute by firing several rounds in the air in honour of the soldier who died at the hands of the enemy at the Line of Control (LoC).

Lance Naik Hemraj, one of the two Indian soldiers killed by Pakistani troops in a violation of truce on the Kashmir border, was the family's sole breadwinner.

Hemraj, who joined the Army in 2001, was the second of three brothers and the sole earning member of his family after the death of his father.

Pakistani troops crossed the territory's heavily militarised LoC on Tuesday (January 08) and fired at an Indian army patrol.

The body of one of the soldiers was found "badly mutilated" in a forested area on the side controlled by India, Indian military officials said. Pakistan has denied the allegation.

The army had said that in a separate incident later on Tuesday, both sides shot at each other for more than an hour across the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Jammu and Kashmir.

Read More..

Retooling Pap test to spot more kinds of cancer

WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, doctors have lamented that there's no Pap test for deadly ovarian cancer. Wednesday, scientists reported encouraging signs that one day, there might be.

Researchers are trying to retool the Pap, a test for cervical cancer that millions of women get, so that it could spot early signs of other gynecologic cancers, too.

How? It turns out that cells can flake off of tumors in the ovaries or the lining of the uterus, and float down to rest in the cervix, where Pap tests are performed. These cells are too rare to recognize under the microscope. But researchers from Johns Hopkins University used some sophisticated DNA testing on the Pap samples to uncover the evidence — gene mutations that show cancer is present.

In a pilot study, they analyzed Pap smears from 46 women who already were diagnosed with either ovarian or endometrial cancer. The new technique found all the endometrial cancers and 41 percent of the ovarian tumors, the team reported Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

This is very early-stage research, and women shouldn't expect any change in their routine Paps. It will take years of additional testing to prove if the so-called PapGene technique really could work as a screening tool, used to spot cancer in women who thought they were healthy.

"Now the hard work begins," said Hopkins oncologist Dr. Luis Diaz, whose team is collecting hundreds of additional Pap samples for more study and is exploring ways to enhance the detection of ovarian cancer.

But if it ultimately pans out, "the neat part about this is, the patient won't feel anything different," and the Pap wouldn't be performed differently, Diaz added. The extra work would come in a lab.

The gene-based technique marks a new approach toward cancer screening, and specialists are watching closely.

"This is very encouraging, and it shows great potential," said American Cancer Society genetics expert Michael Melner.

"We are a long way from being able to see any impact on our patients," cautioned Dr. Shannon Westin of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She reviewed the research in an accompanying editorial, and said the ovarian cancer detection would need improvement if the test is to work.

But she noted that ovarian cancer has poor survival rates because it's rarely caught early. "If this screening test could identify ovarian cancer at an early stage, there would be a profound impact on patient outcomes and mortality," Westin said.

More than 22,000 U.S. women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, and more than 15,000 die. Symptoms such as pain and bloating seldom are obvious until the cancer is more advanced, and numerous attempts at screening tests have failed.

Endometrial cancer affects about 47,000 women a year, and kills about 8,000. There is no screening test for it either, but most women are diagnosed early because of postmenopausal bleeding.

The Hopkins research piggybacks on one of the most successful cancer screening tools, the Pap, and a newer technology used along with it. With a standard Pap, a little brush scrapes off cells from the cervix, which are stored in a vial to examine for signs of cervical cancer. Today, many women's Paps undergo an additional DNA-based test to see if they harbor the HPV virus, which can spur cervical cancer.

So the Hopkins team, funded largely by cancer advocacy groups, decided to look for DNA evidence of other gynecologic tumors. It developed a method to rapidly screen the Pap samples for those mutations using standard genetics equipment that Diaz said wouldn't add much to the cost of a Pap-plus-HPV test. He said the technique could detect both early-stage and more advanced tumors. Importantly, tests of Paps from 14 healthy women turned up no false alarms.

The endometrial cancers may have been easier to find because cells from those tumors don't have as far to travel as ovarian cancer cells, Diaz said. Researchers will study whether inserting the Pap brush deeper, testing during different times of the menstrual cycle, or other factors might improve detection of ovarian cancer.

Read More..

Venezuela postpones inauguration for cancer-stricken Chavez

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela will postpone the inauguration of President Hugo Chavez for a new term due to health problems, the government said on Tuesday, another sign the socialist leader's cancer may be bringing an end to his 14 years in power.

The 58-year-old former soldier who has dominated the South American OPEC nation since 1999 has not been heard from since surgery on December 11 in Cuba - his fourth operation since he was diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer in June 2011.

The announcement outraged opposition leaders who insist that Chavez must be sworn in before the National Assembly on January 10 as laid out in the constitution, or temporarily step aside and leave an ally in power.

"The commander president wants us to inform that, based on his medical team's recommendations, the post-operative recovery should extend past January 10," said Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's chosen successor, in a letter read to the legislature.

"As a result, he will not be able to be present at the National Assembly on that date."

The letter said authorities would seek another date for the inauguration ceremony but did not say when it would take place or give a time frame for Chavez's return from Havana.

Rather than being sworn in by the legislature, he would take his oath at a later date before the Supreme Court, the letter said, as allowed by the constitution.

Government leaders insist Chavez is completely fulfilling his duties as head of state, even though official medical bulletins say he has a severe pulmonary infection and has had trouble breathing.

The government has called for a massive rally outside the presidential palace on Thursday, and allied presidents including Uruguay's Jose Mujica and Bolivia's Evo Morales have confirmed they will visit Venezuela this week despite Chavez's absence.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has announced plans to visit Chavez in Havana on Friday.

But the unprecedented silence by the president - famous for regularly speaking for hours in meandering broadcasts - has left many convinced he could be in his last days.

His resignation or death would upend politics in the oil-rich nation, where he enjoys a deity-like status among poor supporters thankful for his social largesse.

His critics call him a fledgling dictator who has squandered billions of dollars from crude sales while dashing the independence of state institutions.

CONSTITUTION DISPUTE

The constitution does not specify what happens if the president does not take office on January 10.

The Supreme Court, controlled by Chavez allies, called a news conference for Wednesday. It is widely expected to announce an interpretation of the constitution that will give Chavez leeway to take office when he is fit to do so.

If he dies or steps aside, new elections would be called within 30 days. Before leaving for Havana in December, the president instructed his supporters to back Maduro in that vote if he were unable to continue.

Opposition leaders argue that Congress chief and Chavez ally Diosdado Cabello should take over, as mandated by the constitution if the president's absence is formally declared.

Cabello has ruled that out, saying the president continues to be in charge.

"Who could have believed the opposition would be screaming for Diosdado Cabello to be given the presidency of the republic?" he said during a rambunctious session of Congress. "That's crazy, the opposition is losing it."

Meanwhile opposition deputies accused the Socialist Party of failing to follow Chavez's instructions - a scene that would have been unimaginable before Chavez's prolonged absence.

"President Chavez is the only one among you who has spoken clearly," said opposition leader Julio Borges.

He was drowned out by pro-Chavez deputies clapping and chanting the socialist leader's name and rebuffed by Cabello, who had long been considered a potential successor to Chavez until he was passed over for Maduro.

"It's not my fault you weren't chosen, don't take your frustration out on me," Borges quipped.

Another opposition deputy complained that during the debate a copy of the constitution was thrown across the chamber from the direction of the Socialist Party's deputies.

Chavez's supporters have held near-daily vigils for his recovery, while opposition activists accuse the president's allies of a Cuban-inspired manipulation of the situation.

Maduro has taken over the day-to-day running of the government and looks set to continue in the role past Thursday.

The mustachioed former bus driver lacks Chavez's charisma, but he has sought to imitate the president's style with vituperative attacks on the opposition and televised ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

With the micro-managing Chavez away, major policy decisions in Venezuela, such as a widely expected devaluation of the bolivar currency, appear to be on hold.

Venezuelan bond prices, which had soared in recent weeks on Chavez's health woes, dipped on Monday and Tuesday as investors' expectations of a quick government change apparently dimmed.

"The 'regime change' euphoria seems excessive taking into account the unclear legal transition and perhaps, more importantly, the risk that regime change does not allow for policy change," New York-based Jefferies' managing director Siobhan Morden said in a note on the bonds.

(Editing by Daniel Wallis and Eric Beech)

Read More..

Malaysian manhunt on as escape drama spices up

KUALA LUMPUR: Seven Malaysians who escaped police custody this week did so by temporarily blinding a guard with chilli powder hidden in one of the escapee's underpants, police and press reports said Wednesday.

The escape Monday of the seven men -- whom police have called "dangerous criminals" -- has prompted a large-scale manhunt in the northern Malaysian state of Penang.

But the seven escapees remained at large after their daring break-out from a police van as they were being transported to a local court.

The detainees had staged a fight in the vehicle, prompting its driver to pull over, police said.

When the police opened the rear door to investigate, "they threw chilli powder on a policeman", Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, a local police official, told AFP, as other detainees attacked and injured his fellow guards.

Abdul Rahman declined to elaborate on the use of the spices, but press reports have said one of the men had concealed the chilli powder in his underwear.

Chilli powder is ubiquitous in Malaysia, which is known for its spicy cuisine.

The seven fugitives then sped off in the police van, which was later found abandoned in a nearby village, police have said.

Some 250 police officers aided by tracker dogs and a police helicopter were scouring the area near where the van was discarded, said Abdul Rahim Hanafi, Penang's state police chief.

"The escapees are dangerous criminals who have been charged with serious offences, including murder, gang robbery and causing grievous hurt," he was quoted as saying by The Star newspaper.

Police were investigating how the detainees had obtained the chilli powder.

The Star quoted an unnamed source saying the powder could have been from the spicy seasoning sachets found in instant noodle packets that are sometimes provided to detainees by family members during visits.

- AFP/al

Read More..

Guns fall silent on LoC

JAMMU: The Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir was calm on Wednesday morning after overnight clashes between Indian and Pakistan troops, military officials said.

Pakistani guns fell silent in Krishnaghati sector in Poonch district, even as the Indian Army stepped up vigil all along the ​Line of Control (LoC) after Pakistani troops entered Indian territory and killed two Indian soldiers Tuesday.

On Tuesday evening, the Pakistani army opened fire on Indian posts in Krishnaghati sector, about 230 km from Jammu. The losses, if any, were not immediately known.

Indian officials accused the Pakistani soldiers of mutilating one of the two dead soldiers besides wounding a third Tuesday.

Islamabad says it was not involved in the attack, suggesting it could be the work of separatist militants.

Military sources said the Indian Army was prepared to give a "calibrated response" to any further provocation from Pakistan.

"There was heavy firing from the Pakistani side last night. We offered calibrated response and the guns fell silent by midnight," an army officer told IANS Wednesday morning.

"At the moment the LoC is calm," he added.

The LoC divides the Kashmir region between India and Pakistan. New Delhi controls the southern two-third of Kashmir and Islamabad the northern third.

Read More..

Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down

WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.

Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer.

"There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer advocacy groups.

But bad diets, lack of physical activity and obesity together wield "incredible forces against this decline in mortality," Brawley said. He warned that over the next decade, that trio could surpass tobacco as the leading cause of cancer in the U.S.

Overall, deaths from cancer began slowly dropping in the 1990s, and Monday's report shows the trend holding. Among men, cancer death rates dropped by 1.8 percent a year between 2000 and 2009, and by 1.4 percent a year among women. The drops are thanks mostly to gains against some of the leading types — lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers — because of treatment advances and better screening.

The news isn't all good. Deaths still are rising for certain cancer types including liver, pancreatic and, among men, melanoma, the most serious kind of skin cancer.

Preventing cancer is better than treating it, but when it comes to new cases of cancer, the picture is more complicated.

Cancer incidence is dropping slightly among men, by just over half a percent a year, said the report published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Prostate, lung and colorectal cancers all saw declines.

But for women, earlier drops have leveled off, the report found. That may be due in part to breast cancer. There were decreases in new breast cancer cases about a decade ago, as many women quit using hormone therapy after menopause. Since then, overall breast cancer incidence has plateaued, and rates have increased among black women.

Another problem area: Oral and anal cancers caused by HPV, the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, are on the rise among both genders. HPV is better known for causing cervical cancer, and a protective vaccine is available. Government figures show just 32 percent of teen girls have received all three doses, fewer than in Canada, Britain and Australia. The vaccine was recommended for U.S. boys about a year ago.

Among children, overall cancer death rates are dropping by 1.8 percent a year, but incidence is continuing to increase by just over half a percent a year. Brawley said it's not clear why.

Read More..

Holmes Played Childish Games After Aurora Carnage

As police confronted the movie theater carnage and a massive booby trap left behind by accused Aurora gunman James Holmes, the suspect loopily played with hand puppets, tried to stick a metal staple in an electrical socket and clamly flipped a styrofoam cup, according to court testimony today.

Holmes, 25, displayed the bizarre behavior once he was in custody and taken to Aurora police headquarters after the shooting that left 12 people dead and dozens injured, the lead investigator in the case testified today.

While being cross examined by Colorado public defender Daniel King, Police Detective Craig Appel was asked about the observations of two Aurora officers assigned to watch over Holmes in an interrogation room.

Appel said that to preserve possible gunshot residue, police had placed paper bags over Holmes' hands. One officer, King said, noted in a report that Holmes began moving his hands "in a talking puppet motion."

Click here for full coverage of the Aurora movie theater shooting.

King asked if Appel was also aware that the officer "observed Holmes take a staple out of the table and tried to stick it in an electrical socket?" Appel confirmed Holmes' actions.

James Holmes: Suspect in Aurora Movie Theatre Shootings Back in Court Watch Video

Police Testify at Hearing for Accused Colorado Gunman Watch Video

Caught on Tape: Rare Animals Lead Secret Lives After Dark Watch Video

The officers also noted that they watched as Holmes began playing with an empty styrofoam cup, trying to "flip it" on the table.

While Holmes was carrying out his childish antics, police were puzzling over a complex booby trap Holmes had left behind in his apartment, according to testimony.

A gasoline-soaked carpet, loud music and a remote control car were part of Holmes' plan to trick someone into triggering a blast that would destroy his apartment and lure police to the explosion while he shot up a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., according to court testimony.

FBI agent Garrett Gumbinner told the court that he interviewed Holmes on July 20, hours after he killed 12 and wounded 58 during the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."

"He said he rigged the apartment to explode to get law enforcement to send resources to his apartment instead of the theater," Gumbinner said.

His plan failed to prompt someone into triggering the bombs.

Gumbinner said Holmes had created two traps that would have set off the blast.

The apartment was rigged with a tripwire at the front door connected to a mixture of chemicals that would create heat, sparks and flame. Holmes had soaked the carpet with a gasoline mixture that was designed to be ignited by the tripwire, Gumbinner said.

"It would have caused fire and sparks," the agent said, and "would have made the entire apartment explode or catch fire."

Holmes had set his computer to play 25 minutes of silence followed by loud music that he hoped would cause a disturbance loud enough that someone would call police, who would then respond and set off the explosion by entering the apartment.

Gumbinner said Holmes also told him he rigged a fuse between three glass jars that would explode. He filled the jars with a deadly homemade chemical mixture that would burn so hot it could not be extinguished with water.

Read More..

In India, questions over decision to treat rape victim overseas

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The decision to fly the victim of a gang rape that outraged India for treatment in Singapore made little medical sense as the woman was so severely injured that her death was all but inevitable, doctors say.

The government, on the back foot after furious street protests and stinging criticism of authorities over the December 16 rape in the capital, New Delhi, has struggled to defend its decision to send the 23-year-old physiotherapy student overseas. She died 48 hours later.

With a deadly infection seeping into her blood from damage done to her intestines during the assault, complicated by a cardiac arrest and damage to the brain, she was just clinging to life when she was flown 2,500 miles from New Delhi to Singapore late on December 26, doctors said.

"It was ethically and morally wrong to have taken her out, given that she was sinking and her chances of survival were next to zero at that stage," said a doctor at New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), which was advising the team treating the woman at a sister hospital across the street.

"Such a thing raises false hopes in the minds of the family, the community. No doctor in his right mind would do this, unless you want to get the patient off your back," said the doctor, who declined to be identified, saying colleagues at the government-run hospital who had spoken out had been warned of consequences in what has become a politically explosive case.

The woman, who was assaulted by five men and a teenager on a moving bus after a male companion was beaten unconscious, cannot be named under an Indian law that prohibits identifying victims of rape.

Another doctor who was consulted during the woman's care at New Delhi's Safdarjang hospital, where she was taken following the assault, said she had been getting the best possible treatment in India and the question of why she was shifted should be answered by the government.

Many security officials have said they feared the protests would escalate if the woman had died in New Delhi, but the government has said the only consideration was her wellbeing.

"The idea was to give her the best possible treatment," said Harish Rawat, a government minister who attended a cabinet meeting on the woman's condition and the efforts to save her.

"I don't think the idea was to run away from the problem. Death here or death abroad would still have the same impact," he said. "We felt if there was a chance to save her, it should be tried. Take her to a transplant facility abroad."

At the time of the transfer, authorities at Safdarjang said her condition was critical which was why they decided to move her to Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital, which specialized in multi-organ transplant.

But a transplant for her damaged intestine, if at all possible, was months away, doctors said. At the time of her transfer, the woman, unconscious since a heart attack the previous night, was in no condition to go through such an operation.

"One cannot think about intestinal transplant at this moment," Samiran Nundy, the head of surgical gastroenterology and organ transplantation at the Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi, was quoted as saying in newspapers.

"First, the infection spreading in her should be stopped, then one can think about transplant."

Within 40 hours of her arrival in Singapore, doctors called her family and told them the end was near, even as millions prayed at home in the hope that she would pull through.

"Sepsis followed by cardiac arrest is a terminal event in 99 percent of cases," said the doctor at AIIMS, referring to blood infection.

"Doctors will have anecdotal evidence about one or two cases in their whole career of somebody who survived. I had one case, a woman, but she too died within a month. Yes, miracles happen, but you were not looking at one in this case. It was clear to everyone, especially after the cardiac arrest."

PROTESTS AND PANIC

Piecing together the events leading up to her death tells a tale of authorities in Delhi trying to defuse public anger over the attack by initially insisting that she was getting the best possible treatment, and then, as things began to go wrong, getting increasingly worried that the protests that tapped a deep vein of frustration, could spin out of control.

The alarm bells for the government rang late on Christmas night when the woman suffered the cardiac arrest. That was nine days after she was brought in to Safdarjang hospital in a life-threatening condition after the brutal assault - she was assessed then as 5 on a scale in which 6 is rated as no chance of survival.

After the heart attack, her pulse rate became critically low. Doctors resuscitated her after three to four minutes but by then she had become unconscious, caused by lack of blood to the brain. She never regained consciousness from that point on.

Equally worrisome, the infection from her injured intestines had seeped into her blood and was spreading to her vital organs.

For the government, shaken by the scale and intensity of the protests that focused on the lack of safety in the capital for women, the deterioration in her health was cause for concern.

Even as the federal cabinet met the next morning, arrangements to fly the woman for treatment in Singapore were being put in place.

One official said the public mood was so fragile that the government felt that if she died in India, some people would have blamed the government for not sending her abroad for treatment.

"You can argue this the other way. They would have said 'if Sonia can go abroad, why not this girl'," the official said, referring to the head of the ruling Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, who travels abroad for treatment of an undisclosed condition.

Outside the prime minister's office where the cabinet met, thousands of baton-wielding police including crack members of Rapid Action Force kept the area under a lockdown. Days earlier, pitched battles broke out between hundreds of protesters and police at the scene, in which a policeman was killed.

Protesters had climbed the walls of South and North Block, the high-security seat of government, while others swarmed towards the iron gates of the presidential palace. They carried placards such as "The only two women safe in Delhi are Sonia Gandhi and Sheila Dikshit". Dikshit is the chief minister, the top elected official of the local government of Delhi.

A government official privy to the handling of the protests said the administration had not anticipated that so many students would come out onto the streets and that the protests would last for so many days.

But when protesters showed up at the presidential palace, the line had been crossed in the security agencies' mind.

"It was a near-breach of security at the presidential palace. The officials tasked with security didn't know how to control the protesters, if they had jumped over its gates. Would you fire at the students, the housewives?" the official asked.

The Intelligence Bureau, which coordinates all domestic intelligence, had been warning that the public mood may turn uglier, the official said.

NO PASSPORTS

At Safdarjung on the morning of December 26, a team of doctors arrived from Medanta Medicity, a private medical centre which runs an air ambulance service. Their mandate was to assess whether she could survive the airlift, said Dr Yatin Mehta, head of critical care at Medicity.

"The decision was to take her out of the country. Our job was to determine whether she could take the airlift, not whether she should be going or not," said Mehta, who accompanied the woman on the flight.

He said the option of sending her to Cambridge in Britain to a hospital that specializes in transplants, was considered but dropped because it would have involved a refueling stop for the aircraft and a two-hour road trip upon landing in London.

Flying her to the Canadian city of Toronto, which also has a specialized organ transplant centre, was also vetoed. They zeroed in on Singapore, six hours flying time away.

It is highly unusual for someone to be flown out of India for critical care. If anything, the traffic is the reverse, with people travelling to the country for treatment.

In the event, the transfer to Singapore was successful, Mehta said, although the woman suffered a drop in blood pressure during the flight. "We were prepared for that. We handed her over to Mount E in the same condition she left the hospital in Delhi," he said, referring to the Singapore hospital.

The woman's family first got wind of the plan to transfer her at hospital in Delhi, when her brother noticed a flurry of activity and a staff member said that doctors were considering moving her.

"We accepted the decision. We were not interfering in the treatment. The doctors said it was in the best interest of our sister, we accepted it. Our only condition was to save her," the brother told Reuters.

Shortly afterwards, officials from the foreign ministry arrived and issued the family travel documents, since none of them had a passport. Their pictures were taken at the hospital.

Three ambulances arrived at the hospital. One of the ambulances headed into the interior of the city and another took the route to the Medanta centre, followed by a convoy of television crews.

A third, carrying the woman, sped away to a special section of Delhi airport, giving everyone the slip.

After she was taken to Singapore, authorities in the city-state's Mount Elizabeth Hospital were frank about her bleak chances for survival.

"The patient is currently struggling against the odds, and fighting for her life," Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Loh said in a statement a day after she was admitted.

"Our medical team's investigations upon her arrival at the hospital yesterday showed that in addition to her prior cardiac arrest, she also had infection of her lungs and abdomen as well as significant brain injury."

Later that day, Soh said her condition was deteriorating.

Her family was told the end was near.

"We didn't expect her to go so quickly," said her brother, who was with her when she died. "At 9:30 p.m., the doctors called us in and said they were sorry, they couldn't do anything more. Her vital organs were failing."

"We went inside and stayed with her the whole night. We saw her heart beat slowing down on the machine. It kept dropping and then dropped to zero. The time was 4:05 a.m."

(Additional reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh in New Delhi and Kevin Lim in Singapore; Editing by Robert Birsel and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Read More..