AV 14th March 2015

14th March to 20th March 2015VOL 43. ISSUE 43 80pLet noble thoughts come to us from every side

First & Foremost Asian Weekly in Europe

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First Hindu Faith Schoolto open in Croydon

Prime Minister, DavidCameron has pledgedfor 500 free schools to beopened by 2020, onebeing a Hindu faithschool which will haveYoga, Philosophy and

Meditation as part of thecurriculum. This will beCroydon's first Hindufaith School and is dueto open in 2016.

Continued on page 17

SEE INSIDE ....Pakistan has morenukes than India,

shows new infographic

PM Modi leaves for 3-nation tour

See 4

See Page 26

See Page 22

Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi sharplycriticised J&K chief minis-ter Mufti MohammadSayeed and expressed hisoutrage over the release ofseparatist leader MasaratAlam as an “unacceptableact” and said that theCentral government wouldtake appropriate measuresto ensure that the coun-try's unity and integrityare not hurt.

“This government willtolerate no such act whichcan compromise the coun-try's unity and integrity.We will take action as laiddown under theConstitution,” Modi toldprotesting opposition

members in Lok Sabhaafter they sought to corner

the government over therelease of Alam, who has

been accused of orches-trating largescale streetviolence across the Valleywhich left 112 protestersdead in 2010.

Opposition partieswere joined by BJP allyAIADMK to condemn therelease as “anti-national”and dangerous to thecountry's integrity.Opponents also sought torub in that BJP was part ofthe J&K coalition, anddared it to pull out of theMufti-led government orarrest Alam, forcingadjournments in theHouse.

Modi also distancedhis government from thecontroversial decisions ofthe J&K government,asserting that Mufti hadacted without consultingor informing the Centre.Modi's intervention,which came after homeminister Rajnath Singhtermed the J&K govern-ment's explanation forAlam's release as unsatis-factory, underlined BJP'sembarrassment and thestrain in its coalition withPDP and was read as amessage to Mufti that itwill not put up with moresuch controversial deci-sions. Modi appealed fornon-partisanship but wascombative in responding


TURMOIL IN JAMMU & KASHMIRModi warns Mufti over release of separatist leader

Gandhi statue unveiling open to public Foreign Secretary visits India ahead of Gandhi statue unveiling

Rupanjana Dutta

Shri Arun Jaitley, theIndian Finance Minister,is set to unveil the newstatue of MahatmaGandhi this Saturday aspart of a two day visit tothe UK. The unveilingceremony in London’sParliament Square onSaturday 14 March, willbe open to members ofthe public from 9:15 amonwards, who will be the

first to see the historicstatue.

It is understood thatBollywood SuperstarAmitabh Bachchan isplanning to attend theunveiling and the cere-mony will also featurepersonal reflections fromMahatma Gandhi’sgrandson, formerGovernor of West Bengal,Shri GopalkrishnaGandhi.


Britain pays tribute toCommonwealth soldiers

Mother's Day Special

UK

1) What is your current posi-tion?I am playing for AC Milan inItaly. Milan is a great city and Iam learning the Italian lan-guage as well. I am alsofocussing on my humanitarianwork. It is fulfilling to be ableto make a difference in the livesof others. I also enjoy spendingtime with my family and it’s ajoy to see the kids grow and beable to converse with.

2) What are your proudestachievements?Winning the English PremierLeague trophies. It was alwaysa dream to win this particulartrophy and when the momentcame, it was truly a very proudmoment of my life.

3) What inspires you?My desire to give 100% ineverything I do inspires me to

achieve what I set out to do.Whether it’s playing football,undertaking charitable activi-ties or simply being a good per-son, I try to give 100% and thatalways inspires me. I hate togive less than that. I guess it’smy competitive nature.

4) What has been the biggestobstacle in your career?That will be my injuries Iendured at Chelsea. It is always

difficult to sit onthe side lines dur-ing rehab notbeing able to helpa team you lovewin trophies.

5) Who has beenthe biggest influ-ence on yourcareer to date?Jose Mourinho

6) What is thebest aspect aboutyour currentrole?As a player, Ienjoy bringing mymany years ofexperience andgiving my best tosupport the Milanteam whenever Iam called to play.As a humanitari-

an, our current campaignUnitedAgstEbola which seeksto raise funds to educate theentire West Africa about theEbola disease to avoid moreepidemic in the region and savelives both in west Africa andthe world at large is one that Itake very seriously and enjoycampaigning to make a differ-ence in the lives of others. As afather, I enjoy spending timeand taking care of my family

whenever I can

7) And the worst?Being engrossed in the Ebolacampaign, it is heart breakingto see many deaths especiallyamongst helpless children. As afather, this is really unbearableand spurs me on to knock on asmany doors to help save livestoday and in future.

8) What are your long termgoals?When my career is over some-day, I hope to focus more on myhumanitarian work as well aswork in the football industry insome capacity.

9) If you were Prime Minister,what one aspect would youchange?Aid for Africa. To ensure it isdistributed effectively and tothe right people to make a realdifference in the lives of manysufferers on the continent.

10) If you were marooned on adesert island, which historicalfigure would you like to spendyour time with and why?Nelson Mandela – I like whathe stands for as a person andhis philosophies and his lifestory will be encouraging andwill give me hope in a place likethat

Michael EssienMichael Essien is an international footballer, currently playingfor AC Milan Football Club. Popularly known as 'Le Bison' forhis strong style of play on the pitch, Michael is also veryactive off the pitch with his charitable and humanitarianwork. Through the Michael Essien Foundation, he has sup-ported water projects, built sanitary facilities, introducedbooks to help improve literacy and sponsored many kids tolearn different skills and vocations. As African Union PeaceAmbassador, he instituted the 'Game of Hope,' a charity foot-ball game held biennially to help promote peace and securityin Africa. He is also working with Solve Sunglasses who arecreating the 'ESS' sunglasses and part of the proceeds fromits sales will be donated to Water Aid and Michael EssienFoundation for their various projects. Currently, Michael isbehind the #UnitedAgstEbola campaign established byHealth Africa International which is aimed at educating WestAfricans about Ebola prevention and supporting the medicalefforts in the affected areas. Michael Essien has just beenawarded the Humanitarian Campaigner of the Year in theAsian Voice Political & Public Life Awards 2015.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 20152

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Banker Helped Frauds Steal £500K from Wembley

Amit Kansara (38), pictured, whoworked in a Barclay's Bank inWembley has been arrested forhelping frauds steal £500,000 fromcustomer accounts.The former banker has admitted

in court for his role in the scam,however, he claims that he onlyacted under force.The prosecutor, Richard

Bendell claims, “it is quite obvioushe was not acting under duress andwas in fact a vital participant in thisfraud.” The prosecutor furtherexplains that the money would betransferred to essentially fakeaccounts or to those belonging topeople who had disappeared. There was one exception of a

£10,000 transfer to the account ofMiles Coni (43). Coni has admittedto money laundering although he isnot on trial.Two customers complained

when £30,000 disappeared fromtheir banks account, consequentlygetting Kansara caught.The jurors in court were told

how Kansara's “unique staff num-ber” was linked to the transfers onall of the seven fraud transactionson the accounts.

Kansara resigned from his post,however, it was not until monthslater that the bank became alert ofthe raids on accounts of other cus-tomers.Amit Kansara informed the

police that he had been approachedby two Asian customers who hadlater took him to a car which con-tained three black men. Theyshowed him a gun, threatened andordered him to make these fraudu-lent transactions. Kansara said hewas fearful for the safety of his fam-ily.The trial continues as Kansara

has denied five counts of fraud byabuse of position.

Official figures reveal thatthe number of British par-ents who choose foreign sur-rogates to have their chil-dren have risen.In 2011, 117 parental

orders were issued by thefamily courts; given to somechildren born under surroga-cy. However, the figureswhich are due to be pub-lished show that it rose to240 last year. In 2013,approximately 1,500 Britishparents had their childthrough foreign surrogates.In Eastern European

countries, such as Georgiaand Ukraine, women chargearound £12,000 to carry andgive birth to the child.However, in India, surro-gates charge around £20,000while in America, it can costup to £130,000, includinginsurance and agency fees.The UK permits surroga-

cy, however, there is a banon commercial agencieswhich makes surrogacy inthe UK rare.

Foreign Surrogacyon a Rise in the UK Fridge Freezers causes

Untimely DeathIn 2010, Santosh Benjamin-Muthiah (36) died after try-ing to save his family fromthe fire at home.There was an inquest at

Barnet Coroners Court inAugust 2014 which men-tioned how a faulty defrosttimer switch in Benjamin-Muthiah's fridge freezer hadcaused the fire.After the hearing, coroner

Andrew Walker illustratedthe lack of any requirementfor manufacturers in order toprotect the flammable insula-tion from being caught infire.After seven deaths and 71

serious injuries in Londonsince 2010, London fireBrigade have said that mostmanufacturers are yet tomake amendments.The Deputy Commisioner

of London Fire Brigade, RitaDexter has mentioned thatfridge freezers are possiblythe most lethal household

appliances if caught on fire.She goes on to state, “theycontain large amounts ofhighly flammable foam insu-lation, often only protectedby a thin plastic covering.This can be a recipe for disas-ter if a fault occurs or if a firespreads from somewhere elseto the fridge or freezer.”Firefighters have urged

manufacturers to stop riskingpeople's lives with their ill-designed fridge freezers.

Santosh Benjamin-Muthiah

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Budget: India’s chance to flyFinance Minister Arun Jaitley and his advisers ris-ing manfully to the challenge produced a Budgetthat will surely be seen down the years as an eco-nomic landmark for India. Hardened captains ofIndian industry acknowledged that it exceededtheir expectations. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, thefeisty head of Bangalore-based Biocom, toldreporters that she, a veteran unbeliever in budg-ets, was moved to cheer this one as somethingextraordinary. Her peers chipped in with marks of8-9 out of a maximum 10, high praise for a profes-sion more accustomed to cavil and condemn.These are the nation’s drivers of wealth, so theirvoices must of necessity carry greater weight thancontrarians given to enjoying the fruits of wealthwithout experiencing the joys of creating it.Let us for convenience reduce the Budget to its

salient features, 1.GDP growth in 2015-16 pro-jected at between 8-8.5 per cent. 2. Fiscal deficittarget 3.9 per cent for 2015-16, as against 4.1 percent in the current financial year ending 31 March2015. 3. A 14 per cent tax on services, an increasefrom the present 12.36 per cent to prepare thecountry for the seminal game changing GeneralServices Tax (GST), which is expected to becomeoperational throughout India later this year, mak-ing it a single uniform marketplace instead of themultitude of inter-state markets with local taxregimes, It is what domestic and foreign investorshave been long dreaming about. If the truth betold, the previous UPA government of ManmohanSingh had such legislation in its sights, but lackinga parliamentary majority, was unable to carrythrough the necessary legislation. 4. Corporate taxtax to be reduced 25 per cent from the present 30per cent over the next 4 years. 5. Additional sur-charge to be levied on income in excess ofRs1crore; wealth tax to be scrapped.Let us proceed to what is on offer under the

following heads: 1.Business A. Rs 70,000 croreincrease in infrastructure investment in 2015-16.B. Setting up a National Investment andInfrastructure Fund C. Mudra Bank with Rs

20,000 crore to refinance micro-finance institu-tions D. Electronic bill discounting to be set upMSMEs. Economy A. Rs 335 crore transferred asdirect subsidy to 11.5 crore LPG consumers B.Allocation of Rs 34,699 crore to MGNREG C.Forward markets to be merged with SEBI.Individuals A. No changes in income tax B.Transport allowance exemption doubled to Rs1,600 B. Non-disclosure as well as inaccurate dis-closures of foreign assets to invite severe penaltiesC. Tax free infrastructure bonds for rail, roads,irrigation C Rs 2 lakh [200,000] accident cover atRs 12 per annum premium. Summing up, Arun Jaitley said: “My proposals

lay out the roadmap for accelerating growth,enhancing investment and passing on the benefitof growth to the common man, woman, youth andchild.” It is a balanced Budget. The best possibleunder the present circumstances, has been thegeneral verdict of those who matter most. It is lessbig bang and more value for the buck. “Big bangreforms as conventionally understood are anunreasonable and unfeasible standard for evaluat-ing the government’s reform actions,” wrote thegovernment’s Chief Economic Adviser ArvindSubramanian in the Economic Review, the curtainraiser to the Budget. Making a case for ‘incremen-talism’, Dr Subramanian, continued: “Boldness inareas where policy levers can be more easily pulledby the Centre, combined with incrementalism inother areas is a combination that can cumulateover time to big bang reforms.” The strategy con-ceptualized by Dr Subramanian is in keeping withNarendra Modi’s ‘Gujarat Model of infrastruc-ture-led economic growth. Finally, the largelyincoherent responses to the Budget from theOpposition benches are a telling reflection of eco-nomic illiteracy. Sonia Gandhi, the CongressPresident and MP, wisely kept her peace; the partyheir apparent, Rahul Gandhi, did a strategic bunkone knows not where. The piece in a nationalbroadsheet by the Communist leader, SitaramYechury, was fit for a museum of antiquities.

All-Sikh regiment for British ArmyAround October 1997, a public meeting was heldat the Imperial War Museum in London to com-memorate the valour of a small body of 21 Sikhsoldiers of the British Indian Army stationed atthe key Saragarhi fort on the mountainous terrainbordering Afghanistan, held out against10,000Afghan Orakzai tribesmen until theirammunition gave out. When a relieving forcearrived at the fort, they discovered the corpses ofthese indomitable warriors who fought to the lastman, true to their oath to the Crown, as theirdescendants were to be on battlefields acrossEurope, the Middle East and South East Asiathrough two World Wars.The United Nations had listed the action of

these men of Saragarhi as one of history’s tengreatest actions for courage in adversity, fit tostand alongside Thermopylae in ancient Greece,where a small body of Spartans held up a vastlysuperior force of invading Persians. The hall in theImperial War Museum was packed to overflowingwith the good and great. The star speaker,Viscount Slim, son of the iconic Field MarshalWilliam Slim, Commander of the 14th Army

which defeated the forces of Imperial Japan inBurma and South East Asia, made a telling pres-entation of the action at Saragarhi on 12September 1897 with the aid of maps and photo-graphs. At the end of the evening a representativeof the British Sikh Association spoke eloquentlyof the need to raise a Sikh regiment in the UKfrom Sikhs living in the country. Promises weremade, then grew cold. The project appears to havebeen revived. Foremost among those wishing tosee the creation a UK-based Sikh regiment isLabour MP Virendra Sharma, whose Southallconstituency has had a strong Sikh presence in thepost-war period. “It will help raise awareness ofthe contribution of the Sikhs in the past. It willallow them to form a cohesive unit,” he said. Ifregiments can be named after the Scots, Irish andWelsh, why not for the Sikhs?

“The name of your race has become almostsynonymous in the English language with desper-ate courage and unflinching loyalty,” pronouncedthe newly arrived 39 year-old Viceroy of India,George Nathaniel Curzon. David Cameron woulddo well to revive the long dormant Sikh project.

Banning culture: A ban too farBy banning the telecast of a restrained, yet power-ful and harrowing film, “India’s Daughter,” nowavailable on YouTube, the Indian government hasdiminished itself. Leslee Udwin’s film is not India-centric; it was made to coincide with InternationalWomen’s Day to highlight the pervasive discrimi-nation against women, from the workplace, mar-ketplace, in the domestic and public space. MsUdwin was given permission by the Tihar jailauthorities to interview Mukesh Singh, one of theaccused in the notorious gang rape in December2012. The victim, Nirbhaya, a young Delhi womandied of her horrific injuries. Singh, the driver of thebus in which the rape occurred, was a participantin the vile deed with four associates. He justifiedthe assault, saying that if Nirbhaya hadn’t resisted,she would have lived. One of Singh’s two lawyers,A.P.Singh, was shown in the film saying, “If mydaughter or sister engaged in pre-marital activitiesand disgraced herself and allowed herself to loseface and character by doing such things, I would

most certainly take this sort of sister or daughterto my farmhouse in front of my entire family, Iwould put petrol on her and set her alight.” Theother lawyer, Manohar Lal Sharma appeared tosuggest that Nirbhaya was at fault for being out onthe streets at a late hour. The Bar Council of Indiahas asked for an explanation from both thelawyers, whose licence to practice in now on theline. Council Chairman Manan Kumar Mishrasaid: “Prima facie, it is case of professional mis-conduct…. We have received complaints from sev-eral lawyers and women’s organizations.” India’s Editors Guild has condemned the gov-

ernment’s telecast ban, as have women’s groupsacross the country. The clinching argument camefrom Nirbhaya’s anguished father, who said Indiacould not remain in a state of denial because ofnational prestige. He hoped everyone would seethe documentary to understand the true dimen-sion of the scourge. Humanity must take prece-dence over politics.

COMMENT

I can’t imagine thatmany people readingthis will not be awarethat we are currentlymarking the centenaryof the First World War.The conflict itself last-ed for four long years,so there will be lots ofopportunities beforewe get to November2018, a hundred yearsafter the Armistice thatended the war, to thinkabout that time in ourhistory.But there will be

lots of Asian Voicereaders, I suspect, whowill wonder if any ofthis has any great rele-vance to them today.After all, no one whofought for the Alliesback then is still alive.And for many of you,your forebears maywell have been livingthousands of milesaway from the WesternFront when all the hor-rors of trench warfarewere taking place.But as it happens,

this week sees the100th anniversary of abattle that, in a surpris-ing way, is very impor-tant indeed to all of us,and in particular theAsian community.The battle of Neuve

Chapelle was the firstorganised Britishcounter-offensive ofthe war. In the event,poor communicationsand insufficientresources led to ghastlycasualties on bothsides, and resulted inthe capture of barelytwo square kilometresof land.But it’s the fact that

this battle marked thefirst time that Indiantroops served alongsidethe British onEuropean soil thatmarks it out as impor-tant for me. And Ithink it’s a real shamethat so few people

realise that the service-men who fought and,in too many cases,made the ultimate sac-rifice included some1.5 million soldiers andnon-combatants fromcountries now knownas India, Pakistan,Bangladesh, Sri Lankaand Nepal.And it also needs to

be remembered thatthese were not con-scripts, press-gangedinto joining up. No,nearly every one ofthem was a volunteer,willingly signing up tofight thousands ofmiles from home in thename of a King and anEmpire that must haveseemed as alien tothem as the freezingsleet that welcomedthem on their arrival inEurope.The arrival of the

Indian’ Army service-men – the Sepoys, asthey were known – hadcome at a criticalmoment for the Allies.So it happened thatMuslims, Hindus,Sikhs and soldiers ofother faiths foughtalongside each otherand their British com-rades in these appallingconditions. To testtheir mettle further, noone had thought to tellthem that the summeroutfits they came to thefront in were unsuit-able for a Europeanwinter.In little more than a

week, some 4,200Indians had been killedor wounded in thefighting.These are difficult

times for Britain’sAsian communities.Mutual respect andunderstanding on allsides is, I believe, a fit-ting memorial to thebrave Sepoys of NeuveChapelle today andevery day.

Helen Grant MP

First World War Minister

NEUVE CHAPELLE

Once you embrace unpleasant news notas a negative but as evidence of a needfor change, you aren't defeated by it.You're learning from it.

- Bill Gates (1999)

AsianVoiceNewsweeklyAsianVoiceNews

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 20154 MIDLANDS VOICE

The head of the CrownProsecution Service forthe north west hasresigned after beingcleared of alleged impro-priety.

An investigation wasconducted after allega-tions that Nazir Afzal,OBE, one of Britain’shighest-profile prosecu-tors, sent a text messageto a defendant in aManchester court case. Hehas resigned but the CPSinsist his decision to gohas nothing to do with theunfounded allegation.

The resignation will beeffective from the end ofMarch.

The region’s top prose-cutor has been in the spot-light for his high-profilecomments on child sexualexploitation and groom-

ing.Mr Nazir, pictured,

took up his post in 2011.His staff received an emailearlier this week saying ithad always been his inten-tion to step down in 2015.In the four-line email, MrAfzal said there was ‘nosecret reason’ why he wasleaving after 25 years withthe CPS.

He was also a guestspeaker at a function atThe Palace Hotel last

week where heannounced he wasleaving and wasresponsible for allcriminal prosecu-tions acrossG r e a t e rM a n c h e s t e r ,Lancashire, andCumbria.

Nazir has pio-neered work to

tackle honour-based vio-lence and forced marriage,initially bringing this issueto the top of the publicagenda through a CPSconference in 2004. Hehas the national CPS leadon tackling these crimesand on tackling ViolenceAgainst Women (domesticviolence, rape and otherviolent offences in whichwomen are predominantlythe victims).

Three Birmingham menwho were jailed after aman was kidnapped,falsely imprisoned andtortured with hammershave had their sentencescut by top judges. Thevictim was held captivefor almost 28 hours,stripped naked, beatenand stabbed after he waskidnapped inKidderminster in August2013.

The 37-year-old hadbeen hunted for fouryears over an alleged debtby one of his kidnappers,Tariq Mahmood. It hadled to him being forced tomove with his family 17times to stay out ofMahmood’s clutches.When Mahmood finallycaught up with him, hewas subjected to a terrify-ing ordeal which left himbleeding, bruised andwith fractured ankles.

For organising theordeal, Mahmood, 43, of

Castle Hill Drive, CastleBromwich, was jailed for17 years at WorcesterCrown Court last year.His 17-year sentence to16 years and two months.

Paul Che Murray, 43,of Linwood Court,Erdington, had beeninvolved from the begin-ning and in the violence.He had his 15-year termfor conspiracy to kidnap,false imprisonment andintentional GBH cut to14 years and fourmonths.

Tehery Mahmood, 39,of Mears Drive,

Stechford, who only gotinvolved after the victimwas kidnapped, got 14years for false imprison-ment and intentionalGBH. He had his sen-tence cut to 12 years afterthe Appeal Court wastold he has learning diffi-culties and was under hisbrother, Tariq’s, influ-ence.

But Kulbir SinghBains, 43, of GilsonRoad, Coleshill, saw his17-year sentence for con-spiracy to kidnap, falseimprisonment and inten-tional GBH upheld.

Bogus spiritual healerMohammed Ashraficonned Canadian and UScitizens out of about £4.5million more than adecade before he arrivedin Leicester, authoritiesbelieve.

Ashrafi, pictured, wasjailed for nine years lastmonth for tricking peoplein Leicester out of at least£650,000 by using sleightof hand tricks and mean-ingless prayer sessions topromise his victims biglottery wins.

However, it is allegedAshrafi – who called him-self Kamal-Ji while he wasin Leicester – left a trail ofvictims in North Americain a similar fraud spreedating back to the late

1990s.According to the

Toronto Star, Ashrafi isalleged to have conned 34Canadians of $1.2 million– or approximately£650,000 – and inAmerica he allegedly took$6 million – more than £4million – from dozens of

‘believers’.The newspaper, which

has been investigatingAshrafi’s activities inNorth America for severalyears, reported that USpolice records show offi-cers in four states havereceived fraud allegationsagainst Ashrafi. It reportsthat Ashrafi and anaccomplice, who hasnever been traced, fleecedvictims in the states ofCalifornia, Texas, NewJersey and Illinois.

The Canadian authori-ties are in the process ofapplying for the 50-year-old’s extradition to facetrial for fraud. It is unclearwhether the US authori-ties intend to pursue him,the Star reported.

Restaurateur SyedRahman has been host-ing fundraising nightssince he openedCuisine of India inWigston nearly eightyears ago.

For the past twoyears he has also beenholding them at his newbuffet restaurant Chef& Spice in HinckleyRoad, West End,Leicester.

The total raised athis businesses recentlypassed £200,000 and hehas set a new target ofreaching £500,000 inthe next five years.

Rahman said: "Ican't believe we've reached£200,000 and I'm pleasedso many people have comeforward to organise theseevents with me. At themoment we're holdingfour events a month atChef & Spice and two amonth at Cuisine of Indiaso were on course to reachthe new target by 2020."

Members of the publicorganise the nights, invit-ing family and friends todine at the restaurants andat least half the moneypaid for the food goesstraight to the organiser'schosen charity.

Syed's events at Chef& Spice all pass on 60 percent of the takings on to

the charities but despitemaking a loss on the char-ity evenings he said hewas happy to be givingback to the community.

Charities helpedrecently include Loros,Menphys, CancerResearch UK, Mind,Rainbows Children's Trustand the air ambulance.

A cannabis grower, whowas caught with a stash ofthe drug in his car, hasappeared in court.

Nafa Hassan, 35, wasfound to have £400 worthof cannabis with him,when he was stopped in acar by the police inLeicester. Officerssearched his home, wherethey discovered a cannabis

factory with 55 illegalplants being cultivated.

Hassan pleaded guiltyto possessing the class Bdrug on December 21,2013. He also admittedproducing cannabis,between June andDecember, 2013.

The Leicester CrownCourt case was adjourneduntil March 26, for the

preparation of a pre-sen-tence report.

Hassan, of WoodfieldRoad, Balsall Heath,Birmingham, was said tohave intended to usingsome of the cannabis him-self, as well as supplyingto friends, on a "commer-cial basis."

He was released onbail.

Top prosecutor resigns after beingcleared of alleged impropriety

Bogus faith healer's £4 million fraudin US and Canada

Restaurateur Syed's new target tohelp raise £500,000 for charity

Tariq Mahmood Tehery Mahmood

Cannabis grower caught with stash ofdrug in his car appears in court

Former CoronationStreet star ShobnaGulati says her son wasbullied at school and ranaway from home becauseof stories Mirror Groupjournalists wrote afterhacking her phone.

The hacked voice-mails were "deeply per-sonal", she told the HighCourt. She had accusedher partner of leakinginformation, causingtheir relationship to fall"by the wayside", shesaid.

Ms Gulati, pictured,who played SunitaAlahan in the drama, isamong eight high-profilefigures claiming damagesfor hacking.

The actress told thecourt her phone startedto be hacked from 2003,two years after shejoined the ITV soapopera.

At one point shewrote to the PressComplaints Commissionafter an article appearedin the Sunday Mirrorabout her "secret mar-riage", she said.

She said the "sala-

cious gossip" abouther past led to herson being bullied"quite extensively"the following dayat school aboutwho his father was.

"I'm a singlemum living on myown with my son. Ibelieved it wasn'tin the public inter-est that the parent-age of my childwould be debatedin a Sunday news-paper, so I wrotethis letter. I'vealways been verycareful aboutanswering ques-tions about my son andhad never been pho-tographed with him untilhe was 18," she told thejudge, Mr Justice Mann.

She had never talkedpublicly about her son'sfather, she said.

"This is personalinformation. It wasextremely private."

The 48-year-oldactress, who is currentlyappearing in MammaMia in Liverpool, saidshe had never been

offered the reality show,but humorously referredto the possibility onvoicemails she left.

She said she had notspoken publicly abouther disappointment overleaving CoronationStreet, but had on voice-mail. Nor had she spo-ken out about the end ofher relationship -although she left manyvoicemails for herboyfriend, she said.

The case continues.

Mirror phone hacking:Shobna Gulati's son'bullied after stories'

Three men who kidnapped,imprisoned, and tortured victim

with hammers have sentences cut

UKwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 2015 5

Arun Jaitley to inaugurateUnion Bank of India in UKThe Finance Minister ofIndia, Arun Jaitley willbe inaugurating theUnion Bank of India on13th March, during histwo day visit to the UK.Along with Arun Jaitley,this 95 year old bank willalso be inaugurated byMr Arun Tiwari, theGobal Chairman andManaging Director ofUnion Bank of India, aswell as the Union Bankof India's board of direc-tors.Arun Tiwari was born

on 1st July 1957. He hasa Master of Sciencedegree in Chemistry andhas also completed acourse in ComputerProgramming.Tiwari started his

career in Bank of Barodaas a Probationary Officerin 1979. he has workedat almost all major seg-ments in banking, in var-ious sufficiency, such asZonal Office, Whole saleBanking Branches,General Manager atCorporate Office andMSME and Wealth man-agement.His occupation at the

Bank of Baroda extendedover many regions inIndia as well as overseas.He was the ChiefExecutive at the centresin Kuala Lampur and

Singapore. Tiwari wasalso the head at GreaterMumbai Zone of Bank ofBaroda as a GeneralManager.On his advancement

as an Executive Director,Arun Tiwari joined theOffice of ExecutiveDirector at AllahabadBank from 18th June2012. He handled theportforlios of CREDIT,Credit Monitoring, HR,IT, Risk Management,Finance and Accounts,Inspection, Vigilance andBranch Expansion &Support Services.Tiwari also did a

Study Assignment inUSA and Europe forexport oriented SmallScale Industries in India,under aegis of WorldBank.Tiwari has undergone

several trainings andcourses at illustriousinstitutes, such as KellogSchool of Managementof NorthwesternUniversity, Chicago;Arthur D'Little, Boston;Indian School ofBusiness, Hyderabad;NIBM, Pune; Bankers'Training College,Mumbai, Indian Instituteof Technology, Mumbai,plus many more.Tiwari was also a

Director on the board ofAll Bank Finance Ltd.He is also currently oneof the Directors on theBoard of GeneralInsurance Corporation inIndia (GIC Re).Arun Tiwari join the

Union Bank office as theChairman and ManagingDirector of the bank on26th December 2013.

Arun Jaitley Arun Tiwari

The Culture SecretarySajid Javid led a multi-faith cultural evening atIWM North, part ofImperial War Museums,to mark the centenary ofthe second Battle ofNeuve Chapelle – thefirst major engagementof Indian troops on theWestern Front. Theevent, organised byDepartment for Culture,Media and Sport(DCMS) as part of theGovernment’s four-yearprogramme to commem-orate the Centenary ofthe First World War,included traditionalIndian dance, presenta-tions from young peoplein the North West onwhat they have learntabout the Indian troopsinvolvement, poignantreadings and poems, andthe reciting of a state-ment honouring the con-tribution of Indian troopsand committing BritishHindus, Muslims andSikhs to work togetherfor the good of the coun-

try.The audience of 300

people were made up ofmilitary personnel, civicdignitaries, religiousleaders from the Hindu,Muslim and Sikh faiths,representatives from theUndivided Indian Ex-S e r v i c e m e n ’ sAssociation, the RoyalBritish Legion, school-children from the NorthWest region and repre-sentatives from projectsaround the country look-ing at the Indian contri-bution to the First WorldWar.In his speech the

Culture Secretary SajidJavid said: “Events inFrance a century ago arestill relevant in Britaintoday. It’s important thatwe continue to tell theincredible story of theIndian Army and wenever forget the Battle ofNeuve Chapelle.“Neuve Chapelle is

not just the place wherethe course of the FirstWorld War hung in the

balance for four longdays. It is also the placewhere men from acrossBritain’s empire stoodshoulder to shoulder,fighting thousands ofmiles from home indefence of what wasright. Men from modern-day India, Pakistan,Bangladesh and Nepaltaking up arms alongsidesoldiers from every cor-ner of the UK.”

Havildar (Sergeant)Rajinder Singh DhattVice-Chairman, of theUndivided Indian Ex-S e r v i c e m e n ’ sAssociation said: “TheIndian Troops played asignificant part in theFirst World War and wewelcome theGovernment's efforts toensure that the centenaryis inclusive of all the faithcommunities who volun-tarily participated in thewar and pray that thisnational commemorationof the Battle of NeuveChapelle will be aresounding success.”

Culture Secretary leads Commemoration eventat Imperial War Museum North, Manchester

Jaitley to attend FICCI event and NRI Foundation dinner on Friday FICCI, the HighCommission of India andthe UK India BusinessCouncil are holding anexclusive event on Friday13 March which will beattended by Shri ArunJaitley. FICCI PresidentDr Jyotsna Suri is lead-

ing a high-level delega-tion of CEOs from Indiato the UK alongside thevisit.Following that, the

Finance Minister willattend a dinner by theNRI Foundation at Tajhotel, where he will be

felicitated. TheFoundation that ischaired by BaronessSandip Verma’s husbandMr Ashok Kumar Verma,believes in maintainingbonds between India andthe people of Indian ori-gin.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 20156 UK

Predictably as the general electionlooms ever closer all parties seek topersuade voters our National HealthService is safest in their hands That isunderstandable The is after all thelargest employer in the country andsome element of its service touchesevery living person from to grave

Understandable it may be it alsoregrettable because The NHS is tooimportant to play politics with It wouldbe best served if we had a nationalcoalition for it.

After all there is general consensusthat increasing demand from our agingpopulation will continue to keep theNHS under huge financial strain. Butunlike other departments the problemswithin it cannot be resolved by cuts andefficiency savings We know thisbecause successive governments havetried and time and again and failed

Each time there is a change of gov-ernment the NHS is subjected to amoving of the deck chairs exercise Thelatest so called reforms brought in bythe Conservatives, despite some gentleprotests from the Liberal Democratsincreased competition, gave health offi-cials more autonomy and handed con-trol over the purchase of care to groupsof local doctors. Few independent ana-lysts say these changes have helpeddeliver improved heath care or costreductions

True, some aspect, like integrationof services and moving some care out ofhospitals to home have made a positivedifference Now Labour and LiberalDemocrats want to merge the NHSwith “social care” Such a move wouldprobably involve another reorganisa-tion a huge cost and be unsettling forstaff and deliver few improvements

Then there is the constant squab-bling over budgets NHS spending is up

3.6% in real terms since theConservative-Liberal Democrat coali-tion government came to power in2010 But with 3m people still waitingfor care, the highest total in six years,more is needed. Even if spending keepsup with inflation, the NHS claims itsbudget may fall short by £30 billion ayear by 2021.In the face of these projec-tions the Parties are busy out biddingeach other with spending promises

Labour says it would boost theNHS’s budget by £2.5 billion a year if itwins the next election. TheConservatives say they would continuewith real-term increases, which haveaveraged £1 billion a year so far Andthe Liberal Democrats say they willspend one billion more than our coali-tion partners. But according to expertsthat will not be enough

England spends just over 6% ofnational income on the NHS. If thecurrent rate of demand on our healthservice continues that figure could riseto 20% and account for half of govern-ment spending if there is to be anyhope of closing the funding gap. by2061 say health experts

NHS Chief Executive SimonStevens published a paper lastOctober which contained some inter-esting proposals on managing ourNHS in the years ahead I thinkthis report provides a rare opportunityfor the three major Parties to examinethe recommendations jointly and thenagree a common implementation pro-gramme

Politicians putting aside Partyinterest for the sake of the health of thenation and working together to simplyto make us all healthier Now thatwould be something to celebrateregardless of which Party has the mostseats on May 8th.

Cllr Rabi MartinsWatford Borough Council

Liberal Democrats Parliamentary Candidatefor Hemel Hempstead

Our NHS Deserves Better Treatment

Father Son Fined forIllegal Flat Conversion

Khimji Ramji Patel andhis son, Naran Khetanihave been fined £12,000for illegally convertingtheir Neasden house intofive flats and rentingthem out. The pairignored planning lawsand safety regulations tocarry out a flounderedconversion on the prop-erty. As well as the flats,they also built a single-story extension at therear of the property. Inaddition to creating theflats, the pair also built a

single-story rear exten-sion, a rear dormer win-dow and an outbuildingin the back garden with-out seeking planning per-mission from BrentCouncil. WillesdenMagistrates Court weretold how the duo ignoredseveral warnings fromthe council and disre-garded an enforcementorder.

They were both fined£6,000 each plus £613towards the cost of coun-cil.

Man Smuggles People for £5,000The National CrimeAgency held KhalilAlksaied Ahmed(25), aspart of an investigationinto a gang that werecharging migrants up to£5,000 in order to besmuggled into the UK,via Channel ports.

The migrants consist-ed of mainly, Albanians,Iraqis and Syrians wouldbe boarded onto lorriesat kay-bys and motorwayservice stations in

Belgium, before trying toget into the UK.

Omran Hassan (25),was also arrested andwas held in Birmingham.

Both, Ahmed andHassan are Syriannationals and appearedbefore WestminsterMagistrates Court. Theywere remanded in cus-tody and are to appear incourt on June 18 fortheir full extraditionhearing.

Novelist Accuses Bollywoodof Plagiarism

Many Bollywood filmproducers have beenaccused by writer andformer Conservative MP,Jeffrey Archer of stealingstory lines from his nov-els, without his permis-sion.

Archer's novels arebest-sellers in India buthe's spoken of the prob-lems that he has with theBollywood film industry.

When asked by anIndian news website onwhether his films couldbe adapted to makeHollywood thrillers,Archer lashed out, say-ing, “Well forgetHollywood, just look atyour Bollywood! Thesebunch of thieves havestolen several of mybooks without so muchas a 'by-your-leave'."

He mentioned films,such as the 2011 Yash

Raj Film, Ladies VsRicky Bahl, which wassimilar to his novel, Nota Penny More, Not aPenny Less (1979).

Another film heaccused of being plagia-rised is the 1987 film,Khudgarz, directed byRakesh Roshan. Heclaimed the film plagia-rised the story line fromhis 1979 novel, Kane andAbel.

He stated that therewere many other filmswhich had taken hisstory lines, hence, he isat present looking forBollywood film compa-nies who would be inter-ested in buying the rightsfor the first book in hisClifton ChroniclesSeries, Only Time WillTell. However, his previ-ous experience with hiswork being plagiarised

has left him bitter andcautious of Bollywoodproducers. Speaking onfinding Bollywood filmcompanies to buy therights for his novel, helamented, “... and thatdoes not mean some sec-ond rate Bollywood idiotwho goes around sayinghe's a Bollywood starproducer and then he isnot! Such has been myIndian experience manytimes.”

Jeffrey Archer

How Unified is United Kingdom?Contradicting Britain: How integration becomes difficult

when one has an unwelcoming approach

Are we a contradictingnation? One must takepride in being a part ofthis multicultural society,where everyone is wel-come to practice their ownreligion and be the personthey wish to be. Well, thismay seem farfetched andslightly exaggerated, butafter all the struggles thatthe first generations ofAsians had to bear, theywere truly welcomed in analien land, consequently,making it their own.However, due to all themishaps that have beenhappening in the UK andaround the world, manyBritish Asians have had toface the brunt and pay aprice of a crime that theyhave not done. But werewe ever really welcomed?Were we ever consideredas a Briton? One mayhave been born and raisedin the UK, yet they may bequestioned, “so, where areyou from? You don't looklike you're from here.”

A modern day exampleof unwillingness to inte-grate and an unwelcomingsociety is of ParmjitDhanda; the first British-born Indian MP as well asfirst Sikh MP in Britainwho faced many hostilepeople and horrific inci-dents due to their igno-rance. Parmjit Dhandafaced many difficulties asan MP in Gloucester. Hewould constantly be bom-barded with hate mails,referring to him as a“paki” and telling him to“go home”. But whatannoyed Dhanda furtherwas when a ConservativeCouncillor shouted tosome Labour activistsabout him. They shouted,“I'll bet your candidate'sgrandad wasn't atDunkirk.” Dhanda states,“that did get under my

skin because my grandfa-ther fought with the RoyalBengal Engineers inBurma.”

Another round of“unwelcomeness” camefrom the late MargaretThatcher in 2007. Dhandaintroduced himself toThatcher as the MP ofGloucester, to whichThatcher looked aroundthe room and then back atDhanda, replying, “so,which country are youfrom?”

But what was a finalstraw in politics forDhanda was when hefound a severed pig's headoutside of his house in2010. From then on,Dhanda turned his backon politics. The racistdemonstrators mistookDhanda to be a Muslim,hence, the pig's head inci-dent. Nevetherless, hadthey even sent a severedpigeon or sheep's head,the impact would havebeen the same. The mes-sage from these racistsprotestors were loud andclear.

Many Muslims believethat the stereotypes thathave been associated withMuslims have led to many

radicalisation.They feel thatmany terrorrelated news gethighlighted, anddeservedly so asthe world oughtto know whathas been going.But they feelthat they arebeing looked atwith suspiciousgaze.

If one prac-tices their reli-gion in the open,especially if theybelong to the

Islamic faith, theyare deemed as “extrem-ists”. There have beenmany such cases, such asthe Oxford grooming case,where the gang was pub-licly called a “Pakistanigrooming gang” as themajority of the memberswere of Pakistani ethnici-ty. However, with the caseof Jimmy Savile and hissavage behaviour withchildren, not once do wehear of him being a “whitepaedophile”. Arguably, itis the way that thesecrimes have beenaddressed in the newswhich makes many believethat Muslim children arefurther isolated, forcedinto radicalisation as theyare not being welcomed bythe Western mainstream;neither in society and nei-ther in the news.

Now, if we talk aboutimmigration in the UK,many people will havetheir own personal viewson this topic. While somebelieve we ought toencourage people into thecountry for betterprospects, others may behellbent against anymore“others” coming over. Atone time, there wereissues regarding the econ-

Parmjit Dhanda omy of the UK and howbringing in immigrantsmay affect it further.However, it only showedfruitful in aiding the econ-omy of UK. Now the issueis more regarding Britainbecoming an overpopulat-ed country and somethingneeds to be done aboutthis. But what could beunderstood is that withthe negative depiction ofMuslims and Asians inthe news, maybe this isthe government's attemptto control who comes intothis country in order tokeep it safe. But is it fairto be painted with thesame brush and be dis-criminated againstbecause of your ethnicity?Will these undercurrentsegregations and preju-dices create further feudsand lead to more radicali-sations against the“West”? After all theprogress society hadmade, it seems as thoughwe have all taken severalsteps back, making theatmosphere as unamiablefor one another as it mayhave used to be in the1950s or 60s, when maybeyour first generation ofAsian family came over tothe UK.


Mother and Lover Kill 8 Year Old Daughter

In August 2013, 8 yearold Ayesha Ali was founddead with 50 injuries bythe mother, PollyChowdhury (35) and hervicious lover, KikiMuddar (43).

It was revealed incourt about how Muddarhad created fake identi-ties on Facebook and hadsent text messages to lureChowdhury. Muddarturned Chowdhuryagainst Ayesha as she sawher as a threat. Two fakeidentities created byMuddar were Jimmy,Chowdhury's cyberboyfriend and Skyman, aMuslim Spirit guide.

Further revelations incourt were of howMuddar had inundatedChowdhury with morethan 40,000 texts, calling

Ayesha a witch and hav-ing bad blood. One suchmessage stated: “Youhave no right to ever loveor like your evil daugh-ter.”

On 29th August 2013,Muddar had informed thepolice that Ayesha haddied and Chowdhurytried to commit suicide.When the paramedicsarrived, Ayesha wasfound dead, wearing onlya pair of pink pants.

Ayesha has endured alot of physical, psycholog-ical and emotional abusefor months up to herdeath. However,Chowdhury and Muddardenied murder,manslaughter and causingthe death of Ayeshabetween 1st March to29th August 2013.

On 6th March 2015,Polly Chowdhury andKiki Muddar were con-victed of manslaughter.Chowdhury was sen-tenced to 13 years in jailas Muddar received 18 asJudge Christopher MossQC confirmed that shewas majorly responsiblefor the death of Ayesha,also describing Muddar asa “manipulative, wickedwoman”. Additionally,there were clear evidencethat Muddar had causedthe fatal head injuries ofAyesha.

Judge Moss also com-memorated Afsar Ali,Ayesha's father for beingcourageous in court forhaving to learn about thehorrific details of thedeath of his daughter berevealed in court.

Left: Polly Chowdhury. Right: Kiki MuddarAyesha Ali

BHF urges men to be proud to be‘quitters’ this No Smoking Day

The British HeartFoundation (BHF) isencouraging smokers tovisit their local stop smok-ing services ahead of thisyear’s No Smoking Day on11 March.

Previous surveys haveshown that men in AfricanCaribbean, Pakistani andBangladeshi communitiesgenerally smoke more thanmen across the population.This becomes even moreworrying when you consid-er that African Caribbeanand South Asian men arealso at an increased risk ofhealth problems that areexacerbated by smoking,such as high blood pres-sure, coronary heart dis-ease and diabetes. Studies

have found that smokersare four times more likelyto succeed in quitting withhelp from NHS stop smok-ing services than if they goit alone. Smoking can alsoadd to financial worries. Asmoker with a 20-a-dayhabit will spend an averageof £255 a month on ciga-rettes. The BHF offersthese top five tips to helpyou quit smoking:l Make a date to give up -and stick to it! This year’sNo Smoking Day isWednesday 11 March.l Make a plan. Thinkabout what could help youstop smoking, such asusing a nicotine-replace-ment product, and have itready before the date you

plan to stop.l Get support and let yourfamily and friends knowthat you're quitting. Somepeople find that talking tofriends and relatives whohave stopped can be help-ful. You can also talk tolocal smoking cessationteam.l Keep busy to help takeyour mind off cigarettes.Try to change your routine,and avoid the shop whereyou normally buy ciga-rettes.l Treat yourself. If you can,use the money you're sav-ing by not smoking to buyyourself something special.

www.nosmokingday.org.ukTwitter: #NoSmokingDay

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Hospital bosses have apol-ogised to a man over thetreatment of his 79-year-old father.

Vrajlal Thakrar, fromBelgrave, was admitted toLeicester Royal Infirmaryon Tuesday after beingtaken to A&E by ambu-lance. He was later admit-ted to Ward 33 but whenhis son Nigel arrived onWednesday morning hefound his father had beenmoved to another ward inthe middle of the nightwithout his medication.

Nigel, pictured, alsofrom Belgrave, said: "Theout of hours doctor, theambulance crew and staffon the majors ward inA&E were fantastic. Wehad to wait three or fourhours for a bed but my

father was then taken toWard 33 where doctorscame up with a treatmentplan and the nurse said itwould be find to come out-side visiting hours thenext morning as myfather's English is not verygood."

But when he arrivedthe next morning he foundhis father was not there.Later that afternoon doc-tors were seeing to MrThakrar's father when din-ner orders were beingtaken and which hemissed. Instead he wasgiven an egg mayonnaisesandwich which made himsick.

Belinda Hamnet,matron for the short stayunit and discharge loungeat Leicester Royal

Infirmary, said: "We havemet with Mr Thakrar's sonto discuss his father's careand explained how wehave investigated theissues raised. The familywas happy with theactions taken and ispleased with our approachon this occasion."

49% Rise in Unemploymentfor Ethnic Youths

This NationalApprenticeships Week,the Deputy PrimeMinister, Nick Clegg willbe celebrating the prodi-gious growth of womentaking up apprentice-ships over the last fiveyears. The latest figuresreveal over a millionwomen started appren-ticeships between2010/11 and 2013/14.

The number of peoplestarting apprenticeshipshave doubled since 2010,with over 2 millionapprenticeships startingin England during thisparliament. Since 2010,the number of peoplestarting apprenticeshipsin business and law eachyear increased by over60%, with starts in engi-neering and manufactur-ing apprenticeships grow-ing by over 50%.

Nick Clegg states,“these encouraging sta-tistics show that we arestarting to see an end tothe barely concealedsnobbery of people think-ing apprenticeships aren’tthe path to a good career.

In fact, they are becom-ing the first choice forearning and learning.”

However, there havebeen a lot of backlashfrom the Labour Party, asnew figures show thatthere has been a 49% risein long-term unemploy-ment for the youth ofblack and ethnic minori-ties since 2010, whichcontradicts the previousfigures stated.

The Labour Partypledges to guaranteeevery young who are outof work for over a yearand claiming benefits apaid starter job as well astraining, which will helpover 3,200 black and eth-nic minorities (BAME)

young people back intowork.

Labour's ShadowWork and PensionsSecretary, Rachel Reeveshas criticised theConservative Party'sapproach. “The 49 percent rise in the number ofblack and minority ethnicyoung people out of workfor over a year since 2010shows the Tory plan isfailing. It is a huge wasteof the next generation’sskills, potential and tal-ent and it comes at ahuge cost to young blackand minority ethnic peo-ple, their families, tax-payers and the economy.”

Meanwhile, LabourMP, Sadiq Khan spokeup for young people at alocal apprenticeshipevent in Tooting Centre.

MP Sadiq Khan hasemployed a number ofapprenticeships at parlia-ment and also underlinedto the guests at the event,“we can help fulfil peo-ple’s potential and theycan help you fulfil yours.We’ve all got somethingto offer...”

MP Sadiq Khan

Hospital apologises to son over concernabout father's treatment


Rupanjana Dutta

Every year on the secondMonday in March, 53countries join together incelebration of the linksthey share as members ofone diverse and dynamicglobal family - the modernCommonwealth. This yearCommonwealth Day sawthe largest gathering atthe Memorial Gates, inConstitution Hill, nearBuckingham Palace.

M i n i s t e r s ,Commonwealth represen-tatives, service personnel,veterans, andchildren from theCity of LondonSchool CombinedCadet Force gath-ered near HydePark Corner forthe annual serv-ice, as theQueen's LifeGuard rode by ontheir way to per-form their dutiesat Horse GuardsParade and theBand of theC o l d s t r e a mGuards providedmusical accompa-niment.

This memorialis dedicated to thepeople of the Indian sub-continent, Africa, theCaribbean and Nepal whoserved in the ArmedForces during the twoWorld Wars. Her MajestyThe Queen officially inau-gurated the MemorialGates on ConstitutionHill in London on 6November 2002 as a last-ing memorial to honourthe five million men andwomen from the Indiansubcontinent, Africa, theCaribbean and Nepal whovolunteered to serve theEmpire with the ArmedForces during the Firstand Second World Wars.The Gates also celebratethe contribution thatthese men and women

and their descendants,members of theCommonwealth family,continue to make to therich diversity of Britishsociety.

Baroness ShreelaFlather, Chairman of theMemorial Gates Councilsaid, “The Ceremony tak-ing place today is to markthe Service and Sacrificemade in both World Warsby nearly five millionVolunteers from theIndian sub-continent,Africa, the Caribbean andNepal.

“As we move throughthe anniversaries of theFirst World War and thesignificant dates andevents we remember thatthe first Standing Army tojoin the European conflictin 1914 was from India.

“This is John Major'sthird visit to theMemorial, we have torecall that, not many peo-ple have come so manytimes and first time wehave a sitting Secretary ofthe State present.

“My father was a stu-dent here and he volun-teered in the war, inspiredby Gandhi's words.

He became a stretcherbearer and was posted inMesopotamia. For me this

is an opportunity for us allto remember the contribu-tion of Indians, Africansand West Indians.

“Today's event broughthome to me how manypeople must have sufferedin so many ways...

“I am so pleased thatyou all are here to remem-ber the minorities whowere involved in the greatwar...”

The Rt Hon EricPickles MP, Secretary ofState for Communitiesand Local Governmentsaid: “In both world warsmillions of soldiers fromacross theCommonwealth foughtside-by-side, defendingthe values of freedom andliberty, and defeating thedark forces of tyranny andoppression.~ EveryCommonwealth countryshares this proud history,but we also share endur-ing values, which provideenormous opportunitiesfor future cooperation.”

Field Marshall TheLord Guthrie describedthe Battle of NeuveChapelle, which tookplace a century ago thisweek, and whose successwas largely due to thehuge contribution fromthe Indian Army. He said:“These Memorial Gatesrecognise how much theUnited Kingdom andDominions owe to thoseloyal members of theEmpire who gave theirsupport during those con-flicts. We honour theirService and theirSacrifice.”

The Rt Hon DrRichard Chartres, Bishopof London quoting theHindu Upinashads spokeabout the memorial atNeuve Chappele whereIndians marched shoulderto shoulder with theirbrothers in arms to thebattle hymn 'onwardChristian soldiers'. Aspoem goes 'they died with

their faces to the enemy'.The inscription therereads 'God is one and thevictory is His'.

Also present at theservice were The Rt Revdand, former PrimeMinister John Major, andLance Sergeant JohnsonBeharry VC.

Representing HisRoyal Highness ThePrince of Wales, FieldMarshal Sir John Chapplelaid a wreath. He was fol-lowed by Major GeneralEd Smyth-Osbourne,General Officer

Commanding theHousehold Division andHeadquarters LondonDistrict, who laid awreath on behalf of theChief of the Defence Staffof the Ministry of Defenceand representatives fromthe Embassies, HighCommissions includingHE Ranjan Mathai, theHigh Commissioner ofIndia, associations andorganisations represent-ing the diverse communi-ties from whom those whohelped to defend our free-dom have come.

As part of the events, marking the Centenary of theFirst World War (1914-1918), a special service tohonour the overseas-born Victoria Cross heroestook place at the National Memorial Arboretum on5th March. A total of 628 Victoria Crosses wereawarded of which 145 were for the soldiers whocame from the then British Empire, USA, Japan,Germany and Ukraine, who fought for the countrynot theirs. Each soldier was remembered on a spe-cially designed Commemorative Paving Stone. EricPickles MP, the Community Secretary, in welcom-ing the guests, including the Prime Minister DavidCameron, described the event as " a small act of grat-itude for those who defended the liberty and free-dom from a country that respects different faiths andwhere bravery knows no national barrier".

The Prime Minister spoke about the soldiers,"who fought for the freedom we all enjoy today withtheir names carved permanently on the PavingStones, on the soil of our land. They were greatmen, a remarkable minority on sea, land and air".Sergeant Johnson Beharry VC, unveiled theCommemorative plaque, followed by the Last Postand a two minute silence. Representatives ofAustralia, Canada, Denmark, India, Nepal, NewZealand, Netherlands, Pakistan, Indo-BritishHeritage Trust and the Prime Minister laid wreathson the Paving Stones. Among them 21 From Indiaand Pakistan including Khudadad Khan, the firstIndian to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

Among the large number of guests from theArmed Services and members of various organisa-tion from all over the country were Major MalcolmBradbury and Lt. Col.William Prince TD, Secretaryand Chairman of The Kai Kai Baluch Club, with verystrong connection with India. Lt. Col. William Price,who,was born in India, as was his father, was theonly man present who had actually met KhudadadKhan as a six year old, taken by his father. Heremembered that Khan looked tall because of hisstarched- fanned turban but otherwise he was quitesmall. His link with the historic hero added a per-sonal touch to the event. The VCs are honoured andremembered, not only as warriors winning wars butalso winning our hearts and gratitude for their senseof duty and service to the King Emperor. They notonly displayed amazing military actions but also aremarkable Indo-British relationship.

photo courtesy: Vinookumar Sachania

Overseas born Victoriacross heroes honoured

PM David Cameron addressing the guests as SergeantJohnson Beharry VC looks on

Britain pays tribute toCommonwealth soldiers

photo credit: Raj Takhar, Xpressions Photography

Baroness Shreela Flather, Chairman of the Memorial gatescouncil addressing the guests at the Memorial Gates

Former PM JohnMajor with

Baroness Flather

Secretary of State Rt HonEric Pickles giving a speech

‘... for your tomorrow we gave our today.’


For InternationalWomen’s Day week AsianVoice had to feature afemale Leading Light.

Laxmi Hariharan doesnot disappoint. She is thewriter and creator of fic-tional book characterRuby Iyer.

Let’s find out if Ruby isLaxmi’s alter ego. She toldus,

“Ruby Iyer is her ownperson. She leads and Ifollow. She is strong-willed and spontaneous.But, often she doesn’tknow what she reallywants. So, she makes thewrong choices and paysfor them too.”

Especially in the weekafter a controversial filmdealing with a viciouscrime that killed an inno-cent woman aired, theidea of a Ruby Iyer feelspertinent.

Laxmi explained. “I started my career in

Bombay as a journalist,and each day of my work-ing life, the commutingwas a nightmare. Not asingle day would go bywithout my being brushed

against or commented onby a passer-by. So, when aphotojournalist was rapedin Bombay in broad day-light a few years ago, itreally made me angry. Iwished for a strong figure,someone who would standup to those making life sodifficult for ordinary girls.Ruby Iyer was born of thatanger. I wrote Ruby initial-ly as a weekly web-seriesand from day one peopleresponded to her. It’s what

spurred me on to write hercomplete story in TheMany Lives of Ruby Iyer. Iwas helpless. Ruby is not.She is an angry young girlwho stands up for herself,and does not worry aboutthe consequences.”

Laxmi described herbook.

“The book is a white-knuckle ride through adisintegrating Bombay, asa terrifying encounter pro-pels our heroine from her

everyday commute into abattle for her own survivaland the survival of the cityshe loves.

It’s about eighteen-year-old Ruby Iyer, whoruns away from home onlyto meet with an accidenton the platform of aBombay train station.Recovering, she finds shehas changed. As she is try-ing to figure out what’shappening to her, her bestfriend is kidnapped. SoRuby Iyer teams up with amysterious cop-gone-rogue Vikram Roy, andtogether they journeythrough a crumblingBombay city, to face-offwith the mastermindbehind the kidnapping,who is also intent ondestroying the city. WillRuby and Vikram saveBombay and Ruby’sfriend? And what abouttheir growing feelings foreach other?”

Laxmi never said“Mumbai” instead of“Bombay, but she told uswhy.

“When I write, I tapinto my memories of beinga teenager, and I grew upin a city called Bombay. Sothe book is set in Bombay.

I read a lot of fictionset in a futuristic NewYork or Chicago or indeedLondon. It made me won-der why no such storieswere set in Asian cities? Itwas natural for me to useBombay as a backdrop.The city is urban, contra-dictory and unforgiving—

the perfect setting for akick-ass character likeRuby.

Laxmi’s creation is sopopular, she said, that it isan obvious jump to mov-ing pictures next.

“Ruby Iyer both as abook and/or a movie willappeal to people aroundthe world. The themes inthe book are universal –they’re about coming ofage, about figuring outyour place in this world,about following your heartand acting on what youbelieve in. It’s also about

the dark space thatteenagers inhibit. Wherethey are at the mercy oftheir parents and teachers.Where society dictatesthey learn to behave in acertain way. But really allthey want to do is just ...be.”

So it must a logicalstep for Laxmi to be writ-ing more books on Ruby?Yes, clearly.

“Right now I am writ-ing the sequel – TheSecond Life of Ruby Iyer. Ialso have a prequel out,the Ruby Iyer Diaries.Ruby wrote her dairies,almost daily, from the ageof ten, till she left home atsixteen-and-a-half. It isfrom here that I picked outscenes from her early life.”

Laxmi Hariharan is arare writer in that she is amarketer too- she knowshow to sell.

“I am both an authorand a marketer. So therewere two of us writing TheMany Lives of Ruby Iyer:1) The author caught upin creating this hot-headedcharacter that had a mindof her own. 2) And the communicatorin me who kept trying tounderstand what RubyIyer stood for. I kept ask-ing myself - why wouldanyone read Ruby’s story?What would make themrecommend the book? Atough question, but one Ineeded to answer to havemy work stand out.”

Clearly, she’s succeed-ed.

Leading LightsRani Singh, Special Assignments Editor

Ruby Iyer’s Creator on her Real Self and Alter Ego

Ruby Iyer bothas a book and/or

a movie willappeal to people

around theworld

Ruby Iyer

Commercial Property AuctionThursday 26th March 2015

www.acuitus.co.ukJohn Mehtab: +44 (0)20 7034 4855

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Gandhi’s statueI was wondering why Shri NarendraModi, India’s Prime Minister, couldn'tcome on the 30th Jan. when Gandhi'sStatue will be unveiled! Now I amdelighted and must thank Asian Voice ofthe 28th Feb. which gave the great newsthat Mahatma Gandhi Statue will beunveiled in the London ParliamentSquare on Saturday, the 14th March, byShri Arun Jaitley, India Finance Minister.I applaud Right Hon British Prime

Minister, David Cameron, Lord MeghnadDesai and the whole team of the GandhiStatue Memorial Trust for making thisoccasion memorable especially on theCentenary of Gandhi's arrival to Indiafrom South Africa. On Gandhi'sPrinciples of Truth, Peace andNonviolence (Physically, Mentally andVerbally), I am happy that the relationsbetween Britain and India are still goingstronger and stronger! On one side willbe the Great Nelson Mandela of SouthAfrica who adored him and on the otherside Winston Churchill, the Great BritishWartime PM who hated Gandhi!May I say without Gandhi's Statue

the London Parliament Square will be 'ACrown without the KohinoorDiamond!!!'

Upendra KapadiaBy email

India’s daughterI am outraged and upset on BBC's deci-sion to move the date of its premiere ofabove said documentary ahead ofInternational Women's Day. Shame onthe BBC and those involved in producingIndia's daughter which glorifies and justi-fies one of the men sentenced to death forraping and killing 23 year old woman bysaying in his interview by BBC "a girl isfar more responsible for rape than a boy.A decent girl won't roam around at 9:00at night doing wrong things and wrongclothes”.Why did the BBC have to go all the

way to India to interview him in jail andthan produce this documentary insteadof looking in their own country's back-yard where many rapists and sexualabusers are in jail and at large - some ofthem holding high profile position andauthority like priests/pastors of churches,coaches of sports, managers/bosses ofpublic and private corporations, schoolteachers and professors, politicians,members of well reputed families and listgoes on.The BBC should have interviewed

these people to produce the documentaryand also should have gone to other partsof Europe and North America where rapeculture is well alive in spite of so-calledwell educated and advanced countries ofthe world. On the eve of InternationalWomen's day on March 8 and Mother'sday in England on March 15 I bow myhead to all women and heartily wishHappy Mother’s Day to everyone.

Suresh and Bhavna PatelMarkham, Canada

“Importance of freedom”I refer to the issue of Asian Voice of 21stFebruary. I was astounded to read an arti-cle by Baroness Zahida Manzoor on ''TheImportance of Freedom''. The goodBaroness managed to write an entire arti-cle covering one third of a page on theCharlie Hebdo attack, Boko Haram, andthe Counter Terrorism Bill without oncementioning the word Muslim or Islam.The article had important points to

make but was much diminished by theBaroness' obvious reluctance to make thelink between some followers of Islam andthese sick atrocities. Any commentBaroness?

Rajeev ShahBy email

Alabama assaultI was puzzled, indeed perturbed readingDevang Bhatt’s letter in last week’s AV.He somehow tries to blame victim and hisfamily for unprovoked police attack onelderly Sureshbhai Patel. It is commonknowledge that American police officersare racist, trigger happy when dealingwith non-white citizens. There are numer-ous cases where white officers have shotdead black persons, even teenagers forbeing in the wrong place at the wrongtime without facing the consequence,although it would be wrong to generalise. Before police arrest someone, they

have to ascertain whether the person isarmed, threat to law and order. InSureshbhai’s case he was simply takingearly morning walk in an unfamiliar area.Even fluency in English does not mean wecould understand every dialect. Recently Ivisited friends in Leeds. There was knockand when I opened the door, I saw post-man who was delivering registered letter.He was friendly who tried to chat but Icould not understand a word, as he wasspeaking in local colloquial Yorkshiredialect and my friend had to intervene.Does this make me illiterate?Although police officer may be under

arrest, investigation, he will soon be freed,back on duty while the victim may be per-manently disabled. Let’s call spade aspade and blame the perpetrator ratherthan find excuses or fault the victim.

Bhupendra M. GandhiBy email

Do TV medical soapsincrease our expectations?Surely I am not alone in enjoying medicalsoaps that receive saturated exposure onour TV. Casualty, Holby City, Doctorsand other imported Australian andAmerican soaps occupy prime slots.While it is fun and even enhance ourmedical knowledge, it certainly createsfalse impression, as all Doctors,Consultants, Nurses, Social Workers areportrayed as perceptive philanthropist,caring and at our service 24 hours a daylike water on tap?GPs pay home visits without being

asked, accompany patients to hospitalswhere they are seen on arrival, stay withthem for hours and patients just walk inGP surgeries and demand to see GPs onthe spot. This is pernicious, could not befurther from truth and may raise expecta-tions beyond realm of reality, ultimatelyend up in sea of despair rather thanocean of hope.As we know from personal experi-

ences, we have to wait hours in A & E,unable to see our GPs for days, especiallyfor non-urgent treatment, as GPs areover-worked and underfunded, our NHShas become IHS, (International HealthService) soft touch for health tourists dueto our self-opinionated plutocratic politi-cians’ holier than thou attitude. Perhaps medical soaps should carry

“Health Warning” that this is fictionaland bears no similarity to real issues inour haemophiliac NHS which is con-stantly under pressure due to neglect andunder-funding. So often hospital admis-sion is perceived to be “High Way toheaven”.

Kumudini Valambia By email

Have something to say about thestories featured in Asian Voice?Letters are welcome at: [email protected] Word limit: 200 words.

Slaughter of cowsThe Narendra Modi government shouldthink twice before banning the slaughterof cows in Maharashtra. Cow’s meat(beef) is the cheapest meat in India andall people can afford to eat it, unlike mut-ton (goat’s meat) which is three timesmore costly than beef.I know a lot of Hindus who eat beef,

as they find it not only cheap but tastytoo unlike mutton and chicken. If the BJPis keen on banning the slaughter of cows,they should first ban the slaughter ofgoats and chickens. Who is the govern-ment to decide what I should eat andwhat I should not. Let them confront meand I will give them a thorough whack-ing.

Jubel D’Cruz,Mumbai, India

Callous behaviour ofLabour councillors

Following the protest at Eastham townhall, a meeting of local Hindus was heldon Sunday 01/03/15 at the NaamdhariGurudwara in Forest Gate. Some 500people turned up of all ages and commu-nity groups venting their anger at the cal-lous behaviour of the Labour run councilso much so that none of the local wardLabour councillors neither the two MPsand worse still nor the only two Gujaraticouncillors attended.The council has even denied more

than 3,000 Hindus who have enjoyed cel-ebrating Holi in the grounds for over 30years. The impact on the community isdevastating and there was resoundingaffirmation among he audience whoshouted 'kick Labour out'. The gatheringwas very grateful that PPC for theConservative party in Newham has takenup their caseAlthough during Nusound Radio

phone in when I talked to CB he suggest-ed we should go the deputy leader, one ofthe two Gujarati councillors however hehas already been approahed by phoneand email more than ten times withoutavail. As a Gujarati this person shouldhang his head in shame in ignoring theemotions of his community at the behestand wishes of his party. It is clear that Hindus will be margin-

alised under Labour run administrationand Hindus all over the country havechoice tactfully to vote in solidarity of the

Imaginary claimsMr Otter queries if reincarnation gradu-ates a soul for existence on other planets.Please note that Hindu dharma is a wayof life. Therefore obedience to laws ofspatial habitat is more important thanwhich planets one resides or qualifies forpromotion. Laws on different planetsmay be different; obedience may be vol-untary or forced. Our knowledge beingconfined to planet Earth, talks aboutmigration to other planets is plain conjec-ture. But lives on non-earthly arenas arementioned in Hindu scriptures e.g.Bhoolok, Brahmlok. Vishnulok,Swargalok, 14 Bhuvanas etc. Earthlingswere not allowed on different arenaswhile living in forms made of earthlyphysical matter, (incident of Trishankuand Vishwamitra refers.)Statement that beings from other

planets guided earthly religions is hearsayand mere philosophy to push viewsdiverging from mainstream and polarisefollowers towards new trends ofthoughts. But Theosophy mentionsbrotherhood of elders, masters and per-fected beings that influence religiosityand intervene during crises.

Ramesh JhallaBy email

Newham Hindus in the coming election. For any other religious group this

would have been unthinkable not leastwith the phoney excuses the council havegiven. Needless to say remember thatcurrent child abuse/grooming cases,Trojan horse episodes in schools and mis-management of funds have mostlyoccured in Laour run council all of whichare against basic Hindu principles oftruth, honesty, peace, self sufficiency andtolerance of others

Bharat ParmarBy email

Kotda Sangani TalukaMy recent visit to this Taluka was fasci-nating. Life Project charity had built 57primary schools in Saurashtra fromdonor money. I had picked two SchoolNos. 38 and 46 as a random sample for asurprise visit. The students were mostlyfrom poor background. However theywere very energetic and eager to learn.The teachers and headmasters andindeed even three former headmasterswere all making huge efforts to upliftthese students.If we can just make an example of this

ONE TALUKA for the whole ofSaurashtra by adopting it, then all the 41villages around the Taluka would benefit.This could become a model Taluka.Urban population grew to 50% of worldpopulation in 2008. Tata has built fivesuch model townships.

Nagindas KhajuriaBy email


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Besides other dignitaries,it will be attended by Lordand Lady Desai of theGandhi Statue MemorialTrust as well.

This will be ShriJaitley's, whose officialrole in India is equivalentto the Chancellor of theExchequer GeorgeOsborne in the UK firstofficial visit to the UK asFinance Minister and theprogramme reflects thebroad and deepening rela-tionship enjoyed by Indiaand the UK. This closepartnership and co-opera-tion between the UK andIndia is generating morejobs, growth and securityfor our two nations.

During his visit, ShriJaitley will also meet theChancellor of theExchequer, GeorgeOsborne, and CultureSecretary, Sajid Javid, inorder to discuss the devel-opment of closer UK-Indiaties. Shri Jaitley will alsomeet with top businessleaders and investors.

Indian FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley said:“It is with great pleasurethat I have accepted Prime

Minister Cameron’s invi-tation to attend the inau-guration of the new statueof Gandhi in ParliamentSquare in London.Mahatma Gandhi will behonoured in this mostprestigious location for hiswork in peacefully leadingIndia’s struggle for inde-pendence.

“The statue will helpensure that the legacy ofGandhi lives on for futuregenerations. It also marksan important, historicmoment celebrating thestrong bond between ourtwo nations. India and theUK share the same valuesand we are a partnershipof equals. This lastingfriendship is just one ofmany legacies left byGandhi, which I am keenthat we work hard tostrengthen further.”

UK Culture SecretarySajid Javid said: “I amdelighted Shri Jaitley iscoming to the UK tounveil this historic statue.The UK and India havestrong links and I look for-ward to discussing waysboth our countries canfurther prosper by work-

ing together. The relation-ship we have today withIndia is one that MahatmaGandhi dreamed of - asfriends and equals."

The Rt Hon Keith VazMP, Britain’s longest serv-ing Member of Parliamentof Asian origin, has tabledan Early Day Motion inthe House of Commons tocommend the ceremony tounveil the MahatmaGandhi statue onParliament Square, due totake place on the 14thMarch.

Mr Vaz said: “Peoplefrom around the world willbe reminded of MahatmaGandhi’s incredible legacyon the 14th March, as oneof the most influentialpolitical figures of all time.

“The ceremony will bedeeply symbolic of the cul-tural and political bondsshared by the UnitedKingdom and India, as ourincreasingly interlinkedcountries continue toforge a close and deeplyimportant relationship.

“The strength of thissymbolism is demonstrat-ed by the hundreds of gen-erous donors across theUK and India, who madethis ceremony possible.

“I am very proud thatwe will be joined at theceremony by the IndianFinance Minister, ArunJaitley. It is marvellousthat somebody so senior iscoming to unveil the stat-ue.”People interested to attendthe statue unveiling, formore details please seewww.dcms.gov.uk

Gandhi statue unveiling open to public

Rt Hon Keith Vaz, MPChancellor Rt Hon George Osborne

Culture Secretary Rt HonSajid Javid

Bollywood SuperstarAmitabh Bachchan

Finance Minister of IndiaShri Arun Jaitley

Philip Hammond willvisit Chandigarh andDelhi ahead of this week-end’s unveiling of thelong-awaited statue ofGandhi in ParliamentSquare, London.

The Foreign Secretarywill reiterate the PrimeMinister’s invitation tothe Indian PrimeMinister Narendra Modito visit the UK, and willfocus on deepening thewarm relationshipbetween India and theUK for the security andgrowth of both countries.

In Chandigarh, MrHammond will open thenew British Deputy HighCommission, attend thefirst meeting of theBritish Business Group,and meet with the ChiefMinisters of Punjab andHaryana.

Mr Hammond willthen travel to Delhi, visit-ing the Gandhi Darshan

museum on the 85thanniversary of Gandhi’sdeparture from Kankipurto begin the Salt March.He will meet with theIndian Minister forExternal Affairs, SushmaSwaraj and the FinanceMinister, Arun Jaitley.

The Foreign SecretaryPhilip Hammond said: “Iam delighted to be mak-ing my first visit to Indiaas Foreign Secretary. TheUK’s partnership withIndia is indispensable forboth our countries’ pros-perity and security.

“Our partnership isdeeply rooted in our over-lapping histories, cul-tures and values. ThisSaturday, the long-await-ed statue of MahatmaGandhi in London’sParliament Square willunite citizens from bothour democracies in admi-ration for his teaching ofcivil rights and non-vio-

lence. “I am particularlypleased to be opening ournew Deputy HighCommission inChandigarh. The UK nowhas more diplomatic mis-sions in India than anyother nation does, andmore than it has in anyother country – a suresign of the great impor-tance we place on ourrelationship.”

Foreign Secretary visits India ahead of Gandhi statue unveiling

Foreign Secretary Rt HonPhilip Hammond

Councillor receives driving ban and community service34 year old Councillor ZaffarVan Kawala, who representsLabour in the Stonebridgeward was sentenced to a driv-ing ban and community serv-ice by Harrow Crown Court.

Van Kawala was convict-ed of the offences in relationto an attack on 24 year oldCouncillor Krupa Sheth, aLabour councillor forWembley. Van Kawalareceived a one year drivingban and must also complete200 hours of communityservice. At the trial, the jury

were informed that VanKawala and Sheth were pre-viously in a relationship fortwo years. On 21st June, bothwere arguing on ThurlbyRoad until Van Kawala decid-ed to sit in his car and driveoff. As he started to driveaway, Sheth ended up on hisbonnet. He drove away withher persistently holding ontothe bonnet, until she conse-quently fell and receivedminor injuries. Van Kawaladenies any wrong doings.However, along with his driv-

ing ban and community serv-ice, he was ordered to paySheth £250 in compensation,a prosecution cost of £4,200plus a victim surcharge of£60. He will also have to takean extended driving testbefore being allowed to drive.Van Kawala has been sus-pended by the London regionof the Labour party however,he can attend full councilmeetings but cannot partici-pate in any Labour Partymeeting groups or discus-sions.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 201512 MEDIA WATCH

According to the EconomicSurvey, India is poised to returnto a phase of high growth, as thegovernment presses ahead witheconomic reform, helped bydeclining oil prices and a benignoutlook for inflation, whichcould result in a lower interestrate regime. “The economyis set to grow by 8.1-8.5 percent in 2015-16, up from anestimated 7.4 per cent inthe financial year endingMarch 31.” The projectionis most encouraging. If ful-filled, it could make Indiathe fastest growing econo-my (among large countries)in the world (HinduFebruary 28) The Budgetitself received an enthusias-tic thumbs up from themajority of scribes, andeven more so from the cap-tains of Indian industry.How is this for starters: “ItIsn’t Big, But it’s Full ofBang,” the headline toSwaminathan AnklesariaAiyar’s front page report in theEconomic Times (March 1). SeeComment page 3 for more

Higher education

Apropos of the EconomicSurvey, with an eye to increasenumbers in India’s skilledlabour force, Finance Minister’sBudget has allocated a 22 percent increase in expenditure onhigher education, planning toset up more institutes of excel-lence in technology and busi-ness. “It seems the central gov-ernment plans to focus more onhigher education and try to tar-get 30 million near-productivepopulation in higher educationinstitutes,” said NarayanRamaswamy, Partner and HeadEducation Practice at consultingfirm KPMG. “These peopleunless attended to will shift theirbase outside of India and impactthe economy.”

IIMs, IITs on anvil

Pramath Sinha, educationistand founder of the IndianSchool of Business, Hyderabad,Dean of Ashoka University, said:“The announcement of new top

schools like IIMs and IITs indi-cate that they are looking athigher education in a big way.”While one IIT will come up inKarnataka, the second will becreated through an upgrade ofthe Indian School of Mines,Dhanbad (Jharkhand) to an IIT.

This follows the earlier upgradeof the Institute of Technology atBenaras Hindu University to IITstatus. Two proposed IIMs willcome up in Andhra Pradesh andJammu and Kashmir respective-ly. Future plans also involve thesetting up of IITs in Jammu andKashmir, Chhattisgarh,, Goa,Andhra Pradesh and Kerala,making 20 IITs in all. IIMs inHimachal Pradesh, Punjab,Bihar, Odisha and Maharashtraare planned (Mint March 1

Long-term defence

India’s defence expenditure isexpected to reach $620 billion,from the current fiscal endingMarch 31, to 2022, with half ofit going into the capital sector(armaments), transforming thecountry from being mainly abuyer to a major arms supplierto advanced countries. Drivenby domestic and externaldemand the export opportuni-ties for Indian companies in thepublic and private sectors areincreasing exponentially, likelyto reach $41 billion by 2022,says a report by the Federationof Indian Chambers ofCommerce and Industry, and thefinancial services firm CentrumCapital Ltd. The gap between

what the government spends onsalaries and administration andthe sums spent on arms acquisi-tions has been weighted for theformer, but the anomaly is nowbeing seriously addressed andthe ratio is expected, in thelong,-term to be redressed infavour of the latter.

IT role in warfare

India’s cause will be greatlyhelped by its high IT develop-ment and the large pool of soft-ware professionals, which isdoubly important as modernwarfare is increasingly turninghigh-tech in which softwareplays a critical role. However,the defence sector manufactur-ing base will need considerableexpansion and outreach capabil-ity.

Learning curve

In the next decade or so, duringthe learning curve, some IndianIT companies are expected tomove up the value chain andbecome independent systemintegrators across the technolo-gy design system integratingvalue chain, either by them-selves or as part of significantconsortia. This will drive growthin the defence sector, as compa-nies ramp up their capacities tocater to growing domestic

demand (MintFebruary18)

Fifty newdefence

companies

India is to set facilitatethe creation of fiftynew defence compa-nies in the private sec-tor which, it is hoped,will drive domesticmanufacture as part ofthe ‘Make in India’project. “We want totreat the private com-panies in defence on a

par with public sector enterpris-es. We have to focus on building50 private sector defence com-panies as champions,” saidAmitabh Kant, Secretary,Department of Industrial Policy&U Promotion, speaking at a‘Make in India’ seminar organ-ized by the University ofChicago (Business Line March4)

Russian helicopters

One of the defence items inFinance Minister Arun Jaitley’sBudget speech was the alloca-tion of $45 billion to defence, inwhich Russian cooperation willplay a pivotal role. “Russia isletting India make 400 choppersa year, a salute to ‘Make inIndia,’” wrote the EconomicTimes (March 1), with the fol-lowing embellishment: “He’sVVP in real, but for India he hasalways been VVIP. VladimirVladimirovich Putin is beingroasted in the West, but for Indiahe remains a trusted ally. EvenBarack Obama, as R-Day chiefguest, saw with his admiringeyes India’s deep ties withRussia on Rajpath.” [Referenceto the massive military hardwareof Russian origin on display atRepublic Day parade]

Turkey’s footprint in India

Turkey is not a country withwhich India has had close rela-tions, but hasn’t been an antago-nistic rival either, occupying aneutral space and thus not highon the radar of policymakersmakers in Ankara or New Delhi.However, things may be chang-ing. Turkish Finance Minister,Mehmet Mehmud, an economistand banker turned politician,was in India recently to buildcloser commercial ties betweenthe two countries. Turkey has adiversified economy, a soundmanufacturing base. He told

reporters, “Based on my interac-tions with the Indian businesscommunity, I think we can worktogether in infrastructure.”Business Line February 28)

Office in Kolkata

Turkish Chamber of Commerce& Industry has opened an officein Kolkata to promote trade andinvestment with India. Thechamber already has offices inDelhi, Bangalore, Chennai,Hyderabad and Mumbai, a clearsign that the Turkey is spreadingits commercial wings in Asia’sthird-largest economy, which isset to grow even faster going for-ward (Business Line March 4)

RBI rate cut welcomedThe Reserve Bank of India’s(RBI) decision to cut interestthe interest rate by 0.24 per cent,or 25-basis repro rate cut, hasbeen welcomed by bankers.Managing Director and ChiefExecutive Officer of Karur VysyaBank K Venkataraman said,“coming as it does at a timewhen rate yields had startedmoving up was a pleasant sur-

prise. In hindsight, I did notthink that a rate cut could be inthe offing, as the earlier one inmid-January was just 0.25 percent.” He pointed out that thecoordinated action by the RBI

within a week of theBudget would helpspur growth.

Unexpectedpleasure

Said N. Kamakodi,Chief Executive , CityUnion Bank, “It is anunexpected pleasure,”which would speed upthe the reductioncycle. ForVenkataraman, themajor trigger to drivegrowth could be

improvement in public expendi-ture than a rate cut. “Once thathappens private investmentswould follow and demand inturn would pick up,” he said.Meanwhile infrastructure cap-tains have hailed the rate cut.Praveen Sood, Group CFOHindustan ConstructionCompany, said a decent Budgetfollowed by a rate cut signaledthat the government and RBI areno longer about inflation and thedevelopment agenda is gettingdue priority (Business LineMarch 5)

US patent for Cipla drug

Mumbai-based Cipla’sStemeutics Research hasreceived a process patent fromthe United States Patent andTrademarks Office for its novelstem cell-based drugStempeucel. The drug will ini-tially be used for the treatmentof Critical Limb Ischemia, thecompanies said in a joint note,adding that the treatment optiondirectly addresses the root causeof the disease, unlike those thattreat the symptoms and not thedisease (Business Line March 5)

Mehmet Şimşek, Minister of Finance of Turkey,with Cyrus P Mistry, Chairman, Tata Sons, at

the headquarters of the Tata group

Raghuram Rajan

Campus of IIT Bombay

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with team. See comment page 3

Am Aadmi leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hasdelivered knockout blows against Prashant Bhusan, the wellknown contrarian lawyer and self-proclaimed human rights bleed-ing heart, and the veteran self-seeking publicist Yogendra Yadav.Both were blown away at the party’s National Executive conclavein New Delhi. Kejriwal can now concentrate on fulfilling hisparty’s pledges to Delhi’s citizenry. (Business Line March 5).

“Good to Great” was the banner headline in the businesstabloid Mint. The issue was dated February 28, Budget Day,and it appeared a few hours before Finance Minister made hisBudget presentation to Parliament. So why the headline? Theheadline was simply a reference to the Economic Survey, a cur-tain raiser delivered to Parliament the day before on February27. It is a document that is packed with data to give the Budgetits proper context – a postscript to the railway budget and anoverview of the present state of the economy to enable MPsmake informed judgments on the direction to which India isheaded.

Kejriwal delivers Knockout blows

Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhusan, Yogendra Yadav and Manish Sisodia


This week I will host Arun Jaitley at adinner on the eve of his unveiling theMahatma Gandhi Statue in ParliamentSquare. As rapist-apologists debate thatthe BBC should not have broadcast‘India’s Daughter’ because it blackensIndia’s name, because rape happens inother countries, because the producer iswhite, because the producer didn’t havepermission possibly – I remind them ofthis – and all those women who havestayed silent on the issue:

In 1921 Mahatma Gandhi calls forequal treatment of women. “Of all theevils for which man has made himselfresponsible, none is so degrading, soshocking or so brutal as his abuse of thebetter half of humanity — the femalesex,” the Mahatma wrote in the YoungIndia Journal.

He objected to child marriage andthe dowry system – both are still prac-ticed.

In 1929 Government of British Indiapassed the Child Marriage Restrain Act.It made it illegal for men to marry girlsunder 18; older men had even steeperpenalties. (Some idiot will write in at thispoint that paedophilia happens in Britain– their point being one should not justpoint it out in India. These morons wouldrather we all lived to the lowest commonstandard anywhere in the world, not thehighest).

Unicef recently noted that 43% of thenation’s women aged 20-24 were mar-ried before they were 18. They note thiscontributes to parental prejudice againstinvesting in girl’s education which is seenas a waste of resource.

In 1950, the New Constitution, threeyears after independence, grants womenthe right to vote.

In 1953 Vijaya Lakshmi Panditbecome the first woman and first IndianPresident of the United Nations GeneralAssembly.

In 1961 India enacts the DowryProhibition Act. According to the police awoman in India is killed every hour overdowry. As India gets wealthier – thenumber of dowry deaths and demandsincreases. Wealth does not bring wis-dom.

By 1966 India has her first womanPM. By 2013 according to the WorldEconomic Forum India’s women haveone of the lowest rates of economic par-ticipation and opportunity in the world.

In 1979 Mother Teresa wins theNobel Peace Prize – the first Indian to doso.

In 1986 Parliament passes theIndecent Representation of Women

(Prohibition) Act. The law prohibits “thedepiction in any manner of the figure ofa woman; her form or body or any partthereof in such a way as to have theeffect of being indecent, or derogatoryto, or denigrating women.”

In 1987 Sati is outlawed. It alsomade it illegal for communities to glorifythe act. In 1994, pre-natal gender test-ing is banned. By 2011 there had beenonly 55 convictions, yet India has one ofthe worst male:female ratios.

In 1997 – Kalpana Chawla becomesthe first Indian woman in space. 1998and Sonia Gandhi becomes President ofCongress Party.

2005 – the Hindu Succession Act isamended to give women equal inheri-tance rights to ancestral property. A UNstudy recently found under 20% believethey will inherit their parental land.

2005 and Parliament also passes theProtection of Women from DomesticViolence Act. A study in 2013 found onethird of married Indian women reportedexperiencing physical abuse – slappingbeing the most common form.

2013 also saw India pass the SexualHarassment of Women at Workplace(Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal)Act – following a retired Supreme Courtjudge allegedly abusing his intern.

Of course I have not mentioned a fewother Indian women; Sita, Lakshmi,Kittur Chennamma, queen of the princelystate Kittur in Karnataka led an armedrebellion against the British. AbbakkaRani, queen of coastal Karnataka, led thedefence against invading Europeanarmies, notably the Portuguese in the16th century. Rani Lakshmi Bai, theQueen of Jhansi, led the Indian Rebellionof 1857 against the British.

I have not mentioned that Rig Vedicverses talk of women who married at amature age and selected their own hus-bands. But that’s just history now, longdead, who even knows now other thanthe decline and fall of a civilisation.

We can’t blame the movies (this hap-pened before the movies), we can’tblame the British (their house is in bettershape), we can’t blame education(women behave better, and this is a TVaddicted society even in villages and thatcould educate), we can’t blame Pakistanor Muslims (Hindus don’t ape others dothey surely?).

There is hope. The hope will have tobe the women themselves. If the menwere going to do it, they would havealready done it. It will be a woman whoon achieving power will not turn herback on her own gender.

Rapist-Apologists Among Us

Specialist Chef required by a wellestablished company specialising in Indian

catering based in London. Must be aspecialist in the preparation and cooking ofall types of Indian Gujarati vegetarian sweets(Mitahi), desserts and savouries, and be ableto use fresh or raw ingredients. Must have arelevant experience. The role requires beingable to handle our large wholesale Indian

sweet orders on a regular basis.Closing date for the vacancy will be 28

calendar days from 4 march 2015. Please contact with your cv at:

[email protected]

Specialist Chef required

The Mayor of Solihull,Cllr Kate Wild andSatinder Kaur TaunqueOBE, West Midlands’Deputy Lieutenant, wereapplauded as role models,as part of InternationalWomen’s Day.

The ladies were gar-landed at the ThyagarajaMusic Festival inBirmingham last Sunday.The 9am-4pm event,organised by Shruthi UK,a South Asian arts organi-sation, was attended byover 100 guests, includingmany from the SwindonTamil Association.Dignitaries included theWest Midlands’ Lord-Lieutenant PaulSabapathy CBE and theConsul Generalof India, Mr BCPradhan.

The livelyp r o g r a mm e ,MC’d byShruthi UK’sfounder andd i r e c t o rC h i t h r aRamakrishnan,featured stageperformancesby young peo-ple agedbetween 4 and16, adults,speeches, a raffledraw, a Carnatic musiccompetition, a certificatepresentation and a SouthIndian meal.

The annual eventmarks the birthday ofThyagaraja, also known asthe singing saint. Born in

1767, he was one of threesons and was devoted tothe Hindu God LordRama.

Guest of honour, our senior news editor Dhiren Katwapresents International Women’s Day award to Mayor of

Solihull, Cllr Kate Wild

Participants of Bharatnatyam, Indian classical dance

Shruthi UK honoursrole model women

18 Year Old GirlRaped in Leeds

An 18 year old Asian girlwas found at a bus stop inLeeds, raped and left todie, lying in a pool of herblood. The police aresearching for the offenderwho would likely to havehad blood on his handsand his clothes after thevicious attack. The policeare encouraging people toget in touch if they haveany information regardingthis case. They appealingfor people to come for-ward, including a womanwho is believed to havebeen standing at the busstop shortly before theattack.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 201514 MOTHER’S DAY SPECIAL

Here we present you some gift ideas andsuggestions on where to go, if you choose to

dine out on the day with your MumMaa, Mother, Madre, Maman...whatever the language or cul-ture, the emotions regardingmums will be the same.Mothers are the driving forceof all families and the inspirationbehind children doing well in life.Were it not for our mothers, wewould not have been able to achievemost of the things we have in our lives.Our mothers have sacrificed manythings and spent sleepless nights tend-ing to our needs. We even rely on ourmums to do the smallest of things for us

even when we grow oldbecause we know she wouldhappily do them for us, with-out any hesitation. Althoughmothers should be saluted and

celebrated on a daily basis, theyget a day dedicated to them every

year in March, when she can relaxand let her kids pamper her and make

her feel the love and respect they havefor her. Here we present you some gift

ideas and suggestions on where to go,if you choose to dine out on the daywith your mum.

If you fancy taking your mum out for amovie, preferably a Bollywood film, NH 10is releasing on 13th March. AnushkaSharma stars in this film and has also pro-duced it. Also starring Neil Bhoopalam andDarshan Kumaar. But be warned- this filmis not a family drama; it is a revenge drama.

l Remember the bangles or the necklaceyour mum had her eyes on but never gotround to buying them? Well, why don't youuse this occasion to gift it to her? She willbe delighted as well as touched that youremembered something which she had for-gotten about.

l Why not buy your mum a beautiful sarior salwar? There are some outstandingchoices available in Asian boutiques. If youare unable to go shopping yourself, thenyou can make a purchase online as well.There are many online shopping websitesthat sell a range of designer saris at afford-able rates.

l Flowers and chocolates are the most con-ventional gifts, but that doesn't mean it isout of season to do so. Your mother wouldbe just as delighted to receive them as herMothers' day gift. However, if your mum ismore into gardening, why not buy her anexotic garden plant instead? She'd be ableto plant it in her back garden; plus the plantwould last much longer than a bunch offlowers.

l Your mum works hard all year round anddeserves a little break. Take her to the spato be pampered. If you're a guy, gift her spavouchers instead. They will make a greatgift as this would give her the opportunityto unwind and have that much needed restshe deserves.

l Why not cook something for her? As astudent, when I had no money to buy mymum a gift, I used to make Gajar ka Halwaand Puri for her on Mothers' Day and herbirthdays. The tradition of cooking some-thing special for her continues even thoughI do buy her a gift as well. Why not makethe extra effort to cook something for yourmum. Even a small cake would be able tobring a smile to your mother's lips.

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

Angeethi, Gateshead (Tyne and Wear) Benares Restaurant and Bar, Mayfair (London)

EastZEast (Birmingham)

Feast India (Leicester)Memsaab Restaurant (Nottingham)

Bollywood Release

Bollywood is high onemotional quotient andever-ready songs for allpossible situations.We've picked out fivesongs either filmed onmothers, dedicated tomothers or havingmothers singing to theirchild. Basically, fivesongs that sum up theessence of motherhood.

Maa from TaareZameen Par(2007). This songwill definitelymake you shed atear.

Lukka Chhupi from Rang De Basanti (2006).Another emotional song perfectly suiting the situation in the film.

Mumma from Dasvidaniya(2008). A sweet renditionby Kailash Kher. The wayhe sings “Mumma” isadorable.

Chanda Hai Tufrom Aradhana(1969). One ofthe quintessen-tial Bollywoodlullabies.

Tu MeraLaadla fromLaadla(1994). Thesong showsa son'sdevotiontowards hismother.

Sunetra Senior

The title may sound like a luxury car ad,but in this case the (shiny black) shoe fits.Energetic and articulate, and looking moredapper than ever, 32 year-old comedyactor and stand-up comedian Aziz Ansariis a good role model for young talent whowant to make it in the glitzy yet elusiveworld of show biz. His fourth stand-upspecial took place at the renownedMadison Square Garden venue, in NewYork last week, meeting with a rush of criti-cal acclaim. He has officially brokenthrough the ultimate wall of fame –Hollywood – and coming from a TamilMuslim background that is really quiteimpressive; Holler! Flashing on the media

platform (not liter-ally – he

clearlydecided to move on before he gotthe chance) with MTV’s hit under-ground sketch show ‘Human Giant’ in2007, Aziz now emerges a defined andpositive personality in 2015. He is deserv-ing of the status of such contemporarystars and colleagues as SNL’s AmyPoehler with whom he plays an officeworker in TV series Parks and Recreation(2009 – 2015), and ‘The Social Network’s’Jesse Eisenberg whose best friend he is inthe 2011 movie ‘30 Minutes or Less’.

A huge part of Aziz’ charm is his strongmoral fibre. All good comedy has anawareness of social and everyday issues,stimulating the audience and taking thelaughs to a place of greater depth, but thisyoung comic goes further to make thesesubjects the foundation of his perform-ance. ‘Asian Voice’ had the pleasure ofseeing this first-hand when attending hisinternational tour ‘A larger than life event’in November 2014, which served as awarm-up and taster of his recent NY extra-ordinaire. Aziz not only discussed topicssuch as vegetarianism, immigration andfeminism, but provided hard facts andactively involved the audience in polls thatilluminated the ethical conundrum of themeat industry and the position of women’sfreedom: “I have no problem pretending tobe a girl’s boyfriend if it means saving herfrom harassment” he announced at onepoint during the evening. He then turned tothe audience and pulled up a volunteer topractice the scenario through role play.“So, I’m a creepy stalker guy bothering

your awesome female friend. Now whatare you gonna do?”

A second generation immigrant, bornto parents who travelled over from TamilNadu to South Carolina USA, Aziz alsodraws on the experience of a bi-culturalidentity. However, rather than referring tohimself too much – and we will get to theimpetus for this later – he movingly dis-cusses the plight of his parents as first-generation survivors. “It takes guts tomove to another country and start a newlife like that” he stated. “And you just knowthey had S***** friends who gave them ahard time and were like “what, why? It’snot gonna work out…” The sincerity rangtrue when he actually brought his parentsonto the stage (pictured) at MadisonSquare Garden to thank them publically atthe highlight of his career. “We, as chil-dren, have no idea what it was like for ourparents” he stated in the earlier segment.“I remember one day when I came backfrom school and seeing my mom (Fatima,now a medical office worker) sitting therecrying. I asked her “mom, what’s goingon?” Obviously, she was feeling lonelybut I was too young to understand. Mydad (Shoukath, a gastroenterologist)

was at work and she was missing India.She looked at me and said “Well Aziz, didyou ever feel that emptiness when there’sno one around to talk to?” And I was like…“erm nope. Nope, I can’t say that I have(…) even now my biggest problem is whenmy I-Pad dies on a first-class flightbetween LA and NY.”

Aziz’ humour, comprising of improvisa-tion and anecdotes, could easily be drybut his inherent joie de vivre takes it into arealm of dynamism that never fails to livenup the set. He stands out in the mostminor of roles; of course ‘TV Guide’ gavehim their laudatory nomination of ‘scene-stealer’. His part as a racially profiledsalesman in the 2009 film ‘Observe andReport’ is a stellar example. The bit wherehe and the widely- known comedian SethRogen have a heated back and forth isjust as memorable as the wacky AnnaFaris in the supporting role of Rogen’smis-matched love interest. In ‘Parks andRecreation’, Aziz’ long-running and award-winning TV show, his sub-story as theaspiring businessman Tom Haverford -

who breaks free to start his own clothescompany ‘Rent-A-Swag- takes away thewhole narrative.

Here, the prominence of Aziz’unique signature style has a deep

relationship with his liberalism.Unlike many comedi-

ans who come froman ethnicminority back-ground – and

this is just asmuch a reflection ofthe times as it is acomment on profes-sional aptitude-Ansari refuses tobox himself into aparticular group andcater to eitherCaucasian or Indianaudiences. He sim-ply is. His treatmentof a racial self, bothin live and filmedperformances,shows a changefrom more con-scious subversionto full-blown non-chalance. “Imaginemy brown handsallll over her” he

says as he teases Eisenberg’s characterabout getting with his ex-girlfriend in ‘30Minutes or Less’. Later, in the run-up to arobbery, he says he will need gloves tocover up those same hands because‘there’s only like 3 Indian families’ in theirtown and they are sure to be identified. Ina personal sense then, Aziz transcendsracial politics. For him, acknowledging thephenomenon when he feels enfranchised,endows it with an unnecessary and almostregressive power. As an accomplishedmember of the global community –famous review journal ‘The Atlantic’ calledhis career development ‘meteoritic’ achiev-ing ‘an echelon of success most comedi-ans couldn’t even fantasise about” – hehas to a certain degree, broken free of anoppressive political meaning. He can play-fully – as opposed to derogatorily - refer toskin colour because he has come full-cir-cle and that can be all it is to him.

But such cosmopolitan ease is hardlylearned. More likely, it is the product of araw and unshakeable spirit that has beenthere all along; qualities that are priceless

as they are, but even more so in the out-wardly competitive whirlwind of comedyand entertainment. It is the reason he hassuch a passionate and multicultural fan-base in the UK and Europe, selling outboth his initial London tour dates as wellas those added on demand. Fans feel aprofound connection to his real and unre-strained character. Time named his one ofthe 140 best twitter feeds of 2011 due totheir intimate yet entertaining nature.

As a result, it seems strange to sayAziz has grown as a person. His famedhappy-face pose continues to representthe untarnished care-free attitude that isthe formula to his success. Rather he hasmanaged to stay true to himself whilekeeping an open mind. Indeed, the samesmarts he possessed to complete his mar-keting degree from NYU translate to thequick-wit and confidence of his work withthe iconic comedy troupe ‘The UprightCitizens Brigade’, and now the staminaand insightfulness of a performance-basedcareer.’ Ansari is not just a high-achieverbut admirable in heart. We want to see himin more leading roles, and garnering fur-ther praise. Hopefully the fact that he willbe releasing his first book, ‘ModernRomance: an investigation’, on June 16th,is a sign that this is taking off already.


@azizansari

AZIZ ANSARIan effortless ascent

Aziz hugging his parents on stage

Fact File• Aziz stands at 5’6”

tall• He is dating, and in

love with, profes-sional chef CourtneyMcBroom

• He is a self-pro-fessed feminist

• His comedy rolemodel is fellow‘Parks and Rec’ starAmy Poehler

• His favourite moviesinclude ‘Inception’and ‘Bridesmaids’

• He prefers stand-upto films because it’s“faster.”

"We, as children, have no idea what our parents

went through."

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 201516 SPECIAL

Rupanjana Dutta andReshma Trilochun

Two years after India wasshaken by the gang rapeand murder of a youngMedical student on a Delhibus, it has been comparedwith the Rochdale SexGrooming cases, whichhad almost 373 victims,including 50 boys. Thedefence lawyer MichaelMagarian, QC, suggestedthe girls abused inBanbury, Oxfordshire,only reported the crimes sothey would not have totake responsibility for hav-ing underage sex. Nine months after the

Nirbhaya gang rape,Bollywood actress KalkiKoechlin made a satiricalvideo called 'Rape: It'syour fault'. In that fewmins video, the actressridiculed the pervasivepatriarchal attitudes,expressed openly bypublic figures- thatblamed urban womenand their conduct forthe increasing rate ofviolence against them.Leslee Udwin's film

India's daughter,showed perpetratorMukesh Singh givingan account of the hor-rific rape event with-out showing remorseor feeling as though hewas at fault. On thecontrary, he went on toblame the victim for notbeing a “good girl” forroaming the streets after9pm with a boy.Additionally, an interviewby the lawyer who repre-sented the rapists in court,AP Singh also featured inthis film who had previ-ously stated that if his sis-ter or daughter were toengage in pre-marital sex,he would drench them inpetrol and set them aflameas their activities wouldbring shame upon him andthe family.New Delhi has

slammed the film as a con-spiracy to malign the coun-try and damage its interna-tional reputation. HomeMinister Rajnath Singhcriticised this film inParliament and is againstusing this case for com-mercial profits. Singh fur-ther that Udwin breachedthe terms of agreement asshe had not shown the jailofficials the uneditedfootage which she hadfilmed in the prison.

Indians living aroundthe world, have watchedthe documentary, andmost of them stronglybelieve that banning it inIndia is absolutely unac-ceptable. In a survey byAsian Voice, we receivedoverwhelming responsesfrom women and men allacross the globe, includingSingapore, India, US andBritain from all walks oflife.

Labour MP Valerie Vazstated, “The film should beshown in India. It showeda responsive police forceand a justice system thatbrought the perpetratorsto justice. It brought homethe pain of her parents, thebrutality of rape and theloss to India of an empow-ered woman.”

Women's Minister,Seema Malhotra sharedthat the film depicts “menand women alike musttake a stand and it is rightthat India, now growing asa world economic player,tackles these difficultsocial issues with confi-dence. But changing a cul-ture which has all toooften seen the perpetratorsexcused and the womanblamed for what has hap-pened will be a long jour-ney fraught with difficul-ty.”

Baroness Flather stat-ed, "I have been appalledby the decision of theIndian Government to banthe documentary India'sDaughter. I would havethought that this is some-thing which should beshown to as many people,specially young people, aspossible. It is imperativethat women realise howdreadful and unacceptablethe attitude of the men isto them. That women stillcount for nothing in Indiaand a girl has no right to

have a life other thanbeing sheltered by hus-band, father or brother.”

Reading based lawyerMegha Mittal told AsianVoice, “Most men inpower in India are narrowminded. If they areashamed, they should dosomething about the situa-tion in India and not raiseissues with the film. Whydidn't they ban SlumdogMillionaire which paintedIndia as a slum and a poorcountry. Did that boosttourism in the country?”

London based authorLaxmi Hariharan said,“They (Indian govern-ment) are not right to saythat the documentarycould be misconstrued asgiving a platform to therapists.... Do they trust

people so little in terms ofdistinguishing betweenwhat's right and wrong?What haunts me most isthe face of the girl's mother- She has to live the rest ofher life, with the knowl-edge of what happened toher daughter... I think of aworse fate. The documen-tary itself is chilling butbanning it has simply putthe world spotlight on itnow.”

E d u c a t i o n a l i s t ,Supriyo Chaudhuri toldAsian Voice, “The govern-ment has a position justlike Mukesh Singh, asinterviewed in the docu-mentary. If rape has hap-pened, just be quiet aboutit. If only we can own it upcollectively, there is hopethat such attitudes willchange. The governmentis in denial, as usual.”

Banker Vishu Kumarsaid, “It should definitelybe aired in India. Peoplewho have the means willwatch it on the internetanyways. It's the less for-tunate people who would

not get to witness a primeexample the impact thatsomeone's upbringing canhave on their mindset. Idon't know the real rea-sons why it was objected.If it's anything to do withbad publicity/effect ontourism, then the officialsneed a wake up call...”However, US based

Krishnakali Dasguptashared a different view.She believes the documen-tary is not fit to be showedon television as it does notcomply to the terms ofwhat a documentaryshould be like. Further on,she believes the film “doesnot live up to the expecta-tions of the enormity ofthe case and is not worthyof being aired by a nation-al channel since it was not

even a worthyenough tribute toNirbhaya.”

D a s g u p t aagreed with theobjections made bythe IndianGovernment. “Themakers clearly havenot cared for fol-lowing any legalrules. As KavitaKrishnan's lettersays, there is limitsto freedom ofspeech, how canany legal govern-ment give its offi-cial sanction to

classified material of anongoing case? I would besurprised if they did.”To that London based

Journalist Lopa Pateladded, “Indian govern-ment's objection is validon the grounds that it isgiving publicity to a con-victed murderer.” Shewent on to say, “ButMukesh Singh is a misogy-nistic, immoral, soulessrapist and murderer andthat is worth airing. Thedocumentary was bal-anced and did not glam-ourise them in any way.”While most may have

disagreed with Dasgupta'spoints and believed thatthe documentary shouldhave been aired and foundthe Indian government'sobjections questionable,all the interviewees haveagreed that inspite of therapid economic growth,and fast moving urbaniza-tion, India remains a large-ly unsafe country forwomen.But is safety and men-

the only things we need to

Spriha Srivastava

The answer is no. Whilelots of people protestedand have been outragedover what happened toher, a huge section stillhas views that areshameful. The documen-tary by BBC, titledIndia’s Daughter, hasthrown a number ofquestions in front ofeveryone. Do we respectour women? Who do weblame when a crimeagainst a woman is com-mitted? Are we a nationthat believes in genderequality?While a lot of ques-

tions remain unan-swered, a lot of opinionshave also come to lightwith this documentary,probably the reason thefilm is banned in Indianow? The film looks atthe way different peoplethink – a rapist, a lawyer,the family of the victim,the family of the convict-ed and so on. But what italso shows is the wayIndia treats its women –the country with thehighest young popula-tion.I decided to ask

young women how safethey feel going to Indiaespecially after this inci-dent? The answer wasn’tvery encouraging.“I have never been to

India,” says 21-year oldAmy, adding “but wouldreally like to go some-time. I have read Indianmythological stories andit is so fascinating. Butthe only think that con-cerns me is women’ssafety. If you go to aplace you want to enjoyand be relaxed. My onlyconcern is I will be con-stantly worried aboutbeing safe.”Another similar view

came from Maya, a 35-year old French languageteacher in the UK – “Iwant to go, yes! But whatabout my safety? When Iread stories I get scaredand then postpone myplan. Maybe one day Iwill go.”However, there are a

few people who think alot of this is giving toomuch negative publicityto India and things arenot as bad.“I have lived in India

all my life and eventhough these incidentsare an eye-opener for us,things are not as bad as itis portrayed,” says a 25-

year old journalist in thecity. Things might not beas bad but they are badenough to scare touristsoff. I spoke to manyfriends who althoughhave lived their entire lifein India don’t feel ascomfortable being out tilllate in Delhi as they do inother cities in India. Sowhat is it that’s differentin cities like Mumbai forinstance as compared toDelhi? Women in boththese cities are profes-sional and go to work soit’s clearly something todo with law and order inthese cities.I am not saying

Mumbai is the safest cityin India – there havebeen many cases inMumbai too but from themajority of women Ispoke to I got a sensethat they feel safer inMumbai as compared toDelhi.Keeping all that in

the background, the bru-tal question still loomingover our heads is whenwill the governmentwake up? When will theymake rape laws morestringent? And when willpeople treating men andwomen equal? The inci-dent has kept India andher citizens awake for along time now but therestill has been no strongresponse from the gov-ernment on stringentpunishments. The crimi-nals from Nirbhaya caseare still in prison despitethe death penalty andone of them who wassent to juvenile homewill be released inDecember this year.Even after the

Nirbhaya incident, manymore rape cases havehappened in India. Thisjust goes on to show thatthere is still no stringentpunishment that detersthese young men tobecome rapists.One can seriously

hope that this incident isnot forgotten like themany incidents in thepast. I always feel thatone rape incident inIndia brings out manyopinions, comments,debates, blog posts,protests and promisesfrom government but itall dies down until a nextbig crime is committed.In this case, one can onlyhope that Nirbhaya’s sac-rifice and the voice ofthousands of protestersdoes not go in vain.

Was Nirbhaya reallyIndia’s daughter?

fear for in India? Endingwith a striking interviewof Akshay Thakur's wife,the film has opened doorsto many more questionsabout our society. Whilemost family members ofthe perpetrators seemedsad, Puneeta Devi sat on adoorstep with her youngson, flared into anger “AmI not a daughter of thiscountry?” she said. “Don’t

I have a right to live? Willthere be no more rapes inDelhi? Will you hang allrapists? A woman is pro-tected by her husband. Ifhe’s dead, who will protecther and for whom will shelive? I also don’t want tolive. Priyanshu, my son, isa child. He understandsnothing. I will stranglehim to death. What elsecan I do?”


With the nation gearing up for the upcomingelections, Asian Voice caught up with BaronessSandip Verma, whose current role is ParliamentaryUnder-Secretary in the Department of Energy andClimate Change and spoke to her about her role inpolitics, the lack of ethnic minorities in politics andabout disaffected voters.

In Conversationwith BaronessSandip Verma

From starting her ownbusiness at the age of 19in High Street Fashion,we asked BaronessVerma what made herget into politics. Vermastated, “My catalyst is toactually be able to dowhat I'm doing today. Soin the ministry that I'min, at the Department ofEnergy and ClimateChange, it is looking athow government poli-cies impact on peopleand particularly thosepeople that tend to notbe so engaged with poli-tics and policies. Peoplewill live in houses thatcould well do with sortof policies around ecoaround making suretheir homes are betterinsulated, because a lotof our elderly stay athome. So they have tohave the heating on,they have to have thelight on. How do wemake sure that they arebetter protected againstextortionate bills, badly

insulated homes? Itwas those sort ofthings thatmade mewant tocome intoactive poli-tics.”

Ve rm agoes on tos p e a kabout thechallengesin gettingl a nd l o rd sto complywith the reg-ulations and

w h a t

she aims to do. “I thinkone of the things that weare going to be doing islooking at the privaterented sector to makesure that the landlordare able to bring in thosemeasures that sociallandlords are able to doas well as private homeowners are able to do,so that they can makesure that the home thatthey rent out to the pri-vate sector are at leastthe sort of standard youwould expect a house-hold to be living in. I dothink the importantthing is that landlords inthe private housing sec-tor will be under thesame sort of regulationas social landlord toensure that housesreach particular stan-dards so that people liv-ing in properties that isleaky, cold, inefficientand having to suffer qui-etly without the onus ofthe landlord having todo something about it.”

She believes thatthere is still miles to gobefore one can say thatethnic minorities arefully integrated into pol-itics. “I think we've gota long way to go tomake sure that thedebate is a moreinformed debate for allpeople. But that alsomeans people from theblack and minority com-munities have got to getengaged with thedebate.” Further on, “Ithink the fact that wehave 19 [AsianConservative MPs] is agood place to start from.But is it enough? No, ofcourse it isn't. But whatwe need to do is makesure that people areencouraged to comeinto politics and howdo we make thatreach better, for allpolitical parties- allpolitical partieshave got to answerto that callbecause we are avery diverse coun-try. We do need tohave diversity atthe top to ensurethat all views arereflected proper-ly.”

Baroness Vermaurges people to voiceout their opinions andtheir and state their dis-approval on matters inorder to make amendsand improvements. Shealso believes that thereneeds to be more infor-mation provided to thegeneral public whichwould aid them in mak-ing a coherent and con-clusive decision when itcomes to voting. “If youdon't go out there andraise your voice in con-cern then nobody willknow why you're disaf-fected; it's upon us all.That is why it is reallyimportant that medialike yourself look at themeasures we are takingto make sure that we'reactually able to havethat informed debate sonobody goes into thevoting box not knowingwhat parties are offer-ing. But the main thingis we mustn't have voterapathy.”

Let them know what you thinkAsian Voice with CityHindus Network and CitySikhs Network are organ-ising a debate in the Citywith the leading represen-tatives from 5 politicalparties, to discussBritain's political future.Hustings in the City on 9April, gives you a chanceto ask a party representa-tive about the issue thatparticularly bothers youabout your country oryour rights.British Asians form

7% of the UK populationand a study by the Centrefor Social Markets esti-mates that AsianBusinesses contribute upto 10% to the GDP of ourcountry. This is the only

hustings event in the UKaimed at the many ethni-cally diverse communitiesof the UK.The evening will

include short talks and aQ&A session/debate withthe leading representativesfrom Conservative,Labour, LiberalDemocrats, UKIP and theGreen Party. Topics of dis-cussion will includeemployment, education,transport, welfare, immi-gration, EU membershipamongst others.The event is open to all

people. It is anticipatedthat the attendees at theevent will represent theculturally diverse commu-nities of London.

If you are interested toattend, make sure youRSVP at the earliest athttp://www.citysikhs.org.uk/event/hustings-in-the-city-2015/ orhttp://www.cityhindus-network.org.uk/hustings-city/Let's choose wisely

who we vote for. Come,join us on 9th April at6pm to make your voiceheard. Remember, everyopinion counts.

Event: Hustings in theCityTime: April 9, 2015 6-9pmVenue: CharteredInsurance Institute, 20 Aldermanbury,London, EC2V 7HY.

Baroness Verma

First Hindu Faith School to open in CroydonContinued from page 1

The Avanti SchoolsTrust, which is based inMiddlesex will open a pri-mary school in Croydon inSeptember 2016 whichwill accommodate 420pupils.The Avanti School will

not have an admission cri-teria, however, the otherschools from the trust mayvary from 60-90% Hindus.The Avanti School

Trust's chief executive,Nitesh Gor has said, "Wehave been speaking to thecommunity for severalyears, probably about fouryears. We have huge links

with the community bothin terms with the Hinducommunity and also out-side of it... the idea is to bereflective of the communi-ty."Mr Gor has also said

that Avanti's schools have"some aspects which areunique and innovative"but have an "inclusive"curriculum.The curriculum at

Avanti Schools, with sub-jects such as Yoga,Philosophy andMeditation has been ratedby Ofsted as “good”.The Avanti School

Trust's other schools arelocated in Leicester,

Harrow and Redbridge inSurrey.Along with Avanti

school, Wallington CountyGrammer SchoolFederation has also beengiven permission to open anon- selective free schoolfor 1,000 students fromthe age of 11 to 18. Thisschool will serve theregions of Coulsdon,Purley and SouthCroydon.The proposed free

school, Crystal PalacePrimary School which wasbacked by the Departmentfor Education to open inSeptember 2015 has nowbeen deferred until 2016.

Business Secretary, VinceCable brought togethertogether many of the 160women who have beenappointed to FTSE100boards since 2011 for a cel-ebratory event. The cele-brations also markedInternational Women's daywhich was on 8th March;this emphasises the funda-mental preposition of accu-mulating the amount ofwomen in senior leader-ship roles.

During the event, thehost highlighted theprogress of women inFTSE 100 and FTSE 250,as recorded in released fig-ures in October 2014. Thestatistics showed thatfemale representations onboards in FTSE 100 hadincreased from 20.7% to22.8% in March 2014; inFTSE 250, female repre-sentation on boardsincreased from 15.6% to17.4%. In addition, therewere no all-male boards inthe FTSE 100. New figuresare to be released on 25thMarch.

These statistics prove

the progression of womenin this field; it emphasisesthe important role womenhave paid in Finance,something which wouldnot have been a conven-tional career path associat-ed with women if we wereto mention this a fewdecades ago. The statisticsalso show the increasingopportunities for business-women.

Lord Davies ofAbersoch suggests, “wemust recognise there ismuch work to do before weachieve true gender parityand it is vital that compa-nies focus on continuedprogress, increasing in thenumber of women appoint-ed as executive directors.The evidence shows that

companies with balancedboards are able to be morecompetitive globally.”

Although there aremany women who havemanaged to make a nameand place for themselves inthe world of finance, some-thing that is equally shock-ing as well as surprising isthe amount of Asianwomen in the list of CEOs.Currently, there is only oneAsian female, RubyMcGregor-Smith, who isthe head of a FTSE 250company.

Ruby McGregor-Smithdoes not believe being awoman in finance has everbeen a disadvantage, how-ever, the questions posedtowards her regarding hergender and her work role

does agitate her. She states,“I don't understand whybeing female is any morerelevant than your race,disability or age. If we'vegot challenges on genderthe rest is a lot worse. Noone has ever asked meabout the challenges ofrace, they've only everasked me about the chal-lenges of being a female.”

M c G r e g o r - S m i t hjoined the outsourcingcompany Mitie in 2002 andfive years later, she waspromoted to run it at theage of 44.

Her achievements arecommendable and a sourceof inspiration for thosewho aspire to acquire suchwork lineage. However, thelack of Asian women CEOsdoes make one wonderwhether Asian women arelacking behind and why so.Similar to how womenhave manage to break thismould and have managedto forged forward infinance, there may be pos-sibilities for women of eth-nic minority backgroundsto evolve as well.

India's foreign exchangereserves increased by $3.88billion to $338.07 billionfor the week ended Feb 27,Reserve Bank of India(RBI) data showed. Thereserves had increased by$1.02 billion to $334.19 bil-lion in the previous week(Feb 20).

According to the RBI'sweekly statistical supple-ment, foreign currencyassets, the biggest compo-nent of the forex reserves,rose $3.90 billion at$312.20 billion in the weekunder review.

The foreign currencyassets had risen by $1.04billion at $308.29 billion inthe previous week (Feb

20).The RBI said the for-

eign currency assets,expressed in US dollarterms, include the effect ofappreciation or deprecia-tion of non-US currenciessuch as the pound sterling,euro and yen held inreserve.

However, India'sreserve position with theInternational MonetaryFund (IMF) in the weekended Feb 27 decreased by$4.6 million and stood at$1.63 billion.

The value of specialdrawing rights (SDRs) waslower by $11.4 million inthe week under review at$4.06 billion.


Dear Financial Voice Reader,Will you be better off, with more money in your

pocket, with a Conservative Government or a LabourGovernment? FTSE 100 at an all-time high – Britishcompanies worth more than they have ever been worth.Oil at a low it’s not seen since 2009. And house prices,an asset for many, rising.

Of course rising asset prices are a double edgedsword. Those not asset owners miss out on the wealthbeing generated. But better to have those prices risingand the prospect of joining the asset owning classesthan asset prices falling and wealth being depleted.Wealth is created by owning asset which rise in price.First we want them rising, next we must ensure you canafford to own them.

To be able to afford to own those assets – you needa higher income in your pocket. How? More jobs, lesstax on the lowest earners, and more money – their fairshare – from the banks and others making massive prof-its. But not so much that you strangle them from raisingwages for their employees. It’s simple. As forGovernment - to spend for one off jobs, one off benefit,which does not create a sustainable source of income isfool’s gold; a short term unsustainable boost fromspending, but not from investing. You decide whichParty is most likely to deliver on the simple truthsabove.

When I was a politics student at University I wasfortunate enough to have 1 to 1 tutorials with probablythe leading specialist in General Election of the past 60years – David Butler. David knew everyone fromWinston Churchill to every PM since. He also knewthat the best predictor of elections was not personali-ties, it wasn’t even issues such as immigration. Until the1980s it was class. Then it was interest rates. Why?Because those things underlined one thing – the moneyin your pocket. We actually vote on the whole based onwhether we feel we will be better off.

In the 1980s I as a school child bought into privati-sation stocks – then in the 1990s my first home.Owning assets which rise in price made me want tovote in a direction which benefited me. When my cor-poration tax rate went down – I felt the same. It’s a sim-ple truth easily forgotten.

But what about social justice? Of Defence?Education? NHS? All these things are important. Buteven with these it comes down to will you be better off?Sadly, people tend not to vote altruistically – at leastthat’s what the voting data suggests.

So are we not a society? Caring for each other?Heck yes we are – but I want to donate the money frommy own pocket, from having more income myself andchoosing the causes I support – again it comes to myhaving more money in my pocket.

The question now to ask yourself is:1. Do you own an asset – a home, a stock owning

pension?2. Do you own a company paying corporation tax?3. Are you on low income and so hoping for tax

exemption? 4. Are you hoping to be an asset owner?When you answer the above you should find the

answer to how to vote. I know what I think.

Women in Finance

India's forex reservesup $3.88 bn

Tata Consultancy Services,the leading IT services,consulting and businesssolutions organisation, hasbeen named as the topemployer in Europe for thethird consecutive year by atop employers certificationagency, citing the IndianIT major as an "exception-al performer" in nine core

human resources areas.TCS has been certified astop employer in eightEuropean countries - theUK, Belgium, theNetherlands, Germany,Switzerland, Sweden,Denmark and Norway byTop Employers Institute.

The company has beenr e c o g -

nised as an exceptionalperformer across nine corehuman resources areas -talent strategy, workforceplanning, onboarding,learning and development,performance management,leadership development,career and successionmanagement, compensa-tion and benefits, and

organisational culture.The TCS was ranked as

the overall number one ina process that assessed688 organisations acrossEurope. Only companiesthat have been certified asa top employer in at leastfive individual countries inEurope are eligible for theaward.

TCS ranked as top employer in Europe

Ruby McGregor-Smith Vince Cable

I passionately believein giving young peoplethe tools and the oppor-tunities to succeed in life.But for too long, theroute to success was seenthrough an academicprism - GCSEs, A-levelsand university degrees.That's why I applaudwhat the Conservativeshave done since theycame into Governmentto boost vocational quali-fications and apprentice-ships - putting them onan equal footing withtheir academic relations.Just last month, I waswith the Work andPensions Secretary, IainDuncan Smith, and theconstruction companyMace in Osterley, where Imet four fantasticapprentices helping tobuild Sky's new campus.They are part of the2,400 bright, engaged

and determined appren-tices that have been hiredin my constituency since2010, helping to growour economy out ofLabour's doldrums.

Under this govern-ment, 83,470 high quali-ty apprenticeships havebeen taken up by youngAsian people - out ofmore than 2.1 millioncreated in this parliamentso far. Every one of thoseyoung people will havethe skills to get a job andbuild a bright future forthemselves and theirloved ones.Apprenticeships areincreasingly becomingthe first choice for busi-nesses, professions andemployers.

Why? Because we’veundertaken reforms -right the way throughfrom exams to theapprenticeships them-

selves – that are aboutquality, not just quantity.We're targeting appren-ticeships where they'reneeded. And we're moti-vating businesses to takeon young people by cut-ting taxes and red tape.

A huge incentive hasbeen offering businesswith 50 or fewer employ-ees up to £1,500 for tak-ing on an apprentice agedbetween 16 and 24. We'realso scrapping NationalInsurance contributions -a tax on jobs - for under21s from April 2015 andfor apprentices under 25from April 2016.Crucially, we're givingemployers a say in shap-ing apprenticeships.

At the same time,we've invested £25 mil-lion in the HigherApprenticeships Fund tosupport up to 10,000degree-level apprentice-ships in areas like aero-space and renewableenergy - plus an extra£40 million for 20,000more by the end of thisyear. And at school level,apprenticeship providersare now required to offerEnglish and maths teach-ing, and we've done awaywith dozens of vocation-al courses that were not

fit for purpose.Compare our record

in four short years to 13years under Labour andyou'll see just how badlythey failed young peoplegoing down the vocation-al route. The independ-ent Wolf Review found atleast 350,000 young peo-ple were let down underLabour by courses thathad “little or no labourmarket value.” Labourcreated half the numberof apprenticeships intheir last term than we'vedone since 2010. Littlewonder youth unemploy-ment increased by 40%on their watch. That's amassive contrast to the50% reduction in youthunemployment in myconstituency since 2010.

Labour's record is onewe don't want to seerepeated. Which is whycome May the choicecouldn't be clearer:between a competentC o n s e r v a t i v eGovernment that willbuild on its strong recordon apprenticeships andcreate 3 million more aspart of our long-termeconomic plan. Or thechaos of Labour whowould put future genera-tions at risk.

Mary MacleodMP for Brentford

and Isleworth

Apprenticeshipopportunities for

British Asians

REAL ESTATE VOICEwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 2015 19

Suresh VagjianiSow & Reap

A Property InvestmentCompany

Today we hope to exchange on a property in Bryanston Square, intruth we have held on to this contract far too long, our attentionhad been taken away by other deals; I'm actually surprised wemanaged to keep hold of this as there were far higher offers on thetable. One of the reasons why we managed to hang on was the agent

was favourable to our offer. This is an important point in anynegotiation. This is a probate property, meaning the sale was as a conse-

quence of the elderly lady who died there. This means the propertyis generally out dated, untouched and requires modernisation;often, but not always, prerequisites for getting a deal.

We had secured two buyers f or thi s proper ty. One buy -ing bl ind , the o ther has seen the prope r ty, I guess thiswas a l i t t l e l ike p lay ing poker. The chap who saw theproper ty natural l y loved the prope r ty, th is was no sur -pr ise , as th is prope rty has many features which are rareto f ind. Fur thermore he had a l so purchased ano the rproper ty from us facing a Square s imilar ly wi th beauti -fu l features , and had seen the pr i ce rocket within thespace o f only one year.

His issues were finding the most efficient way of purchasing theproperty, buying from offshore means the stamp duty is 15% andthere are no benefits when selling the property, as the capital gainsexemption for offshore companies have now disappeared. Whilstthis buyer was pondering, the buyer who was coming in blind gothis ducks in line and is in the process of transferring the exchangemonies across to the lawyer and getting ready to exchange on thedeal. Here we have two relatives who have joined forces and are pur-

chasing the property in order to be able to afford a property of thisamount. It is better to have half a property like this than to have awhole one in a lesser area. The gain you make by partnering up willbe far greater than going solo. Of course this works well only if youhave a water tight agreement between the parties involved cover-ing off all possible eventualities. For one of them this will be the first time they have bought

through us, though they have been tracking us for many manyyears, showing interest and then quieting down again. This type ofbehavior is exhibited by many investors who see the importance ofinvesting in property, take a step but then sit back down again.And all the while the prices go in mostly one direction and that’supwards. This procrastination costs money, more money is lost byprocrastination than making a wrong decision when it comes toproperty. The other party involved in the deal has made money already by

purchasing through us. The property they bought was an ex coun-cil located in Camden in June 2012 for £275k, the current value isaround £475k. This will be remortgaged in order to part fund thisnew purchase.

Stepping out of the comfort zone

The property has gone up by £200k within three years.Unsurprisingly the client has taken the decision to off loada few random properties he had purchased in North Londonto invest more in more central locations.

Most Asians tend to purchase where they live, often startingwith their own property and turning it into a buy to let investmentwhen they trade upwards. Having made money in this location andfeeling comfortable in this zone they venture out and buy more ofthe same as they know the streets and the prices and they build arelationship with the agents. There is much merit to knowing yourpatch and sticking to what you know especially if it works. But inthe same token it’s also good to keep your eyes open to greaterpossibilities.The majority of clients who invest in central locations never

buy outside in the outer parts of London again. Making profit canbe a drug and once you have had a strong dosage it’s difficult foryou to go back on a lesser dose again. This is why they stick tothese locations, this level of dosage is hard to find anywhere else.

Thi s prop er ty was a lways recommended as a buy andho ld proper ty. There i s money to be made by re se l l ingbut no t too much . You wil l b e coming away with thecrumbs rathe r than the who le cake . The cur rent envi -ronment is no t the b es t fo r prope r ty pr ic es a t themoment . Inves to rs do not l ike ins tabi l i t y and var iab les .Even i f the var iabl es turn out t o be bad i t i s no t anissue, i t i s the unce rta in ty which makes peopl e ne rv -ous . Thi s i s prec ise ly why one should exploi t th is s i tu -ation and purchase , i t wi l l no t s tay around fo r t oo l ong .

I have no doubt once this property has been refurbished it willbe valued at a minimum of £1.6m later on this year. As it’s a buyand hold the plan will be to convert to a two bedroom and rent outand gain an income. This will merely pay the mortgage and nothingmore as the yield in these locations have not kept up with the cap-ital values and so a rental yield of 2-3% is the norm.We have been trying to push for a delayed completion but the

response from the vendors hasn’t been encouraging. So it’s best tobe quiet, get the money to the lawyers and then talk. We recently got a full three months on a property we exchanged

on using the same method, this was when the agent was advisingus there was no way the vendor would agree to this and we wouldlose the sale and they may lose the instruction. Money has its own power to convince, it needs no one talking

for it; it also speaks many languages and has great powers of per-suasion. Many rulers of nations and up keepers of religious faithshave been swayed by its power, what to speak of us lesser mortals.

Hampstead, London, NW3Purchase Price: £675kl A large one bedroom raised ground floor flatl Share of freeholdl High ceilingsl Can be converted into a two bedroom flatl This is coming in at around £950 per sq. ft. while properties in this location are being sold for around £1,200 per sq. ft.

l Expected value after conversion to be around £850kl Close to the leisure facilities of Finchley Road and Hampstead Heath

l Very good long term buy and holdCall us now to secure this deal!

The Real Deal

We provide a turnkey solution. Contact us now: Tips of the Week

0207 993 0103

55 Bryanston Street, Marble Arch Tower, London, W1H 7AA

Sowandreapuk SowandReapProperties

Specialists inCentral London

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[email protected] www.sowandreap.co.uk

l Buying a property is a package deal, likegetting married! Don't look at it from onlyone angle, if you concentrate only on yieldyou may find the capital value not increas-ing.

l Property prices in good locations tend tobe high, but these are the areas where youget the maximum capital appreciation. Soit’s better to save or club together to ensureyou purchase a diamond.

Follow us online:

Dilip Shanghvi of SunPharmaceuticals, with a networth of $ 21.5 billion, sur-passed Mukesh Ambani asthe world’s richest Indian,few days after the RelianceIndustries Ltd. chief wasranked India’s wealthiestfor the eighth consecutiveyear.

A real-time update bythe business magazineForbes reworked the rank-ings. On the global rich list,Shanghvi moved up to the37th position, whileAmbani slipped to the43rd. Earlier, Forbesreleased its annual rich listfor 2015, ranking Ambaniat the 39th position andShanghvi at the 44th. AzimPremji of Wipro was ranked48th, from which he hasmoved up one place now.Shanghvi’s net worth stoodat $ 21.5 billion, following asharp rally in the shareprices of his group compa-nies.

India is fourth in worldbillionaires' list

According to the Forbesrich list for the year 2015,India is home to the fourthlargest number of billion-aires across the world. UStops the charts followed byChina and Germany.

However, there are onlyfive Indians figuring among

the 100 wealthiest acrossthe world. Registering a sig-nificant jump over the lastyear when there were 56billionaires with a collec-tive net worth of $191.5 bil-lion, the number of Indianbillionaires has increased to90 with a total wealth of$294 billion.

In comparison, the UShas as many as 536 billion-aires, followed by 213 fromChina and 103 fromGermany.

Meanwhile, the ranksof the world's wealthiestdefied global economic tur-moil and expanded yetagain despite plunging oilprices and a weakenedeuro. There were a record1,826 billionaires with anaggregate networth of$7.05 trillion, up from $6.4trillion a year ago, accord-ing to Forbes.

The total number of

world's billionaires includes290 newcomers, 71 ofwhom hail from China.Youth are on the rise as arecord 46 among the ranksare under 40 years.

Among the BRIC coun-tries India is home to thesecond largest number ofbillionaires after China.China had 213 super richpeople, worth $565 billion,followed by India (90, $294billion), Brazil (54, $181billion) and Russia (88,$337 billion).

Moreover, five Indianwomen have made it to theForbes list of the world'sbillionaires that saw arecord number of womenthis year. The number ofIndian women in this year'slist witnessed an increaseover last year, when onlytwo Indian women wereincluded on the Forbes bil-lionaire list.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 201520 LEGAL VOICE

Maria Fernandes

Recent changes to theImmigration Rules intro-duced to mirror the newImmigration Act 2014have brought in sweepingchanges which retainpower in the hands of theHome Office by remov-ing rights of appeal innearly every area and bywatering the ability toraise human rights with-in an application. Theregulations are extremelyconfusing to understand.

There are 2 dates thatare important the 2ndMarch 2015 and the 6thApril 2015.

Points Based CasesFrom the 2nd March

2015 there will be norights of appeal for all thepoints based categories,in Tiers 1, 2 and 5. Therewere only rights of appealavailable to in countryapplicants and this hasnow extended to allcases. The Tier 4 catego-ry lost their right ofappeal in October 2014.Instead there will be aright to anAdministrative Reviewwhich is a process that iscarried by the HomeOffice itself and thisprocess prevents the rais-ing of human rightsissues.

AppealsThe new scheme no

longer focuses on thetype of immigration deci-sion made but rather onthe type of claim wasmade that led to the deci-sion. Rights of appealwill only exist for eitherapplications which havea specific human rightsclaim or certain applica-tions listed below whichaccording to the HomeOffice have an impliedhuman rights claim. Itwill no longer be possibleto rely on human rightsin addition to otherclaims.

From the 6th April2015, appeals will beavailable only for particu-lar categories:

• Long residence (para276B)

• Private life(Paragraph 276 ADEor para 276DE)

• Family membersunder Part 8 wherethe sponsor is presentand settled. Thosewho received settle-ment through thepoint based systemwill be excluded)

• Asylum• Appendix FM (family

members except thosewho obtain leave toremain as a result ofbereavement ordomestic violence).(With regard to thisparticular categorythere are doubtswhich need to be clar-ified)Where there is no

right of appeal, there willbe an AdministrativeReview and JudicialReview at the High Courtwhich is an expensive,does not consider themerits of a claim andcosts can be imposed ifthe applicant is unsuc-cessful.

It appears that it willbe necessary to considerat the time an applicationhas to be made whetherthere are human rightsreasons and whether thisapplication should bemade. Failure to do sowill mean any refusal willnot be amenable to anappeal (althoughAdministrative Reviewwill still be available butis not an independentprocess). There are alsodifficulties with a humanrights application as itwill not attract anAdministrative Review.

There are difficulttimes ahead with thewatering down of rightsof appeal to almost atrickle. The period aheadis likely to be a very chal-lenging one. There areother changes which willbe discussed in nextweek’s article.

An end to rights ofappeal

To contact Maria Fernandes, please email at:[email protected]

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) unexpectedly low-ered its policy rate for thesecond time this year,backing a government thatis pushing to revive eco-nomic growth as inflationcools. Although marketshad broadly expected theRBI to reduce rates againafter a cut in January, fewhad expected a move justdays after the governmentunveiled a budget thattook a slower path to low-ering the fiscal deficit.

The reduction in theRBI's policy repo rate by25 basis points to 7.5 percent sent Indian bondprices to 20-month highs."Given low capacity utili-sation and still-weak indi-cators of production andcredit off-take, it is appro-priate for the ReserveBank to be pre-emptive inits policy action to utilise

available space for mone-tary accommodation," RBIGovernor RaghuramRajan said in a statement.

Rajan aired doubtsover the credibility of offi-cial data after recentchanges to methodologyshowed India's economygrew 7.5 per cent in thelast quarter, faster thanChina. "Nevertheless, thepicture of a steadily recov-ering economy appearsright," he said.

The RBI had first low-ered interest rates thisyear on Jan. 15, in a simi-larly unexpected movethat signalled the start of anew easing cycle. Bothrate cuts took place out-side of the central bank'sscheduled policy reviewmeetings.

The benefits of lowerofficial rates have still topass through to borrow-ers, however, as commer-cial banks have been hesi-tant about lowering theirlending rates. Analystssaid the latest rate reduc-tion showed the RBI'strust in the 10-month-oldgovernment of PrimeMinister Narendra Modito maintain fiscal disci-pline even though it willtake longer to reach itsdeficit goals.

"The Reserve Bank ofIndia is expressing its con-

fidence on the inflationoutlook," said RadhikaRao, economist at DBS."This also means thatdespite a higher fiscaldeficit, the quality of fiscalconsolidation has satisfiedcentral bank expecta-tions."

The budget laid outplans to reduce the fiscaldeficit to 3.9 per cent ofgross domestic product, inthe 2015/16 financial year,and bring it down to 3 percent by 2017/18 - a yearlater than an earlier roadmap had targeted.

Describing the deficitreduction plan as "veryprudent", junior financeminister Jayant Sinha saidthe government was strik-ing a balance betweenmaking more gradualreductions in the deficitand investing in infra-structure and key sectors.

RBI surprises again with rate cut

Shanghvi replaces Mukesh Ambanias richest Indian

India-born formerGoldman Sachs directorRajat Gupta - currentlyserving a two-year jail termon insider trading charges -has filed a fresh plea in aUS court seeking his con-viction overturned as pros-ecutors failed to show hereceived personal benefitsfor passing information.The IIT and Harvard-edu-cated 66-year-old formerMcKinsey head has askedthe Manhattan federal

court for an order “vacat-ing his sentence, settingaside the judgment againsthim, and discharging himfrom prison.”

In the plea, Gupta hasargued that the govern-ment did not provide evi-dence to prove he receivedpersonal benefits inexchange for passing confi-dential Goldman Sachsinformation to hedge fundfounder and billionairefriend Raj Rajaratnam.

India's union minister forcommerce and industryNirmala Sitharaman saidexports play a key role inensuring success of the'Make in India' initiative.“Manufacturing in Indiacan be much more thanwhat it is today, from thepoint of view of what itcontributes towards theGDP. When I say manu-facturing in India, both involume and value, Iinclude our exporters,who even in difficult timeshave kept their nose abovewater," said Sitharaman atthe ECGC Dun and

Bradstreet ExportPerformance Award cere-mony in Mumbai.

The Minister reiteratedgovernment's commitmentto 'ease of doing business'and assured the gatheringthat similar measures willbe extended to the exportsector as well. For thispurpose, the Ministersaid, she is planning toconstitute of Committee,that can suggest thrustareas and key measureswhich can yield quickresults as well as help for-mulate a long term exportstrategy.

"This is a governmentthat is fully willing to hear,fully willing to listen andfully willing to act," sheadded.

The Minister alsoasserted while a lot isbeing said, a lot is beingdone also at the govern-ment level. She said the e-biz portal launchedrecently by finance minis-ter Arun Jaitley was agreat boon for the manu-facturers and exporters.Another portal helpsexporters gather informa-tion about which productis in demand where.

Exports key to success of 'Make inIndia' initiative: Sitharaman Rajat Gupta files

fresh plea in court

India's software majorWipro Ltd said it had beenrecognised as the world'smost ethical company byUS-based EthisphereInstitute for the fourthconsecutive year. "We havebeen named as the world'smost ethical company bythe Ethisphere for ourcommitment to ethicalleadership," the companysaid in a statement. TheInstitute, which advancesstandards of ethical busi-ness practices, assessesglobal organisations havingmaterial impact on the waybusiness is conducted byfostering a culture of ethicsand transparency at everylevel. "The recognitionunderscores our commit-ment to leading ethicalbusiness standards andpractices ensuring long-term value to key stake-holders, including cus-tomers, employees, suppli-ers, regulators andinvestors," Wipro's chiefsustainability officerAnurag Behar said.

The assessment isbased upon the Institute'sethics quotient (EQ)framework developed overyears of research to providea means to evaluate a com-pany's performance in anobjective and consistentway. "Ethics, integrity andresponsible citizenship area foundational first princi-ple and at the core of howwe think and act. Therecognition for the fourthtime in succession is anreaffirmation of what westand for," Behar said.

The EQ framework andmethodology is deter-mined, vetted and refinedby the expert advice andinsights from Ethisphere'snetwork of thought lead-ers. "Earning this recogni-tion involves collectiveaction of a global work-force from the top down.We congratulate Wipro forthis extraordinary achieve-ment," Ethisphere's chiefexecutive Timothy Erblichsaid.

Wipro isworld's mostethical firm

Raghuram Rajan

Mukesh Ambani Dilip Shanghvi

CURRENCY VOICEwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 2015 21

Foreign Exchange

Growth in Britain's manufactur-ing sector hit a seven-monthhigh according to data released.The UK manufacturing PMIrose to 54.1 in February up from53.1 in January, suggesting eco-nomic conditions picked up lastmonth. One note of caution,consumer goods rather thanheavy-duty machinery led theincrease this suggests it may notbe a sustainable recovery.

Growth in Britain's con-struction industry improved to afour-month high last month sug-gesting Britain's economy start-ed 2015 strongly.However building firms hiredstaff at the slowest pace in morethan a year. The UK construc-tion purchasing managers' index(PMI) rose to 60.1 reaching itshighest level since October2014. A fall in output in con-struction was a drag on Britain'sgross domestic product growthin the fourth quarter of 2014,but economists said theyexpected the weakness in theindustry would prove short-lived, which it appears to havebeen.

UK interest rates have beenkept unchanged again by theBank of England, They havenow been at their record low of0.5% for six years. Rates were

first cut to 0.5% in March2009. Recent growth in theeconomy has prompted specula-tion that rates will start to riseagain in the nearfuture. Continuing low infla-tion, now at 0.3%, gives policy-makers little reason to raise thecost of borrowing. The Bankalso kept the size of its quantita-tive easing (QE) programmeunchanged at £375bn.

Inflation is expected toremain low and could even turnnegative briefly largely to a near-halving in the price of oil sincelast summer. Mark Carney haseven talked about loweringinterest rates further to a newrecord low, should prices remainnear flat for longer than expect-ed. Minutes of last month'sMPC meeting showed membersvoted no for a change to interestrates. There was a debate reveal-ing a three-way split betweenthe nine members as to theirfuture direction, with two argu-ing there could be a case to raiserates later this year.

The Eurozone unemploy-ment rate fell to a 33-month low,indicating Europe's labour mar-ket may be turning a corner. Theunemployment rate fell to11.2% in January, down from11.3% in December. The

Eurostat report states that thenumber of unemployed peoplein the euro area fell by 140,000in January. However, unemploy-ment in the Eurozone remainswidely varied with unemploy-ment levels in Spain are at23.4% in comparison toGermany at 4.7%.

Also inflation in theEurozone rose to -0.3% lastmonth, showing prices did notfall as fast as expected. This is abig jump up on the -0.6%decline recorded in January. Thereport stated that service sectorprices rose by 1.1%, alcohol andtobacco prices rose by 0.5%,meaning the decline is mainlydue to falling energy prices,which should give the Eurozoneeconomy a boost as consumerswill have more money in theirpockets. Fears that Europe isbeing dragged into a deflation-ary downturn may have beenoverstated.

The European Central Bankhas raised this year's eurozonegrowth forecast to 1.5%, upfrom 1% previously. MarioDraghi said economic growth inthe eurozone would strengthenslowly to reach 2.1% by2017. He said there would below negative inflation in themonths ahead before prices

began to rise in late 2015, with1.8% inflation in 2017. Thebank kept the eurozone's keyinterest rate unchanged at0.05%, as expected.

The ECB QE scheme willinject at least €1.1 trillion(£834bn) into the eurozoneeconomy by purchasing €60bnof assets a month untilSeptember 2016, Mr Draghiadded. It will start on Monday9th march. He also said Greececould not rely on the ECB toraise the limits on Athens ofshort-term debt, and that therules also meant the ECB couldnot buy Greek bonds under itsnew asset-buying programme.

In the US the number ofAmericans filing new claims forunemployment benefits lastweek rose to its highest levelsince May, which could raiseconcerns about some weaknessin the labour market. Other dataon Thursday showed non-farmproductivity contracted moresharply than previously thoughtin the fourth quarter as outputfailed to keep up with a jump inhours. Initial claims for stateunemployment benefitsincreased by 7,000 to a season-ally adjusted 320,000 for theweek ending Feb 28, the highestreading since mid-May.

UK interest rate kept unchanged

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 201522 WORLD

New York Hindu leaders upset over notincluding Diwali as holiday New York: Hindu community leaders in the US haveexpressed disappointment over a decision by the cityadministration here of excluding Diwali from its list ofschool holidays. They have accused the mayor offalling short of his responsibility to equally represent allNew Yorkers. New York City mayor Bill de Blasioannounced that the city is adding the Muslim holidaysof Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as holidays in its publicschool calendar as "respect for one of the great faithsof this earth" and as an "acknowledgement that in astrong society all faiths needed to be respected". Themayor, however, excluded Diwali from the public schoolholiday calendar, despite growing calls by the Hinducommunity to observe the festival given that hundredsof thousands of Indians living in the area celebrate it.Leaders at the advocacy organisation Hindu AmericanFoundation (HAF) expressed deep disappointment withde Blasio's decision to exclude Diwali from the 2015-16public school calendars. "While the addition of twoMuslim holidays is commendable, the Mayor's decisionto exclude Diwali, a festival that is celebrated bythousands of Hindu, Jain, and Sikhs in NYC is beyonddisappointing," HAF's NYC-based Senior DirectorSheetal Shah said

Young Sikh boy racially abused in US New York: In a shocking case of racism, a youngSikh boy in the US state of Georgia has been called a"terrorist" by a group of school children, with the videoof the abuse now going viral on the internet. In thevideo posted on Inquisitr, the bespectacled Sikh boy isseen sitting in what appears to be a school bus and issurrounded by students. He whispers to the camera:"The kids are being racist to me." A young girl sittingbehind him then shouts "terrorist! terrorist!" and pointsher finger at the boy, who remains calm and evenshouts "who cares" when the kids hurl abuses at him

Man slashes face of US envoy in South Korea Seoul: US ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippertunderwent two and a half hours of surgery after hewas slashed in the face by a Korean nationalist in anattack at a breakfast forum in Seoul to discuss Koreanreunification. Lippert, 42, was bleeding from deepwounds to his face and wrist but was able to walkafter the attack. Doctors said later his condition wasstable after “very successful“ surgery that required 80stitches in his face. The assailant was caught andidentified by police as 55year-old Kim Ki-jong. In 2010,Kim tried to attack the Japanese ambassador to SouthKorea by throwing a piece of concrete and was given asuspended jail term, according to police. The attackwas a protest against joint military exercises by SouthKorean and US troops, which Kim said interfered withreconciliation between North and South Korea,according to police following an interrogation.

Pak ropes in new prosecutor in Lakhvicase Islamabad: The Pakistan government has decided toadd another prosecutor to deal with Lashkarcommander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi's case ofmasterminding the November 2008 Mumbai attackskeeping in mind the fact that the man behind thecarnage has stepped up efforts for his acquittal.According to a report, Misbahul Hassan Qazi, aprominent Lahore-based lawyer, if appointed, would bethe third special prosecutor brought in to jump startthe long-dragging Mumbai attacks case. “The interiorsecretary had given approval for the appointment ofadvocate Qazi as special prosecutor and has forwardeda summary to the law ministry to issue a notification,”a government official said.

China to hike defence budget by 10%this year Beijing: China will raise its defence budget by around10 per cent this year, a top official said, emphasizingthat "lagging behind" leaves the country "vulnerable toattacks". China's defence budget rose by 12.2 per centlast year, riding on a multi-year run of double-digitincreases. Fu Ying, the spokeswoman for the annualsession of the country's top legislature, announced thehike in the defence budget a day ahead of the ThirdSession of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC).However, it would also be the fifth year in a row ofdouble-digit increases, despite slowing economicgrowth that fell to 7.4 per cent last year and isexpected to further decline in 2015. Fu said as a bigcountry, China needs an army that can safeguard itsnational security and people. "To tell the truth, there isstill a gap between China's armed forces (and foreigncounterparts) in terms of overall military equipment.We still need more time," Fu was quoted as saying bythe state-run Xinhua news agency.

In Brief

New York: For the firsttime the opening prayer forthe Idaho state senate wassaid by a Hindu cleric amidprotests by some senatorswho claimed the UnitedStates was a Christiannation and denouncedHinduism, local mediareported. Universal Societyof Hinduism presidentRajan Zed, who said theprayer in Sanskrit andEnglish, made a call for thelegislators to “act selflesslywithout any thought ofpersonal profit” because“selfish action imprisonsthe world.” He was invitedby Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill to be aguest chaplain and deliverthe invocation which isusually made by aChristian chaplain at thestart of the day’s legislativesession in Boise. Accordingto The Idaho Statesman,when protests were madebefore the session. Hillsaid: “I reviewed theprayer. It did not seemoffensive in any way.” Headded: “It refers to ‘deitysupreme’.” Senator SteveVick, who walked out ofthe Senate chamber beforeZed’s invocation said thatHindu prayers should notbe allowed because the USwas “built on the Judeo-Christian, not only reli-gion, but work ethic, and Idon’t want to see thatundermined”, theStatesman reported.Hindus “have a caste sys-tem,” he added. “Theyworship cows.” He wasone of the threeRepublican senators toboycott the prayer. SenatorSheryl Nuxoll said shebelieved the United Statesis a Christian nation and“Hindu is a false faith withfalse gods,” according tothe newspaper.

Hindu prayeropens Idahosenate session

Washington: Pakistan hadabout 120 atomicweapons, 10 more thanIndia, in its nuclear arse-nal last year, according toa new interactive info-graphic unveiled by theBulletin of the AtomicScientists.Designed by the

Bulletin, founded in 1945by University of Chicagoscientists who had helpeddevelop the first atomicweapons in the ManhattanProject, the infographictracks the number and his-tory of nuclear weapons inthe nine nuclear weaponstates.The Nuclear Notebook

Interactive Infographicprovides a visual represen-tation of the Bulletin'sfamed Nuclear Notebook,which since 1987 hastracked the number andtype of the world's nucleararsenals.Having reached a peak

of over 65,000 in the late1980s, the number of

nuclear warheads hasdropped significantly to alittle over 10,000, butmore countries now pos-sess them, it shows.According to the info-

graphic, the United Statesand Russia both haveabout 5,000 weaponseach. France has 300, China

250, the United Kingdom225 and Israel 80. NorthKorea has only conductednuclear tests in 2006,2009 and 2013."I don't think people

truly understand just howmany of these weaponsthere are in the world,"said Rachel Bronson,executive director of theBulletin. "The Interactiveis a way to see, immedi-ately, who has nuclearweapons and when theygot them, and how thosenumbers relate to eachother. It is a startlingexperience, looking atthose comparisons."The authors of the

Nuclear Notebook areHans M. Kristensen and

Robert S. Norris, bothwith the Federation ofAmerican Scientists. Inthe most recent edition ofthe Nuclear Notebook,the authors discuss theNotebook's 28 year histo-ry and describe howsometimes host countrieslearned of foreign nuclearweapons on their soilfrom the NuclearNotebook.Over 28 years of

weapons analysis, theNuclear Notebook col-umn has revealed surprisenuclear activity and spot-on arsenal estimates whilebecoming a daily resourcefor scholars, activists andjournalists."We wanted a way to

communicate those num-bers visually, because theworld we live may be data-driven, it's also visual,"said John Mecklin, editorof the Bulletin. "The newinfographic makes thisvital information evenmore accessible."

Pakistan has more nukes thanIndia, shows new infographic

Colombo: A Sri Lankancourt has banned the fearedbrother of former presidentMahinda Rajapaksa fromforeign travel, police saidon Tuesday, over allega-tions he used a commercialfloating armoury asweaponry for a "privatearmy". The move againstformer defence secretaryGotabaya Rajapaksa is thetoughest sanction yet on amember of the family thatruled the Indian Oceanisland until a surprise elec-tion defeat in January.It is part of a wide

probe of alleged corruptdeals and repression by the

former president and hisrelatives. Police this yearseized more than 3,000weapons in 20 containersfrom the armoury, run byprivate security firm AvantGarde Maritime Services(Pvt) Ltd and docked in thesouthern port of Galle."The Galle magistrate

imposed a travel ban onthree people: former secre-tary of defence GotabayaRajapaksa; former navycommander and adviser ofAvant Garde, SatilakaDissanayake; and anotherdirector of Avant Garde,"acting police spokesmanRuwan Gunasekara said.

The armoury was acommercial venture thatstored weapons for mar-itime security guards sta-tioned on ships that passnear Sri Lanka, located onone of the world's busiestsea routes. The loosely reg-ulated practice of armingmerchant ships has flour-ished in recent years inresponse to the threat ofpiracy. GotabayaRajapaksa, who oversawthe military defeat of TamilTiger separatists, is alsobeing investigated by policeover abductions, assaultsand murders during hisbrother's time in office.

Lanka court bars Rajapaksa'sbrother from foreign travel

Colombo: A day after SriLankan Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghesaid that Indian fisher-men may be shot if they“intruded” into his coun-try’s waters, India's exter-nal affairs ministerSushma Swaraj raised thematter with the SriLankan government andemphasised that it was a“humanitarian” and“livelihood” issue for thefishermen. Swaraj raisedthe matter with Lankanleaders, includingWickremesinghe, whomshe met.. “She was frankand asked the Sri Lankanleadership to take a con-siderate view for theIndian fishermen. Shealso proposed a meetingbetween the fishermens’associations after IndianPM Narendra Modi’svisit,” said a top govern-ment source. The SriLankan government hasmaintained the positionthat the Indian fishermen

have been violating theinternational maritimeboundary and coming tothe Lankan waters, andthis was not the first timethat the Lankan govern-ment has raised this issuewith the Indian side. NewDelhi, however, hasalways insisted that it is a“livelihood” issue forthese fishermen.In an interview to a

Tamil news channel,Wickramesinghe said theSri Lankan navy is onlyacting as per law when itfires at Indian fishermen

entering Lankan waters.“If someone tries to breakinto my house, I canshoot. If he gets killed,law allows me to do that,”he told Thanthi TV.“This is our waters.

Fishermen of Jaffnashould be allowed to fish.We stopped them fromfishing. That’s why theIndian fishermen came in.They (Jaffna fishermen)are willing to have a deal.Let’s have a reasonablesettlement but not at thecost of the livelihood ofnorthern fishermen.”

India takes up fishermen issueafter Lanka threat

Sushma Swaraj and Ranil Wickremesinghe

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 2015 23WORLD - INDIA

New Delhi/Sydney: NewSouth Wales PremierMike Baird assured Indiathat the fatal attack on anIndian woman IT profes-sional in a Sydney suburbis being probed by policewith utmost seriousnesseven as a special detectivesquad was formed to pur-sue the investigations.

Describing the attackon 41-year-old PrabhaArun Kumar as a "sadevent", the ministry ofexternal affairs ministryspokesperson SyedAkbaruddin said theassurance was given by

Baird during a telephonicconversation with Sanjay

Sudhir, consul general ofIndia in Sydney.

India's external affairsminister Sushma Swarajsaid she was pained toknow about the murderand that she was in con-stant touch with India'sconsulate in Sydneywhich is providing allhelp.

Australian policerelease CCTV footage

Australian policereleased the CCTVfootage of Prabha walkingfrom a train station justbefore she was fatallystabbed and appealed topeople for information tocrack the baffling case.The New South Walespolice launched a probefollowing the stabbing ofPrabha, who was on thephone with her husbandin India, when the "horrif-ic" attack happened onSaturday in Westmead, asuburb of Sydney.

Police said the emer-gency services respondedto reports of a seriouslyinjured woman on a pub-lic walkway between

Argyle Street, Parramatta,and Amos Street,Westmead, on Saturday.Ambulance Paramedicstreated the woman at thescene before transportingher to WestmeadHospital, where she diedon Sunday.

Confirming her identi-ty, the police statementsaid, it was believed thatPrabha got off a train atParramatta RailwayStation about 9 pm,before walking alongArgyle Street and turningleft onto the walkway.Police believe she wasattacked while on thewalkway.

Prabha was employedwith Bengaluru-basedtech firm MindTree. Shewas on phone with herhusband who livesBengaluru with their 10-year-old daughter, whenshe was stabbed.Chillingly, the husbandheard her tell him "I thinkI've been stabbed", beforeshe collapsed in a pool ofblood. The line then wentdead.

Bangla PM narrowly escapes blast Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina had anarrow escape when several bombs exploded in a busycommercial area in Dhaka minutes after her convoypassed through it. Several crude bombs exploded inDhaka's Karwan Bazar only 10 minutes after Hasina'sconvoy passed towards a rally organized by the rulingAwami League in the capital's Suhrawardy Udyan, tomark the anniversary of the historic public address bythe father of the nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1971.One police official received minor injuries. The blastsoccurred amid an ongoing transport blockade and ashutdown across Bangladesh.

Death sentence for Salman Taseer'skiller Mumtaz Qadri upheld Islamabad: A Pakistani court upheld the deathsentence for the killer of the governor of Pakistan`slargest province after he had called for reform of a lawagainst blasphemy, media said. The ruling was a surpriseto many who had expected the killer`s sentence mightbe reduced amid growing threats to lawyers and judgeshearing blasphemy-related cases. Mumtaz Qadri was abodyguard for Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and wasconvicted of shooting him dead in Islamabad in January2011. Taseer was an outspoken critic of predominantlyMuslim Pakistan`s harsh blasphemy law - which carriesthe death penalty. Qadri is viewed as a hero by manypeople who thought Taseer himself was a blasphemer bycalling for the law`s reform. The killing highlighted agrowing gulf between conservatives and more liberalelements in society. Some lawyers threw rose petals atQadri when he arrived in court days after the killing.

Pak students give protection for Hindusto celebrate Holi Karachi: Pakistani students formed a human shield forHindus celebrating Holi at a temple in Karachi to protectand show solidarity with the minority community. TheNational Students Federation (NSF) formed the shield atSwami Narayan Temple as part of an attempt to promoteinterfaith coexistence and cooperation among differentreligious and ethnic groups. A member of the NSFdescribes the union as a “progressive leftist organisation”dating back to the Ayub Khan era. “When we showedsolidarity with Shias at the Imambargah it’s only fair thatas a group, we extend the same courtesy to all Hindusin Pakistan who face a lot of persecution of differentkinds,” general secretary Fawwad Hasan was quoted assaying. Hasan cited the desecration of Hindu temples,forcible religious conversion of girls and suppression ofculture and religious practices as reasons for showingsolidarity with and protecting Hindus.

Pakistani man convicted in US for al-Qaida plot New York: A Pakistani man was convicted in US oncharges of participating in an al Qaida plot to attacktargets in Europe and the United States. Abid Naseer,28, was found guilty by a federal jury in Brooklyn ofproviding and conspiring to provide material support toal Qaida and conspiring to use a destructive device.Naseer remained expressionless as the jury returned theverdict after less than two days of deliberation. He faceslife in prison. His lawyer said after the conviction that hewould appeal. US prosecutors said Naseer headed an alQaida cell plotting to bomb a shopping center inManchester, England, in April 2009.

Saudi Arabia replaces India as world'sbiggest arms importer London: Saudi Arabia has reportedly replaced India asthe world's biggest arms importer last year as concernsabout Iran's nuclear ambitions raised tensions in theMiddle East. According to the data released by IHS, aleading analyst of the global arms trade, Saudi Arabia'sspending rose from 54 per cent to 6.5 billion dollars lastyear, while India spent 5.8 billion dollars on imports. IHSestimated that the imports will grow by 52 per cent to9.8 billion dollars this year, accounting for one dollar ofevery seven dollars spent globally. Ben Moores, thereport's author, remarked that the outcome wasdefinitely "unprecedented."

Sri Lanka threatens Chinese firm withlegal action Colombo: Sri Lanka will take legal action against aChinese firm for not halting work on a $1.5-billion luxuryreal estate project until a probe is completed, agovernment minister said. Sri Lanka's new government isreviewing the award of the project to ChinaCommunications Construction Co Ltd over allegations theprevious administration breached laws and sidesteppedenvironmental rules for the deal. The project, which risksgetting involved in a diplomatic row, involvesdevelopment of a port city on reclaimed land in thecapital Colombo, complete with shopping malls, a watersports area, golf course, hotels, apartments and marinas.

In Brief Australia assures through probeinto Indian techie's murder

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Washington: US PresidentBarack Obama has chosenSikh American CEO AjayBanga for a major admin-istration position on hisAdvisory Committee forTrade and PolicyNegotiations. Ajay Bangais currently the chairmanfor the US India BusinessCouncil and came to Indiaas part of Obama’s CEOsdelegation.

The White House con-firmed that Ajay Bangawill be part of theAdvisory Committee.President Obama wasquoted saying “The talentand expertise these indi-viduals bring to their roleswill serve our nation well.I am grateful for theirservice, and look forwardto working with them.”

Ajay Banga has anMBA from the IIMAhmedabad and since2009 is the CEO ofMasterCard. Before join-ing MasterCard AjayBanga held the followingPositions:

Senior ManagementCitigroup (1996-2009);Director For Marketingand BusinessDevelopment at PepsiRest; He served asDirector for Marketingand BusinessDevelopment at PepsiCoRestaurants InternationalIndia from 1994 to 1996.

Banga began his careerat Nestle India, where heserved in various sales andmanagement roles from1981 to 1994. He is amember of the Board ofDirectors of MasterCardand The Dow ChemicalCompany. He received anBA degree from StStephen’s College of DelhiUniversity .

Prior to joiningMasterCard in 2009,Banga was chief executiveofficer of Citigroup AsiaPacific responsible for allbusinesses in the region,including institutionalbanking, alternativeinvestments, wealth man-agement, consumer bank-ing and credit cards. Hejoined Citigroup in 1996and held a variety of sen-ior management roles inthe United States, Asia

Pacific, and the Europe,Middle East and Africaregions. He was alsoresponsible for Citi’sbrand marketing and from2005-2009 oversaw itsefforts in microfinance.

Banga began his careerat Nestlé, India, where for13 years he worked onassignments spanningsales, marketing and gen-eral management. He alsospent two years atPepsiCo, where he wasinstrumental in launchingits fast food franchises inIndia as the economy lib-eralized.

Banga is a member ofthe Board of Overseers ofthe Weill Cornell MedicalCollege and on the Boardof the American RedCross. He is currentlychairman of the US-IndiaBusiness Council and wasalso appointed a memberof the US-India CEOForum. He serves as amember of the ExecutiveCommittee of theBusiness Roundtable.Banga is also a member ofthe International BusinessCouncil of the WorldEconomic Forum. He isalso vice chair of theBusiness Council.

In addition, he is amember of the Council onForeign Relations, theInternational AdvisoryBoard of the MoscowSchool of Management(SKOLKOVO), the boardof the Financial ServicesRoundtable, the EconomicClub of New York, theNew York City Ballet andthe Partnership for NewYork City. He also is a fel-low of the Foreign PolicyAssociation and wasawarded the ForeignPolicy Association Medalin 2012.

Obama chooses AjayBanga for key position

Prabha Arun Kumar

Ajay Banga

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 201524 INDIA

Hyderabad best city to live inIndia: StudyHyderabad: Hyderabad has emerged as thebest city in India when it comes to offering thebest quality of living standards in Mercer'sQuality of Living Report 2015. Ranked 138thglobally by the Mercer report, Hyderabad beatPune (145th) to the top spot in India and leftIndia's IT hub Bengaluru (146th), Chennai(151st), commercial capital Mumbai (152nd) andIndia's political capital New Delhi (154th) behindin the quality of living sweepstakes. "Indian citieshave not made much progress on the quality ofliving scale, scoring nearly the same as they didlast year. However, over time, Hyderabad hasemerged as a city of choice due to factors suchas improved options for international schools.

10 TDP MLAs suspended fromTelangana AssemblyHyderabad: Ten agitating Telugu Desam PartyMLAs, including the floor leader Errabelli DayakarRao, were suspended from the rest of thesession by Telangana Speaker S. MadhusudhanaChary after they refused to tender an apologyfor protest during the Governor’s address to thejoint session of TS Legislature on Saturday last.As soon as the House commenced its sitting onMonday, the TDP legislators were on their feetdemanding Government protection for the rightsof the SCs and STs. They rushed into the Well ofthe House seeking justice for them.

Karnataka HC declines to deferSSP's arguments in Jaya case Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court hasdeclined to postpone arguments of Special PublicProsecutor (SPP) in the appeals filed by AIADMKGeneral Secretary Jayalalithaa and others againsttheir conviction in the disproportionate assetscase. DMK leader K Anbazhagan had filed amemo before Justice C R Kumaraswamy, who ishearing the appeals, seeking postponement ofarguments of SPP G. Bhavani Singh till theSupreme Court heard Anbazhagan’s specialleave petitions.

South Brief

Akali Dal embarrasses BJPNew Delhi/Chandigarh: Delivering a blow tothe BJP, the Shiromani Akali Dal has passed aresolution opposing the proposed landacquisition bill, saying the bill “lacks fool proofsafeguards for compensating the farmers withadequate actual market value of land.”The SAD's move is bound to compound theNarendra Modi government's problems inParliament, coming as it does after a similarresistance by another BJP ally, the Shiv Sena.At a meeting held in Delhi, the SAD's corecommittee passed the resolution against the billeven as Modi went on to clear the air in the fRajya Sabha over corporate role in the landacquisition process. The resolution said itshould be made mandatory to get consent ofmajority of farmers and land owners foracquisition.

Teen gang-raped in Haryanacommits suicideNew Delhi: A teenager in Haryana who wasallegedly gang-raped last month is believed tohave committed suicide. The young girl, whowas from Gohana in Sonepat district, wasdeeply upset after the police converted thegang-rape case into rape and arrested only oneof the accused, her family alleges. Her relativessay the police forged her statement, and mostof the accused were roaming free. The girl wasallegedly raped on February 6.

North Brief

Chennai: A special puja - ‘SriSatha Chandi mahayagam’ -was conducted for the wel-fare of AIADMK supremoand former chief minister JJayalalithaa in Madurai.Madurai Mayor V V RajanChellappa led a large contin-gent of men and women atTamukkam Grounds lastweek. The special puja beganwith the slogan, “All for ourAmma’s wellness and herreturn as chief minister,”coinciding with her birthstar, Maham. Elaborating onthe puja, Chellappa said that108 homa kundams had beenplaced and pujas started with150 Sivacharyas drawn from

major temples of the state,led by the head priest ofMeenakshi SundareswararTemple here. “By performingthe Chandi yagam at a singlelocation on a large scale with108 homa kundams, it is abelief that all wishes will befulfilled,” a Sivacharya said.The huge homa kun-

dams, specially made for thepuja, were drawn from differ-ent places of worship. Apartfrom praying for good healthand long life of Jayalalithaa,the AIADMK cadres havebeen performing pujas acrossthe State. Those who wit-nessed the puja includedchief minister OPaneerselvam’s son, electric-ity minister Natham RViswanathan, cooperationminister Sellur K Raju,MLAs, MPs and councillors.Earlier in the day, 10,000women offered pongal at theMariamman Temple. TheDMK and CPI (M) func-tionaries questioned the per-

formance of homams andother prayers by those claim-ing to represent theDravidian movement.Former DMK MLA VVelusamy said the state gov-ernment had forgotten toperform its duties to people.All the ministers and MLAswere either in temples offer-ing pujas or distributing‘biriyani’ for the welfare oftheir leader. “People shouldrealise that they made a mis-take in 2011 and they shouldcorrect themselves in the2016 Assembly elections,”said Vijayarajan, district sec-retary of Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist).

Chennai: A 61-year-oldwoman gave birth to herown grandchild in Chennaionly to aid her youngestdaughter who was unable toconceive due to a medicalcomplication.

The lady had in Novemberlast year gave birth to a girl,weighing 2.7 kg, throughcaesarean procedure. Twoyears ago, the woman’s 27-year-old daughter,Seethalakshmi, had con-ceived after her marriage. Inthe seventh month of preg-nancy, she developed somecomplications leading todoctors removing her uterusto save her life.Doctors at Akash FertilityCentre and Hospital inChennai, where the younglady was treated, said thatthe couple first tried to finda surrogate but their attemptfailed. Doctors then suggest-ed that a family member can

become the surrogate moth-er, since it would save thecouple about Rs 400,000.They discussed it within thefamily and the woman’smother came forward. Thiswas also the second suchincident in India when awoman gave birth to hergrandchild.The woman, who hadattained menopause, wasput on hormonal treatmentfor 2 months to restore hermenstrual cycle. In thefourth month, the embryowas implanted in her uterus.Nine months later, she gavebirth to a girl and evenbreast-fed her granddaugh-ter for about four months.

Chennai: P Vinodhiniof Thethagudi nearVedaranyam, a post-graduate, is climbing40 coconut treesevery day with anequipment designedby CoconutDevelopment Board,Kochi. She earns Rs.1,600 a day by charging Rs40 a tree thanks to M SSwaminathan ResearchFoundation and the board.“I used to climb only 15

trees a day and earned Rs600 a day. But now I couldclimb 40 trees a day with thehelp of the tree climbingequipment. It is easy toclimb the tree with this unit.Moreover, the board hasextended the insurancecover to the tune of Rs200,000. I need not pay anypremium,” said Vinodhini.The MSSR Foundation

had trained 120 personsincluding 18 women from

T h e t h a g u d i ,Kariyapattinam andT h a n i k o t t a k a munder a programmeto retaining youth inagriculture, launchedby the Ministry ofAgriculture. VSelvam, Director,Integrated Coastal

Zone Management Project,MSSRF, said the aim was tofocus on coconut plantationas well as harvesting.None is willing to climb

coconut tree. However, theequipment has come as aboon to youths in ruralareas as they could earn Rs30,000 a month. Responsefrom the women wasnotable since 18 womenhave undergone training forsix days, organised by theMSSRF. The participantswere taught on raisingcoconut plants, harvestingas well as marketing strategy.

Chandigarh: The state unitof BJP asked its elected rep-resentatives of differentmunicipal councils and cor-porations in Punjab to workhard to meet the expecta-tions of the people. In ameeting to assess the resultsof recently concluded civicpolls, Punjab BJP presidentKamal Sharma also congrat-ulated workers for theparty's "historical" win inthese elections."The stupendous win of

the party is a stamp over thegood governance providedby the Union Governmentled by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi that hasincreased faith of the peopletowards BJP," he said in astatement.The newly-elected mem-

bers of different councilsand corporations shouldwork overnight for the peo-ple of the state so that theparty get the chance to fulfilthe aspirations of voters, hesaid. Barring few seats, BJPhad contested civic polls inalliance with SAD.He said the party was

holding deliberations to findout reasons behind itsdefeat in municipal counciland corporation wardswhere the party had lost.The meeting was attend-

ed by Cabinet MinistersChunni Lal, Anil Joshi, for-mer minister Tikshan Sud,state general secretaryRakesh Rathore, CPS SomParkash, and state officebearers Mohan Lal, werealso present in the meeting.

Chandigarh: Comingdown heavily on certifi-cates not being issued,the Punjab and HaryanaHigh Court has orderedmarriage registrationofficers to register mar-riages of couples who areover 21 years of age.The high court

ordered that directionsbe issued to all Registrarsof Marriages in Punjab

not to raise any objec-tions while registeringthe marriage of twoadults who have com-pleted 21 years at thetime of getting their mar-riage registered, even ifthey were minor at thetime of marriage.The high court has

directed them to registersuch a marriage immedi-ately without any delay, a

Punjab governmentspokesperson said.The high court order

came on a writ petitionfiled by an individualwho was refused a mar-riage registration certifi-cate on the ground thathe was not 21 years oldwhen he got married.The court said that if

the person seeking regis-tration had attained the

age of 21 years whenseeking the certificate,the same should be givento him.The court observed

that disobedience of theorders and refusal to reg-ister the marriage onthese grounds wouldinvite action of contemptagainst such officer andwill be viewed strictly,the spokesperson said.

New Delhi: Delhi HighCourt has upheld the 10-yearjail term awarded to formerHaryana Chief Minister OmPrakash Chautala, his sonAjay Chautala and three oth-ers for corruption in a teach-ers' recruitment scam case.Justice Siddharth Mridul

also upheld the 10-year sen-tence of Sher SinghBadshami and two IAS offi-cers Vidya Dhar and SanjivKumar, saying they "vilified"the process of recruitingteachers and "marred" theexercise by "corruption".The judge also said that

the convicts "challenged theethical standards of otherpublic servants" and "pres-surised" others to do theirbidding. The high court alsomodified to two years thesentence of the remaining 50convicts. It disposed of allthe bail applications pendingbefore it and directed themto surrender.It also said that those

who have already servedtheir two year sentence, willbe released. The 78-year-oldChautala had on February 7moved the high court chal-lenging his conviction andsentence, seeking suspen-sion of his jail term on theground that "he was unwelland suffering from various

ailments".The INLD chief, his

MLA son Ajay Chautala and53 others, including two IASofficers, were convicted onJanuary 16 by the trial courtfor illegally recruiting 3,206junior basic trained (JBT)teachers in Haryana in 2000.The court had awarded

10 years imprisonment toChautalas and three others -Sanjiv Kumar, the thendirector of primary educa-tion, Chautala's formerOfficer on Special DutyVidya Dhar, both IAS offi-cers, and political adviser tothe then Haryana CM SherSingh Badshami. All the 55accused had been convictedand sentenced under sec-tions 120B (criminal con-spiracy), 418 (cheating), 467(forgery), 471 (using forgeddocuments as genuine) ofthe IPC and provisions of thePrevention of CorruptionAct.

Mahayagam for return of Jaya as TN CM

61-year-old woman givesbirth to her own grandchild

HC upholds conviction ofChautala, his son

BJP tells its councillors to workhard to meet expectations

HC orders marriage registration for those above 21

She climbs coconut trees forher livelihood

Jayalalithaa

Om Prakash Chautala

India's foreign secretary SJaishankar said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'sbilateral visit to Sri Lankawould focus on scaling upinvestment projects,expanding people to peo-ple contact and makingtravel between the twocountries easy."The Prime Minister's

visit to Sri Lanka will be abilateral visit after 28years. We have a broadsubstantive relation, wewant to expand our peopleto people contact. This isthe fourth visit between SriLanka and India in a shortspan, which says a lot,"said Jaishankar.Jaishankar said trade

between India and SriLanka is at USD 5.2 bil-lion. "Expanding infra-structure, creating employ-ment in Sri Lanka is wayto go. We have had somesignificant investmentprojects with Sri Lanka,we are looking to scale thatup," said Jaishankar. "Wewant to make travel easybetween India and SriLanka, the regulations andthe mechanisms," he

added.The foreign secretary

also announced that PrimeMinister Modi would handover homes built by Indiain Jaffna for the displacedpeople. "The PrimeMinister will hand overhomes built by us in Jaffnafor displaced people. Sofar, we have built 27,000

houses and the ones thatare going to be handedover by the Prime Ministerare those houses," headded.Prime Minister Modi is

expected to arrive in SriLanka on a two-day visiton March 13. During hisvisit, he will address theSri Lankan Parliamentbesides visiting the MahaBodhi Society and Jaffna.Prime Minister Modi

had earlier expressed con-fidence that his visit to SriLanka would make therelations between NewDelhi and Colombo evenstronger in the years tocome.

An Indian student's intern-ship request was rejectedby a professor in Germanyciting "rape problem" inIndia, prompting a sharpreaction from the Germanenvoy to India who con-demned it saying India wasnot a "country of rapists".Professor Beck-

Sickinger of LeipzigUniversity in Free State ofSaxony had rejected theinternship application, say-ing she does not accept anyIndian male student forinternship. "UnfortunatelyI don't accept any Indianmale students for intern-ships. We hear a lot aboutthe rape problem in Indiawhich I cannot support. Ihave many female studentsin my group, so I think thisattitude is something Icannot support," Sickingersaid in a reported email.German professor

rejects Indian intern due to

'rape problem'Taking note of the inci-

dent, German Ambassadorto India Michael Steinerwrote a strong-worded let-ter to the professor follow-ing which she apologisedfor her "unwarrantedremarks" in the rejectionletter to the student whoseidentity is not known. "Ihave made a mistake. I sin-cerely apologise to every-one whose feelings I havehurt," Sickinger was quot-ed as saying by theGerman embassy in NewDelhi. In his letter, Steinersaid, "Let's be clear: Indiais not a country of rapists.""In India, the Nirbhaya

case has triggered a livelyhonest, sustained and veryhealthy public debate - apublic debate of a qualitythat wouldn't be possiblein many other countries."The Indian

Government and Indian

civil society organisationsare very committed totackling the issue.Yesterday we celebratedInternational Women'sDay at the GermanEmbassy in Delhi withmany local activists includ-ing many men," he said inthe letter.He said the Nirbhaya

rape case has refocusedattention on the issue ofviolence against women."Rape is indeed a seriousissue in India as in mostcountries, includingGermany.""Your oversimplifying

and discriminating gener-alization is an offence tothese women and menardently committed to fur-thering women empower-ment in India; and it is anoffence to millions of law-abiding, tolerant, open-minded and hard-workingIndians,"

INDIA - UKwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 2015 25

New reports suggest thatMohammed Emwazi, theIsis terrorist famouslyknown as “Jihadi John”had kidnapped andordered two schoolboys tostrip to their underwear atgunpoint before abandon-ing them on the motorway.The attacked was

organised to seek revengeon the boys for attackinghis brother and friend atthe Emwazi family home innorthwest London.A friend of Mohammed

Emwazi's younger brother,Omar revealed that theywere attacked by two menover a “postcode”disputebetween two gangs. “Therewas a big fight. They threwa brick at my head andbroke my arm. Omar waspunched in the face a fewtimes and beaten up”. Thenext day, MohammedEmwazi and “two religiousguys with beards” wentaround searching for theattackers.The friend further stat-

ed that Emwazi found theattackers and “threatenedthem with a gun, madethem take all their clothesoff and drove off”. He fur-ther added, “they dumpedthem on the M1 motorway.They weren’t attackedphysically but they werethreatened. It was a mes-sage. I saw the guys thenext day at school and theyapologised to me.Mohammed was a bit of ahard nut. He wasn’t intogangs but people werewary of him. They werepretty scared.” It is said that the inci-

dent happened two years

after Emwazi joined a so-called jihad terror networkof older men called theLondon Boys, swiftly afterstarting his computerdegree at the University ofWestminster.It is believed that a year

later, Mohammed Emwazifled the UK by hiding inthe back of a freight lorryon a cross-Channel ferry.This has raised specula-tions since there are hardlyany checks carried out ondeparture; rather, the focusis more on preventing peo-ple from entering Britain.A source from

Whitehall states, “We don’treally have any checks onlorries leaving. In terms ofsearches they would onlybe because there was intel-ligence that people werebeing moved”.There are thermal

imaging devices and vibra-tion monitors to detect ille-gal migrants in Belgiumand France, but none areused at British sea ports.There were twenty

eight illegal migrants,which includeBangladeshis, Afghans andPakistanis were found hid-den in a Polish lorry on aP&O ferry going to Francein July 2014.

Emwazi kidnappedand stripped boys

at gunpoint

German prof apologises for rejectingIndian intern over 'rape problem'

CHANGE OF NAMEI, Kalpana Bharat, holder ofIndian Passport no: F9297517,issued on 03/04/2007 inLondon, hereby Give notice ofmy intention to change myname to Kalpna Bharat.

The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) leader ArvindKejriwal stamped his dom-inance over the party whentwo of his critics, PrashantBhushan and YogendraYadav, were removed fromthe Political AffairsCommittee, while his ownoffer of resignation asnational convenor of AAPwas unanimously turneddown.While one chapter of

the bitter feud in AAPmight have ended now, itmay not be the end of thestory. The decision toremove Bhushan andYadav wasn't unanimous -in fact, as many as eightvoted against it while 11voted for - indicating thatthere are a number of peo-ple in the PAC who sharesome of the concernsraised by the Bhushan-Yadav duo.Kejriwal himself stayed

away from the meeting,possibly because of hispoor health (he went toBengaluru for naturopathytreatment of his very highsugar levels), but morelikely to make the pointthat he was above thesquabbling lot - in otherwords, truly the firstamong the so-calledequals.Kejriwal also avoided

engaging with theBhushan-Yadav duo on anyof the issues raised bythem. Even the duo, or oneof them, is learnt to havesought a one-on-one meet-ing with Kejriwal but therewas no response to theoverture. At the end, heapparently insisted on theirremoval from the PAC as aprecondition for his stay-ing as the national conven-er. A fresh letter of resigna-tion as national conveneronly reiterated his firmstand. There were seriousefforts to bring about a rec-onciliation between Yadav,Bhushan and Kejriwal

before PAC meeting. Manyoptions were considered,including one where theduo would offer some kindof apology. Most seniorleaders found this reason-able as they also didn'twant the party's unity to beaffected in any way.However, when the

leaders reached Kejriwal,he insisted on the duo'sremoval from PAC, indicat-ing a rather quick gradua-tion of AAP to hard-nosedpower politics. Sourcessaid that while many recog-nized that the issues raisedby the duo were importantand needed to beaddressed, their presencein the PAC was untenableafter the recent war ofwords.At the meeting,

Bhushan and Yadav sug-gested that the PAC bereconstituted, allowingnew members to come in.This was, however,opposed by the Kejriwalloyalists, who insisted on aresolution seeking theremoval of the duo. Theresolution was moved bydeputy CM Manish Sisodiaand put to vote and theduo lost 8-11. Interestingly,some senior AAP leaderslike Anand Kumar, Ajit Jhaand Rakesh Sinha votedagainst their removal whileMumbai's Mayank Gandhiand treasurer KrishnakantSevada abstained.Sources said that con-

sidering that the resolutionwas backed by Kejriwal itwas a democratic processof open voting that was fol-lowed without fear ofrecrimination. Kejriwalloyalists criticisedBhushan and Yadav at themeeting for not showingconfidence in the Delhielection team. They point-ed out that this lack of con-fidence was despite theteam crafting a stunningwin for AAP in the elec-tion. The duo's continuingcriticism of the team onlyshowed that they were outof synch with the popularmood.AAP has accused

Yadav and Bhushan of con-spiring to unseat Kejriwaland working against theparty's interests. Both lead-ers have, in the past fewdays, alleged that the three-year-old party has strayedfrom the core ideals ofinternal democracy andtransparency that set itapart. The leadership battlewas played out throughseveral internal notes fly-ing between two camps."I am deeply hurt and

pained by what is going onin the party... I refuse to bedrawn in this ugly battle,"Kejriwal had tweeted,breaking his silence on thedeep cracks in his party.

Mayank Gandhi criti-cises sacking of Yadav,BhushanMeanwhile, AAP

leader Mayank Gandhiwrites in a blog post thathe was taken aback by theouster of Yadav andBhushan from the PAC. Headds that majority of AAPvolunteers from all overthe world did not wantYadav and Bhushan to beremoved from the PAC.Gandhi also claimed

that on the night of 26February, Kejriwal, duringa party National Executivemeet, "conveyed that hewill not be able to work asConvenor, if these twomembers (Yadav andBhushan) were part of thePAC. That was the back-ground of the NE on 4thMarch."Gandhi also apologised

for "breaking the diktat ofnot speaking to anyoneoutside on what transpiredin the National Executivemeeting.""Last night I was told

that disciplinary actionwould be taken against me,if I revealed anything. Sobe it – my first allegiance isto the higher truth. Here isan essence of the meetingwith regards to removal ofYY and PB, based on myunderstanding. I wouldrequest NE to release theminutes of the meeting,"Gandhi said in his blogpost.Gandhi also said that

he abstained from votingduring the meetingbecause he wantedKejriwal to have no hur-dles while working withthe PAC. "Arvind needs asmooth working in thePAC. So, I agreed that PBand YY may be out of PACand take some alternateimportant roles," he said.

Kejri gets two of his critics oustedfrom AAP panel

Modi's Lanka visit to focus on investment, people to people contact

Kejariwal, Prashant Bhushant and Yogendra Yadav

Narendra Modi

Continued from page 1to the taunts from oppo-nents about BJP being acoalition partner of PDP,and the charge that theactions of its coalitionpartner has forced himinto silence.The tough stance was

also articulated byRajnath Singh who saidthe Centre had soughtclarifications from theJ&K government overAlam's release and wouldnot hesitate to issue anadvisory if it came to that.“I want to assure theHouse that we will notrefrain from issuingstrongest advisory to thestate government ifrequired,” Singh said.Significantly, even as

he quoted from the J&Kgovernment's statementdefending Alam's releaseon the ground that he hadbeen granted bail and thatthe high court hadquashed his preventivedetention under PublicSafety Act, Singh empha-sized that the secessionistfaced 27 criminal casesincluding one of sedition.

entre not consulted:ModiModi said the Centre

was not consulted by theJ&K government on thedecision to release Alam."Whatever action is beingtaken in J&K is beingtaken without consultingcoalition partner or withcentral government," hesaid. The Prime Ministerconceded the Centre hadto take some blame sinceit was in coalition inJammu & Kashmir. Buthe assured the House thatno step which under-mined unity of the coun-try would be tolerated."We have asked for a clar-

ification on the Alamissue, when it comes wewill inform the house,"the Prime Minister said.

BJP lodges protestwith MuftiBJP legislators in

Jammu and Kashmirlodged a strong protestwith Mufti over therelease of Alam anddemanded his re-arrest.The party also tookexception to the "misin-formation campaign" thatthe decision to releaseAlam was taken after con-sulting it. The MLAs ledby state BJP general sec-retary Rajiv Jasrotia metSayeed at his residenceand submitted a memo-randum."We have lodged a

strong protest with theChief Minister andexpressed our deep con-cern over the unilateraldecision (of release of theMasarat Alam)," Jasrotiatold reporters later. Hesaid that Mufti assuredthem that their concernswould be addressed.The BJP also asked

Mufti to consider re-arrest of Alam in view ofthe statements made byhim soon after his release."BJP strongly opposes andrejects the decision torelease Alam and believesthat the conduct of Alam,after his release and thestatements made by himand situation existingnow, are fresh inputs toconsider his fresh deten-tion under PSA immedi-ately in the interest of thesecurity of the state,"Jasrotia said."Alam remaining at

large any more will bedetrimental to the securi-ty of the state and worsenthe security scenario," he

claimed.The BJP alsosought immediate probeinto all pending FIRsagainst Alam, the chal-lans of which have notbeen presented, he said.

BJP youth wing holdsprotestJammu and Kashmir

unit of the BJP's youthwing held a protest inJammu against the releaseof Alam. "The protest wasled by the state generalsecretary of the BJP youthwing and I was also partof it," senior BJP leaderYudhvir Sethi said.Terming Alam as anti-national who would fur-ther fuel militancy inJammu and Kashmir, theprotesters demanded hisimmediate arrest."We will never tolerate

the release of an anti-national leader who is athreat to the nationalsecurity," a protester said.He said the youth wing ofthe party would increaseits agitation in the days tocome if Mufti does notorder the re-arrest ofAlam.

J&K govt decides notto release any more polit-ical prisonersThe Jammu and

Kashmir governmentannounced that therewould be no furtherrelease of militants orpolitical prisoners. “Thereis no such thing,” StateHome Secretary SureshKumar said in reply to aquestion whether theMufti government willcontinue with the releaseof militants and politicalprisoners.In an interview, Muft

said, “This guy was underpreventive detentionsince beginning of 2010.How long can he be con-

tinued under PSA? Youhave to abide by the ruleof the country,” he said.“Now media is making anissue out of it. Whom toexplain what,” he said.Referring to the

release of Pakistaninationals, he said “It is aroutine process. ThosePakistan nationals com-pleted jail term and wererepatriated back toPakistan. There is no con-nection with this issue tothe release of the mili-tants.”“We have released 3 to

4 Pakistanis some timeback for their repatriationafter completion of theirjail term. The deportationpapers of someBangladeshi nationalhave arrived and they willbe released in April,” hesaid.He said that every

year Pakistanis andBangladeshis, who com-plete imprisonment arerepatriated back toPakistan via Wagah bor-der and other places andthat is a routine thing.BJP said it had no

objections if PDP wantedto release other such lead-ers, but called for a propersystem to be adopted toreview their cases, even asit threatened to pull out ofthe ruling alliance inJammu and Kashmir if theregional party went aheadwith its “hidden agenda.”“It (state government)should adopt a system (onthe release of separatistleaders)... Our under-standing is that this(Alam’s release) had tohappen and we do notdeny it. But there is a sys-tem (for it),” Ashok Koul,BJP state general secre-tary, said.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 201526 INDIA

“India’s Daughter”, a rapedocumentary banned fromairing in India received itsUS premiere at a star-stud-ded event that includedactresses Meryl Streep andFreida Pinto.The screening of

“India’s Daughter” atBaruch College began onMonday with a vigil asOscar-winner Streep litabout a dozen candles hon-ouring the Indian medicalstudent who died afterbeing gang-raped on a busin 2012. Organizers saidabout 650 people attendedthe event.“Tonight we light these

candles to honour thevalue and the work of JyotiSingh’s short, promisinglife,” Streep said. “She wasIndia’s daughter. Tonightshe’s our daughter too.”The woman was

attacked when she and amale companion boarded aprivate bus in Delhi. Thedocumentary details a bru-tal account of how six menbeat her friend and thengang-raped her in the busbefore tossing her onto thestreet.

She was found nakedon the side of the road andlater died of her injuries.

Four men were convictedand sentenced to death forthe rape and murder.

The victim’s parentshave publicly named theirdaughter and have saidthey want the world toknow about her plight.“Ultimately, this is a

film that needs to go out,”said Pinto, the Indianactress known for her rolein “Slumdog Millionaire,”who does not appear in thefilm. “This is not a shame-India documentary.” Thefilm’s US premiere followsa week of controversy inIndia. The uproar centredaround comments made byone of the convicted rapistsinterviewed for the film.He blamed the victim fortaking a bus late in theevening. “India’s Daughter” was

screened first in Britain lastweek by the BBC. Indianviewers cannot see it onthe BBC website, but it canbe seen on YouTube. “Thisfilm in no way is propagat-ing violence in order tosolve the problem. In fact,what we’re saying is let’sdo this in the most civilizedpossible way ever,” Pintosaid before the film’sscreening.

'India’s Daughter' documentary receivesstar-studded premiere in US

Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi onTuesday left for his five-day visit to three keyIndian Ocean countrieswhich includes Seychelles,Mauritius and Sri Lanka.India's national securityadviser Ajit Doval and for-eign secretary SJaishankar are accompa-nying the Prime Minister.Seychelles will be

Prime Minister's first stop.Seeking to ramp up India'sinfluence along a strategicmaritime route, Modi saidit attaches "paramountimportance" to strengthen-ing relations with coun-tries in the Indian Oceanregion.Modi, who will be the

first Indian Prime Ministerto travel to Seychelles in33 years and to Sri Lankain 28 years, is expected totap into the "substantive"goodwill and historicallinkages between Indiaand the three IndianOcean economies whichoffer new possibilities ofcooperation in defence

and economic spheres.As his visit to the three

island countries comesagainst the backdrop ofChina's increasing focuson the Indian Oceanregion, Modi is expectedto renew its commitmentto the ocean economieswhere India envisages itsrole as a net securityprovider.“My visit to the three

Indian Ocean Island coun-tries reflects our foreignpolicy priorities in India'simmediate and extendedneighbourhood. Indiaattaches paramountimportance to strengthen-ing relations with thisregion, which is vital forIndia's security andprogress," he said in a pre-departure statement.The Prime Minister

also said that India hadstrong, multifaceted andimportant relationshipwith each of the threecountries he is visiting,observing,"they all occupya very important place inour foreign policy."

A solar powered aircraft -Solar Impulse 2 landed inAhmedabad on Tuesdaynight as part of a bid tobecome the first plane tofly around the world onpower derived solely fromthe sun. The next stop ofthe aircraft is Varanasi,where it would stopovernight before taking offagain. It has been built notjust to fly around the worldwithout an iota of fuel, butalso carry a messagedemonstrating effective-ness of clean technologiesand importance of sustain-ability.The aircraft took off

from Muscat (Oman) onMonday and flew overPakistan before enteringIndian airspace over theArabian Sea towardsGujarat, an official of theAditya Birla Group, whichis hosting the flight inIndia, said."It is flying at a speed of

around 60 kmph - or

roughly equivalent to ascooter - under differentweather conditions," theofficial said. Pilot BertrandPiccard kept the aircraftclose to the Pakistani coaston the 1,465km journeyover the Arabian Sea toAhmedabad from theOmani capital.The sea legs pose the

greatest challenge for theSolar Impulse team as anyloss of power over thewater would leave the pilotno alternative but to bailout and await rescue byboat. Much bigger cross-ings lie ahead as Piccardand fellow Swiss aviatorAndre Borschberg, whoalternate at the controls ofthe single-seat aircraft, tra-verse the great oceans.The longest single leg

will see one of them fly solonon-stop for five days andnights across the Pacificfrom Nanjing, China toHawaii, a distance of8,500km.

PM Modi leavesfor 3-nation tour

Solar plane lands inAhmedabad

TURMOIL IN JAMMU & KASHMIR

Priya's Shakti is an innova-tive comic book perfectlydesigned for children andteenagers to learn aboutgender-based sexual vio-lence and gender equality.A cultural shift had to

happen especially viewstowards the role of womenin modern society. That isat the root of the innova-tive comic book and multi-media project – Priya'sShakti. The project centerson the Goddess Parvatiand Priya, a mortal womanand survivor of rape, whobecomes the catalyst forchange. Central to theproject is an augmentedreality comic book, exhibi-tions, and street art – thefirst of its kind with inter-national outreach andsocial engagement.The comic books start-

ed a national debate inIndia on how society treatsrape survivors and patriar-

chal views. The main char-acter in the comic book,Priya, has become a globalphenomena and one of the"top ten female comic bookcharacters to watch out forin the future.” You candownload the comic bookfor free.The project is support-

ed by the Tribeca FilmInstitute’s New MediaFund and the FordFoundation & incubated atthe ‘Made in NY’ MediaCenter by IFP. Named"Gender EqualityChampion" by UN Women.

To view Priya’s ShaktiVisit: www.priyashakti.com

Fight sexual violence globally withPriya's Shakti


Want to see your employ-ees healthy and in shape?Get them to do somelifestyle exercises wellwithin the office premises.A healthy lifestyle inter-vention programmeadministered at the work-place significantly reducesrisk factors for diabetesand heart disease, shows anew study.The programme was

administered at the work-place and developed byUniversity of PittsburghGraduate School of PublicHealth."Health care expendi-

tures associated with dia-betes are spiralling, caus-ing widespread concern,particularly for employerswho worry about theiremployees' health and pro-ductivity," said lead authorM. Kaye Kramer from

University of Pittsburgh.The programme com-

prised 22 sessions over aone-year period and aimedat helping people makelifestyle changes toimprove health.Over the course of a

year, participants lost anaverage of five percent oftheir body weight (10pounds) and shrunk their

waistlines by about twoinches.They also increased

their physical activityalmost two-fold.Of the participants, 96

percent said they felt itwas beneficial to offer theprogramme at the work-site, and 99 percent saidthey would recommend itto their co-workers.

Combined with the antidi-abetic drug metformin, anonion extract can helplower high blood glucose(sugar) and total choles-terol levels among diabet-ics, says a study.

The onion extract usedfor the experiment in ratswas a crude preparationfrom onion bulb.“We need to investi-

gate the mechanism bywhich onion broughtabout the blood glucosereduction,” said leadinvestigator AnthonyOjieh from the Delta StateUniversity in Abraka,Nigeria.”We do not yet have an

explanation,” Ojieh noted.To rats with medically

induced diabetes, the

researchers gave met-formin and varying dosesof onion extract -- 200,400 and 600 milligramsper kilograms of bodyweight daily (mg/kg/day) -- to see if it would enhancethe drug’s effects.

Two doses of onionextract, 400 and 600mg/kg/day, stronglyreduced fasting bloodsugar levels in diabeticrats by 50 percent and 35

percent, respectively, com-pared with “baseline” lev-els at the start of the studybefore the rodentsreceived onion extract,Ojieh reported.It reportedly lowered

the total cholesterol levelin diabetic rats, with thetwo larger doses againhaving the greatesteffects.Onion extract led to

an increase in averageweight among nondiabeticrats but not diabetic rats.“Onion is not high in

calories. However, itseems to increase themetabolic rate and, withthat, to increase theappetite, leading to anincrease in feeding,” Ojiehsaid.

Sitting for long hourseveryday is associatedwith increased coronaryartery calcification thatcan increase the risk of aheart attack, new researchsays.The results suggest

that exercise may notentirely counteract thenegative effects of a most-ly sedentary lifestyle oncoronary artery calcium.“It’s clear that exercise isimportant to reduce yourcardiovascular risk andimprove your fitnesslevel,” said study’s leadauthor JacquelynKulinski.“But this study sug-

gests that reducing howmuch you sit every daymay represent a morenovel, companion strategy(in addition to exercise) tohelp reduce your cardio-vascular risk,” Kulinski,

an assistant professor ofcardiovascular medicineat the Medical College ofWisconsin, US, added.This study offers a

unique perspective on theeffects of sedentary behav-iour because it links sit-ting with an early markerfor heart disease risk.oronary artery calcifica-tion, measured through anon-invasive CT heartscan, indicates theamount of calcium con-tained in plaques withinthe heart’s arteries.Analysing heart scans

and physical activity

Losing as little as half anhour of sleep per day onweekdays can have long-term consequences forbody weight and metabo-lism, new research hasfound.The findings suggest

that people who accumu-late sleep debt duringweekdays and make up forlost sleep over the week-end may risk metabolicdisruption, which maypromote the onset of Type2 diabetes.The researchers

recruited 522 patientswith newly diagnosedType 2 diabetes mellitus inthe Early Activity inDiabetes trial and ran-

domised them into one ofthree groups: usual care,physical activity interven-tion, or diet and physicalactivity intervention.Participants completedseven-day sleep diariesand calculated their week-

day sleep debt.At baseline, com-

pared with partici-pants who had noweekday sleep debt,those who had week-day sleep debt were72% more likely to beobese, and by the six-month mark, week-day sleep debt wassignificantly associat-ed with obesity andinsulin resistance. At 12 months, for

every 30 minutes of week-day sleep debt at baseline,the risk of obesity andinsulin resistance was sig-nificantly increased by17% and 39%, respective-ly.

A Mediterranean diet ismore protective againstheart disease than exer-cise, a new study hasrevealed. Those who stuck to

the diet, consisting offresh fruit and vegetables,whole grains, nuts, beans,olive oil, fish and even aglass of red wine were 47per cent less likely todevelop heart disease overa 10 year period.The study, from

Harokopio University inAthens, is the first to track10-year heart disease riskin a general population.The study, presented at

the American College of

Cardiology's annual con-ference, is based on datafrom a representative sam-ple of more than 2,500Greek adults,Nearly one in five of

the men and 12 per cent ofthe women developed ordied from heart disease,including stroke, coronaryheart disease and heartattack.

Get workers healthy withoffice-hour lifestyle exercises

Avoid sitting for long hours for a healthy heartrecords of more than2,000 adults living inDallas, the researchersfound each hour of seden-tary time per day on aver-age was associated with a14 per cent increase incoronary artery calcifica-tion burden.The association was

independent of exerciseactivity and other tradi-tional heart disease riskfactors.

Onion extract lowers high blood sugar, cholesterol

Losing 30 minutes of sleep dailytriggers weight gain

Mediterranean diet 'better than exercise'

New plum found to be new superfoodA plum, which was 'acci-dentally created' , hasbeen touted as the nextsuperfood to rival theacai berry.The Australian Queen

Garnet contains some ofthe highest levels ofantioxidants ever foundin a fruit and has justgone on sale in the UK.According to studies

the fruit has five to tentimes more anthocyaninsthan a normal plum.Anthocyanins provide

the dark colours of manyfruits and vegetables,such as blueberries andred peppers.Research suggests

that the plant antioxi-dants, which mop upharmful molecules, canhelp protect arteries andprevent the DNA damage

that leads to cancer.The plum was acci-

dentally created during abreeding programme for adisease-resistant versionof the common plum inQueensland, Australia.It is currently under-

going trials in studieswith obese rats, and earlyresults relating to thefruit's potential to aidweight loss have been

positive, reports say. Anthocyanins provide

the dark colours of manyfruits and vegetables,such as blueberries andred peppers. They havehigh levels of antioxi-dants which appeare toreduce inflammation andreduce the effects ofarthritis in the body. The compounds in

the antioxidants havesimilar effects as drugssuch as aspirin andibuprofen.Similar levels of

anthocyanins in berriesusually made them inedi-ble, but the QueenGarnet is incrediblysweet and a 'deliciousaddition to the fruit bowl'with a 'delicious jammytaste - similar to that of ablack fig'.

CHANGE OF NAMEI, Soorya Prem Nair, holder ofIndian Passport no: H4593477,issued on 07/01/2010 inLondon , hereby change myname to Dhanalakshmi PremNair.


'Dharam Sankat Mein'

“'Dharam Sankat Mein” is a comedy filmdirected by Fuwad Khan. The leadingstars in the movie are Paresh Rawal,Naseeruddin Shah, and Annu Kapoor.The film is produced by Sajjad

Chunawala and Shariq Patel under thebanners Viacom 18 Motion Pictures andTrigno Media. Paresh Rawal plays therole of Dharam Pal, a Hindu man, whogoes through an identity crisis and soonhe comes to know that originally he wasborn to a Muslim family. His strugglingjourney then starts to search his realfather. The movie is said to be a remake ofthe 2010 British comedy film “TheInfidel.”

'Main Aur Charles'“Main Aur Charles” is a biopic of an infa-mous conman Charles Sobhraj. Thethriller film is directed by PrawaalRaman. Stars in pivotal roles in the movieare Randeep Hooda, Adil Hussain andRicha Chadda. The storyline of the filmmoves around the “Bikini Killer” of the70s and focus on Tihar jail break of 1986.

'NH10'“NH10” is Anushka Sharma’s upcomingthriller film, starring Anushka Sharmaand Neil Bhoopalam in pivotal roles. Themovie marks the production debut ofAnushka. Navdeep Singh is the directorof the movie. The movie is all about ayoung couple whose road trip goes twist-ed after an encounter with a group of vio-lent criminals. The name of the filmNH10 refers to the 403 km long NationalHighway 10 which starts from Delhi andends at the Pakistan border in Punjabpassing through Haryana viaBahadurgarh, Rohtak, Hisar, Fatehabad,Sirsa in its way.

Telugu actressReshma, who is

known for her workin “Ee Rojullo”, haslearnt horse ridingfor her upcomingMalayalam film“ A p p a v u mVeenjam”. “I wasrequired to learnhorse riding for thefilm. I can’t tell youwhy but the experience was scary,but thanks to my trainer I did well inthe training,” Reshma said. Reshmahas high respect for Malayalamindustry. “I’m extremely happy to bepart of the Malayalam industry.

They make amaz-ing realistic filmsthan any otherindustries. I’messaying a differentrole in the film andfeel lucky to besharing screenspace with experi-enced actors likePrathap Pothenand Ramya

Krishnan,” she said. Prathap andRamya play Reshma’s parents in thefilm, which is currently on floors inCochin, Kerala. Reshma also has afilm each in Kannada, Tamil andHindi in her kitty.

Reshma learns horse riding for‘Appavum Veenjam’

Actress Amy Jackson, while shooting for anuntitled Tamil action drama, miraculously

escaped a fatal fall from a cliff thanks to the time-ly intervention of her co-star Karunakaran, whosaved her.

Being directed by Thirukumaran, the film fea-tures Udhayanidhi Stalin in the lead. “Udhay andI were on our bike, while Amy was driving anoth-er two-wheeler. As we started shooting, Amy lostcontrol of her vehicle and started drifting towardsthe edge of the cliff. I quickly got down from mybike and stopped her bike from falling down,”Karunakaran said. Amy was in momentary shockbut she eventually completed the shot. The teamhas successfully completed the first schedule andAmy has returned to Mumbai to start working onher Hindi projects.

Amy Jackson’s near-death experience

Udhayanidhi Stalin andNayanthara are pairing

up for the second time in RedGiant Movies “Nanbenda”directed by Jagadish, an erst-while associate of director MRajesh. Needless to say thatSanthanam is the titular‘Nanban.’ The supporting castincludes high profile namessuch as Karunakaran,Manobala, Sherin, Rajendran,Pooja Ramachandran amongothers. Music is byUdhayanidhi Stalin regularHarris Jayaraj and the songshave topped the 'tamil itunes'list. CinematographerBalasubramanian and editorHarsh Vardhan are the othernotable crew members.

Tamanaah is also doing acameo role as herself and she

appears in a shop openingscene.

Tamanaah opening shop with Udhyanidhi Stalin

Manirathnam chooses Naniof 'Naan E' fame

The mixing has started andgoing on in full swing for

Manirathnam’s “OKKanmani” starring DulquerSalman and Nithya Menoneyeing an April release. Backin 2000 the Manirathnam-AR Rahman-P C Sriram com-bination made box office his-tory with “Alaipayuthey,” and15 years later their comingtogether has fans waitinganxiously for a repeat.

Prakash Raj is playing animportant role after a gap andone more big name who isattached to the projectrecently is Telugu actor Naniof “Naan E” fame. Since “OKKanmani” is a trilingual inTamil, Malayalam and Telugu,Nani is going to provide thevoice for hero DulquerSalman in the Telugu versionof this romantic film with theManirathnam touch.

Akshay Kumar to do‘Airlift’ free of charge

Bollywood’s action hero AkshayKumar, who will be seen playing the

role of a UAE billionaire in “Airlift,” willnot charge a penny as remuneration.Reports suggest that Akshay will insteadshare 80 per cent of the profit as his fees.Confirming the same, a source close tothe project said, “Akshay has manymovies in hand but in Airlift he sees thepotential. The film which will be made ata budget of Rs 300 million will be seeinga lot of growth at the box office. Hence,Akshay has decided to share the profitsinstead of charging fees as remunera-tion.”


Anupam Kher is still a‘mumma’s boy’

Katrina is Anushka'sfavourite co-star

Anupam Kher might have stumpedyou with his acting skills many a

time and he is sure to bowl you over onceagain; this time with sheer cuteness. Theveteran actor took to Twitter to post alovely moment he shared with his motherrecently. Apparently, Anupam Kher’smother wanted to buy him a shirt andtook him to shop around. And he, beingan obedient son, relived his childhoodmemory, as the last time they went forshopping was when Kher was 14. Notonly does this present Anupam Kher’slove for his mother, but also proves thefact that he was, is and always be thequintessential ‘mumma’s boy’.

British actor of Indian descent DevPatel is ready to take the next step

in the world of filmmaking. He’sworking on his own projects to nar-rate stories revolving around Indiaand even has plans to introduce anIndian superhero to the world withhis movie.

“One of them is a gangster filmbased in Mumbai. Another one isbasically like kind of a superhero filmwith a very unlikely hero in it. Thehero will be an Indian,” Dev said.When asked about what aspect offilmmaking is he trailing into with theprojects, the 24-year-old actor whocatapulted to global recognition withthe Oscar winning “SlumdogMillionaire” said, “I will be producingand acting in the projects.” After“Slumdog Millionaire”, in which hetraced the life of a Mumbai slumdweller, Dev went on to do projectslike “The Best Exotic MarigoldHotel” and “The Last Airbender”.

His latest release in the US is“Chappie”, a film about a robot thatcan feel and think. The film will hitIndian screens on March 13. Whenasked about acting in Bollywoodfilms, Dev said, “if the script is chal-lenging, then I will absolutely do themovie.” A Bollywood film, without adance sequence, seems incomplete.But Dev has no qualms about admit-ting that dancing is not his forte -despite having grooved to A RRahman’s Oscar winning number “Jaiho” at the end of “SlumdogMillionaire”. “I’m really bad at danc-ing,” Dev confessed.

Dev Patel toventure intofilm making

After starring in“Dirty Politics,”

actor MallikaSherawat says shewould love to featurein a biopic on lateIndian prime ministerIndira Gandhi."Biopics are very chal-lenging. I have notreally thought about itbut, if given a chanceI would love to play Indira Gandhi," Mallikasaid in reply to a query.

"I really enjoyed Bhaag Milkha Bhaag,one of the best biopics, and was veryimpressed by it." Directed by K C Bokadia,“Dirty Politics” also features NaseeruddinShah, Om Puri and Anupam Kher. Therewere reports that Mallika had shifted herbase to the US. Clarifying this, she said: "I'mvery much here and have not shifted toAmerica. I am hoping this film will opendoors for me and hope directors take meseriously and offer me performance-orientedroles."

Mallika Sherawat lovesto play Indira Gandhi

‘Satyam ShivamSundaram’ look for

Sunny Leone TSeries’ upcom-

ing movie “EkPaheli Leela” issurely one of themost anticipatedfilms of 2015 asthe first look of‘Leela’ had creat-ed a mass frenzywhere Sunny wasseen sitting on athrone as the royalprincess. A newlook of Sunny inthe movie hasbeen launched,which is inspiredby the “SatyamShivam Sundaram” look of yesteryearactress Zeenat Aman. It is a perioddrama and Sunny will be seen in manyavatars and this is one of them. Directedby Bobby Khan, the movie is scheduledto release on April 10, 2015.

Recently, there were hopesand speculations that

Farah Khan might do theunthinkable – bring the threeKhans of Bollywood or at leasttwo under one roof in hercookery reality show ‘Farah KiDaawat’, but the choreogra-pher-turned-filmmaker and TVshow host has quashed allthose.

Farah Khan has gone onrecord and said that even Godcan’t bring the ‘Khan Trinity’together, leave alone the meremortals.

Farah says, “I think evenGod can’t bring them togetherso I am not even attemptingthat. I tried to bring themtogether eight years back forthe title track of ‘Om ShantiOm’ but even that didn’t hap-pen.”

Farah has, however, notlost hope completely, as shesays, “Let’s see, fingerscrossed, if I’m able to castShah Rukh, Salman and

Aamir together, it’ll be fabu-lous. Chances are less but maybe some day I might just get

lucky, so never say no.” Earlier,Farah did manage to bring SRKand Salman together and madethem grove in the title track of

her 2007 movie ‘Om ShantiOm’, which saw 28 other B-Town stars shake a legtogether.

Even God can’t bring 3 Khans together: Farah

Bollywood actress Anushka Sharmarevealed that Katrina Kaif is her

favourite co-star. She was quoted as sayingthat Katrina is her favourite co-star as she isa real person and not pretentious. Sheasserted that she had a great time withKatrina and also that she shares a great rap-port with the actress. Anushka also saidthat Katrina is the prettiest and sexiestactress.

Priyanka Chopra to makeher TV debut in HollywoodBollywood actress Priyanka

Chopra will soon be joining theranks of Hollywood TV superstarsSofia Vergara (Modern Family),Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy) andKerry Washington (Scandal). Theactress in a hush hush meetingsigned a deal with American studioABC's Executive Vice President ofCasting Keli Lee. A source revealsthat Keli and Priyanka had a meet-ing where they discussed the wayforward and how they will show-case her in Hollywood.

Priyanka first met Keli at theSAMMA (South Asians in Media,Marketing & EntertainmentSummit) conference and laterstayed in touch through theiragents. The two were headlinespeakers at the summit. Lee is a bigname in the West for scouting tal-ent and casting female leads instrong roles in shows like“Scandal” and “Grey's Anatomy.”

Priyanka will make her debut inthe upcoming ABC drama“Quantico,” centering on the FBI,and featuring an international star-cast of other established actors.How big or central Priyanka's rolein “Quantico” is not known.According to reports, she will play

the role of Alex, one of the leadswho discovers that the romanticinterest she met on a flight (JakeMcLaughlin) is actually an FBIagent. The serial itself centres onthe life of agents at FBI (Quanticoin Virginia is the HQ of FBI andalso has a marine base), amongwhom is a sleeper terrorist whoplayed a role in 9/11.

If Priyanka's role stretches deepinto the drama and the serial getsextended into future seasons onthe lines of franchises such as“Homeland,” “24,” “TheAmericans,” and similar thrillerdramas, she'll be onto an epic jour-ney in entertainment. Althoughseveral Indian-origin actors havebegun to appear in TV serials (DevPatel in Newsroom, Sakina Jaffreyin House of Cards, AnnetMahendru in The Americans,Kunal Nayyar in The Big BangTheory, Mindy Kaling in TheOffice, Aziz Ansari in Parks andRecreations, Senthil Ramamurthyin Heroes and Covert Affairs,Parmindar Nagra in ER, AnilKapoor in 24 and Archana Panjabiin The Good Wife, among others),no Bollywood star has made thecut in a sustained way.


Your mind is focusedon private matters and past issues while

Mercury transits the twelfth house of your solarchart. This is a time when you are least likely toexpress yourself freely. You're examining the pastfor answers. This is a good time for quiet contem-plation, and meditation.

Mercury continuesto journey through your

solar eleventh house. This is a time when variousnetworking activities are much appreciated andoffer you learning experiences. Your ideas areprogressive and you are also interested in spend-ing time with people who are like-minded.

Mercury transitsyour solar tenth house.

This is an excellent period for developing careerand professional plans or strategies. Althoughapproachable and ready to communicate, you areless inclined towards frivolous matters now. Goodtime to seek promotions to improve your status.

Venus and Marsgrace your solar tenth

house now. During this cycle, you are very wellreceived on the job. Venus is charming andfriendly and her presence in your career sectorbrings you lots of romantic opportunities, or sim-ply more chances to socialize and network.

Venus and Mars contin-ue to grace your solar

ninth house. During this cycle, your ideals in loveare set high. You could also enjoy a trip, or a newadventure of sorts. In fact, you are attracted toanything that is non-routine. It's a good periodfor personal charm and attractiveness in general.

Venus and Mars con-tinue to move through

your solar eighth house. You are attracted to thedeeper elements of relationships and social inter-actions now. Mysteries fascinate you and youquestion other people’s motives for theiractions. It's also a strong cycle for discoveringyour own hidden talents.

Beautiful energy iswith you for self-

expression and spirit as Venus, your ruling planetand Mars transit your opposite sign. Others arelikely to find you inspiring and they see you in agood light. There can be renewed interest in, andcommitment to, health improvement programs.

Venus graces yoursolar sixth house now.

Establishing a happy and harmonious work envi-ronment through friendly relations with co-work-ers comes into focus now. You're most successfuldoing tasks that involve cooperation and teamharmony. Romantic and social activities mayrevolve around your working environment.

Venus and Marscontinue to trek

through your solar 5th house of romance.Meaningful and harmonious relationships--bothsocial and romantic--define you during this cycle.If single, you are more willing than normal toenter into a committed relationship. In general,you are adaptable when it comes to your affec-tions.

Venus transitsyour solar fourth

house now. During this cycle, you are especiallyfond of spending more time at home around thefamily. You are more receptive and tend to besentimental or nostalgic now. Loyalty and sensi-tivity in your relationships are more important toyou than typically.

Venus and Mars aretransiting your solar

third house now, indicating a more light-heartedand intellectual approach to love and pleasure.You enjoy talking about what interests you, andyou see value in the exchange of ideas.Sometimes this transit brings benefit through sib-lings, communications, or short trips.

With Mercury in yoursolar first house, your

disposition is more intellectual than usual andself-expression comes easily. It is an especiallyfruitful time for any endeavor that requires com-munications. Your demeanor is more youthfuland easy going so others will find it easy to talkwith you.

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

GEMINI May 22 - June 22

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

��

��

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Coming Eventsl Mother's Day with Shin-DCS, Saturday 14 March,Collier Row Road, Romford, Essex RM5 2NH.Contact: 020 8924 4000l Senior Citizens Club, Healthy Living Project,Lecture on, Alzheimer's & Dementia at Sangam,210 Burnt Oak Broadway, Edgware, Middx HA80AP, 17th March 2015, 1.15pm – 3.30pml OBV ‘Reclaiming Democracy’ tour Wednesday 11March, Liverpool (Outside John Lewis, Liverpool,One Shopping Centre, 70 Paradise Street, L1 3EU)

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Nishma JethwaProgramme Manager Shiva Foundation

You may have heard thisweek about the controver-sial and heart-wrenchingBBC documentary byLeslee Udwin, India'sDaughter, currentlybanned in India. The doc-umentary features in-depth and unprecedentedinterviews with those con-victed for the rape andmurder of Jyoti Singh inDecember 2012. The filmis difficult to watch and,according to Udwin, wastraumatising to make butit provides an incredibleand unique opportunityfor change. We all knowthat one film can’t changeeverything for womenacross the world on itsown, but we know toothat one film combinedwith our collectiveinsights, networks, energyand commitment might bethe beginning of a verypowerful engine forchange.GSMP Foundation

and Shiva Foundation are

hosting a private screen-ing of the film on Tuesday31st March, followed by adiscussion with theDirector, Udwin, and sup-porters of the film, MeeraSyal and Kathy Lette.They are using this oppor-tunity to bring togetherdetermined and successfulwomen who dare to standfor something they believein and make a differenceabove and beyond theirday to day roles. So thequestion remains, what isour responsibility toIndia’s daughters?We say that this is an

opportunity for us all toreflect on the world wewant to live in. This is thetime to take responsibilityfor the society we embody.And, most importantly,this is the time to stand upand stand for real changein the institutions, beliefsand systems that allowthis horrific crime to exist.

For further informa-tion, please [email protected] or visitwww.shiva.co.uk/shiv-afoundation.

India’s Daughter: What is our responsibility?

London Asian Film Festival 2015schedule announced

'Dukhtar', 'Margarita WithA Straw' and 'Bhopal: APrayer for Rain' among out-standing schedule of inde-pendent South Asian filmsto be screened as part of17th annual LAFF.Organisers have

announced the full rosterof films and special eventsfor this year's LondonAsian Film Festival(LAFF) - Europe's oldestshowcase for South Asiancinema. The Festival takesplace across London from19 March to 28 March andfeatures a string of excitingand acclaimed independentfeature films, masterclass-es, special screenings,debates and the Festival'scelebrated short films com-petition.This year's Festival

highlights include criticallyacclaimed films such as

'Margarita With A Straw','Bhopal - A Prayer forRain', 'Dukhtar', 'RangRasiya' and 'The WorldBefore Her'.The 17th edition

London Asian FilmFestival is once againorganised by Tongues onFire, which has built anunparalleled reputation forpromoting independentcinema as well as providinga showcase for female film-makers.In keeping with that

ethos, LAFF 2015 cele-brates 'The Power ofWomen', a theme that isreflected in this year's ros-ter of special guests whoinclude such filmmakers asFarah Khan, Nisha Pahujaand Afia Nathaniel.For special events andscreenings, visitwww.tonguesonfire.com

After showing our tributesto the Octogenarians in2011 and November 2014,in events with ‘SangatCentre’ and in January2015 with the ‘LohanaCommunity SouthLondon’, Asian Voice andGujarat Samachar willonce again pay a tribute toall the people aged eightyyears or above with co-operation from ShreeSanatan Mandir, Leicesteron Saturday, 21st March2015 at 2.30 PM to 7PMat Mahatma Gandhi Hall,Shree Sanatan Mandir,Weymouth Street, OffCatherine Street,Leicester LE4 6FQ.Welcoming and hon-

ouring elderly people is amatter of privilege for usand we believe we willtruly be blessed by theirpresence on this occasion.During this get-together,we will enjoy BhaktiSangeet by ChandubhaiMattani and group fol-lowed by real vegan deli-cacies. There will also bevital information availableregarding healthylifestyles for the elderly.If there is anyone aged

80 years or above in yourfamily or amongst friends,

please send us their shortbio-data and photo via faxon 020 7749 4081 or viaemail [email protected] or by post to KamalRao, Gujarat Samachar,Karmayoga House, 12,Hoxton Market, LondonN1 6HW on or before 17thMarch 2015.The elderly are wel-

come to bring friends andfamily along.Please let us know

how many people willcome to the event forcatering and other purpos-es.Date: Saturday, 21stMarch 2015Time: 2.30 PM to 6.30.PMVenue: Mahatma GandhiHall,Shree Sanatan Mandir,Weymouth Street, Off Catherine Street,Leicester LE4 6FQ.For more information callRamanbhai Barber MBEDL, President, Shree Sanatan Mandir –Tel: 0116 266 1402 - E mail:[email protected] and Kamal Rao: 020 7749 4001Mobile: 07875 229 211.

Asian Voice and GujaratSamachar to pay tributes toOctogenarians in Leicester

Rupanjana Dutta

Veteran Sports journalistAshis Ray along withBloomsbury Publishinglaunched his book 'CricketWorld Cup: The IndianChallenge', on February25th at London's NehruCentre in presence of HERanjan Mathai, the IndianHigh Commissioner, LordSwarj Paul, GopichandHinduja, CB Patel andmany other dignitaries.This was followed by aQ&A with James Astill,Political Editor of theEconomist, where Ray dis-cussed his book, the chang-ing scene of Indian cricket,the historic 1983 victory,Indian cricket teamCaptains over the years andthe current World Cup.

In India, Ray's work wasspecially applauded by theIndian President PranabMukherjee. On Saturday 14February, the President ofIndia Pranab Mukherjeeformally received a copy ofthe recently released bookat a brief ceremony atRashtrapati Bhavan(President's House). Thepresentation was made byMadan Lal, one of theheroes of the Indian sidethat won the 1983 CricketWorld Cup, in the presenceof the author. The Presidentcommended the author forproviding a history of theWorld Cup from an Indianperspective.

He also thanked MadanLal for triggering a "turningpoint" for India in cricketby famously dismissingVivian Richards, the WestIndian master batsman, inthe World Cup final atLord's in 1983.

Mr Mukherjee recalled

Indira Gandhi, then India'sPrime Minister, phonedhim late a night Indian timeafter India's 1983 victory toshare the good news. Hewas then the UnionFinance Minister.

Author Ashis Ray said,"It is a great honour to begranted an audience by thePresident of India.Therefore, I consider myselffortunate that he did so andformally received a copy ofmy book. I hope the kindgesture on the part of thePresident encourages peo-ple to read the book andencounter or relive forthemselves India's historyin the Cricket World Cup."

The Acting HighCommissioner of India toAustralia, Manika Jain alsolaunched Ashis Ray’s bookin Melbourne on Saturday20 February, congratulatedhim on writing the bookand Bloomsbury for pub-lishing the work. “I havegreat pleasure in launchingthis book in Australia,” saidJain.

Speaking to Asian Voice

exclusively, when askedwho is Ray's favouriteamongst Ganguly andDhoni as a Captain, Ashissaid with a smile,"Ganguly's record as cap-tain in test cricket outsideIndia proves he was a bettertactician than Dhoni."

Explaining, he referredto Chapter 6 of his book,and added,"While his criticssaid he was asking for it,the BCCI's treatment ofGanguly is indefensible.Any cricketer deservescourtesy if he is to be omit-ted from the national side,especially if he's been thecountry's most successfulskipper ever (which he wasat that point)."

"Ganguly was un-parochial. Practically noneof the players successfullydrafted in or recalled duringhis tenure (as captain) wasfrom his part of the country.He had a hunch thatHarbhajan Singh wouldserve him well. The Sikhresponded by capturing 28wickets in two tests againstAustralia as India stormed

to victory in 2001.“Only Mahendra Singh

Dhoni hailed fromGanguly's zone, but notfrom his state of Bengal.Few will argue against thischoice, for this Jharkhandbatsman-wicketkeeper'seruptive strokeplay hasadded a new dimension toIndia's batting and calm-ness as captain in limitedovers cricket."

Speaking about India'sCaptain M S Dhoni, hereferred to Chapter 8 of hisbook, which he wrote justbefore Christmas. “As forIndia, their unimpressivedisplay in 1992 (in theWorld Cup) is not necessar-ily an indication of theirpresent aptitude. TheIndians are today an organ-ised detachment, instilledwith calibre and confi-dence. They are also stew-arded by motivating per-sonal example - as testifiedby Mahendra Dhoni takingthe bull by the horns in thefinal at the WankhedeStadium four years ago todeliver a coup de grace.

“The limited overs for-mat does not demand anexceptional strategic brain,for there is virtually a pre-conceived formula for cap-taincy on the field," saidRay.

About the book:Cricket World Cup: The

Indian Challenge is themost comprehensive offer-ing on the subject; as emi-nently readable as essentialreference. It covers all 10previous World Cups indetail from an Indian per-spective, highlighting the1983 and 2011 competi-tions, which India won.

Photo courtesy: Raj DBakrania, Prmediapix

West Indian batting greatViv Richards has beenvoted as the greatest ODIplayer in the history of thegame ahead of India's crick-et legend Sachin Tendulkarin an online poll. With anastonishing 29 of 50 jurorspicking him as the bestODI player of all time,Richards won by a landslidein an exercise conducted byESPNcricinfo's magazine'Cricket Monthly'.

Tendulkar, the most-prolific one-day batsman ofall time, narrowly beat for-mer Pakistan skipperWasim Akram. The last twopositions in the top fivewere taken by Australia'sAdam Gilchrist and currentIndian ODI skipperMahendra Singh Dhoni.

Through the late '70sand '80s, Richards dominat-ed the one-day arena likeno other cricketer, andhelped his side to twoWorld Cup victories in 1975and 1979. In terms oflongevity and batting statsTendulkar has no equal.Arguably the greatest bats-man in contemporary crick-et, Tendulkar rewrote many

records during a gloriouscareer spanning 23 years.

He amassed a mammoth18,426 runs in 463 one-dayers at an average of44.83. The diminutiveright-hander has an aston-ishing 49 hundreds in theformat, including a doublehundred - the first in thisform of the game.Tendulkar also has a mam-moth tally of 96 ODI 50s tohis credit.

ESPNcricinfo's editor-in-chief Sambit Bal said,"No one does numbers bet-ter than us. But we also

know that numbers don'talways tell the full story.Which is why we rely on thecumulative wisdom ofthose who should know forour awards. "And the WorldCup was a good occasion toassemble a grand jury -drawn from different erasand countries - to pick thegreatest ever one-day crick-eter. It's hard to argue withthe top five the poll hasthrown up: between themthey encapsulate the best ofODI cricket across the agesand also its evolution."

In all, 21 cricketers

received votes - sixAustralians, five Indians,four Pakistanis, two WestIndians, two SouthAfricans, a Sri Lankan andan Englishman. The top 11can be assembled into adream team: Gilchrist,Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting,Richards, Jacques Kallis,Dhoni, Sanath Jayasuriya,Kapil Dev, Akram, ShaneWarne and Joel Garner.

The 50-member juryincluded legendary crick-eters Ian Chappell, CliveLloyd, Rahul Dravid,Ponting and Graeme Smith.

Viv Richards pips Sachin Tendulkaras greatest ODI player Olympic bronze

medallist SainaNehwal’s questfor becomingthe first Indianwoman to winthe prestigiousAll England badmintonchampionship ended inagony after she suffereda heart-breaking loss toSpain’s Carolina Marinin the summit clash atBirmingham. TheWorld No. 3 Indian letgo of a huge opportuni-ty to script history asshe squandered anopening game lead togo down 21-16 14-21 7-21 to the reigningworld champion in thewomen’s singles finalthat lasted for little

over an hour.Saina, thus,

failed to emulateher long-timecoach PullellaG o p i c h a n d(2001) and leg-

endary PrakashPadukone (1980), whohad won the presti-gious title in the past.Saina, who has beencompeting at the AllEngland since 2007,had never lost toCarolina and looked oncourse for an encorebefore the World No. 6Spaniard scripted aremarkable comebackin the second game toput paid to the Indian’shopes at theBarclaycard Arena.

Saina fails to win AllEngland championship

SPORT WORLDwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 14th March 2015 31

Teams Match Won Lost PointsGroup A

New Zealand 5 5 0 10Australia 5 3 1 7Bangladesh 5 3 1 7Sri Lanka 5 3 2 6England 5 1 4 2Afghanistan 5 1 4 2Scotland 4 0 4 0

Group BIndia 5 5 0 10South Africa 5 3 2 6Pakistan 5 3 2 6Ireland 5 3 2 6West Indies 5 2 3 4Zimbabwe 5 1 4 2UAE 4 0 4 0

World Cup 2015 ResultsDate Teams4 March Pakistan v/s UAEPAK won by 129 runsBrief scores: PAK 339/6 (50 overs); UAE 210/8 (50 overs)4 March Australia v/s AfghanistanAUS won by 275 runsBrief scores: AUS 417/6 (50 overs); AFG 142/10 (37.3 overs)5 March Scotland v/s BangladeshBAN won by 6 wicketsBrief scores: BAN 322/4 (48.1 overs); SCO 318/8 (50 overs)6 March West Indies v/s IndiaIND won by 4 wicketsBrief scores: IND 185/6 (39.1 overs); WI 182/10 (44.2 overs)7 March Pakistan v/s South AfricaPAK won by 29 runsBrief scores: PAK 222/10 (46.4 overs); SA 202/10 (33.3 overs)7 March Ireland v/s ZimbabweIRE won by 5 wicketsBrief scores: IRE 331/8 (50 overs); ZIM 326/10 (49.3 overs)8 March Afghanistan v/s New ZealandNZ won by 6 wicketsBrief scores: NZ 188/4 (36.1 overs); AFG 186/10 (47.4 overs)8 March Australia v/s Sri LankaAUS won by 64 runsBrief scores: AUS 376/9 (50 overs); SLK 312/9 (46.2 overs)9 March Bangladesh v/s EnglandBAN won by 15 runsBrief scores: BAN 275/7 (50 overs); ENG 260/10 (48.3 overs)10 March Ireland v/s IndiaIND won by 8 wicketsBrief scores: IND 260/2 (36.5 overs); IRE 259/10 (49 overs)

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

Viv Richards and Sachin Tendulkar

Ray launches his book on World Cup cricket in London

Ashis Ray, James Astill and Sangeeta Bahadur,Director, Nehru Centre

India defeated Ireland byeight wickets in a Pool Bcricket World Cup match atSeddon Park, in Hamiltonon Tuesday. Opting to bat,Ireland were cruising atone stage with scorecardreading 206 for three butIndian bowlers made a fan-tastic comeback, claimingsix wickets for 32 runs in aphase of 6.3 overs. In anastonishing record, Indianow have bowled outopposition for the fifthtime in a row. Niall O’Brienwas the top scorer forIreland with 75 while skip-per William Porterfieldscored 67 off 93 balls. Themiddle and lower order col-lapse hurt Ireland asRavichandran Ashwin(2/38), Mohammed Shami(3/41), Umesh Yadav(1/34) and Suresh Raina(1/40) struck at the crucialmoment. For India,Shikhar Dhawan and RohitSharma stitched a record174-run opening stand.Virat Kohli and AjinkyaRahane remained unbeatenon 44 and 33 respectivelyto take India to victory tar-get of 260 in just 36.5overs.

Defeat West Indies:Earlier India sealed theirplace in the quarter-finalsstages with a nervy runchase against West Indies

in Perth. MS Dhoni helpedto steer his team to a four-wicket victory in a low-scoring pool B match.India, who bowled WestIndies out for 182, there-fore remain one of twounbeaten teams in thetournament – NewZealand are the other –after scrambling the winwith 10.5 overs to spare ona typically bouncy pitch atthe Waca.

Bangladesh knock outEngland: MohammadMahmudullah became thefirst Bangladesh batsmanto score a World Cup cen-tury as woeful Englandcrashed out of the tourna-ment with a 15-run loss tothe Tigers. Mahmudullahscored 103 and brother-in-law Mushfiqur Rahimmade 89 as the Tigersrecovered from eight fortwo to post a challenging275 for seven after beingsent in to bat. England,needing a win to stay afloatafter winning just one oftheir previous four match-es, were bowled out for 260as seamer Rubel Hossainclaimed four wickets andwicket-keeper Rahim heldfour catches. Ian Bell made63 but England slipped to163 for six before JosButtler (65 off 52 balls)and Chris Woakes (42 not

out) briefly revived theirhope with a 75-run standfor the seventh wicket. Butthe dismissals of Buttlerand Chris Jordan off suc-cessive balls in the 46thover turned the matchBangladesh's way.

Brilliant run chase:Kyle Coetzer’s career-best156 went in vain asBangladesh scripted a bril-liant chase to notch up acomprehensive six-wicketwin over Scotland in theirpool A match earlier.Chasing 319 to win,Bangladesh cruised to aseemingly stiff target with11 balls to spare, riding onfour individual fifties byTamim Iqbal (95),Mahmudullah (62),Mushfiqur Rahim (60) andShakib Al Hasan (52 notout).

Australia overcome Sri

Lanka: Glenn Maxwell hitthe second-fastest centuryin World Cup history asAustralia beat Sri Lanka by64 runs to advance to thequarter-finals. Maxwell'sfirst one-day internationalton, reached off 51 balls,inspired Australia's total of376-9. Sri Lanka fell shortin a spirited run chasedespite a third consecutiveWorld Cup century fromKumar Sangakkara and aquickfire 52 from DineshChandimal.

Break India's record:Earlier Australia hit thehighest World Cup scorein tournament historywhen they made 417/6against Afghanistan atPerth. The four-timechampions went past theprevious best of 413/5made by India againstBermuda in 2007. It was

the third 400-plus total atthe World Cup 2015 afterSouth Africa twice wentthrough the barrier - 408/5against the West Indiesand 411/4 in the gamewith Ireland. DavidWarner made Australia'shighest World Cup indi-vidual score of 178 beatingthe 158 of MatthewHayden against WestIndies at Antigua in 2007.

Bowlers script easy winfor NZ: Daniel Vettoristole the limelight duringNew Zealand's matchagainst Afghanistan with astunning spell of four for18. His spell wreakedhavoc at the top, reducingAfghanistan to 59 for 6before a superb fightbackscripted by an 86-run standbetween NajibullahZadran (56) andSamiuallah Shenwari (54)saw them post a total of186 in 47.4 overs. Chasinga tricky total, New Zealandwere off to the kind of startthat is expected from them.Brendon McCullum,despite facing some testingovers from Hamid Hasan,started off in blisteringfashion slamming 42 injust 19 deliveries. The NZskipper hit six fours, and asix off Mohammad Nabibefore perishing attempt-ing an encore.

Pakistan stun SouthAfrica: Pakistan's trio ofleft-arm pacemen bowledtheir team to a thrilling 29-run win over South Africaon the Duckworth/Lewismethod as they revivedtheir bid for a World Cupquarterfinal place inAuckland on Saturday.Rahat Ali grabbed a career-best three for 40, whileMohammad Irfan (threefor 52) and Wahab Riaz(three for 45) were also inthe wickets as SouthAfrica, chasing a revisedtarget of 232 in 47 overs,were dismissed for 202 in33.3 overs.

Crush shoddy UAE:Earlier Pakistan havemoved to fourth spot inPool B table with a com-prehensive win over theUnited Arab Emirates by129 runs in their WorldCup tie in Napier. Put in tobat first, Pakistan crossedthe 300-run milestone forthe first time in this year'stournament as they wenton to post a challengingtarget of 339 runs.Chasing the target, UAEwere reeling at 25-3 in the10th over before ShaimanAnwar (62) and KhurramKhan (43) provided someresistance as they put on83 runs for the fourthwicket.


India beat Ireland by 8 wickets

AV 14th March 2015

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