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This week’s question

Modi has given boost toIndia’s image?

Last week’s result

YES 62% NO 33%

Top Stories

CONTENTS

INDIA, AUS TO STEPUP DEFENSE COOP

Details on page 15

Details on page 14

Details on page 5

Details on page 30

Details on page 16

Details on page 8

Bollywood ---------------------- 28-29

Classifieds ------------------------- 48

Community Post -------------- 16-25

Date Book -------------------------- 47Edit Page --------------------------- 54

HealthScience Post --------- 36-39

Horoscope ------------------------- 44

Immigration Post ------------- 32-35

Life Style ----------------------- 50-52

Perspective ------------------------ 49

Philosophy ------------------------- 53

Publisher’s Diary ------------------ 4

Real Estate -------------------- 26-27

TechBiz Post ------------------- 30-31

Travel & Hospitality Post ---- 40-43

Details on page 14

Details on page 32

Details on page 13

BEAR HUG IN KANGAROO LAND: Prime Minister Narendra Modi being warmly receivedby the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, at the Australian War Memorial,

in Canberra, Australia on November 18

CANBERRA: India andAustralia have established aframework for bilateral secu-rity cooperation as theystepped up their defense col-laboration for advancing re-gional peace and combatingterrorism among other chal-lenges.

Prime Minister NarendraModi and his Australiancounterpart Tony Abbottheld talks and agreed to es-tablish a Framework for Se-curity Cooperation to reflectthe deepening and expand-ing security and defense en-gagement between the twocountries.

They established theframework to intensify coop-eration and consultation be-tween Australia and India inareas of mutual interest.

"I greatly welcome theNew Framework for SecurityCooperation. Security anddefense are important andgrowing areas of the newIndia-Australia partnership -for advancing regionalpeace and stability, and com-bating terrorism and trans-national crimes," Modi saidin the statement to the me-dia at a joint press confer-ence with Abbott.

Haley woosIndian touriststo explore SC

Nikki Haley

US, Israel to gete-visa facilityon Nov 27

PM Modi setsdeadline forOCI, PIO merger

Many IndianAmericansvoted for Rauner

Top tech firmscall for end to‘surveillance’

Jindal planspossible 2016presidential run

Guru Nanakbirth anniversaryat White House

MoU to increaseUS participationin India infra

Should Ro Khanna start preparingfor next election?

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HIGHLIGHTSPublisher’s Diary

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Bollywood:Living-in 'temporarily'Ranbir Kapoor has moved in with his girl-friend Katrina Kaif and rumor surfacedthat the Kapoor lad has left his parents

5Cover Story:Defense coop

16Community:New Governor

32

50Life style:

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge completes1,000 weeks on December 12. SRK wantsto celebrate the blockbuster in a big way

30Techbiz:

A coalition of top technology andInternet giants have called on the USSenate to curb surveillance powers

40Travel:ChakrataThriving by the lush greeneries withdense forests all around, Chakrata inUttaranchal is a famed tourist resort

Stop surveillance

Surprisingly, new Governor BruceRauner mustered support of Democratvotes in Indian and Pakistani community.

India and Australia have established aframework for security cooperation andstepped up defense collaboration

DDLJ anniversary

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Immigration:

Republicans debate how to respond toPresident Barack Obama's expected ex-ecutive action on immigration

Executive action

T he all round excitement surrounding India since the Narendra Modi ad-ministration came into office is working wonders in the business andtrade communities in both the US and India with individual states on both

sides making long haul overtures to make the best of the immensely positivevibes that have been rekindled in the US-India economic climate.

Newly re-elected South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley's trade trip to Indiato attract Indian investments in her state speaks volumes for the coming of ageof Indian businesses that are seen as fertile enough to boost the Americaneconomy. Well, Governor Haley may not be the first American governor to lookIndia-wards for creating American jobs, but she sure is the first to come knock-ing on Indian investment doors since the Modi government took over.

Governor Haley hits the nail running when she says that healthy businessesmean all round strength for education, jobs, and health, all of which fall intoplace like pieces in the economic puzzle. Governments across the globe need toget what Narendra Modi is talking about and which Haley gets, that of doingaway with protectionist regulations and bureaucracy for trade to flourish.

Now this is what I would describe as being true to the Indian credo of"vasudhaiva kutumbakam" - a daughter of Indian origin, returning to thecountry of her roots, representing American interests, which ultimately will helpfacilitate movement of goods, services and people across continents.

Peace and prosperity take on a new meaning when people across boundariescollaborate, when people represent nations irrespective of their roots and ori-gins, when people work towards the larger betterment of societies irrespective ofcolor and race - and when the business is not related to war.

No, I am not getting carried away, because that's the larger picture one seeseven if one were to consider Gov. Haley's visit as a routine business trip.

The near euphoric atmosphere is akin to that which existed during the firstterm of the Manmohan Singh led UPA government in India a decade ago. Thekey is to sustain that excitement, which only a longer vision can achieve.

India PostNovember 21, 2014 5

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Cover/Top Stories

India, Aus to step up defense coopCANBERRA: India and Aus-

tralia have established a frame-work for bilateral security coop-eration as they stepped up theirdefense collaboration for advanc-ing regional peace and combatingterrorism among other challenges.

Prime Minister Narendra Modiand his Australian counterpartTony Abbott held talks andagreed to establish a Frameworkfor Security Cooperation to reflectthe deepening and expanding se-curity and defense engagementbetween the two countries.

They established the frame-work to intensify cooperation andconsultation between Australiaand India in areas of mutual inter-est.

"I greatly welcome the NewFramework for Security Coopera-tion. Security and defense are im-portant and growing areas of thenew India-Australia partnership -for advancing regional peace andstability, and combating terrorismand trans-national crimes," Modisaid in the statement to the mediaat a joint press conference withAbbott.

Modi, while addressing theParliament later, also called forcollaboration in the field of mari-time security.

"We should collaborate moreon maintaining maritime security.

We should work together on theseas and collaborate in interna-tional forums. And, we shouldwork for a universal respect forinternational law and globalnorms," he said reiterating his callfor collaboration on maritime se-curity made at the East Asia andASEAN summits in Myanmar lastweek.

Modi and Abbott decided thatthe framework will be implementedin accordance with an action plan.

The action plan states thatthere will be an annual summit andforeign policy exchanges and co-ordination.

The plan includes annual meet-ing of Prime Ministers, includingon the margins of multilateral meet-

ings, foreign Ministers' frameworkdialogue, senior officials' talks ledby India's Secretary (East) in theMinistry of External Affairs andthe Secretary of Australia's De-partment of Foreign Affairs andTrade.

The action plan also talksabout East Asia talks betweenExternal Affairs senior officials,

defense policy planning and co-ordination.

The framework agreed on willbe implemented according to theaction plan which calls for regulardefense ministers' meeting, annualdefense policy talks, service toservice engagement includingregular high-level visits, annualstaff talks, joint training and regu-lar exercises and regular bilateralmaritime exercises.

It also calls for exploring de-fense research and developmentcooperation, including throughvisits by Australian and Indiandefense material delegations andefforts to foster joint industrylinks.

The action plan also includesan annual Joint Working Groupon counter-terrorism and othertransnational crimes, cooperationin counter-terrorism training andexchanges between experts oncountering improvised explosivedevices, bomb incidents and tech-nologies among others.

Progress under the action planwill be reviewed through estab-lished institutional arrangements,including the Foreign Ministers'Framework Dialogue and the De-fense Ministers' meeting.

"The Prime Minister of Indiaand the Prime Minister of Austra-lia reaffirm that the strategic part-nership between India and Aus-tralia is based on converging po-litical, economic and strategic in-terests; a shared desire to promoteregional and global peace, secu-rity and prosperity; and a commit-ment to democracy, freedom, hu-man rights, and the rule of law," aMinistry of External Affairs state-ment on the Framework for Secu-rity Cooperation said. -PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, at Parliament House, in Canberra, Australia on November 18

'Australia will not be at periphery of our vision'CANBERRA: Prime Minister

Narendra Modi said here Austra-lia will not be at the periphery ofIndia's vision but at the centre ofits thought, as he called for closerbilateral security cooperation anda comprehensive global strategyto tackle the menace of terrorism.

Modi, while addressing theAustralian Parliament, the firstIndian Prime Minister to do so,said, "It has taken a Prime Minis-ter of India 28 years to come toAustralia. It should never havebeen so. And, this will change.Australia will not be at the periph-ery of our vision, but at the centreof our thought."

Modi addressed the Parliamentafter holding bilateral talks withPrime Minister Tony Abbott fol-lowing which the two countriessigned five pacts on social secu-rity, transfer of sentenced prison-ers, combating narcotics trade,tourism, and Arts and Culture.

During the talks, the two sidessought an early conclusion ofnegotiations for a comprehensiveeconomic partnership agreementand a closure on the civil nucleardeal.

Addressing the Parliament,Modi said terrorism has become a

major threat. "In India, we haveseen its face closely for three de-cades. And, we see it with the clar-ity that comes with it. Terrorism ischanging in character and expand-ing in its reach," Modi said.

"Internet has made recruitmentand call to violence self-gener-ated. It also feeds off money laun-dering, drug trafficking and arms

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the joint session of Parliament of Australia, at Parliament House,

in Canberra, Australia on November 18

smuggling. We have to deepenour bilateral security cooperation.But, we need a comprehensiveglobal strategy for a global prob-lem," he said.

In order to tackle the new se-curity challenges, Modi soughtcloser security cooperation, apolicy of no distinction betweenterrorist groups or discrimination

between nations, a resolve to iso-late those who harbor terrorists,willingness to empower statesthat will fight them, a social move-ment against extremism in coun-tries where it is most prevalent andevery effort to delink religion andterrorism.

Cont’d on page 8


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India keen to forge stronger business tiesMELBOURNE: India is open

for business and keen to forgestronger business relations withresource-rich Australia, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi said andinvited Australian business lead-ers to cooperate in developinggreen technology, LNG, gas andtourism sectors.

Modi, who held a roundtablewith top Australian CEOs here,discussed prospects for bilateralcooperation specially in the fieldof education, services, energy,banking and information technol-ogy and tourism.

Modi, during the hour-longroundtable hosted by Victoria'sGovernor Alex Chernov at Gov-ernment house, said India wasopen for business and was alsokeen to forge stronger businessrelations with Australia.

Noting that the new govern-ment has identified several areasof cooperation, Modi said there

was a huge potential for devel-oping educational ties especiallyat school level.

"Victoria has taken a good ini-tiative of tying up with India. We

Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting the Australian CEOs in Melbourne, Australia on November 18

have Youth. I would like to focuson two main area - one is researchand the other is education,"Modi said.

As Victoria was leading in the

field of research, a collaborationin that area could be looked at,he said.

"We just launched our Makein India initiative and this pre-

sents opportunities in our coun-try," he said, adding that issuesof concerns for those keen to in-vest in India would be looked atin the next budget.

He invited Australian busi-nessmen to collaborate with In-dia in the field of green technol-ogy, LNG, gas and tourism sec-tor. Modi said that the govern-ment was keen to build cruisetourism.

"We discussed various is-sues, but the area which I wouldlike to focus is tourism sectorwhere I find several opportuni-ties and possibilities," Modi saidadding his announcement aboutvisa on arrival facility for Aus-tralian tourists would also ben-efit business community too.

"I extend an invitation to lookat this sector too," Modi said,noting that India's long coastlineprovides huge opportunities fordeveloping the cruise sector. -PTI

Early closure on the civilnuclear deal sought

CANBERRA: India and Aus-tralia have sought early conclu-sion of negotiations for a compre-hensive economic partnershipagreement and a closure on thecivil nuclear deal as Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi and his coun-terpart Tony Abbott held talkshere.

After the two leaders held

talks, India and Australia signedfive pacts on social security, trans-fer of sentenced prisoners, com-bating narcotics trade, tourism,and Arts and Culture.

"We also agreed on seekingearly closure on the civil nuclearagreement, which will give Aus-tralia a chance to participate in oneof the most secure and safe

nuclear energy program in theworld," Modi said in a statementto the media at a joint press con-ference with Abbott.

Later, while addressing the Par-liament, Australian Prime Minis-ter Abbott said, "If all goes well,Australia will export uranium toIndia under suitable safeguardsbecause cleaner energy is one of

the most important contributionsthat Australia can make to widerworld."

Modi, while talking about In-dia-Australia ties, said, "This is anatural partnership, arising fromour shared values and interests,and our strategic maritime loca-tions. India and Australia have agreat economic synergy."

"There are huge opportunitiesfor partnership in every area wecan think of - agriculture, agro-processing, resources, energy, fi-nance, infrastructure, education,and science and technology,"Modi said.

Abbott, in Parliament, said,"By the end of the next year wewill have a Free Trade deal with

what is potentially theworld's largest market."

Modi emphasized thatthe economic climate inIndia has changed.

"I believe it will be alot easier to convert op-portunities into concreteoutcomes," Modi said.

Modi also announcedthat India will organize a'Make in India' show inAustralia in 2015 whileAustralia would hold abusiness week in India inJanuary next year.

"Prime MinisterAbbott and I discussedwhat we should do to im-part real momentum toour economic partner-ship.

Reconstituting the CEO Forumis an important step. We haveagreed to speed up negotiationson the Comprehensive EconomicPartnership Agreement. I alsoasked for easier access for Indianbusiness to the Australian mar-ket and quicker investment ap-provals," Modi said at the jointpress conference. -PTI

Narendra Modi and the Prime Minister of Australia,Tony Abbott witnessing the signing

of agreements, at Parliament House, in Canberra, Australia on November 18

PM gifts Rani Lakshmibai'spetition to Abbott

CANBERRA: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi gifted Australianlawyer John Lang's 1854 petitionon behalf of Rani Lakshmibaiagainst the East India Companyto his Australian counterpartTony Abbott.

"PM gifts Australian PM a me-morial of Australian John Lang onbehalf of Rani of Jhansi againstEast India Company," Ministry ofExternal Affairs SpokespersonSyed Akbaruddin tweeted.

"John Lang's Original petitionof 1854 on behalf of Jhansi ki Raniagainst the East India Company,"Akbaruddin said describingModi's gift to Abbott.

Modi's gifts to Abbott broughtAustralian John Lang's contribu-tion in Indian history to the fore.

Born in 1816 in Sydney, Langis generally regarded asAustralia's first native novelist. As

a man of many talents, he was alsoa lawyer, journalist and born trav-eler.

In 1842, he sailed to India andmade the country his new home,even learning the Hindustani lan-guage. While carrying on a suc-cessful legal practice, he started anewspaper in 1845 called 'TheMoffusilite', published initiallyfrom Meerut and later fromMussoorie.

The paper often took a criticalstance against the British EastIndia Company's harmful policiesand consequently he was suedand briefly jailed by the Company.

In 1854, Lang became the Coun-sel of the Maharani Lakshmibai ofJhansi - an iconic figure in the fa-mous Indian uprising of 1857against the East India Company'srule - and represented her in legalbattles against the Company.-PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi raises toast with his Australian counterpart

Tony Abbott and the Leader of the Opposition of Australia Bill Shorten during

a dinner hosted by Abbott in Melbourne, Australia on November 18


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Top Stories

AIBC lauds Aus, Indiamove on FTA deadline

MELBOURNE: The Australia-India Business Council (AIBC)has welcomed the decision of thePrime Ministers of the two coun-tries to bring forward the FreeTrade Agreement deadline from2016 to 2015, saying it will "im-mensely help" the bilateral traderelations.

Vice Chair of AIBC ShedaNandkeolyar expressed hergratitude over the announce-ment made by Australian PrimeMinister Tony Abbott in the Par-liament that Free Trade Agree-ment (FTA) deadline would bebrought forward to 2015.

"Though the results wouldtake time to show, but, I think,

both sides are open to businessand there will be new opportu-nities which will be coming up,"she said, adding that the moveto bring forward the FTA dead-line will "immensely help the twosides".

Earlier, speaking in the parlia-ment Abbott said: "By the endof the next year, we will have aFree Trade deal with what is po-tentially the world's largest mar-ket."

Modi also announced that In-dia will organize a 'Make in In-dia' show in Australia in 2015while Australia would hold abusiness week in India in Januarynext year.-PTI

Modi presents Man Singh Trophy to AbbottCANBERRA: Prime Minister

Narendra Modi presented theMan Singh Trophy, a prized pos-session of Sikh regiment battal-ions, to his Australian counterpartTony Abbott at the War Memo-

rial here to commemorate his visit.In his first engagement in the

Australian capital, Modi, accom-panied by Abbott, arrived at the

War Memorial early morning.Modi presented the trophy to

Abbott and also signed thevisitor's book at the memorial.

The trophy originally in silverwas presented to the Officers'

Mess 14 (King George's own)Sikhs in the year 1919.

The officers of the battalion,who served in the unit during the

First World War in Egypt,Gallipoli, Sinai and Mesopotamiafrom October 1914 to May 1917,had made it in commemoration ofthe gallant actions of their sol-diers during the First World War.

The Trophy is namedafter Man Singh whowas recognized as agreat soldier for hisqualities of character,professional skill, sheerphysical prowess andagility.

Approximately 6 feetand 4 inches tall, Singhwas said to be so strongof limbs that he wasable to jump over highwire obstacles andbroad ditches comfort-ably.

This was part oftrench warfare duringthe First World War. Itis also said that he couldlob a grenade up to adistance of 50 yards.

The trophy has somepeculiarities like the

shoes worn by Singh appear tobe on the wrong feet, the satchelon his back is hanging with onestrap only, in place of grenades,

cans of condensed milk are seenin the trenches and the bolt of therifle is in the unlocked position.

The trophy was presented tothe Sikh Regiment Centre by 1Sikh (now 4 MECH INF) on

completion of 125 years of its glo-rious service.

All the Sikh regiment battalionsalso have a replica of this trophyin Bronze, a possession they areproud of. -PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi presenting a statue of the soldier "Man Singh" to the Prime

Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, at the Australian War Memorial, in Canberra,

Australia on November 18


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'Australia will not be atperiphery of our vision'

"India sees Australia as one ofour foremost partners in the re-gion. There are few countries inthe world where we see so muchsynergy as we do in Australia,"Modi said.

The Prime Minister also calledfor support for the process of eco-nomic integration across the re-gion and an open global tradingsystem that remains integrated.

"We must guard against re-gional trade initiatives becominginstruments of political competi-tion. However, economic integra-tion by itself won't be a strongbasis for peace and stability, with-out strong regional institutions,"Modi said.

Modi said Australia has im-mense opportunities to participate

in India's progress and in turn,India will be the answer toAustralia's search for new eco-nomic opportunities and desire todiversify global economic en-gagement.

He said India and Australiawere connected to each other withhistory and geography.

Modi once again highlightedthe example of Walter Griffin, whodesigned Canberra and was bur-ied in Lucknow, after narrating hisstory to Abbott and Obama dur-ing the G20.

Modi, during his address, alsotalked about Australian novelistand lawyer Jang Lang, who helpedRani Laxmibai against the BirtishEast India Company.

"This morning, Prime Ministerand I honored our soldiers, who100 years ago made the supremesacrifice together in the battle ofGallipoli. The man who designedthis beautiful capital of Canberra,Walter Burley Griffin, lies buried

in the old city of Lucknow in In-dia.

"More than 150 years ago, anAustralian novelist and lawyerJohn Lang fought the legal battlefor a brave Indian freedom fighter,the Queen of Jhansi, RaniLaxmibai against the British EastIndia Company in India's first Warof Independence. He also lies bur-ied in the Indian hill town ofMussoorie," Modi said.

He said both the nations hadcommon love for cricket and areset to battle it out on the cricketfield next month.

"We celebrate the legend ofBradman and the class ofTendulkar together. We are im-pressed by Australian speed asyou are charmed by the Indianspin, until of course Shane Warnecame along!" the Prime Minister

said amidst laughter in the Parlia-ment.

Speaking about his clear cutmajority government in 30 years,the Prime Minister said there wasa new "high tide" of hope andenergy in India.

"Today, we have a governmentwith a majority after thirty years.From the remotest village to thebiggest cities, there is a new hightide of hope in India; a new en-ergy. It is the energy of our youth- the 800 million people below theage of 35 - eager for change, will-ing to work for it - because, nowthey believe that it is possible.That they can make it happen. Itis this force of transformation thatwe will unleash.

"In the six months that we havebeen in office, we have movedforward, thinking with ambition,acting with speed; seeking growthnot just for growth, but to trans-form the quality of life of everyIndian," Modi said.-PTI

Cont’d from page 5

Modi shaking hands with Australian Parliamentarians after addressing joint

session of Australian Parliament, at Parliament House, in Canberra, Australia

on November 18. The Prime Minister of Australia,

Tony Abbott is also seen

Modi sets deadline forOCI, PIO merger

SYDNEY: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has assured a visaon arrival facility for Australiantourists and announced a two-month deadline for the long-pend-ing merger of OCI and PIO statusto woo the Indian Diaspora fromwhom he sought support for hisambitious Clean India campaign.

Addressing a frenzied crowd ofaround 20,000 in the packedAllphones Arena here, Modi tooka dig at the previous governmentssaying while they were happy tomake laws he was "happier to re-move" them.

"Let's open the windows letfresh air come in," Modi said re-ferring to his government's efforts

to weed out obsolete laws.Touched by the grand recep-

tion, Modi said he was honoredand humbled and will never for-get this day. "I know that behindthis affection lies expectations.Yes. We want to create the India

you are dreaming of.""This welcome, this respect,

this enthusiasm I dedicate it to thepeople of India," said Modi, thefirst Indian Prime Minister to visitAustralia in 28 years.

Modi announced that his gov-ernment was working on to facili-tate visa on arrival for Australiantourists and said the PIO (Personsof Indian Origin) and OCI (Over-seas Citizen of India) status willbe merged ahead of the PravasiBhartiya Divas to be held fromJanuary 7 in Ahmedabad.

Modi had announced mergerof PIO and OCI during his visit tothe US in September but had notgiven a timeline then.

The Prime Minister also re-ferred to economic reforms un-veiled by his government and saidIndia has become an attractivedestination for investment.

He also said FDI in Railwayshas been hiked to 100 per cent and

hoped that Australian companieswill invest in creating rail infra-structure in the country.

The Prime Minister called uponIndians across the world to convertthe atmosphere of hope and opti-mism into a reality of meeting theexpectations and aspirations ofpeople in India. Modi said on thebasis of his experience of the lastsix months, he could see no reasonwhy the aspirations of millions ofIndians could not be fulfilled.

He referred to SwamiVivekananda's dream of seeingMother India as a 'Vishva Guru'once again, and said he believedthat dream would be a reality.

"Do you share the dream", he

asked the cheering crowd.The Prime Minister said that he

feels a greater sense of responsi-bility as he is the first Prime Min-ister born in independent India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the Diaspora the Community Reception at Allphones Arena,

in Sydney, Australia on November 17

Interacting with the people after his address at the Community Reception, at Allphones Arena

Cont’d on page 11


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Jan Dhan moving despite reluctance by RBI, babusSYDNEY: Taking a

dig at the system, PrimeMinister NarendraModi said here thingshave started moving inIndia under him andthe Jan Dhan schemewas being imple-mented at a rapid pacedespite initial reluc-tance of RBI and bu-reaucracy.

Recalling his initialdays as a Prime Minis-ter, Modi said when heasked how much timeRBI would take toopen bank accountsfor 7.5 crore familieswho are out of thebanking net, the cen-tral bank had told himit would take threeyears.

"I asked the RBI,this work has to bedone. RBI said, it couldbe done...as no onecan dare refuse PrimeMinister...but they know the tech-niques. They said it would takethree years," Modi told thestrong gathering of Indian com-munity at Allphones Arena here.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeting the gathering in the Community Reception, at Allphones Arena, in Sydney, Australia on November 17

The Prime Minister said whenhe enquired about the openingof bank accounts from the De-partment of Financial Services, hewas told it would take two years.

"They thought Modi would behappy. They (RBI) said threeyears but we have said two years,so the things will move forward,"Modi said, adding his own office,

PMO estimated that the targetedaccounts could be opened in atleast one year.

However, Modi added that heannounced on August 15 from

Red Fort that 7.5 crorebank accounts shouldbe opened within 150days - by January 26,2015.

Under the PradhanMantri Jan-DhanYojana (PMJDY), about7.1 crore accounts havealready been opened inwhich poor people havedeposited about Rs5,000 crore.

He further said thebank nationalizationwas aimed at financialinclusion and reachingbanking services to thepoor.

However, he addedthe average number ofaccounts opened annu-ally in the last 68 yearswas about one crore.

On other hand, un-der the Jan Dhan Yojnaabout 7.1 crore ac-counts have alreadybeen opened in 10

weeks time, the Prime Ministeradded.

PMJDY is national mission forfinancial inclusion to ensure ac-cess to financial services. -PTI


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Adani group's Australian mine project cleared

Queensland plansmajor investmentin rail infra

BRISBANE: Australia's Queenslandstate will announce a major investment inrail infrastructure in the Galilee basin toensure that one of the mega-mines pro-posed by India's Adani group and GVK geta clearance next year.

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman,who held talks with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi here, said he was preparedto invest in capital works to ensure that theprojects get off the ground.

Queensland is expected to scrap its first-mover royalty discount for big players inthe Galilee basin, announced last year, andreplace it with infrastructure commitmentfor common user infrastructure, accordingto Australian media.

The three proposed mega-projects in theGalilee Basin - Adani's 16.5 billion dollarsCarmichael mine, GVK's six billion dollarsAlpha mine and Clive Palmer's 6.4 billiondollars Waratah coal - is expected to create28,000 jobs.

Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeneyhas been quoted as having said that coal-producing countries from across the worldwere trying to get a foot into India and there-fore it was in the government's interest tofacilitate the Galilee developments.

The Galilee Basin mines are 500 kms fromports on the east coast.-PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Campbell

Newman, Premier of Queensland at a meeting

in Brisbane on November 16

MELBOURNE: The Adani group's pro-posed plan to build a 7-billion-dollar coalmine has been cleared by Australia'sQueensland state which also announced amajor investment in rail infrastructure tosupport the Indian conglomerate's megaproject.

The Adani group welcomed the decisionof the Queensland government to clear theproject in the Galilee basin that will ensurethat one of the mega mines proposed bythe company and GVK gets a clearance nextyear.

Adani Mining Australia country head,Jeyakumar Janakaraj, noted that the an-

nouncement reflects the longstanding prac-tice that has applied in comparablegreenfield basins, such as the opening upof the Bowen Basin.

"While we have invested several billiondollars in our integrated mine, rail and portproject to date, and are well-established onour course to build a long-term future withQueensland, any policy such as this thatunderpins confidence in significant infra-structure investments - any announcementthat encourages additional investment fromother players in the Galilee - is welcome.

"This announcement, coupled withAdani's MoU with the State Bank of India

for funding the development ofthe Carmichael Mine, reflects theconfidence close observers ofour project have in our funda-mentals.

"We are bringing on boardvalued partners in different fac-ets of this integrated project, en-suring we will meet our guidanceof first coal in 2017," he said.

Adani is the proponent of theNorth Galilee Basin Rail (NGBR),Queensland's first standardgauge line, that is the centerpieceof the company's integrated mine,

rail and port project, which will leave a valu-able infrastructure legacy for this state inhelping open up job-creating projects forQueenslanders in the Galilee.

The three proposed mega-projects in theGalilee Basin - Adani's 16.5 billion dollarsCarmichael mine, GVK's six billion dollarsAlpha mine and Clive Palmer's 6.4 billiondollars Waratah coal - is expected to create28,000 jobs. The company has also signeda Memorandum of Understanding withState Bank of India (SBI).

"The MoU provides for a credit facilityof up to 1 billion dollars subject to the de-tailed assessment of the company's mineproject at Carmichael, near Clermont inWestern Queensland," the company said.-PTI


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"We did not have the fortuneto fight for the country's indepen-dence. We could not die for India.But we can live for India. So wewill live and struggle for India.Today 125 crore Indians sharethat dream," he said.

"It took 28 years for an IndianPM to make the few hours jour-

ney to Australia. Now you will nothave to wait 28 years," the PrimeMinister said.

He also highlighted the valuesof democracy and the love forcricket that India and Australiashare.

The Prime Minister exhortedpeople to recognize the strengthof India's democracy. "Let us nowdo all we can for India's benefit.And then India will work for thebenefit of mankind," he said.

"Governments cannot make a

Modi sets deadline forOCI, PIO merger

country. People make a country,"he said. The Prime Minister alsostressed on the Clean India cam-paign saying that more touristswould come if the country wascleaner.

He also asked the IndianDiaspora to extend their supportto the campaign and said they cancontribute significantly in devel-oping the villages they come

from. "I request you to contrib-ute. God has given you so much."

Modi said while "some people"dream of doing only big things hewas interested in doing "smallthings" like building toilets andensuring cleanliness.

"Illness is a big burden on thepoor. There is no greater serviceto the poor than focusing oncleanliness," he said adding "I seeno reason why India should staybehind. It is decided we will moveahead."-PTI


G20 endorses India's stance on black moneyBRISBANE: In a major gain for

India, the G20 summit endorsedthe need for transparency anddisclosure by countries of tax in-formation as Prime MinisterNarendra Modi voiced support tothe new global standard on auto-matic exchange to tackle the blackmoney issue.

Raising the pitch on the blackmoney issue, Modi in his inter-vention at the summit of the Groupof 20 industrialized and majoremerging economies called forclose global coordination to ad-dress the challenge posed by it.

The new standard will be in-strumental in getting informationrelating to unaccounted moneyhoarded abroad and enable itseventual repatriation, Modi said,

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with other Leaders in the G-20 family photograph, at the G-20 Summit, in Brisbane, Australia on November 15

utilizing the forum of G20, whichaccounts for 85 per cent of world'sGDP.

Modi while voicing India's sup-port for it urged every jurisdiction,especially tax havens, to provideinformation for tax purposes inaccordance with treaty obliga-tions.

He also extended India's back-ing for all initiatives to facilitateexchange of information and mu-tual assistance in tax policy andadministration.

Modi's remarks at the G20 ses-sion come as his government hasrepeatedly said that bringing backblack money is a priority and ithas constituted a special inves-tigative team (SIT) headed by aformer Supreme Court Judge tounearth black money.

The Prime Minister, while flag-ging his concern over cross bor-der tax avoidance and evasion,also noted that increased mobil-ity of capital and technologyhave created new opportunitiesfor avoiding tax and profit shar-ing.

Modi made the remarks at theplenary session on the subjectof "Delivering Global Economicresilience" on the final day of thesummit held at the Brisbane Ex-hibition and Convention centre.

He also expressed the hopethat Base Erosion and Profit Shar-ing (BEPS) system would fullyaddress concerns of developingand developed economies.

BEPS is a technical term refer-ring to the effect of tax avoidancestrategies used by multinationalcompanies on countries' tax ba-sis. BEPS is known more com-monly as "Transfer pricing".

This term is used in a projectheaded by the OECD that is saidto be an attempt by the world'smajor economies to try to rewritethe rules on corporate taxation toaddress the widespread percep-tion that the corporations do notpay their fair share of taxes. -PTI

Meeting the Prime Minister of United Kingdom, David Cameron, in Brisbane

Prime Minister Narendra Modi being welcomed by the Australian tribal

dancers at Sydney on his arrival at the hotel, in Sydney

G20 welcomes India-US pact;hopes it will help WTO

BRISBANE: Welcoming break-through between India and the USon the food stock piling issue, G20leaders hoped that it will put WTOnegotiations back on track andfacilitate the implementation oftrade pact which is necessary fordriving growth and generatingjobs.

"We welcome the break-through between theUnited States and Indiathat will help the fulland prompt implemen-tation of the Trade Fa-cilitation Agreement(TFA) and includesprovisions on food se-curity.

"We commit toimplement all elements of the Balipackage and to swiftly define aWTO work program on the re-maining issues of the Doha De-velopment Agenda to get nego-tiations back on track," said thecommuniqué released after theG20 meet.

Earlier this week India achieveda major breakthrough with the USagreeing to its proposal on foodsecurity issues at WTO, a devel-opment that will pave the way forending a three-month long stale-

mate on Trade Facilitation Agree-ment at the multi-lateral tradebody.

"This will be important to re-store trust and confidence in themultilateral trading system. Weagreed to discuss ways to makethe system work better when wemeet next year. We will continueto provide aid-for-trade to devel-

oping countries in need of assis-tance," it added.

The G20 leaders also called fora strong trading system in anopen global economy to drivegrowth and generate jobs.

"We are promoting competition,entrepreneurship and innovation,including by lowering barriers tonew business entrants and invest-ment. We reaffirm our longstandingstandstill and rollback commit-ments to resist protectionism," thecommuniqué said. -PTI

The G20 leaders also calledfor a strong trading system inan open global economyto drive growth andgenerate jobs


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G20 plans major investments in countries like IndiaBRISBANE: The G20 has cited

India among other countries forlaunch of major investment initia-tives and for having a sustainablegrowth.

A Brisbane Action plan re-leased as part of the G20communiqué also said that thestate of the global economy callsfor a comprehensive and coher-ent policy response that restoresnear-term demand, removes me-dium-term supply constraints andbuilds consumer and businessconfidence.

"While growth in some keyemerging market economies is ro-bust and is becoming more sus-tainable, including in China andIndia, it is slowing in some othercountries," it said, adding thatmany low-income countries areperforming well."

Railways Minister SureshPrabhu, who was Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's Sherpa at thesummit of the group of 20 indus-trialized and emerging marketeconomies, told reporters thatIndia's expected growth is pro-jected to be over six per cent in2014-15.

India's economic growth accel-erated to 5.7 per cent in April-Junequarter, much better than 4.7 percent in the same quarter of pre-vious fiscal. The economy grewby sub-5 per cent in 2012-13 and2013-14.

In other countries, the G20noted that growth has picked upsome advanced economies, no-tably the US, the UK andCanada. However, the recoveryis modest in Japan and in theEuro area and inflation is well

below target."The global economy remains

vulnerable to shocks, financialfragility remains and existingrisks are exacerbated by geopo-

litical tensions," the plan said."We continue to monitor the

near-term and long-term effectsof the global financial crisis.Economies are grappling with

slower potential growth reflect-ing weaker investment, slowerproductivity growth, higher un-employment and lower laborforce participation," it said.

The action plan said that theimplementation of policies tocomprehensively address bothnear-term and medium-term chal-lenges could further strengthenthe recovery by building confi-dence and increasing demand.

Noting that the state of theglobal economy calls for a com-prehensive and coherent policyresponse that restores near-termdemand, removes medium-termsupply constraints and buildsconsumer and business confi-dence, the plan said that thegrouping has developed compre-hensive growth strategies thataddresses these challenges. -PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the other BRICS leaders ahead of G-20

Summit, in Brisbane, Australia on November 15

G20 vows to reduce cost oftransferring remittances

PM Modi meets world leaderson sidelines of G20

BRISBANE: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi carried on with hishectic international diplomacyholding parleys with world lead-ers, including US President BarackObama, over bilateral meetingsand informal discussions on thefifth day of his whirlwind three-nation 10-day tour.

It was a warm hug for Austra-lian Premier Tony Abbott by Modi- described by the Australian me-dia as a "standout shake" so far atthe G20 summit - that was distinctfrom the formal handshakes withthe host by other world leaders.

Dressed in a black bandhgalasuit, Modi narrated an anecdoteto President Obama and Abbottduring the G20 retreat, sharingwith them the story of Chicago-based Walter Burley Griffin, thewell known American architectwho designed the new Australiancapital Canberra and who wasburied in Lucknow.

"The life of Walter Burley Grif-fin is a common link among USA-Australia-India which the leadersappreciated," External AffairsMinistry Spokesperson SyedAkbaruddin tweeted.

Obama and Russian PresidentVladimir Putin were also seen hav-ing a chat with Modi at the summitof the Group of 20 industrializedand major emerging economies.

"Focus on global issues," Ex-ternal Affairs Ministry Spokes-person Syed Akbaruddin tweetedabout this interaction.

On the fifth day of his foreignvisit, Modi met French PresidentFrancois Hollande, Canadian Pre-mier Stephen Harper and CrownPrince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al

Saud of the Kingdom of SaudiArabia.

The Spokesperson, while giv-ing details of these meetings, saidModi had informal interactionswith several world leaders, includ-ing Abbott, Obama and PrinceSaud, during the course of the

summit.The informal meeting of the

five-nation BRICS also saw Modihaving interactions with ChinesePresident Xi Jinping, BrazilianPresident Dilma Rousseff, Putinand South African PresidentJacob Zuma.-PTI

Meeting the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Brisbane

Meeting the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, at the G-20 summit,

in Brisbane

BRISBANE: Taking concernsof India and other developingcountries on board, the G20vowed to take "strong practical"measures to reduce the globalaverage cost of transferring remit-tances to five per cent.

India, which is world's largestrecipient of remittances with USD71 billion sent last year, pushedfor a reduction in the remittancecosts of non-residents at the G20summit, asking it to work on stepsto reduce costs in sending moneyhome from abroad which is ashigh as 10 per cent insome countries.

"We commit to takestrong practical mea-sures to reduce the glo-bal average cost oftransferring remittancesto five per cent and toenhance financial inclu-sion as a priority," thet h r e e - p a g ecommuniqué releasedby leaders of the groupof 20 major and leading emergingeconomies said. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was among theparticipants.

Railways Minister SureshPrabhu, who is Modi's Sherpa' atthe deliberations, said "Indianssend maximum money back totheir country. India is the singlelargest recipient of non-residentremittances. NRIs remit close toUSD 70 billion, more than the Fili-pinos and the Chinese."

The cost of remittances, attimes, is as high as 10 per cent,Prabhu said.

Ahead of the summit, he said,"It's an ethical, logical and eco-nomic issue. We are pushing for

some understanding in the G20that the cost should not be morethan 5 per cent."

India has been able to con-vince Saudi Arabia to reduce it to3.5 per cent, he added.

In a separate G20 plan to facili-tate remittance flows annexed tothe communiqué, the groupingdescribed as an innovative stepwith the potential to reduce thecost of remittance transfers theRBI's move to facilitate the receiptof foreign inward remittances di-rectly into the bank accounts of

beneficiaries under the MoneyTransfer Service Scheme (MTSS).

It also recognized the value ofremittance flows in helping todrive strong, sustainable and bal-anced growth.

Noting that remittances to de-veloping countries in 2014 are ex-pected to reach USD 436 billion,far exceeding Official Develop-ment Assistance (ODA), the plansaid remittances to and from G20countries account for almost 80per cent of global remittanceflows.

"The G20 recognizes the valueof remittance flows in helping todrive strong, sustainable and bal-anced growth.-PTI

"We commit to take strongpractical measures to re-duce the global averagecost of transferring remit-tances to five per cent andto enhance financialinclusion as a priority,"


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Haley woos Indian tourists to explore South CarolinaNEW DELHI: Pitching South

Carolina as a "number two" vaca-tion spot in the world, its Gover-nor Nikki Haley has sought towoo the Indian tourists, askingthem to not miss out the place.

"This is here where magic hap-pens. I want my Indian commu-nity to visit South Carolina.Whether you want to have boardmeeting or vacation South Caro-lina is the place," she here said.

Haley is on a 10-day trip to In-dia, which began from November11. She and her delegation arescheduled to have as many as 90meetings in New Delhi,Hyderabad, Amritsar, Mumbai andChennai.

Nikki, the youngest sittinggovernor in the US, on her visitsaid that "India is the most spec-tacular."

Describing the place as themost "friendliest" in the US, sheinvited more tourists from Indiato explore many facets of the state.

Haley was elected as the Gov-ernor of South Carolina in 2010,becoming the first female and firstIndian-American governor in statehistory.

She said the state is the num-ber one vacation spot in the coun-try and no 2 in the world. "I wantIndian community not to miss outthe place."

There are about 300 oceanfrontbeaches, 360 golf courses, 24,000-sq km of fresh water lakes and riv-ers in the state.

Currently there are about25,000 Indians visiting the statein a year. "We want the number toincrease," she said.

About the economy, she saidagriculture occupies top positionin terms of GDP and tourism thesecond. About her visit to theGolden Temple in Amritsar, shesaid, "It is a moving experience."

Duane Parrish, Director, SouthCarolina Department of Parks,Recreation and Tourism said, "Ourstate is home to a number of di-verse, internationally renownedtravel destinations, each offeringits own signature visitor experi-ence steeped in authentic south-

ern charm and hospitality."He said in addition to coastal

destinations, South Carolina alsofeatures a range of quality tour-ism experiences throughout its

inland areas.South Carolina is a state in the

south-eastern US. It is borderedto the north by the state of North

Carolina; to the south and westby Georgia, located across theSavannah River; and to the eastby the Atlantic Ocean.

The state has among other cit-ies, Charleston, which is knownfor its historic buildings, a majordraw for tourists worldwide. -PTI

Business with India like'connecting my homes'

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj with South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and her husband Michael Haley

during a meeting at South block in New Delhi on November 17

Nikki Haley during the inauguration of Global Science Conference EBAS 2014

at Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar on November 14

CHANDIGARH: Seeking toconnect her "two homes", Indian-American Governor of South Caro-lina Nikki Haley has pitched fortwo-way investment flows be-tween Punjab and her state in theUS.

"It is a very emotional trip. Ihave not been here (Punjab) sinceI was two. So I am proud of nowthat I have some memories. Be-fore (this visit) I had dreams, Ihad imaginations. I had what Ihad thought what India was. Itis much more and much better.Hospitality has been fantas-tic...," Haley, who is heading an18-member delegation to India,

told reporters here."For me to (be) here and see

the place my parents talk about.They still talk about it and theyget emotional.

When I go home and I canhave conversation with them andwe do not expect it would be ourlast visit," the 42-year old saidwho earlier had an interactivesession with local industrialists.

Describing her visit to Indiaas an "important" trip, Haleysaid focusing on India for at-tracting investments was "per-sonal," saying it is like "connect-ing my two homes together." -PTI


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Praying about possible 2016presidential run: Jindal

White House celebrates GuruNanak birth anniversary

WASHINGTON: Indian-Ameri-can Louisiana Governor BobbyJindal, the rising star of the Re-publican Party, has said he willdecide in the first half of next yearwhether he is running for presi-dent in 2016.

Jindal, who is seen as a pos-sible 2016 Republican presidentialcandidate, said right now he ispraying about it.

"First half of next year, we arepraying about this. Bottom line islet's restore the American dreamfor our children and grandchil-dren," Jindal said.

Attacking President BarackObama on his policies, Jindal said,"If I were to run - and I haven'tmade that decision - if I were torun for president, it's because Ibelieve in our country the Ameri-can dream is at jeopardy.

"This president has defined theAmerican dream as more depen-dence on the government. Weneed to restore the Americandream. It's more about opportu-nity and growth and not redistri-bution," Jindal told the Fox newsin an interview.

Jindal, if he announces his de-cision to seek a presidential ticket,would be the first ever Indian-American to run for the presiden-tial primaries. Jindal has severalfirsts to his credit. He was the first

Indian-American Governorelected to any US State.

He was also the second everIndian-American Congressmanelected to the US House of Rep-resentatives.

As part of his potential 2016presidential run, Jindal has beentouring the country and appear-ing on the national media quitefrequently, where he has been astrong critic of Obama.

However, currently his ap-proval rating in his own home

state is quite low. Responding toa question, Jindal said he does notcare about poll numbers. "I don'tcare at all about poll numbers. Inever have.

The reality is I was elected in

Louisiana to make generationalchanges. Look at what we havedone in Louisiana. Now we havecut our state budget 26 per cent,cut the number of state employ-ees 34 per cent. We have the bestprivate sector economy in a gen-eration," he said. -PTI

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal

WASHINGTON: The WhiteHouse recently celebrated the545th birth anniversary of GuruNanak Dev by inviting membersof the Sikh community from acrossthe US and hosted a 'langar' forthem.

Tina Tchen, Special Assistantto the President and Chief of Staffto the First Lady, conveyed thegreetings from the First coupleand said, "I had the privilege ofworking with the Sikh communitysince I have joined the WhiteHouse and I would likeeach one of you to stayin touch with us."

President BarackObama had issued astatement on the day ofGuru Nanak's birth-an-niversary congratulat-ing the Sikh community.

Congressman MikeHonda from California,who fought a fierce elec-tion battle to be re-elected, joined the cel-ebrations.

He reflected on theimportance of the day and said,"What Guru Nanak taught is verymuch relevant today. Your com-munity has a glorious history inAmerica and you have contrib-uted immensely to this nation."

Honda congratulated JaskeeratSingh, the first full-fledged policeofficer hired in California with hisfull Sikh identity, whose brotherRavi Singh was in the audience.

He also honored the first SikhAmerican congressperson, DalipSingh Saund, who is also the first

Asian American to be elected toCongress.

Honda spoke about issues ofbullying that Sikh youth experi-ence and his efforts to make sureno child is discriminated against.He added, "We need to make surethat we hire Sikh teachers in theschool systems to increase diver-sity which would also help in cre-ating awareness about Sikh faithand Sikh culture."

The event included a kirtan fol-lowed by a musical presentation

by young musical stars amongSikhs. They presented a numberin Raag Bageshri, enthralling theaudience with their engaging per-formance.

Simran Jeet Singh, PhD candi-date at Columbia University andsenior fellow at the Sikh Coalitiondelivered the keynote speech.Singh spoke about the influenceGuru Nanak's words has had onhis own life and how the teacher'swisdoms on equality and serviceto others ring true today. -PTI

Honda congratulatedJaskeerat Singh, thefirst full-fledged police of-ficer hired in California withhis full Sikh identity, whosebrother Ravi Singh wasin the audience

'US, India sharecomplementary aspirations'

WASHINGTON: The US andIndia share complementary aspi-rations when it comes to their eco-nomic future, a prominent busi-ness leaders in the Obama admin-istration has said.

"The US and India sharecomplementary aspirations whenit comes to our economic future,"said US Export-Import BankChairman Fred P Hochberg, whois currently visiting India.

"When quality Americangoods and services are de-ployed to buyers in India, theirnation benefits from increasedcapacity and a reliable founda-tion for long-term economicgrowth and the US benefits bycreating new jobs back home,"he added.

Hochberg delivered his com-ments at a roundtable hosted by

the US-India Business Councilwhere he discussed energygrowth, especially in the renew-able energy sector and infra-structure expansion in India andwhat role the US companies canplay in both.

He also addressed similarsubjects at the Federation of In-dian Chambers of Commerce andIndustry later in the day, a me-dia statement said.

Hochberg held a lunch withIndian businesswomen to learnmore about the challenges andopportunities they have in start-ing and growing a business inthe country.

He also highlighted how thebank's financing tools have en-abled American businesses bothlarge and small to export theirproducts to India. -PTI

RECEPTION AT MELBOURNE CRICKET

GROUND:Prime Minister Narendra Modi

with the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony

Abbott, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and

V.V.S. Laxman at the Civic Reception

hosted by the Australian PM, at MCG,

Australia on November 18


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Nikki Haley visits Golden Temple

Indian-American Governor of

South Carolina Nikki Haley with

her Husband Michael Haley at

the Golden Temple in Amritsar

AMRITSAR: Indian-AmericanGovernor of South Carolina NikkiHaley paid obeisance at GoldenTemple here saying that she wasthere not in the capacity of Gov-ernor of a state but as a humblehuman being.

Accompanied by her husband,Haley offered prayers at the Sikhshrine. "The peace and serenityof the place is amazing," she said.

Haley described her visit toPunjab as "really special and emo-tional".

"This is the place that has beenso frequently talked about by myparents. So many stories, so manymemories...and now actually to bein that place is very exciting. It'snice to come back to the place myparents belong to", said Haley -the youngest sitting Governor inUSA.

"It is indeed a blessing to beable to relive some of the memo-ries shared by my parents. It is

indeed emotional and heart-warm-ing," Haley said.

Responding to media queries,Haley said she wanted to promotebusiness ties between her stateand Indian companies.

"India is my second home. At-tracting investments from over-seas companies is my job, butbuilding business ties with Indiancompanies is my personal desire",she said.

Stressing upon the need for amutually beneficial businesspropositions, she said, "I believeif businesses are doing well in astate, all else like education, jobs,health and economy will fall per-fectly in place".

Besides seeking investment inautomotives, tractors, agriculture,tourism, pharmaceuticals and IT,Haley said partnerships withhigher educational institutions oruniversities to promote researchand training would also be wel-

come.Later, SGPC officials honored

the dignitaries with a replica ofGolden Temple, woolen shawlsand a set of Sikh religious books.

The Governor of South Caro-lina also paid tribute to the mar-tyrs at Jallianwala Bagh.

Parents of Nikki Haley, AjitSingh Randhawa and Raj KaurRandhawa had migrated to USfrom Amritsar district in Punjaband she was born on January 20,1972, in Bamberg, South Carolina.

Leading an 18-member delega-tion, Haley is on a 10-day trip toIndia to attract Indian invest-ments in her state.-PTI

MoU to increase USparticipation in India infraNEW DELHI: India and the US

have signed an MoU to set up aninfrastructure collaboration plat-form for increasing participationof American firms in the country,as the two countries aim to in-crease their trade five-fold.

The Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU), signed here, es-tablishes a US-India Infrastruc-ture Collaboration Platform, theFinance Ministry said in a state-ment.

The pact has been signed in afollow-up to the jointstatement of Prime Min-ister Narendra Modiand US PresidentBarack Obama in Sep-tember this year, thestatement said.

As per the MoU,"both the governmentsintend to coordinateand cooperate with thegoal of facilitating US industryparticipation in Indian infrastruc-ture projects to improve the bilat-eral commercial relationship andbenefit both the participants'economies," Finance Ministrysaid.

The two-way trade betweenIndia and the US has increasedfive-fold since 2001 to about USD100 billion.

In September, Modi and the US

President had committed to facili-tating actions necessary to in-crease Indo-US trade by anotherfive-fold.

The Department of EconomicAffairs and the US Department ofCommerce signed the MoU here,the ministry said.

Representatives of ministriessuch as Urban Development,Commerce and Industry, Rail-ways, Road Transport and High-ways, Micro Small and MediumEnterprises, Power, New & Re-

newable Energy, Information andBroadcasting and Communica-tions & Information Technologywere present during the signingof the MoU.

Representatives from WaterResources, River Developmentand Ganga Rejuvenation Depart-ments were also present duringthe meeting, along with thosefrom the Ministry of External Af-fairs were also present. -PTI

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As per the MoU, ‘both thegovernments intend to coor-dinate and cooperate withthe goal of facilitating USindustry participation inIndian infrastructure projects’

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receives TasveerAward

Cont’d on page 21

Cont’d on page 25

Many Indian Americans & Muslimsin Illinois deserted Quinn

HARISH RAO

CHICAGO: The $100 millionrace for Illinois Governor won bya relatively unknown Republicanentity Bruce Rauner defeating in-cumbent Democratic contender

Pat Quinn had some surprises anda few lessons.

Illinois is a traditionally Demo-cratic State and Pat Quinn hadmarshaled the support of two USPresidents Barack Obama and BillClinton besides First ladiesMichelle Obama and HillaryClinton, and yet he lost to arelative newcomer BruceRaunder

The other surprise was thatBruce Rauner could muster thesupport of trainload Democratvotes in Indian and Pakistanicommunity. The Indian AmericanRepublican Organizationheaded by Nimesh Jani was arecently set up entity while theUnited Muslims Moving Ahead(UMMA) headed by MoeenKhan decided to support Bruce

Rauner as many in the commu-nity felt that it is time or a change.

The cleavage among Indiansupporters and unqualified sup-port from many a Muslim voterwas considered disturbing bythe Quinn campaign staff but itindicated that the support fromtraditional backers should not betaken for granted.

Nimesh Jani with GovernorBruce Rauner

A group of Indian supporters of Bruce Rauner during an election meet

Cont’d on page 19

IAMA Annual salutes past presidents with medalsRAMESH SOPRAWALA &ASIAN MEDIA USA

CHICAGO: Culmination of afew firsts that legiti-mately Dr HemlataBakane, President ofIndian AmericanMedical Associa-tion (IAMA) can layclaim to was thegrand celebration ofits 34th annual dayat Meadows Clublast week that wasattended by a recordnumber of membersand guests - 400plus - reflecting hersuccessful reign.

Her thrust whenshe took over asIAMA presidentwas to get more andmore second generation Indiandoctors involved in the affairs ofthe organization and she can

claim a measure of success. "Closeto 50 young medical profressionlsrendered their services during our

health fair this year. Capping thattwo young members - RachnaRawal & Radhika Chimata - em-

ceed our annual meet. We have tokeep trying hard as IAMA canonly progress if more and more

young Indian origin doctors getactive in its affairs," she told thisnewspaper.

Dr Bakane said that she triedto broaden the base of her organi-zation by enlisting more members

to its fold and surely made someheadway.

Salute to past presidents by Congressman Danny K Davis. They all have congressional medals

Cont’d on page 18

Helping handsreach out forhealth insuranceBEGUM NANZNIN

CHICAGO: Prominent commu-nity and business leaders fromChicago's Rogers Park neighbor-hood and Devon Avenue corridorgathered together on November 15to work together and help the lo-cal residents to get health insur-ance through the second round ofthe Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Held at Metropolitan AsianFamily Services (MAFS), theevent was jointly organized by theAsian Health Coalition along withMAFS, Compassionate Care Net-work, and Hamdard Health andHuman Services.

"Open enrollment for health in-surance starts from Nov-15 to Feb-15 and our organizations are work-ing closely with Get Covered Illi-nois to make sure we are able topool our resources to maximize ourreach to the South Asian and Mus-lim communities on the north side,"said Anjana Paintal, Project Direc-tor at the Asian Health Coalition.

"Our team of six trained andcertified bilingual navigators areavailable to offer free and unbi-ased assistance to the residentsto help them understand the ben-efits of health insurance, the avail-able health plan options, and howthey can enroll in the Marketplaceor Medicaid," she added.

Safety bestingredient duringThanksgivingIndia Post News Service

ROSEMEAD, CA: While over-eating and Thanksgiving are vir-tually synonymous, cooking ac-cidents and Turkey Day, unfortu-nately, go hand in hand, too.

Because of the latter, SouthernCalifornia Edison (SCE) has urgedits customers to add a healthydose of safety to their preparationsthis Thanksgiving, since the Na-tional Fire Protection Associationsays cooking is the leading causeof home fires on a day that hasthree times more home fires thanany other day of the year.

Unattended cooking is the cul-prit in most of those fires, said theU.S. Fire Administration.

Details on page 19

Dr Naram charmsGermany withAyurvedic secrets

India Post 17November 21, 2014 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

Goa promoted as tourist paradise in IndiaRAMESH SOPARAWALAIndia Post News Service

CHICAGO: A meet and greet road showand a video presentation organized by GoaTourism Development Corporation teamingup with Air India here seeking to boost

Goa as a tourists paradise met with a mea-sure of success despite the absence ofGoa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Parrikar had to fly back to New Delhi onhis getting a berth as Defense Minister inFederal ministry headed by Narendra Modi.

The vacuum was filled in nicely by Air IndiaChief Nakul Chand along with Sanjay Shetyerepresenting GTDC and Iftekhar Shareef, FIATrustee Chair depu-tizing for Parrikar. Theshow at Ritz Carltonhotel in ChicagoDowntown wasspiced with briefsfrom Vandana Waliaand Seema Arora ofVchilli and classical-Bollywood dancesby local artists.

A 10-minute videohighlighting varioussporting, shopping,cultural and leisureactivities that Goaoffers was well appre-ciated by the localtravel magnates, invitees and members ofethnic Indian media. Goa with its beaches,

forests, lakes, sanctuaries and surroundingmountains was enchanting and this coupledwith its celebrations of major Indian festi-

vals, its diverse religious institutions, handi-crafts, cuisine and nightlife made it an irre-sistible tourist spot.

GOA, the world's first ambigram tourist logo

Air India's new Midwest Bureau Chief Nakul Chand (podium) draws alot in the raffle for a return air-ticket to Goa. Vchilli's Vandana Walia

is on the right and Seema Arora, left

Raffle winner Mafat Patel with Nakul Chand ,Iftekhar Shareef and Sanjya Shetye

A conscious effort was made to promoteMedical tourism capping with its special at-traction of the casinos in the only Indianstate that has legalized gambling. Architec-tural landmarks, especially fortifications,and archeological sites were shown.

Though Goa happens to be the smallestIndian state, its diversity as "a veritable an-thology of people" was beautifully broughtout by Seema Arora in her speech. Shepointed out that 15 of India's 25 bestbeaches are in Goa.

The Konkani word "kenna" has inspired itsRio-inspired carnival "Kenna Rio, and its kennaGoa!" brewed from cashews or coconut, thelocal drink Feni can be had only in Goa.

The spicing up came when Komal Shahpresented a Kathak-based Sufi dance. Join-ing her Ruchi Shah and Akanksha Mishracame up with an eye catching performancethat blended Bollywood with various Indianand Western dance styles.

Artists presenting dances to the delight of gathering

Cont’d on page 19

November 21, 2014India Post18 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

"But more needs to be done asthere are close to 3000 physiciainsof Indian origin here and IAMAstrength is only 600. The incom-ing president Dr Kamal Patel isaware of this and the 2015 teamwill launch an aggressive member-ship drive among the young phy-sicians, medical residents andmedical students to join IAMA.Each One Enroll One will be themembership drive slogan." shesaid

Another singular achievement- and the first - that she had was torecognize past presidents for theirsingular services to this augustbody. Twenty two past Presidentswere given Medals during the an-

nual day celebrations by US Con-gressman Danny Davis. "This wasthe way we would salute them andcommend their contributions,"she said.

In her Presidential speech shetouched upon the currenthealthcare challenges and ex-horted IAMA members and gal-axy of leaders present to work to-gether and face the currenthealthcare challenges with equa-nimity. "Rely upon the guidanceof our past presidents to build avibrant, responsive organization.One of my priorities would be toset up a task force to face theEbola crisis which will be espe-cially challenging for India."

"I personally request AAPIPresident Dr Ravi Jahagirdar toprioritize the Ebola crisis in theensuing AAPI Global HealthSummit, he is organizing inMumbai, India from 2nd to 5thJanuary 2015," she said

IAMA had its usual run of ac-tivities during Dr Bakane's stew-ardship. The IAMA in Action2014 Video Presentation indicated

IAMA Annual salutes past presidents with medals

that the year was an exciting andaction packed one. It had orga-nized an art workshop, summermusical, and a walkathon. It con-ducted three health fairs, a recordnumber of community health

awareness seminars, and 15 edu-cational meetings in 10 months.The IAMA 2014 CME trip was toPanama and Guatemala and theIAMA CF Semiannual meetingwas held in May.

The event started with cock-tail reception. Master of Ceremo-nies were Rachna Rawal andRadhika Chimata - both medicalstudents. American National An-them was recited by Hollywood's

latest singing sensation, HadiyaNelson while Indian NationalAnthem was rendered byChicago's Hemant Kumar, DrTapas Dasgupta and MsKathakali Dasgupta. There were

different booths and all thosecoming to the program had agood time going from one to theother.

Business meeting was con-ducted by Dr Samir Shah. The

Keynote Address was given byDr Elliott Antman who had spe-cially flown in from Boston.IAMA President Dr HemlataBakane presented an apprecia-tion plaque to him.

Another highlight was the pre-sentation of IAMA Awards. DrBharat Barai, an honored guest,introduced the concept behindthe award and briefly introducedthe recipients. Dr Pratap Kumar, a

Cardiology chair for 34 years atthe Jackson Park Hospital in Chi-cago was given the LifetimeAchievement Award. Among hismany contributions to society atlarge was his single handed ef-

fort to create awareness aboutdeadly AIDS/ HIV virus in India.Princess Diana was so impressedwith Dr Kumar's efforts that shewanted to help him out attendinghis program but her untimely


The 2014 Executive committee

IAMA speakers L to R IAMA president Dr Bakane, Congressman Danny Davis, Dr Antman, AHA President, Dr. Ravi Jahagirdar, AAPI president

death prevented that.Dr. Peter A Noronha was given

the Distinguished PhysicianAward. The President's Apprecia-tion Award was given to Dr.Vemuri Murthy while Dr. RaviJahagirdar, AAPl President, wasrecognized with Golden Stetho-scope Award. The recipients ofFirst Prize were Bhagya Puppala,Second Prize Christopher Nyugenand Third Prize Shikha Jain.

Dr. Hemlata Bakane passed thegavel to Incoming President Dr.Kamal Patel. While doing so sheexpressed her appreciation tothose who helped her through-out the year. "It is with great pridethat we record that Dr. Ashok Rayhas signed an endowment of do-nating $10,000 annually to theIAMA CF for rest of his life. Sir,we applaud you for your gener-ous contribution for our flagshipproject, IAMA- CF Free clinic.May your tribe increase," shesaid

Dr Samir Shaw introduced sing-ing sensation Shoba Joshi and DrSukanya Reddy honored her witha traditional shawl. "This was oneof the finest musical programs wehave ever attended The wholeevening was very tastefully doneand was incredibly enjoyable, ".remarked many in the audience.

Vote of Thanks was performedby Dr Tapas Dasgupta. Hethanked all including exhibitors/booth sponsors, the advertisersin the souvenir, Air India and allpatrons who bought tables andraffle tickets. Dinner was servedprior to entertainment program.Dr. Narendra Garg drew the AirIndia Raffle.

2014 Executive committee:Hemlata Bakane MD (President),Samir Shah MD (Secretary),Sukanya Reddy MD(Treasurer)

Runners for IAMA Walkathon with many doctors participating

Cont’d on page 20


The margin of victory for Bruce Raunerwas not that high - four to five percent - andthat underlines importance of each and ev-ery vote. There are over 300,000 of Indiandescent living in Illinois. The Muslims fromIndia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other areascould be 500,000. This has become an im-portant group that cannot be ignored, saysMadhu Patel, president of NRI Press Club.

Political analysts say that this was a clearindication of the frustration felt by Illinoisresidents who were highly upset at the han-dling of the State affairs, especially

Many Indian Americans & Muslimsin Illinois deserted Quinn

economy, by the Quinn government. Hugebudget deficit triggered by pension liabil-ity, a hike in Income tax, and highly unfriendlybusiness environment drove businessesfrom Illinois to other States mainly Indiana.It made voters think twice about the com-petence of Quinn to address the situation,pointed out Nimesh Jani of IARO.

It was also a message to the top brass ofIllinois politicians, mainly Mike Madign,whose heavy controlling of Illinois Houseand John Cullerton, the Senate Majorityleader, who many feel impeded smooth func-tioning of the government. The peoplewanted a change and they secured it.


Air India presentation was inducing inthat it showed how only one internationalairliner can boast of a direct flight to Goavia Delhi. It announced several return tick-ets to Goa for a well conducted raffle. Mafat

Goa promoted as touristparadise in India

Patel of Air Tours that all the time bags TopAchiever Air India award, proved that it isnot only his pluck but also his luck thatmakes him a winner. He was presented witha roundtrip ticket to Goa. Attendees re-ceived a bag from GTDC containing its tour-ism video and other Goan trinkets.


A section of the audience

Dr Naram charms Germany with Ayurvedic secretsIndia Post News Service

BERLIN: Dr Pankaj Naram, a noted In-dian Ayurvedic physician and a front tank-ing pulse reader, has charmed members ofmedical fraternity in Germany. It was hissecond workshop with German MDs whodesired learning the use of ancient Indian

secrets for treating chronic diseases andmeet the health challenges afresh.

Earlier, in a German hospital Dr Narambrought a well-known man in the area outof a coma that he had been in with a strokefor one week. More interesting was the caseof one Eric, a lawyer who had a car accident10 years ago. The accident paralyzed himfrom waist down. His whole life hadchanged, as mobility decreased and depres-sion set in.

" I was with him when he first met DrNaram in Frankfurt almost two years ago.He looked skeptical and doubtful anythingwould help," says Clint Rogers (Ph.d) whomany a time accompanies Dr Naram duringvisits to USA and Canada

"Eric reluctantly started taking the herbs,and the first very good thing that happenedwas that his urinary tract infections stopped.That alone made him happy, but then some-thing else totally remarkable happened,"Said Dr Clint.

"Just a few days ago, Dr Naram did an-other 'marma' session on him and we wereall shocked. His legs started to move for thefirst time in 10 years! So much so that hewas able to start to put a little weight on hislegs, and the very beginning of movingDr Naram with Eric

them on command,"added Dr Clint

Even Eric himselfcould not believe it. Hewanted to see the videowe had taken, and whenhe saw it; it was indeedhimself moving his legs,and not anyone else. Hewas so taken aback hewas in tears, observedClint.

Dr Naram with Eric family members

Clint Rogerswith Eric


The newly elect Executivecommittee for 2015 comprisesKamal Patel MD (President),Tapas Dasgupta MD (Secretaryelect), Sreenivas Reddy MD (Trea-surer).

Dignitaries present were: Con-gressman Danny K Davis, Presi-dent of American Heart Associa-tion, Dr Elliott Antman, AAPI

IAMA Annual salutes pastpresidents with medals

President Dr Ravi Jahagirdar,ISMS President-elect Dr Scot Coo-per, Chicago Medical societypresident elect Dr Kathy Tyneus,Cook County Commissioner Rich-ard Boykins, Cook County Com-missioner Timothy Snyder, May-ors of Oakbrook & Burridge, theHospital CEOs from Jackson ParkHospital, St Anthony's Hospital,Norwegian American Hospital &Alexian Brothers.


IAMA health fair conducted by great number of young medical professionals

Seniors celebrate Diwali in grand styleJAYANTI OJHA

CHICAGO: Bharatiya SeniorCitizens of Chicago hosted asplendid Diwali Dinner Celebra-tion with BSC members, guestsand Chicago community leaderson Saturday, November 9 at IndiaHouse Banquet, Schaumburg.

The evening was full of excit-ing short speeches, live entertain-ment, spectacular cocktail recep-tion, dazzling decoration, Indianfood, cultural programs and vi-brant dances. Over 900 membersand guests attended the eventwho were greeted with Diwalimessages from a large number Illi-nois politicians and GovernorBruce Raune.

Rakshika Anjaria, BSC Secre-tary Emceed the event gracefullyand to the delight of all present.The event started around earlyevening hours with a spectacularcocktail reception, lasting for al-most an hour and half. BSC fami-lies and friends greeted each otherwith warmth enjoying mouth wa-tering Indian appetizers.

Right after that there wasGanesh Vandana followed by tra-ditional lamp lighting ceremony.The Diyas were lighted by re-spected community leadersMafatbhai Patel, Naren Patel,Shali Kumar, Dr. Bharat Barai, Dr.Umang Patel, Jasbir Suga &Gordhan Patel who were greetedwith a thumping applause from theaudience.

The welcome speech was givenby BSC president Haribhai Patel,who wished everybody HappyDiwali and New Year. There werespeeches from the guests and thiswas followed by the cultural pro-gram, Bollywood performances bysecond generation Indian artists.The night was full of entertain-ment. Biggest attraction of thenight was dance tribute toMichael Jackson by signaturegroup London featuring Suleman

Mirza and Madhu Singh.Srujan Dance Academy stu-

dents performed Raas which was

choreographed by Swati Shah.Taal Masti Group (Radha Modi)of Chicago arranged Bollywooddance from Ada group. AradhyaDance Academy students per-formed Rajasthani folk dance withchoreography by Shetal Parikh.

The Dinner break was an-nounced for a very lavish Indianfood and was followed by Live

entertainment by Melody Makersof Manpasand Inc. The dancefloor was open.

At the conclusion of the eventBhagwanjibhai Patel won roundtrip ticket of Air India andManjuben Hirpara won round trip

ticket of Etihad Airlines presentedby Air Tours. With support of AirTours, Masti Cruise, Manpasand

Haribhai Patel, President of Bharatiya Senior Citizens of Chicago, along with Chief Guest Mafatbhai Patel, Shali Kumar, Gordhabhai Patel, Dr. Umangbhai Patel,Dr. Bharatbhai Barai, performing lamp- lighting ceremony

and BSC complete Indian cruisewas announced with Bollywoodentertainment in 2015 August.

A section of the audience

Gujarati Garba Raas at BSC event


Nandita Das in Chicago for screening of 'Between the Lines'SURENDRA ULLAL

CHICAGO: Nandita Das, acclaimed ac-tress of Indian cinema and human rightsactivist, will appear in person at Yellow Box,Naperville and Facets Cinema, Chicago fora screening of Between the Lines (2014, 79mins.), a cinematic adaptation of the 2012play.

The screening, sponsored by India De-velopment Service (IDS) is on Saturday,November 22 at 4:30 p.m. and Sunday No-vember 23 at 3 pm. It will be followed by aQ&A with Das, who directed the originalplay, and Subodh who founded CinePlay.K. Sujata, President and CEO of ChicagoFoundation for Women, will be moderatingthe Q/A session.

Set in contemporary India where edu-cated and affluent couples are caught be-tween modernity and tradition, the CinePlayexplores the relationship between a hus-

band (Subodh Maskara) and wife (NanditaDas) who are both lawyers who have beenmarried for ten years. They end up arguingon opposite sides of a criminal trial, result-ing in the blurring of their personal and pro-fessional lives. The battle in the court startsto impact their relationship at home, andthey struggle to find a new balance. Thefilmed version, or "CinePlay," of Betweenthe Lines is directed by Ritesh Menon.

"IDS has a long history of bring new andunique genre of events to Chicago that hassocial relevance that goes beyond pure en-tertainment. We are privileged to be associ-

ated with screening of this CinePlay thatexamines the fundamental nature of humanrelationship that often gets challenged inunbeknownst ways", said Nilesh Kothari,IDS Board member.

Nandita Das has acted in more than 40feature films (including Earth, Fire, Beforethe Rains) in ten different languages. Shemade her directorial debut with Firaaq in 2008and Between the Lines marks her debut as aplaywright and theater director. She is amajor advocate for issues of social justiceand human rights. In 2011, Nandita Das wasthe first Indian to be inducted into the Hall

of Fame of the International Women's Fo-rum. Currently she is at Yale as a World Fel-low.

Between the Lines is produced by ChhotiProductions, a boutique production housethat tells compelling stories through diversemediums. CinePlay is a new form that cin-ematically captures a theater production. Itcreates a new viewing experience for audi-ences and expands the reach of stories con-tained in theatre, by overcoming the con-straints of economics, geography, language,and accessibility. Moreover, it archives clas-sic and contemporary plays for posterity.

Community leaders and business own-ers also provided feedback and input onways to reach the local residents to edu-cate them about the ACA and help them inthe enrollment process. Speakers includedEdwin Chandrasekar from the Asian HealthCoalition, Patrick Corcoran from Get Cov-ered Illinois and Abrar Quader from CCN,who addressed topics about the need forhealth coverage, the essential health ben-efits covered by health plans under theACA, and ways to sign up and enroll forhealth coverage.

Sohan Joshi, a community activist head-ing NFIA, thanked the joint organizers forthis noble cause of helping communitythrough ACA, and offered his services andfacility to ACA team. These encouragingremarks were also echoed by Rajput and hepledged his commitment to working closelywith the organizers, through Medicaid. At-tendees enjoyed hot lunch at MAFS facil-ity which was prepared MAFS kitchen staff.

Helping handsreach out forhealth insuranceCont’d from page 16


GOPIO International Chicago Chapter launchedHINA TRIVEDI

Standing from left: Sayed Hussaini, Sohan Joshi, Hemant Trivedi, Sunny Kulathakal, Consul General Dr Ausuf Sayeed, Gladson Varghese,Savinder Singh, Vikrant Singh, Dr.Bapu Arkapudi, Joe Nedumgottil, Radha Krishnan

CHICAGO: A two and half de-cade old ethnic Indian body withchapters across the globe, GlobalOrganization of People of IndianOrigin, had its launch in Chicagolast week at the hands of IndianConsul General Dr. Ausuf Sayeed.

The event held on Friday No-vember 7 at North shore BanquetHall on Devon Avenue was pre-sided over by GOPIO ExecutiveVice-President Sunny Kulathakaland it was well attended by mem-bers of Indian community acrossChicagoland.

The Chapter unanimouslyelected Gladson Varghese as thePresident of Chicago Chapter.Gladson Varghese is the Divi-sional Director of WestinghouseCorporation, President & CEO ofU.S. Techtronics and is currentlyworking as Illinois Structural En-gineering Board Commission.

The meet also elected promi-nent Businessman HemantTrivedi as the Vice President,Punjab Association President andBusinessman Savinder Singh asSecretary, Wintrust Bank VicePresident Syed Hussaini as Trea-surer, Agileeye Corporation CEOVikrant Singh as Joint Secretary,and Businessman JoeNedumgottil as Jt. Treasurer.

Four Board of Directors electedare Dr Bapu Arekapudi, formerPresident of Indo American Demo-cratic Organization (IADO), RamSaini , president of Rajasthani As-sociation Ram Saini, KedarNavakal, president of MaharastraAssociation and Harish Kolasani.,the FIA Joint Secretary

Sunny Kulathakal explainedthe vision, mission, activities andaccomplishments of GOPIO and

Members of GOPIO Chicago

invited everybody to the GOPIOInternational Convention in Janu-ary 2015 in New Delhi. Newly

elected President GladsonVarghese welcomed everybodyand explained his Vision and

things GOPIO Chapter is plan-ning to do in the future.

Consul General Dr Ausuf

Sayeed in his address talkedabout the role GOPIO can play forthe Indian community and re-quested Chicago Chapter to part-ner with Chicago Consulate andpresent a resolution on the issuesfacing Indian community. TheGOPIO views, he assured, wouldbe conveyed to the Indian gov-ernment and the Prime Minister.

Prominent community leadersNFIA President Sohan Joshi,Former Illinois Deputy TreasurerRaja Krishnamurthy, IADO Presi-dent Dr Ashish Sen, GOPIO lifemember from Detroit RadhaKrishnan also addressed thegathering and offered their goodwishes to the GOPIO ChicagoChapter. The well attended meet-ing concluded with dinner.

Vijaywada college alumni donate to rebuild VizagBABU TANGEWALA

DALLAS, TX: The SiddharthMedical College VijayawadaAlumni living in USA joined handsand raised $55,000 to support theefforts of Andhra Pradesh govern-ment to rebuild Vizag city and itssurrounding regions devastatedby monstrous cyclone, Hudhud.

In an event organized on Sun-

day, November 16 in Dallas, theSMC alumni representatives Dr.Satish Kumar Potluri, Dr. ArunMitra Kandra, Dr. HimaMikkilineni, Dr.Vamsi Korrapati,Dr. Suman Ravuri, Dr. VinayaVennam, Dr. SudhamayiMolakalapalli handed over theamount to TANA Southwest Rep-

resentative Dr. Rajesh Adusumilli.Dr. Rajesh Adusumilli appreci-

ated the efforts of SMC alumni inUSA for raising the amount andfor choosing TANA as the sup-porting organization for theirfundraising efforts. He assuredthat this amount will be appropri-ately disbursed to the Chief

Minister's Cyclone Relief Fund.Alumni representative Dr. SatishPotluri thanked TANA for theirsupport and reiterated that theywill continue to support and par-ticipate in the worthy socialcauses of TANA in future.

Speaking on the occasionTANA President Mohan

Nannapaneni reminded of the longtime relationship betweenSiddhartha Institutions andTANA. He thanked all the Alumnimembers for the trust they had inTANA, Past Presidents of TANADr. Navaneethakrishna Gorrepati,

Presenting a check for $55000 for Rebuilding Vizag SMC, the Group that raised fund

Cont’d on page 25


FIA to hold AnnualElections on Dec 7

SURENDRA ULLAL

CHICAGO: The Federation ofIndian Associations [FIA] Chi-cago has announced holding itsAnnual Elections for 2015-16 dur-ing its General Body Meeting onSunday, Decem-ber 7 at 11:30 amat Punjabi DhabaBanquet Hall onDevon Ave inChicago.

FIA at its re-cent board meet-ing unanimouslychose three trust-ees to serve onthe ElectionCommittee. Theyare Ajai Agnihotrias Chairman withBabu Patel andSitaram Patel asCo-Chairs. Theywill hold the An-nual Electionswith strict adher-ence to the estab-lished by-laws, norms and policiesof the Federation.

At this General Body meeting,FIA plans to float new programsfor 2015 and the start will be with aGrand India Republic Day Banqueton Sunday January 25, 2015 at theMeadows Club in Rolling Mead-ows, IL.

FIA President Keerthi KumarRavoori in a statement said that

the FIA extends invitation to allthe community organizations andwelcomes them to be an integralpart of this premier organizationof 30 years..

Trustee Chair Iftekhar Shareefis appealing all Indian-AmericanAssociations to become activemembers and work unitedly forthe better of the community atlarge. He pointed out that indi-vidually also one can become amember but without voting rights.

FIA plans to uploaded member-ship forms on its website:www.fiaofchicago.com.

Trustee Chair Iftekhar Shareef and Keerthi Ravoori,FIA President

Indo -American Press Club inaugurated in NJIndia Post News Service

EAST RUTHERFORD, NewJersey: The Indo-American PressClub (IAPC) was officially inaugu-rated at the Homewood Suites ofHilton, East Rutherford, New Jer-sey on Saturday, November 15with the lighting of the traditionallamp by Suneel Hali, Founder andPublisher of Cinemaya Media,Inc., Lalit K. Jha, Chief US Corre-spondent of Press Trust of India(PTI), sponsors, community andcorporate leaders and the membersof the IAPC Executive Committee,National Directors, and the Boardof Trustees.

Attended by nearly 200 mediapersons, corporate and commu-nity leaders and sponsors, the el-egantly organized event markedthe historic beginning of the Indo-American Press Club, that hasbeen formed with the objective ofbeing the voice of those who areworking in the media world andstrive to be the conscience of thelarger society.

In his inspiring inaugural ad-dress, Suneel Hali emphasized thekey role being played by the me-dia, which drew him to give up hiswell-paying corporate job by lis-tening to his inner voice and startCinemaya Media, which encom-passes visual, print, audio, andelectronic media.

"Journalists are extraordinarypeople dedicating their lives to anextraordinary mission to serve thehumanity, and to be the con-science of the society," Hali re-minded the audience.

Stressing the importance of themedia and the role the Indo-Ameri-can Press Club is expected to play,Lalit Jha, in his keynote addresssaid, "We are the watchdog of the

society. Whenever there is an is-sue - we are the first one to reportabout it - be it a visa issue, or someroad accident, or innovation ormatter of pride of our society. Yes,we are the voice for the commu-

Inauguration Delegates

nity - there is no doubt about it.But who can be our voice - helpus when we are in need, ensurethat we maintain the highest stan-dard of journalist, but also makesure the basic rights and dignityof Indian American journalists are

maintained and act as a mentor toupcoming and new journalists. Itis here, I think, the formation ofIndo American Press Club couldplay an important role."

In his presidential address,Ajay Ghosh, President of the Indo-American Press Club, describedthe reasons and objectives forforming IAPC. "After many

months of planning andstrategizing, IAPC was formedwith the lofty ideal of providing acommon platform to journalists ofIndian origin living in the UnitedStates, while fostering closer

bonds and cooperation among anextensive network of journalistsacross the nation."

Ghosh lauded the coming to-gether of IAPC members, who are"very rich with talents, skills, andexperiences in the vast mediaworld and are committed to givingback to the society. The formationof IAPC is an expression of theircommitment to enhancing theworking conditions for journalists,exchanging of ideas, offering edu-cational opportunities to our mem-bers and to aspiring journalistsaround the globe."

Reflecting on the many indi-viduals behind and the process offorming IAPC, Ginsmon Zacharia,Chairman of the Board of Trust-ees, said in his address, that theIndo-American Press Club hasbeen formed with the objective ofenhancing the standard and work-ing conditions for journalists,while striving to work towardsgreater co-operation among jour-nalists working across the nation,and thus be the voice of the com-munity of journalists.

"While striving to have greatercoordination and networking

among journalists, our motto is to"be the voice of the community ofIndian American journalists," hesaid.

In his address, Fr JohnsonPunchakonam, Executive Vice

President of IAPC alluded to rea-sons for the formation of IAPC."By coming under the umbrella ofThe Indo-American Press Cluband standing united, we are com-mitted to offer a common platform,raising our voice together in ourefforts to shape the world that isfair, just and equitable for the alltoday and for the future genera-tions."

In her welcome address,

Vineetha Nair, Executive Secretaryof IAPC, who has been coordinat-ing the weekly teleconferencesleading up the inaugural event,said, "The Indo American PressClub is a forum by and for mediaprofessionals and freelancers,working, or associating with print,broadcast and online media out-lets in North America.

IAPC members with Daryl Hawk

Cont’d on page 25


Sri Lankan filmmaker receives Tasveer AwardIndia Post News Service

SEATTLE, WA: The 9th annualSeattle South Asian Film Festivalclosed Sunday evening with ascreening of With You, WithoutYou, the latest award-winning filmfrom Sri Lanka's pre-eminent film-maker Prasanna Vithanage.

Vithanage was also honored forhis contribution to Sri Lankan cin-ema during the Festival's ClosingNight Reception, receiving the

Tasveer Emerald Award. This oc-casional award is bestowed uponexceptional prolific and influentialfilmmakers and was first given in2011 to the prolific and accom-plished actress Deepti Naval forher contribution to Indian cinema.

"I am proud to receive theTasveer Emerald Award, and im-pressed with the richness and va-riety of films and filmmakers thatTasveer brings to Seattle," saysVithanage, who was unable to at-

tend the Festival due to last-minutescheduling conflicts. "Throughtheir organization, many importantconversations are being broughtto this community."

This year's Festival welcomedeighteen visiting filmmakers - morethan any SSAFF in history. Alongwith 27 screenings, two educa-tional panels, co-presented withWashington Filmworks and TheFilm School, brought the publictogether with attending filmmak-

ers from a variety of countries andbackgrounds to discuss the stateof international filmmaking today.

"Throughout the Festival, au-diences were enthusiastic and fullof bold questions, actively partici-pating in rich discussionswith filmmakers from allover the world. We are soinspired by the supportthe Festival has receivedfrom the local film commu-nity, audiences, filmmak-ers, WashingtonFilmworks, and The FilmSchool," says Festival ex-ecutive director RitaMeher.

A special award forOutstanding Film in a So-cial Category was awardedduring the Festival toSSAFF 2014 selectionFandry by the Seattlechapter of Pratham, thelargest education non-profit in India. Pratham isdedicated to improving the qual-ity of education in India, ensuringaccess to all people regardless ofcaste - a subject eloquently ad-dressed in the beautiful and gentleFandry through the story of ayoung lower-caste man in a smallvillage.

"My time at SSAFF felt like anextended family, and that was trulyheartwarming," says Fandry pro-ducer Vivek Kajaria. "The Seattlefilm market is vibrant and inquisi-tive - true players in the film scene.I'm honored to be recognized forthis important story on caste dis-crimination; it shows that the Fes-tival and Pratham really have theirheart and values in the right place."

For the first time in 2014, aSSAFF Jury Award wasgiven. The jury, staffedwith local film scholars,critics, and writers, wascommissioned to selectthe film with the beststorytelling and stron-gest alignment with themission of Tasveer. In-dian director KanuBehl's feature-lengthdebut TITLI (2014) wastheir selection, and so the SSAFF2014 Jury Award will join the otheraccolades of this vibrant drama.

Says Behl, "It's amazing to begiven this honor. I had such awonderful and fulfilling time atthe Festival - attending screen-ings and participating on theeducational panels - and hopethe city welcomes me back nexttime, with as warm a hug as thisone!"

"TITLI not only embodiesTasveer's mission to engage andempower the community throughthought-provoking art and con-versation; it also clearly demon-strates SSAFF 2014's theme of

Stories that dare . . . ," accordingto a jury statement.

The SSAFF 2014 AudienceAwards in three categories werealso announced at the ClosingNight Reception. Taking home

the honor for Best Narrative isthe Bengali mystery-dramaTeenkahon ("Three Obses-sions") from directorBauddhayan Mukherji.

Says Mukherji, "SSAFF hasbeen a dream. The ovation fol-lowing our film was humbling,the Q&A exhilarating, and thepraises heaped on Teenkahonunexpected. A big thank you tothe outstanding efforts of theSSAFF team. I have won a cov-eted award, but in a way I wonmuch more: lovely friends, a new-found love for a new city, tremen-dous respect for a learned and awonderful movie-going audi-ence, memories to last a lifetime,and - above all - recognition of

the people for an independentlyproduced film. What more can adebutant filmmaker ask for?"

The beautiful and surprisingJaya from director Puja Maewalis the audience's choice for BestShort Film. Director Maewal wasin attendance at her screeningand is currently developing Jayainto a feature-length film.

For Best Documentary,SSAFF audiences chose Are YouListening! by director KamarAhmad Simon, which follows thestruggles of a coastalBangladeshi community as theystrive to recover following thedeadly cyclone of May 2009.

Prasanna Vithanage

I have won a covetedaward, but in a way I wonmuch more: lovely friends,a new-found love for a newcity, tremendous respectfor the audience


We lacked an effective platformto associate and network, to shareour success, our concerns, ourchallenges, a platform that wouldgive us a unique sense of belong-ing and continuity. IAPC wasformed out of this need."

Earlier, the day began with anintroductory session led by JillySamuel, Vice President of IAPC.During the General Body Meet-ing, IAPC delegates charted outthe path they wanted IAPC totake in the next one year. Duringthe seminar that followed, EasoJacob, a National Director ofIAPC from Texas, enlightened thedelegates, with his pre-sentation of the numer-ous Risk Factors andPrecautions Journalistsneed to be aware of whilecarrying out media re-lated works by individu-als and corporations inthe media world.

During the hands onworkshop on "The Art ofPhoto Documentary"Daryl Hawk, a world-re-nowned photo-journalistand author, discussed with an en-thusiastic audience about hisstyle, philosophy, and varioustechniques he uses as a profes-sional when photographing sub-ject matter.

Equipment, lighting on loca-tion, environmental portraits, andtravel tips for photographerswere other aspects that were cov-ered. "This presentation was par-ticularly valuable to all of us inthe media world who wanted tolearn the techniques and skills inphotography, Rajasree Pinto, Co-ordinator of the Workshop onPhotography, said.

The emcees for the day, MiniNair and Roshi George eloquentlyspelt out the importance and theneed for forming this dynamicgroup of next generation of jour-nalists. Prominent among thosewho felicitated IAPC and its lead-ership included, Dinesh

Goswami, Vice President ofIndus-America Bank, ChiragShah, Director of GovernmentAffairs, Senior Journalist JoseThayyil, INOC National ChairmanGeorge Abraham, Asian Ameri-can Hotel Owners Association(AAHOA), Dr. Jose Kanattu,Madhavan B Nair, NAMAMPresident, Dias Damodaran,Freedia Entertainment, Dr.Gopinathan Nair, CEO ofSanthigram Ayurveda, JoyChemmachel, FOKANA andFOMAA Representatives,George Kutty, Roy Ennasseril,John Paul, and Felix Simon.

Others who had supported andsent in their best wishes to IAPC

included, Dr. Seema Jain, Dr.Sanjay Jain and Dr. ThomasAlapatt of the American Associa-tion of Physicians of Indian Ori-gin of New Jersey, FOKANAPresident John P John, as well asKanchana and Jack Poola of LongIsland, New York. Andy Bhatia, aleading Public Relations Officer.After felicitations, IAPC pickedthe lucky winner, Ajay Ghosh,who won a week-long stay, foodand ayurvedic treatment, spon-sored by the Kairali Health Re-sort in New Delhi.

Suma Nair, a popular singerfrom the Garden State, entertainedthe audience with her melodiousvoice singing popular numbers inboth Hindi and Malayalam. Thevote of thanks was proposed byRajasree Pinto, the Treasurer ofIAPC. The inaugural ceremonysolemnly concluded with a sump-tuous dinner.

Indo -American Press Clubinaugurated in NJ


Dr. Prasad Thotakura, TANABoard of Director RamYalamanchili, TANA CommitteeChairs Murali Vennam, ChalaKondrakunta and Sreekanth

Polavarapu congratulatedSiddhartha Medical College

Vijaywada college alumnidonate to rebuild Vizag

Alumni. TANA Foundation Trea-surer Manjulatha Kanneganti,TANA Committee ChairsUmaYalamanchi, Samba Dodda, VinodUppu, Siva Vankayalapati, SaiLinga, Anil Arepalli, ParameshDevineni, Lakshmikanth Gorrepatialso attended and supported theevent.


‘We lacked an effectiveplatform to associate andnetwork, to share our suc-cess, our concerns, ourchallenges, a platform thatwould give us a uniquesense of belonging andcontinuity’

2000 attend Nobel laureate's lectureat CAIR banquet

"It's easy to get distracted whilecooking and entertaining familyand friends on ThanksgivingDay," said Don Neal, SCE directorof Corporate Environmental,Health and Safety. "But youshould never leave cooking equip-ment or appliances unattended forany reason. It is imperative thatyou turn them off or have some-one else watch them if you leavethe room. It only takes a few inat-tentive seconds to ruin your holi-day."

About 2,000 fires occur eachyear in the U.S. on ThanksgivingDay, causing on average five fa-

talities, 15 injuries and $21 millionin property damage, according tothe fire administration.

Additionally, customers shouldensure that appliances bear theUnderwriters Laboratories (UL)mark. UL is the leading indepen-dent product safety organization,and they do not currently certifythe use of turkey fryers.

SCE recommends some othersafety tips for Thanksgiving:

• Replace appliances withfrayed cords. Contact with themcan cause electric shock and seri-ous injury.

• Plug countertop appliancesinto Ground Fault Circuit Inter-rupter (GFCI)-protected outlets.

India Post News Service

ANAHEIM, CA: Nearly 2,000people turned out on Nov 15 atthe Anaheim Hilton to hear Nobellaureate Tawakkol Karman speakat the 18th annual banquet of theGreater Los Angeles office of theCouncil on American-Islamic Re-lations (CAIR-LA). During theevent, supporters donated some$390,000 in support of CAIR-LA'scivil rights and advocacy work.

With the theme, "Rooted inFaith, Growing Through Service,"this year's banquet featuredgroundbreaking figures whoseacts of service reflect their com-mitment to their faith's values ofpeace, justice and freedom for all.

A human rights activist, politi-cian, and journalist of Yemeni de-cent, Karman was awarded theNobel Peace Prize in 2011. Makingher visit to the United States tospeak at CAIR-LA's banquet, sheaccepted the civil rightsorganization's "Champion of Free-dom" award for her commitmentto human rights, freedom of thepress and women's empowerment.

Karman delivered an earnestkeynote address in which she un-derscored the value of CAIR'swork in empowering the AmericanMuslim community to activelycontribute to positive socialchange for America and for allpeople.

In her speech, Karman said:"In making America better, all

of you have to rise, because ev-eryone around the world needsAmerica to be better. We need anAmerica that is based on principlesand value - based on freedom, onhuman rights, on acceptance, co-existence, love for each other, andpeace. We need this America, be-cause when America is away fromits principles, all the world is away

from its principles. And now wesacrifice because American poli-tics are far away from its principlesand values. Now I'm speaking toall Americans, you should makeAmerica to practice its values andprinciples. We need you to regainAmerica!"

She encouraged the audienceto be aware of their civic duty andability to contribute to the accu-rate image of Islam and Muslims,

stating: "It is up to you to choosewhether you are a key to the solu-tion or the problem. So please,please, choose wisely."

Karman's speech received astanding ovation from the audi-ence.

Attendees also heard fromMichigan State RepresentativeRashida Tlaib, who was the firstMuslim woman to serve in theMichigan Legislature and the sec-ond Muslim woman to be electedto any state legislature in theUnited States. Tlaib stressed theimportance of conveying theteachings of Islam through

Karman's speech received astanding ovation from the audi-ence.

Attendees also heard fromMichigan State Representative

Rashida Tlaib, who was the firstMuslim woman to serve in theMichigan Legislature and the sec-ond Muslim woman to be electedto any state legislature in theUnited States. Tlaib stressed theimportance of conveying theteachings of Islam through theacts of service. She shared herjourney of running for public of-fice and the challenges she facedbelonging to a faith that waswidely misunderstood. She sharedhow being rooted in the teachingsof Islam drives her to contributeto civic life for the betterment ofher constituents.

Tlaib was presented with anaward of appreciation by BettyYee, a member of the CaliforniaState Board of Equalization andCA State Controller Elect.

CAIR-LA Executive Director,Hussam Ayloush thanked thecommunity for their continuedsupport and shared CAIR's visionand strategy to help advance theAmerican Muslim's state of affairs.

"CAIR is developing ourcommunity's infrastructure of lead-ership. CAIR is empowering andtraining Muslims to launch cam-paigns for justice, run for office,stand for their rights, build coali-tions, and challenge anti-Muslimbigotry and misinformation. CAIRis developing an American Mus-lim identity that is proudly andconfidently rooted in faith, andthat is free of guilt, fear, and a falsesense of powerlessness. I hopethat we can continue to count onyou to be with us on this journeyas we strive and work towardsthese goals," said Ayloush.

Banquet attendees watched ashort video summarizing CAIR-LA's programs and events to helpempower and equip AmericanMuslim youth to be future lead-ers.

Safety best ingredient during ThanksgivingCont’d from page 16 • Locate all appliances away

from the sink. Remember, water andelectricity do not mix.

• Do not overload outlets withmultiple adaptors or power strips.

• Do not use extension cordswith major appliances.

• Never fight an electrical orgrease fire with water. Keep a fireextinguisher, UL listed and ratedfor electrical and grease fires,nearby.

• Unplug appliances that aren'tin use, preventing them from be-ing turned on accidentally.

• Keep appliance cords out ofreach of children and keep the floorclear of other cords to preventfalls.

‘We need anAmerica that isbased on principlesand value - basedon freedom, on hu-man rights, on ac-ceptance, co-exist-ence, love for eachother, and peace’

India Post November 21, 2014www.indiapost.com

Real Estate26

Realty Tidbits

DDA puts off housing schemedraw after hiccups

NEW DELHI: After facing last-minute technical hiccups, DDAhas postponed the draw of lots forits flagship Housing Scheme 2014.

The decision comes in the wakeof technical problem encounteredby the housing body while hold-ing the mock trial for the schemeat its headquarters 'Vikas Sadan'here. No new date has been an-nounced.

The new scheme offers 25,034flats - EWS, LIG, MIG, HIG, Jantaflats and one-room apartments.

The 22,627 one-bed room apart-ments were a major draw for thepeople this year, and DDA has re-ceived over 10 lakh applicationsfor it.

C-DAC (Centre for Develop-ment of Advanced Computing),which had conducted the draw forDDA's last housing scheme in2010, has been roped in this timeagain for the event.

"A mock trial of the draw ofDDA Housing Scheme-2014 washeld at Vikas Sadan in the pres-ence of Hon'ble Judges and seniorofficers of DDA.

"After the mock trial, C-DAC

officials observed that mock trialhas taken long time to the tune of8-9 hours because of large num-ber of applicants, multiple cat-egory of flats (more than four),multiple preferences for locations(34 nos.) and multiple reservations(SC, ST, Persons with Disability,Ex-Servicemen and War Widow).

"So, the date has been post-poned and will be announcedsoon. It is taking inordinately longtime and the process needs moretime for optimization of data andprocess," Delhi Development Au-thority said in a statement.

Some technical experts havebeen called to check the process

and give their opinion so that dur-ing the final draw there are no tech-nical problems, DDA said.

Also, for the first time, thehousing authority would be"webcasting live" the entire drawon the internet with a dedicatedURL for the same.

"We have created a dedicatedwebsite (http://www.ddadrawlive.in"www.ddadrawlive.in)for the draw, and instead of di-rectly webcasting through aYouTube channel, we later de-cided to create a separate windowfor the event altogether, whereonline user can see the proceed-ings live," DDA's Director (Sys-tems) VS Tomar had said.

Online users must visit this sitedirectly as no link has been pro-vided through the official DDAwebsite, to preclude any chanceof crashing of the home site.

The new scheme, which offersover 25,000 flats across variouscategories, ranging in price fromRs 7 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore, closedon October 15.

The housing scheme waslaunched on September 1-PTI

Norms relaxed on purchase, sale of leasehold propertiesNEW DELHI: In a major re-

lief, the Delhi government haslifted restriction on sale of lease-hold properties which will ben-efit lakhs of property ownersand may trigger hike in real es-tate prices.

The Revenue departmenthas asked all registrar offices toallow purchase and sale ofleasehold properties.

Though, there were restric-tions, transactions had beentaking place through generalpower of attorney.

Officials said properties thathave changed hands but wereregistered through power of at-torney or sale agreement will beallowed for sale and purchasetransactions.

The Revenue Departmenthad forbidden purchase and

sale of leasehold properties in 2011."It is clarified to all Sub-Regis-

trar that under Section 17 (1-A) ofthe Registration Act, the docu-

ments containing contract totransfer for consideration any im-movable property is compulsorilyregistrable document if havingbeen executed after the com-mencement of Registration(Amendment) Act 2001, (w.e.f.

24.09.2001)."An agreement to sell in re-

spect of immovable property iscovered under section 17 (1-A) of

the Registration Act and is a validdocument to be registered if sodesired by the parties and as suchall these documents cannot be re-fused by Sub-Registrar," the cir-cular said.

The decision is likely to benefit

The decision is likely to benefit lakhs ofproperty owners in the national capital asthey will be able to sell their properties. Thegovernment decision, experts said, mayfuel hike in property prices.

lakhs of property owners in thenational capital as they will beable to sell their properties.

The government decision, ex-perts said, may fuel hike in prop-erty prices.

The property owners hadbeen demanding relaxation in thenorm for many years and nowthe decision will benefit areassuch as Rohini, Vasant Kunj,Dwarka, Janakpuri.

The Delhi Development Au-thority (DDA) owns such lease-hold properties and the restric-tion had been imposed aftercommercial activities were re-ported in some of the coloniesowned by the agency.

DDA officials said the deci-sion will help owners of lease-hold properties in a major way. -PTI

S Dakota estateplanner facingfraud charges

RAPID CITY, S.D.: A real estateplanner in South Dakota who foryears told people how to managetheir money has been chargedwith multiple counts of wire fraudand money laundering.

The Rapid City Journal reports57-year-old Randall ``Randy''McKee has pleaded not guilty to14 counts of wire fraud and ninecounts of money laundering.Federal authorities say McKeeset up a real estate developmentscheme that bilked investors outof about $625,000 between 2008and 2009.

Authorities also accuseMcKee of using his position as atrustee for a disabled man to takemore than $80,000 from the client'strust account for his own use.

The Sioux Falls man is out onbond. He previously lived inRapid City.-AP

Parsvnath Q2 netprofit up slightly atRs 12.65cr

NEW DELHI: Realty firmParsvnath Developers has re-ported marginal rise in consoli-dated net profit at Rs 12.65 crorefor the second quarter of this fis-cal.

Its net profit stood at Rs 12.51crore in the year-ago period.

Total income from operationsrose by 55 per cent to Rs 252.29crore during July-Septemberquarter of this fiscal from Rs162.46 crore in the correspond-ing period of the previous year,Parsvnath said in a statement.

Despite significant rise in op-erational income, the company'snet profit was almost flat as theexpenditure rose sharply duringthe second quarter of this fiscalto Rs 190.92 crore from Rs 90.76crore in the year-ago period.

Parsvnath is currently work-ing on 49 projects covering 72.68million sq ft.

"We are focusing on con-struction and moreover the in-put costs have also increased,therefore our bottom-line hasnot grown like the top-line,"Parsvnath Developers ChairmanPradeep Jain told PTI.

He said the company's debthas declined by about Rs 165crore during this quarter.

Jain said the company is con-centrating on leasing of its com-mercial project near Gole marketand would soon start construc-tion work at another commercialproject in KG Marg, Delhi. -PTI

Former Wells Fargo teamlaunching residential funds

Capitedge India Investment Advisory, a realty fundand asset management firm floated by six former mem-

bers of Indian realty team of American banking giant WellsFargo, is coming out with a residential properties-focusedfund in India. This would mark its first fresh fundraisingexercise after floating an independent investment advisoryfirm, which is also managing the remaining assets of WellsFargo after it shut operations in the country last year. Whilethe founding partners are closely associated in operations,Hiral Soni is driving the domestic fundraise and investmentstrategy, as per the company website.-Courtesy VC Circle

Ahmedabad metro to push real estate marketThe approval for the

Ahmedabad Metro Rail ProjectPhase-1 is expected to lift the realestate market of the city.

The metro phase 1 stretch cov-ers two corridors - the North-South corridor starting fromAPMC, Vasna to Motera Stadiumfollowed by the East-West corri-dor starting from Thaltej Gam toVastral Gam.

If you are planning to buy ahouse in Ahmedabad, then locali-ties near the upcomingAhmedabad to Gandhinagar metrobelt can be considered for goodreturns. "In almost all metropoli-tan cities across India, investingnear the metro connectivity is con-sidered ideal in terms of price ap-preciation and easy commute.Rapidly developing Ahmedabadhas one more reason for the face-lift of its real estate sector," saysNikunj Jani, lead consultant, Capi-tal realtors.

Connectivity directly affects a

buyer's decision of selecting a lo-cality. The upcoming metro beltwill pass through the main city ofAhmedabad to the hub of IT andelectronics industry(Gandhinagar). It will decongest

some of the traffic marred areas ofthe city and will also ensure rapidconnectivity to commuters.

Would the new metro lines af-fect property prices?

"The prices of property near themetro stretch have already startedwitnessing a rise and in future areexpected to go up further. How-ever, at present, the rental marketstays unaffected" adds Jani. The

middle class is expected to investin these areas as home buyers fromthis segment prefer to live in areashaving good metro connectivity.

"The returns on investment in

areas within close proximity to thenew metro routes are expected tobe high. Many individuals alreadyliving in their own accommodationin Ahmedabad are banking onproperties near the metro belt, toenjoy healthy returns once themetro is functional," says JitendraSoni, consultant, Harshil Estate.

Would the metro line bring newconstruction plans?

The upcoming metro beltcomes with a scope of new devel-opment in areas with available va-cant land. Hiren Patil, a local realtorat Disha Estate Management says,"Areas such as Hebatpur, SindhuBhavan Road and 5 km fromThaltej metro station, land is avail-able where developers are plan-ning to come up with residentialhousing projects."

All these areas are within 3-6km radius from the upcomingThaltej Gam Metro Station. Priorto the announcement of the metro,these areas had a sizeable demand

for housing but with the comingof the metro, the area is expectedto witness more development andinvestments.

Upcoming metro routesLocalities to become accessible

due to the upcoming metro areMotera Stadium, Sabarmati, AEC,Sabarmati Railway Station, Ranip,Juna Vajad, Usmanpura, AshramRoad, Nava Gandhigram,Madalpur, Paldi, Anjali, Vasna,APMC, Thaltej, DoordarshanKendra, Gurukul Road, CommerceSix Road, Stadium, Ashram Road,Shahpur, Gheekanta, Kalupur Rail-way Station, Kanakaria East, Ap-parel park, Amraiwadi, RabriColony, Vastral and Nirat CrossRoad.

Both buyers and investors haveample reasons to invest inAhmedabad, with the new metroline set to bring enhanced connec-tivity and might work as an addedreason for investment. -CourtesyET

Firm accused of cheatingto furnish property docsNEW DELHI: Delhi Police has

sought property related docu-ments from Cosmic Structures Ltd,a real estate company that alleg-edly used another firm's name togain investor's trust and thencheated them.

As per the FIR filed by a retiredbank manager, the firm had men-tioned the projects executed bysome other developer in their bro-chures and other advertisementmaterial which "enticed" him toinvest with them.

"We had issued notices to thefirm to produce documents regard-ing the claims made by them.Some of the documents havebeen submitted to us. We havefurther sought more documentsso that all of them could be veri-fied," said a police official.

"We had registered an FIR af-

Bangalore IT wizards buying property in USBANGALORE: The invest-

ments by Indians (those with In-dian passports) in residential prop-erty in the United States rose bynearly 50% to $5.8 billion in theyear ended March 2014, comparedto the year before. Real estate ana-lysts say top executives inBangalore's technology industry,many of who have a close con-nect with the US, are among thebiggest spenders.

Indians constitute the third big-gest overseas community to buyproperty in the US, as per datashared by the National Associa-tion of Realtors (NAR), US. Chi-nese buyers topped, investing astaggering $22 billion, a growth of80% over the previous year, fol-lowed by Canada. UK residentsbought as much as Indians, butthe growth rate was lower at 38%.In 2012-13, Indians had invested

$3.9 billion.The NAR report, quoting infor-

mation from realtor.com, said thatLos Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago,Dallas, and New York were themost sought after cities by Indianbuyers.

"If you have a specific workvisa (typically for six years), and agood credit rating, you can buy ahome in the US without having animmigration status. And banks inthe US will give you loans at aninterest of 3.5% to 3.75%," saysSudeep Chandran, owner,Terrafirma Developers, whosecircle of friends have been buyinginto the American real estate mar-ket over the past four years.

Anshuman Magazine, CMD ofproperty consultancy firm CBRESouth Asia, said more and more In-dians were buying property outsidethe country for reasons such asbetter valuations, portfolio diver-sification and personal reasons liketheir children studying in the US.

Mudassir Zaidi, national direc-tor (residential agency) atconsultancy firm Knight Frank In-dia, adds that the slowdown in theIndian market had led to a spur in

Real estate observers say Bangalore's largesenior management in IT and technologyare among the top spenders in Americanreal estate. Most of them have a closeconnection with the US.

27India PostNovember 21, 2014

www.indiapost.comReal Estate Post

buying activity in overseas mar-kets. Besides the US, markets likethe UK, Singapore, Australia andparts of Europe are equally attract-ing the attention of Indian prop-erty buyers.

"Purchasing a US property re-

mains affordable with prices stillbelow the peak level attained priorto the Great Recession (December2007-June 2009)," says the NARreport.

Indians spent an average of$459,028 (Rs 2.81 crore) for theirUS home purchases. That's way

ter a court order. Our investiga-tions are underway, we are prob-ing all aspects in the case," saidAdditional Commissioner of Po-lice (West) Ranveer Singh.

The FIR was lodged earlierthis year by one Surrinder KumarBangla, a former Assistant Gen-eral Manager at SBI, against thepromoters of Cosmic StructuresLtd at Janakpuri Police Stationof West Delhi under provisionslike sections 420 (cheating), 120B(criminal conspiracy), etc.

Bangla allegedly paid Rs70,000 and booked a virtual spacein an upcoming tower in Noidaof Cosmic Structures Ltd after itspromoters provided him with alist of projects they claimed tohave developed, constructedand delivered across the coun-try. -PTI

below the prices of premiumhomes in India's top metro marketsof Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Chennaiand Bangalore.

"Since quite a number of resi-dential units in the US are held byinstitutional investors, who hadbought them during the crisisyears from distressed sellers, it iseasy for a foreign buyer to buyfrom such institutions rather thanfrom individual US house owners,"says Anuj Puri, chairman andcountry head of propertyconsultancy JLL India.

Real estate observers sayBangalore's large senior manage-ment in IT and technology areamong the top spenders in Ameri-can real estate. Most of them havea close connection with the US.Many work in US-based MNCs inIndia. Several others work in ITservices companies for whom theUS is the biggest market. -Cour-tesy TOI

www.indiapost.comIndia Post

TOP TENHINDI FILM SONGS1 Manwa Laage : Happy New Year

2 Lovely : Happy New Year

3 Meherbaani : The Shaukeens

4 Meherbaan: Bang Bang

5 India Waale : Happy New

Year

6 Kill Dill : Kill Dil

7 Jaise Mera Tu : Happy Ending

8 Sajde : Kill Dil

9 Tu Meri : Bang Bang

10 Tere Hoke Rahenge: Raja

Natwarlal

28 November 21, 2014

Ranbir Kapoor has moved in with his girlfriend and Bollywood actress KatrinaKaif and rumor surfaced that the Kapoor lad has left his parents, Neetu andRishi Kapoor to live with Katrina. But Ranbir claimed that he is not shifting his

address permanently.The 'Barfi' actor claims due to some construction work at his ancestral bungalow

Krishna Raj, he has shifted to a new place and not because he wants to live sepa-rately from his parents.

Gossip mill is churning that all is not well in Ranbir-Katrina's paradise. During therecently held birthday party of Nitasha Nanda, Neetu Kapoor uploaded a picturewhich has Ranbir and other family members in the frame but chopped Kat's image. Inthe original photo, Katrina was also in the frame but standing behind Neetu andRanbir. Katrina is trying her level best to keep a good relationship with her future in-laws. When Rishi Kapoor fell sick, the actress rushed to KrishnaRaj to inquire aboutRishi Kapoor's health as soon as she landed in Mumbai.

Saif Ali Khan says he always "loved working"with Shah Rukh Khan

and he has a lot of respect forthe superstar.

According to reports, the44-year-old previously saidthat he would prefer to play thelead in his own productionsrather than play second fiddleto a big star name. But Saif saysthat he doesn't have any harshfeeling for Shah Rukh.

"...I have loved workingwith SRK whenever I have...Filmfare awards hosting...'KalHo Na Ho'... temptationstours... Seagrams ad!!!!... he isan amazing guy... he was alsoone of the few people at mywedding from the industry... Ilook up to him and he has in-fluenced a lot of my thoughtson set...

Saif also says that he is an-noyed with the reports and saidthat King Khan's contributionto Bollywood is invaluable.

"I'm upset with the reportsabout SRK. I have a lot of re-spect for him... I have workedwith him and I know what hiscontribution is... invaluable!!,"he added.

"I'm upset with thereports about SRK. Ihave a lot of respectfor him... I have workedwith him and I knowwhat his contributionis... invaluable!!".

India Post 29November 21, 2014

www.indiapost.com

Bollywood

Abhishek Kapoor isadapting CharlesDickens' great novel

Great Expectations. The story re-volves around a young Kashmirilad Noor (played by Aditya RoyKapur), his muse Firdaus (playedby the stunning Katrina Kaif)and the mercurial Begum (playedby the gorgeous Rekha).

Rekha's character is based onthe capricious Miss Havisham inthe book. We have now learntthat Abhishek has chosen thebeautiful Aditi Rao Hydari toplay the young Rekha. Fitoorgoes on the floor in Novemberand will be shot in Delhi, Srinagarand possibly, London.

Well, we all have great expec-tations and eagerly await his film.

Ever since the lovely jodi of Kalki Koechlin andAnurag Kashyap separated, they have been livingby themselves. While Kalki had earlier shifted out

into a place close to Anurag's, past two months, she hasbeen looking out for another place to rent. The fact thatshe is a gori foreigner combined with the fact that she is asingle celebrity made it difficult for her.

It is now learnt that Kalki has finally found herself aplace in Andheri and is moving in shortly with hermother. Confirming the same, Kalki said, "I had ear-lier found a place and really liked it, but just whenI was about to get it, the woman met me anddrastically increased the price. Then, at anotherplace, as soon as they found out that it is for acelebrity, they refused as they said that they didn'twant media and stuff there. Plus being a gori skin, thereis a huge stereotype attached to how you will be. I knowthat I look younger and don't look as responsible as I am,so it takes a while for people to warm up. It's funny, buteven when I moved out last year, my neighbors were waryof me, since they always found me dressed in tight jeans.

Till one day, I wentand knocked ontheir door and hadchai with themand then theywould go, 'Oh, youare very simple.'

Aditya Roy Kapur is known for his humbleaura. The actor is a very simple anddown to earth.

Even when it comes to his professional life theactor does not come with any frills. Aditya is oneof those actors who has no tantrums. So much sothat he travels to sets without his entourage be-hind him.

In fact, he is usually oblivious about his spotboy, driver and hair and make-up guy. Unlike mostactors who arrive with a car full of their staff mem-bers, Aditya rides his bike alone wherever required.

30 India Post November 21, 2014www.indiapost.com

TechBizTech News

Top tech firms call for 'changes' inUS surveillance program

WASHINGTON: A coalition oftop technology and Internet gi-ants, including Apple, Google andMicrosoft, have called on the USSenate for "meaningful changes"to curb surveillance powers andfor more transparency on govern-ment data requests.

Apple, AOL, Dropbox,Evernote, Facebook, Google,LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter andYahoo! in a letter said: "Now is thetime to move forward on meaning-ful change to our surveillance pro-grams."

"Confidence in the Internet,both in the US and internationally,has been badly damaged over thelast year. It is time for action," theysaid in the letter.

"As the Senate takes up thisimportant legislation, we urge youto ensure that US surveillance ef-forts are clearly restricted by law,proportionate to the risks, trans-

parent, and subject to indepen-dent oversight," they said aheadof the passage of a bill throughthe US Senate before the end ofthe year.

The USA Freedom Act, whichpassed the House of Representa-tives in May with bipartisan sup-

port and seeks to get the NationalSurveillance Agency out of thebusiness of bulk domestic phonerecords collection, faces a criticalprocedural vote tomorrow.

The top technology companiessaid they understand that govern-

ments have a duty to protect theircitizens.

"But the balance in many coun-tries has tipped too far in favor ofthe State and away from the rightsof the individual. This underminesthe freedoms we all cherish, and itmust change," they said.

The coalition said: "Over thelast year many of our companieshave taken important steps, includ-ing further strengthening the se-curity of our services and takingaction to increase transparency.But the government needs to do

more."They said in the next few

weeks, the Senate has the oppor-tunity to demonstrate leadershipand pass a version of the USAFreedom Act that would help re-store the confidence of Internetusers in the US and around theworld, while keeping citizens safe.

"Unfortunately, the versionthat just passed the House of Rep-resentatives could permit bulk col-lection of Internet 'metadata' (e.g.who you email and who emailsyou), something that the Admin-istration and Congress said theyintended to end," it said.

"Moreover, while the House billpermits some transparency, it iscritical to our customers that thebill allow companies to provideeven greater detail about the num-ber and type of government re-quests they receive for customerinformation," they said. -PTI

They said in the next few weeks, the Senatehas the opportunity to demonstrate leader-ship and pass a version of the USA FreedomAct that would help restore the confidence ofInternet users in the US and around the world

'Make in India mission needs innovators'NEW DELHI: The 'Make in

India' mission of the governmentwill require participation of inno-vators and entrepreneurs and thejoint Indo-US science and tech-nology program will enhance thecountry's ability to achieve thetarget, Union Minister Y SChowdary said here.

The Minister, who was speak-ing at the third meeting of theIndia-US Joint Commission onScience and Technology Coop-eration, said the commission isan opportunity for both thecountries to "energize" the com-mon aspirations in science, tech-nology and innovations andbuild strong networks.

"Our government's initiativeof 'Make in India' requires par-ticipation of innovators and en-trepreneurs in various fields tomake it successful. A growingworkforce capable of decidingand making products using re-duced manufacturing costs iscrucial in advancing the mission.

"The Indo-US joint science

and technology cooperation willgreatly enhance our ability toachieve the mission," the Minis-

ter of State for Science & Tech-nology and Earth Sciences said.

He said the new government led

by Prime Minister Narendra Modihad prioritized different sectors inwhich science and technology will

play a pivotal role and looked atcooperation with the US in thesefields.

"I hope to see the area R&Dexpand. Fields like agriculture,integrated water management,smart cities, public health, sani-tation, clean energy, communi-cation and transport are someof the key areas that the gov-ernment will have as priority.

"Our (India and the US)strength in the software capa-bilities can be leveraged with thehardware capabilities of the USto accelerate the 3D printingtechnology," the Minister said.

John Holdren, Director,White House Office of Scienceand Technology Policy, said thetwo countries were working inthe fields of space, medical sci-ences, climate change, cleanenergy and agriculture.

"The challenges faced by thetwo countries are the sameacross a range of issues like cli-mate change, affordable energy.It is very important and alsomakes sense to work togetheron these challenges.

Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Harsh Vardhanvisiting an exhibition, at the inauguration of the Indo-US Technology Summit &Knowledge Expo at Greater Noida on November 18. The Secretary, Depart-

ments of Biotechnology, Science & Technology and Scientific & IndustrialResearch, K. Vijay Raghavan is also seen

Cont’d on page 31

Just 1/5th ofIndian firms inmanufacturing biz

NEW DELHI: India may havenearly 10 lakh active companies,but less than one-fifth of them areinto manufacturing activities anda majority are into business ser-vices.

There were around 14.23 lakhcompanies registered with theCorporate Affairs Ministry, out ofwhich about 9.92 lakh were activeat the end of September, showslatest data.

Thousands of new companiesare registered every month andSeptember alone saw entry of6,864 new registered companies.

An analysis of the Ministrydata shows that a majority of ac-tive companies are into 'businessservices', followed by manufactur-ing, trading and construction.

Business services refers to in-formation technology, researchand development, among their ac-tivities.

"Economic-activity wise classi-fication of active companies revealsthat highest number of companiesare in business services (2.40 lakh)followed by manufacturing (2.11lakh), trading (1.48 lakh) and con-struction (1.05 lakh)," according tothe Ministry's monthly bulletin forSeptember. -PTI

Indian startupsbudding inSingapore

SINGAPORE: "Chuck out yourresume!" is the mantra ofSudhanshu Ahuja who runs hisown talent pool business here andis among the young Indians whohave taken advantage ofSingapore's business-friendly en-vironment to set up their compa-nies.

Ahuja decided to start his ownbusiness after being denied a jobby a leading bank here.

"Your resume can't reallyproject the work you are good at,"Ahuja, who is in his early 30s, said.This motivated me to start my owntalent pool business. Here you justhave to show your talent and wewill give you the job you are goodat," Ahuja, who hails fromFaridabad, said.

"We organize a challenge for aparticular skill and we refer themto companies interested in hiringthem," Ahuja, the founder ofIdeatory said.

Ahuja, who left IIT Delhi tostudy at Nanyang TechnologicalUniversity here, feels that Singaporehas many opportunities for young-sters and it provides a good envi-ronment for people who want to starttheir own business.-PTI

Indians in Singapore win youngentrepreneurs award

SINGAPORE: Two Indians and an Indian-origin Singaporean havewon an award for young social entrepreneurs here for developing amobile phone-based English learning solution for elementary schoolstudents from low-income families in India.

Pramodh Rai, 27, Ankita Gupta, 23, and Priya Andleigh, 23, who teamedup to develop this learning solution named 'Jugnu', were chosen from agroup of 76 youth representing 12 nations including Cambodia, Indone-sia, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand and the US.

The award was given by Singapore International Foundation (SIF), anon-profit organization, for their innovative business ideas.-PTI

31India PostTechBiz PostNovember 21, 2014

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"Science and technology iscentral to the solution of all ofthem. We need, as (US President)Barack Obama had mentioned, re-sources of everyone across theworld to be successful in that," hesaid.

Holdren said there has been ahistory of cooperation in bio-sciences and clean sciences be-tween the two countries, but morewas needed to be done.

Chowdary said since the turnof the millennium, coop-eration in the field ofscience and technologyhas made remarkableprogress.

"The establishmentof bi-national Indo-USScience and Technol-ogy Forum by the thenPrime Minister (AtalBihari) Vajpayeeji andPresident Bill Clintonwas a historic step inbuilding our relationship.

"The forum, through its diverseand flexible program portfolio, hasfacilitated in catalyzing some of ourpresent innovations," he said.

"Another flagship is the Indo-US New and Clean Energy Re-search Centre. This is the first kindof partnership that will have multi-institutional network project," theMinister said.

Chowdary said the new govern-ment had taken a number of steps

to boost science and technologyand country needs to recognizeand attract best brains.

"We need to motivate moreyoung people to take up scienceas career. This is a challenge notonly for India, but also a problemfaced around the world. We havea great responsibility. The worldis looking at India as a supplierand source of young minds andfertile brains," he said.

Chowdary said to motivatepeople for research careers, oneof the first steps taken by him af-

ter taking over as the Minister wasto increase the research grants forPhD, post-doctoral and researchfellows by almost 50 per cent.

"For minds to remain produc-tive, their pockets need to remaincomfortable as well," Chowdarysaid.

The Minister also appealed tothe science community to "pon-der over the possibility of changeof the course of cyclones and re-duction of the impact." -PTI

'Make in India missionneeds innovators'


‘We need to motivate moreyoung people to take upscience as career. This is achallenge not only for In-dia, but also a problemfaced around the world.’

Don't make fortune out of poor:Rajan to micro lenders

MUMBAI: Asking micro-lend-ers to look at only a "reasonableprofit" to sustain their businesswhile serving borrowers at thebottom of pyramid, RBIGovernor Raghuram Rajanhas said that one shouldnot think of making a for-tune while serving poor-est of the poor.

The comments come insharp contrast to manage-ment guru late CKPrahalad's views in hisbook 'The Fortune at theBottom of the Pyramid'.

The concept of the for-tune at the bottom of thepyramid originally ap-peared in an article byPrahalad and Stuart L Hartin business journal'Strategy+Business' in2004.

That was followed by abook with the same titlethat discussed new busi-ness models targeted at providinggoods and services to the poorest.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, aphilanthropist who has seen so farspent millions annually to help the

poor, has described the book assomething that offers an intrigu-ing blueprint for how to fight pov-erty with profitability.

Rajan, himself is a renownedeconomist, said during a recentmicro finance event, "I thinkPrahalad did a disservice by say-ing that there is a fortune at the

bottom of the pyramid."My sense is that you cannot,

in good conscience, make a for-tune at the bottom of the pyramid.

Make reasonable profits,but if you start making afortune, it does start rais-ing societal anxiety abouthow the fortune is beingmade".

Following the adviceof Prahalad, many compa-nies across the world andespecially consumergoods, auto and telecommarketers in the country,have begun to tap theunderserved markets andmade a big market out ofthem, Rajan said.

He added howeverthat reasonable profitmust be there at the bot-tom of the pyramid as thebusiness has to be self-sustaining.

"If business is notself-sustaining, then entities willmake a pretence of doing the busi-ness, but they are not really goingto get engaged until there are prof-its," Rajan noted. -PTI

Raghuram Rajan

RBI rate cut will give 'goodfillip' to economy: Jaitley

NEW DELHI: Pitching for a ratecut by RBI, Finance Minister ArunJaitley has said lower cost of capi-tal will give a "good fillip" to theeconomy.

"I am quite clear in my mind thatthe cost of capital has to comedown. Inflation has moderated,global fuel price haseased. Therefore, ifRBI, which is a highlyprofessional organi-zation, in its wisdomdecides to bringdown the cost of capi-tal (it) will give a goodfillip to the Indianeconomy," he said.

Delivering thekeynote address atthe Citi's InvestorSummit, Jaitleyhoped that as a pro-fessional organiza-tion the Reserve Bank will take"the best decision".

RBI Deputy Governor S SMundra, who was present, latersaid the central bank revises rate,but not on "popular demand. Itchanges when there is a clear con-viction".

At a different function, Mundratold reporters that RBI will takeinto account various economic

parameters while deciding on in-terest rate at its next policy.

The RBI, which has kept thekey borrowing rate at 8 per centsince January to check inflation,is scheduled to come out with itsnext monetary policy on Decem-ber 2.

Meanwhile, September retailinflation has dropped to a recordlow of 5.52 per cent in October,while the wholesale inflationeased to five-year low of 1.77 percent.

Indian economy, which slippedto below 5 per cent growth in twoconsecutive fiscals, is expected toimprove to 5.4 to 5.9 per cent in2014-15.-PTI

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

Tata Comm tospend $17.5 mnon new ideas

NEW DELHI: Threatened bystart-ups and new-age companies,Tata Communications plans tospend as much as USD 17.5 mil-lion (about Rs 108 crore) over thenext two years on funding 10 ideasthat have the potential to turn intomulti-million businesses.

The firm, part of the over USD100 billion Tata Group, alreadyruns a program - Moonwalks - toconcentrate on exploring new in-dustries and subjects.

"We are constantly beingthreatened by new ways of com-munication from start-ups and newgeneration companies. We believethe process of innovation beginswith curiosity and a desire tolearn," Tata Communications MDand CEO Vinod Kumar said in aninterview in the Tata Group's in-house magazine.

The idea is to get people com-fortable with something theyknow nothing about, he added.

"We invite our people to sub-mit ideas that have the potentialto become a USD 200 million busi-ness within 10 years and touchbillions of people," Kumar said.

The best ideas are selected andthen coached to implement theseideas, he added.-PTI

32 India Post November 21, 2014www.indiapost.com

In Brief ImmigrationDetails on page 34

The fate ofexecutiveaction on

immigration

House Republicans debate respondingto Obama's action plan

WASHINGTON: House Repub-licans debated how to respond toPresident Barack Obama's ex-pected executive action on immi-gration, with party leaders anxiousto craft a solution that satisfies thedemands of their most conserva-tive members without courting agovernment shutdown.

Obama's expected announce-ment could extend protectionsfrom deportation to as many as 5million people now in the countryillegally. Changes to law enforce-ment programs and an expansionof business visas also are ex-pected.

In response, House Republi-cans are considering various op-tions that include suing the presi-dent to overturn his action, orpassing a stand-alone bill to try tostop him. Some are pushing forHouse Republicans to write theirown immigration bill - somethingthey've been unable to do in thepast two years - to show they areserious about acting and pre-emptObama.

Another option would be topass a temporary spending bill intonext year when the Republicanswill control the Senate, to try tosee if they can use their grip onthe purse strings to gain leverageover the president.

But it's not clear that any ofthese options will be enough todeflate efforts brewing among

conservatives to try to use up-coming must-pass spending billsto block Obama from acting. Prag-matists in the caucus are warningloudly that such an approachcould result in a government shut-

down because Obama would likelyveto the bill. But at least some onthe right appear unconcerned.

Republican Rep. Steve Kingsaid he refused to ``take a posi-tion we're not going to use thepower of the purse to restrain apresident who has threatened toviolate the Constitution in themost obscene manner possible.''

As for shutdown fears, Kingpointed to the Republicans' suc-cess in the elections as evidencethat the party wasn't hurt by thelast government shutdown it pro-voked. That was a year ago, in an

unsuccessful effort to ``defund''Obama's health care law.

Many Republicans, though, aredetermined to avoid a shutdown,convinced they would pay a po-litical price, and disturbed thatthey already find themselves in theposition of debating one barely aweek after the elections awardedthem control of the Senate and a

bigger majority in the House ofRepresentatives. House SpeakerJohn Boehner and Senate Minor-ity Leader Mitch McConnell, whowill take over as majority leadercome January, both are intentupon avoiding a shutdown.

``Shutting the governmentdown would only serve thepresident's interests and weshouldn't take the bait,'' said Rep.Charlie Dent, a moderate Republi-can.

Obama says he must act be-cause House Republicans neverdid after the Senate passed asweeping bill with bipartisan sup-port more than a year ago that in-cluded a pathway to citizenshipfor most of the 11.5 million peoplein the country illegally.

At least some Republicans saythey should act now to depriveObama of that argument, althoughimmigration advocates have littlehope of the House arriving at abill that could pass the Senate andthat Obama would sign.

Judiciary Committee ChairmanBob Goodlatte is exploring op-tions including a lawsuit to stopObama on immigration, aides said.

Some on the right have goneso far as to suggest that Obamashould be impeached if he takesunilateral action on immigration,but few if any in the House viewthat as a viable option, even if theythink it might be merited. -AP

People rally for comprehensive immigration reform outside the White House inWashington. According to advocates in touch with the White House,

President Barack Obama is poised to act soon to unveil a series of executiveactions on immigration that will shield possibly around 5 million immigrants

living in the country illegally from deportation. Timing of the announcement isunclear, though it's expected before the end of 2014.

US, Israel, Palestine to be given e-visa facility on Nov 27NEW DELHI: Citizens of

USA, Israel and Palestine areamong 28 countries who wouldbe given the electronic visa fa-cility to be launched on Novem-ber 27.

The e-visa facility for 28countries would be rolled out byHome Minister Rajnath Singhalong with Tourism MinisterMahesh Sharma at a specially-organized function here, said asenior Tourism Ministry official.

Besides 13 countries whichare currently enjoying the visa-on-arrival facility, Russia, Brazil,Germany, Thailand, UAE,Ukraine, Jordan, Norway and

Mauritius among others are get-ting e-visa facility in the firstphase.

All arrangements, including

the software for this system, isready now and will be operationalat nine international airports in-cluding Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai,Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru,

Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram andGoa.

In order to get e-visa, onewould need to apply on the des-

ignated website along the re-quired fees. They would begranted an electronic version ofthe visa within 96 hours.

As per the government deci-

sion, all countries, except a fewin the "prior list", will bebrought into the e-visa regimein the next two years.

Barring countries like Paki-stan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran,Iraq, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and So-malia, all 180 countries will becovered under e-visa regime inphases, the official said.

The e-visa is expected togive a big boost to the foreigntourist arrivals in the country.While in January about 4.95lakh foreign tourists came toIndia, 51.79 lakh came duringJanuary-September this year. -PTI

New York endscooperation withfeds on deportations

NEW YORK: New York MayorBill de Blasio has signed two lawsthat cut the city's cooperation withUS federal authorities on the de-portation of undocumented immi-grants.

Blasting federal immigrationenforcement as "overbroad," deBlasio said America's most popu-lated city would now only coop-erate with national authoritieswhen there are concerns over pub-lic safety or when immigrants havecommitted "violent or serious"crimes.

"Mass deportation has not onlypulled apart thousands of NewYork City families, it has also un-dermined public safety in our com-munities and imposed dispropor-tionate penalties on immigrant par-ents and spouses who these fami-lies depend on for emotional andfinancial support," de Blasio saidin a statement.

"Today, we send another mes-sage to Washington that the timeto act has come to provide reliefto so many individuals who con-tribute to our nation's growth."

The announcement comes at acrucial time for illegal immigrantscurrently in the United States, asPresident Barack Obama preparesto take measures to prevent thedeportation of about five millionof them, according to The NewYork Times. -AFP

Portugal ministerresigns over 'goldenvisas' probe

LISBON: Portugal's InteriorMinister Miguel Macedo has re-signed, three days after top offi-cials were detained in a corruptionprobe linked to "golden visas" forwealthy foreign investors.

Several senior government of-ficials, including the head of theborder service, were arrested afterpolice raids on dozens of premises,including the interior and environ-ment ministries and offices linkedto the justice ministry.

Macedo, 55, who had been inthe job since 2011, said he "hadno personal responsibility" in thecase but his "political authority"had been weakened by the scan-dal.

In televised comments, he saidhe had quit to "defend the gov-ernment and the authority of thestate and the credibility of its in-stitutions."

Portuguese police made a totalof 11 arrests in raids on chargesincluding corruption, money laun-dering and influence peddling inconnection with the visa scheme.-AFP

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India Post 33November 21, 2014 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

Reagan, Bush also acted alone to shield immigrantsWASHINGTON: President

Barack Obama's anticipated orderthat would shield millions of im-migrants now living illegally inthe U.S. from deportation is notwithout precedent.

Two of the last three Republi-can presidents - Ronald Reaganand George H.W. Bush - did thesame thing in extending amnestyto family members who were notcovered by the last major over-haul of immigration law in 1986.

There was no political explo-sion then comparable to the oneRepublicans are threateningnow.

A tea party-influenced GOP ispoised to erupt if and whenObama follows through on hispromise. He wants to extend pro-tection from deportation to mil-lions of immigrant parents andspouses of U.S. citizens and per-manent residents, and expand his2-year-old program that shieldsimmigrants brought illegally tothis country as children.

``The audacity of this presi-dent to think he can completelydestroy the rule of law with thestroke of a pen is unfathomableto me,'' said GOP Rep. Steve Kingof Iowa, an outspoken opponentof relaxing U.S. immigration law.`Ìt is unconstitutional, it is cyni-cal, and it violates the will of theAmerican people.''

Such strong feelings are com-mon among congressional Re-publicans. GOP leaders warn thatan executive order from Obama

would ̀ `poison the well'' and se-verely damage Republicans' will-ingness to work with the presi-dent during his final two yearsin office.

Some Republicans have evenraised the possibility of impeach-ment.

Nearly three decades ago,there was barely a peep whenReagan and Bush used their au-thority to extend amnesty to thespouses and minor children ofimmigrants covered by the 1986law.

In 1986, Congress and Reaganenacted a sweeping overhaul

that gave legal status to up to 3million immigrants without au-thorization to be in the country,if they had come to the U.S. be-fore 1982. Spouses and childrenwho could not meet that test didnot qualify, which incited pro-tests that the new law was break-ing up families.

Early efforts in Congress to

amend the law to cover familymembers failed. In 1987, Reagan'sImmigration and NaturalizationService commissioner an-nounced that minor children ofparents granted amnesty by thelaw would get protection fromdeportation.

Spouses and children ofcouples in which one parentqualified for amnesty but theother did not remained subjectto deportation, leading to effortsto amend the 1986 law.

In a parallel to today, the Sen-ate acted in 1989 to broaden le-gal status to families but the

House never took up the bill.Through the INS, Bush ad-vanced a new ``family fairness''policy that put in place the Sen-ate measure. Congress passedthe policy into law by the end ofthe year as part of broader immi-gration legislation.

`Ìt's a striking parallel,'' saidMark Noferi of the pro-immigra-tion American Immigration Coun-cil. ̀ `Bush Sr. went big at the time.He protected about 40 percent ofthe unauthorized population.Back then that was up to 1.5 mil-lion. Today that would be about5 million.''

But a lawyer who worked onthe 1986 law and the 1990 follow-up as an aide to then-Sen. AlanSimpson, R-Wyo., said Bush'saction wasn't controversial be-cause it came after lawmakershad made it clear they were go-ing to tackle the issue.

That's not the case now.``Bush Sr. took the action that

he did but it wasn't as if Con-gress was legislating anything tothe contrary,'' said Carl Hampe of

Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen &Loewy. ̀ `What's different now isthat there is no clear path to leg-islative relief for the class ofbeneficiaries for which thepresident's order would providerelief.''

Obama's announcement couldcover as many as 5 millionpeople. Like Bush, Obama is ex-pected to extend deportationprotections to families of U.S.citizens or permanent residents.

`Ìt's clear that it's fully withinhis legal authority to issue theseorders, ' ' said Rep. JoaquinCastro, D-Texas. He said Repub-licans ̀ didn't raise any objectionsin the past when Republicanpresidents issued similar orders.This is pure political theater.''

Obama's anticipated actionwould not award legal status,but it would offer temporary pro-tection from deportation and the

possibility of obtaining a workpermit.

``There's always some prece-dent for prosecutorial discre-tion,'' said Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz. ``But this president wouldcall tearing the Constitution intotiny little pieces in the WhiteHouse prosecutorial discretion.''

House Speaker John Boehner,R-Ohio, is stopping short ofthreatening to use Congress'power of the purse to thwart anyexecutive action by Obama.Boehner's priority is to avoid agovernment shutdown. But hemade it clear that Republicanswill make Obama pay a price if hecarries out his threat.

`Èvery administration needsthis and needs that, needs allkinds of things,'' Boehner said.``You know, if he wants to go offon his own, there are things thathe's just not going to get.'' -AP

File picture of President Ronald Reagan speaking during a news conferenceat the White House in Washington.

A lawyer who worked on the 1986 law andthe 1990 follow-up as an aide to then-Sen.Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., said Bush's actionwasn't controversial because it came afterlawmakers had made it clear they weregoing to tackle the issue.

India Post34 November 21, 2014Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

The fate of executive action on immigrationGARY ENDELMAN & CYRUS D. MEHTA

For courage - not complacency - is our need today -leadership - not salesman-

ship. And the only valid test ofleadership is the ability to lead,and lead vigorously. - SenatorJohn F. Kennedy's speech accept-ing the 1960 Democratic nomi-nation for President

Ever since the Democrats got adrubbing in the midterm elections,questions remain about the fate ofimmigration reform. PresidentObama had promised to reform thesystem through executive actionafter the election. The question iswhether he will still do it despitethe Republican Party gaining de-cisive control over both the Sen-ate as well as the House.

On November 7, PresidentObama defiantly said that hewould take executive action on im-migration despite howls of protestsfrom Republican leaders. Theythreatened that Obama's unilateralaction in the face of defeat in themidterm election would derail re-form immigration legislation.

The authors believe that execu-tive action ought not "poison thewell, a term that has been oft re-peated by the GOP againstObama's proposed executive ac-tion, although it dare be said thatthe well no longer contains anywater! If the President has author-ity under the Immigration and Na-tionality Act to take executive ac-tion in order to improve the de-

crepit immigration system, we donot see how it would usurp onCongress's authority or violate theSeparation of Powers doctrine.

We have shown in Two AcesUp President Obama's Sleeve ToAchieve Immigration reform With-out Congress: Not Counting Fam-ily Members And Parole In Placethat the President can comprehen-sively reform the immigration sys-tem as part of his inherent authority.

There is also sufficient ambigu-ity in many provisions of the Im-migration and Nationality Actthat beg reinterpretation so thatthey can bring ameliorative reliefto millions. A governmentagency's interpretation of an am-biguous statute is entitled to def-erence under Chevron U.S.A. Inc.v. Natural Resources DefenseCouncil, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984)-often abbreviated as "Chevron

deference". When a statute isambiguous in this way, the Su-preme Court has made clear inNational Cable & Telecom-munications Assn. v. Brand XInternet Services, 545 U.S. 967(2005), the agency may reconsiderits interpretation even after thecourts have approved of it.

Thus, there is no need for theRepublicans to feel threatened byObama's proposed executive ac-tions. If they do desire to passimmigration reform legislation,they can always do so and caneven improve on the administra-tive measures that Obama can pos-sibly implement.

After all, executive action willalways be limited and is no sub-stitute for legislation.

The President would only havethe authority to defer the deporta-tion of non-citizens who meet cer-tain deserving criteria; he cannotissue them green cards or createnew visa categories without Con-gressional action.

The President may also haveauthority to reinterpret ambiguousprovisions, such as INA section203(d) so that family members areall counted as a single unit ratherthan separately, thereby reducingor even eliminating much of thecrushing backlogs in the familyand employment-based prefer-ences.

Indeed, Obama's executive ac-tion could be conditioned on Con-

gress passing meaningful immigra-tion reform legislation, upon whichsuch action can be withdrawn.Subsequent immigration legisla-tion from Congress can also incor-porate some of the administrativemeasures, such as not countingfamily members separately.

The notion of not counting fam-ily already exists in S. 744, whichwas passed by the Senate in a bi-partisan manner in June 2013, andwhich the House has never takenup. Indeed, the House can still voteon this measure today and canpass comprehensive immigrationreform even before Obama acts.

The question is whether theGOP is ready to pass immigrationlegislation. The real reason that S.744 was not taken up in the GOPcontrolled House, even prior to themidterm elections, was the dislikethat many House members in le-

galizing millions of undocumentedpeople who have deep ties withthe United States and who are alsopart of American families.

This dislike is grounded in na-tivist tendencies that many GOPHouse members have shown, andwho receive support from xeno-phobic organizations such asNumbersUSA and Federation for

American Immigration Reform.Even if President Obama gives thenew GOP Congress time to enactimmigration legislation, they maynever be able to do so because ofthe nativist element within theparty that will always be opposedto any immigration measures saveborder security and tough immi-gration enforcement.

Executive action on immigra-tion is hardly novel. After Castrotook power in Cuba, PresidentsEisenhower, Kennedy andJohnson paroled in more than900,000 Cubans. Seven years later,Congress signified its approvalthrough enactment of the CubanAdjustment Act in 1966. In recentdecades, when emergencieserupted and humanitarian crisespresented themselves, Presidentsof both political parties have nothesitated to act on their own initia-tive outside the customary chan-nels of legislative activity, often toprotect large numbers of vulnerableimmigrants from deportation.

This has happened over 20times since the mid-1970's. In al-most all such instances, the Con-gress subsequently ratified suchexecutive orders with appropriatelegislation. This is, for example,what happened at the close ofWorld War II when PresidentTruman allowed 250,000 Europeanrefugees to enter or remain in theUnited States; three years later, in1948, Congress enacted the Dis-placed Persons Act, allowing400,000 additional admissions.

In April 1975, at the end of theVietnam War, President Ford as-serted his parole authority to sanc-tion the evacuation of 200,000South Vietnamese. Further con-gressional approval of PresidentFord's executive order came in1980 with enactment of the Refu-

gee Act making possible the re-settlement of 1.4 millionIndochinese people. That sameyear, President Carter took in130,000 Mariel Cubans who even-tually obtained "Cuban-Haitianentrant status" under PresidentReagan.

Six years later, the ImmigrationReform and Control Act madethese Cuban-Haitian entrants law-ful permanent residents of theUnited States. The next year, At-torney General Meese ordered thelegacy INS not to remove some200,000 Nicaraguans and, a littleafter that, extended similar protec-tion to 190,000 Salvadorans seek-ing to escape from the horrors ofcivil war.

Ten years after Attorney Gen-eral Meese first acted, Congressmade possible their adjustment ofstatus. In 1989, followingTiananmen Square, the Bush Ad-ministration granted Deferred En-forced Departure to 80,000 Chi-nese students studying here; threeyears later, Congress paved theway for their green card statusthrough the Chinese Student Pro-tection Act.

The point is always the sameand remains instructive today: Ex-ecutive Action in immigration isalways a prelude to congressionallegislation, not a substitute for itnor a barrier to its enactment.

President Obama is also in abind now and of his own doing.

He had promised to take executiveaction well before the midterm elec-tions, but delayed doing so afterbeing persuaded by DemocraticSenators who were facing defeatsuch as Mark Pryor and KayHagan, and who in any event loston November 2, 2014. Obama'sdelay in reforming the broken im-migration system through execu-tive action thus backfired. Theauthors believe that had he takenimmigration action prior to theelection, it may have energizedsome of his base who could haveturned up in the election.

Perhaps, Mark Udall of Colo-rado may not have lost if he hadbeen less ambivalent about immi-gration, and if Obama had beenable to implement a major historicimmigration initiative. The de-ferred action initiative for immi-grant youth prior to the Presiden-

tial election in 2012 certainlyhelped Obama's victory. Obama hadpromised immigration reform to theHispanic community and has tolive up to that promise in order tosecure his legacy, and to improvethe chances of Democratic Presi-dential candidates in 2016.

It would be harder for him toimplement administrative immi-gration reform now that his partyhas lost control of the Senate, buthe still has the authority to do soand he must.

The political imperative for ex-ecutive action is undeniable. Ac-cording to an analysis of censusdata by the Center for AmericanProgress, the Latino populationin America increased by 43% inthe first decade of the 21st cen-tury. This year, 24.8 millionLatinos were eligible to vote; interms of eligible voters, they ac-counted for 11.3% of the entirepopulation.

Over the next four years, ex-perts anticipate that more than 4million Latino voters will beadded to the rolls. This is a 17%increase in time for the 2016 elec-tion. The potential impact in keybattleground states could be de-cisive. In Florida alone, projec-tions by the Center for AmericanProgress are that 600,000 Hispan-ics (as compared to 125, 000 newAnglo voters) will be eligible tovote in the next presidential elec-tion. In Texas, a state without

which it would be virtually impos-sible for the GOP to win the WhiteHouse, roughly 900,000 new His-panic voters are expected to jointhe electorate by 2016, washingaway the projected Anglo voterincrease of 185,000.

Remember also that more than90% of Latinos under age 18 areUS citizens and that 800,000Latinos become voter eligibleeach year as the Anglo share ofthe American electorate contin-ues to fall each election cycle.

There is a political opportunityhere for the Republicans if theycan recognize it. The re-electionof two Hispanic Republican Gov-ernors - Susan Martinez in NewMexico and Brian Sandoval inNevada - show that the Hispanicvote can no longer be taken forgranted.

Executive action on immigration is hardlynovel. After Castro took power in Cuba,Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy andJohnson paroled in more than 900,000Cubans. Seven years later, Congress signi-fied its approval

Over the next four years, experts antici-pate that more than 4 million Latino voterswill be added to the rolls. This is a 17%increase in time for the 2016 election. Thepotential impact in key battleground statescould be decisive.

On November 7,President Obamadefiantly said that hewould take execu-tive action on immi-gration despite howlsof protests from Re-publican leaders

Cont'd on Page 35

Sino-US visa deal to unleash travel, trade boom

Texas Attorney General GregAbbott won 44% of the Hispanicvote in thumping Democratic StateSenator Wendy Davis by 30points. In Georgia, RepublicanGovernor Nathan Deal rode to re-election in no small part on thebasis of 47% of the Hispanic votewhile Senator-elect David Perduedefeated his Democratic chal-lenger Michelle Nunn, daughter offormer Senator Sam Nunn, havingearned 42% of the Hispanic vote.

In an election eve poll by LatinoDecisions, some 67% of those sur-veyed revealed that immigrationwas either the most or one of themost important issues. For thosepolitical junkies interested in astate by state breakdown, we of-fer this also for their reading plea-sure. If the Republicans recognizethat they can woo the Hispanicelectorate in their favor in light ofthese recent trends, it would be intheir best interest to focus on pass-ing comprehensive immigrationlegislation even while Obamatakes executive action.

In 1924, in a vain effort to tapdown the anticipated political in-fluence of surging Jewish andCatholic immigrant populationsfrom Southern and Eastern Europe,the Republican Party created anational origins quota using 1890as a baseline population year to

increase Protestant migration fromNorthern and Western Europe.This remained in effect until itsabolition in 1965. But, it did notwork.

The children and grandchildrenof those disfavored ethnic and re-ligious groups who had alreadymade it to the New World beforethe gates closed did not forgetthis slap in the face and becamethe cornerstone of a New Dealcoalition that swept the Demo-

cratic Party to national victory in5 straight presidential elections.For the Republican Party to blockPresident Obama now would be torepeat that historic mistake andconsign itself to minority statuson the presidential level for de-cades to come.

It would be a political miscal-culation of epic proportions. Thestakes are no less high for theDemocrats. No longer competitivein the states of the Old Confed-eracy, if they want to retain the

India Post 35November 21, 2014 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

Nobel summit moved to Romeafter Dalai Lama visa row

BEIJING: The new liberalizedvisa agreement between China andthe US will unleash a major traveland trade boom between theworld's two largest economies andwill also be used as a template byBeijing to make similar arrange-ments with other developed coun-tries, Chinese officials said.

The new agreement made dur-ing the recent visit of US Presi-dent Barack Obama to Beijing forAsia-Pacific Economic Coopera-tion (APEC) summit will extend thevalidity of B1, B2 and B1/B2 visasto 10 years from one year for Chi-nese citizens traveling to the USfor business or leisure.

B1 visa is for business and B2visa for tourism while B1/ B2 cov-ers both.

US citizens applying for tour-ism, business and visiting visasfor China will enjoy a reciprocalarrangement, Huang Ping, Direc-tor General of the Consular De-partment said.

"It will also be used as a tem-

plate to make similar arrangementswith other developed countries,"official media here quoted Huang

as saying.Officials believe the new 10-

year visa policy for tourists andbusinessmen willbenefit about 80 percent of travelers be-tween the countries.

Chinese ForeignMinistry statisticsshow that 4.05 mil-lion people traveledbetween China andthe US last year and70 to 80 per cent ofthem were businesspeople and tourists.

"It means that anaverage of more than10,000 people aretraveling betweenthe two countriesevery day," Huangsaid.

A number of Chi-nese are buyingproperties in the US,taking advantage ofliberalized invest-

ment regime by Washington toattract more investments.

Huang said that consultationswill be continued to better facili-tate short-term official visit visasand work visas in both countries.

"We are making step-by-stepefforts to cover those who travel,for whatever purpose, with recip-rocal polices," he said.

"China has spared no efforts topromote visa facilitation with othercountries. We hope the agreementwith the US can set an example forfuture consultations betweenChina and other developed coun-tries," he said.

Li Haidong, a professor of USstudies at China Foreign AffairsUniversity, said the reciprocal visaarrangement reflects break-throughs China has made on visaapplications with developed coun-tries.

Huang said Canada is offeringChinese travelers 10-year visas fortourism, business and general vis-its.

European countries, includingBritain, France, Italy, Germany andSpain, are also issuing long-valid-ity visas to an increasing numberof Chinese, state-run China Dailyreported.

Jia Xiudong, a researcher at theChina Institute of InternationalStudies, said visa facilitation is theresult of growing demand, both inChina and foreign countries.

"China's stunning economicdevelopment has made it possiblefor more and more Chinese totravel abroad," he said.

Huang, however, admitted thatthe government's work has notmatched the growing demand fromChinese citizens for more conve-nient visas.

For example, the number ofcountries that have signed mutualvisa exemption agreements withChina for ordinary passport hold-ers is relatively small, while require-ments in some countries for Chi-nese visa applicants are quite strin-gent, he said. -PTI

U.S. President Barack Obama, right, and ChinesePresident Xi Jinping, arrive together for a G20

Summit family photo with other world leaders inBrisbane, Australia

The fate of executive actionon immigration

electoral college advantage andpopular vote majority they haveenjoyed in the last 6 presidentialelections, the Democratic Partymust seize and hold the highground in the key states of Florida,Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, NewMexico as well as retain their domi-nant position in California.

Much as civil rights has spelledtheir political irrelevance in the OldSouth, immigration can be their

salvation in the battlegroundswing states where the Hispanicvote is and will remain the path topower. Both political parties havea vested interest in a robust em-brace of immigration reform. ForAmerica's sake, let us devoutlywish that they realize it.

(Guest author Gary Endelmanis the Senior Counsel at Foster)

The children and grandchildren of thosedisfavored ethnic and religious groupswho had already made it to the New Worldbefore the gates closed did not forget thisslap in the face and became the corner-stone of a New Deal

* Cyrus D Mehta, may be contactedat 212-425-0555 or

[email protected]

Cont'd from Page 34JOHANNESBURG: A summit of

Nobel peace laureates scheduledto be held in Cape Town has beenmoved to Rome after the SouthAfrican government failed to is-sue a visa to the Dalai Lama, orga-nizers said.

The gathering will now takeplace in the Italian city from De-cember 12-14, the summit's secre-tariat said in a statement.

The event was "sus-pended" in September "af-ter the South African gov-ernment failed to issue avisa for His Holiness theDalai Lama who had hopedto attend the world peacesummit in Cape Town," itsaid.

The South African gov-ernment however has de-nied refusing entry toTibet's exiled spiritualleader, saying instead thathe withdrew his applica-tion.

It marks the third time the gov-ernment has dragged its feet on avisa for the bespectacled monk asthe country builds closer eco-nomic ties with China.

The event would have been thefirst-ever summit of Nobel peacelaureates in Africa.

Rome is where the summit wasoriginally conceived and the cityhosted the first eight of the laure-ates' get-togethers. Previous sum-mits have been held in Paris, Ber-

lin, Hiroshima, Chicago and War-saw.

Next month's summit will cel-ebrate the 20th anniversary of theend of apartheid in South Africaand the legacy of the late NelsonMandela - also a Nobel peaceprize winner.

South Africa's retired Arch-bishop Desmond Tutu will lead the

official opening ceremony of theRome summit. Commenting on thevisa row last month, Tutu said hewas "ashamed to call thislickspittle bunch my government".

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in1959 after a failed uprising againstChinese rule and has lived in exileever since.

China accuses the Dalai Lamaof seeking to split Tibet from therest of China and of fomentingunrest in the region. -AFP

Dalai Lama

www.indiapost.com36 India Post November 21, 2014

Health ScienceHealth Line

Details on Page 39

Hundreds ofkids harmedby detergent

'pods'

160 Chinese health workersin Liberia to fight Ebola

MONROVIA: A contingent of160 Chinese healthcare workershas arrived in Liberia to staff aUSD 41 million Ebola treatmentunit in the country the hardest-hit by the deadly virus, the Chi-nese embassy said here.

Many of the doctors, epide-miologists and nurses who willwork in the unit previouslyhelped tackle the SARS epidemicin Asia, it said in a statement.

"They experienced SARS (Se-vere Acute Respiratory Syn-drome). They are very knowl-edgeable in this area," Ambas-sador Zhang Yue said.

Engineers hope to get the unitbuilt and operational within 10days.

Since the unit will be made ofconcrete, the embassy said itwould leave a lasting legacy tothe impoverished West Africancountry, where at least 2,812people have so far died of thedeadly virus.

Zhang said the unit would beunique because most of theother treatment units are tempo-rary structures. "China is theonly country which provides not

only the construction of an Ebolatreatment unit, but also the run-ning, operation and the staffingof it."

"Further on we will provide

additional material to Liberiaworth around USD 5 million. Soall together USD 46 million ofour aid is exclusively to Liberia,"Zhang added.

So far Beijing has promisedEbola-hit countries the equiva-lent of USD 122 million to helpfight the epidemic.

China is Africa's largest trad-ing partner, and its diplomaticfootprint across the continenthas expanded hugely in recentyears as it seeks resources topower its economy.

Still it is a long way behindthe European Union, whoseleaders have boosted their Ebolaaid to one billion euros (USD1.26 billion).

The United States has ear-marked more than USD 350 mil-lion in aid, while the World Bankand African Development Bankpledged USD 400 million andUSD 225 million respectively. -AFP

The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 5,160 people since it first emerged inWest Africa in December 2013, according to the World Health Organisation

Indian pleads guilty in $19mn healthcare fraud

NEW YORK: A 59-year oldIndian physician has pleadedguilty for his role in a USD 19 mil-lion healthcare fraud scheme inwhich he submitted fraudulentclaims for home visits and directedfalse referrals for home health careby his employee physicians.

Rajesh Doshi of Michiganpleaded guilty to conspiracy tocommit healthcare fraud and onecount of health care fraud andwould be sentenced in Marchnext year, Assistant AttorneyGeneral Leslie R Caldwell of theJustice Department's CriminalDivision said.

According to his plea agree-ment, Doshi admitted that be-tween October 2005 and Septem-ber 2012, he conspired with oth-ers to commit health care fraudby referring Medicare beneficia-ries for home health care that wasnot medically necessary, andthen submitting false and fraudu-

lent claims for the care to Medi-care for reimbursement.

Doshi admitted that he submit-ted these false claims throughHome Physicians Services (HPS),a medical practice he owned inMichigan. He also paid kickbacksto recruiters to obtain Medicarebeneficiaries and home healthagencies owned by co-conspira-tors. He and his co-conspiratorsthen falsified medical and billingrecords for purported physicianhome visits, sometimes addingdiagnoses to make it appear thatthe beneficiaries qualified for andrequired home care when they didnot, and other times, "upcoding"physician home visits to higherlevels of complexity than actuallyperformed.

Between October 2005 andSeptember 2012, Doshi and hisco-conspirators caused Medicareto pay more than USD 19 millionbased on false claims. -PTI

Nonprofits battle healthinsurance misinformation

NEW ORLEANS: Nonprofitgroups preparing to help peoplein Louisiana sign up for insuranceunder the federal health care lawsay they have had to battle misin-formation and misconceptionsabout the program as they pre-pared for the opening of the sec-ond round of enrollments.

Brian Burton, state coordina-tor for three nonprofits, said somedoctors have told patients theydon't accept Affordable Care Actplans. But, says Burton, there's noway to tell a policy boughtthrough the ACA marketplace ex-changes from a policy purchasedoutside the marketplace.

He provided a notice that asouthwest Louisiana resident re-ceived from a Texas medical part-nership.

``Children's ENT of Houston isnot a network provider for any Af-fordable Care Act (ACA -Obamacare) plan,'' it begins. ̀ `Wecannot see patients who are cov-

ered under ACA insurance planswithout an out-of-network refer-ral or authorization.''

Practice manager NancyTurner said that Children's ENT

received requests to join networksfor ACA plans and rejected thembecause their reimbursement rateswere lower than Medicaid.

A medical worker prepares avaccination for the flu.

Ebola-infecteddoctor 'extremelycritical' in US

WASHINGTON: A doctor re-ceiving care in United States afterfalling ill with Ebola in his nativeSierra Leone remains in "extremelycritical" condition, the hospitaltreating him said.

Martin Salia, a US resident whowas infected with the deadly hem-orrhagic fever while treating pa-tients in his home country, wasflown to Omaha, Nebraska fortreatment.

The University of NebraskaMedical Center, where Salia is be-ing held in isolation to preventany possible infection, tweetedthat he was "still extremely criti-cal."

"Maximum supportive care andevery available treatment optionbeing used to save his life," itadded.

The UNMC is one of a handfulof medical facilities in the UnitedStates specially designated totreat Ebola patients. Salia is thethird Ebola patient to be treatedthere - the previous two survived.

Of the nine Ebola patientstreated in the United States be-fore Salia's arrival, only one hasdied: Liberian Thomas EricDuncan.

In sharp contrast, the diseasehas proved deadly in an estimated70 per cent of cases in West Af-rica, killing more than 5,100 peoplesince December, most in hardest-hit Guinea, Liberia and SierraLeone. -AFP

Cont'd on Page 39

Drinking coffeecan keepdiabetes at bay

LONDON: Drinking up to fourcups of coffee a day can slash therisk of diabetes by 25 per cent, anew study has claimed.

To mark World Diabetes Day,the Institute for Scientific Infor-mation on Coffee (ISIC) in Swit-zerland has published its annualdiabetes report outlining the lat-est research on coffee and type 2diabetes.

The research concludes thatregular, moderate consumption ofcoffee may decrease anindividual's risk of developingtype 2 diabetes.

Epidemiological evidenceshows that drinking three to fourcups of coffee per day is associ-ated with an approximate 25 percent lower risk of developing type2 diabetes, compared to consum-ing none to less than two cupsper day.

Cont'd on Page 37

India PostHealth Science Post 37

www.indiapost.com

November 21, 2014

Health care push comes to bars, nail salonsCOLUMBUS, Ohio: The pitch for health

care coverage is being made at nail salons,pizzerias, mosques and even bars.

As the second enrollment period underPresident Barack Obama's health care lawbegins, advocates are employingnew tactics and expanding oldones to reach people who needinsurance. Some groups are target-ing populations they believeslipped through the cracks duringthe last enrollment period.

``We've had great success atlaundromats,'' said Robin Stock-ton, the navigator program direc-tor for the Center for Family Ser-vices, a nonprofit based inCamden, New Jersey.

The informal chat betweenwash-and-dry cycles can piqueinterest and lead some customersto call their hotline for more infor-mation, she said.

``Typically,'' she said, ̀ `the ques-tion you get back is: Ìs this thatObamacare thing?'''

Open enrollment runs until Feb.15. The HealthCare.gov website,where people can sign up andsearch for coverage, appeared tobe running smoothly.

Health and Human ServicesSecretary Sylvia M. Burwelltweeted that the website openedshortly after 1 a.m., with more than23,000 people submitting applications withinthe first eight hours. She said 1.2 million

unique visitors looked at coverage usingthe site's window-shopping tool in the lastweek.

In Washington State, though, the healthcare exchange shut down after the first few

hours of open enrollment as state officialsand software engineers tried to resolve aproblem with tax credit calculations.

The Obama administration aims to have9.1 million paying customers enrolled in2015. That's well below the 13 million thatthe Congressional Budget Office had pro-jected.

In Philadelphia, Enroll America organizerNeil Rickett is armed with a list of 500 barsand restaurants as he makes his waythrough downtown, popping in and out ofeateries. He approaches bartenders, waitstaff and other service industry workerswhose high turnover and odd hours oftenresult in a lack of health coverage. He getsworkers' contact information and some-times schedules appointments to meet withthem.

``By going to them, we're upping ourchance of getting the people we missed ordidn't get enrolled last time,'' Rickett said.

In New Jersey, Stockton's nonprofit isamong the community-based groups guid-ing people through the enrollment process.When they aren't taking appointments, the17 navigators take their enrollment messageon the road.

The helpers set up tables of brochuresat festivals and malls. They make cold callsto pizza parlors, Chinese restaurants andother small businesses where they some-times post information on bulletin boards.And with encrypted tablets and mobile of-fices, they have signed people up for cov-erage at churches, synagogues, mosquesand a Buddhist temple.

``We're very flexible about the times thatwe can go out and make it convenient,''Stockton said.

The organization's contact informationin a newspaper caught the attention offreelance writer Susan Van DongenGrigsby, who has COBRA coveragethrough her husband's former employer,though it expires next year.

`Ì don't want to find myself without anycoverage a few months from now,'' said VanDongen Grigsby, 55, of Bordentown, NewJersey.

Changing insurance has been on hermind since her husband retired in 2012. Shepays $689 a month and hopes to find acheaper plan. She said that she resisted themarketplace last year because she liked herCOBRA coverage and that hearing horrorstories about the website didn't help.

`Ì just would like someone walk to methrough it and see what the options are,''said Van Dongen Grigsby, who has an ap-pointment this month with Stockton's group.

One organization in northeast Ohioplans to host information sessions withsalon owners and their employees to helpenroll Asian-Americans in coverage.

Cathy Vue, an assistant manager ofAsian Services in Action Inc., said the or-ganization also is putting together a freecalendar for Asian groups that will includeAffordable Care Act information in theirnative language. Each page of the 12-month calendar will feature a picture of a

community member - Nepali, Korean,Hmong, Burmese - wearing native clothing.

``This is kind of a way that we're hopingwill get the community involved,'' Vue said.`À lot of times they feel invisible so to havethat visibility, I think, is really powerful.''

Word of mouth from a client led per-sonal trainer Arthur Hunter to seek en-rollment help from The Voice of Your Cus-tomer, a minority-owned business in Cin-cinnati that has counselors assisting withsign-ups. Hunter has health insurancethrough his wife's employer, though thetwo are getting a divorce. He hoped toget his coverage lined up.

`Ì don't want to have a day go by with-out having it,'' said Hunter, 47. ``Healthand fitness is so important to me - thatfor me, one of the most important thingsis to have that health care coverage.''

Anne Filipic, president of EnrollAmerica, said reaching the uninsurednaturally will get harder from year to yearas more people get coverage. Part of thechallenge this period, she said, is for or-ganizers not just to connect people tohealth insurance but also to make surethose enrolled keep their coverage andmake any necessary updates.

``This year, we really have to be able towalk and chew gum at the same time,'' Filipicsaid. -APEnroll America organizer Neil Rickett visits restaurants

and bars to make a pitch for health coverage to bartend-ers, waitresses and other staffers, in Philadelphia.

The research also suggested an inverse(i.e. favorable) association, with each ad-ditional cup of coffee reducing the relativerisk of developing type 2 diabetes by 7-8per cent.

The study indicates that caffeine is un-likely to be responsible for this effect.

A recent meta-analysis suggested thatconsumption of both caffeinated anddecaffeinated coffee is associated with alower risk oftype 2 diabetes.

Recent worksuggests thatthe type of cof-fee may also af-fect the strengthof the inverse(i.e. favorable)a s s o c i a t i o n ,with filtered cof-fee exhibiting agreater protec-tive effect than boiled coffee, anddecaffeinated coffee exhibiting a greaterprotective effect than caffeinated coffee.

More than 380 million people worldwidehave diabetes, with an economic burdenof USD 548 billion, making it one of themost significant global health problems, theinstitute said. -PTI

Drinking coffeecan keep diabetesat bayCont'd from Page 36

India Post Health Science Post38

www.indiapost.com

November 21, 2014

Indian to set up pharmaplant in Saudi Arabia

DUBAI: A UAE-based promi-nent Indian businessman will in-vest over USD 266 million to es-tablish a pharmaceutical plant inSaudi Arabia that would manufac-ture medicine for cancer and den-gue.

B R Shetty, managing directorand CEO of Neo Pharma, signedan agreement with Prince Turki binMohamed bin Nasser, in chargeof Jazan Industrial City and ShaikhMohammed Rafik, chairman ofGammon Group.

Under the agreement, Shetty'scompany will set up the plant inthe Jazan Industrial City, which isbeing developed by GammonGroup and is expected to attractinvestments valued at USD 20 bil-lion.

Prince Turki welcomed Shettyand his partners to tap the hugepotential of Saudi healthcare mar-ket.

"The government's policy is toencourage and support foreigninvestors to play a great role indeveloping our economy. Thestate-owned Saudi Industrial De-velopment Fund will pay the in-vestors 75 per cent of their projectcost in interest-free soft loans for

20 years," he said.Praising Indian expatriates' sin-

cerity to work and honesty in deal-ings, he underscored the need tofurther boost the excellent rela-

tions with India, Saudi Gazette re-ported.

"It's an immense pleasure forus to have a leading Indian inves-tor coming to Jazan with big in-vestments. Shetty is enough forus as he can bring his partners tothe Kingdom, and this will be

good signal for other investors tocome and invest," Prince Turkisaid.

"I have ambitious plans to tapthe potential of this holy land,

blessed byGod, by mak-ing invest-ments first inJazan, then inJeddah andR i y a d h , "Shetty said.

"I think itis the righttime I enteredthis greatc o u n t r y ,which is anideal destina-tion for in-vestments,"he added.

S h e t t y ,whom Forbes

Magazine listed in March this yearas the fourth richest expatriate bil-lionaire in the UAE, said that theNeo Pharmaceuticals(Neopharma) plant in Jazan wouldconcentrate mainly on manufac-turing medicine for cancer anddengue fever. -PTI

B R Shetty

Apollo Hospitals to open500 sugar clinics

NEW DELHI: Healthcare majorApollo Hospitals plans to open500 Apollo Sugar Clinics by endof 2019 in India and overseas tospread network of diabetes careprogram.

"We plan to open500 Apollo Sugar Clin-ics across the countryand outside by end of2019. We will be have50 clinics in the coun-try by the end of thisyear," Apollo SugarChief Executive OfficerGagan Bhalla told PTI.

Outside India, thehealthcare provider ismulling expansion inthe Middle East coun-tries, he added.

Asked about the in-vestments required forthe proposed expansion, Bhallasaid: "On an average, an invest-ment of Rs 50 lakh is required toopen a clinic but it varies de-pending on the locations."

It would be financed throughthe funds from Apollo HospitalsGroup, he added.

The company currently has it'ssugar clinics in Hyderabad,Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi,

Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Indore,Karimnagar, Pune, Kakinada,Nashik, Tiruchirappalli, Raipur,Bilaspur, Bhubaneshwar,Mysore, Visakhapatnam and

Madurai.The Apollo Sugar Clinics pro-

vide robust patient outcomes viabest in class multi-disciplinary careteams and proven treatment pro-tocols. They also have life style

management capa-bilities, he added.

In September,Apollo Hospitalshad joined handswith global pharmafirm Sanofi to pro-vide diabetes careprograms throughits Apollo SugarClinics.

Apollo HospitalsGroup FounderChairman Prathap CReddy had statedthat the partnershipwould be converted

into a joint venture in future.Apollo Sugar is part of Apollo

Health & Lifestyle, the arm ofApollo that is into primary andsecondary healthcare. -PTI

Austin firm eyed for $90Mstate Medicaid contract

AUSTIN, Texas: The state of-fice responsible for investigatingMedicaid fraud and waste is final-izing a $90 million contract withan Austin company that has littleexperience with Medicaid spend-ing.

The inspector general's officefor the Texas Health and HumanServices Commission is arrangingthe deal with 21CT, a federal de-fense contractor unknown in theMedicaid fraud business prior to2012. That's the year 21CT wasfirst asked by Texas investigatorsto analyze a massive amount ofdata associated with $28.3 billionin Medicaid spending.

``We've created a solution thatfocuses on any data analytic chal-lenge, in any domain,'' 21CT CEOIrene Williams said. ``We werelooking outside the box.''

Texas Medicaid Director KayGhahremani in a correspondencewith the federal Centers for Medi-care and Medicaid Servicespitched 21CT's technology as agame-changer for the state, ac-cording to documents obtainedby the Austin American-States-man.

But the pending contractcomes amid scrutiny of the inspec-tor general's office. It has morethan 1,100 fraud cases it's investi-gating and each case takes anaverage of three years to com-plete, state records show.

The head of the office, Inspec-tor General Douglas Wilson, waspublicly criticized over the lastweek at two legislative hearingsfor myriad failures, including foran ongoing investigation of anactuary under his command whoadmitted falsifying numbers usedto bring cases against alleged

fraudsters.Members of the Sunset Advi-

sory Commission, a legislative panelthat recommends changes to dys-functional agencies, were upset thatthe office failed to reclaim substan-tial taxpayer dollars despite havingalleged hundreds of millions of dol-lars in fraud each year.

Wilson's team was also criti-cized for its aggressive pursuit ofproviders, hampering their busi-nesses in some cases over whatturned out to be clerical errors in-stead of fraud.-AP

``We've created asolution that focuseson any data analyticchallenge, in anydomain,'' 21CT CEOIrene Williams said.``We were lookingoutside the box.''

India leads in pre-term birthcomplication deaths

WASHINGTON: Over 3.6 lakhchildren under age five die frompre-term birth complications eachyear in India, according to a newstudy which found prematurebirth kills more under-fives glo-bally than anything else.

Of the estimated 6.3 milliondeaths of children under the ageof five in 2013, complications frompreterm births accounted fornearly 1.1 million deaths, the find-ings show.

Specifically, direct complica-tions from preterm births ac-counted for 965,000 deaths dur-ing the first 28 days of life, withan additional 125,000 deaths be-tween the ages of one month andfive years, according to the find-ings published in The Lancet jour-nal by a research team coordi-nated by Robert Black, of theJohns Hopkins Bloomberg Schoolof Public Health.

Other main causes for youngchild deaths include pneumonia,which killed 935,000 children un-

der-five, and childbirth complica-tions, which caused 720,000deaths.

"This marks a turning of thetide, a transition from infectionsto neonatal conditions, especiallythose related to premature births,and this will require entirely dif-ferent medical and public healthapproaches," said Joy Lawn of theLondon School of Hygiene andTropical Medicine.

"The success we've seen in theongoing fight against infectiousdiseases demonstrates that wecan also be successful if we in-vest in prevention and care forpreterm birth," said Lawn.

The countries with the highestnumbers of children under-five dy-ing from preterm birth complica-tions each year are: India (361,600),Nigeria (98,300), Pakistan (75,000),Democratic Republic of the Congo(40,600), China (37,200),Bangladesh (26,100), Indonesia(25,800), Ethiopia (24,400), Angola(15,900) and Kenya (13,300). -PTI

India PostHealth Science Post 39

www.indiapost.com

November 21, 2014

She said she did not recall the compa-nies or names.

``My understanding was, based on hav-ing gotten these requests to join the net-works, that we would be able to opt out ofObamacare discount plans,'' she said.``That's why we were informing patients,`We're happy to see you, but you have toget a referral from the company that wrotethat because they're not going to want toaccept billing from us.'''

But Burton, who said he's received

about 10 similar complaints involving otherdoctors, said there's no difference betweenexchange-purchase plans and other plansfor the same coverage.

A spokeswoman for Louisiana's largestinsurance provider agreed.

``They have the same coverage, the samebenefits, the same network,'' said RobinMayhall of Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Loui-siana.

With a few exceptions, she said, theplans have the same names, she wrote in alater email. ̀ `There are a few multi-state prod-ucts that aren't on the Marketplace. Butoverall, there's no way a provider shouldknow, at least from Blue Cross, whether apatient has a Marketplace product or not.''

Burton said there's also no way for doc-tors and other providers to identify peoplewhose premiums are paid with federal help.In Louisiana, 88 percent of the nearly101,800 who signed up last year are gettingtax breaks or subsidies toward premiums.

Turner said, ̀ `I think still that we're do-ing the right thing, telling them we're not inthe network if we're not. But maybe we arein the network.''

Louisiana's nonprofit counselors (callednavigators), application centers and othergroups were putting on 17 events aroundthe state on Saturday to publicize the startof the signup period, which ends Feb. 15,and explain the program to anyone whoshows up.

People could enroll on the spot at someof the events, and at others could set uplater appointments with counselors.

Those without minimum insurance canbe made to pay a penalty.

About 184,000 Louisiana residents wereeligible last year. There's no specific enroll-ment target for the 82,000 or so who did notsign up, Burton said.

In addition to helping them, he said,counselors will be helping any who want ahand renewing or finding new coverage,and explaining how to find doctors topeople who are used to getting all their careat emergency rooms.

The federal Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services have prepared ``greatmanuals,'' Burton said. ̀ `They're very simpleto understand,'' with charts to help usersfind a primary care physician.

Burton said he doesn't know how manyof the insured have had problems findingdoctors. For that matter, he doesn't knowhow many of the people who got coverageare looking for another company _ naviga-tors don't keep any personal information,so they only know what they hear frompeople who ask for help, he said. -AP

Cannabis helps shrink aggressive brain cancerLONDON: Scientists have managed to

shrink one of the most aggressive braincancers both in the lab and in mice bycombining cannabinoidswith radio therapy.

Experts have shownthat when certain parts ofcannabis are used to treatcancer tumors alongsideradio therapy treatmentthe growths can virtuallydisappear.

The new research byspecialists at St George's,University of London,studied the treatment ofbrain cancer tumors in thelaboratory and discoveredthat the most effectivetreatment was to combine active chemicalcomponents of the cannabis plant which

are called cannabinoids.Two of these called tetrahydrocannab-

inol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) were

tested as part of the research into braincancer which is particularly difficult to treat

and claims the lives of about 5,200 eachyear, researchers said.

It also has a particularly poor prognosisas the rate of survival after five years ofpatients' diagnosis is around 10 per cent.

Cannabinoids are the active chemicalsin cannabis and are also known more spe-cifically as phytocannabinoids. There are85 known cannabinoids in the cannabisplant.

The new research is the first to showa drastic effect when combining THCand CBD with irradiation. Tumors grow-ing in the brains of mice were drasticallyslowed down when THC/CBD was usedwith irradiation.

"The results are extremely exciting.The tumors were treated in a variety ofways, either with no treatment, the can-nabinoids alone, and irradiation alone orwith both the cannabinoids and irradia-tion at the same time," Dr Wai Liu, Se-nior Research Fellow and lead researcheron the project, said.

"Those treated with both irradiationand the cannabinoids saw the most ben-eficial results and a drastic reduction insize. In some cases, the tumors effec-tively disappeared in the animals. Thisaugurs well for further research in hu-

mans in the future. At the moment this isa mostly fatal disease," said Liu.

"The benefits of the cannabis plantelements were known before but thedrastic reduction of brain cancers if usedwith irradiation is something new and

may well prove promising for patientswho are in gravely serious situationswith such cancers in the future," Liuadded.

The research team are discussing thepossibility of combining cannabinoids withirradiation in a human clinical trial.

The research was published in the Mo-lecular Cancer Therapeutics journal. -PTI

"The benefits of the can-nabis plant elements wereknown before but the dras-tic reduction of brain can-cers if used with irradiationis something new and maywell prove promising

Nonprofits battle healthinsurance misinformation

People could enroll on thespot at some of the events,and at others could set uplater appointments withcounselors. Those withoutminimum insurance can bemade to pay a penalty.

Cont'd from Page 36

India Post40 November 21, 2014www.indiapost.com

Renowned as a picturesque picnic spot, Chakrata in DehradunDistrict of Uttaranchal State of India is a hill station and afamed tourist destination located at an altitude of about 7000ft above sea level. The town was known earlier as Jaunsar Bawar, a small hamlet of Jaunsari tribe.

Yamuna valley is located down the hilly town and the pan-oramic view of the surroundings from the hillock is astonish-

ing. Chakrata was developed by the British rulers and wasa summer retreat for the high executives of English EastIndia Company. Presently Chakrata encloses militarycantonment and the access is restricted for civiliantravelers.

Thriving by the lush greeneries with denseforests all around, Chakrata is famed as a tour-ist destination to spend vacations mergingwith Mother Nature's grandeur gift. Cool butpleasant ambience makes the stay inChakrata more enjoyable. The northernslope regions of Chakrata are ideal fortrekking and skiing.

Kharamba peak is the highest mountin Chakrata with an altitude of about10,000 ft. The mountain climbing hereis a wonderfully adventurous task.Nature lovers, trekkers, bird watch-ers and wild life enthusiasts canspend days together here in the lap

of Chakrata exploiting the Nature'shidden treasures and beauties.

Cont’d on page 42

India PostNovember 21, 2014 41Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in UP opens for touristsLAKHIMPUR: The world-fa-

mous Dudhwa Tiger Reserve inUttar Pradesh has opened for tour-ists.

The tourist season in DudhwaTiger (DTR), comprising DudhwaNational Park, Kishanpur WildlifeSanctuary and Katarniaghat Wild-life Sanctuary, commences on No-vember 15 and closes on June 15every year.

Justice Arun Tandon and Jus-tice M P Shahi from Allahabad, whowere the first visitors of theDudhwa National Park, officiallyinaugurated the tourist season inDudhwa, Deputy Field Director,Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, VinodKrishna Singh said.

One-year-old elephant calfSuheli and another elephant calfVinayak welcomed the first visitorsat the entry gate, he said.

It is a custom in Dudhwa thatthe first visitor inaugurates thetourist season in the park. Singhsaid on the inaugural day, the visi-tors were allowed free entry intothe park till 11 am.

Singh said several new attrac-tions have been added to the parkfor the visitors. For the first time, astall has been set up at Dudhwawhere handicraft items and spicesprepared by local tribal people

have been put on sale. Moreover,for the first time, women guideshave been engaged to facilitatevisitors.

"Visitors have been asked notto litter garbage inside the park, but

to keep them in the wastage bagprovided to them. Moreover, theyhave been asked to leave their pri-vate vehicles at Dudhwa and visitthe park by the vehicles arrangedby the park," Singh said. -PTI

Foreign tourists to bewelcomed with garlands

NEW DELHI: With a view toprevent fleecing of foreign tour-ists and creating a safe and secureenvironment for them, TourismMinistry is set to roll out red car-pet at airports to receive guestswith garlands in a true 'Atithi DevaBhavo' style.

A comprehensive plan is beingworked out to provide end-to-endservice to overseas tourists, newTourism Minister Mahesh Sharmatold PTI.

The end-to-end service is likelyto be launched as "Meet & Greet"

foreign guests in the coming days.As per the plan, foreign tour-

ists will be welcomed at airportswith garlands and will be assistedby trained personnel in gettingtransportation and tourist guides.The facility will be providedthroughout their journey.

There have been many casesof fleecing and harassment of for-eigners by touts and taxi opera-tors at airports and railway sta-tions across the country.

"Preventing fleecing of touristsby touts is one of my top prioritiesas it is causing a bad name for thecountry," Sharma said.

Ministry will also set up facili-tation centers at airports to receiveforeign tourists. Facilitation cen-ters will be set up at internationalairports first and later at otherplaces like domestic airports andrailway stations, he said.

Trained personnel wearing uni-forms with Incredible India logowill be manning these centers."Tourists will be provided what-

ever help they require during theirstay in the country. The idea is toextend a personal touch so thatthey feel safe and secured," hesaid.

Ministry officials will take upthe matter with police and airportauthorities to ensure allowing onlyauthorized taxis to operate at air-ports.

Steps will also be taken to moni-tor taxis through GPS tracking sys-tem at airports. -PTI

China opens section of high-speed train in Xinjiang

BEIJING: China has inaugu-rated a section of the first high-speed rail in restive Xinjiang prov-ince which will slash travel timebetween the regional capital ofUrumqi and the eastern city ofHami by half to three hours.

The 530 kilometer rail, with adesigned speed of over 200 kilo-meters per hour, is part of the 1,776kilometer Lanxin high-speed rail-way linking Urumqi with Lanzhou,

capital of north western provinceof Gansu, which will be put intoservice by the end of this year.

The railway crossing the vastexpanse of the Gobi desert andwindy areas will be further con-nected with China's boominghigh-speed rail network to play akey role in the Silk Road EconomicBelt, initiative raised by China to

boost cooperation with centraland western Asian nations, state-run Xinhua news agency re-ported.

China has high expectations ofthe new rails line in its mosttroubled province, which has wit-nessed violent attacks, and hopesit will fuel more development it theresource-rich province and im-prove its connectivity with therest of the country.

China blames the violence onthe radical regional outfit the EastTurkistan Islamic Movement(ETIM), an Al-Qaeda backed out-fit.

The province which has about11 million native Uygur Muslimsremained restive over the settle-ments of Hans from other prov-inces.

When the project will be fullyready it would cut down the traveltime from eight hours to about 12hours.

The Lanzhou-Xinjiang High-Speed Railway, which began con-struction in 2009, will serve as akey link between the region andthe provinces of Gansu andQinghai.

It will also help shorten traveltime between Beijing and Urumqi,

Xinjiang's capi-tal, from 20 to40 hours.

The 1,776kilometer track,which will bethe longesthigh-speed rail-way line in theworld, costsUSD 24 billionand includes31 stations. Itwill touch threemajor plateausQinghai-Tibet,Loess andPamirs.

China isalso buildinganother high-speed line con-n e c t i n g

Lanzhou and Xian. Upon itscompletion, the high-speed railsystem will run from Urumqi to thePacific coast, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Postreported.

China's railway network in-cludes more than one lakh kilo-meters of track, including 10,000kilometers in high-speed lines. -PTI

India Post November 21, 201442 Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

BADAMIUnexploited & unpolluted scenicsummer retreat

CHAKRATAThe forest around Chakrata has

an amazing flora and fauna. Thisis the natural habitat of many wildlife species including panther, spot-

ted dear and wild fowls.Many caves and ancient

temples nearby add to the attrac-tion to this cute beautiful town.Most of the town region isunexploited and unpolluted. Clearand clean atmosphere, calm envi-ronment and eye catching back-drops make the city a great attrac-tion for tourists looking for tran-quil and secluded stay.

ATTRACTIONSChilmiri Neck: Chilmiri Neck

is one of the peak points inChakrata where the mess andquarters of military cantonment islocated. The landscape of theplace is exquisite with lush greenlands and dense forests allaround. It also offers languorousviews of the Doon valley. Thecool and pleasant climate makesthis place a much sought touristspot.

The way to Chilmiri Neck isadorned with majestic eye catch-

ing views. This is really a perfectplace for watching many speciesof birds and butterflies. From thispoint, one can view the imposingscenery of the surroundings in-cluding Rohini Peak, Swarga Peak

and the Banderpoonch Massif.Ram Tal Horticultural Gar-

den: Ram Tal Horticultural Garden

is a notable location in Chakrata,which encloses different varietiesflora and fauna. The Garden is en-riched with many varieties of

Cont’d from page 40 climbers, conifers, lichen, ferns,flowering plants and woodytrees. One can view many kindsof bird fauna in this scenic loca-tion on top of the hillock. Blackheaded Jay, Grey Treepie and Ori-ental Turtle Dove are some of thebirds which can be spotted here.

The vast expanse of greenishlawns in the garden is an addedattraction of this place. Kids canenjoy the evenings and weekendsin this spectacular garden. Anapple garden and a natural pondin this horticultural garden arehighly attractive.

Tiger Falls: Simply fantastic,Tiger falls is really the main at-traction in Chakrata. An adven-turous trek to the fall site is anenchanting experience. It is oneof the highest waterfalls in India,originating at a height of about312 ft. The view of the waterfallsis breathtaking and mesmerizing.

The waterfalls is located at thebackdrop of scenic and dark greenwoody trees and the calm and cool

atmosphere of this place make it abusy picnic spot.

Deoban: Deoban is located inthe same hilly terrains of Chakrata

and is placed at height of about2200 m. This is a nice spot to havethe mind catching and eye feast-ing views of the Himalayanranges. One can view the longstretch of vast majestic Himalayanranges in the horizon.

This is a vast lush greenmeadow on top of the hilly re-gions. This place is surroundedby dense dark Deodar green for-ests. This enchanting hilly terrainoffer the nature loving tourists areal life experience.

Best season to visit Chakrata

is through the year, except forsome freezing days in January andFebruary.

HOW TO REACHBy Train: Nearest railhead is

Dehradun, which is nearly 92 kmaway.

By Air: Nearest airport is JollyGrant airport, which is also 92 kmaway.

By Bus: Bus facilities are avail-able in Chakrata to reach Dehradun(92 km), Ponta Sahib (70 km) andKalsi (98 km).

Ram Tal Horticultural Garden

Chilmiri Neck

India PostNovember 21, 2014 43Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Kerala Tourism roadshowsimpress Nordic market

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Keeping up its strategy of tappingemerging markets to attract travel-lers to the state, Kerala Tourismhas held three roadshows in theNordic region in Europe, elicitingan encouraging response from thelocal travel trade.

"All the three roadshows re-ceived a warm response from thelocal tourism industry representa-tives," Tourism Director P I SheikhPareeth said.

Accordingto a KeralaTourism re-lease, morethan 80 repre-s e n t a t i v e sfrom 55 compa-nies of thesecountries par-ticipated in theroadshows.

The cam-paigns wereorganized inNorway, Fin-land and Den-mark. Thethree countries are part of the five-member Nordic nations' group inEurope.

"The Ambassadors of thesecountries have offered all supportof the embassies to promoteKerala in this part of the world,"the Tourism Director said.

The Scandinavian roadshowswere kicked off on November 11 inNorway's capital Oslo. The Keraladelegation comprising tour opera-tors, hotels and Ayurveda resorts

representatives, was led byPareeth.

India's Ambassador to Norway,former Indian Air Force chief AirChief Marshal (Retired) N A KBrowne, was the Chief Guest at theroadshow.

In Helsinki, the capital of Fin-land, Ashok Kumar Sharma, theAmbassador of India to Finlandand Estonia, was the Chief Guest.

"Finland is one of the countries

for which the visa-on-arrival isavailable for visiting India. There-fore, it is easy to travel to Keralafrom Finland using this facility,"Pareeth said.

The campaign in Denmark'scapital Copenhagen was attendedby Indian Ambassador NirajSrivastava.

Kerala had also conductedroadshows in Australia and NewZealand last month to attract trav-elers from the two countries. -PTI

China to promote tourismon Silk Road belt

BEIJING: In a major push to pro-mote President Xi Jinping's multi-billion dollar plan to revive ancientSilk Roads by land and sea, Chinahas said it will promote travel byChinese tourists to the countriesalong Silk Road belt, which couldalso benefit India.

China will promote travel to

countries along the Silk Road in2015, the China National TourismAdministration (CNTA) an-nounced here.

According to official media re-

ports, a number of countries in theworld today woo Chinese touristsas their numbers touched about100 million last year, raking up rev-enue of USD 102 billion.

India, which gets just over alakh Chinese visitors, is conduct-ing campaigns to attract more ofthem as their numbers rose sharply

in Sri Lanka and Maldives.The decision was made against

the backdrop of the Silk Road Eco-nomic Belt and the 21st CenturyMaritime Silk Road initiatives

which were proposed by Xi toboost regional economic and in-frastructure cooperation, as well aspeople-to-people exchange inAsia, state-run Xinhua newsagency quoted Du Jiang, deputydirector of the CNTA, as saying.

China is promoting a maze ofSilk Roads including the ancientSilk Road connecting China toEurope through Central Asia; theBCIM - Bangladesh, China, India,Myanmar - corridor; the Pakistan-China corridor through PakistanOccupied Kashmir and the Mari-time Silk Road to connect it with ahost of ports in India and SouthAsia.

Tourism marketing and promo-tion in China next year will focuson travel products related to theSilk Road concept, Du said.

China's cabinet, which releasedguidelines to promote tourism inAugust, urge better cooperationand more exchanges with coun-tries in Central Asia, South Asia,South East Asia and Europe.

The new initiative is seen as astrategic hedge against the USPivot to Asia. -PTI

California cat cafe is catnipfor feline fans

OAKLAND, Calif.: Cat loversin Northern California are pounc-ing at the chance of spending timewith feline company at a new catcafe in Oakland.

Cat Town Cafe is giving doz-ens of visitors a chance to minglewith furry friends while sippingcoffee and nibbling on cat-themedcookies.

The cafe opened last month andhas been full since opening day. It

was inspired by the cat cafe crazein Japan, where many people livein cramped high-rise apartmentsthat don't allow pets.

While making feline friends be-

came popular therapy for lonely oranxious workers in Japan, the Oak-land coffee shop puts the focuson the animals.

The tuxedo, orange tabby andSiamese cats napping or stretch-ing in the sun in Cat Town comefrom a local shelter and are avail-able for adoption.

``Most of them have been at theshelter for four months or more.So as much as this is a super fun

experience, it's really a mission-driven project to get the cats outof the shelter and into greathomes,'' said Ann Dunn, founderof Cat Town Oakland, a nonprofit

group that helps place cats leastlikely to be adopted from the Oak-land Animal Shelter.

She said there were 14 adop-tions in their first 12 days.

For a $10 donation to the orga-nization, visitors get one hour ofkitty company in the cafe, wherethey can play with felines, scratchtheir backs and watch them nap.Each person is given a designatedwindow of time to make sure thereare not too many people at once inthe room painted with cartoon-like, bright murals of cats.

Cat naps are very popular at thecafe, but Christina Souza, who vis-ited on a recent afternoon, didn'tseem to mind.

`Ì think it's fun. It's great. It'sexciting,'' Souza said. ``Why nothave more venues where cats canlet out their fun personalities?''

Cat cafes are now open in Lon-don, Vienna and Paris, and CatTown's founders believe their cof-fee shop is the first of its kind inthe United States. That maychange soon - a half dozen cat ca-fes are set to open in the U.S. nextyear, most of them along the WestCoast. -AP

Fargo mapmaking groupadds depth to the discussion

FARGO, N.D.: Workers atNokia's Fargo campus have spent18 years making maps, but theyrecently moved into another di-mension.

The business that began by hir-ing people to drive across the coun-try to take Polaroid photos and plotlandmarks on paper is leading thecompany's 3-D mapmaking effortsfrom North Dakota's largest city.The goal is essentially to help carsdrive themselves.

``This is the cutting edge ofmapping,'' said Justin Tibbetts, atechnical specialist on thecompany's 3-D imagery team.``This is the future. Just being onthe cusp of that is pretty cool.''

The Fargo technical center isknown as HERE, but its 230 employ-ees come to work every day andfeel like they're everywhere. Manyof them spend the day collecting

information that will help them up-date maps to create the most accu-rate representation of the real world.It's important to get a stop sign lo-cated in the right place.

They get to tour some famousplaces along the way; some in per-son, some from their work stations.

`Ì've seen awesome buildingsin Milan, in Paris, things like that.You have to stop and check thatout,'' said Michael LaMont, a qual-ity testing analyst. `Ì've seen theworld. I could probably identifycities randomly by pictures of cer-tain streets.''

The company has been using 3-D tools for the last year and a half.Moving from 2-D to 3-D should notonly improve routing and safety formotorists, it will bring people insideof buildings, said Brian Carroll,HERE's director of advance engi-neering and launch.-AP


www.indiapost.com

Horoscope44

Your Weekly Future

(March 21 to April 20)

Your actions will make

spouse very nervous.

Risky move will prove to

be a blessing as the results will

be lot better than expectations.

Children will do a lot better this week. You may be in

touch with an old friend and discuss launching a busi-

ness in partnership. There will be many distractions

but you will continue your prayers.

PANDIT PARASHAR, CEO & COO Astro Scan USA isalso available for individual consultations.He can be reached at: [email protected]

510-886-4370www.parashar.com

(July 23 to August 22)

You will spend more time on

phone reaching out

people. Things will get

more relaxing at work and you will

finish an important project well

before the deadline. A nice promotion or some bonus

is also in the air. You may have some work done in or

around your home. Spouse will be very helpful and sup-

port your plans without any reservations.

(November 23 to December 22)

You may take extra day off

from work and travel to a

nice place with family this

week. Some money could go to-

wards minor repairs to one of your

vehicle. Few bright ideas will continue to occupy your

mind and you may start reaching out friends to find the

right team. You may write a check to government

agency and wait few days to mail it.

(April 21 to May 20)

Concentration of many

planets in seventh will

help in many ways.

Positive developments in career

will provide the much necessary

boost to self confidence and you

will vigorously keep working on

your great plans. You will have a big opportunity to

spend some quality time with a successful politician.

bank balance will shot up suddenly.

(August 23 to September 22)

Bold actions will take you

very close to your goals.

Clearance from a govern-

ment agency will road blocks in

career and you may start apply-

ing for better opportunity. It will be profitable week for

brokers. You may also hear from an old friend after a

long interval. Some of you may slowly start getting

ready for an upcoming long distance journey.

(December 22 to January 19)

New venture recently

started will take off like

a rocket. Response will

be lot better than anticipated just

because of your credibility in the

industry. You may buy another vehicle for business or

for children. Get together will be very relaxing and you

will get to spend quality time with close friends. Try to

cut down on caffeine.

(May 21 to June 20)

Legal matters will suddenly

take a favorable turn and

decision will come quick.

Few needy people will benefit from

your valuable advise. You will

make big change in food habits and try to maintain a

disciplined life. Idea of changing career will continue to

occupy your mind and you may start making inquiries

in that direction.

(September 23 to October 22)

You will make a very calcu-

lated and daring move in

career. gamble will pay

offas the results will be far better

than earlier calculated. You may

send some money to government in shape of some

kind of tax. You may also purchase some fine quality

items for the house. Opportunities will keep taking you

towards financial freedom.

(January 20 to February 18)

You may take time out from

a busy schedule and travel

out of town with family to

spend few days with a close

friend or relative. Planets are in

right order to help those looking to have an addition in

the family. Clearance from a government agency could

arrive via mail. You may also start the paper work to

apply for a big loan this week.

(June 21 to July 22)

Alignment of planets can

make dream com true.

Opportunity should not

be less than a financial jackpot.

Do not hesitate to play few lottery

tickets for next few weeks. Posi-

tive changes in career are imminent and you should start

to see the signs now. You may be successful in dispos-

ing off some money making stocks or property this week.

(October 23 to November 22)

You may finally get a big

break from hectic life.

Family dinner with a close

family friend this week will be re-

laxing and will provide the oppor-

tunity to catch up on many im-

portant issues. A big promotion or raise is also in the

air. Just be careful when you send any reply to a gov-

ernment agency. Try your hand at few lottery tickets.

(February 19 to March 20)

Jupiter's aspect on several

planets will remove many

many obstacles and nega-

tive energy from life. offer will be

lucrative and accompanied with

additional perks. Children will

help you plan a short trip on last minute. You may also

make final payment on an old debt. Few minutes on

computer will help you bring down liability.

November 21st - November 27th, 2014

by Pandit Parashar

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Nov 9, 16, 23, 30• Vivekananda Vedanta SocietyChicagoSwami Ishatmananda: Why WeShould Meditate: Yoga AphorismsTuesdays: Swami IshatmanandaFridays: Swami VaradanandaVenue: 14630 Lemont Road HomerGlen, IL 60491Time: 7:30 pmShivanama SankirtanTime: 06:30pmContact : chicagovedanta.org

Sat, Nov 22• Raaga Rang - Fusion MusicConcert by Pandith PraveenGodkhindiVenue: Cabrillo High School Auditorium,2001 Santa Fe Avenue, Long Beach, CA90810Time: 04:30 pmContact: (510) 402-4633

Sat, Nov 29• Dashavatar - The Ten Incarna-tions of VishnuVenue: Bellflower Civic Center, 16600 CivicCenter Dr, Bellflower, CA 90706Timet: 4:00 pmContact: 562-746-1945

Sat, Dec 13• Hollywood Bhangra - XmasBhangra Theme Party - LastOne of 2014Venue: Metropolitan, 652 N La Peer Dr, WestHollywood, CA 90069Timet: 10:00 pm

Wed, Dec 31• PREETYSHA & SAMEER - NewYears Bash 2015Venue: Anaheim Plaza Hotel & Suites,1700 S.Harbor Blvd, Anaheim, CA 92802Time :07:00 pmContact: 714-397-7224

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• J K Yog Satsang and BalMukund Hindi Classes are heldevery 2nd and 4rth Sunday ofMonthChicago Satsang Information:J K Yog, Chicago - Swami MukundanandaVenue: Clarion Inn/Waterford Banquets,Board Room, 933 South RiversideDrive, Elmhurst, IL 60126Time: 3:30pm-5:30pmContact: Ajay & Arti Chandhok@ 630-561-4807Website: www.jkyog.org

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PerspectiveNovember 21, 2014

‘The ISI is now working on a bigger game-plan in training terrorists in the use ofcyber and computer technology as thePakistani agency feels India is not fullyequipped in dealing with incidents ofcyber war or attack.’

An unnamed Indian intelligence officer stated,further, "It is almost certain that the Pakistaniagency was behind the recent cyber attackon India, at least indirectly. Having tasted suc-cess they will try it again in future

Cyber space being exploited by IS, extremistsSANCHITA BHATTACHARYA

In the night of November 6,2014, Pakistani hackers de-faced websites of 22 Government departments and orga-

nizations in India. On the defacedwebsites, the hackers identifiedthemselves as '1337 & r00x! - TeamMaDLeeTs' and greeted the Gov-ernment of India, and leveled arange of allegations against theIndian Army in Kashmir. "We arenot asking for Kashmir. We ask forpeace. Nothing deleted or stolen.Just here to deliver my message tothe government and the people ofIndia," the hackers wrote, signingoff with "Pakistan Zindabad"(long live Pakistan).

On November 1, 2014, Pakistan-based hackers, calling themselves'Pakistan Cyber Mafia Hackers',hacked two websites of GujaratGovernment - the official websiteof the Commissionerate of HigherEducation (www.egyan.org.in)and the official website of the Ag-ricultural Produce Market Commit-tee of Ahmedabad(www.apmcahmedabad.com). Thehackers put their logo and sometext on the homepages of thesewebsites, which read: 'Hacked byPakistan Cyber Mafia Hackers','Feel the power of Pakistan','Pk_Robot was here' and 'PakistanZindabad'.

These incidents are the mostrecent in a rising trend. Indeed, onJuly 14, 2014, Communications andIT Minister Ravishankar Prasad, ina written reply to the Lok Sabha(Lower House of Indian Parlia-ment) disclosed,

"During the years 2011, 2012,2013 and 2014 (till May), a totalnumber of 21,699, 27,605, 28,481and 9,174 Indian websites were re-spectively hacked by varioushacker groups spread across world-wide. In addition, during theseyears, a total number of 13,301,22,060, 71,780 and 62,189 securityincidents, respectively, were re-ported to the CERT-In [ComputerEmergency Response Team-India(CERT-In)].

These attacks have been ob-served to be originating from thecyber space of a number of coun-tries including the US, Europe, Bra-zil, Turkey, China, Pakistan,Bangladesh, Algeria and the UAE.A total of 422, 601 and 1,337 caseswere registered under cyber crimerelated sections of the Indian Pe-nal Code (IPC) during the year 2011,2012 and 2013."

The threat of cyber crime liesoutside the conventional paradigmof terrorism, but has the potentialto do incalculable harm. Indeed,even sustained low grade attacksimpose cumulative costs that canbe prohibitive. Cyber terrorism,moreover, is not only limited toparalyzing computer infrastruc-

tures; it also comprehends the useof computers, the Internet and in-formation gateways to support andorganize traditional forms of terror-ism, such as bombings and suicideattacks.

The most common use by ter-rorists is for secret communica-tions, as well as designing and up-

loading websites on which propa-ganda can be pasted, at least occa-sionally masking secret missives.Direct cyber terrorist attacks usehacking, computer viruses, com-puter worms, E-Mail related crime,denial of service attacks, etc.

India and the United States (US)have decided to launch an all-outwar against terror outfits and toannihilate them in the virtual worldas well. Worried by the increasingpresence of terrorist organizationsin cyberspace, an Indo-US JointWorking Group (JWG) oncybercrime has been activated todismantle the virtual command cen-ters of terrorist networks acrosssocial networks, Indian Govern-ment sources stated, "The decisionto activate the JWG was taken af-ter weighing threat perception ofoutfits like IS [Islamic State], alQaeda, AQIS [al Qaeda in the In-dian Subcontinent], Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), IndianMujahideen (IM) and JMB[Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh]etc., in the cyberspace."

Though such a pattern has longbeen in evidence, there has been asignificant rise in high profile ter-rorist outreach attempts throughthe Internet in the recent past, par-ticularly with the emergence of theIS, and the very sophisticated me-dia campaigns this group has de-ployed.

For example, in a 20-second-longaudio statement titled 'A messageto the Mujahideen and the MuslimUmmah in the month of Ramadan'released on July 1, 2014, Abu Bakral-Baghdadi, the IS 'chief', men-tioned that Indians, among a hostof other nationalities including Chi-nese, American, French, German,Australian, etc., figure among ISfighters.

Another 11-minute-long IS pro-paganda video featuring a Cana-dian youth, who identifies himselfas Abu Muslim, and uploaded onthe internet in the first week of Au-gust 2014, clearly underlines IS at-tempts to reach out to Indian

youth, as the video has been sub-titled in Hindi, Tamil and Urdu.

Similarly, on September 3, 2014,al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri,in a 55-minute video posted on theInternet, announced the launch ofa new wing in the Indian sub-con-tinent, AQIS. Zawahiri describedthe formation of AQIS as "a glad

tiding for Muslims in Burma,Bangladesh, Assam, Gujurat,Ahmedabad, and Kashmir" andclaimed that the new wing would'rescue Muslims' there from injus-tice and oppression.

Cyber space has also been ex-ploited by extremists to spread vio-lence and unrest across India.Cyber wing officials investigatingcommunal violence that erupted inJuly 2014 in the Bareilly District ofUttar Pradesh (UP), as reported onAugust 5, 2014, found that the Stu-dents Islamic Movement of India(SIMI) was possibly involved insending controversial pictures tosome Facebook users in Bareilly,which led to communal violence inthe Meera Ka Paith locality.

The origin of the controversialFacebook posts was traced toSecunderabad, Karmagunda andMadanpet - all in Hyderabad (capi-

tal city of Andhra Pradesh andTelangana) - where SIMI is knownto have a considerable base. Theofficials also found evidence thatfunds were provided by somebanned militant outfits from Jammuand Kashmir, to foment trouble inBareilly.

Earlier, in 2012, cyber space wasused by anti-national elements dur-ing the Assam communal strife.Then Union Home Minister (UHM)Sushilkumar Shinde had noted onSeptember 6, 2012, "It is unfortu-nate that the recent violencecaused by the ethnic groups inAssam has been given communalcolor... There is an increasing evi-dence of resort taken by terroriststo the cyber space domain."

Similarly, the 2013 riots inMuzaffarnagar (UP) were aggra-

vated by the use of social medianetworks by suspected terrorgroups. On November 21, 2013,Shinde had observed, "More re-cently, the Muzaffarnagar riotswere fanned by similar misuse (ofsocial media)."

There is mounting evidence thatthe abuse of the Internet againstIndia is substantially orchestratedunder the aegis of Pakistan's exter-nal Intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

A classified note of a high-levelsecurity review meeting held inNew Delhi in September 2012,noted, "The ISI is now working ona bigger game-plan in training ter-rorists in the use of cyber and com-puter technology as the Pakistaniagency feels India is not fullyequipped in dealing with incidentsof cyber war or attack.'' Importantly,the note observed, the traininggiven to subversive elements byISI's cyber experts played a key rolein spreading hate campaignsthrough MMS [Multi-media Mes-saging Service] and SMS [shortmessage service], targeting peoplefrom the Northeast in the wake ofethnic violence in Assam.

The note warned that this trendwould only increase in days tocome, and this was also the reasonwhy ISI was increasingly stressingthe recruitment of more educatedyouth by Islamist terrorist forma-tions. An unnamed Indian intelli-gence officer stated, further, "It isalmost certain that the Pakistaniagency was behind the recent cyberattack on India, at least indirectly.Having tasted success they will try

it again in future and on a muchbigger scale. So we must be pre-pared to deal with this challenge."

According to a Union Ministryof Home Affairs (UMHA) docu-ment, till September 15, 2014, thecountry witnessed 479 riots inwhich 107 people were killed whileanother 1,697 people sustained in-juries in the current year.

Indeed, concerned at the abuseof cyberspace by terrorist groups,the Union Home Minister (UHM),on June 17, 2014, directed theUMHA to explore the possibility ofsetting up specialized cybercrimeunits in each of the country's 671Districts. Again on November 4,2014, while participating in the100th General Assembly Session ofInterpol in Monaco, UHM RajnathSingh underlined the role of infor-

mation technology to bring abouteven better control in the field ofcyber security, and preventing mis-use of internet social media forspreading extremist ideologies andradicalization.

The Cyber Security Initiativestaken up by the Indian Governmentinclude the setting up of the Na-tional Informatics Centre (NIC), apremier organization providing net-work backbone and e-governancesupport to the Central Government,State Governments, Union Territo-ries, Districts and other Govern-ments bodies; the Cert-In, to "en-sure security of cyber space in thecountry by enhancing the securitycommunications and informationinfrastructure, through proactiveaction and effective collaborationaimed at security incident preven-tion and response and security as-surance"; the National InformationSecurity Assurance Program(NISAP), for protection of the Gov-ernment and critical infrastructures.

Further, the Indo-US Cyber Se-curity Forum (IUSCSF) seeks to es-tablish an India Information Shar-ing and Analysis Centre (ISAC) forbetter cooperation in anti hackingmeasures; an India Anti Bot Alli-ance to raise awareness about theemerging threats in cyberspace,under the aegis of the Confedera-tion of Indian Industry (CII); andto chalk out ways to intensify bi-lateral cooperation to control cybercrime in the two countries.

The Indian Government has alsoundertaken various initiatives tostrengthen the cyber security. OnMarch 25, 2014, the Central Bureauof Investigation (CBI) signed amemorandum of understanding(MoU) with Data Security Councilof India (DSCI) with a view to seekexpert services from the latter inmanaging the challenges incybercrimes and updating officialswith the latest technology.

Nevertheless, these measures,in addition to earlier initiatives, havefailed to adequately deal with thethreat, which is approaching alarm-ing levels. On October 31, 2014,while emphasizing the severity ofthe cyber crime threat, UHMRajnath Singh stated, "It can hitanyone, anywhere and anytime."

Cyber crime and cyber terror-ism have now emerged as a na-tional priority, and this is widelyacknowledged in the policy estab-lishment. It remains to be seenhow long it will take such recogni-tion and concern to be translatedinto effective action and institu-tional development to constructand implement a comprehensivecyber security paradigm withinIndia's counter terrorism strategy.

The writer is Research Associ-ate, Institute for Conflict Manage-ment

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge com-pletes 1,000 weeks on December 12. Recently, Shah RukhKhan, who played the loveable

Raj in the film and paved way for the boynext-door heroes in the decade that fol-lowed, had revealed his wish to celebratethe blockbuster in a grand manner.

According to Mumbai mirror, SRK, alongwith his costar, Kajol, who played Simran,the obedient daughter to Amrish Puri, willbe making an appearance on Kapil Sharma'sshow to mark the occasion.

A source close to Comedy Nights WithKapil, said, "The duo plan to shoot on No-vember 30 at Film City. They will talk aboutthe film and share their memories."

This is the perfect platform for the cel-ebration, considering that DDLJ was thefirst film to have a thirty minute televisionshow chronicling its making which was tele-cast on the national broadcasterDoordarshan.

Interestingly, film critic Anupama Chopratoo wrote a book, Dilwale Dulhaniya LeJayenge: The Making of a Blockbuster, ana-lyzing the film's success.

It is learnt that a celebration is beingplanned at Maratha Mandir, which has hadnon-stop screening of the Raj-Simran lovestory since its release on October 20, 1995,making it the longest-running film in the his-tory of Indian cinema.

Buzz is, the Bible of Bollywood romance,which is still a crowd-puller in the 11.30 ammatinee show, may be pulled out fromMaratha Mandir once the 1000 weeks areover. However, theatre owner, Manoj Desai,insisted that they had not taken a call onthis yet. "I haven't received any official inti-mation from the film's makers about whetherthey want to continue after the 1000 run isover. I don't know what the plans are. I have

only been told not to screen any film in the 6pm and 9 pm slots on December 12."

Rohit getting SRK and Kajol together?According to a report in Mid-Day, Rohit

Shetty will direct SRK in his next and hassigned Kajol for the film.

A source was quoted saying to Mid-Daythat the director has signed SRK for his nextand has signed Kajol opposite SRK. The pre-production work is going on and soon hemight make it official. Rohit is waiting to fin-ish the final draft of the film and it will go onfloor in the first half of 2015. Rohit is veryclose to Ajay Devgn and reportedly he playedthe peace maker between Shah Rukh Khanand Ajay.

www.indiapost.com50 India Post November 21, 2014

Rohit Shetty has always entertainedus with his films and he is back againtaking the franchise several notcheshigher in every aspect of film mak-ing! His recent film Singham Returnshas won critical as well as audienceacclaim.

A gripping story, high octaneaction, power packed perfor-mances by the cinema icons of thecountry and foot tapping musiccomplemented with memorably cultdialogues makes Rohit Shetty'sfilms a hit.

This is the perfect platformfor the celebration, consid-ering that DDLJ was thefirst film to have a thirtyminute television showchronicling its making whichwas telecast on the nationalbroadcaster Doordarshan.

Popular couple

Rohit Shetty A scene from the film

India Post

www.indiapost.com

51November 21, 2014

Khans kiss the bride & make upLook at this lovely picture.

Do you see any cold vibesbetween the 'warring

Khans'?

Bride-to-be Arpita has broughtthe two in the same frame and whatan adorable one it is. Shah Rukhas he announced earlier, attended

Arpita's sangeet ceremony inMumbai.

While there was speculationwhether Salman would invite ShahRukh Khan or not, Shah Rukhclearly told the media, he doesn'tneed an invite.

"I will definitely go. I haveknown Arpita ever since she wasa little baby. I have cradled her inmy arms. She is like a sister to me.In fact, even an invite is notneeded. They are like family and Iwill go," he said.

In this picture, SRK is casuallydressed and Salman is seen in hissignature Being human T-shirt.The two are kissing their soon-to-be-bride sister.

Arpita, who married AyushSharma in Hyderabad's grand TajFalaknuma Palace on Nov 18,shared this picture on social media.

Fascination with actresses whose Hindi is weakMUMBAI: Hema Malini and

Sridevi had to work on their Hindito reach the numero uno position.The new crop of actresses can'tspeak the rashtra bhasha as well

as the Queen's tongue (or at all),but they've managed somehow.Here's looking at Bollywood's gorimems....

Lisa Haydon: On Kapil Sharma'sshow, Lisa recently spent all hertime nudging Anupam Kher ask-ing him what everyone was say-ing. In Queen and The Shaukeensshe played non-resident Indians,

so that worked for her. But for howlong?

Ileana d'Cruz: This Mumbai girlis more conversant with Telugu,admits her Hindi is "theek nahin"and having a firang boyfrienddoesn't help either, but she at leasttries. She hired a diction coach andsince Barfi has been dubbing herown lines.

Nargis Fakhri: She throws in thetowel when it comes to speakingthe language of Bollywood. Andit's not that she isn't trying. MsFakhri has even hired a purely desistaff. Even so, her maid insists onspeaking with her in angrezi. She

admits her complete unfamiliaritywith Hindi largely ruined her per-formance in Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar.But for Main Tera Hero, she spokein her own voice.

Giselli Monteiro: The BrazilianGiselli was seen playing a Punjabikudi in Imtiaz's Love Aaj Kal, de-spite being unable to follow orspeak a single word of the lan-guage she was acting in. Can weimagine an actress in French orChinese cinema who isn't conver-sant with the language?

Katrina Kaif: Probably the onlycompetition Deepika Padukonehas today, Katrina Kaif was, forthe longest time, known to mug

her lines without knowing whatthey mean. For years, her dia-logues were dubbed by a profes-sional. By and by, she hired a Hinditeacher. And now, she delivers herown lines!

Freido Pinto had to master the American accent to get main-stream roles in Hollywood.

WHY WE DON'T MIND IT...Javed Akhtar offers his take on

why we don't mind Bollywoodleading ladies who can't speakHindi. "Hum British hukumaat kesachche ghulam hai. It is perfectlyfine to mispronounce Hindi orUrdu words and considered okayif a foreigner can't speak Hindi. Butif an Indian can't speak English,he's considered down-market." -Courtesy DNALisa Haydon

Ileana d'Cruz

Nargis Fakhri

Giselli Monteiro

Katrina Kaif

India Post

www.indiapost.com

52November 21, 2014

When Amitabh Bachchan made Lata cry

Book describes Urdu culture of N.Indian citiesNEW DELHI: The thriving

Urdu literary culture of 18th and19th century in North Indian cit-ies of Delhi and Lucknow that re-mained vigorous and resilienteven at the face of glaring defeatin 1857 at the hands of 'CompanyBahadur' is the subject of the book'The Sun That Rose from the Earth'by noted Urdu poet and criticShamsur Rahman Faruqi.

Only last month, his earlierbook The Mirror of Beauty, alsodescribing the high Urdu literaryculture of 19th century, was long-listed for the prestigious USD50,000 DSC Prize for South AsianLiterature.

First published in the Urdu as'Savaar aur Doosre Afsaane' in2001 and translated in English byFaruqi himself, the book is a col-lection of five stories written be-tween 1999-2012, all having a simi-lar quest, "to rehabilitate inpeople's mind ," as Faruqi himselfputs it, "the vigor and resilienceof Urdu poetry amidst decayingimperial Mughal rule."

Although fictional, the storiesare replete with historical figuresof Urdu literature like Mirza Ghalib,Mir Taqi Mir, Shaikh Mushafi,Budh Singh Qalandar, Kanji MalSaba, and are set in the historicalbackground of 18-19th century,some in the immediate aftermathof the calamity of 1857, thus plac-ing the book in the category ofhistorical fiction.

The stories are woven aroundthe historical personage of thesetowering Urdu poets, and repre-sent a quest for mastering the nu-ances and subtleties of their po-

etry. Faruqi, the noted Urdu liter-ary critic is never missed in thesestories, and often the protagonistsof his stories not only chase,

idealise and romanticize thesegreat poets, but also discuss andcritique them.

These Urdu poets, whoseverses and shadows loom large inhis stories, are drawn from a di-verse Hindu-Muslim backgroundto deconstruct the popular notionthat equates Urdu with the lan-guage of Muslims. Budh SinghQalandar, Kanji Mal Saba, Ikhlas

were all Hindus."Urdu was not the property of

Muslims alone," says Faruqi, ashe laments its association in the

20th centurywith the lan-guage of theM u s l i mL a s h k a r(army), or thelanguage thatcaused parti-tion.

In the firststory, 'BrightStar, LoneSplendor', setin the immedi-ate aftermathof 1857, BeniM a d h oRuswa, theprotagonist ofthe story whohas been or-phaned duringthe revolt,travels fromhis adoptedh o m eCawnpore toDelhi to meetthe greatestpoet of his

time, Mirza Asadullah KhanGhalib, under the pretence of get-ting Ghalib's diwan autographedby the poet himself.

Faruqi describes the labyrinthof Urdu poets in North Indian cit-ies, the complex maze of poets inmadrassas, Sufi shrines and impe-rial courts through which BeniMadho Ruswa learns the intrica-cies of Urdu poetry and grows

with a secret desire of meeting theof Urdu poetry, Ghalib, some dayin his life.

Though separated by age, reli-gion, cities and ambitions, BeniRuswa, the narrator of the story,and Ghalib get along easily, asboth thrived on understandingand mastering Urdu poetry, andboth were left desolated and dev-astated by the ghost of 1857, thathaunts the story throughout.

How Delhi was crushed afterthe Company forces overtookRed-Fort is ably captured byFaruqi.

In a melancholy scene, Ghalibtells his visitor Beni Ruswa, "Inthe times of the Presence, MirzaAbu Zafar Sirajuddin BahadurShah, all these Delhi alleys, by-lanes and road were alive withbright lights . . . alive, dear sir, withmyriads of lights and lanterns. And

now, one's own hand can't find theother hand."

Beni Ruswa sighs, and ex-presses the plight of Delhi by re-calling a verse by Mir Taqi Mir:

"The city now is a maidaun,everywhere; Did such desolation-destruction prevail here ever be-fore?"

Then, there is the story of as-piring poet and wealthy business-man Darbari Mal Vafa, who like theprotagonist of his first story, istracking down the obscure poetShaikh Mushafi.

Darbari Mal Vafa travels toLucknow, and learns of the life andwork of the poet through the sto-ries told by his widow.

There is the young Mir TaqiMir, a rising star in the world ofpoetry, who meets the first greatlove of his life, Nurus Saadat, anexquisite beauty from Isfahan.Their first meeting is followed bya tumultuous love affair, accom-panied by ravishing verse.

All these stories, are thenabout about the Urdu poetry andUrdu poets, whose heroes appearlike a slightly disguised version ofthe author himself, walking downthe lanes of pre-colonial Delhi andLucknow, with his favorite poetsin different historical settings.

As is the case with historicalfiction writers, Faruqi is acutelyaware of the historical image hewants to reproduce in his reader's

mind, and the long-held popularnotions he wants to challengethrough his fiction writing.

"Delhi by mid-nineteenth cen-tury was no longer the politicalcapital of India and has been re-placed by Calcutta as the powercentre of the country," saysFaruqi, "but it was still the literaryand cultural capital of north India.The sepoys of Awadh, who re-belled against the East India Com-pany in 1857, Hindus and Mus-lims alike, declared the old Mughalcapital of Delhi and not the newpower centre Calcutta as the capi-tal of free Hindoustan."

As Delhi lost its political sig-nificance, says Faruqi, theMughals revived many centuries-old courtly traditions to create afalse aura of its authority.

Bahadur Shah Zafar, the lastMughal ruler, who was dethroned

and deported to Rangoon afterthe 1857 revolt has been crushed,has himself ordered the restora-tion of many prominent buildingsin Delhi.

Delhi was the city of Meer TaqiMeer. Bahadur Shah Zafar himselfwrote highly lyrical poetry and hiscourt was adorned by the likes ofGhalib, his great rival Zauq andMomin.

Together they were responsiblefor writing some of the greatestpoetry in modern Indian history.This was also a period of great in-tellectual excitement, and the greatworks of mathematics and sciencefrom the west were translated intoUrdu and Persian for the first time.

Delhi, says Faruqi, was not thedecaying, degenerating city, wait-ing for its uninteresting end, aslater colonial historians often de-scribed it, but was a robust, thriv-ing centre of trade, art and culture,where great scholarly and literaryminds gravitated and discussedand challenged each other's work.

“This is the Delhi, and its highUrdu literary culture that I wantedto recapture, and recreate throughmy stories," adds Faruqi, as herecalls another immortal couplet byMir:

"It was not the lanes andstreets of Delhi/ It was the pagesof an album. /Each and every facethat one saw, Was a painting." -PTI

Bahadur Shah Zafar himself wrote highlylyrical poetry and his court was adorned bythe likes of Ghalib, his great rival Zauq andMomin. Together they were responsible forwriting some of the greatest poetry in mod-ern Indian history.

Melody Queen LataMangeshkar was left teary-

eyed after hearing Bollywoodmegastar Amitabh Bachchan'sparting lines during the season fi-nale episode of the eighth seasonof 'Kaun Banega Crorepati'.

The 85-year-old singer praisedthe gaming reality show and thehost.

"Namaskar. I was watching thelast episode of 'Kaun BanegaCrorepati'… the show was verynice. Like always Amit ji made the

episode brilliant. He ended theshow with a few lines- 'mohobbatkarnewale kam na honge, terimehfil mein lekin hum na honge'.The moment he recited the lines,my eyes were filled with tears,"Mangeshkar posted on Twitter.

The legendary singer said thatshe has a very special place forBachchan, 72, in her heart.

"Amit ji I have a very special placein my heart for you. I respect you alot. I pray to god that he keeps youhappy, healthy and may you have along life," she further tweeted.

Bachchan, who is currentlyshooting for Shoojit Sircar's 'Piku'in Kolkata, was overwhelmed byMangeshkar's tweets and thankedher for the kind words.

"Lata ji… I am at a loss forwords. I don't know how to thankyou enough. I am grateful for yourblessings," Bachchan posted.Lata Mangeshkar with Amitabh Bachchan

India Post 53November 21, 2014

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Philosophy

Praying for happiness ofall has subjective benefits

Sacred is opposed to theprofane & the secular

At the present moment in the history of the West,in order to resuscitate a sense of awarenessof the spiritual world and of Ultimate Reality,the word sacred is seminal.

SWAMI CHIDANANDA

Let us consider this ancienttradition in India, especiallyreligious India, that is, pray-

ing for others, praying for theworld, praying for the welfare ofmankind, for the welfare of all crea-tures, praying for peace on earth,not only for mankind and all crea-tures but also for everything thatexists, praying for peace, wishingpeace, desiring peace and sendingout thoughts of peace to everythingthat exists, to all existence: "Peacebe unto all the five elements, earth,water, fire, air and ether."

The desirability of such prayeris not only because the worldneeds all these things. There isalso the subjective dimension ofprayer that has to be considered.The process has a very importanteffect upon the one who prays.

By wishing for all that is posi-tive, creative, constructive, good,conducive to welfare, auspiciousand blessed to all that exists, allcreatures, mankind, the wholeworld, it makes us aware that ourancients expected us to make lifean active, dynamic process ofconstantly working to bring aboutthose very conditions which wewish for, pray for, intend and wantfor others.

For, unless our prayer is backedup by suitable action to bringabout these conditions, it has nomeaning.

If we wish peace for others and

SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR

The sacred is the Divine Reality as it is in Itself and asIt manifests Itself in beings

in this world. So there are thingsthat are sacred and then ultimatelythere is the ''Sacred'' as such witha capital ''S.'' It is very interestingthat in Islam, one of the names ofGod is al-Quddus, which wouldbe the equivalent of Die Heilige.

God is the Sacred, and thenthere are things in this world thatare sacred because of their rela-tion to the Sacred.

I use the term sacred in Englishin such a way that it pertains bothto the very reality of God, as whenyou say al-Quddus in the Quran,that is the Sacred as such, and tothings that come from Him and arethereby sacralized such as ta'ir-e'alam-e qods or amr-e qodsi, whichwe now use in Persian.

I feel that at the present mo-ment in the history of the West,in order to resuscitate a sense ofawareness of the spiritual worldand of Ultimate Reality, the wordsacred is seminal. The word spiri-tual has become too diffused.

The word spirit, which is ofcourse very important, has becomeconfused, as I have already men-tioned, with the psyche, and it is

used in so many different waysthat for numerous people it haslost its original meaning; but theword sacred has fortunately pre-served its meaning more or lessintact. Needless to say, sometimesit is used metaphorically, as whenone says, ''This matter is sacredto me.''

But the way I use it is in its meta-physical sense, that is, that whichpertains to the very Reality of God,the Eternal, the Immutable, and themanifestations and theophanies ofthis Divine Reality in certain be-ings and entities in this world.

Tradition and the SacredThe relationship between tra-

dition and the sacred is extremelyprofound. Tradition is always sa-

The constant repetition of such prayer, the con-stant dwelling upon these thoughts, and the con-stant harboring of these feelings in our heart havea transforming effect upon our own nature.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Swami Chidananda

at the same time we are activelyengaged in robbing others of theirpeace by disturbing them, agitat-ing them, causing them distress,then we stand as a living lie. Westand, in terrible contradiction towhat we mouth through suchprayers. We say one thing, butwe act in another manner. We suc-ceed in doing something that iscontrary to that which we pray for.

It thus becomes a very serious

situation, a very undesirable stateof affairs. Every day we say makaschid duhkhabhag bhavet. Maynot sorrow fall to the lot of anybeing.

Therefore, we have to be per-petually conscious, aware andcareful that neither by thought,word nor deed do we create sor-row for others, grief for others.

"Where there is sadness, let mebring joy." That is the sublime,noble prayer of Saint Francis.When we pray "May not sorrow

fall to the lot of anyone," then weshould work in the way indicatedby the simple prayer of St.Francis. "O Lord, where there issadness, let me bring joy. Makeme an instrument of joy to thelives of others. Make me an in-strument of removing the sadnessof others."

Axiomatically it means that ifwe wish happiness for others, joyfor others, then we have to do

something positive to bring joyto others; we have to also, simul-taneously, engage in doing actsthat remove the sorrow of others,lessen the grief of others, makepeople less sad. This is implied inthis line from the simple prayer ofSt. Francis,

By constantly thinking in sucha positive manner of the happi-ness, welfare and peace of oth-ers, it brings about a change inour nature. Gradually we becomeso disposed to act in such a way,

to live in such a way, that we be-come a centre of goodwill towardsothers, a centre of compassionand kindness towards others, acentre of peace for others.

The constant repetition ofsuch prayer, the constant dwell-ing upon these thoughts, and theconstant harboring of these feel-ings in our heart have a transform-ing effect upon our own nature. Ittends to gradually make us grow

in this quality of goodwill towardsall, of ill will towards none, of com-passion and kindness towards all,of prayerfully ever wanting to livein order to bring peace, solace, hap-piness and comfort to everyone.

It has this unfailing effect ofmaking us grow into those veryqualities we pray for. This is thesubjective dimension of prayerhow it benefits the one who prays.

Excerpted from 'The SubjectiveDimension of Prayer' atsivanandaonline.org

It is easy to hate and it isdifficult to love. This is howthe whole scheme ofthings works. All goodthings are difficult toachieve; and bad thingsare very easy to get.

- Confucius

Life is a series of naturaland spontaneouschanges. Don't resistthem - that only createssorrow. Let reality be re-ality. Let things flow natu-rally forward in whateverway they like.

- Lao Tzu

Do not go where the pathmay lead, go insteadwhere there is no pathand leave a trail.- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everything comes to usthat belongs to us if wecreate the capacity to re-ceive it.-Rabindranath Tagore

Everything that irritates usabout others can lead usto an understanding ofourselves.

- Carl Jung

If you talk to a man in alanguage he under-stands, that goes to hishead. If you talk to him inhis language, that goes tohis heart.

- Prem Rawat

A day of worry is more ex-hausting than a week ofwork.

- John Lubbock

cred tradition. There is no man-made tradition, by our definition.Today, of course, in English theword tradition is used in the ordi-nary sense as ''custom'' or ''habit.''Supposing for five years you goto France for holidays every sum-mer; then you say, ''It has becomea tradition for me to go to France

every year.'' Of course, that isnothing more than habit or cus-tom. But the way we use it, goingback all the way to Guenon,Coomaraswamy, and Schuon,these seminal figures of the tradi-tional school, is such that tradi-tion by definition is sacred.

The sacred is, however, differ-ent from tradition in itsconceptualization in that traditionimplies taking the sacred and

transmitting it and applying it andmaking it visible and palpablethrough different channels anddifferent means; while the sacredis the spiritual presence and real-ity that tradition transmits. So thetwo are really inseparable fromeach other.

In the same way that tradition

is opposed to modernism and mo-dernity as we use these terms, thesacred is opposed not only to theprofane in the older sense of theterm, but of course to thedesacralization and secularizationthat characterize our world.

Excerpted from 'In Search ofthe Sacred'. Seyyed Hossein Nasris an Iranian University Profes-sor of Islamic studies at GeorgeWashington University

54 Edit Pagewww.indiapost.com

November 21, 2014India Post

India PostDiaspora's darlingNarendra Modi is a great patriot. A genuine love for his

country marks his engagements wherever he goes. InAmerica earlier in September and now in Australia, he is

able to ignite the same degree of passion for the country as heenjoys himself. What marks him out as different from the earlierleaders is the faith he has in his countrymen, particularly the poor.And the poor have responded to his call. He likes to recall thatunder the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), about 7.1crore accounts have so far been opened but what touches himmost is the honesty of the country's poor people. Addressing theDiaspora, he said, "I just wanted financial inclusion, to bring thepoor into the mainstream. So I facilitated zero balance accounts."But he was amazed to know that the 70 million of the poor hadalready deposited about Rs 5,000 crore. He pointed out that thisshould have been the real aim of bank nationalization.

A rock star reception awaited him in Sydney's Allphones Arenain Australia also which was an echo of the rapturous welcome hereceived for his epoch making address at Madison Square Gar-dens in New York. Reports say some 20,000 people, mostly fromthe Indian Diaspora in Australia, jammed the stadium. Significantly,many had traveled from as far as the United States, Singapore andNew Zealand. Amid thunderous applause he repeatedly invokedSwami Vivekananda's vision of seeing Mother India as a 'VishvaGuru' once again and expressed the confidence that his dream willbe fulfilled with the help of the Diaspora. As in the US, he listed theillustrious deeds of Indian origin Australians who did the nationof their adoption proud. And to give the Diaspora maximum plea-sure, he promised that the PIO and OCI cards will be merged in twomonths time. He took delight in comparing his administration withthat of the previous UPA government by claiming that they madelaws and he was scrapping them. He wanted to make things easierfor the Diaspora so that they contribute to making India great,according to his vision.

According to an analysis in Times of India, the Diaspora is notreally responding to Narendra Modi. They have been disappointedby the post-Independence India underperforming as against itspotential thanks to the blinkered socialism imposed by its politicalelite. This caused a large number of Indians to seek greener pas-tures abroad, migrating for economic reasons. These people whohad voted with their feet were treated disdainfully at home whilethe political elite surreptiously sent their sons and daughters tofeather nests abroad. To the credit of Modi, he has turned aroundthis logic. Instead of guilt-tripping them, he praises them for theirhard work and grit in rebuilding their lives abroad and has invitedthem to invest their wealth and talent at home.

Modi has given respect and honor to the Diaspora and they areresponding in equal measure. He has tapped into their concernsand made them his own concern and in turn won them over for thesake of their own country of origin.

It has to be remembered that it was the BJP under Atal BehariVajpayee which first thought of the Diaspora with the aim of en-listing their talent and wealth in the cause of rebuilding India. Acommittee under the late L.M. Singhvi in a voluminous report en-listed the merits of the Diaspora and the need to make them feel athome in their own country. His suggestion to hold an annual PravasiBharatiya Divas was accepted by Vajpayee and the first such Di-vas was organized under Vajpayee. Over the years, under the UPA's10-year rule, it had become just a ritual. Modi has infused new lifein the Diaspora event which is being held in Ahmedabad in Janu-ary next year. It will be an occasion to remember.

Modi in Myanmar: From'Look East' to 'Act East'

SHANKARI SUNDARARAMAN

Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's recentvisit to the Myanmar endorses that all is well with

India's policy to the countries thatlie to the east. Since he took officein May 2014, there were someviews among observers thatIndia's Look East Policy (LEP) wasnot receiving the merit it should.Much of this was centered on thedebate as to why Myanmar, aclose and significant neighbor wasnot invited to the swearing-in cer-emony of the prime minister.

However, given the fact that theinvitation was extended to theSouth Asian countries, Myanmartechnically did not fit into this cat-egory. Another view was that theinvitation was extended only to fulldemocracies, which would thenexplain why Pakistan was present,given that there is cur-rently a democratic inter-mission in the country.

But Modi's three-dayvisit to Myanmar thismonth changed the per-ceptions and brought theASEAN region back intothe centre-stage with thefocus shifting from theLEP to the Act EastPolicy (AEP).

While this does notreally signal a departurefrom the LEP, it doeshighlight a more nu-anced position of ac-knowledging the need to`act' or to `get one's acttogether', to move aheadon the implementation ofprojects and proposalsthat have been initiated inprinciple but are lagging in practice.

So the shift to the AEP shouldbe viewed as an attempt to pro-vide an impetus to the regionalintegration that India has with itseastern neighbors. The ASEANcountries have often expressed alot of concern on the slow pace ofreform in India.

Added to this is the issue ofthe signing of several agreementsthat need to come into force tohasten the implementation. Theseare the critical areas that drivepolicy into the action-orientedphase.

The highlight of the visit wasthe focus given to the three C's:culture, commerce and connectiv-ity. In this context, India's culturalties with Southeast Asia are beingconsidered as a significant onethat will help push critical ties for-ward. The recent opening of theNalanda University is an exampleof this dynamic. Furthermore, an

emphasis on tourism too wasmade.

Tourism is a vital component ofrelations and the industry needs tobe revamped in order to make Indiaa tourist destination for SoutheastAsian visitors and vice versa.

The Open Skies Agreement istherefore among the key areas tofocus on, to provide any momen-tum to the tourism industry. Atpresent, even direct flights fromIndia to all ten Southeast Asiancountries and vice versa are un-available.

Complementary to boostingtourism, there is also a potentialto integrate cities that can be linkedas sibling cities. In this context,one of the options could be to linkBodhgaya, Lumbini and Yangon,Shwedagon Pagoda together asthe Buddhist circuit.

Another potential option wouldbe the linking of cities likeJogjakarta, Siam Reap andThanjavur together as potentialtourist hubs. This would make acritical impact in terms of revitaliz-ing the tourism sector and wouldalso act as a boost in bringingabout greater people-to-peoplecontact between the regions.

The second focus, on com-merce, is already an area India hasmade considerable strides in; andthat is expected to progress evenfurther. Projecting a new economicenvironment in which India hasembarked upon targeted attractinginvestments into the country un-der the banner of the Make in In-dia slogan.

Currently the India-ASEANFree Trade Agreement in (FTA) ingoods has been operationalized,and the FTA in services and in-vestments, though signed with allbut one (the Philippines) country,

is expected to be ratified by therespective countries' parliamentssoon. This is one area where Indiahas an advantage since, globally,it ranks 9th in the services sector.

As the move to integrate withthe region is further enhancedthrough regionally driven initia-tives like the Regional Comprehen-sive Economic Partnership (RCEP),there is likelihood of widening link-ages across the region.

The RCEP links the ASEAN andits dialogue partners into a re-gional economic grouping that willbe critical since it will bring thethree Asian economic giants -China, Japan and India - together.The Chinese move to enhance re-gional integration via the AsianInfrastructural Investment Bankand the enhancement of the Mari-time Silk Route to link the Indian

and the Pacific Oceans into an eco-nomic chain are clearly moving thecommercial side of the regionalagreements forward.

Finally, on the issue of connec-tivity, there is an urgent need tomove forward with the plans thathave been in the pipeline. Projectssuch as the India-Myanmar-Thai-land trilateral highway and theImphal-Mandalay road are extremelyimportant towards linking the regionvia land, and opening up the borderareas to facilitate the easy move-ment of people and goods.

While both Myanmar and In-dia are focusing on the develop-ment of the border regions, theseprojects will act as vital catalyststo deliver on the proposed out-comes.

The writer is Chairperson,Centre for Indo-Pacific Studies,School of International Studies,Jawaharlal Nehru University,New Delhi. Courtesy IPCS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the Indian community at Nay Pyi Taw

in Myanmar on November 13


November 21, 2014

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