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CONTENTS

IVANKA EMPHASIZESWOMEN-LED GROWTH

NEW YORK • WASHINGTON D.C. • CHICAGO • ATLANTA • CALIFORNIA VOL 23, No. 1209 December 1, 2017 50¢ Periodical Postage

Ivanka visit a boost forIndian women?

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Bollywood ---------------------- 28-29Classifieds ------------------------ 50

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

Date Book -------------------------- 54

Edit Page --------------------------- 53

HealthScience Post -------- 34-35

Horoscope ------------------------- 48

Immigration Post ------------ 44-47

Life Style ------------------------ 30-33

Philosophy ------------------------- 52

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

Real Estate --------------------38-39

TechBiz Post ------------------ 10-14Travel & Hospitality Post ---- 40-43

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AutomakerMahindra opensUS plant

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Kennedy Centerreceives $ 1 mnas ‘India fund’

Lauds achievements of India & Modi

SHAKTI SUMMIT: Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with Ivanka Trump, the Advisor to the President of United States, onthe sidelines of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit-2017 in Hyderabad on November 28

HYDERABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi andIvanka Trump, daughter and advisor to AmericanPresident Donald Trump, inaugurated the Global En-trepreneurship Summit (GES) in Hyderabad on No-vember 28.

The annual business meet - its eighth edition thisyear and co-sponsored by the United States - is be-ing held for the first time in South Asia.

The theme for the three-day summit is "Women

First, Prosperity for All".In her keynote address, Ivanka Trump pitched for

access to capital and equitable laws for women en-trepreneurs, saying closing the gender entrepreneur-ship gap could grow global GDP by up to 2 per cent.

She said that despite the soaring rate of femaleentrepreneurs, women still face steep obstacles tostarting, owning, and growing their businesses.

Ranvir Trehan

Probe into MariaSharapovahousing ‘fraud’

Infosys to openinnovation hubin Rhode Island

Britain replacesUN envoy afterICJ defeat

Severe currychefs shortagein Britain

ICJ victory has boostedIndia’s image?

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But as they say, all good things must come to an end. In keeping withPresident Trump's avowed policy to reverse or dismantle all Obama-erapolicies, regulations and laws, the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) is all set to do away with regulations that have been ensuring netneutrality. And wielding the hatchet for the administration is one of our own,the FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

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Bollywood:Another injuryKangana Ranaut has injured her footwhile shooting for her upcoming filmManikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi

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The world's nights are getting alarm-ingly brighter - bad news for all sortsof creatures, humans included.

10Techbiz:

Ranvir & Adarsh Trehan have donated$1 mn to Kennedy Center for Indiancultural performances

40Travel:Gir National ParkThis National Park in Gujarat is inter-nationally acclaimed for saving theGir lion from the brink of extinction

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A group of students from Charlotte,NC, join the startup boot camp of Sili-con Valley Young Coders' Club (SVYCC)

PM Narendra Modi and Ivanka Trumpinaugurate the Global Entrepreneur-ship Summit (GES) in Hyderabad

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Cover/Top Stories

Ivanka emphasizes women-led growthLauds achievements of India & Modi

HYDERABAD: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and IvankaTrump, daughter and advisorto American President DonaldTrump, inaugurated the GlobalEntrepreneurship Summit(GES) in Hyderabad on Novem-ber 28.

The annual business meet -its eighth edition this year andco-sponsored by the UnitedStates - is being held for thefirst time in South Asia.

The theme for the three-daysummit is "Women First, Pros-perity for All".

In her keynote address,Ivanka Trump pitched for ac-cess to capital and equitablelaws for women entrepre-neurs, saying closing the gen-der entrepreneurship gapcould grow global GDP by up

to 2 per cent.She said that despite the

soaring rate of female entre-preneurs, women still facesteep obstacles to starting,owning, and growing theirbusinesses.

"Fuelling the growth ofwomen-led businesses isn'tsimply good for our society -it's good for our economy. Onestudy estimates that closingthe gender entrepreneurshipgap worldwide could grow ourglobal GDP by as much as 2 percent," she said.

Ivanka, 36, a business-woman, fashion designer andthe eldest daughter of the USPresident, is leading the UScontingent at the Summitthemed Women First, Prosper-ity for All.

Ivanka congratulated Indiaon its 70th anniversary of Inde-

Ivanka Trump addressing the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Hyderabad

PM Modi and Ivanka Trump inaugurating the Global EntrepreneurshipSummit (GES) in Hyderabad

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in a meeting with Ivanka Trump,Advisor to the US President, in Hyderabad

pendence, now "the world'sfastest growing economy -thatwill continue to grow underthe leadership of NarendraModi". "Indian spacecraft hastravelled to moon and to Mars.The people of India inspire usall," she said.

Ivanka thanked the PrimeMinister and said, "Thank youPM Modi for joining us todayfor making India a symbol ofdemocracy and beacon ofhope for India."

In PM Modi's humble begin-nings, she said: "From yourchildhood selling tea to yourelection as India's Prime Minis-ter, you have proven transfor-mational change is possible.""India has a friend in the WhiteHouse," she stressed.

Further praising the efforts

of PM Modi, Ivanka said, "Whatyou are achieving here (in In-dia) is truly extraordinary."

She opened her speech bystressing how all over theworld entrepreneurs are "revo-lutionizing our economies, andimproving our societies".

"You are rewriting therules," she said and went on totalk about this year's GEStheme. "This year's Summit isfocused on a theme that is keyto our future: Women First,Prosperity For All. I am proudthat for the first time ever,women make up the majorityof the 1,500 entrepreneurs se-lected to attend."

Women, according to Ivanka,can help lead the way in clos-ing this gap and ushering in anew age of greater prosperity."We must ensure women en-trepreneurs have access to

capital, access to networks andmentors, and access to equi-table laws," she added.

She egged on women en-trepreneurs to march forward,talking about how womenhave come forward in the lastdecade to become entrepre-neurs. "The progress of human-ity is incomplete without theempowerment of women," shesaid.

A woman entrepreneur her-self, Ivanka said she was ex-cited to see so many womenentrepreneurs under one roof."I am proud to see that for thefirst time a majority of 1,500women entrepreneurs are par-ticipating in such an event,"she said.

"Only when women are em-

powered to thrive; will ourfamilies, our economies, andour societies reach their fullest

potential," Ivanka said.In his inaugural speech,

Prime Minister Narendra Modisaid this summit's focus onwomen made this editionunique. "In Indian mythology,woman is the incarnation of

shakti", he said. Our history isfull of women of remarkabletalent and determination. OurMars mission has had immensecontribution from women sci-entists. Three out of four oldestHigh Courts of India are

headed by women judges. Thisvery city of Hyderabad is hometo Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and

Sania Mirza."He added, "We have pushed

more and more women intograssroots decision-making."

Modi said he saw power inIndia's young generation, who"can make the world a better

place". "I can see 800 millionentrepreneurs in India."

ROLE OF USIn her speech, Ivanka high-

lighted what the US is doing tohelp women entrepreneurs."The US Small Business Admin-istration, for example, in-creased its lending to womenby over 500 million dollars thisyear alone," she emphasized.

The US administration is fos-tering mentorship throughprograms such as SCORE - anation-wide initiative wheresuccessful men and womencoach those who want to be-come their own CEOs.

"Our Administration is striv-ing to promote greater oppor-tunity for women around theworld, both through our do-mestic reforms and our inter-national initiatives," she said.

Ivanka congratulated India on its 70th anniver-sary of Independence, now "the world's fastestgrowing economy -that will continue to grow

under the leadership of Narendra Modi"

Cont’d on page 9


www.indiapost.comTop Stories

Infosys to open innovationhub in Rhode Island

BENGALURU: Infosys, a globalleader in consulting, technologyand next-generation services,has announced a multi-yearpartnership with the State ofRhode Island to establish a de-sign and innovation hub.

Infosys will also hire 500American workers in Rhode Is-land over the next five years.

"We are excited to welcomeInfosys to Rhode Island," saidGovernor Gina Raimondo. "Be-cause of our investments inhigher education and job train-ing at CCRI and other institu-tions across the state, RhodeIslanders are well-equippedand well-prepared to competefor these good paying jobs.Infosys joins a growing localmarket of innovative, ad-vanced industry companiesthat have chosen to plant a flagin Rhode Island," she said.

"Today's partnership withRhode Island marks another im-portant step forward for Infosysin the United States. The state's

educational institutions, de-sign-rich environment, and eco-nomic development tools, posi-tioned Rhode Island competi-tively for this type of specialistpartnership," said Infosys Presi-dent Ravi Kumar.

"This will enhance our abilityto provide design-driven, digi-tal technologies across thecountry and enable break-through innovations at the in-

tersection of industry and de-sign for our clients."

Earlier this year, theB e n g a l u r u - h e a d q u a r t e r e dcompany committed to hiring10,000 American workers overthe next two years. The com-

pany has been making rapidprogress and is on target tohire towards that commit-ment, and is investing in tech-nology and innovation hubs inIndianapolis, Indiana and Ra-leigh, North Carolina.

Today's announcement is acontinuation of the IT major'scampaign to boost innovationin the United States, a com-pany statement said.

These new hires in Rhode Is-land will include experienceddesigners, design architects,specialists in information de-sign and technical experts toaccelerate the digital transfor-mation of its clients in Rhode

Island and beyond, it said.This partnership also offers a

unique platform to nurturespecialist design talent at scaleto serve the growing demandfor design-driven digital skillsacross industries, the state-ment said.

The design and innovationhub, which intends to apply forqualified jobs and rebuildRhode Island incentives, willhelp close the gap for designand human-centric skills intechnology fields, it said.

The hub will offer early-ca-reer designers and designgraduates unique training op-portunities with in-demanddigital skills including expo-sure to systems, platforms,strategy and organization do-mains to make them more em-

ployable in today's digitalworld, the statement said.

By studying everything fromuser-experience to howpeople interact with systems,these design-focused hires willbe equipped to create fully re-alized, 360-degree solutions tobusiness challenges, it said.

Built on a model of interdis-ciplinary collaboration, the hubwill facilitate interactions be-tween early-career designersand working professionals andtechnical experts in such fieldsas architecture, engineering,data science and business con-sulting, it added.

Infosys's clients and industrypartners will likewise benefitfrom increased access to top-tierdesigners and subject matter ex-perts, the company said.-PTI

Built on a model of interdisciplinary

collaboration, the hub will facilitate interactions

between early-career designers and working

professionals and technical experts

India, Russia ink anti-terror pact

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh meeting the Minister for Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation,Vladimir Kolokolstsev, in Moscow on November 27

MOSCOW: India and Russiahave agreed to help each otherin combating terrorism as thetwo strategic partners signeda key agreement, assertingthat there are no good or badterrorists and the menaceshould be fought jointly.

The agreement betweenthe two countries for coopera-tion in tackling all forms of ter-rorism was signed by HomeMinister Rajnath Singh andRussia's Interior MinisterVladimir Kolokoltsev here afterthey held wide-ranging talks.

The ministers underlined thatcooperation in the field of secu-rity is an important aspect of thisbilateral relationship furtherstrengthen cooperation to com-bat terrorism, extremism andradicalism, a statement issuedby the Indian embassy said.

They agreed that terrorismmust be fought unitedly andthere were no good or bad ter-rorists, it said.

"The new agreement be-

tween India's MHA and Russia'sinterior ministry will replacethe October 1993 agreementbetween both the countries.This agreement will help in ex-panding and deepening coop-eration on issues related to in-

ternal security," Singh tweetedafter signing the pact.

The Indian embassy state-ment said the two leadersagreed to cooperate in com-bating new challenges, en-hance exchange of information,

cooperate in building a database and in training of policeand investigative agencies.

Indian and Russian repre-sentatives also signed the jointaction plan for countering thethreat posed by narcotics and

the agreement will provide le-gal framework for bilateral co-operation in this field.

The pact was signed by In-dian ambassador to RussiaPankaj Saran and deputy min-ister for internal affairs of theRussian Federation Igor Zubovin presence of Singh andKolokoltsev.

The agreement on internalsecurity is an updated andmore comprehensive agree-ment on cooperation on secu-rity between the MHA and theRussian ministry of interior.

This pact provides a com-prehensive approach for helpin security related issues, in-cluding information technol-ogy crimes, counterfeiting cur-rency, illicit trafficking in nar-cotic drugs and psychotropicsubstances, trafficking in hu-man beings, economic crimes,crimes related to intellectualproperty, cultural propertyamongst others, the statementsaid.-PTI



Severe curry chefsshortage in UK

Britain replaces UN envoyfollowing ICJ defeat

LONDON: Britain's LiberalDemocrat party leader SirVince Cable has called on thegovernment to introduce tem-porary "vindaloo" visas to ad-dress severe staff shortagesbeing faced by curry restau-

rants in the country.The temporary visas would

be valid for a year and open tochefs from the Indian sub-con-tinent to help address the cri-sis facing the UK's curry indus-try, Cable said.

"We need more urgent mea-sures, including what has beendubbed a 'vindaloo visa', tosave the nation s favorite cui-sine," said the Liberal Demo-crat MP for Twickenham at theBritish Curry Awards in London.

The estimated 3.6-billion-pound curry industry, compris-

ing restaurants with roots inIndia, Pakistan and Bangladesh,are feared to be closing at arate of four a week due to aclampdown on visas used bythese restaurants to bring inchefs from the Indian sub-con-tinent.

"If there was any doubt be-forehand, the shortage of currychefs is now a crisis. The curryindustry is rightly aggrieved by

Brexiteer false promises that avote to Leave [the EuropeanUnion] would mean moreworkers, including chefs, fromSouth Asia could come into thecountry, because there wouldbe fewer EU workers. This hasnot materialized," Cable said.

According to a British CurryAwards analysis, 50 per cent ofall curry restaurants around6,000 are expected to perma-nently shut down within 10years. The group, headed byfounder Enam Ali, has writtento the UK government in thepast calling for tightly-con-trolled temporary visas forchefs to come to the UK andtrain local staff in the tradi-

tional style of cooking curry.The Liberal Democrat leader

called on British Prime MinisterTheresa May to revisit their pro-posals so that "our curry restau-rants can bring expert chefs tothe UK and train the next gen-eration of curry cooks".-PTI

Sir Vince Cable

WASHINGTON: Britain hasappointed Karen Pierce as itsnew Ambassador to the UN,replacing incumbent MatthewRycroft under whom it suf-fered a humiliating defeat atthe hands of India in the recentelection to the InternationalCourt of Justice.

Pierce is the first woman ap-pointed to this role, and isuniquely suited for the positionhaving previously served asDeputy Permanent Repre-sentative to the UN in NewYork, and more recently asthe Permanent Representa-tive to the UN in Geneva, theUK Mission to the UN said ina statement.

Britain's Permanent Mis-sion to the United Nationsdid not give any reason forappointing Pierce as newambassador to the worldbody, which comes days af-ter it failed to get its judgeChristopher Greenwoodelected to the InternationalCourt of Justice (ICJ) afterIndia's Judge Dalveer Bhandariconsistently received nearlytwo-third of the votes in theUN General Assembly.

Bhandari was re-elected tothe ICJ as the UN General As-sembly overwhelmingly threwits weight behind him, forcingBritain to withdraw its candi-date from the hard- fought

race to the world court.Political analysts and edito-

rials in British media have de-scribed it as a diplomatic fail-ure of the Therasa May govern-ment.

"Britain has a proud historyof working for positive changethrough the United Nations,not least in addressing theproblems in Libya and Syria,"British Foreign Secretary BorisJohnson said in a statement

without addressing the reasonfor sudden replacement ofRycroft.

Rycroft has been in the postsince 2015 and will handover inJanuary 2018 when he returnsto London to take up his newrole as Permanent Secretary atthe Department for Interna-tional Development.

"I know Karen has the diplo-matic skills, energy and pa-tience to continue this vitalwork, and I congratulate her onher appointment," Johnsonsaid.

In a statement, Pierce saidthe UK had long been a strongsupporter of the UN and its roleat the heart of the global rules-based international system at atime when it is coming underchallenge.

"Through our role as a per-manent member of the Secu-rity Council and position as theUN's third largest donor, theUK will continue to work withothers to tackle the pressingsecurity, stability, develop-ment and prosperity chal-lenges of today," she said.

"Our security and economicinterests depend to a large ex-tent on a strong and effectiveUnited Nations...I undertake toensure we are an active forcein New York for progress andpartnership," Pierce said. -PTI

Indian docs perform kidney transplant in TanzaniaNEW DELHI: A team of doc-

tors from India, in collaborationwith a hospital in Tanzanian capi-tal Dar es Salaam, has performedthe "first ever" kidney transplantin the African country.

According to a statement is-sued by the Delhi-based BLKSuper Speciality hospital, thesurgery was conducted at theMuhimbili National Hospital ona 30-year-old Tanzanian woman,who was suffering from an end-stage kidney disease.

"It is a matter of great honorthat the first ever kidney trans-plant in Tanzania was per-formed by a team of Indiandoctors," said Naresh Kapoor,executive director of the BLKSuper Specialty Hospital.

"We have established a

credible linkage with Africancountries through a number ofcollaborative programs, withan objective to build

healthcare capacities locally incountries such as Tanzania. Thissurgery will certainly boost theIndo-Tanzanian relationships in

the field of healthcare," headded.

The woman, on whom thesurgery was performed, was on

haemodialysis for over a year."The donor was her 27-year-

old brother, who donated oneof his kidneys to save his

sister's life," said Dr H S Bhatyal,the head of the Urology andKidney Transplantation depart-ment at the BLK Super Spe-cialty Hospital.

Both the donor and the re-cipient were recuperating welland should return to normal ac-tivities soon, Dr Sunil Prakash,director and head of the Neph-rology department at the BLKSuper Specialty Hospital, said.

According to the statement,while announcing the histori-cal medical achievement, thehealth minister of Tanzania,Ummi Mwalimu, said, "We arevery thankful to the Indian doc-tors as such surgeries wouldprovide cost relief and enablemany Tanzanians to accessworld-class health services.-PTI

The team of Delhi doctors at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam

Karen Pierce



US Sikh group supportsPanthic Front

WASHINGTON: A group ofSikh Americans has announcedtheir support to the PanthicFront led by Sukhdev SinghBhaur for the ShiromaniGurdwara Parbandhak Com-mittee (SGPC) election.

The group in a joint state-ment said that the PanthicFront offers a credible opposi-tion to the domination of theAkali Dal's Badal family in theSGPC power struc-ture.

"It is so critical thatthis institution is runefficiently by peoplewho have a visionrather than by thepeople who are arubber stamp in thehands of corrupt politicians,"said Rajwant Singh, secretary ofthe Guru Gobind Singh Foun-dation and founder of the Na-tional Sikh Campaign.

Inder Paul Singh Gadh, chair-

man of the Guru Gobind SinghFoundation in Washington, al-leged that the current Akalileaders have ruined Punjabeconomically and have doneenormous damage to the re-spect of Sikh institutions.

"Sikhi spirit is down amongthe youth and they have norole models. All the 'jathedars'and religious leaders have atarnished image. It is about

time we ask our SGPC mem-bers to vote for the rightpeople. So we urgently appealto all SGPC members to votefor the Panthic Front candi-date," he said.-PTI

The group in a jointstatement said that the

Panthic Front offers a credibleopposition to the dominationof the Akali Dal's Badal familyin the SGPC power structure

Sherin foster mother'sbail bond reduced

HOUSTON: The fostermother of a three-year-old In-dian girl, who was found deadin a culvert in the US state ofTexas last month, has managedto get her bail bond reducedto USD 100,000 from USD250,000 but she would remain

under house arrest and wearan ankle monitor.

Sini Ann Mathews, 35, wasarrested after investigatorssaid she and her husband,Wesley Mathews, left theiradopted daughter SherinMatthews at home, withoutadult supervision for about 90minutes, while they went outfor dinner with their biologicaldaughter on October 6.

Sherin was found dead in aculvert about 1 km from herhome in suburban Dallas onOctober 22.

Wesley was arrested andcharged with felony injury to achild, which carries a sentenceof up to life in prison. He is stillin the Dallas County jail on aUSD 1 million bond.

During hearing, DallasCounty Criminal District CourtJudge Stephanie Fargo re-duced Sini's bond from USD250,000 to USD 100,000. Butruled that she would remainunder house arrest and wearan ankle monitor.

Richardson police arguedMathews was a flight risk andsaid before she was arrestedshe asked her pediatrician forshot records so that her 3-year-old biological daughter could"go to India".

The judge also askedMathews to surrender herpassport.

The department receivedinformation that Sini re-quested her biologicaldaughter's shot records lastmonth and they believe she

may have planned to flee to In-dia, possibly with a fake pass-port, Richardson police Detec-tive Jules Farmer said.

Sini's defense attorneyswere calling for her bond to bereduced to the typical amountfor a child endangermentcharge (USD 500), which Sinifaces after it was discovered

she and her husband left Sherinhome alone in the hours beforeher disappearance.

They argued there were noindications Sini planned to fleeor produce a fake passport andif she requested shot recordsfor her daughter, it was so thegirl could be taken to stay witha family in India but Sini wouldnot follow.

The girl is currently stayingwith a family in the Houstonarea. Before the judge madeher decision, the prosecutiondid not mince words in closingarguments.

"This woman is wickedenough to leave a 3-year-old inher house while she and herhusband goes to dinner," saidFirst Assistant Mike Snipes withthe Dallas District Attorney Of-fice. "That shows a level of de-pravity in this woman's heart inand of itself".

Sherin was adopted byWesley and Sini, a couple fromKerala, two years ago. As an in-fant she had been found aban-doned in Gaya in Bihar andlater put up for adoption.

Born Saraswathi, the tragicend of this child's life is beingmourned by thousands acrossthe world.-PTI

Sini Mathews and Sherin Mathews

Indian help for transportsystem in Kabul

NEW DELHI: India will provide USD 2.87 million to Afghani-stan for refurbishment of 350 buses that will help in strength-ening the public transport system of Kabul.

An MoU in this regard was signed by Manpreet Vohra, In-dian ambassador to Afghanistan, and Afghan Transport Minis-ter Hameed Tahmasi, the Indian Embassy in Kabul said in astatement.

"The 350 buses are expected to be operational by end of2018," the statement, tweeted by the Ministry of ExternalAffairs, said.-PTI

France unhappy overHafiz Saeed's releaseNEW DELHI: After the US,

France has also conveyed itsanguish to Pakistan over therelease of Mumbai terror at-tack mastermind Hafiz Saeed,who heads the UN- proscribedoutfit Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD).

French diplomatic sourcessaid here that Paris has con-veyed its deep concern to Pa-kistan over the re-lease of Saeed whoseoutfit was listed as aterror group by theSanctions Committeeof the UN.

They said Franceand India will con-tinue their "relent-less" efforts to com-bat terrorism, and en-hancing cooperation to dealwith the menace will be an im-portant aspect of French Presi-dent Emmanuel Macron's visithere in early 2018.

In a strong reaction, Indiahad expressed outrage overSaeed's release, calling it an at-tempt by Pakistan to main-

stream proscribed terroristsand a reflection of its continu-ing support to non-state ac-tors.

The US has also demandedimmediate re-arrest and pros-ecution of Saeed, warningIslamabad that there would be"repercussions" for bilateralties if it fails to take "decisive

action" against the notoriousterrorist.

The banned JuD head, whocarries a USD 10 million Ameri-can bounty on his head for ter-ror activities, walked free afterthe Pakistan government de-cided against detaining himfurther in any other case.-PTI

The US has also demandedimmediate re-arrest and

prosecution of Saeed,warning Islamabad that therewould be "repercussions" forbilateral ties if it fails to take

"decisive action"



Ivanka emphasizeswomen-led growth

At the G20 conference, theUnited States was a foundingmember of a bold, new initia-tive with the World Bank - theWomen Entrepreneurs FinanceInitiative, or WeFi. This facilityprovides access to capital, net-works, and mentorship forwomen in developing coun-tries.

"At home, our administra-tion is committed to empower-ing women entrepreneursthrough domestic reforms. Inthe past 11 months, we haveexpanded apprenticeship pro-grams and prioritized STEMeducation to ensure thatwomen - and men -have more opportu-nities to master theskills that driveprogress in the 21stcentury," she stated.

The US has dra-matically reducedjob-crushing regula-tions which dispro-portionately hurt entrepre-neurs and small business own-ers.

"And we are laser-focusedon passing long overdue taxcuts. This will provide themuch-needed relief to work-ing families and businesses ofall sizes," she said, adding thatthis year, the President's Bud-get included a proposal to es-tablish a nation-wide programfor paid family leave.

"We are committed to sup-porting women, and men, whowork, inside and outside of thehome," Ivanka added.

In the last decade, theUSAID has promoted womenentrepreneurship through anumber of programs, including

providing micro-finance loansto women in Afghanistan, andbringing Internet access towomen in Nigeria and Kenya.

She concluded by highlight-ing the inspirational stories ofsome of the entrepreneurs inattendance.

Before the event, three gi-ant screens ran 'Incredible In-dia' videos, showcasing theuniqueness of the country'sdifferent states.

Prime Minister NarendraModi had a brief one-on-onemeeting with Ivanka Trump be-fore the summit inauguration.External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj also metIvanka, who leads the 350-

member US delegation to thebusiness meet.

The Ministry of External Af-fairs said both Sushma Swarajand Ivanka Trump had a pro-ductive discussion on womenentrepreneurship and empow-erment.

This will be the first GES inwhich women are expected tobe majority (52.5 per cent) ofthe participants. The theme ofthis year's summit demon-strates the commitment of theUS and the Indian governmentto the principle that whenwomen are economically em-powered, their communitiesand countries thrive, NITI AyogCEO Amitabh Kant has said.-Agencies

Cont’d from page 5

"We are committed tosupporting women, and men,

who work, inside andoutside of the home,"

Ivanka added

UK ex-soldiers freed from Indian jailLONDON: The families of six

former British soldiers lodgedin a Tamil Nadu jail expressed"sheer relief" after an Indiancourt acquitted them over anillegal weapons charge.

The so-called "Chennai Six"

had been arrested in October2013 and sentenced for carryingarms on a commercial US ship.

They were held while work-

ing for an anti-piracy securitycompany protecting commer-cial ships off the coast of Africain the Indian Ocean and havepleaded their innocence eversince.

"I just feel sheer relief finally

we are getting our family backtogether," said YvonneMacHugh, the fiancé of Billy Irv-ing, one of the six men.

"Finally all the men are go-ing to be home with their fami-lies. They have been acquittedof all charges, so they havedone no wrong and finally wehave proven that," she said.

The Madras High Courtruled that all charges againstthe six men and 29 others ar-rested with them be droppedwith immediate effect, and thefines they were ordered to paybe refunded.

The Madurai bench directedthat all crew members of MVSeaman Guard Ohio can applyto the Indian authorities to getback their passports afterwhich they will be able totravel home to the UK.

"They still need to get policeclearance before they cancome home, so there are stepsbeing taken to try to ensurethat everything's in place," saidJoanne Tomlinson, the sister ofanother British ex-soldier JohnArmstrong.

She was among the friendsand family members who hadbeen leading a campaign in the

UK, including lobbying minis-ters and Downing Street, to se-cure the release of the men.

Besides Armstrong and Irv-ing, the other British formersoldiers who have been in aChennai jail for four years in-clude Nick Dunn, Ray Tindall,

Paul Towers, and NicholasSimpson.

In October 2013, Indiancoastguards boarded their ves-sel and arrested them alongwith 29 other crew membersfor taking weapons into India'sterritorial waters.-PTI

The family of Nick Dunn, 31, a former paratrooper locked up in India for fouryears,celebrated after learning he would be freed on Monday (pictured from left,

brother Paul, mother Margaret, father Jim and sister Lisa)

'AAP took Rs 2cr from Delhihawala operator'

NEW DELHI: The Income TaxDepartment has charged theAam Aadmi Party (AAP) withtaking "hawala entries" worthRs 2 crore from a Delhi-basedoperative and revoked the taxexemption given to it as a po-litical party for assessmentyear 2015-16.

The taxman, in the penaltynotice accessed by PTI, allegedthat the Arvind Kejriwal-ledparty, in power in Delhi, "incor-rectly disclosed the hawalamoney as voluntary donations".

The department slappedthese charges on AAP in its as-sessment order issued to theparty and determined the to-tal taxable income of AAP at Rs

68.44 crore with a correspond-ing income tax of Rs 30.67crore for AY 2015-16.

The order came with thepenalty notice (under section271[1] [c]) for allegedly con-cealing its correct income.

The party has also beencharged by the department

with not correctly reporting po-litical donations received by it asstipulated under the Represen-tation of the People (RP) Act.

"The AAP party had takenhawala entries of Rs 2 crore dur-ing the financial year 2014-15from a hawala entry operator ofDelhi and the same was incor-rectly disclosed as voluntary do-nations," the I-T notice said.

It added the taxman's probehad found the said hawala op-erative provided such illegalentries to 372 other entities/persons.

Hawala is the criminal act ofskirting legal banking channelsto move funds and therebyevading tax.

Chief minister Kejriwaldubbed the I-T action the"height of political vendetta".

"In the history of India, alldonations to a political partyhave been declared illegal. Allthese were accounted for andshown in books of accounts.This is the height of politicalvendetta," he tweeted.

The taxman also accusedAAP of not recording "dona-tions of Rs 13.16 crore in itsbooks of accounts and in theaudited income and expendi-ture account filed along withthe return of income for FY2014-15".- PTI

Hawala is the criminal act of skirting

legal banking channels to move funds and

thereby evading tax

10 India Post December 1, 2017www.indiapost.com

TechBizTech NewsExoskeletonswill boostworker health

Hear of exoskeletons andyou may imagine ma-

chines, like ones we've re-ported, that allow disabledpeople to walk. But as ArsTechnica points out, reality ismore mundane. Trials at Fordshow exoskeletons don't givestrength boosts, but do stop in-juries for workers lifting theirarms above their head 4,600times a day. Tests at GM and Audishow workers can use handtools without tiring, or stand allday with less fatigue. In otherwords: exoskeletons will meanworkers take fewer sick days.

-MIT Technology Review

In an AI chipgold rush, fewwill win

For years, new semiconduc-tor businesses have

struggled to raise funding. It'san industry with awfully thinprofit margins for small firms,along with fierce competitionfrom incumbents like Intel andNvidia-and both make inves-tors unhappy. But now chipstartups have become a dar-ling of the venture capitalworld. What changed? AI. Smallfirms promise to build fast andefficient new chips to powerthe machine learning revolu-tion. But, there is a warning -many of 'em won't make it.


Electionsofficials gettingCybersecurity 101

A team of Harvard research-ers has published a

playbook to help campaignleaders safeguard electionsfrom hacks. You may be upset athow basic the advice is. The topfive tips: (1) take cybersecurityseriously, (2) use the cloud, (3)use two-factor authentication,(4) create strong, long pass-words, and (5) have a plan incase your security is compro-mised. Still, as reported before,even national elections arewide open to hacks right now.The new advice may go someway to changing that.


Kennedy Center receives $ 1 millionaid for Indian cultural performances

WASHINGTON: The presti-gious Kennedy Center has re-ceived USD 1 million seedmoney grant to create an 'In-dian Fund' to facilitate a seriesof Indian cultural perfor-mances over the next severalyears.

Well known Indian Americanphilanthropist couple - Ranvirand Adarsh Trehan - recentlymade the donation in this re-gard to establish the India Fund

at the Kennedy Center, a topAmerican center for perform-ing arts.

"The India Fund will exclu-sively be used to create andpresent at the Kennedy Centerperforming arts, artistic exhib-its and festivals showcasing thehistory, traditions, literature,music, dance and culture of In-dia," Ranvir told ethnic IndiaAbroad newspaper in an inter-view.

the weekly, adding the pro-gramming is intended to "uti-lize" established or emergingartists, singers, musicians orother performers or perfor-mance creators who are eithercitizens of India or whose an-cestry is from India.

"There is a need and desirefor sustained India program-ming at the Kennedy Center formany years to come and I seethis as a broad based effort byindividuals both in the Indian-American community and oth-ers interested in Indian culturefrom foundations and MNCs,"Ranvir said.

He said, "The result maybeseveral events every year oreven a mini-festival or a sub-stantial festival like MaximumIndia. The Kennedy Center maychoose to cooperate with per-forming arts centers in othercities on this effort."

The Indian Ambassador tothe US, Navtej Sarna, called theTrehans' initiative "the encour-agement that we need".

"The Indian arts are at a veryinteresting phase...It surprisesme constantly because we areall used to a certain vision ofIndian culture, but if you nowput on a new film or you see anew dance performance, youare always surprised becausepeople are always crossingborders in different direc-tions," Sarna said.

President, Kennedy Center,Deborah F Rutter said it is im-portant for the national culturalcenter to bring internationalprogramming for its audi-ences.

The Kennedy Center hadbeen contemplating ways toexpand its international pro-gramming and the Trehans' giftwill ensure these offerings ona more ongoing basis, she toldIndia Abroad.-PTI

Ranvir Trehan

The intent of India Fund is tobe "country focused", he told

Kennedy Center

Rs 1000-crore FEMA noticeto NRI businessman

NEW DELHI: The Enforce-ment Directorate (ED) has is-sued a fresh show-cause noticeto NRI businessman C C Thampi

for alleged violation of foreignexchange laws to the tune of

over Rs 1,000 crore in the pur-chase of vast tracts of land inKerala, official sources said here.

The central probe agencyhas issued the notice underprovisions of the Foreign Ex-change Management Act

(FEMA), alleging contraventionof Rs 1,014.75 crore by the busi-nessman, his wife M Rodriguesand their companies.

The couple, under the scan-ner of the agency for their re-ported dealings with the fami-

lies of some politicians and bu-reaucrats, are non-resident Indi-ans and hence were not entitledto purchase land, they said.

The ED, in February this year,issued a similar show-causenotice to Thampi and his firms

for alleged FEMA violationamounting to over Rs 288crore in acquiring about 927acres of land in Delhi and ad-joining areas (national capitalregion).

CC Thampi

NRI businessman C C Thampi allegedlyviolated foreign exchange laws to the tune

of over Rs 1,000 crore in the purchase ofvast tracts of land in Kerala

Cont’d on page 12

S&P keeps India rating unchangedNEW DELHI: S&P Global Rating

has kept India's sovereign ratingunchanged at 'BBB-' with stableoutlook saying vulnerabilitiesstemming from low per capita in-come and high government debtbalances strong GDP growth.

The rating stance taken by S&P comes days after Moody's In-vestors Service raised India's sovereign rating for the first time inover 13 years, saying that growth prospects have improved withcontinued economic and institutional reforms.-PTI

11India PostTechBiz PostDecember 1, 2017

www.indiapost.com

Automaker Mahindraopens US plant

AUBURN HILLS, Mich.: Indianconglomerate Mahindra Groupis opening an automotivemanufacturing facility near De-troit.

Mahindra says it will make

an off-road vehicle at the400,000-square-foot plant inAuburn Hills.

Mumbai-based Mahindra isIndia's largest SUV maker, butit doesn't yet sell cars or SUVsin the U.S., where it wouldhave to find dealers and meetstricter safety standards.

Mahindra currently sells trac-tors, scooters and off-road ve-hicles in the U.S.

It's also one of five compa-nies in the running to build anew vehicle for the U.S. Postal

Service. And it recently signeda deal to work with Ford MotorCo. on electric and connectedvehicle technology.

Mahindra opened a techni-cal center in suburban Detroitin 2012. It expects to have 250employees in Michigan by theend of this year.-AP

Fraudsters steal12,000pounds via Facebook

LONDON: An Indian-originYoga instructor in the UK lostnearly 12,000 pounds afterfraudsters gained access to hisFacebook account and madetransactions to an online gam-bling website.

Jasbir Mann, 45, kept hisdebit card details stored onFacebook as he occasionallypaid to advertise his businesson the social media site.

He was horrified to discover110 transactions, ranging be-tween 21 and 215 pounds,made to an online poker gamesite he had never used be-

tween September 26 and 28,'The Telegraph' reported.

"Aside from the occasionallottery ticket I don't gambleand do not knowhow to playpoker," saidMann, who runs aYoga studio inWarwickshire.

He said he im-mediately con-tacted his bankwhich cancelledhis card and toldhim to removehis details from

Facebook.Mann raised a dis-

pute with Facebookwhich began refund-ing some of the trans-actions, paying 5,747pounds of the stolen11,878 pounds back in30 tranches on Sep-tember 28, the reportsaid.

But then the re-funds mysteriouslystopped, he claimed.

"I can't believeBarclays and Facebookhave taken so long todeal with this. I'm ayoga instructor, not amillionaire," he said.

Almost two months

after the fraud occurred,Facebook finally refunded theremaining 6,132 pounds toBarclays without explanation,

the report said.Facebook has not answered

Telegraph Money's questionsregarding how Mann's accountwas accessed, how thefraudsters managed to stealthe money and why initially itrefunded only some of thecash.

The social media site, how-ever, apologised for delays inkeeping Mann informed. "Wecan confirm that unfortunatelythis account was compro-mised. A full refund has nowbeen made," a spokesmansaid.

Facebook said it took a"number of precautions" tosafeguard users and preventunauthorised access.-PTI

Jasbir Mann

Panel proposed to monitorproject implementation

employable as that would helpdeal with challenges of grow-ing migration to greener pas-tures in search of jobs, headded.

Uttarakhand's economy hasgrown at 7.1 per cent CAGRbetween FY12and FY17, higherthan the nationalaverage of 6.9 percent clocked dur-ing the same pe-riod, he said.

Though agri-culture and alliedactivities is themainstay of over51 per cent of thestate's totalworkforce as perCensus 2011, thesector's contribu-tion to itseconomy declined from 12.3per cent in FY12 to 8.9 per centin FY17.

The contribution of indus-trial sector to Uttarakhand'seconomy has remained atabout 52 per cent during both

DEHRADUN: Industry bodyAssocham has urged theUttarakhand government toform a special investmentmonitoring task force to en-sure timely and effectiveimplementation of projectsworth over Rs 2 lakh crore.

"Speeding up implementationof projects through target settingmust be the mandate and thechief minister should immedi-ately constitute a committee ofsenior ministers and bureaucratsto oversee pace of projects'implementation and address en-vironmental, land acquisition and

other related issues," AssochamSecretary General D S Rawat saidwhile addressing a press confer-ence here.

"The state should accordmore importance to imple-menting investment intentionsas even if about half of these getimplemented, it would helpcreate 30,000 direct and indi-

rect jobs across the state in thenext five years," Rawat said.

He also released anAssocham study titled'Uttarakhand: EconomicGrowth and Investment Per-formance Analysis'.

The state government mustfocus on upskilling the peoplethereby making them more

FY12 and FY17, but the statehas topped in terms industrialsector growth by clocking aCAGR of 7.3 per cent duringthe period.

Promotion of food process-ing industries, bolstering sec-

tor-specific infrastructure likewarehouses, cold storages andothers to avoid spoilage ofperishable products will fur-ther strengthen the industrialscenario of Uttarakhand, theAssocham report said. -PTI

D S Rawat

"The state should accord more importance toimplementing investment intentions as even ifabout half of these get implemented, it would

help create 30,000 direct and indirect jobs”

12 India Post TechBiz Post December 1, 2017

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Rs 1000-crore FEMA noticeto NRI businessman

"Further probe in case ofThampi's companies in Keralarevealed that he had adopteda similar modus operandi (likethe Delhi-NCR land purchaseinstance) of forwarding loansto his companies and getting itconverted into equity in hisname and in the name of hisfamily members and pur-chased land including agricul-tural land in the name of thecompanies," a source said.

The latest notice is for theFEMA violation amounting toRs 1,014.75 crore and the landthat he allegedly purchased inKerala is over 594 acres.

The agency registered aFEMA case against Thampi andhis associates last year.

The firms that are being in-vestigated by the ED, as part ofthe two show-cause notices, in-clude Holiday City Centre Pri-

vate Limited, Holiday Proper-ties Private Limited and HolidayBekal Resorts Private Limited.

The ED earlier said thatThampi had "acquired hugeagricultural land mass in Palwaland Faridabad districts ofHaryana in the name of hiscompany Holiday City CentrePvt. Ltd. by circumventing theprescribed law of land and incontravention of extant provi-sion of FEMA".

The probe revealed thatThampi was residing outsideIndia and he had advanced un-secured loans to his three com-panies which were later con-verted into equity in his nameand in the name of his familymembers in these companies,it had said.

Agency sources said thebusinessman was also underthe scanner for his reporteddealings with some politiciansand bureaucrats. -PTI


Need broad-basedgrowth, more jobs: Rajan

Raghuram Rajan

NEW DELHI: Former RBI Gov-ernor Raghuram Rajan has madea strong case for broad-basingeconomic growth and generat-ing more employment opportu-nities, arguing that short-termpolitical solutions to the job res-ervation issue can damage thefabric of the country.

On the solution to the prob-lem of majority of people feel-ing discriminated, he said, "Theonly way to solve this is tobroad-base economic growth.We need to focus on that as theultimate solution rather thanemphasize grievances... (theyare) politically in short-termvery convenient but have po-tential to bring apart the fab-ric of this country."

Rajan made these com-ments referring to rising popu-list nationalism and also agita-tion by powerful communities,including Patidar communityin Gujarat which is feeling dis-criminated and is seeking res-ervation in jobs.

"It (populist nationalism) has

a potential to damage. I woulddefine very simply as the ma-jority community feeling ag-grieved that it is being dis-criminated against. It existsacross the world. It exists in In-dia also. There are often under-lying issues, for example an is-sue of job," the ex- ReserveBank governor said in a re-corded interview played at theTimes Lit Fest 2017 here.

Some strong communities

in India have started protest-ing to press for reservationsbecause they are not findingjobs, he said, adding that it isvery important to tackle un-derlying economic issues, in-cluding unemployment.

On the issue of "illiberal de-mocracy, he said, it is worryingand this system needs to betackled.

"Illiberal democracy is notonly function of leader, func-tion of system which cowedout very easily to strongleader... the press, the businessgroup, all of them tend to-wards bowing even thoughthere are exceptions becausetheir interests are all aligned,"

Rajan said.There are cosy relationships

between political and corpo-rate establishments, he saidadding that often press is alsoowned by corporate establish-ment and independent voices

tend to get suppressed.On increasing incidences of

censorships and bans, theformer central bank chief said,these are not a feature of anyparticular government andhave happened again andagain since independence.

It is important to recognizethat as a tolerant society Indiais better off having free speechwith the provision that itshould not propagate vio-lence, Rajan said.

On criticism from variousquarters faced during his stintas RBI governor, he said, "Wehave to develop thicker skins."

Citing example of flag burn-ing incidents in the US, he said,once the Supreme Court de-cided to allow this as part ofprotest, the incidences slowlydiminished.

Rajan also said that India is avibrant democracy and it hasto be seen as a strength ratherthan as a weakness.

"Growth in democracy ismuch more stable unlike au-thoritarian rule. It is beneficialbecause it tends to be egalitar-ian. It tends to take peoplealong with. Democracy givesright, allows people to pro-test," he said.-PTI

"The only way to solve this is to broad-baseeconomic growth. We need to focus on that as

the ultimate solution rather than emphasizegrievances... (they are) politically in short-term

very convenient but have potential to bringapart the fabric of this country"

Decades of neglect onrail infrastructure: Lohani

NEW DELHI: The accumu-lated deficit in upkeep of infra-structure due to "decades of

neglect" is taking a toll on theIndian Railways, chairman ofthe Railway Board AshwaniLohani has said, referring to anaccident in Uttar Pradesh.

In a Facebook post, Lohani,who had rushed to the acci-dent site at Manikpur in

Chitrakoot district, said an ac-tion plan needs to be put inplace to address the problem.

"The accident at Manikpur isa cause for concern. Huge ac-cumulated deficit in upkeep ofinfrastructure arising out of de-cades of neglect is taking itstoll. Consolidation has to takepriority over growth and an ac-tion plan has to emerge veryshortly," he wrote.

He said the country waslooking up to the railways toset its house in order but thefact remains that it would takeits time and may also extractits price, "a price that wouldhave to be paid either way".

"That there are no freelunches is a realization thatneeds to sink in inside everyrailway employee, the over 13lakh of them. Yet, the inherentstrength of the system and itsconstituents is what keeps megoing. -PTI

Ashwani Lohani

Rahul attacksPM Modi's 'Makein India'

NEW DELHI: Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi hascited a media report on adrop in the production of'Nano' cars at a Gujarat plantand said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's pet 'Makein India' project "just died"turning Gujarati tax payers'Rs 33,000 crore into "ash".

Gandhi also asked whoshould be held accountable forthe money becoming "ash".

The Congress vice presi-dent has reportedly beensaying that the Gujarat gov-ernment had proffered"benefits" worth Rs 33,000crore to the car project inSanand.

"PM's pet 'Make in India'project just died. 33,000crores of Gujarati taxpayermoney turned to ash. Who isaccountable?" Gandhi saidon Twitter.-PTI

13India PostTechBiz PostDecember 1, 2017

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Tech Briefs

MIT Technology Review

Uber paid off crooks tohide a huge hack

Bloomberg reports thatthe ride-hailer concealed

a data breach affecting 57million users since 2016. ItsChief Security Officer (nowfired, says Uber) hid theattack and the firm alleg-edly paid hackers$100,000 to delete datathey stole. Bloomberg

notes that the firm is al-ready being sued over theleak. Uber 's CEO says"none of this should havehappened," adding thathe "will not make excusesfor it." That's just as well-because it raises hugequestions about Uber 'ssecurity

VR may be used in futurefor training staff

You thought VR would letyou explore impossible

worlds or live out wild fanta-sies. Nope. More likely, you'lldon a headset to live outwork situations, so as to

handle them better in fu-ture-whether that's BlackFriday Walmart scrums orset pieces on a sports pitch.It ain't glamorous but it'sthe future.

FCC plan to kill offInternet neutrality

The Federal Communica-tions Commission an-

nounced how it will roll backrules controlling Internetservice providers. The movewill give ISPs freedom toblock or prioritize traffic,handing some control to theFederal Trade Commission.The plan will go to vote De-cember 14th. (It will likely

pass: the FCC is majorityRepublican.) FCC chair AjitPai says the government"will stop micromanagingthe Internet." Ex-FCC chairTom Wheeler writes thatit's "a shameful sham." Ac-tually, Net neutrality is aworthy goal, but it doesn'tseem to work that well inpractice.

Tesla's semi may packradical battery tech

Among the concerns withElon Musk's electric

truck is its batteries: mostlithium-ion cells fail after1,000 charges, which wouldonly allow the vehicle tocover 500,000 miles on a set.Problem is, as said before,the truck may be so pricey it

only breaks even against adiesel at 1 million miles. Now,Axios cites sources who claimthe cells will undergo 2,000charges, allowing it to cover1 million miles. That hints atsome impressive battery up-grades but we are skepticaluntil we hear more.

Time for consolidationof reforms: Niti chief

NEW DELHI: Niti Aayog ViceChairman Rajiv Kumar has saidthe time has come for consoli-dation of reforms, includingGST, bankruptcy code andbenami law, initiated by theModi government in the last42 months to ensure that thesteps deliver the "desiredfruits".

The new initiatives in thenext 18 months, Kumar said,should focus on health andeducation sectors as these twoare going to be critical for hu-man resource development.

"You know Modi govern-ment has done far too much inthose 42 months, it has takensome very major steps. Myview is that time has come for

consolidation and making surethat these reform steps, whichhave been taken, yield the de-sired fruits," he told PTI in aninterview.

The Narendra Modi-led NDA

government came to power inMay 2014 and the next generalelections are due in 2019.

Reform measures such asthe Goods and Services Tax(GST ), Benami Transactions(Prohibition) Act, the Insol-

vency and Bankruptcy Code(IBC) and the flagship schemeslike Direct Benefit Transfer(DBT) are very major initiatives,Kumar said.

"We should now focus ontheir successful completion ex-cept in social sector wheresome steps need to be taken"on public health and publiceducation system fronts.

On criticism that the gov-ernment has failed to createenough jobs, Kumar said thereare a large number of areaswhich have seen substantial in-crease in employment oppor-tunities, though they may notbe in organized and formal sec-tor.

"The number of EPFO ac-counts have increased, thenumber of National PensionSystem (NPS) accounts have in-creased... (There is a) signifi-cant jump in the number ofemployees within the services

sector, especially in tourism,civil aviation, transport and ser-vices sector.

"Let me say that the lack ofemployment story, I think, isquite exaggerated," Kumarsaid.-PTI

Rajiv Kumar

“My view is that time has come forconsolidation and making sure that thesereform steps, which have been taken, yield

the desired fruits"

'AI, machine learning to fight cyber attacks'HELSINKI: Cyber security

companies are turning to arti-ficial intelligence and machinelearning tools to ward offgrowing number of attackson networks, Finland- basedinternet security firm F-Se-cure said.

As the world is fast mov-ing towards Internet ofThings and connected de-vices, deployment of artifi-cial intelligence (AI) has be-come inevitable for cyber se-curity firms to analyze hugeamount of data to save net-works from infiltration at-

tempts, F-Secure's Security Ad-visor Sean Sullivan said.

Networks are persistently ex-posed to threats like malware,

phishing, password breachesand denial of service attacks.

On a daily basis, F-SecureLabs on an average receivessample data of 500,000 files

from its customers that include10,000 malware variants and60,000 malicious URLs foranalysis and protection,

Sullivan said.For humans, it is a big task

to go through such hugeamount of data and ma-chine learning tools and AIare lending a helping handat this stage, he said.

Machine learning can beused to train logic designed todetect suspiciousness based onthe structure of a file or its be-havior or both, another SecurityAdvisor Andy Patel said.-PTI

14 India Post TechBiz Post December 1, 2017

www.indiapost.com

Volvo to supply Uber withself-driving cars

NJ in $72M settlementwith Volkswagen

HELSINKI: Volvo Cars havesaid it will sell tens of thou-sands of self-driving cars toUber, which is expanding tobecome an operator andowner of its own car fleet.

Volvo said in a statement thatit would provide the San Fran-cisco-based ride-sharing com-pany with its XC90 premiumSUVs complete with autono-mous driving technologies, from2019 until 2021. The frameworkdeal is non-exclusive.

``The automotive industry isbeing disrupted by technol-ogy and Volvo Cars chooses tobe an active part of that dis-ruption,'' said Volvo Cars CEOHakan Samuelsson.

The carmaker, owned byChina's Geely Holding since2010, didn't disclose theagreement's value or the pre-cise number of vehicles. Mediareports suggest Uber is buying

up to 24,000 autonomousVolvo cars.

The deal is based on an alli-ance Volvo announced withUber last year when the twocompanies said they would

collaborate on developing self-driving cars, pledging to investa combined $300 million to theproject.

Jeff Miller, Uber's head of

auto alliances, said the com-pany was ``thrilled'' to expandits partnership with Volvo.

``This new agreement putsus on a path towards mass pro-duced self-driving vehicles at

scale,'' Miller said in a jointstatement with Volvo.

Volvo Cars key manufactur-ing plant is located inGoteborg, Sweden.-AP

TRENTON, N.J.: New JerseyRepublican Gov. Chris Christiesays the state has reached at$72.2 million settlement withautomaker Volkswagen.

Christie said in a statementthat the cash is in addition to a$69 million settlement reachedwith the auto company to re-solve a separate lawsuit.

Christie says the cash willcome from federal trust tohelp public health and the en-vironment.

The outgoing, two-term gov-ernor says the deal stems fromVolkswagen's decision to installdevices on thousands of dieselvehicles in New Jersey thatskirted emissions rules.-AP

No plan of introducingIslamic banking

HYDERABAD: India has awide network of differentbanks to meet the financialneeds of people and hence thegovernment has no intentionto consider introducing Islamicbanking, Union ministerMukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said.

Islamic or Sharia banking is asystem of finance in which in-terest is not charged.

"In India, the government

will not allow Islamic banking,because India is a secular anddemocratic country," the min-ister for minority affairs toldPTI here.

"There are different govern-ment and scheduled banksand the existing banking sys-tem is for all. Hence, the gov-ernment is not thinking of in-troducing the concept of Is-lamic banking," he said.-PTI


December 1, 2017

www.indiapost.com December 1, 2017

COMMUNITYACROSS AMERICA

India Post

Desi News

Details on page 21

16

Details on page 18

Details on page 19

Details on page 23

FIA elects new Boardheaded by Neil Khot

Charlotte NC team to compete atSilicon Valley's Annual Pitch Fest

Entrepreneur 101's first class in Charlotte,NC - students and instructor Vipul Shah

A few student teams at the Charlotte Pitch Fest from Nov. 19th 2nd place winning team Soar Innovation in Charlotte Pitch Fest 2017

1st place Team MyFood winning team in the Charlotte Pitch Fest 2017

India Post News Service

SARATOGA, CA: With overhalf-a-million businesses start-ing each month in the UnitedStates, entrepreneurship skillshave become a vital part ofAmerica's economy. Thanks toCharlotte CouncilmemberDimple Ajmera's initiative, theSilicon Valley Young Coders'Club (SVYCC) was launched Oc-tober 2017 in Charlotte, NCwith the help of Vipul Shah andNaresh Arora, the 12th loca-tion, the very first outside Cali-fornia. The response was over-whelming, as an excited groupof students from Charlotte be-came part of the very first se-mester of the startup bootcamp program geared formiddle and high school stu-dents.

SVYCC was founded bySaratoga High School student,Shivaum Kumar in June of 2015to provide a fun, learning envi-ronment for the youth of SiliconValley, enabling hands-on col-laborative startup experience,to blossom the next genera-tion of inventors and innova-tors. "My object is to seed in-novation and opportunities inevery part of Silicon Valley andAmerica. When I found an op-portunity to launch this pro-gram in Charlotte, I wasthrilled!"

Middle and high school stu-

dents participated in a chal-lenging 10-week program,learning every aspect of a busi-ness under the tutelage ofVipul Shah and Naresh Arora.

Students learned aspects ofentrepreneurship, such as howto start a business, to whatmakes a successful entrepre-neur, to how to protect your

intellectual property and wereable to see the inner workingsof startups via many case stud-ies and success stories.

Many of these studentsformed teams and excitedlylaunched their own startup.The course ended with a Pitch-Fest challenge, where teamspresented their startup busi-ness plans to a group of busi-ness and technology experts.

Team MyFood who devel-oped a comprehensive healthapp won the first place consist-ing of team members SanskritiDeva, Sanskar Deva, AaryanVemunoori, Saskia Seepersaud,Aakash Shah. The parents men-tors were SudhanshuKulshreshtha, Vivek Vemunoori.

Cont’d on page 19

MAFS celebratesAnniversary ingrand styleRAMESH SOPARAWALAIndia Post News Service

CHICAGO: Commemoratingits Silver Jubilee, MetropolitanAsian Family Services held its25th annual fundraising dinneron November 18 at Ashyana Ban-quets, Downers Grove in grandstyle with huge attendance fromwell wishers and supporters.

The celebration startedwith the traditional "Deep-Lighting" performed by SwamiMukundananda of BharatSevashram Sangha, Aurora inthe presence of prominentdignitaries.

AIPHA hostsAnnual Banquet& Business Expo

SURESH BODIWALA

CHICAGO: The Association ofIndian Pharmacists (AIPHA),Board of Trustees and Volun-teers of America, organized anexciting Annual Banquet andBusiness Expo on Sunday, No-vember 11at the MeadowsClub in Rolling Meadows, anorthwest suburb of Chicago,to commemorate annual busi-ness network opportunities,Diwali and the holiday seasonwith members and guests.

Master of CeremoniesTushar Mehta kicked off theprogram by welcoming every-one to the gala.

Ram Janaki Vivahcelebrated withgreat devotion

GEETHA PATIL

CHICAGO: Shri Ram-MataJanaki Vivah Utsav was cel-ebrated by hundreds of devo-tees with great zeal at HinduMandir of Lake County,Grayslake, a Chicago suburb,on 23 November; it being theShuklapaksha (waxing phase)Panchami (fifth day) of themonth of Margashirsha ofHindu Calendar.

This festival is celebratedwith magnificence all over thecountry, especially in North In-dia and Nepal.


December 1, 2017

December 1, 2017India Post18 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

MAFS celebrates Anniversary in grand style

MAFS anniversary Lamp Lighting ceremony

MAFS supporters and activists

RAMESH SOPARAWALAIndia Post News Service

CHICAGO: Commemoratingits Silver Jubilee, MetropolitanAsian Family Services held its25th annual fundraising dinneron November 18 at Ashyana Ban-quets, Downers Grove in grandstyle with huge attendance fromwell wishers and supporters.

The celebration startedwith the traditional "Deep-Lighting" performed by SwamiMukundananda of Bharat

Sevashram Sangha, Aurora inthe presence of prominentdignitaries. In attendancewere Cook County Board Presi-dent Toni Preckwinkle, Con-gressman Raja Krishnamoorthi,Nimish Jani, PhilanthropistDeepak Kant Vyas, Dr. VijayPrabhakar, Executive DirectorCLESE Marta Pereyra, KrishnaBansal, Sunil Shah, ChandmalKumawat, Anis Ahmed, MAFSBoard members Dr. FirdausJafri, Dr. Rakesh Ashthana,

Harish Kolasani, Nikunj Baxi,Sumitra Patel, James D'mello,Sagar Kumar and other com-munity leaders.

Raja Krishnamoorthi com-mended the MAFS team for itsexemplary service to the com-munity for 25 long years andsaid he wishes MAFS will con-tinue to do so for many moreyears in the future. Consul Gen-eral of India Ms. Neeta Bhushan

praised the array of servicesMAFS provides to the commu-nity successfully. Cook CountyBoard President ToniPreckwinkle appreciated theMAFS's commitment and dedi-cation in serving the commu-nity and offered good wishesfor it to continue for manymore years.

Mrs. Santosh Kumar, Execu-tive Director MAFS, spoke

about the long journey and thetrials and tribulations theyfaced to come this far. She alsoremembered all the peoplepast and present leaders of thecommunity who helped to ac-complish MAFS's mission toeducate, counsel, assist andempower immigrants to be-come productive members ofAmerican Society.

Cont’d on page 22

India Post 19December 1, 2017 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

Charlotte NC team to compete at Silicon Valley's Annual Pitch Fest

Instructor Vipul Shah at the Charlotte NC entrepreneurship class

"The program was really in-sightful, it helped show all of ushow to achieve our dreamsand how to make the world abetter place." said participantand winner Sanskriti Deva fromthe MyFood team.

The 2nd place winner wasSoar Innovation who designed

Team presenting their idea in Charlotte Pitch Fest on Nov 19

a solution for broad home se-curity. The student team mem-bers were Ojas Panda, AryanShah, Aaditya Malapati, NikhilKamisetty, Neel Patel, andwere mentored by ArchanaShah. "The innovation in thenext generation is mind-bog-gling to see." said instructorVipul Shah, impressed by thedepth of the business plans.

The top two teams havebeen invited to be part of theSilicon Valley Annual BusinessPlan Pitch Fest that will be heldat Saratoga California on De-cember 17, California. The toptwo teams from each of the 12SVYCC locations will present infront of valley executives, who

will evaluate and declare thetop winner that will take homeseed money to build theirproduct prototype.

Both the Charlotte teams arecurrently making travel plansand are expected to make this alearning experience by visitingTesla, Facebook and Google - ar-

rangements are being madecurrently by the SYYCC team.Councilmember Ajmera wasvery happy with the outcome.'We're thrilled to see amazing lo-cal talent showcasing their pas-sion and improving the worldthrough innovation and technol-ogy. I wish them the best."


AIPHA hosts Annual Banquet & Business ExpoSURESH BODIWALA

Members of the audience at the AIPHA Annual banquet

Indian Consul Bhati and Congressman Raja Krishnamurthi addressing the gathering

CHICAGO: The Association ofIndian Pharmacists (AIPHA),Board of Trustees and Volun-teers of America, organized anexciting Annual Banquet andBusiness Expo on Sunday, No-vember 11at the MeadowsClub in Rolling Meadows, anorthwest suburb of Chicago,to commemorate annual busi-ness network opportunities,Diwali and the holiday seasonwith members and guests.

Master of CeremoniesTushar Mehta kicked off theprogram by welcoming every-one to the gala.

To encourage NRI entrepre-neurs to set up new manufac-turing plants in India, Consul

General Debandhu Bhati ex-plained that "Annual growth ofthe Indian pharmacy industry

by an average of 15% per yearto reach twenty billion to fiftyfive billion dollar industry from

the span of 2020 to 2030, pro-ducing world class pharma-ceuticals products, dwarfs theaverage 5% growth of othernon-pharmaceutical indus-tries. This phenomenal growthwill contribute significantly toPrime-minister NarendraModi's 'Made in India' goal inview of the availability of 100%approval of FDA for productionof medical devices in India."

Rupesh Manek, AIPHA Ex-ecutive Director encouragedall pharmacists in Illinois to getinvolved and become mem-bers of National Indian Pharma-

cist Association (NIPA). He indi-cated that NIPA is dedicated tothe construction of networkingopportunities and the promo-tion of our cultural heritage forpharmacists of Indian origin.The NIPA is committed to sup-porting AlPHA in all of theirstruggles. He informed thatNIPA membership now spansover 19 states in the countryand he looks forward to itspresence in all states of thecountry, as well as increasedinvolvement from Illinois mem-bers.

Cont’d on page 20


Bill Clinton to address AIDSDay Commemoration


SAN FRANCISCO, CA: The Na-tional AIDS Memorial has an-nounced that President BillClinton will deliver its keynoteaddress during World AIDS Dayceremonies on Friday, Decem-ber 1st, culminating a year ofevents marking more than 25years since the memorial wascreated to honor those lost tothe AIDS epidemic.

The first diagnosis of AIDS inthe United States was re-ported in 1981. In San Fran-cisco, when few others weretaking notice, a small group ofdedicated indi-viduals re-sponded to AIDSand from this ef-fort, the SanFrancisco modelof care andtreatment ofAIDS was born.

Ten yearslater, at theheight of theepidemic, an-other group ofindividuals cre-ated a placewhere peopleseeking healingcould gather to express theircollective grief through a livingmemorial, commonly referredto at the time as SanFrancisco's AIDS MemorialGrove.

The pain the nation felt fromthe AIDS epidemic is why in1996, President Clinton signedlegislation spearheaded byCongresswoman Nancy Pelosithat forever designated thisprecious space as thiscountry's sole federally-desig-nated National AIDS Memorial.

The leadership and actionsof President Clinton helped en-sure that the nation and worldwould never forget the loved

ones lost and was an importantway to honor their legacy bycaring for the sick and commit-ting to solve the AIDS crisis.

"At a time when many na-tional leaders paid little atten-tion to the AIDS epidemic,President Bill Clinton coura-geously brought the issue tothe forefront and through hiscompassion and leadershipcreated a national memorial toforever honor the lives lost toAIDS," said John Cunningham,executive director of the Na-tional AIDS Memorial. "We areso proud to have President

Clinton be such an importantpart of our World AIDS Daycommemoration and honor hisglobal commitment to providecare and help find a cure forthis devastating disease."

This years' World AIDS Daycommemoration events on No-vember 30th and December1st at the National AIDS Memo-rial are built around the theme"Bending the Arc Toward Jus-tice, "honoring people whohave made a difference in thefight against AIDS and cel-ebrating the next generationof leaders who will help ensurethe story of AIDS is never for-gotten.

Bill Clinton

Harish Bhatt, Lifelong Presi-dent of the Association of In-dian Pharmacists, thanked In-dia Consul Bhati, NikkiBudzinski, a senior advisor toGovernor Candidate JBPritzker, MarcusEvans and LarryWalsh Jr, Rep. RajaKrishnamurthy fortheir presenceand congratu-lated Illinois' De-partment of Pro-fessional Regula-tion for puttinginto practice newpharmacy coun-seling rules ben-eficial to the phar-macy/patient re-lationship. "Ashealth care pro-viders, we arededicated tomaintaining highstandards of in-tegrity with patient care asour number one priority. Thisact solidifies the trust our pa-tients deserve, and sets agreat example for the entire

nation, "he said.He congratulated the few

brave pharmacists who havefiled a lawsuit against insur-ance companies, such as Prime

AIPHA hosts Annual Banquet & Business ExpoTherapeutics, for their unfairpractices and contractcancelations. "We are not get-ting paid for the cost of drugs,let alone the fees, and are pre-pared to fight this battle, "hesaid.

AIPHA helped defeating an

ill-conceived plan from the CityCouncil of Chicago to limit fill-ing to only 10 prescriptionsper hour. This battle is still notover and silver lining was the

Federal guideline to increaseMedicaid professional fees.The State of Illinois is one of 5states still fighting the in-crease, he said. AIPHA Jacob

Barbara Group artists

Miller is working diligentlywith IPHA to pass PBM fairnessbill; this is the first time itseems like it may actually pass,he declared.

The program concludedwith some great memories ofan evening which was educa-

tional, fun and entertainmentby Barbara and party.

The AIPHA Annual Banquetand Business Expo offers a plat-form in which members cannetwork amongst themselves,as well as giving them an op-portunity to meet and greetwith the decision makers thatinfluence change. AIPHA) wasfounded in 1985 by 20 mem-bers.

Today, there are over 453members. The student chapterof AIPHA at the University of Il-linois-College of Pharmacy wasestablished in 1996 to promotethe representation of Indo-American practicing pharma-

The AIPHA Annual Banquet and Business Expooffers a platform in which members can net-work amongst themselves, as well as giving

them an opportunity to meet and greet withthe decision makers that influence change

cists and student pharmacistsin various professional andsocio-cultural activities.

IPHA Executive Board con-sists of President: Harish Bhatt,Vice President Ambalal Patel,

Secretary Mahendra Patel,Joint Secretary Manu Patel,Treasurer Tushar Mehta, JointTreasurer Snehal Bhavsar andExecutive Director RupeshManak.

President Harish Bhatt with guests



Ram Janaki Vivah celebrated with great devotionGEETHA PATIL

Ram Janaki Vivah with priests and participant devotees

CHICAGO: Shri Ram-MataJanaki Vivah Utsav was cel-ebrated by hundreds of devo-tees with great zeal at HinduMandir of Lake County,Grayslake, a Chicago suburb,on 23 November; it being theShuklapaksha (waxing phase)Panchami (fifth day) of themonth of Margashirsha ofHindu Calendar.

This festival is celebratedwith magnificence all over thecountry, especially in North In-dia and Nepal as Goddess Sita'sparental home is said to be inMithilanchal region there.

The wedding ceremonieswere enacted with the statuesof Lord Ram and Mata Janaki.The Baraat (procession) of Lord

Ram with all other male godsof the temple was taken intothe shrine by the colorfullyrobed male devotees and PtJoshi Ji offered Madhuparkamto Lord Ram. Later, young chil-dren broke the Dhanush (bow)of Lord Shiva as an action ofLord Ram in Mata Sita'sSwayamvar. The breaking ofbow symbolizes the disruptionof ego before entering intoGrahsthashram.

Mata Janaki entered into theshrine with other female god-desses. They were carried in bythe female devotees who weregorgeously dressed up for theoccasion. Mata Sita performedGauri Poojan with her devo-tees before herwedding.Temple priests, Pt.Anil Joshi from Var Paksh andYogesh Pandey from KanyaPaksha warmly welcomedboth side's devotees and per-formed Hasta Milap, offering ofUttariya and GotracharandKanya daan.

Pt. Joshi performed Pujan ofLord Ganesh, Lord Ram andMata Sita in the presence ofother gods and devotees. The

idols of Ram and Sita were gor-geously decorated withclothes, jewels and flowers tomake them up like bride andgroom. Later, he performedVedic wedding rituals such as

Jayamala, Saptapadi (sevensteps) referred to as SaatPhere.

Devotees went around theholy fire with utmost devotion

holding Lord Ram and MataJanaki. Saptapadi is the mostimportant rite of a Hindu mar-riage ceremony. Pt. Joshi Ji of-fered Managal Sutra andSindoor to Mata Sita along with

other femaledevotees.The gathereddevotees sang thepraises of Lord Ram andMata Sita ecstaticallythroughout the Bidayiprocession.

Pt. Joshi in his briefPravachan mentionedthat the marriage ofLord Ram and Mata Sitais a live example of unionof Jnana and Bhakti as

Lord Ram represents knowl-edge (Jnana) and Mata Sitasymbolizes devotion (Bhakti).That means Jnana and Bhaktimilap is essential in life as

knowledge is incomplete with-out Bhakti and Bhakti is incom-plete without knowledge.

They are the ideal coupleand role model for every oneof us to stay together in thetoughest time of our life. Theirmarriage embodies love, trust,care, misunderstandings andforgiveness; which are usually

experienced by all the marriedpeople.

The Temple committeethanked all the devotee fortheir active participation andsupport. They also acknowl-edged the dedicated servicesof volunteers and supporters.Later, delicious Maha Prasadwas distributed to all devotees.

Sat Phere at Ram Janaki Vivah ceremony

Final Aarti at Ram Janaki Vivah celebraitons


MAFS celebrates Anniversary in grand styleCont’d from page 18

She and her late husband MrPramod Kumar worked veryhard to make MAFS, a pioneerorganization that changed thelandscape of social services inChicagoland area that far.

She requested the commu-nity that MAFS was created forthem and now they shouldtake care of MAFS. She also as-sured the community aboutMAFS's future and presentedboth her sons, as future lead-ers, who will support its mis-sion voluntarily. "I believe thatMAFS will grow more in thecoming years, to lead the way,we already have our futureleaders- energetic, technicallysavvy and competent in man-agement skills."

She thanked sponsors, Dr.Jafri, Board president, boardmembers, MAFS/UMAS staff,Media, Surinder Jain ofAshyana., Kushal Bose,Madhura Sane, BhupenderSingh, Pooranbhai and otherartists, seniors, friends andfamilies for their support andtaking time to attend and mak-ing it an unforgettable galacelebration.

Sagar Kumar, MAFS trea-surer, presented the financialreport of MAFS and encour-aged community to readpages 16-18 of Souvenir bookand understand its fundingstructure and spoke about thedifference in fund receivablesand expenses. He explainedwhy MAFS has to raise funds tofill the gaps in funding and tomatch the grants to accom-plish its mission to help thecommunity.

An award ceremony was

Ms Santosh Kumar with artists and guests

A group of artists at MAFS show

performed by MAFS board anddignitaries. The Pramod KumarPhilanthropy Award was intro-duced first time and was pre-sented to Deepak Kant VyasChairman & CEO RedberryCorp, for his extraordinary phil-

anthropic work throughout theWorld. The Partnership Awardwas presented to Sean Dunn,VP of WINTRUST CommunityBank for his understanding thefinancial needs of MAFS. Pillarof MAFS Award was given toMs. Promila Mehta ManagerSocial work Chicago center forher unconditional love and

care to its mission. LifetimeAchievement Award was givento Prem Jalota ManagerRoselle center for his life timecommitment to MAFS missionand its family. Employee of theYear Award was given to Ms.

Connie Dogaru SOS Coordina-tor for her dedication to serveseniors. Volunteer of the YearAward was given to Ms.Bhanumati Maheta, a YogaTeacher for providing 15 yearsof teaching Yoga to seniors.

A special GSA OutstandingCitizen of the year 2017 awardwas given by Shri Pranab

Mukherjee, President of Indiaon July 1, 2017. It was pre-sented by CG Neeta Bhushanand Dr Vijay Prabhaker, Chair-person of Minority Ethnic TaskForce, to Mrs. Santosh Kumar,Founder of Metropolitan AsianFamily Services, IL USA.

Senate Recognition wasgiven by Senator CristinaCastro and presented by Ms.Nazneen to Mrs. Santosh Kumar,Founder of MAFS which reads:The Illinois Senate of 100thGeneral Assembly of the Stateof Illinois acknowledges- Met-ropolitan Asian Family Services,In recognition of celebrating 25years as a multi-cultural andmulti-ethnic organization com-mitted to educate, assist andempower the immigrant com-munity to adjust to life inUnited States, and extends itscongratulations and bestwishes on this momentous oc-casion. Chandmal Kumawat,Chairman Maneesh Media,Jaipur India, presented a spe-cial Kishangarh, Rajasthan"Bani-Thani" painting to Mrs.Santosh Kumar to commemo-rate MAFS' Silver Jubilee cel-ebration.

The entertainment began

with Ganesh Vandana bySoorya Dance School ofNorthbrook, ably followed by atraditional Bosnian Dance bythe Bosnia and HerzegovinaClub of Chicago but Reena'sRockers from Naperville reallyrocked the hall with their fu-sion dance mix of Ballet andBharatnatyam.

A special dance-drama wasshowcased to celebrate 25years of MAFS -

"Kal Bhi Aaj Bhi" conceived,written, produced and di-rected by Mr. Kushal Bose. Itwas a multimedia play that in-corporated live dance, narra-tion, video projection and mu-sic that essentially translatesto "Yesterday, Today and To-morrow".

The evening was brought toa close by "Jeena Issi Ka NaamHai" a musical tribute to theFounder/ CFO of MAFS, Late Mr.Pramod Kumar performed bywell-known artistes from Chi-cago again researched, con-ceived and directed by KushalBose.

He brilliantly traced the lifeof Mr. Kumar from 1937-2016era. His life journey was show-cased through video andmatched by music drama ofthat era. Again performed byMadhura Sane, it was not onlyelectrifying, unforgettable butalso a spiritual experience.

Emcees Jahnavi Bavisi NilesManager and Neelam DesaiNaperville Manager success-fully managed the entire pro-gram seamlessly and JasbirMann and Hema Shastry wereable to generate a goodamount of donation throughtheir entertaining and livelyappeals.

The Vote of Thanks wasgiven by MAFS Board SecretaryDr. Rakesh Asthana.

MAFS cultural presentation


Harwinder honored with Asian American awardRAJINDER SINGH MAGO

CHICAGO: Harwinder PaulSingh Lail (Paul Lail) Adminis-trator of the Board of Gover-nors Punjabi Cultural Society ofChicago (PCS), Palatine washonored by Asian ChronicleUSA TV Channel with the AsianAmerican Exemplary Civic Ser-vice Award 2017 and U.S.

President's Gold volunteer ser-vice medal of honor.

The award ceremony tookplace on Nov. 19 at a dinner

banquet at Sheraton FourPoints Hotel, in Schiller Park, asuburb of Chicago Illinois.

Paul Lail was presented witha plaque, presidential servicemedal, a lapel pin, and a certifi-cate signed by the US Presi-dent, by Lourdes Mon Execu-tive producer of AsianChronicle USA in presence ofthe Consul General of Korea inChicago and nearly 400 otherdistinguished guests includinghis wife Barinderjit Kaur, otherfamily members and friends.

Ms. Lourdes Mon an-nounced that Harwinder PaulSingh is an exemplary civic ser-vice leader dedicated to creat-ing love, peace and harmonyby community building,through organizing sports, cul-tural, and spiritual activities inhis ethnic community, localneighborhood, his place ofworship, and at his work.

Paul was recognized withCommunity Leadership Award

in 2001 by the then Illinois StateTreasurer Late Judy Baar Topinka.He was an active member ofHoffman Estates Indian Associa-tion (HEIA) in 1996-1997.

Paul Lail grew up in a farm-ing family in rural Punjab in In-

dia. His parents worked hard tosend him to college to have aBachelor's degree in Educationand a Master's degree in En-glish from Punjab University.

The Asian American Exem-plary Civic Service Award is

given annually by the AsianChronicle TV channel, a televi-sion program on public accesscable broadcast in 90 subur-ban communities ofChicagoland area that startedin 1997.

Harwinder Paul with family members and friends

Harwinder Paul Singh

FIA elects new Board headed by Neil KhotSURENDRA ULLAL

FIA team with newly elected Board members

CHICAGO: The Federation ofIndian Associations (FIA) heldits Annual Board Meeting onNovember 18 at Fairfield Inn &Suites by Marriott ChicagoSchaumburg, electing thenews Executive Team for theyear 2018 headed by Neil Khot.FIA meeting had another joy-ous twist - Founder PresidentSunil Shah got a birthday cel-ebration gift.

Sunil Shah in his welcomeaddress touched upon the ac-tivities undertaken by the FIA,including a banquet in thehonor of Ausaf Sayeed, outgo-ing Indian CG in Chicago, theRepublic Day celebrations, thepartnership with the ChicagoBulls, the Holi celebrations, theIndependence Day celebra-tions and the one of a kindDiwali Mela. He thanked theExecutive Board for its servicesand contributions during theyear 2017.

The Founder CommitteeMembers Rita Singh, DhituBhagwakar and Mukesh Shahalso addressed the meetingpraising the progress the FIAhad made during the year and

committed to do one better inthe years to come.

Ninad Daftari, Secretarytabled the report for the year2017 and concluded on a posi-tive note that the FIA hadended the year with a surplusto be carried forward for itsactivities in the next year.

Outlining the 2017 achieve-ments, Mukesh Shah the presi-dent this year, mentioned thedonation of US $25,000 to

Bharatiya Senior Citizens ofChicago. He then, under hispowers as President, dissolvedthe entire board and thatpaved the way for the selec-tion of the New ExecutiveBoard for the year 2018.

The newly elect presidentNeil Khot addressed the meet-ing outlining the goals and am-bitions he has for FIA. He alsopraised the newly selected Ex-ecutive Board as a young and

dynamic team and was surethat the success of FIA in theyear 2018 will be unparalleledwith their collective contribu-tions and hard work.

The other elected officialsare: Executive Vice PresidentsHitesh Gandhi and NinadDaftari; Vice Presidents: AliKhan, Ms. Payal Shah, JatinderBedi and Gurmeet SinghDhalwan; Secretary: Abir Maru;Joint Secretary: Harsh Shah;

Treasurer: Ms. AishwaryaSharma; Directors: Ms ShitalDaftari, Nirav Shah, Ms Ila Patel,Dharmesh Gandhi, Ms.Geetanjali Maru, Dr KamalPatel, Chetan Patel, AltafBukhari, Hansal Patel, KishoreBhanji, Jagmeet Singh andAshok Kumar Punjabi

As the meeting concluded,the FIA team surprised SunilShah by celebrating his birth-day.


PCS participates in Thanksgiving ParadeSURENDRA ULLAL

CHICAGO: The Punjabi Cul-tural Society of Chicago (PCS)kept up its tradition by partici-pating in the McDonald'sThanksgiving Parade held onThanksgiving Day November23 on State Street in the heartof downtown Chicago.

McDonald's® ThanksgivingParade is the biggest paradein Chicago and the city's pre-mier holiday event. About5,000 performers, with floats,balloons and marching bands,traveled north from Congressto Randolph for three hours,starting at 8 a.m.

More than 1,300 people vol-unteered to run the parade andhelp manage the masses thatturned out. Security was tightbut thousands of spectatorspacked on both sides of the pa-

Bhangra by PCS artists Indian Bride and Indian Maharaja at McDonald Parade

rade route to kick off the holi-day season were in high spirits.

PCS has been participatingin this parade since 2005. "Itgives the community great ex-

posure in the mainstream, re-flecting commitment to cel-ebrate the American festivals,in solidarity with the Americanpeople," said PCS PresidentSukhmel Singh Atwal.

The theme of the PCS floatand its contingent was an In-dian Maharaja wedding pro-cession (Baraat), which in-cluded the bride and thegroom in traditional Punjabiwedding outfits, the baraatis infestive ethnic costumes,Punjabi Dhol (drum), amplifiedBhangra music and dancing onthe street interacting withspectators, all in the spirit ofcelebration," said RajinderSingh Mago, PCS Board of Gov-ernors.

Punjabi Bhangra dancersfrom UOC Bhangra team enter-tained the crowds. Bhangra

music blasting from the floatmade the cheering crowd clapand tap their feet to the beat.Mona and Manjeet Bhallaplayed the bride and the

groom in their wedding out-fits. PCS Chicago's next event isannual New Year's Eve Langarin Palatine.

McDonald's Thanksgiving

Parade celebrates 84 years ofChicago holiday tradition thisyear. Originally called the"Christmas Caravan" in the1930s, the Parade was created

in 1934 to help lift the spiritsof residents suffering throughthe Great Depression. It was aneffort to stimulate economyand cheer up Chicagoans.

PCS Float

Hindu temple opens in Abilene, Texas

Ganesh idol at Abilene Temple


ABILENE, Texas: AbileneHindu Temple (AHT ), alsoknown as Vishveshwara SwamyTemple, built according to an-cient Hindu scriptures and ar-chitecture to propagate Hindureligion and to perform Hindurituals is now open.

AHT opens daily at eight am,holds Aarti twice every day,and organizes weekly pujas todeities Vishnu, Rudra, Rama,Krishna, Durga, Ganapathi andothers . It performs variousworship services, including"Annadanam" for $1000 and"Vahana (vehicle) Pooja" for$50. AHT also provides homevisit priest services for devo-

tees. The Mandir entry wants"devotees must be on strictvegetarian diet on visit."

Abilene in West Texas, incor-porated in 1881, is home tothree lakes and seven colleges.Prominent people associatedwith Abilene include singer-ac-tress Jessica Simpson, Olympicgold-medalist sprinter BobbyMorrow and country musicianLee Roy Parnell.

Reflecting the overall devo-tees sentiment, Rajan Zed, whois President of Universal Societyof Hinduism, observed that itwas important to pass on Hinduspirituality, concepts and tradi-tions to coming generationsamidst so many distractions.


Seniors celebrate Annual Meetwith musical program

JAYANTI OZA

Chief guest and other special guests

Lamp lighting ceremony (from left) Mandir Priest Nag Bhushan, Dr NarsinhbhaiPatel, Dahyabhai Prajapati, Pradipbhai Patel, Chhotalal Patel, Volunteer Smt.

Pushpa Panchal and Smt. Gita Sutha

CHICAGO: Indian Seniors ofChicago (ISC) celebrated theirAnnual meet with Musical Pro-gram on November 25 atMahalaxmi auditorium at ManavSeva Mandir in Bensenville forthe benefit of members andtheir family and friends. Capac-ity crowd of over 360 membersjoined the program.

Welcoming members andguests, Hirabhai Patel on behalfof Executive Committee talkedabout the hard work of themembers and volunteers of ISCorganization for this event.

The program was kicked offby traditional Lamp Lightingceremony while Mandir PriestNag Bhushan recited mantrasfrom Rig Vedas. Smt. GitabenSuthar and Smt. PushpabenPanchal invited luminaries in-cluding Chief Guest ChhotalalPatel, Special Guests PradipPatel, Dahyabhai Prajapati and

President Dr. Narsinhbhai Patelfor this Deep Pragatya cer-emony.

Popular artist ArvindbhaiKotak held the entire event to-gether with his wit, interactivesessions, jokes and satires. Cul-

tural and entertainment pro-gram followed. Half waythrough the program, HirabhaiPatel invited Chief Guest andspecial guests on the podium.

Chief Guest Chhotalal Patel wasgreeted with flower bouquetby Dr. Narsinhbhai Patel andalso greeted with flowers werePradipbhai Patel, Haribhai Patel,Ramanbhai, Bharatbhai Thakkar,Naresh Dekhtawala, Santosh

Kumar and Vandana Jhingan.Informational presentation

on year 2017 highlighting ac-tivities of Indian Seniors of Chi-cago was given by President Dr.Narsinhbhai Patel. Sponsorswere recognized and honoredby President Dr. Narsinhbhai

Patel with a gift and a roseflower bouquet. For the rest ofthe evening, melodious musicalevening was handled by tal-ented musical group. The mu-sic brought many seniors whoovercame age related restric-

tions and performed im-promptu Bollywood dance withmusic beats.

The excellent presentationof meet, greet and fun filledevening finally ended in latehours of night. Indian Seniors ofChicago, a brainchild of found-

ing and pillar member Dr.Narsinhbhai Patel, was startedin year 2001. The organization'smain goal is to give a social plat-form for senior Diaspora to con-gregate periodically, help orga-nize cultural activities including

monthly meetings, presenta-tion of informational seminars,arranging visitation to interest-ing places, picnics and grouptravel to local and internationaldestinations.

The organization gives spe-cial consideration to widowed

spouses of deceased single se-niors to help them address theirrisk of developing depressiondue to loneliness and isolation.The evening concluded withChitranjan Desai proposingvote of thanks.

Artists with Executive Committee members

New book reimagines Sikh Art!When you think about

Sikh Art - do you onlythink about paintings andsculptures? A new book 'SikhArt from the Kapany Collec-tion' will help you reimagineSikh art in all its gloriousforms- manuscripts, stamps,coins, arms, armor, textilesand of course paintings andsculptures.

Well-known artist ArpanaCaur has called it a "A breath-taking book"

Through this richly illus-trated book, fifteen distin-guished scholars assess and

Sikh History and Ethos" sets thestage for Sikh art historical. Anexamination of the portraits ofthe Gurus, theJ a n a m s a k h imanuscripts,artwork de-picting theG o l d e nTemple andart from theSikh kingdomsengages thereader bothvisually and in-tellectually.

The final

section "Further Studies in theKapany Collection" describesspecific Sikh artworks includ-

ing Sikht h e m e dstamps, coins,textiles, arms,contemporaryart and mu-seum engage-ment.

The Editorsare: PaulMichael Taylor,Ph.D., a re-search anthro-pologist at the

Smithsonian Institution's Na-tional Museum of Natural His-tory, is Director of its AsianCultural History Program.Sonia Dhami is Executive Di-rector of the Sikh Foundation.

Contributing Essays by:Kiran Kaur Kapany, GurinderS. Mann, Gurnam S. Brard,Pashaura Singh, NirvikarSingh, Nikky-G. K. -Singh,Mohinder Singh, J.M. Lafont,Peter Bance, Navtej Sarna,Jyoti M. Rai, Henry J. Walker,Cristin McKnight Sethi, Mary-A. M.-Lutzker and Paul M. Tay-lor.

Special Feature:

interpret the Kapany Collec-tion - a remarkable art re-source, using it to introduceSikh art, ethos, religion, cultureand history to a broad audi-ence.

The essays in the first sec-tion "The Collectors and theirVision" describe the passionand vision of Narinder andSatinder Kapany, exploreNarinder's own artistic works,and place the couple's collec-tion within the context of theirlegacy.

The second section "TheKapany Collection: A Survey of


December 1, 201726


December 1, 2017

TOP TENHINDI FILM SONGS

1 Chalti Hai Kya 9 Se 12:Judwaa 22 Ghoomar Song : Padmavati3 Oonchi Hai Building:Judwaa 24 Main Kaun Hoon: SecretSuperstar 5 Ban Ja Rani: Tumhari Sulu6 Nachdi Phira: SecretSuperstar7 Hawa Hawai 2.0: TumhariSulu8 Mere Raske Qamar :Baadshaho9 Maine Tujhko Dekha:Golmaal Again10 Ittefaq se: Ittefaq

28 December 1, 2017www.indiapost.comIndia Post

Kangana Ranaut has injured her foot while shooting for her up coming film Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi in Jodhpur.

"I fell down while jumping from a wall onto a horse," saidKangana. During the late night shoot at Jodhpur's Mehrangarh Fort,she landed erroneously while jumping off from a 40 feet wall caus-ing her foot to twist sharply causing immense pain. After prelimi-nary treatment, she was taken to Goyal hospital in Jodhpur whereshe underwent treatment for one-and-a-half hours.

Kangana, who was immediately taken to the hotel in a wheel-chair, turned teary-eyed while undergoing treatment. Earlier,Kangana got hit by a sword on her forehead while filming an in-tense sword-fighting sequence.

Dr Rajesh Yadav, the doctor treating her, mentioned thatshe hasn't fractured her leg. "She has sprained her foot.

There is no crack in the bone. Kangana's foot has beenplastered and she has been asked to take a week'srest."

Shah Rukh Khan, who was present at the Lalkaar music concert to support the social campaign

to eradicate violence against women, has saidwomen are superior to men and should be treated

with equality.Shah Rukh also recited a poem penned by renowned

poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar. Talking about the conceptof being a "mard" or man, Shah Rukh quipped, "since Iand Farhan Akhtar, who is the founder of MARD, donot have a moustache, which is also the logo, weare not considered as 'man'!" And that is true be-

cause we are gentle to women, we treat themwith equality because they deserve that."

Shah Rukh said, "I am not ashamed ofthe fact that I am a little shy and

scared of women whethershe is my mother, wife,sister or friends.Women bring a qui-etude, a calmenergy to theuniverse."

Parineeti Chopra says she alwayswanted to be a part of a mass en-

tertainer and with her latest release'Golmaal Again', she feels she hasbeen able to entertain the audiences.

Rohit Shetty's 'Golmaal Again',minted over Rs 200 crore in India in24 days since its release.

"I do feel blessed to have been apart of this film. I have always wantedto be part of a mass entertainer andwith 'Golmaal Again', I feel I have beenable to entertain audiences which isthe best feeling ever," she told.

Parineeti, 29, said she is thrilledwith the film's response.

"Rohit (Shetty) sir knows the pulseof the audiences and I thank him for

giving me a role that Iwill cherish for-

ever. It feelsgreat that

p e o p l eh a v eloved myp e r f o r -mance asKhushi.”

India Post 29

www.indiapost.com

BollywoodDecember 1, 2017

Ishita Dutta, who will be seen in 'Firangi', has never faced the casting

couch in Bollywood but she said she will never compromise on self re

spect and dignity to chase success.

Often, it surfaces that budding actors feel forced to compromise for sur-

vival. Asked about her journey, Ishita told, "I think I am very fortunate to

have my sister, who is always there to guide me and my food and lodging

has been taken care of. Since my basic need of life is secure, when it comes

to working, I never appeared like a desperate struggler who needs the job

to run the kitchen.

"It is unfortunate that in every industry, there are people who take ad-

vantage of needy people, but I would like to tell all the budding actors not

to be vulnerable and always have a backup plan because rejection in audi-

tions and films is not the end of the world. Self respect and dignity are

more important for a woman than success."

She hails from a family full ofpopular actors and singers, but

Shraddha Kapoor has said joiningfilms was not a cake-walk for her.

The 30-year-old star, who is thedaughter of actor Shakti Kapoorand is also related to legendarysingers Lata Mangeshkar andAsha Bhosle, said shestruggled a lot to get herfirst big break in the in-dustry, which of late hasbeen plagued by thenepotism debate.

I was very impatientto get into films. It wasa loud voice inside methat said acting is theprofession I want to join.

"A lot of people thinkif you are a son or

Ranveer Singh, one of the three lead actors of 'Padmavati' has said he standsby the movie and its director Sanjay Leela Bhansali "200 percent" amidst the

ongoing controversy over its alleged content."I am 200 percent with the film and I stand by it as well as Sanjay Leela

Bhansali. Given that it is very sensitive time right now, I have been specificallyasked not to say anything. Whatever official communication with regards to thefilm needs to be made, you will receive it from the producers," Ranveer told themedia here.

The actor was wary of talking about the movie as he was present at a storelaunch in Mumbai. Before any further questions could be put on 'Padmavati',Ranveer said: "Thank you very much for coming out today and before someruckus happens here, I need to get out of here."

daughter of an actor you don'tneed to audition, but that is notthe case. I have gone through a lotof struggle to join films. I can'teven count how many auditions Ihave given or how many times Ihave been replaced. It is not easy.

My first two films didn'tget noticed and it

was tough. But'Aashiqui 2'c h a n g e dt h i n g s , "S h r a d d h asaid in astatement.

MARCIA DUNN

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla: The world's nights are gettingalarmingly brighter - bad news for all sorts of creatures,humans included.

2012 to 2016. So did nighttime brightness.Light pollution is actually worse than that, accord-

ing to the researchers. Their measurements coincidewith the outdoor switch to energy-efficient and cost-saving light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. Because the im-

those countries given this elusive blue light, saidChristopher Kyba of the GFZ German Research Centerfor Geosciences and lead author of the study pub-lished in Science Advances.

Also on the rise is the spread of light into the hin-terlands and overall increased use. The findings shat-ter the long-held notion that more energy efficientlighting would decrease usage on the global - or atleast a national - scale.

``Honestly, I had thought and assumed and hopedthat with LEDs we were turning the corner. There'salso a lot more awareness of light pollution,'' he toldreporters by phone from Potsdam. ``It is quite disap-pointing.''

The biological impact from surging artificial light isalso significant, according to the researchers.

This photo combo of images provided by NASA's Earth Observatory/Kyba, GFZshows photographs of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, taken from the InternationalSpace Station on Dec. 23, 2010, left, where residential areas are mainly lit byorange sodium lamps; and on Nov. 27, 2015, right, where many areas on the

outskirts are newly lit compared to 2010, and many neighborhoods have switchedfrom orange sodium lamps to white LED lamps

Cont'd on Page 33

December 1, 201730 India Post www.indiapost.com

A night time view of Europe

A German-led team reported that light pollution isthreatening darkness almost everywhere. Satellite ob-servations during five Octobers show Earth's artifi-cially lit outdoor area grew by 2 percent a year from

aging sensor on the polar-orbiting weather satellitecan't detect the LED-generated color blue, some lightis missed.

The observations, for example, indicate stable lev-els of night light in the UnitedStates, Netherlands, Spain andItaly. But light pollution is al-most certainly on the rise in

People's sleep can be marred, which in turn can af-fect their health. The migration and reproduction ofbirds, fish, amphibians, insects and bats can be dis-rupted. Plants can have abnormally extended grow-ing periods. And forget about seeing stars or the MilkyWay, if the trend continues.

A night time viewof India

December 1, 2017 India Post 31

Medical fraternityhails Miss World

NEW DELHI: Hailing her as arare combination of "beauty andintelligence", the medical frater-nity has praised Manushi Chhillarfor winning the Miss World title,while hoping that she will go onto become a doctor.

The aspiring cardiac surgeonfrom Haryana, who is currentlyenrolled in a MBBS program at acollege in Sonepat, swept theworld off its feet while endingIndia's 17-year-old drought at thetop pageant.

Dr Y K Gupta, professor andhead of the department of phar-macology at the AIIMS, wasthrilled to see her ace the con-test, in which 20-year-oldChhillar edged out contestantsfrom England, France, Kenya andMexico in the grand finale of themega event, which saw partici-pation from 118 countries.

"I watched her, the poise with

which she faced the jury. And, sheis a medical student. She is one ofthe rarest combination of beauty,intelligence and hard work. And, Iwas reading about her that she isalso good in studies.

"But, at this moment, the worldis her oyster. And, it is easy to takethe predictable path of glamourand acting in films, which most ofthese beauty queens do. But, as adoctor I feel, she should com-plete her studies. And, when shebecomes 'Dr Chhillar' that wouldher second crowning glory," hetold PTI.

Chhillar's father is a scientistwhile her mother is an associateprofessor and department headof neurochemistry at the Instituteof Human Behavior and AlliedSciences, in Delhi. She wishes toopen a chain of non-profitablehospitals based in rural areas, herprofile reads.

education, she can balance outboth careers, wear both thecrowns," he said.

Sachdeva said her triumph inIndia and China, also sends out amessage to students pursuingmedicine that one can andshould indulge in extracurricularactivities, beyond reading thosemedical tomes.

UK-based Shashank Pooniya,33, who did an MD in forensicmedicine and three years of se-nior residency at the AIIMS be-fore moving abroad, said,"Chhillar's feat somewhere es-pecially relates to us doctors andstudents of the famed campus."

"She was the winner of the'Campus Princess' audition heldalong with our culture festival -AIIMS Pulse 2016 - and thenwent on to win Miss India titleafter that. It is indeed a greatfeeling and her success showsus a path that even from ourbusy careers, we can find outtime for our interests," he toldPTI.

Dr Puneeta Mahajan, consult-ant (obstetrician and gynecolo-gist) and medical superinten-dent at the Dr Baba SahebAmbedkar Hospital in Delhi,says, "We are extremely happyand proud of her achievements."

"She has come out of thistough contest with flying colors.

We are very hopeful that shewould perform with the sameelan in her medical career andmake us all proud again," she said.

Dr Gupta of AIIMS says, by be-coming a doctor and serving hu-manity, she can be a "star in reallife".-PTI

A former student of the old St.Thomas' School here, she countsformer beauty queen Reita Fariaas an inspiration, incidentally the

first Indian to wear the MissWorld crown in 1966, who wenton to pursue a career in medi-cine.

Neurologist P K Sachdeva atthe Venkateshwar Hospital inDwarka, also said that Chhillarshould complete her medicaleducation, as "this was also herdream".

"Getting into a good medicalcollege, and then pursuing afive-year course is a very rigor-ous and stressful task. She hasalready secured an admissionand is mid-way through hercourse. She should not drop out.

"In fact, after completing her

"She has come out of this tough

contest with flying colors. We are very

hopeful that she would perform with the same

elan in her medical career and make

us all proud again”

Indians lazier than Chinese:Dalai Lama

KOLKATA: People of India arelazier than the Chinese but thecountry is "most stable" and a "liv-ing example" of diverse tradi-tions, Tibetan spiritual leader theDalai Lama has said.

He drew a lightcomparison be-tween the peopleof India and Chinaat an interactiveprogram organizedby the Indian Cham-ber of Commercehere.

Compared to theChinese, "I think, In-dian people arelazy", he said.

"May be it is dueto the climate. ButIndia is most stable.In the world stage,India can play arole," he said.

The Dalai Lama lauded Indiafor its "spirit of religious toler-ance" and for carrying differenttraditions together. "Religioustolerance is very important... al-

though there are problemssometimes due to politicianswho try to manipulate that," hesaid.

He referred to India's "reli-gious pluralism" and said for the

last several centuries, Jainism,Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism,Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Chris-tianity and Islam had coexisted.

"India has a tradition of livingtogether. (It is) a living example

of different traditions being car-ried together," the Buddhistmonk said. "I can proudly statethe same about Tibetan cul-ture," he said.

The Dalai Lama also referredto the Dokalamstand-off andsaid thesewere "smallp r o b l e m s " ."The ChineseArmy hadcome. Thenthere wasceasefire.

Then with-drew. It is noteasy," he said.

China andIndia neededeach other inthe spirit of` H i n d i - C h i n i

bhai bhai', he added.Praising Indians for their

"genuine" smile, the Dalai Lamasaid in a lighter vein, "The Chineseofficials are experts in giving arti-ficial smiles".-PTI

ManushiChhillar

December 1, 2017India Post32

www.indiapost.com

Varun Dhawan fined afterselfie-with-fan stint

MUMBAI: Tabloid Mid-Day,published a picture that showedVarun Dhawan coming out of hiscar through the window in orderto click a selfie with a fan. On see-

ing this picture, Mumbai Police'stwitter handle tagged the actorand slammed him for this stintand added that it risked his andthe fan's life as well.

They reminded him that he's aresponsible youth icon and hencesuch actions aren't expected fromhim. Finally, the tweet said that afine will be slapped on the actorand also threatened that if the ac-tor was seen indulging in such ac-tions in future, they would takeharsher action. Varun Dhawanquickly apologized for his folly.

It seems that the e-challanindeed was sent to VarunDhawan. Deputy Commissioner

of police and police spokesper-son Deepak Devraj confirmedthat he was fined Rs. 600 undersection 123/177 (Riding on run-ning board outside vehicle),section 125/177 (Obstructionto driver) and 138 (3) CMVR/177 MVA (Rough/rash/negli-gent driving).

The man who captured thephotograph, Mid-Day photogra-pher Satej Shinde, had an inter-esting story to tell. He said that

minutes before Varun Dhawantook the 'controversial' selfie,he had warned a biker aboutviolating traffic rules by insist-ing that he should wear a hel-met. Satej Shinde witnessedthis episode and hence, he at-tempted to click Varun's pic-ture. But by then, the auto rick-shaw stood next to VarunDhawan's car and the actorobliged by clicking a selfie withher.

'Padman' shares first looksfrom movie


MUMBAI: Akshay Kumarrecently revealed the firstlooks of his co-stars - SonamKapoor and Radhika Apte -

from their upcoming moviePadman on social media re-cently.

Padman is inspired by the lifeof Indian social-entrepreneurArunachalam Muruganantham,who invented a low-cost sanitarypad-making machine andbrought cost-effective femalehygiene to India's rural poor.

Directed by R Balki ("CheeniKum", "Paa") there is also a guestappearance from Bollywood leg-end, Amitabh Bachchan.

Billed as a progressive familyentertainer, Akshay Kumar onceagain showcases his commit-ment to social entertainers, inline with his latest super hit, Toi-let: Ek Prem Katha (Toilet: A LoveStory)

Introducing Radhika Apte's

first look, who is playing therole of his wife, Akshay said,"The Reason he became#Padman…find out on 26thJanuary 2018"

Sharing Sonam Kapoor's firstlook Akshay added, "Thestrength behind#Padman…find out on 26thJanuary 2018."

Sonam Kapoor and Akshay Kumar

Radhika Apte and Akshay Kumar

Western Ghats biodiversity'faces threat'

KOCHI: Biodiversity in India'siconic Western Ghats is facing athreat from forest loss, en-croachment and conversion,says a global environmentagency in its report.

It also put the hills in "Signifi-cant Concern" category in itsnew outlook in the conserva-tion prospects of natural WorldHeritage sites.

The report, released re-cently by IUCN, InternationalUnion for Conservation of Na-ture, at the UN climate changeconference in Bonn, Germany,says pressure from the humanpopulation in the WesternGhats region is greater thanthat faced by many protectedareas around the world.

The new report - 'IUCNWorld Heritage Outlook 2',which assesses for the firsttime changes in conservation

prospects of all 241 naturalWorld Heritage sites, warnsthat climate change will prob-ably exacerbate a system al-ready under pressure and hasthe potential to impact the

large-scale monsoonal pro-cesses which the WesternGhats influence.

Moderating the region'stropical climate, the site pre-sents one of the best examplesof the monsoon system on theplanet.

A network of 39 separatelymanaged sites in WesternGhats was inscribed as WorldHeritage site by UNESCO in2012. It says ongoing pressurefor development would con-tinue to place the WesternGhats under high threat.

Traditionally conserved bysmall populations of indig-enous people leading sustain-able lifestyles, the area is un-der increasing population anddevelopmental pressure, re-quiring intensive and targetedmanagement efforts to ensurethat not only are existing val-

ues conserved, but that somepast damage may beremediated, it says.

The report said pressurefrom human populations in thisregion should not be underes-

timated. Fifty million peopleare estimated to live in theWestern Ghats, "resulting inpressures which are orders ofmagnitude greater than manyprotected areas around theworld."

Evidence suggests that for-est loss, encroachment andconversion continue to affectthe property, it said.

It, however, acknowledgesthe initiatives taken by thegovernment to protect thebiodiversity of Ghats.

"The challenges are many,

but the will by both govern-ment and non-governmentalgroups to ensure the conser-vation of the Western Ghats ishigh," it says.

However, until more data isaccumulated (on conservationtrends and protection andmanagement aspects), andgiven the number and level ofthreats that this propertyfaces, its conservation outlookis still assessed as of SignificantConcern, says the report.

Older than Himalaya moun-tains, the Western Ghats,

spread over Gujarat,Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka,Tamil Nadu and Kerala, repre-sent geomorphic features ofimmense importance withunique biophysical and eco-logical processes.

The report says each of the39 component parts of theproperty has its own manage-ment system and protectivemeasures that vary throughoutthis complex serial site thatstretches over a distance ofsome 1,600 km from north tosouth.-PTI

December 1, 2017 India Post

www.indiapost.com

33

Kapil Sharma offeredHollywood project

About the only places withdramatic declines in night lightwere in areas of conflict likeSyria and Yemen, the research-ers found. Australia also re-ported a noticeable drop, butthat's because wildfires wereraging early in the study. Re-searchers were unable to filterout the bright burning light.

Asia, Africa andSouth America, forthe most part, saw asurge in artificialnight lighting.

More and moreplaces are installingoutdoor lightinggiven its low cost andthe overall growth in commu-nities' wealth, the scientistsnoted. Urban sprawl is alsomoving towns farther out. Theoutskirts of major cities in de-veloping nations are brighten-ing quite rapidly, in fact, Kybasaid.

Other especially bright hotspots: sprawling greenhousesin the Netherlands and else-where.

Mumbai street food to suit your palate & walletMUMBAI: Mumbai is not just

the city of dreams, but also thehub of street food where everynook and corner offers a wholegamut of dishes to suit your pal-ate and wallet - from the tangy

'pani puri' to the spicy 'vadapav'.

With a complete mish mashof snacks available on everyroadside in the sprawling me-tropolis, its distinctive hallmark

'street food' has now turnedinto meals being eaten "off thestreets", feel food experts.

Mumbai cuisine is an amal-gamation of many other cui-sines, they say.

Wheni tstartedo u t ,h o w -e v e r ,t h ecoastalcity wascharac-terizedby itsseafood

as the natives were the 'kolis' orfishermen community, celebritychef Ranveer Brar tells PTI.

"With time and with the ad-vent of other communities, theculinary scene expanded. While

Maharashtrian cuisine remainsstamped or its influence is seenacross the food offered in the city,more individual cuisines devel-oped to meet demands of themigrants from other states, orlet's broadly say cultures," hesays.

For instance, the Persians in-troduced their flavors with achain of Irani cafes. With the in-flux of South Indians, grew thedemand for and popularity ofUdupi restaurants. The Gujaraticommunity has an equal strong-hold in the culinary scene, hesays.

'Pav bhaji' is of course theubiquitous snack and enjoys su-per popularity. Then there is the'bhel', in all its variations, thepani puri, the Mumbai veg sand-wich, the uniqueness of whichcomes from its chutney thatcompletely turns it around, he

says.Besides, 'kanda poha' is an

amazingly popular breakfastpreference, as are 'idlis' and'masala dosas'.

"And, if you are a meat-lover,Mohammed Ali road is a delight,specially around Ramzan. Thefares available, the variety andaroma is simply mind-blowing,"Brar says.

"Apart from these, North East-ern food in the city is a must-try.Don't miss the momos, potnoodles and thukpas (traditionalTibetan noodle soup)," he says.

Hemant Oberoi, the formerstar chef of the iconic Taj MahalPalace hotel, says most of thestreet food in Mumbai camef r o mGujarati,Maharashtriana n dMangaloreancommu-nities.

T h em o s tpopularfoods ont h es t r e e t shave been 'ragda patties', 'keemapav', 'pav bhaji', 'baida paratha','frankie rolls', 'bhel puri', 'poha'and 'dosa/idli', he says.

"The USP of these items isthat they are a complete mealin themselves. If you look atvada pav, it's a complete burger,

frankie is a roti wrap and so arebaida paratha and dosa.'Bombay toastie' is a completesandwich with chutney, toma-toes, onions, cheese and pota-toes," says Oberoi.

However, Farzana Contractor,the publisher and editor ofUpperCrust magazine, says thequality of street food has gonedown tremendously, "becausewhen you consider hygiene, it'stotally absent."

"So, if I had eaten plenty ofstreet food during my schooland college days, today, I'msorry, I don't eat it. So now I'vestopped talking about streetfood and I don't glamorizestreet food any more," she says.

"The concept of streetfood has changed. We nowhave meals which are servedon the streets. They are calledstreet foods, but it's eating offthe streets and street foodhighly compromises on hy-giene," Contractor says. -PTI

Bright PollutionHazards of night light are growing

Photos taken by astronautsaboard the International SpaceStation also illuminate thegrowing problem.

Franz Holker of the LeibnizInstitute of Freshwater Ecologyand Inland Fisheries in Berlin, aco-author, said things are atthe critical point.

``Many people are usinglight at night without reallythinking about the cost,''

Holker said. Not just the eco-nomic cost, ``but also the costthat you have to pay from anecological, environmental per-spective.''

Kyba and his colleagues rec-ommend avoiding glaringlamps whenever possible -choosing amber over so-calledwhite LEDs - and using moreefficient ways to illuminateplaces like parking lots or city

streets. For example, dim,closely spaced lights tend toprovide better visibility thanbright lights that are morespread out.

The International Dark-SkyAssociation, based in Tucson,Arizona, has been highlightingthe hazards of artificial nightlight for decades.

``We hope that the resultsfurther sound the alarm about

the many unintendedconsequences of theunchecked use of arti-ficial light at night,'' Di-rector J. ScottFeierabend said in astatement.

An instrument onthe 2011-launched U.S.

weather satellite, Suomi, pro-vided the observations for thisstudy. A second such instru-ment -

known as the Visible Infra-red Imaging Radiometer Suite,or VIIRS - was launched on anew satellite by NASA and theNational Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration. This lat-est VIIRS will join the continu-ing night light study.-AP

``We hope that the resultsfurther sound the alarm aboutthe many unintended conse-

quences of the unchecked useof artificial light at night''

Cont'd from Page 30

Kapil Sharma has revealed thathe has been offered a Holly-

wood project titled ComedyCurry, by Big Mama Works whichplans to rope in the comedianalong with a Hollywood actor fora series.

Zoom reports that Sharma re-vealed that though he is in talkswith the makers, no significantdevelopment has occurred overthe telephonic call, and will hap-pen only once he visits them inthe USA. The same report quoteshim as saying, "I'll let everyoneknow once it's finalized. I havereceived a script from the westand they (makers) are very popu-lar Big Mama Works. And I'll defi-

nitely go there and meet themonce since nothing major can bediscussed over a telephonic con-versation. But it'll be a good thingif it materializes."

The director of his upcomingperiod drama Firangi, RajivDhingra, shed further light onSharma's project. The same re-port quotes Dhingra as saying,"It's an internal baat, Kapil has re-ceived an offer from Hollywood.A company called Bad Mamasmade a series and they want tomake a Hollywood series withKapil, with one Hollywood starand one Indian star, which will beapt for both the countries andname I guess is Comedy Curry."

www.indiapost.com34 India Post December 1, 2017

Health ScienceHealth Line

Global study soon on causes ofunder-five mortality in India

NEW DELHI: A global study onthe hidden causes of deaths ofchildren aged under five willsoon be conducted in India, us-ing "minimally-invasive" tech-niques and advanced laboratorymethods, the ICMR chief saidhere.

Soumya Swaminathan, Direc-tor-General of the Indian Councilof Medical Research (ICMR) saidthe study, titled Child Health andMortality Prevention Surveillance(CHAMPS), funded by the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation, willstart on a pilot-basis in a "monthor two" in the country.

"The idea behind this study isto try to understand the causes ofdeath of children under the ageof five. In most countries, includ-ing India, the maximum burdenof premature mortality happensin children under five.

"So, it is important to preventthat, in fact the whole world isnow focused on reducing thatthrough various interventionssuch as vaccination, improving

water, sanitation, access to antibi-otics, but unless we understandwhat are the causes that are kill-ing the children, we can't takepreventive measures," she said.

The ICMR chief, who will soontake charge as the Deputy Direc-tor General for Programs, theWorld Health Organization in

Geneva, said the study has al-ready started in "South Africa,Mozambique and Mali".

"It will now be done inBangladesh and India. We will

start the pilot very soon inSafdarjung Hospital here, in amonth or two, because the EthicsCommittee approval, and every-

thing, has been done,"Swaminathan told PTI.

As part of the study, the Cen-tre-run hospital will act as the 'Ex-pert Guidance Centre', where thepediatrics department's doctorswill get trained, will be able to dofurther training.

"An international team of ex-perts will be coming, from theCDC (Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention), Atlanta, inthe US. And, the laboratory test-ing will be done in collaborationwith the CDC," she added.

This study will use a lot of ad-vanced laboratory methods, touncover the "hidden causes ofdeath", she said.

"The study will be donethrough taking minimally-inva-sive tissue biopsies, tissuesamples, after the child has died,like taking samples of vein, lung,liver, spleen, blood, and then do anumber of microbiological andpathological investigations," theICMR chief said.

Soumya Swaminathan, Director-General of the IndianCouncil of Medical Research

Anti-smoking ads begin after decadeWASHINGTON: Decades after

they were banned from the air-waves, Big Tobacco companiesreturn to prime-time television -but not by choice.

Under court order, the to-bacco industry for the first timewill be forced to advertise thedeadly, addictive effects ofsmoking, more than 11 years af-ter a judge ruled that the com-panies had misled the publicabout the dangers of cigarettes.

But years of legal pushback bythe industry over every detailmeans the ads will be less hard-hitting than what was proposed.Tobacco control experts say thecampaign - built around network

TV and newspapers - will not reachpeople when they are young andmost likely to start smoking.

``Their legal strategy is always

obstruct, delay, create confusionand buy more time,'' said RuthMalone, of the University of Cali-fornia, San Francisco, who has

studied the industry for 20 years.``So by the time this was finallysettled, newspapers have a muchsmaller readership, and nowadays,

who watches network TV?''The new spots lay out the toll

of smoking in blunt text andvoiceover statements: ``More

people die every year fromsmoking than from murder,AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashesand alcohol, combined.''

Companies will also ac-knowledge their role in mak-ing cigarettes addictive: ̀ `Ciga-rette companies intentionallydesigned cigarettes withenough nicotine to create andsustain addiction.''

Smoking remains thenation's leading preventablecause of death and illness,causing more than 480,000deaths each year, even thoughsmoking rates have been de-clining for decades.

San Franciscobans weedadvertising

SAN FRANCISCO: SanFrancisco's public transit boardhas voted to ban marijuana ad-vertising on its buses, trains andshelters, reversing its currentpolicy.

The San Francisco Examinerreports the board of the San Fran-cisco Municipal TransportationAgency voted to prohibit pot ad-vertising in advance of Jan. 1,when recreational weed be-comes legal in California.

There are currently 130 ads formedicinal marijuana on transitagency property from companiessuch as Eaze, Urban Pharm andGreen Cross.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Leewas among those urging a banon weed advertising, saying sucha rule would limit children's ex-posure to products meant foradults.

The agency says it will runmarijuana ads that have alreadybeen purchased.

The agency, known as MUNI,also bans advertising for alcoholand tobacco products. -AP

50 workersfired for refusingflu shots

DULUTH, Minn.: A Minnesota-based health system has firedabout 50 employees who re-fused to get a flu shot.

Essentia Health announcedlast month that employeeswould be required to get vacci-nated for influenza unless theyreceived a religious or medicalexemption.

The company said it wantedto help keep patients from get-ting sick at its 15 hospitals and75 clinics in Minnesota, Idaho,North Dakota and Wisconsin.

Essentia says 99 percent ofthe company's 13,900 eligibleemployees had gotten the shot,received an exemption or weregetting an exemption by thedeadline.

The United Steelworkers filedan injunction to try to delay thepolicy but a federal judge de-nied the request. MinnesotaPublic Radio reports at least twoother unions are filing griev-ances on behalf of workers wholost their jobs.-AP Cont’d on page 35

Cont’d on page 35

Probe orderedinto overchargingby Fortis

CHANDIGARH: The Haryanagovernment has set up a three-member committee to probe al-legations that Gurgaon's FortisHospital overcharged the familyof a 7-year-old girl who died ofdengue, Health Minister Anil Vijsaid here. -PTI

India PostHealth Science Post 35

www.indiapost.com

December 1, 2017

Last year, the adult smoking rate hit anew low of 15 percent, according to gov-ernment figures. That's down from the 42percent of adults who smoked in the mid-1960s.

Experts attribute the decline to smok-ing bans, cigarette taxes and anti-smoking

campaigns by both nonprofit groups likethe American Cancer Society and the fed-eral government.

The new ads are the result of a 1999lawsuit filed by the Justice Departmentunder President Bill Clinton which soughtto recover some of the billions the federalgovernment spent caring for people withsmoking-related illnesses.

A federal judge ultimately sided withthe government in 2006, ruling that BigTobacco had ``lied, misrepresented anddeceived the American public'' about theeffects of smoking for more than 50 years.

Anti-smoking adsbegin after decade

The decision came nearly a decade afterU.S. states reached legal settlements withthe industry worth $246 billion.

But under the racketeering laws usedto prosecute the federal case, the judgesaid she could not make the companiespay, instead ordering them to publish ̀ `cor-rective statements'' in advertisements, aswell as on their websites, cigarette packsand store displays.

The campaign will be paid for by AltriaGroup, owner of Philip Morris USA, and R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Co., a division of BritishAmerican Tobacco.

Altria, maker of Marlboros, referred in-quiries to a statement it issued last month:``We remain committed to aligning ourbusiness practices with society's expecta-tions of a responsible company. This in-cludes communicating openly about thehealth effects of our products.''

Reynolds, which sells Camel cigarettes,did not respond to a request for comment.

Originally the U.S. government wantedcompanies to state that they had lied aboutsmoking risks. But the companies success-fully challenged that proposal, arguing thatit was ̀ `designed solely to shame and hu-miliate.'' An appeals court ruled the adscould only be factual and forward-looking.

Even the phrase ̀ `here's the truth,'' wasdisputed and blocked. ``Here's the truth:Smoking is very addictive. And it's not easyto quit,'' read one proposed message. -AP

The National Institute of Pathology (NIP)at the Safdarjung Hospital will be the maininstitute involved in the study.

"After hospitals, we want to take it tothe field areas, where there is a lot of childmortality, so that we can actually capture,ultimately the cause of deaths of childrenin the community. Also, we want to lookat a large number of pathogens and dis-ease conditions," she added.

Swaminathan said the idea originatedthrough discussions on global fora.

"The fact that previous autopsy studieshave shown quite surprising things. Mostof these autopsy studies have been donein Africa. And autopsies are very difficultto do for many reasons.

"And that is when they came up withthis concept of minimally-invasive biop-sies, which is more acceptable to thefamilies, and easier to do also for doctors,"

Global study soon on causes ofunder-five mortality in India

Cont’d from page 34 she said.The ICMR chief, said though there is still

a lot of reluctance socially, but "things arechanging".

"If you look at organ donation, moreand more people are coming forward. So,it is the way you approach, tell the fami-lies the logic and the larger cause, that

the child in the neighborhood could bethe next one, so a larger context is impor-tant," she added.

According to the CHAMPS officialwebsite, "Every year, nearly six millionchildren under the age of five die. -PTI

The ICMR chief, saidthough there is still a

lot of reluctancesocially, but "things

are changing"


'People have cancerbecause of sins'

GUWAHATI: Assam Health MinisterHimanta Biswa Sarma has kicked up astorm with his remarks that some peoplesuffer from life-threatening diseases suchas cancer because of sins committed in thepast which he called "divine justice".

The comments sparked sharp re-actions in the political circles andamong cancer patients.

"God makes us suffer when wesin. Sometimes we come acrossyoung men getting inflicted withcancer or young men meeting withaccidents. If you observe the back-ground you will come to know thatit's divine justice. Nothing else. Wehave to suffer that divine justice,"Sarma said at a function organized for dis-tribution of appointment letters to teach-ers here.

"In this lifetime or in our previous life, orperhaps my father or mother... perhapsthat young man did not do but his fatherhas done something wrong. It is men-tioned even in Gita, Bible about the out-

come of one's actions. No point in beingsad... all will get the outcome of this life'sactions in this life only. That divine justicealways will be there. Nobody can escapethe divine justice that will happen," he

said.Reacting to the comments, Congress

leader Debabratta Saikia said, "It is unfortu-nate that the health minister has madesuch a remark on cancer patients hurtingtheir feelings. As he has made the remarkpublicly, the minister should also apologiesfor it publicly." -PTI

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

Experts attribute the declineto smoking bans, cigarette

taxes and anti-smokingcampaigns by both nonprofit

groups like the AmericanCancer Society and the

federal government

36 December 1, 2017India Post

www.indiapost.com

SATYAGRAH SOULS is a monthly politicalseries presented by Silicon Valley's com-

munity leader, Saratoga Councilmember RishiKumar, in highlighting the community in-volvement and success of Indian Americans inthe United States. This series seeks to inspireus in giving back to our local community. WeIndian Americans are going through a transi-tional evolution, as we get entrenched in anew world, embracing new culture, exertingzealous work ethics, supporting the Americaneconomy as entrepreneurs, high tech geeks,doctors, lawyers and more.

We are definitely imposing the positive

intentions and good citizen values upon thisfantastic country and making a huge impact.But can our involvement run a bit deeperwith issues near and dear to our hearts, per-haps within our local city, or with the localpublic school that our children attend? Do wesometimes hear our conscience imploring,"Am I doing enough?" Yes we can get in-volved just a bit more, push our comfort zoneand enhance the learning and impact our in-volvement.

Our involvement can simply start with de-veloping a healthy curiosity in our local com-munity, instead of being 'busy' bystanders.

A MONTHLY POLITICAL SERIES- BY RISHI KUMAR

SATYAGRAH SOULSIndian Americans Making A Difference

Democratic candidate for US Congress, 5th District of Illinoisheld volunteer leadership roles in Chi-cago Cares, Cabrini Green Youth Pro-grams, Northwestern Club of Chicago,and the National Association of AsianAmerican Professionals.

Sameena be-lieves strongly incivic engagementand organized a200-attendee fo-rum on how toelect more womenand people of colorin partnership withthe 'On The Table'program at the Chi-cago CommunityTrust, leveragingher relationshipswith League ofWomen Voters, Re-claim Chicago, Indi-visible, and the Civic Lab. She currentlyserves on the Sounding Board, an ad-visory board for Chicago's NationalPublic Radio affiliate, Chicago Public

Once we get involved, we will quickly discover,how easy it is for us to make progressivechange happen and how receptive everyonearound is, to leverage our skills for it. There areleaders waiting to be discovered, why not"me", by taking that first step?

The give-back experience can be freeing,energizing - personally rewarding and trans-formative at the same time. There are manywho have made their mark in doing just that.With this monthly series, we want to highlightthese SatyAgrah souls who are showing us thepath. Here is a SatyaGrah soul, who has foundthe calling:

S ameena Mustafa has beenlauded for her long history ofleadership and service to her

community in the Chicago Tribune,Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Reader,and WGN Radio. She was selected asa 2017 National Leadership Acad-emy fellow by the Asian PacificAmerican Institute for Congres-sional Studies in Washington, D.C. forcurrent and future candidates forpublic office. She recently served onthe Host Committee of the UnitedState of Women/Galvanize, a 1000-person summit chaired by ValerieJarrett and Tina Tchen, and emceedKeith Ellison's sold-out DNC chaircampaign rally.

In addition, she has served onboards at the YWCA, United Way, andthe Chicago Community Trust and

Media/WBEZ/Vocalo, and the AdvisoryCouncil for Chicago Women's HealthCenter, a feminist health collective.

Professionally, she acts as a tenantadvocate for privately-held entities

and nonprofit orga-nizations as a com-mercial real estatebroker. After begin-ning her careerwith CB RichardEllis, she becamethe youngest mem-ber and top pro-ducer at a boutiquew o m a n - o w n e dfirm. Prior to realestate, she excelledin product market-ing at industryleader, RandMcNally, where she

helped develop its 5-year strategy.Early in her career, she blended herpassion for the community and lead-ership skills as the clinic manager for

Planned Parenthood's Austin loca-tion, an area greatly underserved forreproductive health.

Sameena is also an actor, stand-upcomedian, and writer. She has beenfeatured in videos by The Onion andperformed on world-famous stageslike New York Comedy Club, The Sec-ond City, Laugh Factory, and theBiograph Theater. A graduate ofNorthwestern University, she is alsoa published poet and essayist. In2017, Sameena founded Hand Herthe Mic, an organization dedicatedto empowering women of colorthrough comedy workshops, forums,and performance opportunities. In2014, she cofounded Simmer Brown,a stand-up comedy collective, whichhas received praise for its commit-ment to diversity and successful runof shows. The Chicago Reader in-cluded Sameena as one of the bestof Chicago comedy for 2016.

Special thanks to Shayra Sethifor this profile coverage

Sameena Mustafa

Creating space forwomen of color to thriveWhat motivated you to run for the USCongress, representing the 5th Districtof Illinois in 2018? How did this inter-est come about? What do you see asyour strengths and experience in thiselection run?

Having been born and raised in theUS, I have worked in the business, non-profit, been on boards, organizations andhave been integral part of the commu-nity. As 2016 elections were approach-ing, the concern was that the outcomewill not be in favor of the community I

Sameena extends gratitude to US Senator CoryBooker (D-NJ) for supporting Medicare For All at2017 reception in Chicago and poses for a selfie

was representing. Due to the loss ofDemocratic Party at all levels; incomingleadership was far removed fromground reality. I felt that it was time tohave leaders in the office who relate tothe community and are aware of policiesthat are beneficial for the real people.When it came time, I stepped up to rep-resent the community. This was a motiva-tional factor for me to run for congress.

Sameena, you have worked on issues/needs of women and children, associ-

ated with organizations like ChicagoWomen's Health Center, Chicago Cares,YWCA, etc. Can you share your insightsand learning and how they are helpingyou today?

I started to volunteer very early on byworking with organizations that helpwomen and girls like Apna Ghar withnational reputation. I had an opportunityto work with the clinic where patientsrelied on government funding.

Cont’d on page 37

37December 1, 2017 India Post

www.indiapost.com

SATYAGRAH SOULSIndian Americans Making A Difference

Subsidies offered were important forprimary and health care services in realtime. Agencies I have worked with re-cently like Chicago Women's Health Cen-ter, and Rape Victim Advocate, etc. Allthese relied on either donations or gov-ernment funding or mix of two. I haveworked with management of these or-ganizations to understand their needsand how they manage the overheadslike staffing, salaries, rents etc. Being in-volved with these organizations hasgiven me invaluable experience to un-derstand needs at the tactical level anddesign effective policies for the supportand benefit of these organizations.

"Hand Her The Mic"-Sameena foundedthis organization to empower womenof color through comedy workshopsand performance opportunities. Whathave been your achievements throughthis organization and its commitmentto the community?

To give some background and con-text, I produced a show called SimmerBrown. I came across the fact that it wasdifficult to find women of color whocould perform. In conversation withother producers, I thought about creat-ing an environment that is safe forwomen of color to perform.

I conducted a first workshop in HydePark, Chicago and got great responsewith representation from Black, White,Latino, Muslim and Asian women; agood mix of women. One of the attend-ees from the University of ChicagoMedical Center started an employee re-source group for women of color, in-spired by our workshop. This served as aresource for women who were beingpassed over for promotions etc.

The concept of representation andthinking of how do we create the spacefor women of color to thrive and net-work is the one that inspired the at-tendee. My hope is that women whohave been part of the resource groupwill have access to information on theirfingertips. I believe that comedy is therelatable way to express your valuesconfidently. A way to communicate yourabilities and achieve goals by havingconfident expression.

What is the priority list of issues thatyou are seeking to take up for yourdistrict?

Issues I am focusing on are in threeareas - economic justice, human rightsand political reforms. Touching uponeconomic justice, issue at hand ishealthcare where access to healthcareis under threat. There are two bills, onein Congress and the other in Senate thatare proposing Medicare to all. To me

that is a very important policy changethat's not only is the healthcare decisionbut affects the reproductive choice.Without access to healthcare, access toreproductive choice will not exist.

Next area is related to human rightswhere women's rights are human rights.My concern is that some of the civilrights based fights fought are beingoverturned specifically in the areas ofLGBT. I also see that as an opportunityfor coalition of groups to come togetheron issues like immigration, religion, gen-der expression.

They canvoice togetheron discrimina-tion issues re-gardless ofwhat form ittakes and fightback. On politi-cal reforms, wesaw in 2016elections theimpact of vot-ers' oppression.Purging voterrolls, enoughplaces/machines to vote etc. are areasof concern. An area of my interest andpart of democracy where we shouldhave access to place not only to vote butmake it count.

How relevant/important you feel it isfor the Asian-American women com-munity to be involved with initiatives

Creating space forwomen of color to thrive

like women empowerment and be in-volved with developing and contribut-ing to non-profit organizations workingtowards women and children issues?

It is imperative that Asian-Americanwomen must be part of the movementfor gender, racial and economic justice.We can't rely on myths prevalent in thecommunities like model minority, goodimmigrants etc. We need to break awayfrom stereotypes and build coalition.These myths and stereotypes perpetu-ate and make one community go against

the other. This is unproductive and wayis to have representation/involvementso that there is an understanding of be-ing united and togetherness.

I am all about progressive movementand California is in the forefront withmany initiatives. I feel that in many waysCalifornia models with good policiesand movement building. I am looking to

replicate national movement in mywork that represents values of the sys-tem. Representation aligned with thevalue of the district is the essence of mybeing in this field.

Friends, this was an interview withSameena Mustafa. We wish her thevery best with her Congressional runand beyond.

**********Dear Readers, Do you have a story to

share? We invite you to introduce us tofolks in your community who are mak-ing a difference - we would love to pro-file them. Are there similar stories youare familiar with locally. The ones whohelped address a simple issue in thecommunity to make life a bit better. Per-haps someone you know decided tomake a run for school board, was ap-pointed to the planning commission.Provide us your insights on IndianAmericans locally and nationally who aremaking things happen. These perspec-tives will help construct roadmaps forour community to empower ourselves,to hopefully ignite a desire in all of us torepresent our local communities as do-ers, leaders, establish and entrench our-selves in this glorious country ofAmerica and help make it a better place.

**********

ABOUT RISHI: Rishi is an elected citycouncilmember in Saratoga, CA and politi-cally active in the state of California, as aboard member on a few state and nationalpolitical organizations. He continues to fol-low his passion for community service, seek-ing to provide services to his constituentscheaper, faster and better, in his passion tomake a difference. Rishi has diligent service,responsiveness, community outreach and en-gagement a key focus for his political leader-ship, be that strong independent voice. As Sili-con Valley's community organizer, Rishi is hostof many social, educational, cultural commu-nity events, many of which are free and al-ways inclusive usually addressing a need or acause. Rishi's day job is as a Silicon Valley hi-tech executive but his zeal for service effer-vescent. Rishi is also the President of the BayArea Indian American Democratic Club(www.baiadc.org) whose charter is to furtherthe interests and values of Indian Americans,work towards political empowerment and ad-vance ethical standards in the political sys-tem. You can reach him via his websitewww.RishiKumar.com.


Sameena meets with voters and collects petition signatures to secure her place on the ballot forthe primary election on March 20, 2018

India Post December 1, 2017www.indiapost.com

Real Estate38

Realty Tidbits 'RERA approved projectsgaining ground'

JAIPUR: Real Estate (Regulation and Development)Act (RERA) approved construction projects have beenwitnessing a surge after its implementation, claimed areal estate developer. Customers are getting benefitsafter RERA implementation due to certain bindings onthe real estate developers and demand for RERA ap-proved projects is on rise, senior vice president of aMumbai-based construction company, Rahul Maru saidin a press conference. -PTI

Indian police probe Maria Sharapovahousing fraud case

NEW DELHI: Maria Sharapova isbeing investigated by police inIndia in a cheating and criminalconspiracy case involving a realestate company who used thetennis star to endorse a luxuryhousing project that never tookoff.

Real estate firm HomesteadInfrastructure is accused of tak-ing tens of millions of rupees(millions of dollars) from homebuyers for a project named ̀ `Bal-let by Maria Sharapova,'' a luxuryapartment complex with its ownhelipad, tennis academy andother amenities. The five-timeGrand Slam champion travelledto India in 2013 to launch theproject at a glitzy ceremony. Po-lice began the investigation onNov. 16.

Piyush Singh, a lawyer repre-senting one of the home buyers,said that Sharapova's celebritywas the reason most people puttheir money into the project.

Singh said his client,Bhawana Agarwal, paid Home-stead Infrastructure 5.3 million

rupees ($81,678) in 2013 be-cause she was impressed bySharapova's association with

the project located in Gurgaon,a suburb of the Indian capital.The cost of an apartment in the

swanky project was 20 millionrupees ($308,000).

Agarwal then spent the next

three years chasing the buildersfor updates on the property andher investment in it but theystopped taking her calls, Singhsaid. Even now several calls to thenumbers of the buildingcompany's website went unan-swered.

``The project never saw thelight of day,'' Singh said.

Singh said the police investi-gation based on his client's com-plaint was testing relatively newlegal ground - that celebritiesendorsing projects that draw vastsums of money from investorshad a responsibility ̀ `to do somedue diligence'' on the project be-fore lending their name andcredibility to it.

Sharapova isn't the only inter-national sports celebrity that thereal estate firm roped in. Itswebsite also advertises a projectwith Formula One great MichaelSchumacher called the MichaelSchumacher World Tower.-AP

Tennis star Maria Sharapova speakings during a news conference in LosAngeles. Sharapova is being investigated by police in India in a cheating and

criminal conspiracy case involving a real estate company who used thetennis star to endorse a luxury housing project that never took off.

Judges to facilitate auction of Aamby ValleyNEW DELHI: The Supreme

Court has granted liberty to twoBombay High Court judges toadopt procedures to facilitatethe auctioning of Sahara'sprized Aamby Valley propertiesand directed the Official Liqui-dator not to allow any obstruc-tion in the process.

A three-judge bench, com-prising Chief Justice DipakMisra and Justices Ranjan Gogoiand A K Sikri, also warned Sa-hara Group chief Subrata Roy,facing contempt proceedings,that it may send him to jailagain, following SEBI's submis-sion that there was confusionwith regard to the title or own-ership of some properties in theAamby Valley.

"Does the property belong to

the contemnor," the bench asked.On being told by SEBI that "someare on lease and some are sold",it said "then we will send this manto jail and close the chapter".

The Sahara Group had earliersought 18 months to repayaround Rs 9,000 crore balance of

the principal amount of Rs24,000 crore.

The apex court took note ofthe submission of senior advo-cate Arvind Datar, appearing for

the market regulator that theHigh Court judges intended tohave "certain directions from thiscourt to proceed with the auc-tion".

"Having heard Arvind P Datar...,we think it appropriate to statethat the Judges of the High Court

are at liberty to adopt the proce-dure which will facilitate the auc-tion and the mode of auction assuggested by the Official Liqui-dator (OL) shall be considered by

the Company Judge in consul-tation with Justice A S Oka (an-other HC judge)," it said.

Taking into account the ap-prehension of senior advocateShekhar Naphade, who is as-sisting it as an amicus curiae,that there could be a possibil-ity of encroachment, it di-rected the official Receiver ofthe Bombay High Court to actas custodian of Aamby Valleyproperties till the conclusionof auction.

"In view of the aforesaid,we appoint the Official Re-ceiver of the Bombay HighCourt as Receiver in respect ofthe Amby Valley city. The saidarrangement shall remain inforce till the auction is over.

The Supreme Court directed the

official Receiver of the Bombay High Court to

act as custodian of Aamby Valley properties

till the conclusion of auction

Cont’d on page 39

DDA to relaxnorm for RohiniScheme 1981

NEW DELHI: There is goodnews for applicants of DDA'sRohini scheme of 1981, as thehousing authority has proposedto relax an allotment norm whichhinged on the size or nature of aplot or flat owned by them.

The decision was taken duringa meeting of the urban bodychaired by Lt. Gov. Anil Baijal, alsothe chairman of the Delhi Devel-opment Authority (DDA).

The proposal would be con-veyed to the Ministry of Housing& Urban Affairs for approval.

The scheme for allotment ofresidential plots in the schemewas launched on February 9,1981, and the allotment of plotswere to be made in phases overfive years, starting on the last dateof the receipt of applications.

"The decision, once approved,will benefit those applicantswhose allotments were can-celled due to a mismatch in plotsize norm. The relaxation of ruleswould be done retrospectively tocover cases cancelled in the past.

"However, these cases would beconsidered for allotment of plot ina developing sector through adraw of lots at pre-determinedrates," a senior official said.

For the Rohini scheme, one ofthe eligibility criteria was an appli-cant who jointly owned plot orland of size of less than 65sqm.-PTI

'RERA successwith developers'participation'

MUMBAI: Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis hassaid that the EODB and MahaRERA have been a success notbecause Government has done it,but because the developer frater-nity participated in it

In his opening remarks at theannual CREDAI-MCHI propertyexpo, he said, "It is absolutely safeto buy a house at the MAHA Prop-erty Expo organized by CREDAI -MCHI as all the projects areMAHA RERA registered."

He congratulated CREDAI -MCHI for organizing the magnifi-cent exhibition which presentsentire gamut of real estate indus-try in Mumbai and MMR alongwith the opportunity to explorevarious home finance options allunder one roof. -NewsVoir

39India PostDecember 1, 2017

www.indiapost.comReal Estate Post

The duty of the Official Re-ceiver is also to see that the prop-erty is properly maintained andno encroachment takes place so

that valuation does not reduceand auction takes place in peace-ful manner.

"The Receiver is at liberty totake instructions from the Com-pany Judge and Justice A S Oka,who are requested to work inharmony," the bench said.

It also directed that a sum ofRs 84 lakh be released in favor ofthe Bombay High Court's OL, whohas been entrusted with the taskof conducting the auctioningprocess, for "publication or adver-

tisement"."If more expenses are re-

quired, the same can be requisi-tioned by the Bombay High Courtfrom the SEBI-Sahara account," itsaid, adding that requisite steps

would be taken by the SEBI andthe OL.

During the hearing, the benchwarned the OL that there shouldnot be any hindrance to the auc-tioning process.

"We are warning you today tosee that the properties are auc-tioned. Don't allow any obstruc-tion," it said and posted the mat-ter for hearing in the first week ofFebruary, 2018.

Earlier, the apex court hadtaken strong exception to the Sa-

hara Group allegedly obstructingthe auctioning process of AambyValley and warned that anyoneindulging in such an act would beheld liable for contempt and"sent to jail".

The apex court was irked whenSEBI claimed that the group hadallegedly obstructed the processby writing a letter to the Pune po-lice raising the issue of law andorder at the prime property.

On August 10, the apex courthad rejected Sahara chief SubrataRoy's plea to put on hold the auc-tion process.

It had said that the auction pro-cess would proceed as per sched-ule and if Rs 1,500 crore is paidby Roy in the SEBI-Sahara refundaccount by September 7, then itmay pass an appropriate order.

Roy, who has spent almost twoyears in jail, has been on parolesince May 6 last year. The parolewas granted the first time to en-able him attend the funeral of hismother. It has been extendedsince then.

Besides Roy, two other direc-tors - Ravi Shankar Dubey andAshok Roy Choudhary - were ar-rested for failure of the group'stwo companies -Sahara India RealEstate Corporation (SIRECL) andSahara Housing Investment CorpLtd (SHICL) - to comply with thecourt's August 31, 2012 order toreturn Rs 24,000 crore to theirinvestors.-PTI

Judges to facilitate auctionof Aamby Valley

50 lakh homes to be built in villagesNEW DELHI: More than 50 lakh

homes for the poor will be builtin rural areas across the countryby March 31 under a centralscheme bringing social transfor-mation in villages, the govern-ment said here.

Under the Pradhan MantriAwas Yojana (Gramin) a target ofto construct one crore newhouses by March 31, 2019 wasset.

Of these, 51 lakh houses hadto be completed by 31st March,2018, the Rural DevelopmentMinistry said in an official state-ment.

After the launch in 2016, it

took a few months to completethe process of beneficiary regis-tration, geo-tagging, accountverification etc, the ministry said

adding that it used Socio Eco-nomic Census of 2011 for selec-tion of beneficiaries.

The homeless and those living

in one kuccha room with kuccharoof or two kuccha rooms withkuccha roof are the beneficiariesof this pro-poor PMAY scheme.

The homes are designed bythe best of institutions afterstudying the existing local designtypologies and are constructedby beneficiaries as per their need.The payment for construction ofthe houses is directly transferredinto the accounts of beneficia-ries, the ministry said.

"The poor are getting safehomes and can live with dignitywith facilities like toilet, LPG con-nection, electricity connection,drinking water facility etc," it said.

To ensure transparency andcheck corruption, the Centre hasset up an online platform whereany person can see constructionof homes with geo-tagged pho-tographs and complete details ofbeneficiaries and paymentsmade to them.

The ministry has also decidedto commission a study on socialtransformation to understand theimpact of the housing program.

Besides this, the National Insti-tute of Public Finance & Policywill also study the governancereforms under PMAY (G) and theimpact of higher demand of steeland cement on growth.-PTI

Sahara’s Aamby Valley in Pune


Singapore's expertisesought for Smart Cities

NEW DELHI: The Union Hous-ing and Urban Affairs Ministry iskeen to tap Singapore's expertisein the urban sector with a focuson the Smart City Mission and IT-enabled services, a senior officialsaid.

Keeping this in view, around100 Indian town and countryplanners were recently trainedby Singapore-based companies, amove aimed at giving momen-tum to the government's flagshipSmart City Mission, which has amajor component of IT-enabledservices, he said.

Under the Mission, 90 citieshave been selected so far by the

government and each city willget Rs 500 crore as central assis-tance for implementing projects.

Reviewing the progress of theSmart City Mission, on August 30,Prime Minister Narendra Modihad said that the challenge be-fore everyone was now to en-sure implementation and expe-ditious completion of the work inthe 90 identified cities, with high

quality.The official said that the

Singapore-based companieshave evinced interest in urbanprojects in Assam, Maharashtra,Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh andHimachal Pradesh.

A consortium of these compa-nies is working to developAmravati, the new capital city ofAndhra Pradesh, an official note,prepared in September, on India-Singapore relations, said.

Singapore is also working withthe Rajasthan government inpreparing the concept plans fortownships in Udaipur and Jodh-pur, and with Himachal Pradesh

to develop an integrated town-ship of Greater Shimla, it said.

There is also cooperation incapacity building in urban plan-ning sector, the note said.

According to the official, Hous-ing and Urban Affairs MinisterHardeep Singh Puri is keen to ex-tend the partnership betweenthe two nations to other cities aswell. -PTI

India Post www.indiapost.com December 1, 201740

The Gir National Parkand wildlife sanctuaryis located in theJunagadh district ofGujarat. It is one of the

finest wildlife sanctuaries in India.It is internationally acclaimed forsuccessfully saving this preciousspecies from the brink of extinc-tion. The national park lies amid anarea of 1412 square km of lush de-ciduous forests. This national parkwas established on 18 September1965 as a Forest Reserve to con-

serve the Asiatic lion. This sanctuaryis the final refuge of the rare Asianlions which roamed freely two cen-turies ago throughout Middle East

and some parts of India. Sasan, witha forest rest house, is the headquar-ters of the sanctuary.

Various deciduous forests,

grasslands, acacia scrub, wetlandsand the seven rivers forms the to-pography of this wildlife sanctu-ary. It has a topography made upof succession of rugged ridges,isolated hills, plateaus and valleys.Besides, being the last abode ofAsiatic lions, Gir forms a uniquehabitat for ratel, rusty spotted cat,

pangolin, ruddy mongoose, civets,paradise flycatcher etc.

The overwhelming presenceof the omnipotent big cat divertsthe attention of the common manfrom the remarkable bird popula-tion that the sanctuary has. How-ever, the birds of Gir sanctuary didattract the great ornithologist, DrSalim Ali who believed that, hadthe Asiatic lions not been there,the area would have been one ofthe most fascinating bird sanctu-aries of the country.

Cont’d on page 42

India PostDecember 1, 2017 41Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

92 new flight routesfor Northeast

IMPHAL: To provide a majorboost to air connectivity in theNortheast, 92 new routes will beopened in the region in the sec-ond round of the government's'Udaan' scheme, Union Minister ofState for Civil Aviation JayantSinha said here.

Sinha also announced a directbi-weekly Air India flight from

Delhi to Imphal from January nextyear, which he said would bemade a daily service when thedemand picks up.

No-frills private airlines Indigowill soon start services fromGuwahati to Silchar and Aizwal,he said.

He also announced thatSpicejet will be procuring sea-

planes that could seat 9-10 pas-sengers and land on smaller air-strips.

"The carrier is buying a largenumber of these seaplanes and islooking to operate in the North-east, connecting smaller airstrips.These planes will accommodateabout 9-10 people. This will alsoimprove connectivity in theNortheast," Sinha said.

He was speaking at the inau-gural session of the 'North EastDevelopment Summit', a two-dayevent organised by India Founda-tion, a think tank with links to theBJP, and the Government ofManipur.

Sinha also informed that theconstruction of the Pakyong air-port in Sikkim is complete and it

will make reaching the northernpart of the state, especially touristattractions such as Nathu La Pass,easier.

The second round of biddingfor Udaan scheme is in its finalstages, he said. "With this bid-ding round, we have 92 newroutes that are going to bestarted in the Northeast," Sinhasaid.

Udaan is a regional connec-tivity scheme under which thegovernment plans to provideconnectivity to remote areasand enhance access in under-served regions. The scheme hasenabled the government to add30 new airports on the aviationmap in tier-2 and tier-3 citiesunder the first round.

The second round of biddingcommenced in August. The civilaviation ministry has received asmany as 141 initial proposals foroperating flight and helicopterservices on 502 routes, con-necting 126 airports and heli-pads.

He said that there are 19 "newairports or underserved air-ports", and among these airportssuch as More in Manipur, Rupsiin Assam, and Tura in Meghalayaare going to get air services.

"Nineteen new airports andseven heliports are going to beadded to the aviation network.There are 26 new airports (that aregoing to be) added through Udaanround 2. The bidding processes areunderway," he said. -PTI

Denmark, Sweden, Norway woo Indian touristsNEW DELHI: Denmark, Sweden

and Norway are expecting Indiantourists to consume more than3.5 lakh hotel room nights in ayear as the three Scandinaviannations are going all out to attracttravelers from the country by pro-moting their tourism destinations.

The Scandinavian Tourist Board(STB) has been actively holdingpromotional events in India in itsbid to reach out to Indian travel-ers so that they visit Denmark,Sweden and Norway the threenorthern European countries thatwere largely unexplored by In-dian tourists in the past.

Following the recent increasein the number of Indians visitingScandinavia, Air India in Augustthis year launched direct flightsfrom India to Stockholm andCopenhagen.

Earlier, these destinations,along with Oslo, were connectedvia Dubai.

Mohit Batra from the STB saidIndia is one of the most importantregions in the world and that iswhy the three Scandinavian coun-tries are going all the way to wooIndian tourists.

"Indians are more loved andwelcomed by the Europeancountries and people are lookingforward to cultural exchanges

from both sides," Batra said whileelaborating some of the reasonsbehind the recent surge in thenumber of Indian tourists to Den-mark, Sweden and Norway.

"We are looking at Indians con-suming 3, 50, 000 hotel roomnights in Scandinavia in a year," hesaid, adding that on an average,these numbers are expected togrow at 10 per cent.

In Asia, India is ranked asSweden's secondsource market af-ter China.

Ruth

Dolla, Project Manager India ofVisit Sweden, said India hasemerged as the world's fastest-growing outbound market and itis second only to China.

"The number of Indians travel-ling overseas is set to rise fromaround 15 million now to 50 mil-lion by 2050. That 50 million is a

huge number. This will mean a biggrowth in spending overseas," shesaid.

Dolla said introduction of di-rect flights from India to Swedenand Denmark will definitely leadto a sharp rise in the numbers ofIndian tourists visiting the threeScandinavian nations.

"We see India as a huge marketf o r t o u r i s m

source to Sweden. We have beenworking in the Indian marketsince 2015.

We have seen a very good in-crease in the number of touristscoming to Sweden. There are 150Swedish companies operating inIndia.

"We have received an 18 per

cent increase in the number ofIndian tourists this year. We havegot 1, 76,000 visitors from Indialast year. It is increasing every yearand month.

We have registered a 35 percent increase in tourism in Augustthis year compared to the corre-sponding month last year," shesaid.

A perfect combination of au-thentic nature experiences,

world-class and modern pro-gressive cities and a

friendly, modern,s u s -

tainable lifestyle sets Swedenaside as a unique destination fortravelers, she said.

Flemming Bruhn, Director ofVisit Denmark said India is a veryexciting and developing marketfor Scandinavia.

"We have seen a double-digitgrowth in the number of Indian

tourists visiting Denmark. Thisyear, unfortunately, Copenhagenhas been fully booked by travel-ers and it has been very difficultfor Indian travelers to find (hotel)rooms.

"We will increase hotel capac-ity by 20 per cent in the next twoyears to accommodate the risingnumber of travelers," he said.

Norway has witnessed a 16 percent increase in the number ofIndians visiting the country since2016.

In the first half of this year, morethan 11,000 visas were issued toIndians by the Royal NorwegianEmbassy. In 2007, only 3,500 visaswere issued to Indians. The num-ber grew to roughly 4,000 by2010 and 6,000 by 2014.

Denmark, Sweden and Nor-way are part of the Schengen visasystem.

Bengt Hammer, Sales and KeyAccount Manager Asia andOceania at Visit Flam, Norway saidIndia is a big promising market.

"India's economy is growingfast. Indians are visiting Norway ina large number. They love the des-tinations there.

Last year, we experienced a 10per cent increase in Indian touristarrival. Around 15,000 Indians arein Flam city. -PTI

Jayant Sinha

India Post December 1, 201742 Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Hunting lions; British pastimeSince 1884, Gir National Park has been the only habitat

of the Asiatic lion. During British Raj, lions were huntedmercilessly by the British officers assisted by the obligingMaharajas and Nawabs. Every Maharaja was proud of thenumber of lions or tigers he killed during his lifetime. In1899 the famine decreased the lion population so badlythat Lord Curzon cancelled his shoot in Gir where he hadbeen invited by the Nawab for a 'Shikaar'. Lord Curzonadvised the ruler to protect the remaining lions. By thetime India achieved independence, the number of lionsgot increased, but they were once again hunted by the

Maharajas. The Government of India banned the huntingof lion in mid 1960 and now this park is open only for thephoto safaris. The Gir National Park later became a majortourist attraction in India. About 300 lions are present inthis park.

Wildlife AttractionsThe main wildlife attraction in the Gir National Park is

the lion. Besides lion, variety of wild animals are found inthis park among which are the wild boar, bear, panther,jackal, sambar, spotted deer, striped hyena, leopard, nilgai,chinkara gazelle, jungle cat, black napped hare, commonlangur, porcupine, langur, blackbuck, mongoose and theIndian chousingha, the four horned antelope.

During Monsoons, about 200 varieties of birds can be

seen in this park including the peafowl, grey partridge,Bonelli's eagle, crested serpent eagle, jungle bush quail,painted sandgrouse, common green pigeon and severalspecies of doves. Gir is also home of the marsh crocodile,which can be sighted easily in its rivers, particularly in thelake of the Kamaleshwar dam. There is also a crocodilebreeding farm at Sasan.

Jungle SafariYou can visit the Gir National Park by having a jeep ride

with a guide. The Gir Forest Department also organizes"Lion Shows". They make sure that you can see the lions atclose range so they send trackers early morning on a mis-sion to the located places and tempt them with live baits.

Best time to visitThe Gir National Park is

open from mid October tomid June. November, Janu-ary and February are the bestmonths to visit the sanctuary.However the best time toview the lions, in their natu-ral surroundings, is early inthe morning or after 4 pm. Itis during this time that the

animals are most activeand can be easily spotted.

Other attractionsWithin the Gir National

Park, the Kankai Matatemple and Tulishyam HotSprings are located in ascenic surrounding. Theseare the natural hot springswhere one can take bath.It is about 90 km. from theentrance to the sanctuary.The forest is also knownfor its cattle herders, the

Madharis, whose buffaloes form a substantial part of thelion's meals.

How to reach

By Air: The nearest airport is located at Keshod.By Rail: The nearest railway station is Junagadh. This

station is located on the Ahmedabad - Junagadh and Rajkot- Junagadh line.

By Road: Gir National Park is connected to various cit-ies in Gujarat. Junagadh is about 60 kms from the Gir Na-tional Park.


India PostDecember 1, 2017 43Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

IndiGo refuses paymentin rupees

MUMBAI: Private budget carrierIndiGo, which was under fire forthe manhandling of a passengerat the Delhi airport last month, hasnow been accused by a customerof 'dishonoring' the national cur-rency.

In a complaint to police,Pramod Kumar Jain, a passenger,has alleged that the IndiGo crewrefused to accept payment in ru-pee for food he bought when hewas travelling to Dubai fromBengaluru on its flight 6E95 onOctober 10.

Jain filed a police complaint at

the Sarojini Nagar police station inDelhi after he returned fromDubai.

Jain, who has sought registra-

tion of a sedition case against theairline, said he boarded the flightat 7:20 am. Since had had noteaten breakfast, he thought of

having it on-board."I placed the order but the crew

refused to accept the payment inrupees," Jain alleged in the com-plaint, adding "IndiGo is an Indiancompany and I too am an Indian."

Another passenger also facedthe same "mistreatment", he al-leged.

IndiGo, however, said in a state-ment it did not break any rules indoing so as it does not accept ru-pee payments for on-board saleson its international flights, whichis in accordance with the ForeignExchange Management Act. Thisis clearly mentioned in theairline's on-board sales menu aswell, it said.

The airline said it had re-quested the RBI to allow higheron-board sales (above Rs 25,000)in rupees twice on February 26,

2014 and June 5, 2014. It said it isstill "in active discussions with theauthorities in this regard."

The airline was caught in a con-troversy when an elderly passen-ger was manhandled by two of itsground handling staff last month.Early this month, a wheelchair-bound woman passenger gottripped at the Lucknow airport af-ter the airline staffer chose to takea shortcut to the terminal build-ing.

On November 19, a Delhi-based lawyer was allegedly ha-rassed by IndiGo employees at theGuwahati airport who snatchedher mobile phone and deletedsnaps of her baggage that was re-peatedly scanned.

The airline has already sus-pended some of the staff in-volved in these incidents.-PTI

Santa's in town? Youneed an appointment

NEW YORK: Santa Claus may becoming to town, but you'll need areservation to see him.

At Macy's flagship store on34th Street in New York, a chanceto sit on Saint Nick's lap is by ap-pointment only this year, for thefirst time ever.

Eager families can go online tosign up for a time slot from 30minutes to five days in advance.Admission is free to SantalandHerald Square and runs from the

day after Thanksgiving throughChristmas Eve.

Macy's says the new arrange-ment is intended to cut down onwait times and make it easier tosee the man in the red suit.

``Santa's a popular guy, so thewait times to meet him havebeen quite long in previous years,

especially on our busiest days,''the company said.

Santaland is a 13,000-square-footNorth Pole village complete withlive elves and a train display, plus theworld-famous Santa, immortalizedin the film ̀ `Miracle on 34th Street.''The store opened in 1902.

The department store saysfamilies can cancel a reservationand make a new one at any time.Spokeswoman Julie Strider saidthat people can also reserve a

spot at a kiosk at the store.And they say don't be too early

or late for the time slot, and besure to check in with an elf whenarriving.

``Santa's day is packed! To helpkeep him on schedule, please ar-rive within your time slot,'' thecompany said. -AP

Visa-on-arrival for travellersto Rwanda

NEW DELHI: Starting January 1next year, any citizen from aroundthe world, including India, holdinga valid passport, can enter Rwandaby air, sea, or road, by getting avisa-on-arrival, its envoy said here.

The facility is currently availableonly to African countries and afew countries outside of the con-tinent, Rwanda's High Commis-sioner to India Ernest Rwamucyosaid.

"With India we already havegood bilateral relations, whichwere elevated to a strategic level.And, during India's (former) VicePresident Hamid Ansari's visit toour country in February, an agree-ment was signed to allow the twocountries to mutually exempt visarequirements for diplomatic andofficial passport holders," he said.

That agreement has been "rati-fied" and so will come into effectsoon. But, our government re-cently took a very bold decisionon relaxing visa regime for all trav-ellers, he said.

"From January 1 next year, anycitizen from around the world,holding a valid passport, can enterRwanda by air, sea, or road, and geta visa stamped on their arrival. So,we are really opening up our bor-ders to people globally,"Rwamucyo said.

The Rwandan High Commis-sioner was interacting with jour-nalists at the Foreign Correspon-dents' Club here on India-Rwanda

ties and later fielded a number ofquestions on various subjects.

"The visa-on-arrival would beapplicable for 30 days under thenew relaxed visa regime. The en-trants would need to pay a feewhere applicable.

"As of now, the visa-on-arrivalfacility is available only to Africancountries and few other coun-tries like the US, the UK, Germany,Singapore. Also, for some coun-tries in Africa, no visa fee ischarged," Rwamucyo said.

On the new Indian missionproposed to be opened in itscapital city Kigali, billed one ofthe cleanest and the safest citiesglobally, he said, "Work is goingon, on that as well."

On the new RwandAir service

that was launched on April 3 thisyear, in pursuant of Ansari's visit,from Mumbai to Kigali, he said,the response so far has been"good".

The envoy also congratulatedIndia on winning a seat in the In-ternational Court of Justice (ICJ)as Dalveer Bhandari, was re-elected to the post.

Nicknamed the 'land of a thou-sand hills', Rwanda is a countryblessed with mountains, rain for-est, and is also home to gorillas.

The country saw a traumaticperiod in 1994 when it suffered aterrible genocide, but rebuilt it-self and today stands as a countrythat is attracting attention of boththe investors and travellers, hesaid.-PTI

McDonald's to razemuseum of 1st restaurantOAK BROOK, Ill.: McDonald's

Corp. has announced it will de-molish a suburban Chicago mu-seum that's a replica of the ham-burger chain's first restaurant.

Ray Kroc built his first restau-rant in 1955 in Des Plaines, afterfranchising the brand from theoriginal owners, Richard andMaurice McDonald.

The Chicago Tribune reportsthe store was torn down in 1984.

McDonald's Store No. 1 Museumopened the next year, with theoriginal restaurant's sign outfront.

In a statement, McDonald'ssays tourist numbers have de-clined due to repeated floodingof the site since 2008.

The company says the mu-seum will be razed next monthand the land donated to DesPlaines. -AP

44 India Post December 1, 2017www.indiapost.com

In Brief ImmigrationDetails on page 46

Cross-borderwedding atCalifornia's

'Door of Hope'

Judge blocks Trump order on sanctuarycities but legal fight continues

SAN FRANCISCO: PresidentDonald Trump's executive orderto cut funding from sanctuary cit-ies that limit cooperation withU.S. immigration authoritiesfaced a big setback when a fed-eral judge ruled it was unconsti-tutional.

But the legal fight over so-called sanctuary cities is far fromover. Here's a look at the rulingand what other battles loom:

WHAT DID THE JUDGE SAY?U.S. District Judge William

Orrick rejected theadministration's argument thatthe executive order applies onlyto a relatively small pot of money,saying the president himself hadcalled it a ``weapon'' to useagainst jurisdictions that disagreewith his immigration enforce-ment preferences.

The judge said that under theU.S. Constitution, Trump cannotset new conditions on spendingapproved by Congress.

The U.S. Department of Jus-tice responded in a statementthat Orrick had exceeded hispower. The Trump administrationsays sanctuary cities allow dan-gerous criminals back on thestreet.

San Francisco - one of twoCalifornia counties that sued toblock the executive order - saysturning local police into immigra-tion officers erodes trust that isneeded to get people to reportcrime.

WHAT DOES THE RULINGMEAN?

The judge blocked the execu-tive order temporarily in April,and the present ruling made itpermanent. It applies nation-

wide.The Trump administration al-

ready has appealed the judge'stemporary halt on the policy. It ispending before the 9th U.S. Cir-cuit Court of Appeals, whichcould overrule Orrick.

The Justice Department said itwould ̀ `vindicate the president'slawful authority to direct the ex-ecutive branch.''

WHAT OTHER LEGAL FIGHTSREMAIN?

San Francisco, other cities andthe state of California also havesued over a separate move byAttorney General Jeff Sessions towithhold specific public safetygrants from sanctuary cities un-less they implement tougher im-migration policies.

A federal judge in Illinois tem-porarily blocked that move inSeptember in another nation-wide injunction. The administra-tion also is appealing that deci-sion, though it is currently onhold.

ARE THERE OTHER ISSUES ATSTAKE?

Under a federal immigrationlaw, cities cannot ban officialsfrom reporting people's immigra-tion status to U.S. authorities. SanFrancisco accused the Trump ad-ministration of interpreting thelaw more broadly to require thatcities hold jail inmates for immi-gration authorities.

The city does not do that andsays the existing federal law doesnot require it.

San Francisco asked Orrick torule that its immigration policiesmeet the federal standard. Thejudge said he would take that is-sue up in a separate case. -AP

Protesters hold up signs outside a courthouse where a federal judge heardarguments in the first lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's executive

order to withhold funding from communities that limit cooperation withimmigration authorities in San Francisco

Democrats quiz Homeland Security pickWASHINGTON: A group of

Senate Democrats is pressingPresident Donald Trump'schoice to lead the HomelandSecurity Department to en-dorse bipartisan legislation toshield from deportation thou-sands of young immigrantsbrought to the U.S. as youngchildren and living here ille-gally.

In a letter to Kirstjen Nielsen,the 20 lawmakers said sheagreed during her confirmation

``The Trump administrationhas laid out its priorities for re-sponsible immigration reform wehope Congress will adopt,'' Shahsaid.

The letter also seeks to pinNielsen down on other conten-tious immigration policy ques-tions. For example, they asked ifshe believes people from CentralAmerica living in the UnitedStates under temporary pro-tected status, or TPS, should besent back to their home coun-

tries.The Senate version of the

Dream Act is sponsored bySens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.,and Dick Durbin, D-Ill. There'san identical bill in the House.Durbin, the top Democrat onthe Senate's subcommittee onborder security and immigra-tion, signed the letter toNielsen. Nielsen is currentlythe deputy White House chiefof staff.

hearing earlier this month on theneed for legislation that wouldput so-called ``Dreamers'' on apath to U.S. citizenship. They wantto know if that means Nielsenwill openly urge Congress to passthe bipartisan Dream Act to``provide the solution that youhave recognized is needed.''

White House spokesman RajShah said Nielsen did not expresssupport for any specific legisla-tion during her confirmationhearing. Cont'd on page 47

Chicago renewslegal fund forimmigrants

CHICAGO: Chicago has re-newed a legal fund for immi-grants facing deportation.

Aldermen widely approved abudget for next year that includes$1.3 million for immigrant legalservices.

Chicago was among severalcities that boosted legal servicesfor immigrants as a response toDonald Trump's election to thepresidency and aggressive prom-ises to crack down on illegal im-migration.

Chicago first approved thefund last December.

The money was distributed toorganizations, including the Na-tional Immigrant Justice Center,which says the fund was used toprovide legal consultations toroughly 1,700 Chicagoans andlegal representation in 900 immi-gration cases.

Advocates say legal represen-tation is crucial because immi-grants aren't guaranteed a lawyerin immigration court.

There's been little opposition,but some have questioned theuse of taxpayer funds for such afund.-AP

School boardfaces heat onimmigrant policy

LOS ALAMOS, N.M.: The LosAlamos Public Schools board isfacing heat over a proposalaimed at protecting immigrantstudents amid fears of increasedfederal immigration enforce-ment.

The Los Alamos Monitor re-ports opponents of the measurespoke out last week and said thepolicy change would result inmore immigrants in the countryillegally coming to Los Alamosschools.

Los Alamos resident GregWhite told the board he had notheard of federal immigrationagents coming onto schoolgrounds and didn't see the pointof the policy.

Board member StephanBoerigter says the proposal was``political posturing.''

The proposed resolutioncalls for school employees notto keep any records showingthat information after admis-sion.-AP

India Post 45December 1, 2017 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

Lawsuit challenges Trump immigration changesFALLS CHURCH, Va.: Nurimaro

Park, 26, is one of about 800,000people who had benefited froman Obama-era program that ex-tended protections to immi-grants brought illegally to the U.S.as children.

While he knew the signifi-cance of the protection he re-ceived under the Deferred Ac-tion for Childhood Arrivals, hehad one problem: he didn't havethe money to pay the $495 regis-tration fee required to renew hisparticipation in the program fortwo more years.

Park worked as a private tutor,and money was tight in the latespring and summer monthswhen school was out. He figuredhe could re-enroll at the end ofthe year - the rules of the pro-gram allowed people to renewlapsed registrations as long as afull year hadn't passed.

In September, though, Attor-ney General Jeff Sessions an-nounced the Trump administra-tion is phasing out the program.Those who were enrolled in the

program would be eligible to filefor one last two-year extension iftheir registration was close to ex-piring.

But those like Park, whose reg-istration had lapsed, were barred

from renewing. `Ì had plannedto (renew) it but Trump did notgive me enough notice,'' Parksaid at a news conference.

Now Park and a 19-year-oldSalvadoran immigrant, Jonathan

Alvarenga Recinos, have filed alawsuit in federal court in Alex-andria seeking the right to applyfor one more two-year extensionunder the DACA program.

Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg

with the Falls Church-based Le-gal Aid Justice Center, which filedthe lawsuit on the men's behalf,said there have been several law-suits challenging the decision toend the DACA program, but this

is the first focused on the 50,000people whose registration hadlapsed but were still eligible torenew it.

``This is completely unfair,''Sandoval-Moshenberg said. ̀ `Thegovernment has to give peoplefair notice that they're going tochange the rules.''

Steve Blando, a spokesman forU.S. Citizenship and ImmigrationServices, which administers theDACA program, declined to com-ment on the lawsuit, but con-firmed the estimate that about50,000 of the 800,000 who hadever registered for DACA hadfailed to renew their status bythe time the Trump administra-tion announced plans to phaseout the program.

Sandoval-Moshenberg saidhe recognizes that the lawsuit, ifsuccessful, gives only a tempo-rary reprieve to those affectedbut he said an additional twoyears of protected status can beimportant for those who receiveit. They can earn money legally,possibly develop skills that

would allow them to stay on awork visa, or maybe find anotherway to stay, possibly throughmarriage.

Park, who came to the U.S.from South Korea when he was9, said northern Virginia is theonly place he knows at this point.He admitted that he was scaredthat filing a lawsuit and speakingout at a press conference mightput a target on his back for im-migration enforcement, but saidhe felt compelled to speak up.

`Ì'm tired of telling myself Ican't do what my peers aroundme are doing,'' he said. `Ì'mtired of postponing my right tothe pursuit of life, liberty and thepursuit of happiness.''

Congress has been consider-ing legislation that would putDACA protections in federal law,but Park said he's worried thatthe pace of progress is too slow.

`Ìf I get deported there's nocoming back,'' he said. ``(Mem-bers of Congress) don't feel theurgency that people in my posi-tion feel.'' -AP

Legal Air Justice Center director Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, left, joined byplaintiff Nurimaro Park, 26-year-old resident of Fairfax, Va., right, speaks

during a news conference at the Legal Aid Justice Center inFalls Church, Va

Iowa language program for immigrant parentsCASCADE, Iowa: When Maria

Landa immigrated to the U.S.from Mexico, it didn't take longfor the then-14-year-old to learnhow a lack of English can impacteven the simplest parts of life.

`Ì remember my father tookus to McDonald's, and he toldme I could order whatever Iwant but I had to order,'' Landasaid. ̀ `When I got my food, I saw

that there were no fries, and myfather said, `You'll do betternext time.'''

However, Landa's understand-ing of English barely developedin the ensuing years. Her need towork to help support her familyled her to drop out of school, andleave behind a chance to learnthe new language spoken bymany around her.

Now 31, Landa lives in Cas-

cade and works in Dyersville,and she still struggles with En-glish. It can make many dailytasks, like ordering food from arestaurant or communicatingwith her doctor, frustratinglydifficult.

It also started impacting howmuch she could help her twodaughters, Ruby, 4, and Perla,11.

`Ì want to be able to help mydaughters with their home-work,'' Landa said. ̀ Ìt's hard forme. My daughter wants me toread to her, but I don't knowhow.''

Landa always was interestedin taking English classes, but her12-hour work shifts and caringfor her children made it impos-sible for her to enroll.

Then, a new opportunity

emerged. She was approachedby one of her daughters' teach-ers, who offered her a chanceto enroll in free English and highschool classes on weeknights.

The classes would be heldfour nights per week, and childcare and food would be pro-vided. All she had to do wasshow up. Landa thought it wastoo good to be true.

She soon learned that it wasall real, and it was all thanks tothe community members ofCascade.

`Ì always thought that noneof our neighbors really caredabout us,'' Landa said. ̀ Ì cannotbelieve they want to help us. Iam very thankful.''

Landa is one of about 30adult community members whohave taken night classes at Cas-cade Elementary School sinceAugust, the Telegraph Herald re-ported.

Two nights per week, shelearns English. Another twonights a week, she takes high-school-equivalency classes. Be-fore every class, students andteachers gather for a free dinner

provided by Cascade residents.Most students bring their chil-

dren to the classes. The childrenare watched by volunteers, of-ten students from Cascade Jun-ior-Senior High School.

About 50 volunteers have as-sisted the program in some ca-pacity. Nearly the entire programis community run, with the ex-ception of the teachers, who arehired by the program's organiz-ers but are paid through dona-tions from local businesses.

The program was started by

three Cascade natives who, forseveral years, have wanted tohelp the city's Spanish-speakingpopulation.

The idea was hatched by Sa-rah Palmer, an English as a sec-ond language teacher at Cas-cade Elementary School, and KayHoffman, who teaches readingrecovery.

In the 10 years she has taughtin Cascade, Palmer said, she al-ways was looking for ways tohelp the parents of her stu-dents.-AP

`Ì always thought that none of our

neighbors really cared about us,'' Landa

said. `Ì cannot believe they want to help

us. I am very thankful.'' ��

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India Post46 December 1, 2017Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

Punjab plans NRI propertysafeguard law

ASHOK KAURA

PHAGWARA, Punjab: ThePunjab Government has draftedan "NRI Property Safeguards Act"for the speedy eviction of NRIproperty from tenants/ en-croachments. This was an-nounced by Principal Secre-tary NRI Affairs Punjab SuchaRam Ladhar while talking toselect reporters after a longmeeting with NRIs belongingto Doaba at Phagwara.

Ladhar said that the com-plete draft has been submit-ted to Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh. The billwould be approved first bythe Cabinet and then it wouldbe presented in the VidhanSabha. The process could takethree months.

Ladhar said the State govern-ment has initiated the process toreplace the NRI Commission withan "Ombudsman" to revamp thegrievance redressal system. The

Ombudsman may also be headedby a retired High Court judge justas the five-year-old commission

was.To give more teeth to the "Om-

budsman", various departmentswith whom the NRIs have to dealwould be brought under oneroof, said Ladhar. He inspired theNRIs to contribute in the devel-opment of the state and theirmotherland.

He suggested that Interna-tional level sports could be en-couraged to connect the newgeneration with their roots. Headmitted that NRIs wanted goodinfrastructure to invest in Punjaband assured them that the StateGovernment is working activelyto attract NRIs who are feelingupset due to undue harassmentduring official and non officialwork.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh

Immigration rush: ex-CAPFmen to be recruited

NEW DELHI: In a first, theCentre has decided to hire 550ex-paramilitary personnel tobolster manpower of short-staffed immigration countersat airports, including the IndiraGandhi International (IGI) Air-port here.

The Intelligence Bureau (IB)has written to various CentralArmed Police Forces (CAPFs),

seeking nomination of their re-cently retired officials in the rankof sub-inspector.

Officials privy to the movesaid the aim of the first-of-its-kind move is to boost thestrength of Bureau of Immigra-tion (BoI) as passenger trafficsees a rise every day at inter-national airports. Passengershave to stand in long queuesfor obtaining immigrationclearance, especially at IGI, oneof the most busy airports.

Ten new immigration counters

were recently made operational inthe departure area of the IGI air-port after passengers complainedof arduous queues. The home min-istry subsequently had to make anintervention in the matter.

The IB has sought hiring of550 ex-CAPF personnel whohave served in forces like theCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF), Border Security Force

(BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP), Central Industrial SecurityForce (CISF) and the SashastraSeema Bal (SSB) to "assist inclearance of passengers" alongwith the BOI staffers.

A good knowledge of the En-glish language and basic com-puter operations has beenmade an essential criteria for therecruitment, the officials said.

The ex-SIs of these forceswill be hired on a three-yearcontract basis and will be paida remuneration of Rs 36,000

per month."These personnel, to be hired

early next year, will be primarilyposted at the IGI airport. However,their services will be utilized atother international airports too inthe future," a senior officer said.

There has been a 30 per centincrease in international passen-gers at the IGI airport in the lasttwo years, which has led to ser-pentine queues at immigrationdesks, officials had earlier said.

The grant of e-visas to citizensof over 160 countries in the recentpast has also led to the arrival of alarge number of tourists to Delhiand other Indian cities, they said.

P S Nair, general secretary ofthe All-India Paramilitary ForcesEx-servicemen Welfare Associa-tion, said it was a "positive move"in ensuring proper rehabilitationof ex-CAPF personnel and willhelp the government get trainedand quality manpower for impor-tant security-related tasks.

"This is the first time the gov-ernment has sought recruit-ment of ex-paramilitary per-sonnel. Such a post-service of-fer was always available to de-fense personnel, but for us, thisis the beginning," he said.-PTI

Cross-border wedding atCalifornia's 'Door of Hope'SAN DIEGO: A United States

man and a Mexican woman havewed between the doors of asteel border gate that is openedfor only an hour or so every year.

The wedding on Nov 23 atBorder Field State Park in San Di-ego was a first for an opening ofthe gate known as the Door ofHope.

Evelia Reyes, wearing a whitewedding dress with train and veil,

embraced Brian Houston of SanDiego after signing documentsthat made them husband andwife.

``It's a statement that love hasno borders,'' Houston told the SanDiego Union-Tribune. ``Eventhough we are divided by a giantfence here, we can still love eachother on both sides of the fence.''

Houston, a U.S. citizen, said hecouldn't go into Tijuana for rea-sons he declined to explain butspoke daily with his bride. Thecouple has an attorney who is try-ing to obtain a green card for

Reyes to join Houston in the U.S.,Houston said, although that couldtake more than a year.

Border Patrol agents openedthe gate in the border wall atnoon for an hour, allowing wait-ing family members from the U.S.to walk partly through and meetand embrace relatives in Mexicofor a scant three minutes eachbefore tearfully saying goodbye.

It was the sixth time that thegate has openedsince 2013, allowingpeople from the U.S.and Mexico who can-not legally cross theborder to visit withoutfear of deportation. Atother times, familiescan talk but not touchthrough the steelfencing.

To arrange thewedding, the coupleworked with EnriqueMorones, executivedirector of the BorderAngels group that or-

ganizes the gate openings.The group takes meeting re-

quests from families and for-wards the names to the StateDepartment, which conductschecks and makes the final deci-sion on who will be allowed tobriefly reunite, Morones said.

The gate opening took placeabout 15 miles west of wherethe eight prototypes for Presi-dent Donald Trump's wall havebeen built.

``While some people want tobuild walls, we want to opendoors,'' Morones said.-AP

Minister urges India, Pakto ease visa norms

FATEHGARH SAHIB, Punjab:Punjab's Rural Development andPanchayat Minister Tript RajinderSingh Bajwa has urged India andPakistan to ease visa norms to fa-cilitate the travel of people oneither side of the border.

Bajwa said the language, lit-erature and culture in the twocountries were similar and withco-operation of the two peoples,tension on the borders will re-duce.

He was speaking after inter-

acting with Pakistani pilgrimswho have come to India to par-ticipate in Rouza Sharif's Urs inAam Khas Bagh in Sirhind(Fatehgarh Sahib).

Bajwa, who was born in KotliBajwa village in Sialkot districtof Pakistan, said the people oneither side of the border shouldbe able to visit the other easily,without any trouble, and urgedthe governments in India andPakistan to ease the visanorms.-PTI

Brian Houston, of Rancho San Diego, centerleft, and Evelia Reyes, right, of Tijuana, Mexico,

look at each other in their wedding at the“Door of Hope”

The grant of e-visas to citizens of over 160

countries in the recent past has also led to the

arrival of a large number of tourists to Delhi and

other Indian cities, they said

India Post 47December 1, 2017 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

A Senate panel backed hernomination earlier this week,referring it to the full Senatefor a confirmation vote.

The senators said there isprecedent for the HomelandSecurity secretary to publiclyback legislation. Elaine Duke,the department's acting secre-tary, threw her support behinda bill sponsored by RepublicanSens. David Purdue of Georgiaand Tom Cotton of Arkansas torestrict and reshape legal im-migration, according to the let-ter from the Democrats.

Former President BarackObama established the De-

Democrats quiz Homeland Security pick

Crack down on fraudulent travel agentsCHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief

Minister Amarinder Singh has or-dered a blueprint to be preparedfor opening of foreign employ-ment bureaus in areas in thestate from where the maximumnumber of people were found tobe migrating to the UK.

He said this was being done tocrack down on fraudulent travelagents.

The bureaus would be taskedwith creating awareness amongthe people about the opportuni-ties available in various countriesbased on their educational quali-fications, he said.

They would also apprise thepeople of ways and means to

upgrade their skills to facilitatetheir legal migration into the UK,Amarinder said.

The chief minister's directivecame during a meeting with An-drew Ayre, British Deputy HighCommissioner, and Sharan

Ghuman, National CommunityEngagement Lead India, Immi-gration Enforcement Depart-ment in the UK Home Office, an

official release said.The delegation had called

upon the chief minister to dis-cuss the problem of illegal immi-grants from Punjab in the UK, itsaid.

When people are made aware

about the consequences of ille-gal immigration, they would getdiscouraged from taking the ille-gal route to shift to the UK and

other countries, Amarinder said.Responding to concerns ex-

pressed by the delegation on theplight of such immigrants, espe-cially women abandoned by theirhusbands or being exploited inthe UK, the chief minister assuredhis government's full support tosuch women to facilitate their re-turn home.

Such women were free tocome back to Punjab and his gov-ernment had not imposed any re-strictions on their return, headded.

Amarinder appreciated the ef-forts being made by the UKFriends of Unique Home, sup-ported by the British High Com-

mission, to send such womenand other illegal immigrants, par-ticularly homeless elderly people,back to Punjab with full respect.

Sharan told the chief ministerthat there were many suchpeople wanting to come backbut did not return out of fear.

She also urged the Punjabgovernment to start some orien-tation and skill training programsfor those seeking to immigrate,to enable them to get gainfulemployment in the UK.

Ayre stressed the need to em-power the people with the nec-essary skills for taking up oppor-tunities to work legally in theUK.-PTI

The bureaus would be tasked with creatingawareness among the people about the op-

portunities available in various countries basedon their educational qualifications

Kirstjen Nielsen is sworn in at a hearing on hernomination to be Department of Homeland

Security Secretary, by the Senate HomelandSecurity and Governmental Affairs committee,

on Capitol Hill in Washington

Suu Kyi blames conflicts onillegal immigration

NAYPYITAW: Myanmar leaderAung San Suu Kyi has said that theworld is facing instability andconflict in part because illegalimmigration spreads terrorism, asher country faces accusations ofviolently pushing out hundreds ofthousands of unwanted RohingyaMuslims.

Suu Kyi did not directly men-tion the refugee exodus in aspeech to European and Asianforeign ministers in Myanmar'scapital, Naypyitaw.

But her speech highlightedthe views of many in the countrywho see the Rohingya as illegalimmigrants and accuse them ofterrorist acts.

Suu Kyi said the world is in anew period of instability as con-flicts around the world give rise tonew threats and emergencies, cit-ing "Illegal immigration's spreadof terrorism and violent extrem-ism, social disharmony and eventhe threat of nuclear war.

Conflicts take away peace

from societies, leaving behindunderdevelopment and poverty,pushing peoples and even coun-tries away from one another."

Myanmar has been widelycriticized for the military crack-down that has driven more than620,000 Rohingya to fleeRakhine state into neighboringBangladesh.

The United Nations has saidthe crackdown appears to be acampaign of "ethnic cleansing,"and some have called for re- im-

posing international sanctionsthat were lifted as Myanmartransitioned from military rule toelected government.

Foreign ministers and repre-sentatives of 51 countries are

meeting in Naypyitaw in a forumthat aims to further political andeconomic cooperation buttakes place against the backdropof the ongoing Rohingya refu-gee crisis. -AP

Myanmar Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, right, speaks during the AsiaEurope Foreign Ministers (ASEM) meeting at Myanmar International

Convention Centre in Naypyitaw, Myanmar.

Cont'd from Page 44 ferred Action forChildhood Arrivalsprogram in 2012 togive a reprieve fromdeportation topeople in the countryillegally who canprove they arrivedbefore they were 16,have been in the U.S.for several years andhave not committed acrime since arriving.The DACA programalso allows them towork legally.

Trump announcedin September hewould phase out theprogram, which many

Republicans denounced as anunconstitutional overreach byObama. But Trump said thosewhose authorizations were setto expire within six monthscould apply for renewals aslong as they did so by Oct. 5.Trump also gave Congress sixmonths to come up with a leg-islative fix before recipients be-gan to lose their status.

The Senate Democrats saidOct. 5 was an ``arbitrary andshort'' deadline for DACA recipi-ents to renew their applicationsand many missed it. Nonetheless,U.S. Citizenship and ImmigrationServices rejected applicationsthat arrived late even thoughmail delivery delays were the

main cause. They said Duke over-ruled the decision by Citizenshipand Immigration Services andasked Nielsen is she agreed withthe acting secretary's call.

``If confirmed, will you com-mit to ensuring that the ActingSecretary's decision is fairlyimplemented and does not dis-qualify applications mailed witha reasonable expectation of ar-rival at the agency by October5?'' the letter to Nielsen said.

The Democrats also wantNielsen to say if she would assurethem that no person would losetheir Deferred Action for ChildhoodArrivals program status before it ex-pires unless that person violated theterms of the program.-AP

India Post December 1, 2017www.indiapost.comHoroscope48

Kindly read the predictions from your ascendant sign. If you do not know your ascendant sign then read the same from Moon sign. IfMoon sign is also not known then read it from the Zodiac sign. The ascendant sign which is calculated from the birth details viz. date,

month, year, time & place of birth gives 85 % accurate predictions. The accuracy of predictions from Moon sign get limited to only 50 %.The predictions from Zodiac sign are only 25 % accurate. In nutshell the predictions from ascendant sign are most accurate. In getting

personality analysis the traits given by ascendant sign are 100 % accurate and that is the essence of Vedic Astrology.

VANEET SHARMA • 510-648-4899

Your Weekly FutureDECEMBER 1ST - DECEMBER 7TH 2017by VANEET SHARMA

MAR 21 to APRIL 20

Planetary transit in

dicates slow

beginning and low

energy levels how-

ever the remaining

part of the week shall be excellent for

all areas especially for work and consoli-

dating the amount of gains by the end

of it. Your performance at work area shall

get enhanced suddenly but there can be

some tensions also in the back of your

mind.

JUN 21 to JULY 22

The first half of the

week is not

good for your health

and happiness. Some

financial issues might

also crop up suddenly. You might lose

your confidence and therefore your per-

formance in competitive examination

shall be average. Although the support

of seniors shall be available but lack of

focus might not let you perform reason-

ably. The latter half of the week is indi-

cating bigger support of seniors.

SEP 23 to OCT 22

The first of the week

shall be better

than the second half.

The starting of the

week is bringing the

support of destiny for doing better onprofessional front followed by substan-tial gains but because of less focus andlack of resistance it shall not be easy toearn desired gains from developments.In the second half of the week somegood opportunity might get swayedaway between your passion, imagina-tion and health issues.

DEC 22 to JAN 19

MAY 21 to JUN 20

This shall be a won

derful week for all

areas of life. The start-

ing of the week indi-

cates good news for

you from your kith and kin and you shall

be participating in social activities ac-

tively. The mid of the week is auspicious

for domestic happiness. In the latter half

of the week you shall be getting good

results in matters related to education,

love life, marital bliss, children & devel-

opment of destiny.

AUG 23 to SEP 22

This shall be a fulfill

ing week on all

fronts. The beginning

of the week indicates

achievement on pro-

fessional front and eventually you shall

earn benefits thereby consolidating your

source of income and establishing repu-

tation as a skilled full time public speaker

or an image builder. You can expect to

win public support for the kind of job

you are into. The journeys shall prove

surprisingly beneficial in this week.

NOV 23 to DEC 22

This week shall be

full of happi-

ness, travel, journeys &

pleasure. Although

you might not give

enough time for family but everybody shall

be ready to support you and apart from

that you shall be earning from your skills

giving great ideas to friends around you.

In the mid of the week you shall find your-

self gaining focus in your work. You shall

be paying due attention to your health too.

FEB 19 to MARCH 20

APRIL 21 to MAY 20

The state of mind

might remain

disturbed in the be-

ginning of the week

however from second

day you shall regain your energies, health

and confidence. This week is excellent

for doing better than your adversaries.

In the latter half of the week you shall

be multiplying your social activities with

the support of your family members. This

time can be utilized to increase person-

nel and social influence.

JULY 23 to AUG 22

In the beginning of the

week you shall be en-

joying good luck result-

ing from a beneficial

journey or with the sup-

port of father/mentor. This shall be a shin-

ing week for your work area. Apart from

progress, recognition and excellent per-

formance you can also expect substan-

tial gains after the mid of this week. Your

image in society shall also be fine and

you are likely to take some beneficial

bold decisions.

OCT 23 to NOV 22

In the beginning of

the week you

shall enjoy compatibil-

ity with your partner/

spouse. The conjugal

bliss shall also be fulfilling and quite sat-

isfactory in the first part of the week and

you would be earning sudden financial

gains too. Health conditions shall remain

average. The latter part of the week in-

dicates that you would be making some

new plans for the expansion of your

work.

JAN 20 to FEB 18

This week is excel

lent for marital

bliss, the support of

spouse and business

tours. You shall be tak-

ing interest in occult. Professionally your

research work shall help you do better

than others. In the first half of the week

you shall also attain the blessings of some

spiritual practitioners who shall teach

you the most effective methods of medi-

tation.

The planetary tran

sit indicates

excellent beginning of

the week with im-provement in health,

immunity, domestic happiness and con-fidence. You shall work sincerely for yourpersonality development. You wouldenjoy good time with family and friendsin spite of your busy schedule. Reputa-tion in society shall get enhanced. Thelast two days of the week are not goodenough for your general happiness anddomestic atmosphere.

Your difficulties

shall be very less

in this week as youshall be getting goodresults like the associa-

tion with some influential people, maritalbliss and attainment of stability and secu-rity on financial and professional front. Inthe mid of the week there might remainsome tensions related to health, childrenand relationship however by the end ofthe week there shall be a big relief in termsof attainment of peace.

www. ind iapost .com

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CALL:

Ramayana teaches how toact amidst a storm

December 1, 2017

Page Sponsored by Sahaniswww.indiapost.comPhilosophy

DR ANNIE BESANT

Among the pricelessteachings that may befound in the great

Hindu poem of theMahabharata, there is none sorare and precious as this "TheLord's Song." Since it fell fromthe divine lips of Sri Krishna onthe field of battle, and stilled thesurging emotions of the discipleand friend, how many troubledhearts has it quietened andstrengthened, how many wearysouls has it led to Him!

It is meant to lift the aspirantfrom the lower levels of renuncia-tion, where objects are re-nounced, to the loftier heightswhere desires are dead, andwhere the Yogi dwells in calmand ceaseless contemplationwhile his body and mind are ac-tively employed in dischargingthe duties that fall to his lot in life.That the spiritual man need notbe a recluse, that union with di-vine life may be achieved andmaintained in the midst ofworldly affairs, that the obstaclesto that union lie, not outside us,but within us, such is the centrallesson of the Bhagavad Gita.

It is a scripture of Yoga; nowYoga is literally union; and it

SWAMI SWAROOPANANDA

The beautiful Indian epicThe Ramayana is repletewith illustrations of how

one can act amidst a storm. Underthe rule of King Dasharatha, thecity of Ayodhya - which literallytranslates as the land of 'no con-flict'- was the perfect place to live.

It represents those momentsin our lives when everything isso promising, so wonderful, wewish it would last forever. Butbefore we know it, all havocbreaks loose, and we find our-selves in the midst of a majorupheaval again.

Such was the crisis that befellAyodhya. The most momentousday in the city's history wasabout to dawn. The people'sprince, Rama, heir to Dasharatha,was to be crowned king. The fu-ture had never looked brighter.The citizens of Ayodhya weredelirious with excitement. Then,in the space of one night, every-thing was turned upside downand the whole of Ayodhya wascast into uncertainty.

King Dasharatha, bound by acommitment to one of his queens,Kaikeyi, became utterly ineffec-

Gita teaches union withdivine amidst turmoil

It is meant to lift the aspirant from thelower levels of renunciation, where objects

are renounced, to the loftier heightswhere desires are dead

means harmony with the Divinelaw, the becoming one with theDivine life, by the subdual of alloutward-going energies. Toreach this, balance must begained, as also equilibrium, sothat self, joined to the Self, shallnot be affected by pleasure orpain, desire or aversion, or any ofthe "pairs of opposites" betweenwhich untrained selves swingbackwards and forwards.

Moderation is therefore thekey-note of the Gita and the har-monizing of all the constituents ofman, till they vibrate in perfectattunement with the One, the Su-preme Self. This is the aim the dis-ciple is to set before him. He mustlearn not to be attracted by theattractive nor repelled by the re-pellant, but must see both asmanifestations of the Lord, so that

they may be lessons for his guid-ance, not fetters for his bondage.

In the midst of turmoil, hemust rest in the Lord of Peace,discharging every duty to thefullest, not because he seeks theresults of his actions, but becauseit is his duty to perform them. Hisheart is an altar, love to his Lord,the flame burning upon it, all hisacts, physical and mental, aresacrifices offered on the altar,

and once offered, he has withthem no further concern.

As though to make the lessonmore impressive, it was given on afield of battle. Arjuna, the warrior-prince, was to vindicate hisbrother's title, to destroy anusurper who was oppressing theland; it was his duty as prince, aswarrior, to fight for the deliveranceof his nation and to restore order

and peace. To make the contestmore bitter, loved comrades andfriends stood on both sides, wring-ing his heart with personal an-guish, and making the conflict ofduties as well as physical strife.

Could he slay those to whomhe owed love and duty, andtrample on ties of kindred? Tobreak family ties was a sin; toleave the people in cruel bond-age was a sin; where was the

right way? Justice must be done,else law would be disregarded;but how slay without sin? The an-swer is the burden of the book.

Gita Jayanti was observed onNov 30. Annie Besant, née Wood(1 October 1847 - 20 September1933) was a British socialist, the-osophist, women's rights activist,writer and orator and supporterof Irish and Indian self-rule.

tual. Rama had to go into exile forfourteen years, relinquishing thethrone in favor of Kaikeyi's sonBharat. While Rama's wife Sita andhis brother Lakshman took it uponthemselves to go with him, thecity's people, aghast at theirking's indiscretion, became totallydisillusioned.

Dasharatha, the pride of theSolar dynasty, was defeated and

distraught. Conflict abounded.Should the citizens maintain alle-giance to King Dasharatha orrally around his son Rama?Should the younger princeBharat be made sovereign? IfBharat ascends the throne with-out the people's mandate, wouldhe still be a legitimate ruler?

Rama, Sita and Lakshman, whohad always enjoyed the security

and comforts of a privileged ex-istence, now faced fourteen longyears of exile and hermitic wan-dering in the forest.

Beset by such difficulties theyupheld their core values and swornduty. Not once did they falter intheir commitment to do what wasright. They continued to shine asportraits of human excellence de-spite their harsh conditions.

We cannot always control orpredict how things unravel orgrow in a given situation. Yet, onething is for certain: we are madestronger, larger and temperedwhen adversity strikes - if wechoose to become so. Had Ramaand Sita remained in Ayodhya, wemay never have seen the faithful-ness, resilience and compassionthat Sita demonstrated in the

events following her abductionby the despotic king Ravana.

We might also never haveglimpsed the prowess and wis-dom of Rama as he stood up toRavana, the remarkable decencyand brotherly devotion of Bharat,the all-round competencies ofHanuman and the unflinchingdedication to duty of Lakshman.The potential for greatness

which lay in all of these playersmay not have surfaced were itnot for the stormy experiencesthey had to go through.

None of us are spared the stormsof life. But if we choose, our stormscan strengthen our character andbring out the greatness in us.

Swami Swaroopananda is theHead of Chinmaya Mission World-wide.

India Post52

Ramayan

Bhagavad Gita

Had Rama and Sita remained in Ayodhya,we may never have seen the faithfulness,

resilience and compassion that Sita demon-strated in the events following her abduction

The only way to make sense

out of change is to plunge into

it, move with it, and join the

dance.

-Alan Watts

He who knows both the tran-

scendent and the immanent,

with the immanent over-

comes death, and with the

transcendent reaches im-

mortality.

-Chandogya Upanishad

As an eagle, weary after

soaring in the sky, folds its

wings and flies down to rest

in its nest, so does the shin-

ing Self enter the state of

dreamless sleep, where one

is freed from all desires.

-Brihadaranyaka

Upanishad

As pure water poured into

pure water becomes the very

same, so does the Self of the

illumined man or woman ver-

ily become one with the

Godhead.

- Katha Upanishad

Your worst enemy cannot

harm you as much as your

own thoughts, unguarded.

But once mastered, no one

can help you as much, not

even your father or your

mother.

-Buddha

53Edit Pagewww.indiapost.com

December 1, 2017 India Post

The questionable economics ofcommitting billions of dollars into the world's

most impoverished and unstable regions hardlyinstills confidence in the program

The 'Establishment'The euphemism for the Army in Pakistan is the 'Establish-

ment.' For fear of offending it nobody says the Army isbehind the crazy political events. Even the boldest of criticsattribute developments to the 'Establishment'. Army Chiefscome and go, but the writ of the 'Establishment' remains. TheArmy no longer directly takes over civilian power as it usedto before - Army dictators running the country. But it contin-ues to wield power behind the scenes.

There has been a running tussle between former PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif and the Generals. Sharif used to taketime to decide whom to name successor of a retiring ArmyChief, thinking perhaps that the new incumbent will be per-suaded to follow his policies of peace with India and elimina-tion of the militants as proxies.

Had Sharif continued in his post and won the coming elec-tion in 2018, he would certainly have the upper hand overthe Army. Fearing such a scenario, the 'Establishment' con-spired to have him ousted before the elections. And whatbetter way than to get it done through the courts!

Corruption is not something new in Pakistan. It is ok if itscolor is acceptable to the 'Establishment.' Benazir Bhutto'shusband Asif Ali Zardari spent several years in jail for thiscrime. But he came out unscathed and went on to becomethe President of Pakistan because he did not finger the Army.Sharif on the other hand has had a history of taking on theArmy. His first brush was with General Pervez Musharrafwhom he dismissed but was in turn ousted by the Army andMusharraf grabbed his chair sending him into exile.

Sharif came back in power through an election and occa-sionally would plan clipping the wings of the Army. It wasbecoming difficult to implement policies in favor of the na-tion, like trading with India, and stopping all cross-border ter-rorism. Having him out of the way, the 'Establishment' nowhopes to put someone in power who is weak and can be ma-nipulated. Already the successor of Sharif, Shahid KhaqanAbbasi, finds himself too weak to question the 'Establish-ment.' Two recent events highlight this fact.

First, the release from house arrest of the mastermind ofMumbai attack Hafiz Saeed and the second was Law MinisterZahid Hamid being forced to quit for overseeing the changein the parliamentary oath which says that Muhammad is thefinal Prophet. Thousands of religious hardliners from theTehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah Party (TLYRA) had broughtIslamabad-Rawalpindi to a standstill as they protested theamendment.

Despite orders from the civilian government to the armyto help restore order, no military troops were at the scene.When the government requested the Army to bring back thepeace, the army chief said it would not be a good idea to fireon "their own people." This raises suspicions of the Army be-ing behind the drama.

Noted Pakistani columnist Ayesha Siddiqa says the Armyneeds the services of the powerful orator Hafez Saeed tocounter the PML-N headed by Nawaz Sharif. "His ability toaddress audiences will prove to be an effective tool in slicingaway public support for Nawaz Sharif. Given theestablishment's focus on tactics rather than strategy, it makesperfect sense for it to focus mainly on getting rid of NawazSharif through planting Tehreek-e-Labaik or Saeed and hisMML to disturb the country's political future."

Many challenges in restoringgrandeur of Silk Route

VICE ADMIRAL (RETD) VIJAY SHANKAR

When Chairman Xi de-clared at the opening of the 19th Con-

gress of the Communist Partyof China, "It is time for us totake centre stage in theworld," he may have drawn thisdeduction from two perceivedshifts in the global strategicenvironment.

Firstly, the sensed flaggingof US interests in global pactsemblematized by the "AmericaFirst" agenda that most re-sembled an impending aban-donment of regional partner-ships that did not recognize USpre-eminence; and secondly,apparent US distraction in pro-viding decisive security lead-ership in the troubled parts ofthe world. Of course, the issueof whether any grouping ofmajor countries wanted Xi'sleadership never entered thedebate.

China in recent years has

become a major funder of in-frastructure in the developingworld. Its arrival has chal-lenged existing institutionallenders, particularly when Xi in2013, announced a scheme toresurrect the medieval SilkRoad through a vast network ofroads, pipelines, ports and rail-ways that connected China withEurope via Central Asia, WestAsia and ports in South Asia andEast Africa. China intends toprovide proprietary financialsupport to the project.

The innards of the Belt andRoad Initiative (BRI) are drivenby 'over the line' issues such asclient-government superinten-dence and financing on a scalenot seen before or, remarkably,with such indistinct terms. Es-sentially, the scheme's purposeis strategic influence of globalconnectivity; while at the sametime, deploying close to 30 percent of China's substantial dol-lar reserves (over US$ 3 trillion)that has hitherto held low

yielding US debt, on more stra-tegically beneficial ventures.

Yet, restoring the lost gran-deur of the Silk Route has manyother challenges that may notbe overcome by Xi's 'fiat.' Be-ginning with internal corrup-tion, since the entire programis to be funded largely bystate-owned banks.

In the instance, as a wit putit, "then, how does a barber cuthis own hair?" The matter of anopaque dispensation attempt-ing to break from its politicalroots to gain a mandate of thepeople must add to planners'discomfort.

The questionable econom-ics of committing billions ofdollars into the world's mostimpoverished and unstable re-gions hardly instills confidencein the program. Already fallingprices of primary products andunhinged host politics haveundermined some of the 900

constituent projects. Com-pounding matters is the cost offreightage by rail, which is asmuch as four to five times thatof cargo movement by sea. Be-sides, the current state of theenterprise is unidirectional asrakes return largely empty onthe east-bound leg.

CHINESE IDEOLOGYChinese ideology is hardly

welcome in the region. The re-cent use of trade as a tool ofpunishment, specifically in thecase of Philippines from wherebanana imports were cut,while rare earth exports to Ja-pan were curbed, tariff barri-ers raised unilaterally, and thegeneral economic retaliationon South Korea, does not in anyway serve the ends of freetrade-flow or economic inclu-siveness.

In response, for Xi to turn toan even more assertive mili-tary-led foreign policy, bringsto the fore the probability of

conflict; specifically, on the Ko-rean Peninsula, where China'srole as agent provocateur isbecoming more and more un-deniable.

If the generalized theory ofwar suggests causes of armedconflict as introduction ofweapons of mass destruction,a revisionist agenda stimu-lated by significant change inthe balance of power, andlastly, a contrarian and oftendisrupted structure of order;then these are all eminentlyresident in the region.

Yet global remediesadapted to date have neithergenerated a consensual courseof action nor has the status quobeen emphasized. In the on-going brinkmanship polity onthe Korean Peninsula, the an-tagonists have predictablyprovided partisan military sup-port and embraced a skewedone-sided stoppage of finan-cial and economic flows thatfuel the causes of conflict (be-ing the main donor to NorthKorea, Chinese leadership seesno reason to check continu-ance).

Similarly, dialogue has fo-cused on little else than a dual-stance posture: delivery ofmilitary threats and a litany ofin-executable demands.

The littorals of the West Pa-cific have, in the meantime, re-discovered the Trans-PacificPartnership (TPP) sans the US;while on the security front thequadruple entente (an initia-tive involving Australia, India,Japan, and the US) is averredfor revival.

These undercurrents sug-gest not just a hesitancy to en-dorse a China-led order, butalso a push back on belt-and-road craft as well as Chineseblue-water ambitions.

In truth, much would de-pend upon the will to order,the universal repugnance toleaving centre stage unten-anted, or the unlikely event ofChina's amenability to sharingthe stage.

The writer is former Com-mander-in-Chief, StrategicForces Command of India.Courtesy IPCS

CHICAGOUpcoming

ATLANTAUpcoming

Sun, Dec 10• Vivah: Hindu Singles MeetingVenue: Holiday Inn Roswell, 909Holcomb Bridge Road, Roswell, GA30076Time: 01:30 pm

Sat, Dec 30• New Year EventEnglishRing In The New Year 2018Venue: The Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta, 181Peachtree Street Northeast, Atlanta,GA 30303Time: 10:00 am

1st and 3rd Sunday of Month• Chicago Children'sBal MukundCharacter Building Programand Hindi Literacy ClassesVenue: Vogelei Center, 650 W. HigginsRoad, Hoffmann Estates, IL 60192 (Next toNissan Dealership)Contact: Ajay & Arti Chandhok @630-561-4807

Mondays and Fridays• Free ESL - English as SecondLanguage ClassesMetropolitan Asian Family ServicesVenue: 9015 N Milwaukee Ave, Niles, IL,Time: 10:30am to 12:30pmContact: 773-465-3105

Mondays and Fridays• Free ESL - English as SecondLanguage ClassesWhere: Metropolitan Asian FamilyServicesVenue: 9015 N Milwaukee Ave, Niles, IL,Time: 10:30am to 12:30pmContact: 773-465-3105

Swami Ishatmananda• Bhagavad Gita: Philosophyof lifeVenue: Public Library-95th Street 3015Cedar Glade Rd Naperville IL 60564Time: 1st friday of every month 7-8 pmContact: 630-637-0662• India Eternal: From theVedic Age to the PresentVenue: Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago10915 N. Main Street Glendale Heights,IL 60139Time: 10:00 pmContact: 630-655-8822

ILLINOISUpcoming

NEW JERSEYUpcoming

NEW YORKUpcoming

Dun, Dec 10• SHAKTI - the female principleof divine energyVenue: Dixon Place Theater, 161

Chrystie St, New York, NY

Time : 06:30 pm

Tue, Dec 19• NY's Largest Tech EntrepreneurHoliday Networking PartyVenue: Le Grande, 224 West 49th St

2nd Floor, New York, NY 10019

Time : 06:00 pm

Sun, Dec 10• LUXURY BRIDAL SHOW - ShaadiTrendVenue: HILTON, 2 Meadowlands Plaza,East Rutherford, NJTime: 11:00 am

Sun, Dec 31• Family New Year EveParty 2018)Venue: Royal Alberts Palace, 1050 KingGeorges Post Road, Edison, NJ 08863Time: 07:00 pm

Fri, Dec 08• ComedyHindiUrduEnglishChalo Haso Comedy ShowcaseVenue: Seven Bar and Restaurant, 400East Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60601Time: 08:00 pm

Sun, Dec 31• Countdown to 2018 - “A Night ofSheer Elegance”Venue: Elements Conference Center,16235 South La Grange Road, OrlandPark, IL 60467Time: 07:30 pm

www.indiapost.com

December 1, 2017India Post Datebook54

NORTHERN CALIFORNIAUpcoming

Fri, Dec 01• "Fall in love in fall" -Karaoke nightVenue: India Community Center, 525Los Coches Street, Milpitas, CATime: 07:00 pm

Sat, Dec 02• Festival of South Asian Children'sContent - 2017Venue: India Community Center, 525Los Coches St, Milpitas, CATime: 10:00 am

Sat, Dec 02• Bollywood WinterWonderland-Bollywood DanceParty in SF!Venue: The Cosmo Bar & Lounge,440 Broadway, San Francisco, CATime: 10:00 pm

Sun, Dec 31• Speakeasy New Years EveCruise 2018Venue: Fume Blanc Commodore, 8The Embarcadero, San Francisco,CA 94111Time: 07:30 pm

Sun, Dec 31• New Year’s Eve 2018 – Let’sGroove Tonight!Venue: Portola Hotel & Spa, 2 PortolaPlaza, Monterey, CA 93940Time: 07:00 pm

WASHINGTON DCUpcoming

Sun, Dec 31• New Year's Eve Party 2018 EastMeets WestVenue: Sheraton Reston Hotel, Sun-rise Valley Dr, Reston, VA 20191Time: 09:00 pm

Sat, Jan 20• 3rd Annual Veterans Awards(VETTYS) hosted by Jake TapperVenue: The Mayflower Hotel, 1127Connecticut Avenue Northwest D.C.,Washington, DC 20036Time: 07:00 pm


December 1, 2017


December 1, 201756

NEW YORK • WASHINGTON D.C. • CHICAGO • … Ashok Kaura Correspondent The Weekly Newspaper...

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