AV 30th January 2021

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30 Jan - 5 Feb 2021

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FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE Sotheby’s to auction Mountbatten’s Indian heirlooms

Indian Americans hail Biden-Harris administration’s Day 1 focus

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Women were hit harder by the coronavirus pandemic

Farmers' tractor rally turns violent; protestors hoist flags at Red Fort

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Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

30 JANUARY - 5 FEBRUARY 2021 - VOL 49 ISSUE 38

RACISM THE DEADLIEST VIRUS Overseas medics are allegedly denied vaccinations, urged to show their passports and intimidated about their cultural backgrounds

inside: India’s place in the world is understood by all - Lord Ahmad SEE PAGE - 8

At 18 million, India has the largest diaspora in the world: UN SEE PAGE - 20

India displays its military might at Rajpath

Priyanka Mehta

British Asian celebrities released a video urging ethnic minorities to take up the Covid-19 vaccine as the BMA headquarters in Tavistock mourned the 100,000 lives lost during the pandemic. Their efforts of creating awareness about the significance of vaccination among the black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities appear after the government’s failure in dispelling rampant misinformation around the ingredients of the vaccine. But BAME doctors, particularly the immigrant staff in the NHS, are once again left to fend for themselves.

Continued on page 6

India showcased its military hardware and cultural diversity on Tuesday during the annual Republic Day parade, which saw many firsts as the country's grandest ceremonial event was curtailed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Republic Day parade was shorter, involved fewer participants and only a fourth of the usual number of spectators were allowed at Rajpath as the government followed strict social distancing protocols. Not more than 25,000 spectators were allowed at Rajpath this year, compared to over 100,000 people who usually turn up for the parade, and children below the age of 15 were not permitted at the parade. The size of the marching contingents from the armed forces and the paramilitary were also smaller. The shortened route of the parade ended at the National Stadium instead of the Red Fort.

Continued on page 23

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with Keith Vaz

Rohan Kangale Rohan Kangale is a middle child of a very close-knit family. His eldest sister is his close confident, who graduated from LSE with first class honours and who is now a banker. His younger brother who he loves and adores is 12 years younger than me and is very mischievous.

His biggest passion are cars. At the age of 16 he applied for a racing licence where Lewis Hamilton started his career in Hertfordshire. Rohan also entered a season long competition for the first time and came 2nd overall against experienced drivers. The freedom, joy and responsibility of driving such a beautiful machine feels amazing every time you get into the driver’s seat.

He also loves sports, at school He was in many of the sports teams, Tennis, Badminton, Swimming, Football, Cricket. At university Rohan carried on playing sports representing the university mainly football.

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Which place, or city or country do you most feel at home in?

London is my birthplace and I feel most at home here. I love the diversity, vibrance and the cultural nature. As a passionate food lover, I love tasting the different cuisines that have been brought over and admired by top chefs all over the United Kingdom and the world. I also love my ancestorial city of Mumbai, where the majority of my family members live, and it is great fun and enjoyment when we are all together.

What are your proudest achievements?

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Some of my proudest achievements to date has been completing the half marathon. I have completed the half marathon 6 times and my fastest recorded time for the Royal Parks London Half Marathon was 1hour, 45 minutes. Another achievement that I am proud of is growing the business which I am currently running today. Growing Tutumhome has been difficult in these times, and to be completing a degree at the same time adds a little more pressure, however by working on both simultaneously I know I can achieve great things in the future.

What inspires you?

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Firstly, my father has always been a big inspiration in my life. From a very young age I have always looked up to him as a dedicated, passionate high achiever. My grandparents all academic achievers from my Fathers father, graduating at Princeton with a doctorate to my grandmother who has a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology as well as a professor. To my other grandfather who was the first barrister in his community from Inner Temple at Law. Apart from family members in the world of sport, Floyd Mayweather has been a big inspiration. For participating in the sport for over 20 years which he loves and dedicating all his time and effort to prove he is number 1, by going 50 wins and no losses. A focused mindset and passion is what I admire the most.

What has been biggest obstacle in your career?

The biggest obstacle in my career to date has been completing a degree along with running a business. From the constant travelling across the UK, to sleepless nights it has been hard. COVID-19 has not really helped the situation as many people are also struggling to find work.

Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date?

The biggest influence on my career to date has to be Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple).

Steve Jobs pursued his passion in the technological side and revolutionised the way we all live today. Many people right now are either watching videos, calling family/friends across the world with the same piece of technology that was creat-

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ed by Apple. Many households to this date have more than 2 Apple products.

Even when his own company voted him out in 1985, he still went on and started other businesses he was interested in, such as NeXt inc and Pixar.

What is the best aspect about your current role?

One of the best aspects about my current role is meeting new clients. One of the many social tasks I love to develop is marketing with new people and having a broader client portfolio. I love to challenge myself to find the best possible solution, tailored to each individual client.

And the worst?

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I would not say there is anything wrong or worst aspect of my current role.

However, there are only challenging aspects such as instant solutions to be provided for the clients and the traveling time it takes to get to each job/location before the work actually starts.

What are your long-term goals?

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One of my long-term goals is to build the company with likeminded entrepreneurs, to ensure that it is up to date and environmentally sustainable. I would like to take Tutumhome globally and to also branch out in many other areas of business. I would like to make sure Tutumhome is ethically moral and also proving the consumers with the best possible outcome.

If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change?

I would reduce the fees that university students are paying during these hard times caused by Covid-19. I feel it is unfair for the students to be paying such huge amounts for university when they are stuck at home and not getting the education they require. Furthermore, I would also change the fact that students who pay for their accommodation which do not allow for any discount because of the current situation, can be allowed to live there.

Students are being forced to pay for a place at university halls only to be told they cannot live there. It is hard for many students as the accommodation fees are expensive.

If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why?

If I were marooned on a desert island, I would like to spend my time with Charles Darwin. At school biology was not one of my greatest subjects however I always found it very fascinating. Charles Robert Darwin changed the way we understand the Natural world. His theories where nothing short of revolutionary.

To this day the theory of evolution by natural selection is accepted by the scientific community as the best possible answer to the complexity of life on Earth.

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Planning approval for Manchester Arena attack memorial On Thursday 21st January, planning permission was approved for a “calm and peaceful” memorial to honour the 22 victims of the Manchester Arena bombing.

The Glade of Light will be a living memorial with a white stone ring “halo” at its heart bearing the names of those who lost their lives on May 22, 2017.

Construction of the centrepiece, which will include personalised memory capsules for friends and family to share mementos of their loved ones, will begin in March.

Manchester council leader Sir Richard Leese, in a statement to the Manchester Evening News said, "This memorial at the heart of our city promises to be a beautiful tribute to

those whose lives were so cruelly cut short on May 22, 2017. Their memories will endure a n d Manchester will never forget them.

“The Glade of Light will become part of the fabric of our city, a calm and peaceful place which will blend seamlessly with the regeneration of the wider Medieval Quarter in which it sits.”

Survivors of the terror attack, and the families of those who died, helped with the memorial’s design and is wheelchair accessible. The memorial will form a part of a wider transformation of

area between the Manchester Cathedral and Chetham’s School of Music on Fennel Street and Victoria Street.

A new public square is also planned outside the entrance to the Manchester Cathedral to provide opportunities for civic and ceremonial events. Chetham’s, which had raised concerns around security and crime in the Cathedral Gardens area, withdrew their objections earlier.

Council leader asked to resign Paul Lorber accused Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, of hypocrisy after he visited a community kitchen at Alperton Baptist Church in Wembley earlier this month. Cllr Butt was joined by fellow Brent councillors Trupti Sangani and Krupesh Hirani, as well as Harrow councillor Ajay Maru.

According to Mr Lorber said this went against their own and the Government’s, advice to “stay at home” to combat the spread of Covid-19.

But Cllr Butt has dismissed these comments, arguing that the event was for a worthy cause and one

Councillor Muhammed Butt

which adhered to lockdown guidance.

In a statement to Harrow Times, he said, “I was asked to go along, lend my support, and help raise awareness about this invaluable work. You’d have to be living on another planet not to realise how many people

Councillor Krupesh Hirani

are struggling right now, how desperate their situations are, so it’s vitally important that they know help is available – I make no apology for that. We had all the right PPE on, we kept our distance, and the event itself was well within the rules and guidelines.”

Jailed for life after murdering a 19-year-old student On Friday 22nd January an 18-year-old boy was found guilty of murder at Leicester Crown Court on Friday and ordered to serve at least 19 years in prison.

Ishaq Hassanjee was given a further sentence of 18 months after he admitted to carrying a bladed article in a public place. In July last year, the police were called to a report that a man had been stabbed on Bartholomew Street and Hassan Jama was pronounced dead on nearby Myrtle Road a short time later, according to Leicestershire Police.

Police said a number of witnesses reported hearing an altercation in the street, with some saying they saw Hassanjee lunge at Mr Jama.

Police then searched the area and found two knives with blood on them. One was found near to Mr Jama on Myrtle Road while the other was hidden in an alleyway.

In a statement to the Leicester Mercury, the family said, "His future was bright. He was studying accounting and finance at university and wanted to make something of himself.

Hassan's death has had a huge impact on all of us. We will never fully come to

Hassan Jama

terms with our loss and Hassan's death will have a lifelong impact on all of us."

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COMMENTS

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30 Jan - 5 Feb 2021

Choose your friends wisely, Mr Johnson With the Scottish Referendum gaining momentum, United Kingdom is at that crossroads it could never imagine itself to be in.

When Boris Johnson won the election becoming the Prime Minister with a majority votes in 2019, he was hopeful to change the future of this country, especially post-Brexit, into something unique and utterly self-reliant. But the reality perhaps now is far removed from the ideal.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown this Sunday wrote in The Telegraph that Britain is at risk of becoming a ‘failed state’ without serious reforms, as polls continue to show strong and consistent support for Scotland leaving the UK. This is the moment UK needs its allies like India the most- to remind what a union created for UK. Scottish immigration to India began with the union of Scotland with England in 1707 to create the United Kingdom. The ‘union’ playing a key role. Under the deal, Scotland's landed families gained access to the East India Company, and gradually become its dominant force. Scots went to India as writers, traders, engineers, missionaries, tea and indigo planters, jute traders and teachers.

By 1771 almost half of the East India Company's writers were Scots. The Scottish presence was also strongly evident in India.

The first three Governor-Generals of India were Scots. They mostly settled in eastern India like Kolkata (then Calcutta), Chennai and later Mumbai. Kolkata even has a Scottish cemetery. India today is believed to be a treasured ally by UK’s Prime Minister. But does everybody feel equally ‘moved’ by the so-called ‘friendship’?

The Times’ palpable anger at Narendra Modi’s efforts in tearing down British architecture across Delhi’s cityscape is evident in its recent articles. But the British government has not made any

political comment about the redevelopment proposed by PM Modi. Though Boris Johnson is infamous for expressing his colonial hangover on official tours, perhaps they are aware what India is meant for post-Brexit trading partnership?

They are perhaps also aware of the strength and tide of the Indian diaspora, the largest in the world at 18 million in 2020.

Britain very similarly must be also aware of its ‘crucial’ yet ‘delicate’ relationship with the USA. After Joe Biden, the 46th President removed Winston Churchill’s bust, it is believed it could lead to a transatlantic war. Critics worry that removal of Churchill is a humiliation of the UK and points at a further declining of the so-called 'Special Relationship' since World War II, fostered by the legendary British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. There are also growing fears in the UK that Mr Biden will turn to a more EUfriendly stance, due to his close links with Ireland and after having previously described Mr Johnson as a 'physical and emotional clone' of Donald Trump.

The world is returning to an era of polarised power in competition. As The Economist said, there is a visibly growing rivalry between US and China. Russia’s opportunism is at its peak and the EU’s constant perseverance to rule all economic policies are exhausting. But Sir Simon Fraser, one of Britain’s former top diplomats insisted that Britain needs to find a place amidst this growing chaos. Though to do so Mr Johnson will require a clear strategic vision and logical application.

Yet according to a report by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, these are the things our foreign policy currently lacks. Unless UK applies itself to acquiring those absolute necessities, good years will indeed prove hard to find.

India’s vaccine diplomacy TRUMPS the dragon American author Robin Hobb once wrote, “Diplomacy is the velvet glove that cloaks the fist of power”. Celebrating her 72nd Republic Day, India has once again forced western democracies to recognise that she is the biggest threat to China. Some western diplomats would even go so far as to acknowledge India as the sole South Asian country which can keep a hawk’s eye on the Chinese dragon.

And despite concerted efforts of Chinese soldiers in creating trouble in the Northern state of Arunachal Pradesh, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has illustrated both tact and patience of a statesman. As opposed to engaging with his Chinese counterpart over border skirmishes and propaganda politics, PM Modi has chosen to cut off or limit the Chinese tentacles clawing into poorer third world countries through his unique vaccination programme. Seven countries including Bhutan, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Seychelles, Myanmar and Mauritius are part of India’s initial rollout of vaccines as grant assistance. There are also plans to supply doses to Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

“The government of India has shown goodwill by providing the vaccine in grant. This is at the people’s level, it is the public who are suffering the most from Covid-19,” said Nepal’s Minister for Health and Population Hridayesh Tripathi. This will be seen as a tectonic shift especially as India’s ties with Nepal have been strained by a territorial dispute and China, which had promised Nepal help to deal with the pandemic, is awaiting Nepali clearance for its Sinopharm shots. Similarly, Bangladesh was supposed to get 110,000 doses of vaccine free from Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech, but Bangladesh refused to contribute towards the development cost of the vaccine leading to deadlock and is now receiving urgent aid from India.

All these neighbouring countries are territories where China had vested interests in developing infrastructure, bring about cul-

tural and religious transformation in her bid to outwit India on the global stage. Her Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and continued financial assistance to Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan in the last half a decade has shown as much. But the multi-billion-dollar ambition of China which aims to be a gateway to unload cheaper goods in Africa and Europe ultimately appears to have driven a wedge between all-weather allies China and Pakistan. Sharp differences have emerged between the two countries over a $6.8 billion railway line project which is part of the ambitious China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), according to a report in Nikkei Asia. Last week Nasir Jamal, a senior journalist in Lahore covering business and the economy, told leading Nikkei, a leading media outlet from Japan that China was reluctant to lend money for Mainline Railway Project because “Pakistan has already sought debt relief to meet G-20 lending conditions and it is not in a position to give sovereign guarantees." China is left red-faced and has offered 500,000 doses of a Coronavirus vaccine to its ally Pakistan.

Within the western corridors, India’s efforts in helping curb the pandemic have also made a distinct impression in her favour.

Although British Prime Minister Boris Johnson could not attend India’s Republic Day celebrations, in his celebratory wishes to the Indian diaspora in the UK, he was quick to acknowledge that “our two countries are working side by side to develop, produce and distribute vaccines that will help to free humanity from the pandemic.” On the other side of the Atlantic, the incoming Biden administration has also been inundated with a slew of recommendations from the US-India Business Council (USIBC) in a bid to strengthen the India-US partnership, including reconstituting the existing US-India Trade and Commercial dialogue. With a stronger administration represented by more Indian-origin leaders now in the POTUS, China will be more careful of India.

Young Indian cricketers show the 'economic way' Nothing is impossible if you have the will and determination.

This has proved beyond doubt by the young Indian cricketers by winning the test and the series over the Australians in India's last match at Gabba. Their rise was propelled for years by rising Indian confidence, new money and a removal of prohibitive restrictions on upward mobility. The squad tells its own tale.

Opener, Rohit Sharma, the son of a caretaker, Mohammed Siraj, the debutant bowler who played on after his father, a rickshaw driver, died while he was on tour. Washington Sundar, named after the man who sponsored his cricket education in Tamil Nadu, came to Australia as a backup bowler and finished striking boundaries around Brisbane. The 21-year-old had to borrow another player’s bat and pads. Rahane's team batted through quarantine, an injury list long enough to field another XI and racial taunts from Australian fans, to produce an unlikely win at a ground that Australia has not lost in three decades. "To go through quarantine, have multiple injuries right through the tour, to be bowled out for 36, our lowest score, and you come back to play like champions – it is unreal," said Indian coach Ravi Shastri. "What I've seen is unimaginable, the resolve and character the boys have shown is simply superb."

Conventional wisdom suggested that either a draw or a defeat were the only two possible scenarios for Team India.

Scoring 324 runs from 98 overs in the final day’s play at the Gabba looked like a mountain to climb. Instead, the Indians seized the momentum at crucial junctures to pull off an improbable win on an emotionally-charged, roller-coaster day. Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar credited the system and the investment India made in the past 20 years for the historic win.

Akhtar lauded Rahul Dravid for grooming the youngsters and also said that coach Ravi Shastri's decision to allow the youngsters to express themselves proved to be the correct one. "India

started the IPL, the players got exposure, and they made use of it. The Indian players learned from playing along with overseas cricketers and gained confidence from that," he added. The bench strength of India with these youngsters won this Test. A system has won that India had invested in past 10-20 years ago.

They brought solid, honest hardworkers, and people who were not in it to make money. They were people who cared about cricket. Rahul Dravid came first, and then Sourav Ganguly, Ravi Shastri. "There is a sense that essentially India's time has come," said Dr Pradeep Taneja, a fellow of the Australia India Institute at the University of Melbourne. India’s economy is forecast to grow by more than 9 per cent in 2021, outpacing China as it deploys the Covid-19 vaccine, according to Nomura, after falling by more than 7 per cent during the coronavirus pandemic.

Driving it is surging digitisation, pharmaceutical production, automotive manufacturing and a young entrepreneurial small business sector that wants to see India innovate away from legacy industries and protectionism that have hobbled India's growth in the past.

The last time England reached the semi-finals of a football World Cup was 1990, and in that year the economy grew by only 0.7 per cent. In 1966 the UK economy grew by 1.9 per cent.

“There is a new energy that these groups bring," said Taneja.

"Over the last 10-15 years India has witnessed a rising confidence among its young people. The youth is highly motivated. You can see that reflected not just in cricket. But in technology and services where India is doing very well. If India becomes even remotely as indispensable to the world economy as it has become to the cricket economy, it will have the throw-weight to demand changes in the world order to accommodate its goals.

That may be India’s future as it seeks to transform itself into a leading global power."

Fake it until you make it! Act as if you had all the confidence you require until it becomes your reality. – Brian Tracy

Alpesh Patel

My Campaign This is a campaigning paper. I cannot give much in this time of national need, but I can give my time and knowledge. I have launched a campaign to teach 1m people to invest effectively. The website is www.campaignforamillion.com Why is this needed? Because the rich and powerful should not have a monopoly on knowledge.

Consider these facts, which shocked me to act to do something.

The Problem with Fund Manager 'Experts' There is ample data to show consistency in fund manager performance does not exist. In any large data group of course, someone wins. But consistency is rare because they have disadvantages you and I do not.

First, they cannot just buy and hold for 12 months. They would be sacked after the day they did that.

Second, their employers tell them to only pick from a small universe, for example, UK growth stocks. You can I can select for our ISA/SIPPs from 9,000 plus stocks.

Third, they charge you fees and pay brokerage fees on their own purchases. That hits performance.

When I won the Financial Times competition over 12 months, Neil Woodford came near the bottom of the pile. It took another 13 years before he apologised for his inadequacies as a fund manager and cost pensioners billions.

Richard Branson famously challenged these 'active' fund managers to outperform the market.

They refused.

On top of that are headlines like this on Bloomberg, where I had an investing TV show, "UBS Rich Clients Get Goldman Strategies With No Extra Fee." The rich and powerful keep their secret knowledge to themselves. That's not fair.

As a hedge fund manager, I see this; you do not. I will continue to share it with you. Free.

That's my pledge.

Anyone can be a fund manager. To prove it, I trained my secretary into one, and now she manages billions. Her name is Naomi Waistell. I can train anyone. But you should be your own fund manager.

Here is another worrying fact. Hoarding cash is costing UK savers £38 billion in lost income, according to research by Janus Henderson. £1.5 trillion of money is now stored in saving accounts like ISAs according to the Bank of England, roughly equal to the total value of UK residential mortgages. People do not invest due to lack of knowledge.

My pledge: my International Bestselling book on how to invest, Investing Unplugged – will be free to you all. All my 200 Financial Times columns, and the advice and know-how from my 18 books published by the Financial Times, will be converted at my own cost into free and updated online course lectures. Free, forever, for everyone.

You can get it all free at www.campaignforamillion.com as I continue my aim to have investment taught in our school curricula.

Asian Voice is published by Asian Business Publications Ltd Unit- 7, Karma Yoga House, 12 Hoxton Market, (Off Coronet Street) London N1 6HW. Tel: 020 7749 4080 • Fax: 020 7749 4081 Email: aveditorial@abplgroup.com Website: www.abplgroup.com INDIA OFFICE Bureau Chief: Nilesh Parmar (BPO) AB Publication (India) Pvt. Ltd. 207 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad-380 015.

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RACISM THE DEADLIEST VIRUS Continued from page 1

for the families of health and care Australia, Canada or the US that workers who died from the virus. have a more humane approach as While some doctors are fortunate The financial compensation did regards to the immigration rules. in receiving leftover vaccines, little to address the root causes of Sharing her experience, Dr. other overseas NHS medics treatworkplace discrimination, intimiPreeti said, “I don’t understand ing Covid-19 patients are reporteddation or bullying prevalent across government’s logic about declining ly being “denied vaccinations the NHS. Worse, yet, migrant docelderly parents to stay - they are because of internal guidelines” tors are now reporting increased not a burden to society as we pay which allegedly prevent patient hostility as. our taxes and are clear that we immunising those with“A patient interrupted won’t need social services support out an NHS number. me at the end of consult in their case, their family will look Speaking out against and said - I am going to after them. As a single parent, it structural racism in be a little bit rude and would have been lovely to have the NHS, Dr. Preeti ask which nationality their support in raising my 11-yearShukla, GP Chair, you belong to? I was old son but in current circumexclusively told shocked. I thought the stances, it’s not possible.”

Asian Voice, consult went well. When Medical chiefs and NHS “Structural racism is said – Indian.

She replied I have cautioned the govheads very common. As an Dr. Preeti Shukla - Ah okay - your English is ernment that it cannot afford to immigrant doctor, one of good and disconnected the call,” lose out immigrant doctors my colleagues tried to intimidate Preeti had tweeted earlier. and nurses at a time when me by saying that NHS England She is cautious in not the NHS is already would like to “see your passport” breaching patient conshort-staffed and at and tried to dissuade me from takfidentiality and does breaking point. But ing on my tasks.” not delve into the home secretary, Priti “You need to be thick-skinned case further.

But she Patel, in her address and resilient to progress here. explains this is not an to the Conservative There are very few allies even when “uncommon occurFriends of India, ferthey actively support the BAME rence”. vently said that “we cause on social media or issue pubShe said, “It is not an need to train our own lic statements. But in reality, very Priti Patel uncommon occurrence nurses” as opposed to relyfew actually offer support, guidand happens more often at ing on nurses coming in ance or mentorship. In one of the hospitals than in General Practices from India.

NHS meetings, while I was preunless you are a new doctor to the Speaking about the virtues of senting my viewpoint, a white midteam. Usually, patients in GPs are the new points-based immigradle-aged person told me that ‘we more accepting as they have tion system, she insisted, “India work differently from the place known you for years. needs their nurses and we have you come from, our culture is dif“Having said that, we keep to develop our talent domesticalferent.’” hearing comments like ‘Your ly. That is the work we are doing Ethnicity box still absent on English is good - meaning that in levelling up and investing in death certificate despite PHE despite being an Indian I can upskilling our talents.” review recommendations Racism in access to mental understand you.

Where are you Covid-19 has only brought to health services originally from? You don’t have surface the institutional and structhat thick an accent as the other Yet, the government has coltural racism that has been brewing doctors do. How long have you lectively failed in addressing the and thriving within the NHS ranks been in this country? Why did you concerns of the BAME medics for decades now. The true scale of come to this country? It is usually and healthcare workers fundathe impact of the virus on the such micro-aggressions where they mentally around racism. A recent BAME community is yet, to be are trying to show you your place survey by the Royal College of determined. There is no concrete in society.”

Psychiatrists noted that six in ten data aggregation of the Covid-19 NHS staff relocating because of (58%) BAME psychiatrists have deaths during the second and third stringent Adult Dependent faced overt or covert racism at wave of the pandemic even as the Relatives (ADR) rules work, but only 29% of these inciPublic Health England (PHE) dents were reported.

Earlier, last week, BAPIO UK review recommended that the govPsychiatrists are also making along with the BMA, Royal College ernment added an “ethnicity” box the case for recording incidents of Psychiatrists, besides several to the death certificates a few and collecting data on the expeother medical organisations in months ago. rience of discrimination across association with Trent Chambers But doctors had hoped that all stages of career progression, solicitors, demanded a change in the death of over 800 NHS staff as well as developing guidance to the existing adult dependent relaand social care workers would be a support employers to stamp out tives (ADR) regulations. Immigrant wake-up call for the government in discrimination and support staff. doctors constitute, a third of the rooting out the decades of injustice Covid-19 has also exposed the NHS workforce and according to and that the Tories would aim to absence of BAME clinical directhem, the existing ADR rules have reduce the existing inequalities if tors across NHS trusts and hosleft these doctors with an immense not completely iron them out. But pitals and collating data is only emotional burden. Some of these what was seen as a patchwork soluthe first step in bringing a “sysprofessionals were forced to move tion, health secretary Matt temic change” in the healthcare back into their home countries and Hancock in April last year system. many chose countries such as announced a lump sum of £60,000

Need for a cultural transformation

They are more likely to be To remember those who have referred to disciplinary processes died, the BMA projected a mesthan their white colleagues even sage on to its headquarters in though there is no concrete eviTavistock Square, in Bloomsbury, dence to indicate that they are London, with the message “we worse doctors. They were and are will never forget”. While prime more wary of speaking out and minister Boris Johnson in his challenging the authorities. daily press briefings insisted that “We need to look beyond his government “did everything superficial commitments around we could” to limit coronavirus tick-boxes and namesake deaths and expressed sorrow after appointments. To the total UK death address the root toll exceeded causes of bullying, 100,000 on nearly workplace harassevery metric, he ment and discrimirefused to discuss nation, we need a the reasons why it cultural transformamight be so high. tion in the NHS. We Speaking excluneed to transform sively with Asian the way that mediVoice, Dr. Chaand Dr. Chaand Napaul cal leaders, manNagpaul, Chair of agers and directors address the the British Medical Association subject of institutional inequality.

(BMA) spoke about the need for a This transformation needs to cultural transformation. He said, unleash and maximise the poten“We have learnt through this pantial of our NHS workforce.” demic that this inequality is Dr. Nagpaul is optimistic that unfair on those affected by it priall NHS doctors will potentially marily, the BAME doctors, and be vaccinated with the first dose therefore, has a detrimental effect of the vaccine by the next month. on the NHS. We need to change And perhaps, loss of the 800 NHS the culture of the NHS at its core. frontline staff will steer the govThe current culture in the NHS is ernment in rooting out the evils such that a doctor from the plaguing the very system BAME background is twice as designed to save lives. likely to be bullied and harassed.

IF YOU ARE ASIAN, YOU'RE AT HIGHER RISK The UK recorded more than 100,000 deaths from Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic in 2020, after1631 further deaths were reported on Tuesday.

Brent Council is highlighting that Asian community is at higher risk than any other group and trying to spread awareness through campaigns, urging people from the diaspora to take extra care.

According to the 2011 Census, around 34% of Brent’s population has been recorded as Asian.

Issa brothers eye Topshop Survey notes Hinduism not taught Blackburn based billionaire Issa brothers have thrown their hat in the rink as the latest contenders to buy Arcadia’s Topshop and Topman brands, it emerged on Monday 25th January. Online retailer ASOS is currently thought to be the frontrunner in the takeover race.

According to the Lancashire Telegraph Zuber and Mohsin’s interests in acquiring a part of Philip Green’s empire is said to have stemmed from their “proven track record” in turning businesses around.

Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph on Monday afternoon, a City source confirmed that the Euro Garages Group famed brothers, who have recently bought ASDA in a £6.8billion deal, are still very much inter-

in positive light Zuber and Mohsin Issa

ested in the fashion retailer.

They said, “The Issa Brothers and TDR Capital have submitted a bid for Topshop and Topman because of their considerable experience of the retail industry and proven track record of successfully turning around businesses.”

Arcadia, which employed around 13,000 people and has 444 UK stores, collapsed at the start of December due to the adverse impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

A recent survey collated by leading British Hindu and Indian communities have highlighted the diaspora’s concerns that Hinduism in the UK has not been taught in a “positive” light.

INSIGHT UK has collated a report on the state of Hinduism in Religious Education (RE) in UK schools and was supported by Hindu Council UK, Hindu Forum of Britain, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (UK), National Council of Hindu Temples UK and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (UK).

According to the survey, 97% of the respondents stated that it is important and paramount for their child to learn about Hinduism and while 98% of those respondents

said that the study of Hinduism in RE is low quality and deficient. 75% of respondents feel that Hinduism is not taught in a positive light while 76% of primary school parents are unhappy about RE teachers’ knowledge of Hinduism. 81% of Key Stage 3 and 87% of Key Stage 4 parents are discontented about RE teachers’ knowledge of Hinduism amid growing evidence of inaccurate resources used by classroom teachers for teaching Hinduism.

Hindu parents and pupils also felt that they did not have a choice to study Hinduism at GCSE level. “So many things have come up from this research, it is important for us to recognise them and take it forward in terms of what can be done

about this. Some very concerning factors are bullying, discrimination and underrepresentation is something we need to tackle,” noted Dr Ramesh Pattni OBE. It is found that the lack of awareness and an incorrect portrayal of Hinduism in RE results in: Depriving students of a world view and understanding of the nature, diversity and impact of religion and belief in the contemporary world, depriving the knowledge of the world’s third-largest religion which is followed by one of the most contributing minority communities in the UK and insensitivity towards Hindu people and their beliefs resulting in bullying and hate crimes.

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Johnson’s Republic Day wishes to the Indian diaspora On Tuesday, 26th January, on India’s Republic Day, Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered his personalised wishes to the Indian diaspora as he reenforced his belief that the U.K. and India are working side by side to free humanity from the coronavirus pandemic.

Addressing the Indian diaspora in the UK in his video message, Johnson celebrated the birth of an “extraordinary Constitution” that established India “as the biggest sovereign democracy in the world”.

He said, “All over the world, this virus is compelling people to stay apart, including family and friends in Britain and India, who form what Prime Minister Modi has called the ‘living bridge’ between us. But for now, let me wish everyone in India as well as those

Solutions for situatons Rohit Vadhwana

celebrating here in Britain, a very happy Republic Day.” Johnson was due to be in New Delhi as the chief guest at the annual parade to mark the India’s Republic Day. But he had to call off his visit owing to the new variant and a much deadlier strain of coronavirus. File photo: PM Boris Johnson and PM Narendra Modi Reiterating his plan to visit India in the coming months, help to free humanity from the panhe said, “I was hugely looking forward demic. And thanks to the combined to joining you for this important occaefforts of Britain, India and many other sion at the kind invitation of my friend nations, we are on the road to success Prime Minister Modi, alas our common against Covid-19. So, I look forward to struggle against Covid-19 has kept me visiting India later this year, strengthin London. ening our friendship, and striving for “As I speak, our two countries are the quantum leap in our relationship working side by side to develop, prothat Prime Minister Modi and I have duce and distribute vaccines that will both pledged to achieve.”

BBC apologises for displaying incomplete Indian map The BBC has issued an apology, claiming it has amended its mistake after the broadcasting service displayed an incomplete map of India during a show with the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir missing.

This incident occurred during a video broadcast about President-elect Joe Biden on BBC World Service titled 'US Election 2020: What do countries around the world want from Joe Biden'.

The BBC’s apology follows after a formal letter of complaint by Labour MP Virendra Sharma. The MP for Ealing Southall, who is also chair of the IndoBritish All Party

Parliamentary Group (APPG), termed the incident as "deeply insulting" in his letter addressed to the Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Tim Davie, and called for an explanation of the editorial guidelines followed.

In his letter Virendra Sharma MP said, "To represent Jammu and Kashmir as anything less than Indian is deeply insulting to millions of Indians living here in the UK and in India.

The BBC World Service is a fantastic resource, an amazing part of our softpower and a real force for good around the world, this record is under threat if the World Service is perceived

as partisan and ‘anti-India’ as is currently being asserted online. As a member of the International Development Select Committee, I have seen the great work the World Service can do, I do not want to see that put at risk.

“That this graphic is withdrawn and republished with correct boundaries, and that action is taken to prevent this happening again. I would also like to know what editorial guidelines exist on this, and for you to ensure that they represent the situation fairly and responsibly with Jammu and Kashmir as a fundamental and integral part of India."

The BBC responded

Virendra Sharma

with an apology and updated the online broadcast with the map of India reflecting the boundaries of Jammu and Kashmir in the standard format used by the news channel in the UK. "From London we mistakenly published a map of India online which contained inaccuracies and is not the standard map used

by BBC News. It has now been corrected. We apologise for any offence caused," a BBC spokesperson said.

Many times we come across people who cannot find solution to simple problems. We suggest them a good way out but they can't implement. They keep complaining about the situation and we start believing that someone likes to behave as victim.

It happens around us. Some people see problems in every situation while others don't even think about it.

Why? Why different attitude towards same situation?

There are various reasons for why different people take same situation differently. Especially, why do people fear some situation?

1. Past experience: As we know, if anyone had gone through a good or bad experience of particular situation, in future the person will respond accordingly. One who has been cheated by a priest will tend to see all priests suspiciously. On the other hand, who had benefited by company of a particular class of people will consider them good in future too.

2. Lack of information: If one has no background information of any situation, s/he will interpret it in own way.

Here different people will have different interpretations and therefore their attitude towards that situation will differ. In such interpretation also, past experience of nearly same situation matters.

3. Unknown insecurity: If one has been victim of some unwanted incidents in past and the insecurity of that experience remains in mind, it will affect one's response to that situation. This is more psychological and technical and therefore taking help of professionally qualified counselling will be useful.

4. Fear of future: If someone has been planning something for future, s/he would avoid entering into any unknown situation which has even slightest possibility of hampering that future plan. This is about being careful but sometimes it leads to being paranoid. One must avoid being too sensitive for any situation. Reasonable risk is acceptable in life.

5. Warning: If someone has been specifically warned by elders or authorities to do or not do particular act, s/he will be careful about it. Other people would feel the behaviour strange because of lack of perspective.

However, it is justified from the point of view of the person who has such instructions or warnings.

There may be tones of other reasons why we behave differently and oddly in any particular situation. Unless others know about it, they can't understand. As it is said, we should not judge others without knowing the background. Not easy to measure others' circumstances so easily.

(Expressed opinions are personal.)

India’s place in the world is understood by all - Lord Ahmad Shefali Saxena Ahead of India’s Republic Day, Lord Tariq Ahmad told Asian Voice how he saw the ‘importance and the role of India’ which is why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been ‘one of the key leaders invited’ to join the G7 Summit in Summer 2021.

Sharing his thoughts, when asked if India should be a permanent member of the G7 nations, Lord Ahmad said, “It’s a matter for existing members. I think in the indication you’ll see clearly about the importance and the role of India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been one of the key leaders who have been invited by our Prime Minister to go and join the G7 discussions. India’s place in the world is understood by all and we as a friend and partner to India recognise that.”

India will begin its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on 1 January. India will sit in the 15-nation UNSC for the 2021-22 term as a non-permanent member — the eighth time that the country has had a seat on the powerful horseshoe table.

Speaking in this context, Lord Ahmad said, “We’ve been nonstop

advocates for the reforms of the UN Security Council where India will be joining us as a key partner and India bearing in mind its position in the world, its size and its strength and we regard them as a major partner bilaterally within the regional context, but also within the multilateral sphere and we look forward to further strengthening our relationship with India in this regard and the extension of the invitation by the Prime Minister to Prime Minister Modi to the G7 meeting, underlines the importance we attach to India’s role in global affairs.”

Minister of State Foreign Commonwealth & Development Affairs (South Asia, Commonwealth, UN), PM's Envoy for Preventing Sexual Violence, & Minister Human Rights, Lord Ahmad made multiple tweets on 26 January to affirm the impetus of the UK-India partnership. In his first tweet he said, “India is a strategic partner for the UK, and we look forward to hosting @narendramodi at the G7 leaders’ meeting later this year. I send my best wishes to Indians everywhere celebrating.”

Later in the day, he shared a picture of him at the Parliament

Square with the Gandhi statue and HE Gaitri Kumar. The tweet read: “Today, on India’s Republic Day, from the world’s oldest democracy to the largest, we send warm wishes of friendship. I was delighted to be joined by HE Gaitri Kumar @HCI_London at the iconic statue of Mahatma Gandhi Ji, looking over Parliament square, to mark the occasion.”

Farmers’ Protest Earlier when the farmers began protesting in India, reportedly, more than a hundred members of the British Parliament signed a letter written to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asking him to raise the concerns of protesting farmers outside Delhi, and the “brute force” employed against them, in his discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I think what’s important to recognise is that we will always have interest in each other’s matters as partners and as friends and as I have already indicated that there will be issues that are raised in our parliament, there’ll be issues that are raised in the Indian parliament and it’s right when your constructive friends in a candid way, which we do and are able to address the challenges and issues

Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon

which are raised in a very factual manner. And that’s exactly what we’ll continue to do.

“There has been a lot of interest around the farmers' protest. We regard that in terms of whatever reforms that need to be enacted very much a matter for the Indian authority, at the same time our responses in parliament will be informed by what we see in terms of the Indian government’s response, somewhere encouraged by recent discussions, but equally recognising that if there are any human rights concerns related to people internally in India and they resonate here in the UK, that we’re able to answer them in a very open and candid manner and I think that the strength of our relationship allows us to do so.

“Equally there will be concerns

as the Indian side often do which are raised as issues pertaining to diaspora matters, pertaining to security issues which may be related to us and equally we will be very open with the Indian side in addressing those exchanges head on. Because that’s the strength of the relationship we have,” he added.

Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon held a virtual session with journalists on Monday afternoon to discuss the UK-India partnership. According to Lord Ahmad, the key area of collaboration between the UK and India has been on the challenge of Covid-19 and how we’ve come together, and that he’s pleased by the united and strong collaboration. He appreciated the relationship and collaboration at a government level, as well as in the private sector, particularly the relationship between AstraZeneca and Serum Institute of India.

He also shared that he believes in India’s strength of technology and also prepares both the countries to face the challenges together. He hopes to work on cyber security and mobility issues, along with immigration and other key areas.

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Covid-19: UK v/s India

India’s wonderful wildlife

Conquering the battle against corona pandemic continues to be a mammoth global challenge and every nation is struggling intensely to defeat this illness. In the UK, vaccination drive is moving on with full intensity and a large population will be shielded by it in the near future. It is however very upsetting to know that Covid-19 related hospitalised patients are on a constant rise and that the daily mortality rate still continues to be in four figures.

However, the good news is R-rate is gradually coming down and the UK government has been very proactive in supporting businesses, as also the common men, through various measures like bail out packages, furlough schemes etc. Thus, the day is not far when we should get rid of the corona terror and our lives becoming regular once again.

In these circumstances, it is encouraging that India has successfully controlled the spread of this deadly disease and has led the world in the biggest vaccination drive in history. Moreover, the Modi government has set an example of global cooperation by exporting vaccines to its neighbouring countries, a move that is highly commendable.

In the UK, the situation might improve rapidly if the declared fines and restrictions are implemented rigorously and determinedly. On a daily basis, the government must publish detailed data of penalties imposed in different locations for various Covid related offences.

Bharat Shah Harrow

India is famous for its nature reserves, bird sanctuaries and numerous semi-protected areas where wildlife can live in peace and harmony without getting into conflict with human population. Moreover, Indian people most of whom are vegetarians; kind and caring when it comes to protecting their heritage on the wildlife front.

No wonder wild asses roaming freely in the desert of Kutch and Asiatic lions which were once a common sight throughout Asia and North Africa; are now found only in one place, “Forest of Gir” in Gujarat. The preservation is so successful that there are now three times more lions than at the lowest point. As a result, forest is unable to support such high population, lions straying into nearby villages, to the delight and surprise of villagers who would never harm them, even when they kill their cattle. Forest Rangers remove and relocate these lions deep in the forest, as far away from human population as possible.

Like most people from East Africa, heaven on earth for wildlife, who enjoy wonderful documentaries on wildlife, especially shot and narrated by every one’s favourite Sir David Attenborough, I earnestly watch such programmes.

On few occasions, it throws unbelievable surprises.

One programme I watched recently, about wildlife encroaching on urban areas, as their natural habitats are being taken over by ever expanding human population. One scene that took my breath away was how leopards, member of big cats’ family, as dangerous as lions and tigers, have encroached into suburbs of Mumbai and survive with ease.

Mumbai has highest concentration of leopards in the world. They come out, hunt at night between mid-night and early dawn, attracted by easily available preys, that consists of piglets, small dogs and goats that roam these parts of Mumbai.

Although they do not normally attack humans, still some 200 people have been killed by leopards in the last 25 years.

Innocent people sleeping soundly on footpaths are easy targets if they fail to kill their natural preys.

I have watched this documentary time and again, as it may sound unbelievable. I wonder why Indian wildlife enthusiasts have not filmed them. Perhaps some AV contributors who live in Mumbai may enlighten us!

Bhupendra M. Gandhi London

Darkest chapter of American history is over Finally, the darkest chapter of American Presidential history is over, thanks to the US voters.

Donald Trump’s rule, especially in February 2020 and onwards failed to combat Coronavirus, marred by death of more than 400,000 innocent Americans. On top of that he instigated rioters to go and attack Capitol hill known as temple of democracy Joe Biden’s government has inherited a burning house.

Being an Indo-Canadian living in Canada for more than 4 decades, it was our proudest moment when I read in Asian Voice January 23, 2021 “Biden ropes in 20 Indian- Americans in his administration, 17 at key positions.” Kudos to them.

Suresh and Bhavna Patel Markham, Canada

India’s Republic Day Republic Day is a special day for India, celebrated annually as a national festival to honour the day when the Constitution of India came into force (26 January 1950). Our National flag is a symbol of the nation’s pride and respect.

There is liberal use of the flag on Independence Day and Republic Day. There is a new trend of selling flags made of paper and plastic, which is incorrect. With a sense of national pride, people enthusiastically buy such flags but the very next day, we find them being trampled upon on the roads and thrown into dustbins. By allowing this to happen, people forget that they are insulting the country's flag. Often, these flags are burnt along with the garbage.

It is the duty of every Indian citizen to maintain proper respect towards their National flag. We also commonly see people waving the National flag proudly during national, cultural and sporting events. However, once the programme or the event gets over, we see the flags strewn all over the place.

This disrespect towards our flag must be stopped.Even when the national anthem is being played on radio or on television, people don’t stand still and sing along. They are busy cooking in the kitchen or are busy talking on their mobile phones. As Indians, we should respect our country’s national flag, national anthem and national song.

Jubel D’Cruz, Mumbai, India

5-a-day rule The impact of this pandemic is causing immense levels of stress and anxiety for all age groups. It is predicted that there is going to be an explosion of mental health issues soon which will take years to overcome. However, there are some simple ways that we can help ourselves and others. This is by following the 5-a-day rule.

• We can apply these 5 rules every day to our physical and mental health.

• Exercise - for the physical body.

• Positive thinking - for the mind • Meditation or prayer - for the soul.

• Telephone or zoom call - for social connection.

• Kindness to another - for the betterment of the global community.

If we all aim to do these 5 things every day, we can turn the tide around and bring peace and calm during and after the pandemic.

Hansa Pankhania

The genesis of the anti-India rhetoric in Britain It is interesting but shocking to read an article “The Genesis of the anti-India Rhetoric in Britain” by Nitin Mehta (AV dated 23-29 January 2021. It has become a “fashion” to blame India or belittle a country of 1.3 billion people on any occasion which can help a bit on domestic vote-bank. Local politicians of both the major political parties of the UK, with very little or no knowledge about India, use every opportunity presented to them whether it is in the house of commons, a public demonstration or a rally, try to diminish the image of India. If one wants a major prize like the Booker Prize or international recognition, he or she has to magnify disproportionately the “dark” side of India in the name of poverty, ignorance, poor hygiene, rituals, persecution on minorities, removing trees or displacement of people to construct a dam for future development or anything that give them a bit of chance to tarnish the image of the country. Some of the names mentioned by Nitin Mehta like Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Nirad Choudhary are prominent because they could not find anything better to write about India.

Even mainline print and electronic media like the BBC mention the Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a Hindu nationalist leader. India is one of the most tolerant countries in the world which has always welcomed and accommodated people from across the world. Even in the current pandemic, India has been helping in providing free vaccine to developing and poor countries of the world. Hardly mainstream media will give due importance to this goodwill gesture.

Even if they give it will be in a small corner barely noticeable.

Recently during a cricket match in Australia, the players fielding at the boundary line were racially abused because still people treat India as a poor country.

Even in the UK, Priti Patel has been facing lots of pressure from her own party and the opposition. She is handling on the most sensitive portfolios, but people have been scrutinising her each and every word and action with microscope. People are reluctant to accept her because of her Indian origin and by knowingly ignoring the fact that she has been there purely because of her hard work, dedication and determination.

Two ways India can tackle this issue, one is by politically strong opposition which is still lacking the vigorous attacking power. Another way is to prosper economically and let the world have its own perception about India, unless it is truly harmful to the democracy or the fabric of Indian culture. India’s strength in attracting various multinational companies is a proof that it is not the perception or the negative propaganda against India, but hard facts and reality is important for the stalwarts of industries.

Hitesh Hingu London

KHICHADI Follow me on Twitter: @kk_OEG Kapil’s

Parliamentary Inquiry into Pakistan Kapil Dudakia The All Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry into ‘Abduction, Forced Marriage, and Forced Conversion of Girls and Young Women in Pakistan’ has issued a call for evidence and the deadline is February 15th 2021. This inquiry is to be led by Lord Alton who has raised this issue a number of times before. Primarily within the context of Christian women and girls being forcefully converted to Islam in countries like Pakistan.

The issue is of course not just related to Christians only, it affects all non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan. The trade in harvesting the souls of ‘kaffirs’ is rampant in Pakistan. And all of this happens in full public view of the Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Government of Pakistan, the judiciary of Pakistan, the Human Rights Organisations in Pakistan, the NGO’s in Pakistan, the Mullahs and Islamic leaders in Pakistan, the Pakistani media and of course the people of Pakistan. This is a national crime committed by the people of Pakistan. Their silence will never be forgiven, even by their own God. A few weeks back I wrote an article titled, ‘Persecution of Minorities in Pakistan’, and flagged up many issues as well as commending the leading national Hindu organisations for writing an open letter on it to our Prime Minister seeking a fullblown inquiry. I now hope that each and every Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist organisation in the UK will write to Lord Alton and give evidence on how their respective communities have been decimated by the evil of abduction, forced marriage, and forced conversion of girls and young women in Pakistan. Even a Member of the Pakistani Parliament of Pakistan has stated, ‘At the time of partition in 1947, almost 23 percent of Pakistan’s population was comprised of non-Muslim citizens.

Today, the proportion of non-Muslims has declined to approximately 3 percent.’ Need I say anymore?

In the case of Arzoo Raja, who was abducted last year from a street near her home in Karachi, forced to convert to Islam and marry the abductor, a 43year-old Muslim man, Lord Alton asked, “How can a 13 year old child who does not understand her own religion, decide in a couple of days to comprehensively understand Islam and convert overnight?”

Pakistan’s ‘Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929’ states that the minimum marriageable age in Pakistan is 16 and the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013 stipulates that any party to marriage must be at least 18 years of age in Sindh.

However, the court and the judge in question ignored their own laws!

Pakistan is a terrorist state, controlled by extremists, not just Islamic but military as well. PM Imran Khan is the face of this brutal country that thrives in openly violating the human rights of its minorities.

A report by the University of Birmingham titled, ‘Forced Conversions & Forced Marriages in Sindh, Pakistan’ said, ‘Pakistan is failing to fulfil their obligations under these international treaties to protect the rights of vulnerable minorities from forced conversions and forced marriages.’

At least 1,000 non-Muslim girls are forcibly converted to Islam annually according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). Many of these girls belong to the Hindu community in Sindh.

In my view, this is just the tip of this national shame.

I call upon every Pakistani organisation in the UK to state openly, that such practices are abhorrent and have no place in any civilised society. It’s time to find out whether they are on the side of the victims, or with the perpetrators of this heinous crime. Let’s see who takes up this challenge?

We are grateful to all letter writers for more and more versatile letters well within word limit. Please keep contributing as always. If you are new, then write to Rupanjana at rupanjana.dutta@abplgroup.com - AV

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Goa beyond the surf Ruchi Ghanashyam After ten anxiety filled months, with Covid-19, lockdowns and moving homes, we finally decided to take a break in Goa. Delhi is cold and often foggy in January. The clear sunshine and warmth filled days, with surf and sand, seemed too enticing to resist.

The first day started with a walk on the beach. The gentle sound of the waves and the soft sand under the feet made exercise a total pleasure. Goa is famous for its beaches. Baga, Anjuna, Candolim and Cavelossim, the list of famous beaches in this beautiful part of India seems unending. It would need a longer vacation to enjoy all the lovely beaches that Goa has to offer.

Apart from its beaches, Goa has serene river fronts and estuaries of rivers like Mandovi, Mapusa and Chapora. Each one offers a different delight. There are nine large rivers in Goa. They flow out of the Western Ghat and into the Arabian Sea. There are also 42 smaller tributaries that are a part of the river system. They are called the “backwaters” and are part of a large system of inland waters of Goa. The navigable rivers of Goa, with a length of around 250 km, form the main blood vessels of the state and are an integral part of Goan life. In addition to the rivers, tributaries and backwaters, there are some large and several small lakes.

Houseboats or floating houses in Goa have a unique structure and provide an exotic experience. These boats are produced from anjili or wild jackfruit tree along with natural materials like bamboo and palm leaves. The houseboat is constructed without nails and other metal holding elements. Boat cruises, both day long or short ones in the rivers, backwaters and water bodies of Goa are a good source of adventure and fun. They offer an opportunity to view Goan natural delights including its bird species and even crocodiles. For avid bird watchers, Goa has bird sanctuaries, one is named after famed Indian ornithologist, Salim Ali. Tours for dolphin viewing are another enjoyable pastime for young and old alike.

Being a popular tourist destination, Goa has plenty of places to stay, both on the beach and on river fronts. We spent a night at a homestead on a small river. The peace and tranquility can only be experienced and are a soothing balm for lockdown ravaged souls!

One visit that we enjoyed was a trip to a tropical spice plantation, where a guide shows various trees and creepers that provide us the spices used in our Indian food. Apart from a welcome drink, the tour provides a traditional Goan meal. The plantation involves a walk in a green setting and the drive to the plantation offers a view of the green cover of the Western Ghat. Goa is India’s smallest state, located in the west coast of India. The region is known as Konkan. It has an interesting history that goes back to the 3rd century BC when it was part of the Mauryan empire.

Goa was the first part of India to be colonised and the last to become independent.

Goa was Portugal’s first territorial possession in Asia, captured by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510, and it served as the main Portuguese base in the East for four and a half centuries till it was liberated to form a part of India on 19th December 1961. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to settle in India. Goan culture, food, music, dance and way of life is an interesting amalgam of Europe and India. No visit to Goa can be completed without visiting the beautiful churches. The Basilica of Bom Jesus, a Roman Catholic basilica is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and holds the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier.

As I watched the waves on the beach at night during high tide, it struck me how the waves that were desperately trying to kiss the beach at low tide were surging powerfully to reclaim the beach as their own at high tide. The pandemic, lockdowns and winter may have brought the low tide in our lives, but high tide isn’t far behind. I hope that the sunshine from Goa brings cheer to all your lives.

Sotheby’s to auction Mountbatten’s Indian heirlooms Sotheby’s has announced that it will be offering ‘A Glimpse into the World of Two Legendary Families’ on 24th March featuring prized possessions of the 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma.

Eldest daughter of Britain’s last Viceroy of India, Louis Mountbatten, the late Patricia Edwina Victoria Mountbatten was born in 1924 was remembered for her “unwavering perseverance and beguiling sense of humour”. Patricia inherited precious objects associated with her parents from their glamorous Art Deco penthouse on Park Lane – with treasures from Edwina’s maternal grandfather, the great Edwardian financier Sir Ernest Cassel – and their time in India. Over the course of her

life, Lady Mountbatten was the patron of over one hundred charities.

Now, 350 lots from Newhouse, Patricia and John’s charming eighteenth-century home will be offered for sale with estimates ranging from £80 – Picture Courtesy: Sotheby's London 100,000. Treasures to place for entertaining only the be auctioned will include a pair closest of family and friends, of jewelled gold and enamel capturing all the magic of a elephants from Jaipur estimatstately home on an intimate ed at £2,000-3,000, a ‘Tutti scale. Through her belongings, Frutti’ style Jewels: A gem set many passed down from memand diamond wreath of carved bers of the extended family rubies, emeralds and sapphires over the years, collectors have estimated at £40,000-60,000 the chance to see the story of together with other Tutti the twentieth century unfold Frutti style pieces including, and acquire evocative vestiges dress clips, earrings and a ring. of a glittering way of life,” said, “Lady Mountbatten’s resiHarry Dalmeny, Sotheby’s dence, Newhouse was a private Chairman, UK & Ireland.

Patricia’s father Louis had been appointed Britain’s last Viceroy of India, with a mandate to oversee the British withdrawal from the country, and the family grew close to the great leaders, Mahatma Gandhi and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Indeed, following their marriage, the newlyweds John and Patricia Brabourne also spent several months in India.

Inscribed in Lord Mountbatten’s handwriting; ‘Edwina from Dickie’ and ‘18 July 1946’, these gold enamel elephants made in Jaipur were a gift from Lord Mountbatten to his wife Edwina commemorating their twenty-fourth wedding anniversary.

Slavery statues to be removed On Thursday 21st January the City of London Corporation’s Policy and Resources Committee announced their decision to remove statues of two prominent figures with links to the Transatlantic slave trade from the City of London.

Statues of William Beckford and Sir John Cass which currently stand in its historic Guildhall headquarters will be removed and the City Corporation will set up a working group to oversee their removal and the works that could replace them, and will also consider commissioning a new memorial to the slave trade in the City. The move had been recommended by the City Corporation’s Tackling Racism Taskforce, and will be accompanied by measures aimed at boosting diversity in staffing, governance, education, business and policing. Last year, the City Corporation held a consultative exercise asking people for their views on statues and other landmarks in the Square Mile linked to slavery, which garnered more than 1,500 responses.

Commenting on the decision, City of London Corporation Policy Chair Catherine McGuinness said, “This decision is the culmination of months of valuable work by the Tackling Racism Taskforce, which has taken a comprehensive approach to addressing injustice and inequality. The view of members was that removing and resiting statues linked to slavery is an important milestone in our journey towards a more inclusive and diverse City.”

The statue of William Beckford, a two-time Lord Mayor of London in the late 1700s who accrued wealth from plantations in Jamaica and held African slaves, will be removed, resited and replaced with a new artwork.

Meanwhile, the likeness of Sir John Cass, a 17th and 18th century merchant, MP and philanthropist who also profited from the slave trade, will be returned to its owner, the Sir John Cass Foundation.

City of London Corporation Tackling Racism Taskforce Co-Chair Caroline Addy said, “I’m really pleased Policy and Resources Committee has agreed what we think is the correct response to a sensitive issue. The slave trade is a stain on our history and putting those who profited from it literally on a pedestal is something that has no place in a modern, diverse City.”

The Policy and Resources Committee also approved measures aimed at improving diversity in the Court of Common Council – its primary decision-making body – including appointing a dedicated officer responsible for member diversity.

Recommendations by the Tackling Racism Taskforce to boost diversity among staff by introducing anonymised recruitment for all pay grades, extra training and a ‘reverse mentoring’ scheme have already been approved.

12 MEDIA WATCH

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SCRUTATOR’S Gujarat renames dragon fruit as kamalam Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that the dragon fruit would now be called kamalam, the Sanskrit word for the lotus flower. Lotus is sacred to Hindus and is India's national flower. The decision to rename the fruit was taken because the original's “association with China" has set off a storm of jokes and memes. Relations between India and China has deteriorated as the troops of both the countries are locked in a tense stand-off along the Himalayan border.

India began cultivating dragon fruit only in recent years and it's now grown in parts of Gujarat too. It belongs to a family of cactus - and is believed to have earned its name because its thorny outer layer resembles the scales of a dragon.

Though it's a tropical fruit native to Central America and is largely imported from South America, many in India associate it with China because of its name.

Rivals India and China are often described as the elephant and the dragon respectively, and relations between the neighbours have been especially frosty since their armies clashed in the Himalayas in the summer. The state's decision to rename the fruit was announced by Rupani. The lotus is also the election symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party, to which he and PM Narendra Modi belong. "The name dragon fruit is not proper, and due to its name one thinks of China. So we have given it the name 'kamalam'," Rupani said. (Agency) Earphones can kill you A woman was run over by a

speeding train while she was crossing a track at a closed railway crossing at Hoshangabad in Maharashatra. The woman in question was carrying a bag and had earphones on. Hence she could not hear the sound of the approaching train. She looked at one direction - possibly expecting the train to come from that side - and began to walk across. She then crossed two tracks. She didn’t realise that the train was coming on the third track from the other side.

According to bystanders, the train which was moving in full speed, blew its horn several times. The locals, panicked and screamed, even made hand gestures from both sides. But she could not hear anything because of the earphones. In fact, she saw the train coming in the nick of time, and tried to cross the track quickly. But she misjudged the timing, and died on the spot. The CCTV footage of this shocking incident has surfaced. This heartstopping visual is a firm reminder on why it is so dangerous to cross the train track and why earphones should not be used while you are crossing a road or railway track.

(Agency) Indian Army's humanitarian help The Indian Army's commitment to serving the citizens of the nation was once again highlighted through a heart-touching incident in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district where the force helped transport a mother and her newborn child back to their homes, wading through 6 km of deep snow. Taking to Twitter, Chinar Corps of the Indian Army shared the video of the soldiers carrying the wife and newborn of

Farooq Khasana, a resident of Dardpora amid heavy snowfall

and rough terrain. As per sources, Khasana's wife had delivered the previous day but was stuck at the hospital after being discharged owing to the rough weather. “After being discharged, the duo was stuck there due to heavy snowfall," a relative of the family said. "Army official in 28RR Battalion helped them to reach home. I am very thankful to them," he added. It was only a few weeks back when a team of Amy personnel rescued a woman with pregnancy-related complications by carrying her through knee-deep snow in J&K's Handwara. On January 6, amid snowfall, COB Bunawadar received a call for help regarding a pregnant woman who was due to deliver but had no access to either road or transport. Shortly after, the troops who were patrolling the nearby area were informed immediately to assist the family. The troops carried the pregnant woman in knee depth snow on an ad-hoc stretcher to nearby Primary Health Centre which was about 1 km from the house. (Agency) Indian railways freight train creates new record

The South-East Central Railways (SECR) zone in Chhattisgarh breaks its own previous record by successfully

operating the longest ever freight train by amalgamating five rakes of goods trains as one unit of around 3.5 km. Named as 'Vasuki', it covered the distance of 224 km between the railway stations of Bhilai and Korba and took about seven hours. The 'Vasuki', comprising 300 wagons of long haul rake of five goods trains, ran with the help of one pilot, one assistant loco pilot and a guard. The nation’s most profitable railways zone SECR had earlier operated 177 loaded wagons "Super Anaconda" of 2 km long freight train on 29 June 2020, then connecting three goods trains using the latest technology of Distributed Power Control System (DPCS). SECR also successfully operated another trial 'Shesh-Naag' of 251 empty wagons with four electric locomotives that travelled a distance of 260 km from Nagpur to Bilaspur. (Agency)

underground route is the fourth one to be detected in the last six months along the Samba, Hiranagar and Kathua axis of the international border. “Acting on specific intelligence inputs, the BSF found another tunnel in the Pansar area of Kathua district last week. The tunnel is located between border outposts 14 and 15,” a BSF spokesperson said.

(Agency) 19-year-old becomes CM for a day Shrishti Goswami, a 19-yearold girl, was designated as oneday Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on the occasion of National Girl Child day on Sunday. Speaking on the development, Goswami's elated parents said, "Today we feel very proud, every daughter can achieve a milestone, we just need

Another border tunnel found in Jammu Less than a fortnight after a

cross-border tunnel used by terrorist infiltrators was unearthed in the Hiranagar sector of the LoC in Jammu, the

BSF last week detected another such underground passage around 150 metres long and 3 feet deep. The secret

to support them. We want to thank the government a lot for considering our daughter worthy of this.

Never stop supporting your daughters. In today's time, daughters can achieve everything. This should be an example for everyone. If she can achieve this milestone, every other daughter is capable of doing so. We are thankful to Trivendra Singh Rawat for giving Srishti this opportunity," said Praveen Puri, Srishti Goswami's father. Talking about the opportunity, Srishti said, "I am happy that I have got the privilege of becoming the Chief Minister on National Girl Child Day. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. Also, I will be going through the presentations of various departments and will present my suggestions to them.

My suggestions will prioritise girl child-centric issues." (Agency)

Student gets diaper-free life after 18 long years!

Pratik, a civil engineering

student, has an undisturbed sleep for the first time in 18 years as he did not require a diaper.

Pratik had to frequent the toilet several times as he was born with meningomyelocele (spina bifida), a defect that occurs when the spine and the spinal cord do not form properly. “We performed a pioneering bladder surgery to treat the neurogenic bladder. The surgery has given him a diaper-free life after 18 years.

In fact, on the first night of the surgery, he slept for nine hours at a stretch without having to wake up for urination,” said Surat-based urologist Dr Subhodh Kamble.

"One can imagine the psychological and emotional state of the young man having to wear a diaper each day of life since the birth. He had undergone corrective surgeries when he was three months old and later when he turned eight.

But he had developed neurogenic bladder, a condition in people who lack control over bladder due to a brain, spinal cord or nerve problem” said Kamble. Pratik had to urinate 25 times during day time and 10 times during night. “He was suffering with severe urgency of urination with urge incontinence (urine leakage),” Kamble said. Since the surgery was carried out through a telescope, it has not resulted in any cuts on the body.

(The Times of India)

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“Our London” Navin Shah

GLA Member for Brent and Harrow

Importance of vaccination for safety from Covid-19 As the new Covid-19 variant continues to overwhelm our communities and push our hospitals and heroic NHS staff beyond breaking point, all eyes are on our national vaccination programme.

The last few weeks have seen a number of major milestones when it has come to the roll out, including the approval of the third, Moderna vaccine. The Government’s decision to put GP surgeries at the forefront of distributing the vaccine, alongside the opening of 24-hour hubs, will also help to accelerate the programme.

Despite all of this encouraging news, we are still a long way off hitting the target of vaccinating two million people per week. This is what experts have recommended is needed if we are to get ahead of the virus and avoid another lockdown.

It has been disappointing and worrying to see that despite having the highest population density and some of the worst rates of poverty in the country, London has been left behind by the Government during the initial rollout of the vaccine.

I am joining the Mayor of London is his calls for Ministers to give our capital the resources needed to catch-up with other regions of the UK, so we can get on with the task of vaccinating all of our frontline healthcare workers, and everyone over 70 and clinically vulnerable, in a matter of weeks.

One of the biggest obstacles we face is the issue of vaccine hesitancy. It is hugely concerning that only 57% of our Black Minority Ethnic (BAME) people would be willing to take up the offer of a Covid-19 vaccine. This is compared to 79% of white people, according to the Royal Society of Public Health. It seems that irresponsible antivaccination messages are being systematically targeted at people from ethnic minority groups.

Beware of the misinformation about vaccines being spread via WhatsApp groups and across social media networks. I would urge everyone to look towards reputable and news outlets, and the NHS itself for factual information about the vaccine.

The NHS are currently working on a campaign to attempt to stem the tide of anti-vaccination propaganda being spread amongst our communities. We all have a role to play here. We can and must all do our bit to convince our family, friends and neighbours to take up the vaccine. With only 55% of Asian people willing to take the vaccine, it is crucial we have these important conversations.

In addition to this, the Government must now also provide councils with dedicated funding to put out targeted and multi-lingual advice about the vaccine in their local areas.

Covid-19 has disproportionately impacted BAME communities. We have experienced more adverse effects and higher mortality rates. The vaccine will protect us, but it also means it will protect those around us, take the pressure off hospitals, bring infection rates down and ultimately help life get back to normal, so we can see our families and friends again in the near future. Should you have any concerns on this issue email me navin.shah@london.gov.uk

30 Jan - 5 Feb 2021

Patak’s former owner passes away in Dubai car crash A68-year-old Bolton businessman and the former head of Leigh-based Indian food company Patak's died after a fatal car crash in Dubai on 23rd January it has emerged.

Kirit Pathak, the former head of curry sauce manufacturer Patak's, lived in Dubai with wife Meena after having sold his family business to Associated British Foods (ABF) in 2007 for a reported £105mn. However, he retained the rights to the brand in India and was made chairman of ABF's combined world foods group.

Patak's was founded and established by Kirit Pathak's mother and father Lakshmishankar and Shanta Pathak in late 1950s, after they arrived in the UK from Kenya, accompanied by

John Kerry

other nations to slash carbon emissions.

The decision could complicate efforts to forge an alliance with Joe Biden’s White House, which has described international action on climate change as a key foreign policy goal.

Earlier last week Mr Sharma congratulated American

reports are to be believed then Patak’s supplied to 90% of Britain's 7,500 Indian restaurants and sold cooking sauces, curry pastes, chutneys and pickles in more than 40 countries worldwide.

In a statement to Manchester (L-R) Kirit Pathak, V.K. Arora and Sanjeev Evening News, Kapoor. Picture Courtesy: Sanjeev Kapoor, George Weston, Twitter Chief Executive their four sons and two of ABF, said, "From the daughters with reportedly Board of ABF and on behalf only £5 between them. They of the Weston family, our began by selling samosas deepest sympathies go out from their tiny kitchen to Kirit’s wife, Meena, and gradually scaling up his all his family and friends at business to an empire worth this very sad time. Kirit was about £200m. If official a great man who was blessed

with entrepreneurial flair, astute business acumen and a passion for authentic Indian cuisine.

"From humble beginnings he and Meena created an incredible business all built on the concept of making Indian-style meals easy and accessible for time-poor people, but what they actually did was introduce a fantastic genre of cooking into millions of homes, transforming it into a home-dining staple.Kirit and his family revolutionised the way we eat at home and he leaves behind a legacy that not only employs hundreds of people but is enjoyed by millions of homes worldwide every day."

Kirit is survived by wife Meena and their three children Neeraj, Nayan, and Anjali.

BooHoo reportedly acquires Debenhams On Monday 25th January, it was reported that fashion retailer Boohoo paid £55m to acquire Debenhams with the aim of relaunching it online while closing down all 118 physical stores.

According to reports, the cut-price deal for the brand name, intellectual property and customer lists will eventually result in the closure of Debenhams' store as none of these sites are included in the sale and will ultimately result in 10,000 job losses.

The stores are expected to re-open only for the purpose of clearing stock only after Covid-19 restrictions are loosened. A fire sale is continuing online presently.

The developments leave more than 10,000 staff facing the prospect of redundancy, though it was hoped there would be some limited opportunities for Debenhams staff to secure roles with Boohoo.

Meanwhile ASOS has also confirmed that it was

Alok Sharma congratulates John Kerry A recent report by The Times, indicates that the President of the COP26 summit, Alok Sharma is apparently in dispute with Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary over a deep coalmine in Cumbria.

Earlier this month the communities secretary formally refused to intervene in the £165m Whitehaven project to remove coking coal from beneath the Irish Sea for steel-making. A government source reportedly told The Times that Jenrick did not consult Sharma or other ministers on the plan, in line with planning guidance.

Work is likely to begin on the first deep coalmine for 30 years as the government tells

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Secretary John Kerry on bringing the US back to the Paris Agreement, noting the great importance of the accord being fully universal again. They agreed that there is no time to waste on tackling climate change. They noted that UK and USA were once again tightly aligned in prioritising this shared challenge and will work together to raise global efforts ahead of COP26 in November.

In a virtual address to the Netherlands-hosted Climate Adaptation Summit, the first ever global summit focused solely on adaptation and resilience, the Prime Minister will launch the Adaptation Action Coalition.

hoping to acquire TopShop, TopMan, Miss Selfridge and leisurewear range HIIT

from Sir Philip Green's collapsed Arcadia retail empire again with brands rather than stores targeted for rescue.

In a statement to Sky

News, Boohoo said, "Debenhams is a longstanding and leading UK fashion and beauty retailer with high brand awareness, and an established online platform with approximately 300 million UK website visits per annum

14 WOMEN'S VOICE

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Why girls must learn to code Shefali Saxena Research says, if girls aren’t interested in coding by the age of 12, it’s unlikely that they will ever be interested Dee Saigal is the CEO and Creative Director of Erase All Kittens (EAK) - the first game designed to inspire girls to code whilst equipping them with 21st Century skills.

Saigal thinks that the most significant being the changes that Brexit will bring with restrictions on hiring skilled workers outside of the UK, and maintaining company culture as her team continues to grow and work remotely. EAK aims to inspire 50 million children to code by 2026, and to help close the gender gap in tech. In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, she threw light on the impetus of learning how to code, especially for girls.

Dee Saigal

Why do you think girls must learn to code and how challenging can it be for them to do that in a man's world?

Since our world is becoming increasingly digital, girls who learn digital skills are ahead of the curve.

Programming is now being used in every profession - girls who learn to code will have far more opportunities, higher wages and flexibility in their career, than young women without these skills. In today’s world, there’s

the literate and then there’s the computerliterate; of the two, it’s the latter group that is more poised for success. Knowing how to code helps with critical thinking and logical reasoning - by encouraging children to deal with large problems by breaking them down into smaller, more manageable ones.

Through doing this, it’s possible to come up with innovative solutions to otherwise complex problems. And young women growing up with this way of thinking will always have more confidence in their own ability and potential. Right now the vast majority of the products and services we use have been made by men - coding games for kids are a perfect example of this as most have been designed to appeal more to boys, such as CodeCombat (fighting battles) and Hakitzu (fighting robots). Unless more girls and women start using technology to shape the world we live in, the gender gap will keep growing. Gaming is usually synonymous to men, tell us something about your perspective to turn the tables and bring women to the forefront.

Data published by the Statista Research Department revealed that women accounted for 52% of the gaming audience in the United Kingdom. There are now an estimated one billion girl gamers in the world, and an increasing number of online organisations and conferences in the UK, which make it easier for women to get into gaming. These include Women in Games and POC in Play the video games diversity organisation and movement, designed to address the lack of representation and inclusion of People of Colour in the games industry. When I was younger I wanted to be a games designer. I loved art, creative writing and coming up with ideas for games, but coding had always

seemed like an impossible task. We weren’t taught coding at school, and I couldn’t see anyone who looked like me making games, so I assumed that I wouldn’t be smart enough. A decade ago I could never have imagined that I'd end up as the founder of a company.

Perhaps if I'd had the encouragement to learn to code as a child this would have given me the confidence to follow my dreams sooner. After carrying out extensive research with students, we found that if girls aren’t interested in coding by the age of 12, it’s unlikely that they will ever be interested. We combined different factors - kitten gifs, quirky characters, a real storyline with subplots, interactive dialogue and an ‘instant results’ mechanic where players can change the game’s source code, to build and fix levels - in order to inspire even the most reluctant child to love coding and creating. The R&D we carried out was invaluable in understanding how young children (especially girls) learn best - and enabled us to inspire over 150,000 children to code without doing any marketing.

What are the skills that you think a girl needs to learn in the 21st century?

Skills and topics which I think are essential for young girls to learn in the 21st Century 1. Coding - transferable digital skills as opposed to just computational thinking (currently taught in schools) 2. Cybersecurity 3. Online behaviour (trolling, plagiarism, cyber permanence) 4. Fake News 5. The Environment / Climate Change 6.

Money Management 7. Design Thinking

in brief FILIPINO-INDIAN WINS THIS YEAR’S YOUNG INNOVATOR AWARD

Sofia Sabben

Nearly a third of this year’s Young Innovator Award winners, announced this week by Innovate UK and The Prince’s Trust, are Black, Asian or from an ethnic minority background. The awards recognise young people from across the UK with great business ideas who have the potential to become future leaders in innovation and successful entrepreneurs.

This year, 49% of the winners are female; 17% have a disability and the projects cover all regions across the UK. Sofia Sabben (24 years old), Camden - who is reinventing sportswear to work for all women. Her company, Shape, is on a mission to create sportswear that provides full support.

Shape is developing products from recycled materials and operating with sustainability at its forefront. Sofia is Filipino-Indian.

WECODE 2021

Women were hit harder by the coronavirus pandemic The year 2020 saw many disruptions that shook up not only individual businesses but also our entire economies and societies. ThE Gender Diversity Report 2020 analyses women’s participation in corporate governance in the largest European companies that are listed in the STOXX 600 Europe index or, in some countries, national stock exchange indexes.

The report suggests that companies from Norway, France, Britain, Finland and Sweden led the rankings, with Switzerland and newly represented Poland at the bottom of the table “The number of major European companies with high participation of women in leadership positions has doubled

jobs, such as chief executive, chief operating or finance officer. Only 6% of companies had female CEOs, the association said, though that marked an improvement from 4.7% in 2019.”

The study said women were hit harder by the coronavirus pandemic, suffering higher unemployment and greater stress juggling work and family, but did not discuss its impact on the gender diversity scores. Six of the tracked companies had no women on their boards, executive boards or committees, including two from Germany - Nemetschek and Rational - the study showed.

over the past year, but there was less progress on top jobs, a study by a EU-sponsored non-profit organization showed on Thursday,” Reuters reports.

The number of those with high scores on its Gender Diversity Index rose to 62 from 32 in 2019. It is defined as high score index readings of 0.8 and above where zero means no women on company boards and in other senior management positions and 1 is the ideal value with a 50% representation. According to the report, “Women made up just over a third of the analysed companies' boards, but held only 14% of "C-suite"

UK born poet Bhanu Kapil wins TS Eliot poetry prize Bhanu Kapil has won the most valuable award in British poetry, the TS Eliot prize, for her “radical and arresting” collection How to Wash a Heart.

'Bhanu Kapil's How to Wash a Heart catches the thinning smile of that ancient human ritual: hospitality. In a time of increasing hostility against migrants, Kapil demonstrates how survival tunes the guest to its host with devastating intimacy: 'It's exhausting to be a guest / In somebody else's house / Forever.

Bhanu Kapil was born in the United Kingdom and lives in the

United States and the United Kingdom. Speaking to Asian Voice on her win, Bhanu said, “My heart feels so full. I am so grateful to the judges of the TS Eliot prize for

their trust in my work. My advice to a young writer who wishes to win this prize one day? Keep developing, in tandem with external forms of praise, a sense of your own inner power and vision. And what does that mean? Trust the images and non-images as and when they arise, without censoring yourself, or being censored by others.”

WeCode 2021 is an annual tech conference hosted by Harvard University, which “seeks to promote community and scholarship for undergraduate women in technology worldwide,” according to the website. It’s an event that aims to bridge gender gaps in STEM, develop “concrete initiatives” to support women in tech and equip women engineers with competitive skills and a network of professionals to turn to. The conference typically takes place in Cambridge, Mass., on the Harvard campus, but it will be held virtually this year. It will be held virtually between March 6-7 and the price of a ticket is £12.40. You can visit https://www.harvardwecode.com/ for more information.

Home School the Government The Women’s Equality Party has started an online campaign, calling parents to take action against the government. The official website read: “Parents and nurseries are at breaking point.

The Government’s abandonment of working families and childcare providers is putting women’s employment at risk and could set gender equality back a generation. Seven out of 10 working mums have been denied time off to look after their children.

Nearly half of mums made redundant during Covid blame the lack of childcare. Fifty percent of childcare providers face closure this year. Find out more about our suggested five measures to keep child-

care and parents afloat and help stop the spread of the virus in our open letter to Gavin Williamson.”

The forum has asked people to take action by recording a short film, or drawing a picture to educate the Government on the realities of care during Covid. The online rally is at 2.45 pm on Saturday 30th January.

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Covid-19 Vaccine Leading the fight against Coronavirus Cllr Ameet Jogia The Government’s Vaccines Delivery Plan is the biggest vaccination programme in British history and the UK is truly leading the charge across the world.

At the time of writing, over 6.8 million people across the United Kingdom have been vaccinated to protect themselves from Covid-19.

In the last three days alone, the UK has vaccinated Cllr Ameet Jogia with Dr Kaushik more people Karia and Bob Blackman MP at Harrow Bryon Hall Vaccination Centre than France has done in its entire programme. Last week, the UK broke records in administering over 491,970 vaccines in a single day.

To date, we have vaccinated more people than France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Austria and Belgium combined. Only two countries – the United States and China – have vaccinated more people than the UK. We are the third country in the world for vaccinations per capita. Only Israel and the UAE have vaccinated more people per capita than the UK – a testament to British science, as we are leading the world from the front in science, research and development.

Up and down the country Covid-19 vaccination centres set up at short notice, and run by teams of doctors, pharmacists, nurses and groups of volunteers are working day and night to roll out the Covid-19 vaccine as fast as possible.

One such example is Bryon Hall - a local landmark in Harrow. Usually renowned for local events, the hall has been transformed into a stateof-the-art vaccination centre. The centre is managed by Dr Kaushik Karia who is helping to oversee the rollout across the borough. Over 17,000 people have already been vaccinated in Harrow.

This includes almost all over 80s and people living in care homes. Invitations to over 70 have already been sent out and local vaccination centres will have the capacity to vaccinate around 2000 people per day.

I took local Harrow Members of Parliament, Lord Dolar Popat and Bob Blackman MP to see the centre and witness the operations firsthand. They were content with the facilities available and were thoroughly impressed by the excellent work Dr Kaushik Karia and his team are doing for the community at this unprecedented time. It was heartening to see how the centre was operated according to military precision and we were struck by the dynamism and motivation of the selfless team of volunteers to serve the community.

However, concerns have been raised that misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccine is leading to fears that communities in London worse hit by the virus could be more likely to be hesitant towards vaccination. Figures obtained exclusively

by ITV News London last week showed only 56% of British Indians in a survey of 2,000 said they would get a coronavirus jab. This has led to a new community led by British Indian Temples and Community Leaders to better inform community members about the importance and effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccine. It is the duty of everyone of us to raise awareness about this life saving vaccine to our loved ones and community members.

Going forward the programme continues to gather momentum, with more and more vaccination centres scheduled to be set up day by day to ensure every community is within 10 miles of a vaccination centre. This means there will now be a network of 50 large scale centres, capable of jabbing thousands of people a week across the country. There may still be a long way to go, but as a nation we should be proud of the head start we have made in leading the global fightback against Coronavirus.

PROFILE OF THE WEEK

The accidental doctor: Subodh Dave on medical miracles Priyanka Mehta He was the first person to become a doctor in his family. Pursuing a career in medicine was incidentally only an accident for he wanted to be a nuclear physicist.

Thus, he had enrolled into India’s premier engineering colleges the Indian Institute of Technology. But the medical journey that started after leaving IIT to now being elected dean of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) for a five-year term was no accident for Dr. Subodh Dave.

It was during his early years in medicine that Subodh had his first interface with psychiatry and there has been no looking back ever since.

Speaking about his college years, Dr. Subodh says, “I remember my Professor telling me that given I did not enjoy surgeryPsychiatry might be my destination! It was obviously meant as a joke –but after I had done my House Officer posts – I could only think of Psychiatry as a real profession for me.”

Subodh and his wife moved to Wolverhampton in 1995. Recalling the transition from a bustling Mumbai to the relatively desolated streets of Wolverhampton, he highlights the challenges that International Medical Graduates (IMGs) often face while tasked with working at the NHS.

“I know that for many IMGs, they are thrown in at the deep end – and unsurprisingly that then leads them to have poorer career progression than they might have otherwise had.

Mentoring and an early induction into how NHS works – would be ideal but this is often missing even now for many new IMGs.” Addressing Differential Attainment Structural and institutional racism within the NHS has never been under this acute a scrutiny as during the course of the pandemic. This is not a hyperbole but a series of rather disturbing revelations that surfaced only as deaths of black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) doctors at Covid-19 frontlines stacked up. Dr. Subodh was part of the taskforce set up by the RCPsych that examined the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on BAME communities. Their series of recommendations have been applauded and widely actioned.

Speaking about the detrimental impact of workforce inequalities, Dr. Subodh says, “Negative impact on the staff members impacted by the inequalities can also result in a negative impact on patient-care.

Addressing these inequalities is therefore everyone’s business.

“We know that IMGs underperform in key highstakes examinations by a sig-

nificant margin. There is also a difference in attainment levels seen between UK graduates of BAME origin and UK non-BAME graduates. These differences in outcomes based on ethnicity and other protected characteristics are referred to as DA. Over the past five years, in my previous role as Associate Dean, Royal College of Psychiatrists, we have made significant progress in addressing DA. We have organised mentoring for IMGs, provided national induction and made changes to the exams that might have unfairly disadvantaged IMGs (in Psychiatry). More recently, the GMC has commissioned me to provide simulationtraining to based Educational and Clinical Supervisors to help them understand and tackle DA. We are evaluating this formally to understand what really helps us address DA.” Improving person centred care and psychiatric training Keen on enhancing community engagement to enable the delivery of person-centred care, he has authored various studies and reports on Person Centred Care and involved in developing national guidance on community care. Equally, he is passionate about patient involvement in Quality Improvement and in teaching and has been the architect for the award-winning programme of volunteerpatient teachers in Derby,

Dr. Subodh Dave

UK. He has co-authored the textbook undergraduate “Hundred Cases in Psychiatry” and has extensively lectured on the subject of medical education, global mental health and ethical medicine.

Discussing his future aspirations around psychiatric training and practice, he says, “I am keen to ensure that scientific advances are reflected in psychiatric training and curricula. This needs to include both neurosciences as well as social sciences. We also need to make sure that we learn from our patients and so I would want to increase the scope of Expert Patient Educators in post graduate psychiatric training. We need to empower our trainees and trainers so that they feel that the training they are involved in – makes a direct difference to patient care. We know that when training makes a difference to patient outcomes, it is not just patients who benefit. This also has a significant benefit on doctors’ own mental health and well- being- an important point when we know that stress and burnout in medics is rising.”

UK's Health Secretary promises to work with EU to avoid vaccine disruption Speaking at a webinar in Chatham House on Tuesday, Mr Hancock emphasised on the importance of ‘collective measures’ to fight pandemics Rupanjana Dutta In the wake of EU’s proposal to impose tight controls on export of Covid-19 vaccines made in the bloc, UK’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock has ensured that UK would work with EU to ensure there’s no disruption to the supply of coronavirus vaccines.

Speaking at a webinar in Chatham House on Tuesday, drawing instances from history and pandemics that the world has witnessed before, Mr Hancock emphasised on the importance of ‘collective measures’ to fight grave illnesses like Covid-19.

He said, “How to keep humans safe and healthy in an interconnected world even more pressing now than in

19th century…

“For me the history of 2020 was about nations working together to solve pressing challenges immediately in front of them at home.

“Now is the time to reject protectionism and narrow nationalism and the disinformation that can divide us and can hinder the response to this common threat. Afterall Covid-19 affects every nation because we are all human.

2021 should be the year humanity comes together despite the restrictions that keep us physically apart.”

This was Health Secretary’s first speech of the G7 presidency, at a time when global public health has been hitting the headlines like

Health Secretary Matt Hancock

never before. He outlined his vision for a more effective global response and his plans to ensure preparedness for the threats of the future.

Setting the G7 agendas, he spoke about health security irrespective of any differences, developing transparent ways of preventing, detecting and responding to outbreaks, strengthening the World Health Organisation so that it is nimbler and delivering effective surveillance and early warning systems to the

threat of the future.

The Minister insisted on shared experiences, international collaboration and said he found UK as a consistent voice for global solidarity throughout the crisis and urged G7 to follow the lead, especially in helping developing nations. He also mentioned that there would be a new 'variant assessment platform', to be led by Public Health England (PHE), to analyse the genetics of Covid19 samples.

India has been invited to participate in the G7 Summit in the UK summer 2021 by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is believed to have agreed to attend.

Birmingham Mosque first vaccination centre A mosque in Birmingham is the first in the UK to open as a Covid-19 vaccination centre.

The Al-Abbas Islamic Centre in Balsall Heath,

Birmingham is expected to vaccinate up to 500 people a day. According to NHS England the mosque in Birmingham and Odeon cinema in Aylesbury are among

the latest sites to become vaccination centres as the government continues its vaccination program. This inauguration is seen crucial especially at a time when misinfor-

mation around the vaccine is rampant across social media and Imams believe that it will help dispel the myth that the vaccine was forbidden in Islamic law.

16 ART & CULTURE

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Book Review: Guru Dutt An Unfinished Story almost as jarring and whimsical as it is today. If this book had been documented in those days, maybe the lens with which we view cinema today, would have been a little less blurred.

Yasser is a renowned author who has previously written books on Rekha, Sanjay Dutt and superstar Rajesh Khanna.

Usman doesn’t beautify or sugar coat his narrative of the stars. He tells the story of these actors in simpler, understandable and glamorous ways, exactly the way we know them.

Guru Dutt An Unfinished Story is a collection of Dutt’s life stories, starting with the screening of Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam at Berlin Film Festival in 1963. He doesn’t waste the reader’s time in painting a picturesque early life and childhood cliche of the actor. Usman gets straight to business and starts with a hard hitting reality of Dutt’s life, perhaps his first taste of what one can call failure as his film failed to get an audience of more than 25 people in a

Shefali Saxena

Y

asser Usman’s book on Indian cinema’s legendary actor Guru Dutt is a mirror that reflects the hard hitting realities of cinema ever since its inception.

It is a narrative that shatters the myths, the rose tinted glasses with which we as viewers look up to the film industry.

What masses see in films which are made about films - by filmmakers like Madhur Bhandarkar, or Zoya Akhtar, is somewhat an extension (more glamorised, and rightly so) is what Usman’s biography of Guru Dutt vividly depicts on paper. The tales of the 50s were

foreign land and how he lost his protege - Waheeda Rahman.

The book is melancholic, just like Dutt’s idea of scripts and his life. If you’re reading this book during the pandemic or you’re alone or get triggered by sensitive topics like life and death (Guru Dutt committed suicide), you may want to park the book on your bookshelf until you’re ready to immerse yourself in the world of Guru Dutt. That doesn’t mean that you mustn’t pick up the book.

You must! But with caution.

Usman thanks and dedicates the book to Guru Dutt’s sister, Lalitha Lajmi, an eminent artist who has contributed to the book (as told to Usman) with anecdotes from Dutt’s life. What’s commendable about the book is that, unlike the previous books that Usman has written, or other biographies/autobiographical work you may have read about film actors, this book screeches of a tough life, poverty, struggles, mental health woes, the

fickle logistics of the film industry, starry tantrums, lack of digitisation, risque budgets and personal sacrifices.

“Like his films, his life was a dream in two parts - the building of the dream and then the destruction of the dream.

We tell it here as it was,” writes Usman. By the end, you’ll know Guru Dutt, the boy who had a disturbed childhood, why and how was his iconic film Pyaasa made, his extravagant nature, his heartbreaks, unwillingness to stay alive, and most imperatively, that we lost a man who told real stories, had real - common man’s struggles, and a creative brain which was difficult to comprehend to for people around him.

Lastly, the book shows how little value we as a society attach to the art & culture community, as compared to scholars from other fields when it comes to monetary compensation and respect.

The book is available on Amazon.

‘Beyond their stardom, the stars are humans’ It took Yasser Usman more than two years to finish his book on Guru Dutt. In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, Usman spoke about the book. He told us that there were very few contemporaries of his era who are alive.

A few passed away during the course of my research.

The archives were very important. They included some accounts in Kannada and Bengali.

As an author, you've written about some of the most debated and sensitive actors of the country before, and now, Guru Dutt.

What is the kind of responsibility, and precaution that you adhere to while drafting books on them?

The main rule that I follow is to not be judgmental about their lives. If you read my books, my voice in the narrative is minimal.

It’s a conscious decision. Also, the thin line between gossip and truth. So mostly, I stick with interviews/quotes of the subject or people close to him personally or professionally. It helps that

the film journalism of those decades was much better than the film media of present times.

Beyond their stardom, the stars as humans. As a writer, I want to humanize their enigma.

What inspired you to choose Guru Dutt as the subject of your book?

I loved his cinema, of course and he made all those films in a span of just ten years. It’s phenomenal. He is talked about as a great filmmaker but there are many myths too. For example- It is often said that after Kaagaz Ke Phool flopped he lost the confidence to make any other film.

The reality is, he was a ‘comeback man’. After the Kaagaz Ke Phool disaster, he made.his next Chaudavin Ka Chand in just SEVEN MONTHS! It remains his biggest commercial blockbuster ever. He achieved a spectacular balance between commercial success without ever compromising on artistic satisfaction.

Look at Pyaasa- the philosophical ‘Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye’, the searing ‘Jinhe naaz hai hind

Yasser Usman

par’ coexist with peppy chartbuster ‘Sar jo tera chakraaye’. But while he was creating these classics on celluloid, he was going through hell in his personal life.

This aspect intrigued me the most.

What was it like meeting Lalitha Lajmi? (Lajmi is Guru Dutt’s sister) There were multiple conversations with Lalitha Lajmi Ji.Many times she was moved by her memories. But I was also fascinated as she narrated the episodes of Guru and Get Dutt in vivid details.

Sathnam Sanghera’s latest book “Empireland” revealed Author Sathnam Sanghera’s latest book “Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain” will be published and available for readers on January 28.

Empireland is about how the British Empire ran for centuries and covered vast swathes of the world.

According to Waterstones, as revealed by Sanghera, it is fundamental to understanding Britain.

However, even among those who celebrate the empire there seems to be a desire not to look at it too closely -

not to include the subject in our school history books, not to emphasize it too much in our favourite museums. At a time of great division, when we are arguing about what it means to be British, Sanghera's book urges us to address this bewildering contradiction. For, it is only by stepping back and seeing where we really come from, that we can begin to understand who we are, and what unites us.

Talking about Guru Dutt turmoil, she told me Guru Dutt never talked about the reason why he tried to end his life so many times, ‘Sometimes he used to call me. I would rush to him even in the middle of the night.

But he would sit quietly, not say anything. I felt he wanted to say something. But he never did.

Never.’

She still regrets there wasn’t much awareness on mental issues in those times, “In those days no one really talked about such things. We also called a psychiatrist but he charged Rs 500 for a visit. My brother Atma laughed that he was ‘just talking’ with Guru and he is so expensive.

We never called him again. It moved me that she was honest enough to admit that sometimes she blames herself for not doing enough for her brother who she thinks was silently crying for help.

I am deeply indebted to her for this crucial documentation.

Really thankful that she allowed me an entry into her inner world.

Manchester City Council to give hardship grants The Manchester City Council is going to give hardship grants to freelancers in the art and culture sector who have suffered during the pandemic.

“Culture & the arts are more vital than ever, and we need to support our creative industries.

We're proud to announce the Cultural Hardship Fund for Freelancers with the help of the Savannah Wisdom Foundation and @bmstores, supported by @HOME_mcr,” the official

handle of the Manchester City Council tweeted.

Furthering their thoughts on the collaboration, HOME mcr tweeted and said that the fund is specifically aimed towards those who were ineligible for, or have been unsuccessful in applying for, the Government Self Employment Income Support Scheme. With this further lockdown, we risk losing an entire generation of talented artists and creative practitioners if we don’t act now.

what's on JAIPUR LITERATURE FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES PROGRAMME FOR VIRTUAL 2021 EDITION

Set to take place between 19th to 28th February 2021, the Jaipur Literature Festival returns with a stellar online programme, spread over 10 days, for its 14th edition.

Covering the ongoing pandemic, doctors and co-authors Randeep Guleria, Chandrakant Lahariya and Gagandeep Kang will discuss their exciting new project in conversation with award-winning journalist Maya Mirchandani. The focus of the session will revolve around whether India wins the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Marina Wheeler, a Queen’s Counsel in England, will open the portals of memory as the daughter of a woman traumatised by the Partition of 1947 that divided British India into Pakistan and India. In conversation with Navtej Sarna, the former High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom, she will explore the meaning of the Punjabi Sikh identity as it survives through cultural transitions. In a special session, director and writer Devashish Makhija’s latest book, Oonga will be launched followed by a conversation exploring the book. At a special session, a distinguished panel consisting of author and the 16th Chief Election Commissioner of India Navin B. Chawla, former Chief Election Commissioner of Nepal Neil Kantha Uprety and the Chief Election Commissioner of Bhutan Dasho Kunzang Wangdi will decipher and evaluate the electoral process in conversation with anthropologist and writer Mukulika Banerjee.

In conversation with celebrated author and Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor, Michael Sandel will offer an ethic of dignity and solidarity that points the way to a new politics of the common good.The Festival will remember legendary Indian actress Devika Rani through award-winning author and playwright Kishwar Desai’s book The Longest Kiss: The Life and Times of Devika Rani which charts the life and career of the celebrated actress.

UK BLOCKS EXPORT OF INDIAN SILVER DURBAR SET OWNED

BY ROBERT CLIVE The UK government has temporarily placed an export bar on a rare Indian silver Durbar set, made up of rosewater sprinklers, paan caskets and huqqa bases worth around 730,000 pounds, to offer a gallery or institution in Britain an opportunity to acquire it for public display. As per reports, the set was among the many belongings of Robert Clive - referred to as "Clive of India" for his central role in establishing Britain's colonial domination over India in the 18th century. “The set, believed to have been used in Mughal court assemblies in India, was among the many belongings of Robert Clive - referred to as "Clive of India" for his central role in establishing Britain's colonial domination over India in the 18th century,” NDTV reported. Culture minister Caroline Dinenage was quoted saying that she was imposing the temporary block, which will run until April and could be extended till September if funds are found to keep the collection in Britain, to help the public better understand the UK's "long friendship" with India. "I hope that an institution is able to save this collection for the public to help us better understand our nation's long friendship with India," she said.

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THIS WEEK IN PHOTOS Snow across London and other parts of the UK on Sunday, 24 January 2021, brought a welcome break to the otherwise monotonous days in UK’s third national lockdown.

Small crowds in their own bubbles were seen gathered enjoying the view, building snowman and children riding sledges down little slopes across parks and fields.

2-year-old Arjun enjoying sledging with his father in North Acton The snow covered beautiful BAPS Swaminarayan Temple in Neasden on Sunday

3-year-old Aditya with the snowman he helped to build in Tooting Common

A red deer stag in Richmond Park on Sunday, reminding us of Santa’s reindeer Rudolph.

London’s historical India Club raising funds to fight eviction The India Club, London’s famous restaurant in the same building as the Hotel Strand Continental is once again facing a battle for its survival. The family run restaurant that was saved from developers in 2018, is now facing eviction.

The landlord has recently served the restaurant at 143-145 Strand a notice to modernise the property to run it from the same property. If they fail, this will increase the rent by 80%.

The general manager Phiroza Marker, whose father Yadgar owns the restaurant has started a crowdfunding campaign to preserve this restaurant.

Three generations of the Marker family have run the India Club for over last two decades.

It was originally set up by the India League, as a symbol of postindependence friendship and understanding between India and the UK and opened by India’s first High Commissioner to the UK, Mr Krishna Menon, with founding members Lady Mountbatten and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.The interior remains in the same condition as they were when the property was occupied by the India League. It has been a leading spot for meetings by renowned figures in the post-independent era, including several meetings by the Indian Journalists’ Association.

In 2019, the National Trust held an exhibition on the India Club at 143 Strand itself, in recognition of the Club's far-reaching cultural importance. The oral histories gathered from this exhibition are

permanently housed at the British Library.

The crowdfunding page said, “The landlord has recently served us with a notice to modernise and run their own hotel from the property. If this fails, they want a crippling 80% increase in rent, amid a pandemic which has already had a devastating effect on us as a local independent business. To date, we have always met our rent obligations…”

“Fighting the landlord - a multimillion-pound property developer - for 3 years, combined with the pandemic, has taken a financial toll.

“We now need to raise at least £50,000 for legal costs to continue the fight. Any surplus funds or costs recovered will go towards our rent costs and be a much-needed lifeline during these uncertain times. Together we must ensure the India Club does not fall victim to another profit-grab in the guise of modernisation.

“Whether you are an old friend, a one-time visitor or someone who appreciates what the India Club stands for, we would be eternally grateful for your support. Any contribution, no matter the amount, will help us to

welcome you back once the challenges of recent times are behind us. Thank you very much for your support.”

See more details: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/saveindia-club.

Landlord's statement A spokesperson from Marston Properties reportedly told the weekly The Caterer, “Marston Properties is proud to have been investing in buildings in London for over 125 years.

We have owned an interest in the building since 1981 and originally purchased it with the intention of running the hotel one day. For some time, we have been concerned about the viability and condition of the building. Many options have been explored over the last few years to resolve these issues including seeking planning permission for two different redevelopment schemes. We have had many discussions with Goldsand Hotels but have been unable to achieve a mutually agreeable solution with them. As the landlord we are entitled, following the expiry of Goldsand Hotels' lease, to regain possession to occupy the building for our own business use and therefore notice was served on Goldsand Hotels in August 2020."

A new dawn in immigration policy?

Maria Fernandes Now that we have finally left the EU, the shape of our labour needs for the future will be determined by the new points-based system which replaces the current one.

Many have expressed concern that the changes do not cater for low skilled staff and the challenges of filling these positions from the local market will remain for months and years to come.

Nevertheless, there are fundamental policy changes for skilled workers which will give employers much more choice over staff. In the last few years, the skill levels were raised and this excluded a wide number of positions. Also employers in most cases had to carry out a labour search within the UK. Where a local applicant matched the skills of a migrant worker, the employer was required to choose the local applicant over the migrant worker. There has been a significant shift in this policy. The skill level has been reduced from graduate level to A level equivalent positions opening up a range of jobs in a wider number of industries. There is no labour market test and therefore employers can now select the best candidate for their needs.

There were also complicated rules preventing migrants in one category from switching within the UK to another. These restrictions have been more or less removed making it so much easier to move from one category to another.

The quota that was in place which largely favoured high earners has been suspended although not permanently removed. For now, this opens up a level playing field to a wider type of positions.

There are particularly welcome changes in relation to students. You may remember the volatile culture created during Theresa May’s premiership in which students were demonised and severe restrictions were placed on them. This resulted in a steep drop in student numbers. This government have swept away a number of these restrictions. They can switch to skilled worker status for up to 2 years after they graduate. Those who are working towards a recognised professional qualification or working towards full registration or chartered status will qualify. This will be welcome news to accountancy and pharmacy practices.

The general salary that must be paid for most positions has been reduced to £25,600 although there are other rates, £23,040 with £20,800 being the absolute minimum. However, nurses and midwives in training are permitted to earn below this for a short period of time. However there is a sting in the tail in these figures. For most positions, although the baseline is £25,600, each occupation also has a “going rate.” The salary must equal or exceed the going rate in addition to meeting the general threshold. For many positions, the going rate is much higher. Furthermore, employers would need to factor in other charges which have crept in over the years at an alarming rate and include the fees and the Immigration skills charge which are payable.

So far so good. This system has been made more flexible allowing points to be traded in certain areas.

The regulations require the position to be genuine.

There is an Administrative review if refused but this is largely based on casework errors. It remains to be seen how the system will operate on the ground. Will certain countries have higher rates of refusal?

Overall there has been a mixed bag of changes, mainly positive. From experience, when the original points based system was introduced it championed flexibility as the key benefit. Instead employers found that the system was rigid and many licences were stripped from employers on the basis that the positions were not genuine or were exaggerated. Let us hope these new rules do not end up the same way.

One of the areas where ties could have developed are between the Commonwealth countries and the UK. The Youth Mobility Scheme which enables the young to come to the UK and work has favoured Australian, New Zealand and has recently included Japan and South Korea. Africa and the Indian subcontinent have never been considered to be important enough for inclusion despite these historical ties.

Stoked by the media, for many years immigration policy was about numbers and restrictions were aimed at this. This policy has, for now at least been shelved.

Long may it last.

18 FINANCE - UK

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Dear Financial Voice Reader, Alpesh Patel This week, key questions from readers and viewers of my social media that caught my eye: Is the UK market undervalued?

Relative to other markets, it does indeed look like we in the UK are lagging and have some catching up to do. A lot of unknowns, especially the virus remain.

Will Smaller Companies do Better?

Actually, data from Schroders shows that small-cap companies tend to outperform larger caps when business activity improves.

Will Big Tech Companies Maintain their Dominance?

Whilst Biden is supposed to be in favour of breaking up big tech, actually, research shows companies do not dominate for more than a decade. So the largest market caps of their era are usually overtaken – GM, AT&T, IBM, Exxon, for instance. In ten years, it is unlikely today's tech giants will all be there. I, for one, review my holdings annually and never buy and hold forever.

Is it worth holding Tech companies in my SIPP/ISA like Microsoft, Amazon, Apple?

While these giants had a great 2020, I do still hold them in my pot so far. It seems form a report on Bloomberg on 23rd January 2021 that ‘hedge funds have fallen back in love with technology giants’ too. They used data from Goldman Sachs to back this up. And they expect the big five, I own them, Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook all will announce fast growth too.

But isn’t the US Market Overvalued?

The famous Buffet Indicator, which measures Global Market Cap (ie, the value of companies on the stock market) against GDP ie the size of the economy as a whole, is at highs it's not seen since the global financial crisis of 2008.

So to me, it is important to pick the right stocks, the type I speak about which are resilient, because of their strong balance sheets, cash, cash flow, higher growth, and not ridiculously priced for the profits they could make.

So what has been driving stock market growth? Froth?

Actually, according to Morgan Stanley, the fundamental drive to S&P500 stock price growth has been a rise in sales and profits. Some of it has come from rising profit margins. In any given year, it is just the prospect the market puts on the company, but over time it is sales growth that is most important.

Okay, so under Biden anything to worry about?

Well, under a Democrat President, the average S&P 500 return has been 10% (less than under a Republican). But GDP ie the economy growth at 4%, more than under a Republican.

What about rising Government Debt?

Well, the US dollar is falling as the supply of dollars, and other fear factors push it lower, which would mean Emerging Market stocks should do better – Korea had a good 2020 and will probably repeat that in 2021.

The US is at 94% of debt to the size of the economy.

The UK is at 104% - similar to France. Japan seems to cope on 261%!

Visit my www.campaignforamillion.com for free investing resources.

HMRC waives late tax filing penalty for those who file by Feb 28 The HM Revenue and Customs' Chief Executive Jim Harra has announced the waiving of penalty for late online returns if taxes are filed by February 28.

According to the announcement, taxpayers who cannot afford to pay their tax bill on time can apply online to spread their bill over up to 12 months.

Over 8.9 million people have already filed their tax return, and taxpayers are still obliged to pay their bill

by January 31. Interest will be charged from February 1 on any outstanding liabilities. The HMRC has encouraged everyone who cannot file by that time, to file online by February 28.

A press release quoted

Harra as saying, “We want to encourage as many people as possible to file their return on time, so we can calculate their tax bill and help them if they can't pay it straight away. But we recognise the immense pressure that many people are facing in these unprecedented times and it has become increasingly clear that some

people will not be able to file their return by 31 January.”

He added, “Not charging late filing penalties for late online tax returns submitted in February will give them the breathing space they need to complete and file their returns, without worrying about receiving a penalty. We can reasonably assume most of these people

will have a valid reason for filing late, caused by the pandemic.”

Late filing penalties are normally applied to all returns filed after the 31 deadline.

January However, they are cancelled if the payer has a reasonable excuse. This year, the HMRC has waived late filing penalties for a month to help taxpayers and agents unable to meet the deadline.

The department has also increased support for customers who may need help with their liabilities.

Once they have completed their 2019-20 tax return, customers can set up an online payment plan to spread Self Assessment bills of up to £30,000 over up to 12 monthly instalments.

Vijay Mallya has applied for asylum, his lawyer tells court Fugitive economic offender Vijay Mallya’s barrister confirmed for the first time in a British court that the 65year-old has applied for asylum, which is why he has not been sent back to India despite the UK courts having upheld India’s extradition request to send him back in May 2020 to face charges of fraud by false representation, conspiracy to defraud, and laundering money.

Philip Marshall QC, representing Mallya in his bankruptcy proceedings in the high court - which have been brought by the consortium of Indian banks to whom Mallya owes £1.05 billion, whilst making an application for £2.8 million from the court funds office to

fund Mallya’s legal fees and living expenses, was asked by deputy insolvency and companies court judge Barnett what the outcome of Mallya’s extradition proceedings were.

Marshall replied: “The extradition request was upheld. He is still here because there is another route. You can apply to the secretary of state for a status, meaning you won’t go back. This is a historic route.” He also said: “Were Mallya to leave the jurisdiction it would undermine the whole point of the bankruptcy proceedings and make it more difficult for the trustee to carry out enquiries and his resistance to extradition and costs incurred are beneficial to the estate.” It is widely

Vijay Mallya

thought that Tiger Hanif accused of being the mastermind of the 1993 Surat bomb blasts - was granted asylum, which led to his extradition to India being reversed in 2019.

He had exhausted all avenues of appeal in the UK courts in 2013 and was due to be extradited, but, like Mallya, never went back. A

decision was later made by the home secretary to withdraw the order for his extradition. On September 11, 2020 the bankruptcy petitioners and Mallya entered into a consent order whereby the net proceeds of sale of property in France worth €3.27 million - ultimately owned by Mallya - were paid into the court funds office.

Unemployment numbers UK retailers consider 'burning' underestimated: Gordon Brown goods stuck in EU Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has warned that government officials are yet to comprehend the full scale of the country's jobs crisis.

He says hundreds of thousands of people are being missed by official unemployment figures. A study conducted by the Alliance for Full Employment backed by Brown, reveals at least 300,000 out-of-work people across the UK are being missed by official figures.

The study calls for urgent review of official measures of employment and unemployment.

While the official unemployment rate stands at 4.9 per cent or 1.7 million people, the study suggests other sources such as tax

Gordon Brown

records, benefit claimant count and surveys state unemployment was already over 2 million and likely to rise to 3.5 million later this year. Brown said, “By underestimating the true scale of unemployment, the government has underplayed the steps needed to help people back into work.

It has devastating realworld consequences.”

He added, “The true picture revealed in our report shows beyond any shadow of doubt the government has to totally rethink the timid and inadequate steps it has taken so far to support full employment in Britain.”

UK retailers are weighing the possibilities of abandoning goods EU customers want to return as opposed to paying to bring them home. A report by the BBC reveals the UK High Street and luxury brands have a massive volume of goods stuck with courier services in the EU. Retailers say the new EU trade deal has put costly duties on returns at a time when businesses are one inch away from the edge.

The report quoted Adam Mansell of the UK Fashion & Textile Association (UKFT) as saying, “It's cheaper for retailers to write off the cost of the goods than dealing with it all, either abandoning or potentially burning them.”

European customers have

been receiving new customs invoice signing for goods they've ordered from the UK since January 1. Mansell called it a “part of the ongoing small print of the deal.”

Figures from Statista reveals over 30 per cent items bought online are returned. Several customers have even automat-

ically rejected the goods, refusing to pay the additional surcharges. This directly translates to a mounting volume of goods trying to make their way back to the UK. When these goods arrive at depots on the Continent, there is brand new customs paperwork awaiting them.

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RIL's weak Q3 earnings cost Ambani dearly on a day It was not a very good Monday for Mukesh Ambani, the proprietor of Reliance Industries, as RIL inventory tanked over 5 per cent resulting in a notional lack of wealth price near $5.2 billion for the household. The notional wealth misplaced by the Ambani household at present was larger than the market capitalisation of a number of Nifty50 firms and was equal to dropping $13 million per minute of at present’s commerce.

The loss will possible push Ambani to the twelfth place in the Bloomberg Billionaires’ Index, from his earlier position of 11.

Ambani’s wealth was at $79.2 billion previous to at present’s inventory worth crash. Ambani presently owns 50.54 per cent stake in

Mukesh Ambani

RIL in his personal capability and through family-owned entities.

Investors and analysts expressed considerations over the weaker-than-expected working efficiency of the corporate in the quarter ended December, whereas a change in format of earnings assertion additionally drew worries over transparency.

“RIL’s operating performance across segments

was weaker than our expectations in Q3. Debt reduction was lower as a significant portion of inflows from capital raise and cash profits was once again utilized in capex, working capital and repayment of creditors,” stated brokerage agency Kotak Institutional Equities.

Analysts weren’t happy by corporate’s the determination to not report a number of key metrics it has historically reported, akin to gross refining margins and granular knowledge about fiber-to-home enterprise.

Brokerage agency Edelweiss Securities raised considerations over falling transparency in the

corporate’s earnings, and highlighted that the contribution of the consumer-focused enterprise was a lot decrease than what optically appeared due to dilution of stake. While Reliance Industries posted a better-than-expected consolidated web revenue development for the reported quarter, it was solely due to negligible tax bills and sharp rise in different earnings of the corporate.

In what’s a mirrored image of the falling clout of the inventory in the market, the corporate briefly misplaced its crown of getting the most important market capitalisation in the listed house to Tata Consultancy Services throughout the session. The firm ended the day with a slim lead over TCS.

Amazon moves Delhi HC to seek arrest of Future Group founder, others Jeff Bezos-led Amazon has filed a writ petition in the Delhi high court asking for the detention of Future Group’s founder and seizure of assets for violating an arbitration court’s order to temporarily halt Future Group’s $3.4-billion deal with Mukesh Ambaniowned Reliance Industries (RIL).

“In the light of above, the necessary consequence of the willful disobedience by the majority respondents and KMP respondents entails attachment of property of the aforesaid respondents and detention in the civil prison of the respondent nos. 3-11 as well as the directors of FCLP (Future Coupons Pvt Ltd), FRL (Future Retail Limited), Respondent no.14, 15 and 16,” said the Amazon petition.

In the petition, the respondent no.3 has been

mentioned as Kishore Biyani, the executive chairman and group CEO of FRL and Respondent no.8 is Rakesh Biyani, who is the managing director of FRL. “The petitioner submits that if the relief as sought for in the present petition are not granted, the majority respondents and KMP respondents will proceed with the impugned transaction, as they have publicly declared and repeatedly sought,” said the petition. It said this will vitiate the petitioner’s entire investment in FCPL, which is not compensable in monetary terms. “Thus if the majority respondent and

KMP respondents continue with their contumacious conduct, it will cause irreparable loss and injury to the petitioner.”

According to an analysis of the petition by legal experts, Amazon in its present petition has accused Future Group’s founders and other respondents of violating the Delhi HC order dated December 21, 2020.

“Here the court had essentially upheld the validity of the Order passed by the Emergency Arbitrator passed in Singapore under SIAC (Singapore International Arbitration Centre) Rules, as valid under Indian law,” said Salman Waris, managing partner at technology law firm TechLegis Advocates and Solicitors.

He said Amazon has also alleged in the present petition that the Future Groups founders and other respondents have

misrepresented and selectively quoted from the order of the HC before various authorities and government bodies to be able to secure necessary approvals for their deal thus committing contempt.

“Hence Amazon has now sought the implementation of October 25, 2020 order of the HC seeking injunction against the Future Group founders and other respondents and also their detention in civil prison.”

Last week, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi ) approved Future Group's scheme of arrangement and sale of assets to Reliance. Based on this, the Bombay Stock Exchange also granted its "no adverse observation" report to the deal. However, Amazon said Sebi’s approval for Future Retail’s deal with Reliance Industries is subject to court decisions.

ED launches probe into Chinese firms over money laundering India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) has begun a probe into Chinese companies resorting to fraudulent online betting, cheating people in India and transferring the proceeds of the crime to China through multi-layered and technical transactions involving cryptocurrency. The firms allegedly laundered £110 million from just two accounts.

Soon after a Chinese national Yan Hao was arrested, the ED made him accused number 1 in the case and later named Delhi-based Jagadamba Trading

Company and two Gurgaonbased companies - Dokypay Technology and Linkyun Technology - along with their directors and associates as accused in its enforcement case information report (ECIR).

Naisar Sailesh Kothari, a cryptocurrency trader from Bhavnagar in Gujarat, was added as an accused later.

ED’s probe was an offshoot of Hyderabad cybercrime police investigation that started with a complaint in July 2020 by S Praveen Kumar of Sitaphalmandi in Secunderabad who said he was cheated of Rs 97,000 through the gaming website

htpps.baronclubs.com. He claimed he was made part of a 5,000-member Telegram app group before being cheated.

In the ECIR, the ED said the accused created multiple websites that look like ecommerce platforms. “If any player wants to indulge in betting and gambling, he has to come through a referral code provided by the Telegram groups. All those who add new members into these gaming groups will be paid incentives. These groups offer predictions to the gamblers and lure them into investing in betting and dupe them in the process.

Most of the websites will remain inactive and the admins of these Telegram groups would indicate to their members where to gamble and which site is active,” the ED said.

“This is done to avoid any legal tussles. The name of the game where members play and place their bets is called Colour Prediction.

Dokypay and Linkyun collect money from the members through Paytm and CashFree payment gateways. Growing Infotech, Sily Consulting Services, Pan Yun technology Services are also associated with these two main companies,” ED added.

Batten down the hatches

Suresh Vagjiani, Sow & Reap Properties Ltd

Currently, we are analysing a property in South London, which consists of about 2,500 sq. ft.; about half of this is residential and the other half is commercial. It is close to a station and the commercial comes vacant, which is good, as you have the ability to convert most of it into residential.

Generally speaking, it is good to leave the front portion of the building as commercial, as this is classed as Zone A and is the most valuable component of a commercial building. There is another advantage which is the rateable value will be below £15K; this means there will be no business rates.

This puts this commercial property within the realms of affordability. The services which will survive are services such as coffee shops, hair and nail salons etc. When looking at most small businesses, especially in good areas of London, by the time the owner has paid the rent and the rates one wonders how they turn a profit. In the current situation, the numbers of forfeiture of commercial leases will rise and continue to rise in the coming years. The current bailouts and incentives are nothing but sugar coatings.

It is therefore imperative that any tenancy you put in place is mindful of the way the terrain will change in time to come.

There are ways to secure tenancies. On the residential side, you can, for example, let to a council tenant who will continue to be on benefit for the rest of their lives; I appreciate this does come with its own set of problems. Another is to attract a key worker tenant, they are unlikely to be losing their jobs in times to come. Both of these can be wrapped in an insurance policy as long as they can pass the referencing. We are working with an insurance policy provider who will pay out when the rent has not been paid for two months. They will also cover £100K of legal fees for evictions, as well as the void periods whilst looking for another tenant.

These are some basic guidelines when looking for a tenant in the market; we ourselves are following the same route for our landlords.

On the commercial side, who you are agreeing the lease with is very important. Many of the big companies have a separate company away from the trading company to enter into leases. This means the main trading company is not whom you are giving a lease too; and if push comes to shove, many of these companies are geared up to draw out issues and they have the bank balance to fund disputes.

This is not the case with a couple who are looking to start a business, who give a PG and their main house is on the line.

Traditionally the big company was seen to be a more desirable tenant. From a funding point of view they can help you gain a higher valuation and unlock more from your investment. But when things get rough, you may find the Mr & Mrs business will be more likely to pay.

In both situations one needs to lift the bonnet and look underneath; e.g. is there a house in the background? How much equity is on there? Should I place a restriction on the title etc.

Regardless of rain or shine, there will always be a strong interest in property. In previous times of turbulence property prices rose as money sought a safe haven in uncertain times.

GUJARAT PLANNING TO ENTICE TESLA Gujarat has made a strong pitch to invite Tesla - a leading name in the manufacture of electric cars - to set up base in the state. The company, which is setting up its research and development centre in Bengaluru, is in touch with a few states, including Gujarat, to start India operations. Manoj Das, additional chief secretary (ACS), Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and in charge ACS, industry and mines department, said the state government is in discussions with Tesla and has assured the company all possible assistance and incentives for setting up base in Gujarat. “The world’s top most automobile companies have set up manufacturing plants in the state, which has become an automobile hub with key MSME players supporting large companies. Major electric car manufacturers and vehicle battery manufacturers are setting up facilities in Gujarat. We are hopeful that like other global automakers, Tesla will prefer Gujarat,” the official said.

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At 18 mn, India has largest diaspora in the world: UN United Nations: The Indian diaspora, one of the most vibrant and dynamic, is the largest in the world, with 18 million people from the country living outside their homeland in 2020, the UN has said. The United Arab Emirates, the US and Saudi Arabia host the largest numbers of migrants from India, it said. Another feature which is very interesting about the Indian migrant population is that they’re really distributed all over the globe, Population Affairs Officer in the Population Division at UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) Clare Menozzi said.

Menozzi said while some transnational populations are really clustered in one country or region, the Indian diaspora is present in all continents and regions - from the Gulf to Northern America to Australia, UK. It’s a very vibrant and dynamic diaspora in the world, she said.

The report, International Migration 2020 Highlights’, by the Population Division of UN DESA said in 2020, 18 million persons from India were living outside of their country of birth. Other countries with a large diaspora included Mexico and Russia (11

million each), China (10 million) and Syria (8 million).

The report said India’s large diaspora is distributed across a number of major countries of destination, with the UAE (3.5 million), the US (2.7 million) and Saudi Arabia (2.5 million) hosting the largest numbers of migrants from India. Other countries hosting large numbers of migrants from India included Australia, Canada, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar and the UK. Between 2000 and 2020, the size of the migrant population abroad grew for nearly all countries and areas of the world.

India experienced the largest gain during that period at nearly 10 million, followed in order of magnitude by Syria, Venezuela, China and the Philippines.

Migration from India is largely motivated by labour and family reasons, Director of Population Division at UN DESA John Wilmoth said that forced displacement is a much smaller category (about 10 per cent) in the total.

Menozzi said the Indian diaspora is comprised predominantly of persons who are working, but also students and people who moved for family reasons.

She said there is a very large

presence of migrants who are born in India, in the Gulf countries where they are playing a central role in the economic prosperity of the countries, working in construction, hospitality and care services.

The diverse Indian diaspora also includes highlyskilled scientists, engineers and doctors.

The US remained by far the largest country of destination of international migrants with 51 million migrants in 2020, equal to 18 per cent of the world’s total. Germany hosted the second largest number of migrants worldwide at around 16 million, followed by Saudi Arabia (13 million), Russia (12 million) and the UK (9 million). The report said preliminary estimates suggest that Covid-19 pandemic may have slowed the growth in the stock of international migrants by around two million by mid2020, 27 per cent less than the growth expected since mid2019.

The report said growth in the number of international migrants has been robust over the last two decades, reaching 281 million people living outside their country of origin in 2020, up from 173 million in 2000 and

Bangladesh has so far purchased 30 million doses from the

Serum Institute of India through private Beximco pharmaceuticals under a tripartite agreement. The vaccines are being transported to Beximco warehouses in Tongi on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka in special freezer vans, Beximco Pharma's managing director Nazmul Hassan told reporters after receiving the consignment at the airport.

Health officials said the government experts would check the vaccine samples to see if any temperature fluctuation affected their efficacy and the expiry dates. 'Beximco Pharma will send the vaccines to civil surgeons at all of the 64 (administrative) districts after obtaining certificates from the Drug

Administration,' a health ministry statement said.

Bangladesh is expected to get 50,00,000 of vaccines every month from India in the coming months, Health minister Zahid Maleque said earlier.

Bangladesh will start the nationwide Covid-19 vaccine distribution from early February. Officials say they have formed 7,344 distribution teams comprising six health workers while about 42,000 health workers are being trained.

Bangladesh has reported more than 532,000 coronavirus cases so far with over 8,000 deaths. India is one of the world's biggest drugmakers and an increasing number of countries have already approached it

221 million in 2010. Currently, international migrants represent about 3.6 per cent of the world’s population. Between 2000 and 2020, the number of migrants grew in 179 countries or areas. Germany, Spain, Saudi Arabia, UAE and the US gained the largest number of migrants during that period. By contrast, in 53 countries or areas, the number of international migrants declined between 2000 and 2020. Armenia, India, Pakistan, Ukraine and Tanzania were among the countries that experienced the most pronounced declines.

Menozzi said India is the main country of recipient of remittances worldwide and in 2019 received USD 83 billion in remittances from its diaspora.

The World Bank projects that in 2020, the amount will decline by around 9 per cent to about USD 76 billion.

Tedros Adhanom

Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Large consignments of Covishield vaccine doses were flown in special Indian aircraft to Seychelles, Mauritius and Myanmar on Jan. 22.

Contractual supplies are also

being undertaken to Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Morocco, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. The United States "applauded" India for gifting Covid-19 vaccines to several countries including the Maldives, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, saying New Delhi is a "true friend" which is using its pharma industry to help the global community.

Taking to Twitter, the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in the US State Department said: "We applaud India's role in global health, sharing millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccine in South Asia.

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has sentenced three members of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa to six months in jail in a case of terror financing. Saeed’s brother-in-law Hafiz Abdur Rehman Makki, JuD spokesperson Yahya Mujahid and Zafar Iqbal were handed down the six-month imprisonment each. With the sentencing, the collective imprisonment of Mujahid and Iqbal has climbed to 80 and 56 years respectively. The verdicts will run concurrently. The counter-terrorism department had registered 41 cases against JuD members, an official said, adding that trial courts have so far decided 37 cases.

32 KILLED IN BAGHDAD SUICIDE ATTACK Two men blew themselves up in a crowded Baghdad market last week, killing at least 32 people and injuring 110 others in Iraq’s first big suicide bombing for three years, authorities said, describing it as a possible sign of the reactivation of Islamic State terror group Maj Gen Tahsin al-Khafaji, spokesman for the Joint Operations Command, said the first suicide bomber cried out loudly that he was ill in the middle of the bustling market, prompting a crowd to gather around him - and that’s when he detonated his explosive belt.

The second detonated his belt shortly after, he said. The Islamic State claims responsibility for the suicide attack.

THAI WOMAN GETS 43 YEARS IN PRISON FOR INSULTING MONARCHY for procuring the coronavirus vaccines. In the last few days, India has sent consignments of domestically produced coronavirus vaccines under grant assistance to Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Mauritius and Seychelles.

It is also undertaking commercial supplies of the doses to a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil and Morocco.

WHO chief praises India, Modi for support to global Covid-19 response GENEVA: WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed gratitude to India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for continued support to the global Covid-19 response against the pandemic. "Thank you, India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for your continued support to the global Covid-19 response.

Only if we #ACTogether, including sharing of knowledge, can we stop this virus and save lives and livelihoods," Tedros tweeted.

In a bid to fight the pandemic, India has supplied Covid-19 vaccines to its neighbours including Bhutan, Maldives,

PAK COURT JAILS 3 HAFIZ AIDES FOR TERROR FUNDING

Hafiz Saeed

Dhaka receives first Covid-19 vaccine consignment from India DHAKA: Bangladesh on Monday received the first consignment of the 5 million doses of Covishield vaccines from India under a procurement agreement, four days after New Delhi gifted 2 million doses of the vaccine to Dhaka. A special Air India flight carrying the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine co-manufactured by Serum Institute of India reached the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport earlier in the day to be initially stored at a warehouse of private Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd ahead of their planned countrywide distribution.

in brief

India's free shipments of the vaccine began with Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Nepal and will extend to others. India's a true friend using its pharma to help the global community."

Earlier, India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had announced that a flight carrying two million doses of India-made coronavirus vaccines landed in Brazil. "Trust the ‘Pharmacy of the World’. Made in India vaccines arrive in Brazil," Jaishankar tweeted. Covishield has been developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.

A Thai court sentenced a 65-year-old woman to more than 43 years in jail for sharing online posts criticising the royal family, her lawyer said, the country’s harshest ever sentence for insulting the monarchy. Her sentence comes at a time of unprecedented youth-led demonstrations in which protest leaders have openly criticised the monarchy, risking prosecution under Thailand’s strict law which carries a 15-year penalty for each violation.

Anchan Preelert pled guilty to 29 separate violations of sharing and posting clips on YouTube and Facebook between 2014 and 2015, her lawyer, Pawinee Chumsri, said.

Anchan was initially sentenced to 87 years but because she had acknowledged her violations the court halved this, the lawyer said.

MAN BREAKS PUTIN’S PARTY OFFICE WINDOW, GETS 6 YEARS JAIL A Russian court jailed a mathematician for six years for breaking a window at an office of President Vladimir Putin’s ruling party, causing outrage among activists. Azat Miftakhov was convicted of “hooliganism”, his lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina said, adding that he would appeal against the ruling. “We do not agree with this decision... based particularly on two anonymous witness statements that could not be verified,” Sidorkina said. Rights group Memorial has called Miftakhov a political prisoner and almost 90,000 people have signed a petition calling for his release. More than 2,500 mathematicians from around the world have threatened to boycott a 2022 congress in Saint Petersburg if he is not freed, Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported.

The 27-year-old Miftakhov openly calls himself an anarchist activist.

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in brief UAE TO ESTABLISH EMBASSY IN TEL AVIV The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced the establishment of its embassy in Tel Aviv as the US national security advisor announced that America hopes to build “on the success of Israel’s normalisation agreements” under the Biden administration. The UAE cabinet decision to approve establishing the embassy comes after they signed the Abraham Accords in September, becoming the first Gulf state to establish a full diplomatic relationship with Israel. No further details about the embassy were given in UAE media. While Israel’s government recognises Jerusalem as its capital, the international community does not, with Palestinians claiming East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Most countries base their embassies in Tel Aviv.

TURKEY SLAPS AD BAN ON TWITTER Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority has imposed advertising bans on Twitter, Periscope and Pinterest under a new social media law, according to decisions published in the countrý’s Official Gazette. Under the law, which critics say stifles dissent, social media companies that do not appoint such representatives are liable for a series of penalties, including the latest move by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK). The law allows authorities to remove content from platforms, rather than blocking access. It has caused concern as people turn more to online platforms after Ankara tightened grip on mainstream media.

TWITTER LOCKS CHINA’S US EMBASSY A/C Twitter has locked the account of China’s US embassy for a tweet that defended China’s policy towards Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang, which the US social media platform said violated its stand against “dehumanising” people. China’s foreign ministry said it was confused by the move and that it was the embassy’s responsibility to call out disinformation and clarify the truth. “We hope they won’t apply double standards on this issue. We hope they can discern what is correct and truthful from disinformation on this matter,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said. The Chinese embassy account posted a tweet this month that said that Uighur women had been emancipated and were no longer “babymaking machines”, citing a study reported by state-backed newspaper China Daily.

CHINA SANCTIONS 28 PEOPLE LINKED TO TRUMP ADMN China announced it would sanction more than two dozen US citizens, including Mike Pompeo, the former Secretary of State, in response to "grave interference” over Taiwan. Among the 28 named were Pompeo, as well as John Bolton, Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor; Peter Navarro, former Director of Trade; and Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist. "These individuals and their immediate family members are prohibited from entering the mainland of China, Hong Kong and Macau. They and companies and institutions associated with them are also restricted from doing business with China," it added.

Indian Americans hail Biden-Harris administration’s Day 1 focus WASHINGTON: Shortly after being sworn in Jan 20 afternoon, Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration immediately got to work and sent out 17 executive orders addressing immigration policy, the Covid pandemic, and climate change. “Our country has been through so much these last four years and now we begin to heal and move forward with a new administration,” said USINPAC chairman Sanjay Puri in a press statement. “The efforts of so many hardworking Indian Americans went into a successful campaign in 2020 and, as a people, we could not be prouder.

USINPAC and those we represent will now work together with the new administration to move our nation forward.”

During his inaugural address, President Biden committed to healing our country, uniting our people, defeating the Covid-19 pandemic, providing healthcare, and building a solid economy with good jobs for Americans. He pledged to be a president for all Americans, noted Puri. Varun Nikore, exec-

utive director of AAPI Progressive Action, also credited the Asian American community for “helping turn the White House blue. Today’s victory was possible only because of your perseverance.”

“This transition comes at a time of profound crisis in our country,” said Nikore, noting that the AAPI community has been profoundly impacted by four crises the president tackled on his first day in office: the Covid-19 crisis, the resulting economic crisis, the climate crisis, and the racial equity crisis. In a video message, MR Rangaswami, founder of Indiaspora, wished the new administration a “hearty congratulations.”

Rangaswami said he has known Harris since she served as the District Attorney for San Francisco. “I’ve seen her grow from strength to strength,” he said. “It’s terrific to see this diversity in the new administration.” Neil Makhija, executive director of IMPACT, an Indian American advocacy organization and PAC, said in a press state-

ment: "Generations of immigrants came to our country for a better life for their children. Today, the daughter of an Indian immigrant, who made dosas on the campaign trail, and spoke to her 'chithis' in her nomination speech, took her oath of office as Vice-President of the United States. And as Kamala Harris takes her place in the American story, the hearts of her countrymen and women are swelling with pride and hope for the future.” "The inauguration of Kamala Devi Harris is not only the culmination of an American dream, but marks the launching of millions of new dreams.

Beginning today, a generation of American children will grow up knowing only an Indian American and Black woman as vice-president of the United States. As Vice-President Harris has said, she may be the first, but she won't be the last. And, with her as an inspiration, we look forward to helping the next gen-

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

eration prove her right,” said Makhija.

Biden and Harris drew applause from immigrant advocates for a Day 1 order which reinstates the Deferred Action for Childhood program and provides an eight-year path to citizenship for the nation’s 11 million undocumented residents.

Biden announced the plan before he took office.

Harris, the nation’s first Indian American and Black woman to hold the role of vice president, had made it clear earlier this year that immigration would be on the top of her list of priorities for her first 100 days in office. Harris is an ardent advocate of the DACA program.

PML-N lambasts Imran after UN cautions staff against flying by Pak airlines ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) has demanded resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan, saying their "incompetence and ego worship" have destroyed the country's reputation as the United Nations has restricted its employees from travelling aboard any Pakistani airline, Dawn reported.

The United Nations has cautioned staff of all its agencies against using any Pakistan-registered airline, including the national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), due to concerns about the dubious flying licences of its pilots. PMLN Vice President Maryam Nawaz lambasted the government, saying that Pakistan is paying the price for its "historic incompe-

tence."

"Pakistan is paying the price for this servile, historically unqualified and incompetent (government)," she wrote on Twitter, in response to news that the United Nations has barred its employees from travelling via any Pakistan-based airlines. "Due to the way things were handled by these novices, the country is facing embarrassment the world over. First, the PIA pilots were humiliated around the world and now the airline has fallen to such a point.

Pakistan never saw such days ever," Maryam said.

Senior PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said that it was a decision that destroyed Pakistan's reputation just because of the "incompetence and ego worship" of the prime minister and aviation minister. The News

International reported that an advisory has been issued by the UN Security Management System (UNSMS) which states: "Due to an ongoing investigation of the CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] Pakistan...due to dubious licences, caution is advised on the use of Pakistanregistered air operators."

According to the Pakistan daily, the UN advisory has been

recommended to agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), UN High Commission for Refugees, UN Development Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization, and many others. In the light of this development, that UN officials working in the country can not travel by any Pakistan-registered airline, even within Pakistan.

Prime Minister Oli removed from Nepal's ruling party amid political chaos KATHMANDU: The rival faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) removed Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli from the party, amid increasing political unrest following his decision to dissolve the lower house of the Parliament. According to the rival faction's spokesperson Narayankaji Shrestha, PM Oli no longer remains a member of the party.

"Today's Central Committee Meeting which conveyed at Paris Danda decided to remove KP Sharma Oli from the party.

He no longer holds even a simple membership of the Nepal Communist Party," Shrestha

The faction had handed over a letter to the Prime Minister's residence over a decision to seek clarification.

However, Oli did not respond to the letter. "We waited for long. He didn't reply to us. Our latKP Sharma Oli est decision comes in line by exercising said. The moves come after the the executive rights provided by splinter group under the leaderthe Central Committee of the ship of former Prime Ministers party," Shrestha added.

Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Last week, two senior leadMadhav Kumar Nepal had asked ers of the party addressed a mass Oli for a reply as to why he meeting organised in the capital shouldn't be removed from the Kathmandu and warned to party for making unconstiturevoke Oli's membership of the tional decisions.

party by taking disciplinary actions against him. Amid the increasing internal rift in the party, the now-caretaker Prime Minister Oli had decided to dissolve the Parliament on December 20 last year, calling for fresh elections for April and May this year. This step was approved by President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

Soon after the announcement, the NCP split into two factions with each claiming its own to be the authentic ones.

Now, it depends on the Election Commission who is studying the documents and laws to come to a conclusion on which faction will retain the election emblem of the "sun".

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Farmers' tractor rally turns violent; protestors hoist flags at Red Fort The protesting farmers, who took out tractor rally in Delhi, violated conditions agreed for the rally and went off the designated routes and laid siege to the Red Fort and climbed the flagpole on Republic Day on Tuesday. Later, the Delhi Police removed protesting farmers from the iconic monument. A protesting farmer died after his tractor overturned during the tractor parade. The police had given permission to the Kisans protesting against the new farm laws to hold their tractor rally on selected routes only after the official Republic Day parade on the Rajpath concludes.

The protesting farmers started their 'Kisan Gantantra parade' ahead of their scheduled timing and entered Delhi defying the agreement and created multiple fronts at Karnal Bypass, Mukarba Chowk, Nagar, Transport Akshardham, Gazipur and Tikri border. Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired an emergency meeting following farmers' violence in the national capital.

Shah met Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and took stock of the situation.

Taking precautionary measures, the government ordered suspension of internet services in parts of Delhi-NCR. As violence continued on the streets of Delhi, Samyukta Kisan Morcha disassociated itself from the violence during the

tractor parade. The farm union said that some "antisocial elements" infiltrated the rally and condemned regretted the and "undesirable" and "unacceptable" events.

Traffic was badly affected in many parts of Delhi. Due to the tractor rally, very heavy traffic was witnessed on GTK road, Outer Ring Road, Badli road, KN Katzu Marg, Madhuban Chowk, Kanjhawala Road, Palla Road, Narela & DSIDC Narela roads.

Chaotic scenes were witnessed at ITO, which resembled a war zone.

Shells, bricks and stones were found on the streets in the area. Meanwhile, the vehicular movement has resumed at Delhi’s ITO. Delhi Police said that a protesting farmer died as a tractor overturned at ITO. As per a senior police officer, the person died as his tractor overturned at ITO where many farmers participating in the parade had reached from the Ghazipur border.

Delhi Police said that the protesting farmers broke pre-decided

conditions for tractor parade and resorted to violence and vandalism.

"The protesters violated conditions fixed for the rally. The farmers began tractor rally before scheduled time, they also resorted to violence and vandalism," Delhi Police PRO Eish Singhal said. "We followed all conditions as promised and did our due diligence but the protest led to extensive damage to public property. Many policemen were also injured during the protest," Singhal said.

Opposition parties, including Congress, Shiv Sena, Left and some other parties condemned violence during the tractor parade.

Thousands of farmers have been protesting at several border points of Delhi against The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020.

Indian, Chinese soldiers clashed on Jan 20: Army Indian and Chinese troops physically clashed once again in the high-altitude area of Naku La in north Sikkim last week, with several soldiers being injured on both sides after Indian troops repelled an attempt by Chinese troops to enter Indian territory. The Chinese actions served as a grim reminder of the assertiveness shown by the People’s Liberation Army all along the Line of Actual Control even as Indian Army remains in a state of high alertness to respond to aggressive actions.

The Indian Army said it was a “minor faceoff ” at Naku La on January 20, which was “resolved by local commanders as per established protocols”. The action was, however, denied by Chinese government media mouthpiece Global Times which said no clash had occurred, claiming this was fake news. The brawl took place after Indian troops challenged a bid by the PLA to once again intrude into Indian territory, which saw both sides rush reinforcements to the area. “Though no weapons were used during the incident, injuries were sustained on both sides. It was bigger than a routine scuffle.

The situation is tense but under control,” a source said.

LAC talks hit dead end India on Sunday once again asked China for “complete disengagement and deescalation” at all the face-off sites in eastern

Ladakh, amid a deepening trust deficit due to the continuing consolidation of military positions by the Chinese Army all along the frontier. Sources said India pushed for finalisation of a “workable and sequential” roadmap for disengagement, de-escalation and de-induction, with a joint verification mechanism, while restoring status quo ante at the ‘friction points’ in Pangong Tso, Chushul and Gogra-Hotsprings areas as the first step.

There was, however, no official word on the outcome of the ninth round of military talks, led by 14 Corps commander Lt-General P G K Menon and South Xinjiang Military District chief Major General Liu Lin, which lasted for over 10 hours on the Chinese side of the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on Sunday.

“With hardened positions on both sides, any tangible breakthrough seems unlikely at this stage. The two delegations will now go to their respective political hierarchies for further directions on the proposals and counter-proposals exchanged during the talks,” a source said.

Stalemate continues over talks The stalemate between the Centre and the farm unions opposed to the new agri laws deepened after the government said the offer to suspend the legislations for up to one and a half years was the best deal possible and its indicated rejection that certain forces did not want a solution. The 11th round of discussions between the Centre and the unions ran aground with agriculture minister Narendra Tomar recounting several suggestions relating to amendments to the laws offered by the Centre and noting that the unions had remained frozen in demanding repeal of the legislations without agreeing to a clause by clause discussion on the reforms. After the meeting ended without the next date being fixed, Tomar said it appeared there were certain forces which did not actually want a solution and were rather trying to serve their own political interests using the farmers.

Such forces had nothing to do with farm interests as they simply wanted the protests to continue to serve their own interests, he added. The unions reiterated their plans to further intensify the agitation.

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Abe, SPB awarded Padma Vibhushan Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, legendary singer S P Balasubramaniam and cardiologist Dr Belle Monappa Hegde were among the seven chosen for Padma Vibhushan, and Jnanpith laureate Chandrashekara Kambara and playback singer Chithra were among 10 picked for Padma Bhushan in this year.

Three from Karnataka Matha B Manjamma Jogati (Art), Rangaswami Lakshminarayana Kashyap (literature and education) and KY Venkatesh (Sports) got Padma Shri. Jnanpith laureate Kambara, 84, is a poet, playwright, folklorist and academician among Padma Shri winners. His works include Jokumaraswamy, Kadu Kudure and Sirisampige. He said: “I’m happy this prestigious award has been given to a Kannada poet and playwright. I dedicate it to Kannadigas and Goddess Saraswati.”

Rangasami Lakshminarayana Kashyap, popularly known as RL Kashyap, is a professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of Sri Aurobindo Kapali Sakshi Institute of Vedic Culture, Bengaluru. He has translat-

Shinzo Abe

S P Balasubramaniam

ed the Vedas consisting of about 25,000 metrical verses.

He has received the Vedanga Vidvan Award instituted by the Maharshi Sandeepani Veda Vidya Patashala. He’s also the recipient of Rajyotsava Award in 2012 and Veda Brahma award in 2013 from the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

Keshubhai among five Padma awardees Five people from Gujarat featured on the list of Padma Awards. The recipients include former Gujarat CM Keshubhai Patel who has been conferred Padma Bhushan posthumously. The Padma Shri awardees include brother-duo Mahesh and Naresh Kanodia in Art category, as well as folk singer Dadudan Gadhvi and Chandrakant Mehta in Literature and Education

category.

The other recipients with a Gujarat connection included Father Carlos González Vallés, a Spanish Jesuit priest and popular Gujarati author who spent a large chunk of his active career in Ahmedabad before passing away last year, and Jaswanti Popat, one of the co-founders of Lijjat Papad brand. Srikant Datar, currently dean of Harvard Business School who is among the Padma Shri awardees, is an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus.

Bharat Patel, son of Keshubhai Patel, said the family is very happy to receive the honour in Public Affairs category. “It’s a matter of pride for Gujarat and all those who worked with him. He actively worked for the welfare of people till his last breath,” he said.

Keshubhai Patel passed

India displays its military might at Rajpath Continued from page - 1 Rafale fighter jets took part in the Republic Day flypast for the first time as the armed forces showcased its T-90 tanks, the Samvijay electronic warfare system and Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets on the Rajpath.

So was the presence of Flight lieutenant Bhawana Kanth, She was the first woman fighter pilot to take part in the Indian Air Force's (IAF's) tableau. The IAF tableau displayed mock-ups of the light combat aircraft, light combat helicopter and the Sukhoi-30 fighter plane.

Captain Preeti Choudhary was the only woman army officer to lead a contingent this year. She led the upgraded Schilika weapon system, which also featured at the parade for the first time. "I received this opportunity because it is my regiment's equipment, not due to my gender," she has said on being the only woman contingent commander from the Indian Army.

Seventeen tableaux from states and Union territories and nine from different Union ministries and paramilitary forces took part in the parade. Six tableaux of the defence ministry also participated in the event. The ceremony started as Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in paying tribute to the fallen soldiers by laying a wreath at the National War Memorial.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, Indian Army chief Gen MM Naravane, Indian Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh and Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria were also present at the National War Memorial.

The parade, which was commanded by parade commander Lieutenant General Vijay Kumar Mishra, with Major General Alok Kacker as the second-in-command, began with President Ram Nath Kovind taking the salute. The national flag was unfurled followed by the national anthem with a booming 21-gun salute.

The parade The Indian Army showcased its main battle tank T-90 Bhishma, infantry combat vehicle BMP-II-Sarath, mobile autonomous launcher of the BrahMos missile system, multi-launcher rocket system Pinaka, electronic warfare system Samvijay among others during the parade.

The Indian Navy's tableau displayed models of Indian naval ship (INS) Vikrant and naval operations that were conducted during the 1971 India-Pakistan war. The Indian Air Force exhibited models of light combat aircraft Tejas and indigenously developed anti-tank guided missile Dhruvastra on its tableau during the parade.

Scaled-down models of the Light Combat Helicopter, Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet and Rohini radar were also part of the IAF tableaux. There were 38 IAF aircraft, including Rafale, and four planes of the Indian Army participated in the flypast. The Republic Day parade ended with a single Rafale aircraft flying at a speed of 900kmph carrying out a ‘Vertical Charlie’.

Tableaux Seventeen tableaux from Gujarat, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Tripura, West Bengal, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi and Ladakh were showcased during the parade, depicting their geographical and rich cultural diversity. The tableaux highlighted the vision for Ladakh to be carbon neutral, the Sun temple at Modhera in Mehsana district of Gujarat, tea-tribes of Assam, shore temple and other monuments of Pallava Dynasty in Tamil Nadu, Bhakti Movement and saints of Maharashtra, among others.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) presented two tableaux, one showcasing light combat aircraft Tejas' successful take off from aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya in 2020, and another displaying full complement of the antitank guided missile systems.

Dr Belle Monappa Hegde

away last October.

Ahmedabad-based author Chandrakant Mehta expressed joy at the news.

Dadudan Gadhvi, also known as Kavi Dad, is an octogenarian from Junagadh who has been an active folk artist for past six decades. Naresh Kanodia’s son Hitu Kanodia said that it’s a rare occasion where a brother duo is conferred a single award posthumously.

“But isn’t it natural for

the duo that lived together, worked together, and also remained inseparable in death? We thank all the fans and well-wishers of my family for this moment,” said the MLA from Idar.

Mahesh, 82, died after battling a long illness in Gandhinagar last October.

Two days later, Naresh, 77, died of Covid-19 and other health complications, in a hospital in Ahmedabad.

"Pitruvandana" to pay tribute to our late fathers on 14 February After the spectacular success of our virtual programme “Sanskarvahini – Charani Loksahitya” Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar in association with Brighton Gujarati Cultural Society have organised another virtual event – ‘Pitruvandana’ on Sunday 14 February 2021 from 2 to 4 pm.

Due to Covid-19, we have lost many of our loved ones before their time. Through our upcoming programme ‘Pitruvandana’, we will pay homage to our late fathers and remember them together. To mark the occasion, Shri Pradeepbhai Dhamecha, director of Dhamecha Cash and Carry, and his family will join us as the chief guests of the event. Pujya Deviprasadji Mahant of Anandbava Ashram, Jamnagar will also participate in this event to pay homage on the first anniversary of Late Shri Khodidasbhai Dhamecha who was the main pillar of the Dhamecha family. The two- hour online 'zoom' program will be hosted by Brighton-based Dhirubhai Gadhvi and Kokila Patel, managing editor of Gujarat Samachar.

Some of the readers who watched the ‘Charani Loksahitya’ programme sent a letter saying that it would be more interesting for the youth, if someone could explain the main theme of the event in English. Shri Nandkumarji, Director of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, will give a short presentation on ‘Pitruvandana’ in English. If you have any suggestions regarding this programme, you can share the same through email or send them to our office.

We will share the zoom link and a brief introduction of Anantbhai Suchak, Mahendrabhai Chauhan, and Ketanbhai Patel who handles our technical department in our next issue.

If you are interested to attend or want more details, please email: Kokila Patel: kokila.patel@abplgroup.com Dhirubhai Gadhvi: dnlamba@yahoo.co.uk

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Karnataka CM forced to reassign portfolios of ministers BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, fighting resentment in his ruling BJP after including new ministers in his cabinet, has been forced to change their portfolios in a matter of 24 hours. Some ministers had complained soon after their departments were announced.

J.C. Madhuswamy has been assigned the Haj and Wakf department instead of Kannada and Culture. Aravind Limbavali, who was given the forest department, will also be in charge of Kannada and Culture.

MTB Nagaraja, who had been unhappy about the Excise department, has now been allocated the Municipal Administration Department and the Sugarcane Development and Directorate of Sugar.

The Excise

department goes to K. Gopalaiah, who had earlier been named for Horticulture and Sugarcane Development. R. Shankar has been given Horticulture instead of the Municipal Administration Department. K.C. Narayana Gowda will be in charge of Planning, Programme Monitoring and Statistics Department instead of Haj and Wakf.

Earlier, Nagaraja, Gopalaiah, Madhuswamy and Narayana Gowda had been openly upset about their new ministries.

Except for Madhuswamy, most of the new ministers defected from rival parties and expected to be rewarded for their role in facilitating Yediyurappa's return to power in 2019. "It was a political suicidal attempt to resign from a party and join BJP," said K Sudhakar, who

crossed over from the Congress.

Some ministers had even skipped a cabinet meeting, the first of the rejigged ministry, after which Yediyurappa held several meetings to mollify them. After the latest changes, Karnataka Home Minister Bommai said: Basavaraj "Everybody has spoken to the honourable Chief Minister - and the Chief Minister has spoken to them. They are all happy, they are all contented. The issue is resolved."

Another minister, R Ashok, added: "All are settled - they are happy. They will follow the portfolios the Chief Minister has given." The seven ministers were sworn in recently, almost one and a half years after Yediyurappa took over as Karnataka Chief Minister. The elevation of the newcomers as ministers has upset many in the

BS Yediyurappa

BJP. The Chief Minister, who consulted Union Home Minister Amit Shah before taking the step, has repeatedly said whoever is unhappy was free to complain to the central leadership. Newly inducted ministers and others who have been stripped of portfolios to accommodate new members have started to openly express their concerns, compounding problems for Yediyurappa.

PUNJAB

Amarinder lays stone of Jallianwala Bagh memorial park CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh virtually laid the foundation stone of the Jallianwala Bagh Centenary Memorial Park in Amritsar, with an emotional tribute to the unsung heroes and to their families. Remembering the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for India’s independence, the Chief Minister slammed those criticising the state government for setting up their own memorial, saying every Punjabi has the right to remember the unparalleled tragedy that paved the way for the freedom struggle.

Terming the centenary celebration a happy occasion, he said he would also participate in the national-level celebration of the historic event at the Jallianwala Bagh. On the

Amarinder Singh

occasion, the Chief Minister announced a Jallianwala Bagh Chair at Guru Nanak Dev University and a literary festival dedicated to the memory of those who lost their lives in one of the world’s biggest humanitarian tragedies.

“The sky frequents daily to weep here, the arrows still sting in Punjab's heart,” he read from Rukshanda Jaleel’s poem on the massacre. Noting that the exact number of deaths in the massacre

was still not known, the Chief Minister asked Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Charanjit Singh Channi to ensure that the research into the data is completed so that the exact number could be ascertained and small memorials built in their villages. Pointing out that General Dyer had cited the figure of 200300 deaths of the 5,000 people he said had gathered there, Amarinder said Gandhiji had put the figure at 1,500, of which the names of only 492 martyrs were currently available. He recalled his visit to the Cellular Jail at Kala Pani, where there were many names of Punjabis which nobody is aware of, and directed Channi to get the information researched and compiled. His government would also build memorials for them in Punjab, he announced.

On the occasion, Channi

honoured 29 family members from amongst 492 identified families of the Jallianwala Bagh martyrs so far by the district administration, Amritsar, with a ‘kalash’ and a shawl.

The Jallianwala Bagh Centenary Memorial Park, to come up over 4,490 square metres at Amrit Anand Park in Ranjit Avenue, Amritsar, will stand out as a remembrance for the future generations. To be built at a cost of £352,000, the sacred memorial will have soil brought by kin of martyrs or panchayats, sarpanches and councillors.

The unique memorial has been conceived and designed as five marble fins going up to the sky. The memorial is expected to be completed and dedicated to the people on this Independence Day.

WEST BENGAL

Mamata refuses to speak at Netaji event after 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans raised KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her discontent and declined to deliver a speech at an event to celebrate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary where 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans were raised in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Kolkata’s Victoria Memorial.

"I think the government’s programme should have dignity.

This is not a political programme. I am grateful to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Culture that such an event has been organised in Kolkata. It (the slogan) doesn’t suit you to insult an invitee. In protest, I will not speak anything. Jai Bangla, Jai Hind," she said and returned to the seat next to Modi.

The awkward moment took

place when the moderator of the event announced Bengal CM’s name as the next speaker. As Mamata stood up and started walking towards the podium, some of the audience chanted Jai Shri Ram slogan and said they would not want to listen to her.

Others among the crowd were seen pacifying those who raised the slogan.

PM Modi, in his speech, aligned his government’s initiatives with the Netaji's ideology and vision. He also compared the centre’s Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) vision with the ideology of Bose. "Bengal had been Netaji’s workplace. He had a far-sighted vision. He wanted to build up Atmanirbhar Bharat. Today, India is heading towards the same goal. Netaji’s ideology now

is in ground reality," said Modi, while addressing an audience of odd 1,000 people. The Centre is walking along the path shown by Netaji and implementing his ideologies, the PM said.

Netaji’s birth anniversary has become a political issue as both the ruling Trinamool Congress and its arch-rival BJP are trying to woo Bengalis by riding on their sentiment about the freedom fighter. Eyeing the same goal, Modi even likened her party’s Sonar Bangla slogan with Netaji’s dream. "Netaji wanted to build a Sonar Bangla. Our aim is the same. We will build up his workplace like the same he wanted," said Modi without naming the TMC or Mamata Banerjee.

The Sonar Bangla slogan has become a political tool of the BJP to attack Mamata-led West Bengal government on the issues of alleged poor governance.

Party’s heavyweights, including Union Home minister Amit Shah and national president JP Nadda never missed a chance to promise that the party would turn West Bengal, which has allegedly witnessed no development during Mamata’s 10-year tenure, into Sonar Bangla within five years if Bengal’s electorates bring the saffron camp in power in the 2021 Assembly elections.

in brief KERALA REPORTS HIGHEST DAILY COVID CASES Kerala has been reporting highest daily Covid-19 cases in India for days. The positivity rate or the percentage of how fast an infection spreads is 12.48 per cent in Kerala, while the national average is 1.9 per cent, according to government data.

The state government says Covid cases in Kerala are at a plateau and the current numbers are not unexpected. "The testing in Kerala is a concern and the Indian Medical Association (IMA) had earlier recommended that daily testing needs to be increased to around 100,000. But the per day testing still continues to be between 40,000 to 60,000," Dr Sulphi Noohu, member of IMA's central committee, said.

DECISION ON RELEASE OF RAJIV KILLERS SOON Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit will take a decision on the release of seven people convicted in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi "within three to four days", Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court. The court, which is hearing a petition regarding the release of the convicts, had earlier expressed unhappiness over the Governor's tardiness on the issue. In 2018, the Tamil Nadu government had recommended the premature release of all the seven convicts in the 1991 assassination case. The cabinet's decision, however, needed a sign-off from the Governor, with whom the matter has been pending since. For more than two years Governor didn't decide on the TN cabinet recommendation.

GOVT GETS LAST CHANCE TO DECIDE ON MERCY PLEA The Supreme Court gave a last chance to the Centre to take a call on the mercy plea filed by Balwant S Rajoana for commuting the death penalty awarded to him in former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh's assassination case. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde - which had earlier asked the government to decide Rajoana's mercy petition before the Republic Day - gave two more weeks after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the government was examining the issue. The Solicitor General said it would not be prudent to decide the matter at this juncture as it could have some repercussions in the present situation. As Mehta sought three weeks, the Bench agreed to grant two weeks as a last chance for the government.

ECI ASKS BENGAL POLICE TO CONTAIN VIOLENCE The Election Commission of India (ECI) asked West Bengal Police to execute all pending non-bailable warrants (NBWs) within this month and to contain violence before the announcement of assembly poll dates. Eyeing to conduct the coming assembly polls in the state peacefully, the ECI is also mulling the option of deploying around 25 per cent more security personnel than what was used during the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The full bench of the ECI, which visited the state to review preparedness for the assembly polls due in April-May, held a meeting with the nodal officer of the state police, ADG (Law and Order) Gyanwant Singh, and expressed discontent with the execution of NBWs as well as the law and order situation.

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Science has delivered, will the WTO deliver?

Gutted with your gut health?

TRIPS waiver proposal from India, South Africa and other members Brajendra Navnit, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to WTO A proposal by India, South Africa and eight other countries calls on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to exempt member countries from enforcing some patents, and other Intellectual Property (IP) rights under the organisation’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, known as TRIPS, for a limited period of time. It is to ensure that IPRs do not restrict the rapid scaling- up of manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.

While a few members have raised concerns about the proposal, a large proportion of the WTO membership supports the proposal. It has also received the backing of various international organizations, multilateral agencies and global civil society.

Unprecedented times call for unorthodox measures. We saw this in the efficacy of strict lockdowns for a limited period, as a policy intervention, in curtailing the spread of the pandemic. International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its October 2020 edition of World Economic Outlook states “…However, the risk of worse growth outcomes than projected remains sizable. If the virus resurges, progress on treatments and vaccines is slower than anticipated, or countries’ access to them remains unequal, economic activity could be lower than expected, with renewed social distancing and tighter lockdowns”. The situation appears to be grimmer than predicted, we have already lost 7% of economic output from the baseline scenario projected in 2019. It translates to a loss of more than USD 6 trillion of global GDP. Even a 1% improvement in global GDP from the baseline scenario will add more than USD 800 billion in global output, offsetting the loss certainly of a much lower order to a sector of economy on account of the Waiver.

Merely a signal to ensure timely and affordable access to vaccines and treatments will work as a big confidence booster for demand revival in the economy. With the emergence of successful vaccines, there appears to be some hope on the horizon. But how will these be made accessible and affordable to global population? The fundamental question is whether there will be enough of Covid-19 vaccines to go around. As things stand,

even the most optimistic scenarios today cannot assure access to Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics for the majority of the population, in rich as well as poor countries, by the end of 2021. All the members of the WTO have agreed on one account that there is an urgent need to scale-up the manufacturing capacity for vaccines and therapeutics to meet the massive global needs. The TRIPS Waiver Proposal seeks to fulfil this need by ensuring that IP barriers do not come in the way of such scaling up of manufacturing capacity.

Why existing flexibilities under the TRIPS Agreement are not enough The existing flexibilities under the TRIPS Agreement are not adequate as these were not designed keeping pandemics in mind. Compulsory licenses are issued on a country by country, case by case and product by product basis, where every jurisdiction with an IP regime would have to issue compulsory licenses, separate practically making collaboration among countries extremely onerous.

While we encourage the use of TRIPS flexibilities, the same are timeconsuming and cumbersome to implement. Hence, only their use cannot ensure the timely access of affordable vaccines and treatments.

Similarly, we have not seen a very encouraging progress on WHO’s Covid19-Technology Access Pool or the C-TAP initiative, which encourages voluntary contribution of IP, technology and data to support the global sharing and scale-up of the manufacturing of Covid-19 medical products. Voluntary Licenses, even where they exist, are shrouded in secrecy. Their terms and conditions are not transparent. Their scope is limited to specific amounts or for a limited subset of countries, thereby encouraging nationalism rather than true international collaboration.

Why is there a need to go beyond existing global cooperation initiatives?

Global cooperation initiatives such as the COVAX Mechanism and the ACT-Accelerator are inadequate to meet the massive global needs of 7.8 billion people. The ACT-A initiative aims to procure 2 billion doses of vaccines by the end of next year and distribute them fairly around the world. With a two-dose regime, however, this will only cover 1 billion people. That means that even if ACTA is fully financed and successful,

Gandhi Nirvan Divas

which is not the case presently, there would not be enough vaccines for the majority of the global population.

Past experience During the initial few months of the current pandemic, we have seen that shelves were emptied by those who had access to masks, PPEs, sanitizers, gloves and other essential Covid-19 items even without their immediate need. The same should not happen to vaccines. Eventually, the world was able to ramp up manufacturing of Covid-19 essentials as there were no IP barriers hindering that. At present, we need the same pooling of IP rights and know-how for scaling up the manufacturing of vaccines and treatments, which unfortunately has not been forthcoming, necessitating the need for the Waiver.

It is the pandemic – an extraordinary, once in a lifetime event – that has mobilized the collaboration of multiple stakeholders. It is knowledge and skills held by scientists, researchers, public health experts and universities that have the cross-country enabled collaborations and enormous public funding that has facilitated the development of vaccines in record time – and not alone IP! Way forward The TRIPS waiver proposal is a targeted and proportionate response to the exceptional public health emergency that the world faces today.

Such a Waiver is well-within the provisions of Article IX of the Marrakesh Agreement which established the WTO. It can help in ensuring that human lives are not lost for want of a timely and affordable access to vaccines. The adoption of the Waiver will also re-establish WTO’s credibility and show that multilateral trading system continues to be relevant and can deliver in times of a crisis. Now is the time for WTO members to act and adopt the Waiver to save lives and help in getting the economy back on the revival path quickly. While making the vaccines available was a test of science, making them accessible and affordable is going to be a test of humanity. History should remember us for the “AAA rating” i.e. for Availability, Accessibility and Affordability of Covid19 vaccines and treatments and not for a single “A rating” for Availability only. Our future generations deserve nothing less.

Every year, January 30 is observed as Gandhi Nirvan Divas – the day Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was assassinated in 1948.

On January 30, 1948 at 5:17 pm Mahatma Gandhi along with his grandnieces, was on his way to the garden of Birla House to address a prayer meeting.

This was when Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse fired three bullets into his chest from a pistol at close range. Mahatma Gandhi's last words are known to be 'He Ram'. Today, the Birla House site is now a memorial called Gandhi Smriti. The place near Yamuna river where he was cremated is the Raj Ghat memorial in New Delhi. Every year, the Indian President, Vice President, the Prime Minister, Defence Minister, and three Service Chiefs gather at the samadhi at Rajghat memorial and pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. Not only in India, Gandhi Nirvan Divas is observed in other parts of the country, especially in the UK where the India League and the High Commission of India mark this day every year.

Shefali Saxena Dr Sunni Patel is a rising BAME millennial chef, clinician-scientist, gut health influencer and founder of Dish Dash Deets. A serious high achiever, Dr Sunni struggled with Bulimia but also with chronic inflammation of the gut. He spent years trying to ignore his symptoms and coming to terms with ‘not being perfect’ before being diagnosed with Crohn’s in 2014. A clinician-scientist and successful businessman, Dr Sunni has learnt to love himself and manage his Crohn’s with medication and a gut-healthy diet. Now he wants to help others enjoy the benefits of a diet that promotes a healthy gut. Dr Patel spoke exclusively to Asian Voice about gut health.

Please explain gut health for our readers in layman terms. What is the link between BAME gut and health issues?

Gut health is all about the amount, quality and balance of bacteria in our gut. We need these bacteria to be the right ones and to work effectively from the moment food enters our body until the time it leaves!

When it's out of whack it can create all sorts of problems.

There are a number of reasons why gut health issues arise in our community. As a community we tend to have high levels of health issues such as diabetes and obesity that compromise gut bacteria.

It's hard to beat South Asian cuisine – but we do like our fried foods, snacks and sweets! We also have a tendency to over work and limit exercise. This all adds stress and fatigue to our body which in turn reduces our gut-friendly bacteria.

As a community we don’t always take advantage of access to health screening and diet advice either. We need to make sure we don’t miss any early warning signs and take action to look after our health.

Why do you recommend a meat free diet and how can one embark on it to sustain the diet?

There is lots of evidence that a meat diet can cause long term issues with health. Remember our ancestors grew up on a plant based diet that served them well and reduced the risk of the many chronic illnesses South Asians now have greater risk of. So, let’s learn from our previous generations and embrace the power of dals, vegetables and complex carbohydrates. Simple food leads to less issues with the gut.

What kind of food is gut friendly?

Foods rich in fibre will help to feed the good gut bacteria and keep them healthy. Foods like bananas, apples, leeks, onions and garlic to name just a few.

Probiotics, fermented foods and drinks are amazing sources of gut-friendly bacteria as well. Things like kimchi, pickles, sauerkraut, kombucha, and yoghurts.

Add them as accompaniments to your curries and thaalis.

What is the biggest learning from the Covid-19 pandemic for the BAME community?

As a community, we are known to be more at risk of contracting COVID and then once infected more affected by it. This is because of pre-existing health conditions which are greater in the South Asian community, things like diabetes, obesity, and asthma to name just a few.

The other factors at play here are socioeconomic and cultural. We have tight knit sociable communities, live in joint family units, and our working environments have all increased the risk of exposure.

So, the biggest learning would be – focus and prioritise your health and wellbeing (physical, mental, emotional and nutritional). Maintain appropriate health and safety precautions, but also take the time to look at your diet, sleep and lifestyle. Being gut-healthy will keep your immune response at its prime and make sure you are vaccine-ready.

You can also follow Dr Sunni’s celebrity cookalongs @dishdashdeets

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Essential health checks for women to minimise health risks Women's health is one of the most ignored and underrated aspect of our society today. Seventy per cent health issues a female suffers in her later life is a result of a lack of proper education and can be absolutely prevented by going for regular health check-ups.

Preventive healthcare is not really the path most women take, and as a result, they go through unique healthcare challenges – most of them diagnosed at the last stages.

Cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes are known to be the leading causes of female mortality.

There are certain pivotal health checks of women that

could minimise health risks.

For girls between 11 to 12 years old are recommended to get Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination that can cause cancers, such as cervical cancer. This is one of the common viral most infections of the reproductive tract with most

sexually active men and women experiencing it at some point in their life.

For women of 20 years, a screening at the gynecologist is a must. The doctor will help treat a lump in the breast, symptoms such as pain in vagina, or abnormal bleeding from the uterus.

They will also help treat

issues including unwanted pregnancy, fertility, menstruation, and menopause.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended all women between the ages of 21 to 65 years should get their Pap smear tests at regular intervals. A Pap smear test is recommended to get done every five years.

Over the age of 40, women should start getting their mammogram, and xray of their breast. The chances of getting a cure become high when breast cancer is detected on time.

Over the age of 50, get a colon cancer test, to start screening the possibilities early on in life.

Exercise may combat chronic inflammation: Study Exercising regularly has its benefits, however, a brand new study reveals it could help fight chronic inflammation. A recent study led by Biomedical engineers at Duke University reveals that exercise can keep the effects of chronic inflammation away from our muscles.

Scientists used lab-grown, engineered human muscle.

Professor of biomedical engineering at Duke, Nenad Bursac said, “Lots of processes are taking place throughout the human body during exercise, and it is difficult to tease apart

which systems and cells are doing what inside an active person.” They added, “Our engineered muscle platform is modular, meaning we can mix and match various types of cells and tissue components if we want to.

But in this case, we discovered that the muscle cells were capable of taking anti-inflammatory actions all on their own.”

Postdoctoral researcher and first author of the paper, Zhaowei Chen said, “We know that chronic inflammatory diseases induce muscle atrophy, but we wanted to see if the same thing would happen

to our engineered human muscles grown in a petri dish. Not only did we confirm that interferongamma primarily works through a specific signaling pathway, but we also

showed that exercising muscle cells can directly counter this proinflammatory signaling independent of the presence of other cell types or tissues.”

Vitamin C: Why you need to take it, and how much Vitamin C is an important nutrient for our body. It helps form and maintain bones, skin, and blood vessels, on top of working as an antioxidant. It occurs naturally in some foods, especially fruits, and vegetables. Today we learn more about why we need Vitamin C, and how much of it is too much. The body does not store Vitamin C, and is in fact, water soluble. So, people need to consume food that contains the vitamin.

Some of the functions of Vitamin C: 1) Vitamin C helps the body produce collagen, Lcarnitine, and some neurotransmitters.

2) It helps remove unwanted substances from the body as an antioxidant.

3) It helps the body absorb iron, and boosts the immune system.

4) Vitamin C enhances wound healing.

Low levels of the vitamin in the body can lead to scurvy which means swollen joints, bleeding gums, loose teeth, and tiredness. Its properties

will not absorb it all leading to diarrhea and gastrointestinal discomfort. A high intake through supplements may result in kidney stones.

This may also increase the risk of cardiovascular problems in females after menopause. Having high Vitamin C levels could also lead to tissue damage. also make it beneficial for cardiovascular health.

Vitamin C is also believed to be able to help cut a cold.

The best sources of Vitamin C are fresh fruits and vegetables. However, cooking it or heating it can destroy it, so it is advised to eat them raw. Some good sources are : red and green peppers, oranges, grapefruit, kiwi, strawberries, spinach and other green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, potatoes, and green peas.

How much Vitamin C is too much?

It is recommended to take a maximum of 2000 mg of Vitamin C for adults every day. However, if taken excessively, the body

Dream big and the world can be yours Psychologist Mamta Saha Dear Readers, I am still processing the excitement of being invited to speak at a recent Tedx conference. Never have I been so doubtful or self-critical. With a well of anxiety in my stomach and a vision of - my message - potentially being somebody else’s medicine, I said a little prayer and I carried it through. My ‘big idea’ was actually a very simple one. It was to remind others of the wisdom that they have within them. This wisdom is power and enables anyone to take-away their emotional and mental suffering and this, in turn enables you to ‘love what is’. All you must do is connect and master your 5 friends: Mind, Body, Heart, Breath and Authenticity.

Mind – Check your beliefs, attitude’s, judgements and assumptions.

Body - Partake in at least 30 minutes of movement per day Heart – Meditate and listen to what your intuition is saying to you, there’s always a message Breath – Breathe in for 3, hold and breathe out for 4.

Repeat at least 10 x morning, night and anytime you may feel anxious.

Authenticity – Are you being honest about who you are and truly representing what you believe? If not, what can you do to speak your truth from a place of selfrespect and love.

Having an opportunity to imprint my idea of selflove, care and respect is something that I have always dreamed of doing on the Ted platform as a love letter to the world, a note for my daughters and all the children in the world - to know that you are special, you are loved, you are NOT invisible, I see you, the world needs you.

It would never have been possible without the energy, love and support around me. I want to thank YOU. Yes, YOU dear readers! Thank you for being a part of my community, for taking the time to tell me how you feel, sharing what resonates with you and what doesn’t. Generously giving words of encouragement as I pour my soul out in each article, thank you for letting me have an impact on your life. You made me feel that my story was worth sharing, thank you for giving me this opportunity.

Thank you also to the girls from high school, university, life and work who bullied me and doubted my existence, it broke me so badly, I felt worthless BUT when I built myself back up again an unstoppable fire was ignited deep within in my core and I developed a hunger for what I wanted that nothing could break. This is thanks to you.

Thank you to those who came into my life and for those of you who left it. It was the energy I had around me that synchronously bought this distant vision of mine into reality.

My advice to you (if you are still reading) is dream big darling friend, someone loves you, is always listening and the world is waiting. For more tips and tools download your free e-book ‘Just in time’ from www.mamtasaha.com, tune into Saha Mindset podcast on Spotify and follow me on FB (Mamta Saha) and IG (Saha_Mamta). Talk to me: mamta@mamtasaha.com As always, I wish you peace and happiness.

Indian herbs to help boost your immunity this winter It's cold and flu season, and several of us are trying to go about our regular lives. Cold temperatures, dry air, and low humidity are conducive for the active breeding of several viruses and microbes. The cold weather affects almost everyone, depending on the immune system, while some may feel a bit run down, low on energy, have headaches, while some may get affected with respiratory ailments.

It is essential to become proactive to make some tweaks in our food and lifestyle to keep the immune system robust to fight unwanted viruses, and toxic elements naturally.

Curcumin The most potent component of turmeric, this is the go-to herb for all Indians. It not only has antiinflammatory, anti-viral, and antioxidant properties, but also has the ability to reduce toxins in the body.

This herb is especially effective for people with chronic stress where persistent low-grade inflammation suppresses their antiviral responses, making them prone to infections.

Amla One of the most effective immune rejuvenating herbs, Amla or Indian Gooseberry is an excellent supplement rich

in Vitamin C. It strengthens the activity of T cells and natural killer cells of our immune system.

Tulsi A healing herb of India, Tulsi has naturally strong antibiotic, anti-viral, and anti-fungal properties.

Consuming raw leaves every day or its concentrate helps to soothe the throat,

reduce inflammation, or congestion in the chest. It also clears excess mucus.

Ashwagandha A proven powerful herb that enhances body's resilience to stress, Ashwagandha helps anxiety, stress, and depression. Daily consumption of this herb will significantly help prevent disease.

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Jonas family showers love on Priyanka's performance in 'The White Tiger' Actress Priyanka Chopra has been garnering a lot of praise from her fans, and peers in the Indian film industry for her fantastic performance in Netflix's 'The White Tiger'. However, it was the messages of support she received from her in-laws that spoke the loudest. Priyanka's youngest brother-in-law Franklin Jonas shared a poster of the movie promoting it on Instagram. He wrote, “Go watch this amazing movie on Netflix.

So proud of @priyankachopra love you sis.”

Also her father-in-law Kevin Jonas Sr made a post on Instagram praising his “wonderful

daughter-in-law”. He wrote, “Everyone go see this powerful movie starring our wonderful daughterin-law @priyankachopra.” His love for the film flooded into Priyanka's post about the movie, where he commented, “Amazing performance. Your portrayal of Pinky was heartbreaking and inspiring.

Love you.”

Directed by Ramin Bahrani, 'The White Tiger' is based on the Man Booker Prize-winning novel by the same name. It features Adarsh Gourav in the lead, with Chopra and Rajkummar Rao in supporting roles.

Janhvi's 'Good Luck Jerry' halted for the second time in Punjab

Court bars coercive step against Karan Johar over 'Koffee With Karan'

Janhvi Kapoor's upcoming film 'Good Luck Jerry' has once again landed in fresh soup, with the shoot of the film stalled for the second time in Punjab. Produced by Aanand L Rai, and directed by Sidharth Sengupta, the film was halted near Fatehgarh Sahib earlier this month.

According to media reports, this time around, the incident took place in Patiala over the weekend when a group of farmers reached the shoot location and raised slogans against the shooting of the movie in the city. They later went to the hotel where the cast and crew was staying and continued to raise slogans. Reportedly, they wanted Janhvi to support the farmers.

A group of farmers had reached the shooting location at Bassi Pathana, near Fatehgarh Sahib on January 11, and insisted that Janhvi make a comment on the ongoing farmers' protest in the national capital.

Kangana prompts a dig at Swara Bhasker on a 'boring day' The Rajasthan high court has directed the state not to take coercive steps against filmmaker Karan Johar in a case lodged in Jodhpur against him, and Indian cricket team players Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul.

Jodhpur resident D R Meghwal had filed an FIR with Luni police against Pandya, Rahul, and Johar, alleging that Pandya had made insulting remarks against women in TV show 'Koffee With Karan'.

Both cricketers had moved a petition before the high court seeking quashing of the FIR. The court had given interim protection to both of them from arrest. After hearing Johar's petition, justice Dr Pushpendra Singh Bhati ordered the complainant and the state government to submit their replies in the case. The court has also issued notice to the state government

seeking the latest factual report in the case.

Johar's 2019 interview with both cricketers created a massive storm on the internet as people raised objections against Pandya's misogynistic remarks in 'Koffee With Karan'. The Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) had even placed both the cricketers on provisional suspension. Pandya's brags about hooking up with multiple women particularly placed him in a soup. He lost a contract with Gillette, was replaced in the team for the then ongoing ODI series in Australia, and India's limited-overs tour of New Zealand.

Both Rahul and Pandya were also slammed by veteran sportsmen, including batsman Sunil Gavaskar, and World Cup-winning spinner Harbhajan Singh.

Actor Kangana Ranaut is in headlocks with almost half of Bollywood, and hey, we are not complaining. Either the 'Thalaivi' star really has strong grudges against most of her peers, or she is a strong believer in bad PR. Both ways, she gives a lot of content to the media industry.

This weekend she sought to share a mean tweet about Swara Bhasker, even tagging the fellow actress just because she was getting “bored”.

Kangana retweeted pictures featuring her and Swara side-byside in similar outfits. Both of them are seen wearing golden sarees with white blouses and large necklaces. The original tweet circled a portion of Swara's forehead calling her “crass”, while Kangana is tagged as “class”.

Ranaut retweeted it, and wrote, “Yeh sab kya keh rahe hain !! Aisa hai ?@ReallySwara (what are these people saying? Is it true?”

When a twitter user commented how Kangana has made preparations for everyone's Sunday entertainment, she

replied saying, “Haan on a boring day thoda toh@ReallySwara ji ko cheda jaye (Thought I should tease Swara a little on a boring day).”

Swara responded to the post by saying,

“Always happy to help alleviate your boredom Kangana.. you know I love you.”

Both the actresses have been at loggerheads with each other for quite some time now. It all began when Kangana called the other a “B-grade actor” in an interview. Swara responded by saying it reveals her mentality. Both of them constantly make digs at each other.

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The short film that changed Taapsee Pannu's career

Genre: Family Drama Duration: 95 minutes

Tribhanga

Actor Taapsee Pannu has penned a note for aspiring actors, recalling the short film that changed her life, and the course of her career as an actress. The 2015 Akshay Kumar-starrer movie 'Baby' featured the actress playing Shabana. She later went on to play the titular role in its prequel two years later. Sharing two posters of 'Baby', Taapsee wrote, “Dear actors, Number of minutes don't matter, the impact u leave with what u do in those minutes ...... matters :). 7 minutes that changed the direction of tide for me FOR GOOD. Yours truly, Naam Shabana.”

Pannu played a short yet pivotal role in the movie. Her character was so loved, she reprised the role in 2017's 'Naam Shabana' which marked the return of the majority of the 'Baby' cast. Akshay Kumar reacted to her post saying, “Absolutely! Always make the most of what you have...proud of you and your onwards and upwards journey :).”

'Naam Shabana' went on to become a big success, establishing her a force to reckon. She later reunited with Akshay in the 2019 film 'Mission Mangal'. Taapsee's 2016 film 'Pink' also garnered a lot of attention as she made herself visible against her co-star of the movie, Amitabh Bachchan.

On the work front, Taapsee has several films in her kitty. She is currently working on 'Rashmi Rocket' which will feature her as an athlete. She will also be seen as cricketer Mithali Raj in her biopic 'Shaabash Mithu'. Pannu also plays the lead in 'Haseen Dillruba', and 'Loop Lapeta'.

Trinhanga is a film about three generations of woman in a family where the core of the film is about ones resentment towards her own mother, that is until she herself is a mother and figures out she is more like her mother then she first thought.

Anu, played by Kajol, is the famous Odissi dancer who resents her writer mother Nayan, Tanvi Azmi. We also meet Anu’s daughter, the third generation, Masha played

by Mithali Palkar, Masha is about to have a baby of her own. As we watch Trinhanga, we see these three women face different circumstances and it goes into the complex relationship between a mother and daughter.

The centre of the story is about Anu, who believes her

Shah Rukh plays pool while fans await new release Actor Shah Rukh Khan has been playing from the sidelines for quite some time now. He recently shared a new social media post that has caught several eyes. Khan took to Instagram and Twitter over the weekend, and shared a picture of himself playing pool. In the photo, he is seen cueing up a shot, wearing a cap and sunglasses. He captioned it, “As long as there is pink in the world, it will always be a better place...”

This is Shah Rukh's first

Instagram post since his New Year's address in which he delivered a message to his fans, calling for everyone to be more “romantic, emphatic, pragmatic, democratic, fantastic” in 2021. The actor is reportedly filming his comeback vehicle 'Pathan' in Mumbai.

Directed by Siddharth Anand, it also stars Deepika Padukone. The film is expected to be unveiled at the 50th anniversary celebrations of Yash Raj Films.

The actor's last release 'Zero' in

2018 was a commercial flop.

Directed by Aanand L Rai, 'Zero' failed to click with the audience and critics. However, Shah Rukh's production house Red Chillies Entertainment has produced several streaming projects for Netflix.

Varun Dhawan ties the knot with childhood sweetheart Natasha Dalal Actor Varun Dhawan has finally tied the knot with long-time girlfriend Natasha Dalal.

Photos of the day have finally reached the internet, featuring both of them in gorgeous silver outfits, surrounded by their families and loved ones. Varun shared the first pictures on Instagram along with a caption that read, “Life long love just became official.” The photos also show his parents David and Laali Dhawan in the background.

The wedding took place in The Mansion House in Alibaug, amid tight security and strict rules against posting photos on social media.

No photos other than the ones posted by Dhawan can be found yet. It is believed that the couple got married late Sunday evening, after a haldi ceremony in the morning. The guest list included the who's who of B-Town, as expected, with celebrities like filmmaker Karan Johar, and fashion designer Manish Malhotra in attendance.

Both, Varun and Natasha are childhood sweethearts. Varun had in a previous interview, related that he first met Natasha in the sixth standard, however, love did not blossom until after a few years.

mother has ruined her life with her eccentric decisions.

She suddenly starts reflecting on their journey together when her mother falls into a coma, this initiates her feelings of regret as she thinks about their relationship.

Anu turns out to be just like her mother in many ways and this is only seen through the fact that we see her relationship with her own daughter, this is actually a twist in the story. Although this is not an autobiography many parts of the film relate to the real life of Anu. Watching this film will make you start looking into your own relationships with your mother and you will feel somewhat compassionate and kind-hearted towards the characters.

Kajol is centre stage in the film and she does this with such ease, as we would expect her to do, as the resentful daughter and overbearing mother. She plays the role perfectly with the right amount of anger and rage. If you have any sort of torn family life yourself then the premise of this film will really hit home.

It is a brilliant film based on woman and the allimportant mother-daughter relationship that every woman faces in some form or another. It also goes to show just how you may have grievances towards your mother, but you are probably more like her then you think.

You can get in touch with Vallisa: djvallisa@gmail.com

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Priyanka Mohan set to star opposite Suriya in Pandiraj's upcoming Actor Priyanka Mohan is all set to team up with Suriya for his upcoming yet-untitled film with director Pandiraj. The movie is expected to go on the floors from February. A media report has revealed that Priyanka has been signed for Suriya's next film

with director Pandiraj.

A source was quoted as saying, “The film will be a rural action entertainer and the team was looking at an actress who could perform, as well as look the part. They have zeroed in on Priyanka. The pre-

production work is in full swing, and the idea is to go on floors in February.”

They added, “The makers are finalising the shoot locations as well, and an official announcement should be made soon.”

Kamal Haasan unveils teaser of upcoming Malayalam film 'Aarkkariyam'

Rajinikanth's 'Annaatthe' shoot postponed Shoot of Rajinikanth's Tamil film 'Annaatthe' has been reportedly postponed by a few months, due to the veteran actor's health condition. This has apparently forced director Siva to begin the pre-production for his next yet-untitled with Suriya.

Kamal Haasan has unveiled the teaser of the upcoming Malayalam film 'Aarkkariyam', which translates to 'Who Knows?'. The teaser suggests that the movie is set in the backdrop of Covid-19 induced lockdown. The less than 30 second video shows a family's predicament who is caught off-guard as they are unable to reach their family member/s in another place.

Haasan tweeted, “Delighted to launch the official teaser of 'Aarkkariyam', a movie that features stellar talents on and off screen. Wishing the team all the best and really looking forwards to watching this!” The movie marks the directorial debut of cinematographer Sanu John Varghese. He has co-written the film with Rajesh Ravi and Arun Janardhanan. The movie is jointly bankrolled by Santhosh T Kuruvila and Aashiq Abu. The movie stars Biju Menon, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Sharafudheen, Saiju Kurup, and Arya Salim among others. It is set to release in theatres on February 26.

Earlier, Haasan was discharged from the private hospital where he underwent a leg surgery earlier this week.

Pawan Kalyan donates money for the construction of Ram Temple Telugu actor-politician Pawan Kalyan has donated over Rs 30,00,000 for the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. President of the Jansena Party and Chiranjeevi's youngest brother, Pawan released a statement saying, “Lord Sri Ramachandra is the replica for dharma and tolerance, sacrifice and bravery shown by him is an inspiration to all.

India has withstood many attacks because of the path created by Lord Sri Rama. Hence, it is everyone's responsibility to extend solidarity for the construction of the temple in Ayodhya, the replica of such dharma. I am donating rupees 30,00,000 as my part for the construction of Rama Temple.”

Pawan added, “On hearing about my donation, my personal staff members, including not only Hindus but also Muslim and Christians, have raised rupees 11,000 for the same purpose.” On the work front, Pawan is awaiting the release of Sriram Venu's directorial 'Vakeel Saab', which is a Telugu remake of Bollywood’s 'Pink'. He plays the role of a lawyer in the film.

This would be the first time both Suriya and Siva are coming together for the first time for a project which will be bankrolled by Sun Pictures.

As per the initial plan, Suriya's project was only supposed to begin after the release of 'Annaatthe'.

However, after Rajinikanth was hospitalised for a few days last month due to fluctuating blood pressure, the movie's shoot has been postponed.

Media reports reveal, Siva has already commenced work on Suriya's project, adding that the shoot of 'Annaatthe' will only resume post June after the Tamil Nadu general elections.

TV Listing * Schedule is subject to change

MON 01 FEB FRI 5 FEB 2021 16:00 THE GREAT INDIAN GLOBAL KITCHEN 16:30 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR 18:30 NAMAK ISSK KA 19:00 ISHQ MEIN MARJAWAN 2 19:30 CHOTI SARDAARNI 20:00 SHAKTI 20:30 MOLKKI

21:00 PINJARA KHUBSOORTI KA 21:30 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) 23:00 NAMAK ISSK KA SATURDAY 30 JAN 18:30 DESI BEAT RESET 19:00 ISHQ MEIN MARJAWAN 2 19:30 CHOTI SARDAARNI 20:00 NAAGIN (SEASON 5) 21:00 BEST OF DESI BEAT 21:30 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR SUNDAY 31 JAN 16:30 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR 18:00 CHOTI SARDARNI 20:00 NAAGIN (SEASON 5) 21:00 BEST OF DESI BEAT 21:30 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 01 FEB FRI 5 FEB 2021 8:30 BHARADWAJ BAHUEIN 16:00 SILSILA BADALTE RISHTON KA 16:30 THE RASOI SHOW 17:30 CHHUTA CHHEDA 18:00 TUM KAUN PIYA 18:30 DIL KA RISHTA 19:00 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR 21:00 BALIKA VADHU - LAMHE PYAAR KE

SATURDAY 30 JAN 11:00 DESI BEAT SEASON 2 16:00 SILSILA BADALTE RISHTON KA 16:30 THE RASOI SHOW 17:30 DESI BEAT SEASON 3 18:00 KHATRA KHATRA KHATRA 19:00 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) 20:30 BARRISTER BABU 21:00 BALIKA VADHU SUNDAY 31 JAN 11:00 DESI BEAT SEASON 2 16:00 SILSILA BADALTE RISHTON KA 16:30 THE RASOI SHOW 17:30 DESI BEAT SEASON 3 18:00 KHATRA KHATRA KHATRA 19:00 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR 21:00 BALIKA VADHU

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Top athletes demonstrate home workouts to stay active World champion gymnast Joe Fraser, para athletics legend Hannah Cockroft and Commonwealth medallist racewalker Tom Bosworth are among 22 elite English athletes taking part in 22for22, a video series that aims to encourage exercise at home as the country goes through another lockdown.

22for22, set up by Birmingham 2022 and Team England, features recognisable faces from different Commonwealth sports. Each will demonstrate a simple exercise which can be done from home, including workouts that don’t require equipment or that use items found around the house.

From holding the plank position on the living room floor to using the sofa for glute strengthening, athletes were tasked with performing an exercise linked to their sport that a

member of the public might be able replicate at home. Viewers can try the exercises and encouraged to film and upload their efforts to social media. The exercises are aimed to inspire members of the public to stay active at home during the latest lockdown since the gyms are closed.

Tom Bosworth, a race walker who won silver at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018, sid: “We all know how

important it is to keep our bodies and minds as healthy as we can right now but being stuck at home can be challenging. Even just a small dose of exercise every day will not only keep you fit, but it will leave you feeling energised and will do wonders for your mental health too.

Reid, CEO of Ian Birmingham 2022, said: “Stepping outside for our daily exercise is important, but it

might not be possible. “Who better to get inspiration from than a Team England athlete?

I’d encourage people from all ages and abilities to give these exercises a go. I’m certainly looking forward to trying them out.”

Paul Blanchard, Commonwealth Games England CEO, said: “We are so proud of the athletes taking part in the #22for22 campaign, encouraging their communities to join in and keep active during a time when it’s not easy to find motivation.” Nigel Huddleston, Minister for Sport, Tourism and Heritage, said: "Staying active is so important right now. It is fantastic that Birmingham 2022 and Team England are coming together to help keep us moving.

Thank you to all the athletes involved and I hope they will inspire people across the country to get their daily exercise."

As the country broke into endless celebrations, many desis appreciated and welcomed the kind of reaction the Indian victory received from the people of Pakistan. In a video that has been doing rounds of Twitter, 24/7 Urdu News anchor Babar Hayat can be seen heaping praises on the bruised, resilient

India for overcoming the countless obstacles of injuries, racist jibes, and Virat Kohli's early exit from the Test series against Australia Hayat lauded youngsters Shardul Thakur, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj and his segment soon went viral on social media with fans from India expressing their gratitude towards the Pakistani anchor.

But he wasn't alone. Geo News anchor Syed Yahya Hussaini also praised Team India's show despite the seniors sitting in the hut owing to their injuries, a report in The Print noted.

The country's news anchors were soon joined by the former Pakistani cricketers who took to the microblogging site Twitter to express their feelings upon

witnessing one of the greatest games of Test cricket in history.

Left-arm fast bowler Wasim Akram wrote: "Incredible Test & series win for India have not seen a bold, brave & boisterous Asian team on a tougher tour of Australia. No adversity could stop them, frontline players injured, & won after a remarkable turn around from the depths of 36 all out, inspiring for others. kudos India" Former fast-bowler Shoaib Akhtar shared similar feelings over his Twitter page. "From 36 all out in the same series to win-

ning it on Australia soil. Wow," Akhtar wrote. But perhaps the most wholesome outcome from the Indian win was the aam janta of Pakistan rejoicing the victory of their neighbours and arch-rivals over the Aussies.

Cricket fans from Pakistan not only supported India to clinch the match but also ensured the Australia-India Test was the top trend in their country. Several others shared screenshots of the Twitter trends in Pakistan on the final day of the Test that were taken over by the congratulatory messages for India.

Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes return to England squad for first two India Tests England have announced their squad for the first two Tests of their tour of India. Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and Rory Burns join the group after missing the trip to Sri Lanka, while Jonny Bairstow, Mark Wood and Sam Curran will return home at the end of the second Test in Galle.

This may be a bitter pill for Bairstow to swallow, having announced his intention to be “a huge contributor to English cricket in the Test arena” when he returned to the long-form game for the first Sri Lanka Test after an absence of more than a year. He proceeded to make 47 and an unbeaten 35. But Ed Smith, England’s national selector, said that the move had been agreed on before the tour began.

“We signalled before the start of the Sri Lanka tour that no mul-

tiformat player would be asked to play in every series of the postChristmas schedule,” Smith said.

“I spoke at length to Jonny and at Loughborough [before the squad departed] and said: ‘You’re in every squad format as it stands, there’s a fantastic opportunity coming up in Sri Lanka where we expect you to get gametime, but at some point you’re going to need your rest too.’ And he completely understands that and endorses it. It felt like the right thing to do for Jonny to take his break now, and then he can continue on when he comes back in the Test squad with the whiteball squad afterwards.”

Further rotation is planned across the two months before England return from India with Jos Buttler, for example, scheduled to return home after the first Test in Chennai. This will leave

ENGLAND SWEEP TEST SERIES IN LANKA England completed a 2-0 series victory over Sri Lanka on Monday by winning the second Test by six wickets with a day to spare. Set a target of 164, the Englishmen lost four wickets for 89 runs but an unbroken 75-run stand for the fifth wicket

by Jos Buttler (46) and Dom Sibley (56) finished it off. Sibley only managed six runs in three innings but he returned to form with a much needed half-century in the final innings. England were still batting in their first innings when the fourth day began. The tourists managed to add only five more runs to their overnight total as they were bowled out for 344 to concede a first innings lead of 37 runs. Sri Lanka then produced some sloppy batting. England’s spinners had gone wicketless in the first innings, but they came into their own in the second with Dom Bess and Jack Leach taking four wickets apiece. It was England's sixth win in a row in Sri Lanka. The tourists won all three Tests during their last tour in 2018. Prior to that, they won the second Test in 2012 in another two-match series.

Root was the captain in five of those wins, matching Virat Kohli’s record for an overseas captain in Sri Lanka.

SINDHU, SRIKANTH QUALIFY FOR WORLD TOUR FINALS

Love for Team India from across the border The Gabba Test win by Team India against Australia on their home soil meant a lot for the cricketers and the loyal followers of the sport. Playing with a depleted, young, and mostly inexperienced yet highly spirited team led by stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane, India not only broke Australia's unbeaten run at their fortress but also clinched the Border-Gavaskar trophy.

in brief

Ben Foakes as the senior wicketkeeper for the second Test, with James Bracey among the reserves and Bairstow, along with Wood and Curran, returning for the third match in the four-Test series. Ollie Pope will travel to India and be added to the squad when fit after a shoulder injury.

“To me it’s quite obvious that selection principles have to flex given the circumstances, given the amount of cricket that England has and given the way cricket teams have to live and travel in the Covid era,” Smith said. “If you keep people in a bubble unchanged for three months and expect them to play every game in every format, they will not be able to perform at their best and England will be damaged as a result.” Joe Root (Yorkshire,

Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes

captain), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Dom Bess (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Rory Burns (Surrey), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Jack Leach (Somerset), Dom Sibley (Warwickshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Olly Stone (Warwickshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire). Reserves: James Bracey (Gloucestershire), Mason Crane (Hampshire), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Matthew Parkinson (Lancashire), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Amar Virdi (Surrey).

Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu qualified for the BWF World Tour Finals to be held in Bangkok from January 27 to 31. However, the men's doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and the mixed pair of Satwik and Ashwini Ponnappa failed to make the Finals. Only the top eight players and teams in the Tour rankings will make it to the year-end event. Srikanth managed to stay in the top-eight as all the Chinese and Japanese shuttlers pulled out of the three events in Thailand due to Covid-19 fears. Srikanth is ranked seven in Tour rankings and his world ranking is No.14. World No. 7 Sindhu is No.10 in Tour rankings. There are three Thailand players and Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in top eight.

Only two players from each country are eligible and Sindhu qualified because Okuhara pulled out of all three tournaments.

IPL AUCTION LIKELY ON FEB 18: BCCI The auction of IPL players ahead of the 2021 season is likely to be held on February 18, a BCCI official said. “The auction venue is yet to be decided,” the official said. The BCCI is also yet to decide whether the IPL will happen in India or not even though Board president Sourav Ganguly has repeatedly asserted that everything possible would be done to keep the glitzy event at its home.

BANGLADESH CLINCH SERIES Off-spinner Mehidy Hasan claimed a careerbest 4-25 as Bangladesh clinched the threematch series against the West Indies last week with a seven-wicket victory in the second game. Skipper Tamim Iqbal hit 50 to help the side chase the target in 33.2 overs after the West Indies were bowled out for 148 in 43.4 overs. Brief scores: West Indies 148 in 43.4 overs (K. Ottley 24, N. Bonner 20, R. Powell 41; Mustafizur 2-15, Mehidy 425, Shakib 2-10) lost to Bangladesh 149-3 in 33.2 overs (Liton Das 22, Tamim Iqbal 50, Shakib Al Hasan 43*).

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30 Jan - 5 Feb 2021

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