Asian Voice

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VOICE

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

VOL 38. ISSUE 27

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of the developed world but four times China’s share.

Gold prices in India saw an all-time high of Rs. 16,235 for 10 gramms in early trade on the Mumbai bullion market on Tuesday, on persistent buying from stockists on the back of higher global advices. Silver, the other precious metal declined on lack of industrial demand at higher levels.

Continued on page 24

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leading buyer.

Reserve Bank of India had given few indications of being a front-runner in the move to diversify into bullion. The proportion of gold as part of its total foreign reserves had fallen over the past decades, officials said.

India's foreign exchange reserves held at the RBI totalled $285.5 billion as on 23rd October.

Gold comprised just over $10 billion of it. The latest purchase will lift the share of gold holdings from near 4 percent to about 6 percent, much less than most

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Sri Lankan army chief faces questioning over 'war-crimes' Sri Lanka's army chief faces questioning by the US government over alleged war crimes committed during the country's war with the Tamil Tigers.

The Colombo government held "very high-level" talks to prevent General Sarath Fonseka, currently visiting Oklahoma, from being Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka quizzed over his conduct during the conflict against the Tamil Tigers, an official said on Sunday.

But the Sunday Times newspaper in the Sri Lankan capital said Gen Fonseka had been asked to present himself for an interview with the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday.

The UN has previously said that an inquiry was needed to determine culpability.

Continued on page 2

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Gold prices at a new peak in India

the IMF's limited gold sales program, which are to help put the fund's finances on a sound longterm footing and enable us to step up much-needed concessional lending to the poorest countries,” Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF managing director, said in a statement.

The 186-nation institution announced on September 18 that the gold sales would be conducted in such a way as to safeguard disruption of the gold market. The sale surprised traders who expected China to be the

7th November to 13th November 2009

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India buys 200 tonnes of gold from IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed a deal to sell 200 tonnes of gold to Reserve Bank of India. An announcement to the effect on Monday said the sale was worth US$6.8 billion. Even as the deal was announced, the prices of the yellow metal in India scaled a record high of Rs. 16,235 for ten grams on Tuesday.

IMF had in September announced the programme to sell 403.3 tonnes of gold after a decision by the executive board. This sale to India represents nearly half of the quantum to be sold. It is being done to shore up the finances of the fund.

This is first such sale by IMF in nine years. India bought the yellow metal over a period of 11 days – from October 19 to 30, on a daily sales base, at the market prices for the day.

Under the fund's Articles of Agreement, all gold sales must be based on market prices.

“This transaction is an important step toward achieving the objectives of

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Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

ONE ON ONE Keith Vaz MP with

Mr. Nagendar Bilon, Director of Trading Standards Nagendra Bilon is the Director of Brent and Harrow Trading Standards Service, which covers the largest area in London and is the oldest joint arrangement between two authorities in the country. His career in trading standards began over twenty nine years ago when he joined London Borough of Hounslow as a Technical Officer. Since then, he has attained a number of professional qualifications, including the Diploma in Trading Standards and an Honours degree in law, which he studied for during evening classes at a local University. He moved to the London Boroughs of Brent and Harrow (which at the time also included Ealing) in 1987 as a Senior Enforcement Officer gradually progressing to Director of Trading Standards. As far as he is aware, this made him the first Asian Chief Inspector of Trading Standards in the country. In 2006, he won the ‘Employee of the Year’ award for Brent Council in recognition services to the trading standards community and local government.

Apart from holding the position of Director of Trading Standards for Brent and Harrow, he is also the Chair of the London Trading Standards Authorities which is the professional association representing all thirty two London boroughs. One of his current responsibilities is to coordinate and organise the trading standards activities in readiness for the 2012 London Olympics.

He is married with three children, two of whom have also completed their law degrees and are pursuing careers in the legal field.

What made you pursue a career in the public sector?

It was purely by chance.

I was looking for a new job after the multinational company I was working for decided to relocate to Liverpool when I noticed an advertise-

ment for a Technical Officer’s post with the LB of Hounslow Trading Standards Department. I didn’t know anything about trading standards, but I thought that as the job involved weights & measures and required a science background I would give it a go.

Who has been the biggest influence on your career?

I would say that there have two people who have had a major influence on my career. The first is my wife who has supported and encouraged me with everything that I have achieved professionally. I actually started working in trading standards a few months after we were first married and she stood by me through my professional examinations and whilst I was studying for my part-time LLB. The second person was my previous boss at Hounslow who gave me the opportunity to develop and inspired me to believe in myself.

What are the biggest challenges facing local councils at the moment?

Local Government is used to constant change but the current economic and political climate brings with it, a greater level of uncertainty and unrest.

More and more is expected of local councils without additional resources, which means that officers face greater pressures to deliver essential services.

This invariably increases the risk of mistakes being made which usually leads to bad press and a lack of public confidence in the local councils.

What is the best thing about your current role?

The most satisfying part of my job is helping the public and protecting vulnerable members of our society from rogue traders and scamsters. It never fails to amaze me the lengths that fraudsters will go to in devising new schemes to fleece the public which means that we have to be ready to beat them at their own game and bring them to justice. On the other hand, it is just as satisfying to meet businesses who want to comply with the law and who look to you for your professional advice and assistance.

whether it be professionally or spiritually. In terms of my work, I would like continue with my vision of making Brent and Harrow the best trading standards service in the country.

Finally, I would like to expand the shared services model that we currently operate under by extending our membership to other local authorities so that we can deliver trading standards services in a modern and efficient manner.

Any bad points?

I have a very strong sense of justice. It frustrates me when I see murderers, drug dealers and rapists who are convicted and given life sentences only to be released after serving less than half their time in prison.

Therefore, if I was Prime Minister, I would make sure that ‘life means life’ and that the offender never experiences freedom again.

It’s a great personal disappointment when you cannot do all the things that people expect from you due to lack of resources and the demands that are placed on you from those who rely upon your professional services. Under these circumstances it is very difficult to explain to your customers why a public service is unable to cater for their needs.

Despite the ever diminishing resources, the amount of work that is expected from you does not decrease and your work continues to be measured through various performance indicators.

What are your future goals?

Firstly, I want to be content in all that I do, including my home and work life and I hope that my family realise all that they wish to achieve,

Sri Lankan army chief faces questioning over 'war-crimes' Continued from page 1 The move "prompted fears in Colombo that Washington is asserting its legal authority over the 'war crimes' report" released last month, the paper said, referring to a US State Department dossier on alleged war crimes.

The report outlined excesses by security forces and Tiger rebels during the final stages of fighting earlier this year.

The report, submitted to the US Congress, refers to Gen Fonseka's having overstepped his brief.

Gen Fonseka is a US Green Card holder and travelled to the US last week to visit his two daughters.

He also addressed a group of Sri Lankans in Washington last week, where he took credit for leading the battle to crush the Tigers.

The US embassy in Colombo declined com-

ment.

The State Department report cited allegations that Tamil rebels recruited children and that government forces broke a ceasefire as well as killed rebels who surrendered.

However latest information reveals that Sri Lanka has accelerated the pace of resettlement of Tamil civilians displaced in its recent civil war amid threats from the European Union to withdraw trading privileges for the island over its human rights record, according to western diplomats and officials.

After months of criticism over the lack of access to and conditions in the camps, the government says it has resettled about 79,000, or nearly a quarter, of the estimated 280,000 Tamils being held.

The suddenness and pace of the returns has surprised independent

observers. “We weren’t really expecting such a sudden acceleration in returns,” said a western diplomat in Colombo, who confirmed the government’s figures. Rishad Bathiudeen, Sri Lanka’s resettlement minister, told the Financial Times that 3,000 were being sent home every day.

Sri Lanka has bridled at criticism of the camps, created to handle refugees fleeing fighting in the north, saying they were necessary for security reasons.

The increased pace of resettlement is apparently followed by a threat from the EU to suspend Sri Lanka’s access to its Generalised System of Preferences Plus trade scheme because of alleged civil, political and human rights violations.

The EU is due to consider the matter this month. Any suspension would be a first for the

GSP Plus programme, which began in 2005 and benefits 14 poor countries with lower tariffs on imports.

Suspension would wipe more than $100m ( 68m, £61m) off the profits of Sri Lanka’s textile export industry, a big employer of low-income people, sparking debate about the merits of linking trade with human rights.

Vijay Rajendran, a shopkeeper in East London told the AV, “What has happened to our fellow brothers is an ultimate shame on the Sri Lankan government. I have lost my cousins in that civil war. Many of my friends have lost homes.

However, whether this re-settlement is happening due to the pressure by EU or Washington's legal authority over the 'war crimes' report' does not matter. I do not know if

any legal action can repair the harm done.”

Kavya Sundram, a student at a London University said, “We struggled at the Parliament square for months. Nothing was done. UK MPs should be ashamed of their inability to influence the Sri Lankan government. The miracle happened only because of the US and the EU. I think Britain should become an active member of the EU, to remain powerful.”

Parvati, a home maker told the AV, “I am originally from Coimbatore, India. I feel that we must tackle China first to stop war crime at Sri Lanka.

They are trying to make a military base in Sri Lanka by selling arms to the civilians and the army.

Stopping EU funds or chasing the green card holder army head would do no help.”

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

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

It’s got to be George Best - undoubtedly the best footballer the world has ever seen. I would love to have been in the presence of a true genius, kicking a ball around and finding out where things went wrong for someone who had everything only to lose it all.

People ! The highpoint in the Delhi wedding season took place last week when Mandeep, the only son of Balbir Kakar married Naina. About 1000 guests were present, including Bollywood star Ajay Devgan and a smattering of NRIs from the UK. ! Ranjit Baxi has been re-elected President of the European Waste Disposal body. Ranjit is now on his second term and combines this unpaid post with being President of the World Punjabi Organisation as well as being a Member of the Court of East London University. ! At last Shilpa Shetty’s wedding has been confirmed for the 22nd November with the reception on the 24th November. New shoes anyone?

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

COMMENT

Clinton charm offensive didn't work What was programmed as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's charm offensive in Islamabad last week ended up a damp squib. Somewhere along the interactive sessions with Pakistani journalists and students, her normally smiling exterior gave to a hard, glacial look. She could take no more of the anti- American gripe, she decided that offence was the most effective form of defence. A cursory examination of the Pew opinion poll in the US would have revealed that 64 per cent of all, Pakistanis were implacably opposed to the United States, only the 69 per cent for India being higher. With all the US economic and financial aid to Pakistan down the years, this must perplex every American politician, Mrs Clinton being no exception. But this time she gave as good as she got. “Her inner voice became her outer voice,” commented Martha Raddatz, a veteran NBC correspondent. It was indeed rare for a top American official to publicly accuse sections of the Pakistan government and military establishment to be in cahoots with al-Qaeda (See page 12).

“Al-Qaeda has had a safe haven in Pakistan since 2002,” pronounced Mrs Clinton bluntly against the backdrop of the discovery of Said Bahaji's passport in South Waziristan, he being one of the participants in the 9/11 terrorist assault on New York and Washington. When a Pakistan reporter reminded the Secretary of State of the services rendered to the US by his country, she snapped, “We pay you billions.” The gloves were off.

“At the risk of sounding undiplomatic, Pakistan has to have internal investment in your public services and your business

opportunities. The percentage of taxes on GDP is among the lowest in the world.

We [in the United States] tax everything that moves and doesn't move, and that's not what we seen in Pakistan.” Followed an unkinder cut: You do have 180 million people. Your population is projected to be about 300 million. And I don't know what you're gonna do with that kind of challenge, unless you start planning right now.”

Richard Haas, a prominent US foreign policy analyst with experience in government, said in a television interview: “She is challenging them....It is a high-risk strategy.” The risk is not diminished by offering Islamabad a fresh bonanza of weaponry. What hasn't worked in the past in unlikely to work now.

Meanwhile, it transpires that Pakistan's Consul General in Chicago, Dr Aman Rashid, was personally acquainted with David Coleman Headley and Tahawur Hussain Rana, both arrested by the FBI for plotting a terrorist attack somewhere in India at the behest of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Headley told his FBI interrogators that he had planned to visit India in early October to meet with an unidentified Laskar operative and the organisation's leader Ilyas Kashmiri.

This is yet another reminder that terrorism is a threat against the civilised community of nations; those that abide by the rule of law and civil liberties, who respect dissent and doubt as essential components of a democratic society.

Terrorists are not bound by national frontiers, and India remains a frontline state in the jehadi war.

Case for Sri Lanka to answer The Tamil Tiger insurgency in Sri Lanka has ended with an effective military victory for the Colombo government. The country's friends in the international community have been pressing for a lasting political settlement that would heal the deep wounds that have disfigured majority Sinhalese relations with their minority Tamil brethren. Assuring words from the government in Colombo have yet to be matched by matching deeds on the ground. The camps housing thousands of Tamil refugees still exist, with little evidence of effective health care, better sanitation and living conditions generally.

Questions raised by the UN welfare agencies and a host of NGOs have been brushed aside with cavalier disregard for the genuine concern for suffering human-

ity. Voices from Europe and America have been dismissed by the usual high octane anti-colonial rhetoric. The Sri Lankan regime clearly calculates that having China on board is sufficient protection from the prying eyes of intrusive critics.

This farce must be brought to an end.

Colombo receives significant aid from the EU and US. Washington has upped the stakes by asking the senior-most Sri Lankan army general Saranth Fonseca - a green card holder on a private visit to the US – to present himself before the Department of Homeland Security to answer allegation of human rights violations against Sri Lanka's Tamil population by elements of the country's security forces. The cat is truly among the pigeons.

Has Whitehall taken leave of its senses?

A Sunday Times report reveals that a civil servant from the Treasury, Azad Ali, who has condemned ministers for aiding the “slaughter” of Arabs in the Middle East, a self-confessed admirer of alQaeda on his blog and in denial of the 26/11 attack on Mumbai as a terrorist exercise, sits on a Whitehall counter-terrorism panel that provides advice to Keir Starmar, director of public prosecutions (DPP).

Mr Ali is also a supporter of the fanatical jehadi outfit Hizb ul-Tahrir, and his language against opponents is normally incendiary. The appointment of a man such as this reflects poorly on the judgement of people in positions of responsibility. How can the British government assure its people at home and its partners abroad that it it is serious in its efforts to combat religious cxtremism?

We ask: Is it fit to govern?

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Thought for the Week Enthusiastic people are the ones who actually get things done in this world.

Enthusiasm is what turns any idea into reality. And enthusiasm is linked closely with happiness.

- Roy Sheppard (1998)

Sarah Teather MP Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East

The 10:10 campaign shows we can all make a difference Lots of people are extremely concerned about climate change but just don’t know what they can do about it. Many of my constituents tell me that they feel overwhelmed by the challenge ahead of us to save the planet.

That's why I am supporting the 10:10 campaign, which encourages people to sign up to cut their carbon emissions by 10% in 2010, and shows them how.

Climate change is one the biggest issues to confront modern society and it is something which anyone who is committed to social justice should feel passionately about. If we don’t take action now we are risking the lives and wellbeing of our children, and our children’s children. Indeed in many parts of the world climate change is already having a devastating impact causing famine and floods that affect millions of some of the world’s poorest people each year.

We can not continue to ignore this. We have to change our behaviour to live in a way that is more respectful of the world we live in. This is why I, along with thousands of individuals, have signed up to 10:10 and will make a real, determined effort to make changes to my daily routine. In fact, Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, was one of the very first politicians to make this public commitment to cutting his personal impact on the planet, and many more have followed.

The 10:10 campaign is important because it shows that individual

people can make a difference. However, it is not just individuals who have committed themselves to reducing their carbon emissions: many major companies, organisations and even my local council in Brent have got on board.

Now the national government have to do their bit as well. Last week, Labour voted down our motion to commit to cutting greenhouse gas emissions the public sector by 10% in 2010. This sad refusal to show leadership is a severe blow to the campaign, and gives rise to the suspicion that the government want other people to do all the work.

The government’s own target of 80% by 2050 seems almost designed to postpone any real action until after their term of office. There is no point in a target that is so far away the government will never be held to account for it. 10:10, by contrast is real, tangible, and demands change now.

The message that the Labour government have sent is as arrogant as it is distressing: they want ordinary people to change the way they behave, but will not hold themselves to the high standards they expect of others.

Liberal Democrats in parliament will continue fighting for strong government action on the environment. Lot of ordinary people are doing their bit; now the government have to do the same.

If you would like to join me in signing up, please visit the campaign website at www.1010uk.org

ASIAN VOICE is published by Asian Business Publications Ltd Karma Yoga House, 12 Hoxton Market, (Off Coronet Street) London N1 6HW. Tel: 020 7749 4080 Fax: 020 7749 4081 Email: aveditorial@abplgroup.com www: abplgroup.com © Asian Business Publications

YOUR VOICE

4

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

Deceit and Treachery

Diwali and the Jains

I read the revelations in Mr Dudakia's column ‘Deceit and Treachery’ with great interest. The issue is an alarming one, as the individuals seem to have set out to delude the Hindu Community. The information they sent out was deliberately misleading.

Hindu Forum had organised previous annual Diwali functions in the House of Commons, yet the pair did not seem even slightly hesitant in claiming them and saying they were organising their 8th one.

In fact, if their skills in mathematics were as well honed as their eagerness to deceive, they would have realised that considering our event was a day before theirs, in the sequence theirs was actually the ninth event.

Perhaps the individual who has made being ‘parliamentary adviser’ his pathway to personal glory was willing to tread on his own people to get there. However I did not expect an MP and an ex minister to mislead the community in such a way.

Hindu Forum fielded calls from community members who were confused, alarmed, and those who felt that they had been ‘roped’ in under false pretences and were not sure how to get out of the commitment . I wrote to Tony McNulty on 2nd of October with regards to his function and have yet to receive a reply, and, no offer of 'chai' was made either.

I hope this matter will be investigated fully by the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

We have just celebrated Diwali. In fact, Diwali functions and parties are still continuing where people are enjoying themselves by dancing and exchanging gifts and lighting fireworks.

Hindus celebrate Diwali to commemorate the victory of Lord Rama over the evil king Ravana and other such joyous events by merry making and feasting themselves on sumptuous meals. For Jains, Diwali marks the anniversary of the attainment of moksha by Mahavira (Jainism’s twenty-forth and last Tirthankara or prophet) at the end of his life on earth in 527 BC. Jains celebrate Diwali in various manners. Some fast for two days as Mahavira did immediately preceding his liberation.

Others join their Hindu friends at parties and generally enjoy themselves.

However, Jainism preaches austerity and observing penance to shed the accumulated karma. I wonder therefore which the right way for Jains to celebrate Diwali. By fasting as Mahavira did or by enjoying themselves along with their Hindu friends? Jainism also teaches nonviolence to even the tiniest living beings.

So I believe that the lighting of fireworks which can harm tiny insects is really out of the question for Jains.

Bharti Tailor Secretary General Hindu Forum Britain

Dinesh Sheth Newbury Park, Ilford

Afghanistan elections USA, Canada, Australia and EU countries on one side and Russia, China and India (?) on the other side are playing the Great Game in 21stcentury that started in the 19thcentury.

Daily explosions with 20 or 50 or 100 dead in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are common place. The civilized world takes them lightly, while the brave mountain warriors of many tribes defy them all.

Surely it is not a humane way to treat these people who live in the Mountains of the Gods.

The Hindu Kush mountain range stretches 650 miles across Afghanistan with 23,000+ feet peaks. The Pamirs range in Tajikistan has 22,000+ feet peaks. The rocky and icy Karakoram Range linking Pakistan and China is home to 30 of the world’s 40 highest

peaks; the beautiful Himalayas stretch over the Indo-Chinese border; and finally the flat Tibetan Plateau.

Why? Why? Nagindas Khajuria Via Email

What do you think?

We want to know your views on this subject Write toAsian Voice 12 Hoxton Market London N1 6HW or e-mail: aveditorial@abplgroup.com Asian Voice is your voice

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Kumudini D Valambia Via Email

Why do we kick some one when he is down?

I read Kapil’s column “Kapil’s Khichadi” with interest and anticipation.

It is by far the most interesting and gutsy column with a punch, courage and conviction. He enters lion’s den where few would like to venture.

However in his sheer enthusiasm to capture readers’ attention, admiration and to create a stir, a talking point, Kapil’s concentration so often lapses. He creates controversies where hardly any exist. His criticism of Tony McNulty in last week’s AV is harsh and untimely, as the subject matter is more superfluous rather than of utmost importance to the Hindu community at large.

Kapil has created a storm in a tea cup, at a time when we need cool heads and measured approach. Kapil obviously does not weigh pros and cons of such a piece.

It is more like fishing in troubled waters which may backfire in the long run.

Tony is well liked and respected amongst Hindu community at large. He attends more Hindu functions, such as Navratri, Diwali and Janmastami than any other MP I know. This point was well illustrated by Cllr. Navin Shah AM in his column, next to Kapil’s.

Tony is having a lot of problems about his expense claims for which he had to apologise in the HoC. So this is the time we should be rallying round Tony, give our moral support and not to kick him when he is down, which is alien to my culture, Hindu culture.

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Bhupendra M Gandhi Via Email

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Britain and Recession Britain today finds itself in the longest and deepest recession since records began, we learnt that the US has now joined all the other major economies in climbing out of recession and into recovery, yet Gordon Brown claims that we were somehow the "best placed" country to fight the recession! In fact we were one of the first into recession, and are now the last out and that means in layman's terms more unemployed, now at record high of nearly 3 million.

Ravi Shah Harrow

Plight of PT Usha PT Usha hassled recently in Bhopal was on certain Indian news channels a week back. It just broke my heart when I saw that news. During my days back in the eighties, she was our sole superstar and we all used to jump with joy seeing her run. I've been a big fan of her and today when she is not in the limelight she is being harassed so much that she couldn't control herself. It is such a pity that the organisers pay more attention to the ministers and do not consider the basic needs of our sports people who have given so much to India. It again goes to show how the sports ministry and others are only concentrating on cricket as it is the cash cow of the sports fraternity in India.

I totally support PT Usha when she said that how are our sportsmen and women supposed to win medals when they are treated with such less dignity.

Vijay Kumar Via Email

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When it comes to adopt new method, to move away from tradition, British people find it difficult to change. Politicians make it even worse, as they try to exploit this doubt portraying to the old and outdated habits as patriotism.

While every country in EU would like to join Euro, Germany even giving up the mighty Mark, Britain rigidly stuck to our over valued but under performing pound, detrimental to our financial well being.

Another typical example is our NHS, introduced in 1948 by Labour Minister Aneurin Bevan which is in need of a drastic overhaul to meet the 21st century demand but no politician has the courage, guts or the vision to move with the time.

So often nurses and other medical staffs are rude and inefficient. If any politician criticises NHS, the leader of his party would come down on him like a ton of bricks.

Once our proud nation was the work horse, the manufacturing hub of Europe, having a 20% share of the world trade.

Today we a laughing stock, sick man of Europe, thanks to our ego maniac, inefficient and illiterate politicians of all shape and size.

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Are British people too rigid to progress?

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'(#)*&"+,-. /##.012.%3$ ‘Smile Pinky’ too gets the Oscar

Boyle says Mumbai dwarfed the statuette

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Cricket crazy Indians for the first time was seen so euphoric on Monday morning, as they expected a couple of Oscars. British Indians in the UK, Dharavi slums, the shanty township of Mumbai, a village in Uttar Pradesh and almost the entire Bollywood waited in expectation, glued to their TV sets. They burst into celebrations as one by one, their heroes, the actors of the British Indian film and the music maestro, A R Rahman bagged the top awards in the world of entertainment.

British actress Kate Winslett also won the Oscar after having missed it almost five times earlier.

‘Smile Pinki’, a short documentary on a cleft-lipped Indian girl in Uttar Pradesh directed

by American director Megan Mylan, won the Oscar for the Best Documentary (Short).

London N1 6HW

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Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

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UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

Hero of the Mumbai Attacks It is not everyday that you witness one of the bloodiest terrorist attacks to ever take place on innocent civilians.

This however was exactly what faced Deepak Kuntawala and his father Vinay when they were staying at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai last year.

Kuntawala, a leading successful Asian businessman from Sutton was sipping tea with his father in readiness to leave the Hotel and make way for the airport to come back home.

Little did he know that those few extra sips of tea would land him and his father in a living nightmare of unknown consequences. As the gunmen started shooting indiscriminately, killing and wounding everyone in sight, Deepak recalls he was face to face with them and separated literally by mere meters. His quick judgement saved him and his father momentarily, but they were all taken to a room and locked in.

Deepak is not your ordinary citizen and commented afterwards, "It wouldn't have made any sense to lie down and just wait for them. I wasn't going to let the terrorists win so easily."

With that he started his plans to escape, and escape they did in a fashion that even the SAS would have been proud

Deepak Kuntawala

of. Headlines at the time narrate a story of an NRI from Sutton who saved some 150 lives. Now that says it all.

So what is Deepak doing now almost one year on? He has gradually got back to some sense of normality, but his father is still seriously ill with the after effects of having both his legs crushed during the escape.

He has not allowed this to destroy his spirit nor his energy.

Instead, he wants to do something for the victims of such terrorist attacks. He has set up the DVK Foundation which has even attracted HRH Prince Michael of Kent GVCO to become its chief patron. The DVK Foundation will be hosting its very first event; A Unique Charity Commemoration on 26th November 2009. It is to be held at

Kensington Palace and will mark the 1st Anniversary of the 'Mumbai Terror Attacks' and also in support of the victims. In attendance to show support and solidarity will be royalty, politicians, leading business people, community leaders and of course, key representatives from Mumbai that will include some victims as well as stars of Bollywood.

It is not very often you find that out of such a tragedy, the daring of a victim who refuses to allow the terrorist to win come through so profoundly. Currently in India, Deepak has already met Chief Rabbi of the Chabad with whom the DVK Foundation will work in partnership and help them to rebuild a kitchen that will feed the poor from all walks of life for free. In what must be a traumatic experience, he is actually staying at the Taj again, and has also visited the Oberoi. there are Already arrangements for the DVK Foundation to also work with other charities such as Tata Relief Fund.

Deepak Kuntawala shows a passion to turn his life threatening experience into something that is positive. As we say in Britain, all power to your elbow Deepak.

Patel Takes 'No Offence' at Prince's Patel Crack Brushing aside the controversy surrounding Britain's Prince Philip's joke about his surname, India-origin business leader Atul Patel has said that he took "no offence" at the gaffe.

"I took no offence whatsoever to the comment made by Prince Philip at the Buckingham Palace reception. I do not consider it a gaffe and took it in the light-hearted spirit in which it was intended," Patel was quoted by the Inside Housing magazine as saying.

The Duke of Edinburgh, in fact, cracked the joke on Patel during a reception for 400 influential BritishIndians at Buckingham Palace on Monday in the wake of the state visit by India's President Pratibha Patil.

As he lined up with other guests to meet the Queen and her hubby Prince Philip, who hosted that evening, the 88year-old Royal glanced at Patel's name badge and reportedly quipped:

President Pratibha Patil, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, right, and Dr Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat , left, prior to a state banquet in Windsor Castle, England.

"There's a lot of your family in tonight."

The comment appeared to jokingly suggest that all Patels are related. The surname, which originates from the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan, is the second most popular in Britain after Singh. It is also the country's 24th most common with an estimated 670,000 Patels living here.

The 47-year-old Chief Executive of LHA-ASRA,

one of this country's leading housing associations, said: "Britain and India have developed a 'closer relationship' over the last 20 years.

"Much of this is very clearly down to the tireless work undertaken by the Queen and Prince Philip across all the countries of the Commonwealth. As a British Indian who has lived in this country for 43 years, I am proud to call it my home."

National Conference of Gujarati Organisations to be held in the UK NCGO is organising a National Conference of Gujarati Organisations in the UK on Sunday 6th December 09 at Kadwa Patidar Samaj Hall, Kenmore Avenue, Harrow.

Middx. HA3 8LU Conference is being held to discuss issues faced by Gujarati Community in UK and how NCGO as The National Body of Gujarati

Organisations could assist in major National Issues faced by Gujarati Community.

Admission to the conference will be by Invitation and open to 3 Office Bearers of the Affiliated Organisations or appointed their Representative and invited guests only.

NCGO requests all the Affiliated Gujarati

Organisations to participate in this conference by registering online on www.ncgo.co.uk Further details will be posted on the website www.ncgo.co.uk soon, if any one needs more information please contact: Mr C B Patel, Chairman NCGO, at 0207 749 4080 or cb@abplgroup.com.

London duo hand over Gandhi letters to Patil - a gift to India Describing Gandhi as a “spirit, not an individual,” President Pratibha Patil last Wednesday accepted the gift of Gandhi memorabilia on behalf of India from two leading members of the Indian diaspora in Britain.

“I feel that Gandhi was a spirit, not an individual ‘vyakti nahin, shakti’,” Patil said departing from her prepared speech after accepting a series of letters written by Gandhi and a piece of khadi cloth signed by him.

Businessmen Nat Puri and Ghulam Noon, who jointly bought the items at a Sotheby’s sale in July for 17,500 pounds, made the gift to India at a ceremony in the Indian High Commission - completing a unique hat-trick of similar presents made to the nation.

“Gandhi was a spirit which went across not only in our own country, but crossed the world, crossed the mountains and crossed the seas and reached many countries, and many leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela. What he has done is not only for India, but for humanity at large,” said Patil.

Puri, a philanthropist who founded the Purico Group, and Noon, founder of Noon Products, have gifted Gandhi documents and letters on two previous occasions in a gesture of gratitude to India that was started off by former London Metal Exchange chairman Lord Raj Kumar Bagri.

Puri and Noon gifted three lots of items: the first comprised three autographed letters from Gandhi to Maulana Abdul Bari, an Islamic scholar and a leading figure in the Khilafat movement, written in Urdu.

The letters refer to Hindu-Muslim relations, including communal tensions in Lucknow, and their personal friendship.

One letter, written from a prison thanked Bari, who worked closely with Gandhi from 1918 onwards, for the gift of cotton for spinning. He signs the letters ‘Mo. K

Sir Ghulam Noon, Indian President Pratibha Patil, Nat Puri during the handing over of the Mahatma's letters with a guest

Gandhi’. The second lot comprised a piece of khadi cloth - the size of a small scarf - signed by Gandhi and said to have been woven by him. The handwoven cotton piece with a purple border is signed by Gandhi and four others, including Pyarelal and Sarojini Naidu.

The cloth was a gift from Gandhi to South African-born actress Moira Lester, a friend of the late Maharani Gayatri Devi. The third lot has two autographed postcards addressed to Hamid Ullah Afsar, a prominent Urdulanguage poet, in Urdu.

The function was attended by a select gathering of Indian-origin invitees, including Conservative peers Sandeep Verma and Lord Sheikh, Labour peers Swraj Paul and Adam Patel, academic Bhikhu Parikh, Belfast-based industrialist Daljit Rana, former Tata director Manek Dalal, Liberal Democrat peer Naveneet Dholakia, Cobra Beer part-owner Karan Bilimoria, industrialists Srichand and Ashok Hinduja, Loomba Group chairman Raj Loomba, the leader of the Conservative Party in the lower house, Sailesh Vara, Indian High Commissioner Nalin Surie and the British High Commissioner toIndia Sir

Richard Stagg.

“We can talk and talk about Gandhi,” said Noon, “but I’ll say only one thing: Gandhi said that there is no greater sin than to oppress innocent human beings in the name of god, which is what is happening everywhere in the world, not only in India.”

Puri exhorted other wealthy Indian-origin Britons to make similar contributions to India, saying: “It’s not just us, it’s an opportunity for all of you to replicate similar things. In the meantime, we will go on doing what we can.”

Gujarat-born Labour peer Adam Patel said it was a revelation to him that Gandhi could write fluently in Urdu. “I came to know only today that Gandhi could write in Urdu. To me that says it all: Gandhi learnt the languages and scripts of India with the aim of integrating and developing all the communities. He remains supremely relevant to today’s India,” Patel told IANS. Patil in her speech said: “Gandhi was a master of many languages.

Though he belonged to India, he is not only India’s property, but the property of the entire world - a boon to humanity.”

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

Leicester Voice Runway expansion plans considered An extension to East Midlands Airport's runway to allow more freight traffic is expected to be approved later.

The airport at Castle Donington first applied to add 190m (623ft) to its 2.9 km (1.8 mile) airstrip nine years ago.

The £4m plans, which will allow more long-haul flights, have provoked opposition from nearby residents who fear increased noise and pollution.

But a report to North West Leicestershire District Council said the increases would be small.

Managers at the airport want to make it more attractive to long-haul cargo carriers, especially across the Atlantic.

The scheme received a boost earlier in the year

when a Leicestershire County Council report found the environmental impact would be marginal given the growth in flights predicted in the future.

North West Leicestershire district councillors have been

advised by officers to approve the move, but with some conditions attached to limit nighttime flying between 2300 and 0700 GMT. The airport said it had spent £1.5m insulating 502 nearby homes to keep out jet noise.

Plans to close Melton secondary school are revealed Plans to allegedly close Melton's King Edward VII School due to low pupil numbers have been revealed by education officials, as reported by a local media in Leicester.

The school would be turned into a sixth-form, taking students above the age of 16 only, if Leicestershire County Council's proposals become reality.

The dramatic move has been prompted by a

Driver racially abused by cyclist Police are hunting a cyclist who allegedly shouted racist abuse at an Asian driver in rush hour traffic in Leicester.

The 47-year-old Asian man was driving along Queens Road when a man on a bike pulled up alongside in stationary traffic and banged on the window.

When the driver opened the window the man allegedly shouted abuse, leaned into the Silver Mercedes and tried to punch him, as reported by the BBC. Officers are appealing for witnesses to the incident which happened at around 0855 GMT last week.

The suspect also allegedly took a bag from inside the car and put it on the pavement, before cycling off towards Victoria Park.

He is described as white, in his late 40s, about 6ft tall with short hair, wearing a dark suit.

huge fall in the number of parents sending their children to the Burton Road school.

Next week the county council's cabinet will decide whether to launch a public consultation into the plans – which would also include four alternative proposals.

There are 160 spaces available every September for new year sevens (age 11) but in 2008 only 40 children started.

This year only 50 started and 54 children have their names down for next year.

The county council's preferred plans would see

the school become a sixth form, known as a post-16 centre.

Other options would be retaining the status quo, reducing admission numbers at the other Melton schools to effectively force pupils into King Edward VII, and amalgamating it with another school.

If the county council's preferred plans get the go-ahead, no new pupils would start at King Edward VII in September 2010, pupils in years eight, nine and 10 would transfer to other schools, while year 11 students would stay on to complete their GCSEs.

Top 10

Do you have any comments, news or photographs about Leicester? If you do, please send them to Leicester Voice at

leicester@abplgroup.com

Event to explore cultural cohesion and diversity An event to explore how cultural competence, cohesion and diversity are managed in today’s society is to take place in Leicester next week.

Organised by De M o n t f o r t University’s (DMU) Youth and Community Division, the conference takes place on Wednesday 4 November at the Watershed Youth C e n t r e , Leicester.

Topics to be discussed include improving health and social care services for black and minority ethnic communities, religious and cultural difference in the workplace and young people’s perceptions of social inequalities in education.

More than 120 academics, policy makers and practitioners are expected to attend the event which will be chaired by Iris Lightfoote, Director of

Leicester Race Equality Council.

A keynote speech on social cohesion will also be given by Karl-Friedrich Bopp, Head of Social Cohesion Policy and

Standards Division at the Council of Europe.

Other speakers include Ronny Flynn, Director of Health and Housing for the Race Equality Foundation and Deborah Sangster, Director of the African Caribbean Citizens’ Forum.

Carlton Howson and Momodou Sallah, who work in DMU’s Youth and Community Division and helped organise the event,

will also be launching their new book entitled Europe's Established and Emerging Immigrant Communities: assimilation, multiculturalism or integration.

Carlton said: “We are very pleased to be able to launch our new book as part of the conference as both provide a strong base to explore the changing context in which many of us work.

“Participants of the conference will find a wide range of perspectives based on research and analysis, as well as responses to the new challenges confronting Europe.

“The book shows an historical and contemporary insight into how Europe has been shaped and how policies continue to be largely focused on the racialisation of people.”

We’re here to end cruelty to children. Nothing else will do.

These are challenging but exciting times for the voluntary sector, yet we know that in this climate children are at greater risk of abuse. We’re here to end cruelty to children in the UK. It’s an aspiration which will take time but nothing less will do.

We believe that we can make a difference for all children – by fighting for their rights, by listening to them, by helping them when they need us and by making them safe. Ten new and exciting roles are being created to help us deliver against these ambitions.

Abdulkadar Chokhandiwala, 35 yrs Shopkeeper at Phone Bazzar

1. Favourite colour: Green 2. Favourite food: Curry 3. Favourite film: Sajan 4. Favourite holiday destination: India 5. Favourite historical character: Mahatma Gandhi 6. Favourite period of history: 1990 7. Favourite part of Leicester: North Evington 8. Lucky number: 786 9. Favourite TV programme: Dus Ka Dum 10. Who is the person you admire the most: Sanjay Dutt

7

To find out more and apply for one of these groundbreaking roles, visit www.nspcc.org.uk/careers NSPCC Registered charity numbers 216401 and SC037717.

UK

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Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

Future Generations Sai School Harrow

by Puja Solanki

Disabilities were welcomed before they became cliche My parents finally found a weekend school which had the confidence to accept me due to my visual impairment where I’d need support. I joined Sai School of Harrow in September 1996, and have been a part of the school ever since.

Attending Sai School has given me opportunities that I would not have otherwise gained elsewhere as I had the support which contributed significantly to my personal development. As a pupil, I gained confidence in the Saturday School from the very beginning, through participating in their range of educational and cultural programmes. I was welcomed into the school community and I have always found Sai School very inclusive and friendly. I had the opportunity to do a GCSE and an A-Level in Hinduism at an early age, which has deepened my under-

standing of different aspects of Hinduism.

Sai School teachers are particularly sensitive and dedicated in understanding the needs of pupils with special needs and all pupils attending are given an equal opportunity to get involved, regardless of ability or disability and are actively encouraged to participate in the school’s activities and projects. Since finishing my educational programme, I volunteered as a classroom assistant in the Lower School and taught Year 6 pupils in preparation for their Key Stage 2 exams. Through this I gained a high level of responsibility in preparing and presenting lessons and gained experience of a leadership role. For me, knowing that 10 year old children warmed to me as a teacher despite my visual impairment gave me a much needed sense of belonging. I received the Princess Diana Award

from Sai School in 2008.

Sai School’s aspiration has always been to create good leaders and my volunteering there has provided me with the platform to enable me to thrive and develop leadership skills.

I also had the honour of representing Sai School on a number at public events, most notably at Sai School’s event at Wembley Conference Centre in July 2005 when they won the Queens Award, as well as representing them in front of a panel at Harrow Council for a Youth Development grant. I have also participated in a number of dance and music events in the community including performing violin recitals to entertain at old people’s homes. These opportunities have greatly boosted my confidence and facilitated my personal development, enabling me to excel in life and pursuing a career in law.

No more emails, Nobel-winner Ramakrishnan gets down to work India-born scientist Ve n k a t a r a m a n Ramakrishnan says he is delighted he has stopped receiving masses of emails from Indians celebrating his 2009 Nobel for chemistry.

It means he can get back to work without further distractions.

'The emails did distract me for a while, when people blocked my inbox. But then things settled down and I've stopped receiving so many emails,' Ramakrishnan told IANS. The scientist had complained in the days after being named for the Nobel Prize Oct 7 that 'all sorts of people' from India had been writing to him, 'clogging up' his email box, which then needed up to two hours to clear up every day.

But he told IANS at a dinner hosted in honour of visiting President Pratibha Patil Monday night that he meant no offence.

'I only wanted to get back to work. I didn't mean to sound negative at all,' he said.

Ramakrishnan, who grew up and received his initial education in Gujarat, was the only one of some 400 guests from the Indian diaspora to be named by President Patil in her address.

'We were delighted at the news of the Nobel Prize for chemistry going to Dr Venkatraman Ramakrishnan. He is here today, and we all congratulate him,' Patil told her audience, who broke into applause.

With characteristic humility, Ramakrishnan said his Nobel was a 'much bigger deal' in India than in the institute where he now works -- the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge,

Britain.

'In India I'm seen as the first in my field. In my institute, I'm just the 15th Nobel laureate,' he said.

Ramakrishnan, who is a US citizen, was named for the $1.42 million award along with American Thomas A. Steitz and Israeli Ada E. Yonath for their 'studies of the structure and function of the ribosome', which is found in cells and translates the DNA code into life.

Midland Voice Dhiren Katwa is currently away

svapnagata Sadler’s Wells presents

A Festival of Indian

Music and Dance

curated by Akram Khan &

Nitin Sawhney

Highlights include: MON 16 NOV

Akram Khan

For this new solo piece, Gnosis, inspired by the Mahabharata, Khan collaborates with Gauri Sharma Tripathi and Pratap Pawar.

WED 18 NOV

U Shrinivas

Monday 16 Saturday 28 November Media Partner

This virtuoso mandolin player, popular among classical Indian and Western musicians, performs alongside his brother U Rajesh.

FRI 20 NOV

Neelam Mansingh Chowdry

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award-winner Chowdhry’s Nagamandala, weaves together traditional folk tales. A play presented in Punjabi with English surtitles.

SUN 22 NOV

Trilok Gurtu Orchestra

Indian rhythms and singing fuse with elements of modern jazz and rock, featuring world-renowned Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek.

MON 23 NOV

Shantala Shivalingappa

A mesmerising solo evening of kuchipudi dance with a traditional live orchestra comprising singing, flute, veena and percussion.

FRI 27 & SAT 28 NOV

Riz MC

A walk-through show with action taking place on all four sides of the space as Riz MC premieres new material from his debut album.

SAT 21 NOV

Aditi Mangaldas & Priyadarshini Govind

An evening of kathak and bharatanatyam – the great Indian classical dance forms of the North and South. and percussion.

SAVE 20%

when you buy tickets for two or more different shows in the Svapnagata Festival.

See www.sadlerswells.com/save Terms and conditions apply

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

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Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

Spriha’s

Kapil’s

Corner

KHICHADI

By Spriha Srivastava

India’s first state visit in twenty years Last week was an unusual experience, the experience every Indian citizen awaits. But thanks to our stringent bureaucratic system, very few can actually experience it. I consider myself lucky, not because I was able to break the bureaucratic system in anyway, but because I am an Indian journalist based in London. That made a great impact. I am sure as a young and budding

back end team to get her script ready. And then considering the fact that she is a seasoned politician, all of this comes naturally to her. But that is not my point. I was happy to hear the President of my country make so much sense in front of a rather august gathering.

In her speech she highlighted the efforts made by the British Asians in UK. She said,

ward state visit from the UK to India by The Queen in many years now. This is a topic of serious consideration and I hope the Indian government is looking at it closely.

Anyway, coming back to last week’s reception, the high point of the entire event was a chance for everyone to meet and get a photograph clicked with Madam President. And

"High Commissioner, His Excellency Mr. Nalin Surie, a guest, Prof. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Hon'ble President of India, Her Excellency Mrs. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, Minister of State, Mrs. D. Purandeswari"

journalist in India; it would have taken me my entire life to reach to a level where I could greet the Head of our State or be invited to a reception in the honour of the first citizen of India.

Yeah, I am talking about my meeting with our President, Dr. Pratibha Patil who was on a State visit to the UK from 26th to 29th October. The first female President of the Republic of India is also the first Indian President to visit United Kingdom in the past nineteen to twenty years. The last visit was in 1990 by the then President, Dr. Venkatraman. Dr. Patil, a lady with extreme energy and dynamism has always been seen draped in a traditional style saree and her head covered with a pallu or the veil. With a smile on her face, she was seen with her palms joined together to wish Namaste at many occasions last week in London.

Frankly, I heard her speak for the first time at the reception where around 450 guests were invited with majority from the British Asian community. And it was indeed very impressive.

Well I am sure a lot of effort goes in from the

“We are aware of the role played by the first wave of immigrants from India, many from the Punjab, to the UK. They formed the backbone of the industrial workforce of this country and played a stellar role in rebuilding Britain’s warravaged economy. For that you are all rightly honoured here. There are others among you whose families have overcome tremendous hardships as you made your way from areas of India such as Gujarat and Maharashtra to East Africa, and then, to the UK. You have worked hard and, today, there are many among you who are leaders in the world of business and finance.

We recognize your achievements“.

The media, especially the Western media, seemed to have gone gaga over her. And she leaves no chance to point out that India and UK will always be strategic partners. Well, its high time Britain is given importance when it comes to strategic relationship between the two. I still haven’t been able to understand why there was a long twenty year gap between the two state visits? And there hasn’t been an out-

everyone seemed to be quite disciplined while making their way to the stage where she was seated. For me, it was an exchange of “Namaste” and holding of hands for a few seconds before her bodyguard came in between giving me a signal to move on. Whoa!

Was that it? Ten seconds of fame huh? Well there were many who looked like they were not bothered by the thousands of signals from the President’s bodyguards.

She also congratulated the latest Nobel Prize Winner for Chemistry, Dr Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, an Indian origin scientist from University of Cambridge who was also present at the event. The mention of the term “Indian-Origin” seemed to have accompanied his name everytime it was announced. Well we love to get happiness from everything we can, isn’t it?

Other important guests included Foreign Secretary Mrs. Nirupama Rao, Air Rifle World Champion Abhinav Bindra, Actor Saeed Jaffery and others.

At the end of it, it was surely an experience in itself. I hope the State Visit strengthens the

by Kapil Dudakia - email: kapil@abplgroup.com

Challenge to McNulty After the revelations made in Kapil’s Khichadi last week there has been a good response from many community leaders who also felt misled, deceived and undermined with some of the antics of Messrs McNulty and Lakhani.

I therefore believe that Mr McNulty and Mr Lakhani should be open and come clean on the following questions: a) Why is Mr Lakhani using the term, ‘Parliamentary Advisor on Community Issues’, given that he does NOT appear to have any such formal or official status granted to him by the Government? b) Why has Mr McNulty, who is an ExMinister and also a friend of Mr Lakhani, not advised him that the use of such a term (parliamentary advisor) can be seen to be deceitful and misleading? c) Has Mr Lakhani ever been employed in any role by Mr McNulty (whether it was paid or unpaid)? d) Has Mr Lakhani ever been employed in any role by the Government (whether it was paid or unpaid)? e) Has Mr Lakhani gained in anyway whatsoever by having a relationship (be it business, friendly or community based) with Mr McNulty? f) Has Mr McNulty ever used any administrative privileges afforded to him by the House of Commons for any purpose/s related to Mr Lakhani? g) Has Mr Lakhani ever been granted any special passes or privilege of the House of Commons? If so, by whom, when and how?

I think these questions will suffice for the time being.

So Messrs McNulty and Lakhani – the challenge to both of partnership between the two countries. And more so, it influences The Queen to make her State Visit to India in the near future. I am sure a lot has changed since her last couple of visits.

Apart from a grand welcome, respect and so much of love from Britain,

you is clear, are you going to respond and give us clear and detailed answers? Or, are you going to hide? I have of course been waiting for a response from Mr McNulty to my emails now since 5th October 2009.

Under the Freedom of Information (FOI) one would expect a response within 20 days – as an Ex-Minister I had assumed that Mr McNulty would appreciate the added responsibility placed on him and honour the spirit of FOI whether he feels it applies to him or not.

Challenge for the Tory Party

The challenge also goes out to the Tory Party since in opposition it is their task to hold to account Government and its Ministers and MPs. Given that Dominic Grieve the Shadow Justice Secretary was in attendance at the McNulty event, one has to ask the question whether he was aware of the position of Mr Lakhani. If not, then this column must surely have brought this issue to light.

Did you know that even Labour MPs like Mike Gapes and Betty Williams have said on his websites that Mr Lakhani is a Parliamentary Advisor, now either Labour MPs have known of this deceit and have kept quite, or even they have been misled? Therefore what will the Tory Party do? Will they seek a Parliamentary investigation into this matter given that the so called title, ‘Parliamentary Advisor’ may well have been used inappropriately?

Challenge for Swaminarayan

The 12 Swaminarayan Temples who follow the teachings of Sahajanand Swami ji took a very Indian President Pratibha Patil also took back with her, memories of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Nation. A series of letters written by Gandhi and a piece of signed khadi cloth was presented to her by Sir Ghulam Noon and Nat Puri, two of the

active part in the proceedings.

Again the question that I have for their leaders is, ‘Were you misled by Mr Lakhani when he indicated that he was a Parliamentary Advisor?’

Or, ‘Did you take part in these proceedings knowingly?’

I have of course written to one of the main trustees of the Willesden Temple and I await a response. I do hope they recognise the importance of these questions and why it is so important that we as a community do not unwittingly allow others to exploit our Dharma.

All for Votes ?

I was informed by several prominent personalities from the Swaminaryan group that they felt that Tony McNulty and Abhay Lakhani had orchestrated the Diwali function in order to garner support from the followers of the 12 Temples. It is estimated that there could be some 3500 votes and given that Mr McNulty has a margin of less than 5000 votes I can see why this would be tempting from his perspective.

However, should this be true then is it not embarrassing that one of our important Sampradya would allow itself to be so manipulated? Or could it be the case that their interest was to take Mahant Swami Dharmanandandasji, the head priest of the Swaminarayan Temple in Bhuj, to the House of Commons? Whatever the reason or the motivations of the individuals, the net result is surely unacceptable and it has left us as a community the poorer for it.

As for Mr McNulty, unless you come clean and explain yourself fully why would or should anyone ever trust you, let alone vote for you? respectable and well known British Asians.

I am sure this State Visit has started a new chapter in UK-India relations. But it’s time the countries start taking this relationship to a next level that can be beneficial to solve the crisis faced by the mankind today.

Let us know what you think.

Email Spriha at spriha@abplgroup.com

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

St Luke’s Hospice: care for patients in their own homes St Lukes’ Hospice cares for people whose illnesses are no longer curable, helping them to achieve the best possible quality of life during the latter stages of their illness.

The Hospice provides all of its care free of charge, and is reliant upon the generous support of the community for over 70% of its funding.

Many people assume the Hospice is just the 12 bedded In-Patient Unit, some people are aware of the Day Care Unit and Medical Out-Patient Clinic, but not everyone realises that St Luke’s cares for an even larger number of patients in their own homes with their Hospice at Home and Specialist Community Team.

Often, patients wish to spend as much time as possible in the familiar surroundings of their own homes, surrounded by their loved ones.

The St Luke’s Hospice at Home team helps fulfils this need by providing a rapid response service which enables people to be discharged quickly from hospital or to stay at home and die there if that is their wish. The team provides personal care

Asian Businesses in the South to be honoured The brightest stars of the Asian Business Community are to be recognised at the Lloyds TSB Jewel Awards, taking place on Saturday 7th November 2009 at London Hilton, Park Lane.

Now in its seventh year, the awards will honour the achievements of the most talented individuals within the public

Lauren Berry & Cynthia

including lifting, washing, transferring and toileting as well as support for carers.

Support for professionals in the community.

In addition, the Hospice specialist Community Palliative Care Teams for the North Brent area provides support and advice to GPs, District Nurses and other professionals in the community. They also provide skilled care to patients who wish to remain in their own homes but who require a greater level of care than is available from District Nurses or their formal or informal carers.

‘It is tremendously satisfying to know that we have been able to accommodate the last wish of a patient and their family to come home and die’Hospice at Home Manager, St Luke’s.

Find out more about services at St Luke’s St Luke’s is always happy to send a representative to talk to community groups about the work of the hospice. To arrange a talk, or to find out more about helping St Luke’s through volunteering or donating, please call Pam Russell or Chhaya Parmar on 020 8382 8000.

11

and private sectors among the Asian community in the south of UK. In addition this year, the evening will also acknowledge the challenges currently facing organisations and encourage discussion on how businesses can survive the current economic downturn. Judges of the Lloyds TSB Jewel Awards includes entre-

preneur and star of Dragon’s Den James Caan.

Lloyds TSB’s support of the Jewel Awards is just one aspect of the bank’s commitment to serving the UK’s Asian population and demonstrates its wider role of providing a level of support that only comes through a deep understanding of its customers.

Inauguration of Indian Gymkhana Cricket club The oldest Indian club, ‘Indian Gymkhana Cricket Club’ has recently extended the club with over £1 million pounds of Investment. The New club’s Inauguration ceremony will be conducted

by H.E Nalin Surie, High Commissioner of India on Saturday 7th November 2009 at 1300 hours.

Prominent people from all the communities will be present at this event including Mr Nat Puri, the Nottingham based magnate, who is the President of the Club, Sir Ghulam Noon- the Vice President and Mr Rajesh

Patel the Chairman of the Club. The club has made a lot of progress in recent years under the present management. Mr S K Soni is the General Secretary of the club who has a wide knowledge of all sports affiliated activities.

The Indian Gymkhana is well known for Cricket, & Football.

Hockey Historically, the Indian, Bangladesh & Pakistan teams & many other Far East teams play their warm up matches at this ground. The club also has an Astroturf pitch for hockey, which is widely used by most of the

London Hockey teams.

This is a sports club full of Indian history of cricket & hockey. Being a member of this club is a privilege for those who want to contribute to the community & have a genuine passion for sports. The club also has a brand new banqueting hall & a restaurant with a roof-terraced barbeque side, which is not less than any 5-star hotel.

The Club is self-funded by its members, who have put a lot of hard work & commitment to bring this club to where it is today.

Too much noise makes you deaf

Rhaynukaa Soni Outreach Executive

Regular exposure to high noise levels causes deafness or ringing in the ears, called tinnitus. About 170,000 people in Britain suffer deafness or tinnitus due to high levels of noise at work. Many workplaces can be very noisy and construction workers are especially at risk.

Once your hearing has been harmed by high noise levels it will not come back. Young people often

think “it can never happen to me” but it does!

But hearing loss due to noise is easily preventable and there are many practical ways to protect yourself and your workmates.

Under health and safety law employers have a legal duty to control the risks caused by noise at work – the law is called The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005. First, employers should seek to reduce noise levels as much as possible. When noise has been reduced to the lowest practical level then employers must provide hearing protection if risks still remain.

Noise on construction sites usually comes from machinery used for demolition or digging, and from air compressors, concrete mixers, hammering, riveting and many other powered tools. All equipment must provide information

about how noisy the tools are. Employers must use this information to work out if their workers are at risk from noise levels. If you have to raise your voice to be heard by someone just two metres away for some time then there is a risk to your hearing.

Employers must make sure that noise levels are properly assessed by a qualified person.

Some questions every construction worker and employer should consider: ! Can the job be done in another way that does not involve noisy equipment? ! Can a quieter piece of equipment be used? ! Is the tool maintained properly – a tool that is poorly maintained can be very noisy.

Many tools, like compressors and kango hammers can have mufflers or

silencers fitted.

All machinery should run with the lids closed and with exhausts directed away from work areas.

Carry out noisy jobs away from other workers if possible.

Move workers who are not directly involved out of the noisy area.

Put up warning signs to keep people out of the noisy area.

Employers should provide hearing checks for workers who are regularly exposed to high levels of noise If it is not possible to reduce the noise low

enough then protective equipment for the ears must be provided free of charge. These could be ear muffs or ear plugs. Make sure they are high quality and in good condition. All workers must be shown how to use the protection properly – for example, ear plugs should be very clean and go right into the ear like a bottle cork. Ear muffs and ear plugs are no use if they do not fit properly or if they are not used properly.

Hearing protection is a last resort and should only

Helpline: 0207 556 2181 e-mail: desi@hse.gsi.gov.uk Website: www.hse.gov.uk/construction/gujarati

be used when noise cannot be reduced at the source.

Do not end up as an old man who cannot hear his grandchildren sing and play.

Do not let your work make you deaf – protect your hearing!

12

MEDIA WATCH

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

Scrutator’s Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is clearly where the action is. Arriving in Moscow with a high powered delegation for the World Energy Conference, he made an eloquent pitch for his state as arguably the most investor friendly in the Indian Union. As the epicentre of the Indian energy sector, Mr Modi held extensive talks with top executives of Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, and with Russian Industries Minister Viktor Khristenko and Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko.

Chief minister Modi meets a Russian official in Moscow

“Gujarat is the only state which has its own energy company and we are here to look for opportunities in hydrocarbons,” said Mr Modi in a conversation with reporters. He said he had invited Gazprom to explore offshore areas of the state for oil and gas. Gazprom president Alexander Medvedev said that he and his team were particularly impressed by the chief minister's initiatives to make Gujarat a centre of energy excellence with the establishment of the Din Dayal Petroleum University in the state.

During his three-day visit, the chief minister also visited Russian telecommunications, energy and disaster appliances company Sistema's industrial complex.

He invited Sistema to set up a telecommunications equipment, sim card and IT chip production base in Gujarat. In the light of state's extensive coastline of 1,600 km, Mr Modi evinced particular interest in Sistema's coastguard-marine telecommunication and disaster management equipment. Experts from Sistema are expected to visit Gujarat shortly.

By discouraging Narendra Modi from visiting US and UK, Washington and London have surely passed up real business opportunities.

Innovative India The Wall Street Journal online (October 21) published an arresting report “Moving Up in India”whose contents are certain to concentrate US (and global) business minds on the opportunities of the increasingly innovative Indian market. Consider this opening paragraph: “India's many engineers, whose best-known role is to help Western companies expand or cut costs, are now turning their attention to the purchasing potential of the nation's own 1.1-billion population.

“The trend that surfaced when Tata Motors' tiny $2,200 car, the Nano, hit Indian roads in July [2009], has resulted in a slew of products for people with little money who aspire to a taste of a better life. Many products aren't just cheaper versions of well-established models available in the West but have taken design and manufacturing assumptions honed in the developed world and turned on their heads.”

Now to the examples.

“For the farmer who wants to save for the future, one Indian entrepreneur has developed what is in effect a $200 portable bank branch. For the village housewife, a wood-burning stove has been reinvented to make more heat and less smoke for $23.

For the slum family struggling to get clean water, there is a $43 water-purification system. For the villager who wants to give his child a cold glass of milk, there is a tiny $70 refrigerator that can run on batteries. And for the rural health clinics, whose patients can't spend more than $5 on a visit, there are heart monitors and baby warmers redesigned to cost 10 per cent of what they do elsewhere.....

Unexpectedly strong demand for cheap cellphones in recent years revealed the untapped markets in India's villages and slums. Thanks to $20 cellphones and two-centa-minute call rates, Indian cellphones are signing up more than five million new subscribers a month, most of them subscribers nobody would have con-

sidered serving only five years ago.”

Reverse innovation Multinational companies are taking notice. GE Chairman, Jeffrey Immelt, on a visit to Asia told how this US global giant had started restructuring to take advantage of what he called 'reverse innovation'.

In India, he saw innovations in medical equipment, which he said could eventually bring down the cost of health care in the US. Some of these products may well end up in developed markets. The Tata Nano car was earmarked for export to Europe. Even though the European version will have better interiors and safety features, it would still be cheaper than almost anything in Europe. Thanks to an abundance of engineers, it took 300 engineers four years to develop the Nano, which required rethinking everything from the engine to seats to the supply chain to keep the sticker price at around $2,200.

Clinton's broadside US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, clearly provoked beyond endurance by recalcitrant Pakistani audiences in Islamabad, dropped her diplomatic guard and fired a broadside at her hosts.

Covering the story in the Financial Times (October 30) were Daniel Dombey in Washington and Farhan Bokhari in Karachi.

Throwing aside diplomatic caution, she said she found it “hard to believe members of the Pakistan government did not know the hiding places of alQaeda leaders and could not get at them if they really wanted to.”

Pakistani officials were left speechless with fury by this stun grenade, said our scribes, but the official Pakistani response was awaited with interest.

Mrs Clinton turned the screw in a conversation with Pakistani editors. “If we are going to have a mature partnership where we work together.....there are issues that not just the US but others have with your government and with your military security establishment.”

Our scribes maintained that “The US remains deeply unpopular in Pakistan - a state of affairs Mrs Clinton's trip was intended to remedy.”

Short of turning jehadi and persuading President Obama to grease the wheels of Pakistani gover-

nance with billions more dollars there is little that can be rationally done to improve matters.

Science heritage

“Wine should be used before the operation to induce insensibility,” he said. So much for the wisdom of the ancients.

The centre had been directed by the Indian Government to “form a committee of experts to

world as a whole, may have had something to do with this. However, all is not lost. It has just been revealed in the Rajya Sabha that 38 per cent of America's doctors and 36 per cent of NASA scientists are Indian.

Inside the Biology section of the Delhi's National Science Centre

A Rhys Blakely report in The Times (October 30) told of an exhibition highlighting India's science heritage in the country's capital. N.R.Iyer, the director of Delhi's National Science Centre was quoted as saying: “Students around the world learn only the history of Western science. There is the widespread perception that science began in Greece. We want to correct this, and publicise advances made in India as long ago as 5,000 years.”

Mr Blakely again: “A new exhibition at the centre suggests that the study of atomic theory, mathematics, biology and cosmic evolution were all born in the subcontinent...The exhibition, the largest of its kind in the country, is intended to foster a sense of 'scientific nationalism' among the burgeoning middle classes.”

Beyond mathematics, where Indian achievements are seasonably well known, is surgery, which this exhibition highlights admirably. “The poster boy for the campaign is Sushruta - claimed as a genius – who pioneered rhinoplasty: rebuilding noses,” says Mr Blakely.

Better still, he quotes Sushruta: “The portion of the nose to be covered should be measured with a leaf. Then skin of the required size should be dissected from the livinkg skin of the cheek, and turned back to cover the nose, keeping a small pedicle attached to the cheek. “ The physician should then stitch the two parts swiftly, keeping the skin elevated by inserting two tubes of eranda (the castor oil plant) in the position of the nostrils.” Sushruta's prescription for pain relief makes interesting reading.

write papers laying claims to areas in science that arguable have their roots in India,” said Mr Blakely.

Heading the list “is likely to be mathematics and the decimal system, and specifically the concept 'zero' a word derived from the Sanskrit sunya....Indian scientists have welcomed the proposals but fear they will also highlight how little invocation there has been in the country in the modern period.”

“It's sad but there has been no Indian Einstein or Newton,” said Dr Kankan Bhattacaryya, director of the Indian Institute for the

New ISRO chief at helm Dr K.Radhakrishnan has succeeded Dr G.Madhavan Nair as Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). He said he was honoured by his appointment. “It is a huge responsibility that has been given to me....

My mission now is to lead Team ISRO to achieve its objectives” Dr Radhakrishnan started his career with ISRO in 1971 following his graduation the previ-

NASA scientist Amitabh Ghosh, the only Indian on the Mars mission, at a press conference in Mumbai

Cultivation of Science.

“India was fantastically advanced in the ancient world – but in the past 1,000 years we've fallen behind'.”

Quite so. Freed of the blinkers of political correctness, we might discover that Islamic rule in India, which coincided with the decline of the scientific spirit in the Islamic

ous year.

America's NASA, now partnering ISRO, has Amitabh Ghosh, an exIIT graduate, in one of its pole positions for its Mars project, which is due to take off in the next decade or so.

Innternational co-opration in science is the today's buzzword.

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

www.abplgroup.com

13

FINANCIAL VOICE RBS faces virtual nationalization

Alpesh Patel Consultant Editor Financial Voice Dear Financial Voice Reader, I write to you from Abu Dhabi and the Formula 1 Grand Prix. Having spent the day as a guest of Jenson Button as my company, Praefinium, was one of the sponsors of his Suite, it’s been quite an insight into the business of sport.

Earlier in the week at the UK India Business Council dinner Manoj Badale (owner of Rajasthan Royals) discussed the business of IPL. Does sport and business mix. Rarely. Just as the lottery works – rarely. I was fortunate enough to have a chat with Vijay Mallya in the Force India garage pit just one hour before the race as the F1 car was readied. Did the sport make sense for Kingfisher? Did it increase flights or alcohol intake? Or simply fuel an ego?

Alpesh with Vijay mallya R i c h a r d Branson came to Jenson’s suite and speaking to him, if it were not for Virgin Galactic’s last minute sponsorship of Brawn then Brawn may not have raced and eventually won the Championship. But for Virgin will it mean more uptake of its products? Given that they were advertising their space outfit ‘Virgin Galactic’ it may well have worked for them. Did it work for my company? Our return on investment criteria is simple: how many $1m miniumum investment clients will we get and the probability. For instance $10m with a 50% probability of success works out at $5m return. So any cost below $5m is worthwhile.

But as a stockmarket investor – how have you done investing in football teams quoted on the stockmarket – like Leeds United?! Not well at all am afraid. Never cloud your investments with your passions.

So dispass i o n a t e l y, where in the broader markets should we invest?

The FTSE 100 trades at a ‘multiple’ of 90. That is it costs you £90 to own £1 of profit of a FTSE 100 company. Imagine you were buying a business from me and I said its profit is £100 per year.

Would you pay me £9,000? No, because as with the return on investment calculation I showed you above, you would say you will only receive a return in 90 years!

Not a good outlay on your £9,000.

So the FTSE 100 is overvalued. However, when you look at expected profits and price the FTSE accordingly it trades at a much more usual 14 ‘multiple’. Similarly does the Dow trade at around the same multiple – both therefore looking far more reasonable.

Consequently I don’t expect any sharp falls.

However, expect until the end of the year investor risk appetite to decrease because they’ve had a great run. So I would at best to expect the FTSE and Dow to close at this levels at year end.

Even as Alistair Darling is preparing to pump in billions more to help the troubled lender – Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), he has told a BBC programme that in next five years, the country will see atleast three new players in the banking space. They would be the entities created from the sale of branches and businesses by RBS and Lloyds.

A leading British newspaper has said the government is planning to increase its stake in RBS from present 70 per cent to 84 per cent, which means a virtual nationalisation of the bank. The report in Sunday Times says the Treasury would confirm this week that the troubled bank would have to sign up a deal to part with a huge amount of problematic loans, worth £ 260 bn into a state backed insurance scheme to facilitate the government invest an additional £ 19 billion capital into the bank.

With this investment, a very small portion of shares will be left in the hands of private investors.

The outcome of the state hiking its stake is harsher than the bank expected. The bank was already committed to reducing its balance sheet by 40 per cent and selling off a slew of international businesses. RBS would now be expected to shoulder an additional 20 billion pound of losses on its own balance sheet before it lay claims on the government insurance.

RBS, Lloyds sell-off will boost competition Royal Bank of

Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc will be forced to carry out “quite a substantial divestment” of branches and institutions. These steps are expected to improve competition in Britain’s banking sector, Alistair Darling hopes.

The U.K. Government owns 43 percent of Lloyds and 70 per cent of RBS, expects about three new banks to be formed by 2013 as a result of the selloff and that their owners will include new entrants to the financial sector, Darling told the the “Politics Show” on BBC. RBS is trying to get

back on its feet after posting the biggest loss in British corporate history during the credit crunch and may be forced by the European Union to sell its insurance unit, 300 branches and some investment-banking assets.

Lloyds also needs a 17 billion-pound government bailout, is trying to raise more than 11 billion pounds in a rights offering to exit the government’s asset insurance program.

Another newspaper, the Sunday Telegraph has said in a report that three consumer banks created will be called The TSB, Williams & Glyn’s and BankCo. It did not divulge the source of the information.

Williams & Glyn’s will be formed from “hundreds” of RBS branches in England, the newspaper said while BankCo will be the “good bank” formed from state-owned Northern Rock.

Vedanta to revive Punjab power project Vedanta Resources, the UK based Global metal and mining major with substantial business stakes in India has decided to revive its independent power project in Punjab. The 1980 Mega Watt Talwandi Sabu project, with an estimated investment worth Rs. 10 billion was put on hold last year.

Vice Chairman of the company, Mr. Naveen Agarwal said last week the group had decided to revive the Punjab power project. A decision on another project, of the same size in Orissa will also be taken soon, he added.

Vedanta group, led by a business baron of Indian origin, Anil Agarwal had

to put the Punjab power project on hold as the company’s fortunes saw a slide following more than 50 per cent crash in metal prices globally. The group had at that time, decided to cut back the capital expenditures by about $5 billion, for a period of four years.

Sterlite Energy, an Indian subsidiary of the group has already filed a

draft prospectus with the regulator of the country – Sebi for an IPO to raise an amount of upto Rs. 5.1 billion from the capital market. The company, a part of the Sterlite group – the flagship firm of the Vedanta group has plans to set up power projects of a total of 11,000 Mega Watts capacity during the next few years.

Indian refiner eyeing 3 Shell units in Europe Essar Oil in talks to buy 1 UK, 2 German refineries Essar Oil, a part of the Indian industrial conglomerate – the Essar group is in talks with Royal Dutch Shell to buy two of its refineries in Germany and one in the UK. Shell and Essar, both confirmed that they are having exclusive negotiations on the sale of the Stanlow unit in UK as well as Heide and Harburg refineries in Germany with a combined capacity of 500,000 barrels per day.

Shell also added that the negotiations do not guarantee a sale and it is too early for Shell to con-

firm a deal or comment on timescales.

The negotiations however, do not include any of the UK retail sites, the lubricant oils blending plant, lubricants marketing business and its aviation operations at airports.

Essar spokesperson also confirmed the development and said, it was too premature to comment any further on the matter.

Essar Oil operates a 280,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat. This refinery capacity is being expanded

to 320,000 bpd by 2010 and then to 700,000 bpd by 2011.

In July this year, Essar Energy Overseas, a sub-

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14

FINANCIAL VOICE

Cobra Beer seeks £4.5m for Indian expansion Lord Bilimoria, more beer and the founder of not just only Cobra Beer, is strong beer. trying to raise C o b r a ’ s £4.5m to expand Indian arm genin India five erated retail sales months after the of about £5m in British arm went the year to March through a controbut delivered versial pre-pack losses of £4m. administration Turnover is foreowing creditors cast to grow Karan Bilimoria £70m. beyond £20m Bilimoria has previwithin four years. ously kept the British and The British arm, based Indian arms of the compain London, was put in ny separate. Neither has administration in May and yet made a profit. immediately bought out He has hired Grant by a joint venture vehicle Thornton, the accountant, controlled by Bilimoria to work on a fundraising and Molson Coors, the for the Indian business. international brewing He plans to use the fresh giant. finance to complete the Such arrangements, purchase of a brewery in which allow struggling India and to develop the companies to shed their brand. financial obligations, are The peer confirmed becoming increasingly the plans this weekend, common despite heavy saying it was “absolutely criticism. vital” to raise the money.

The pub groups Regent He said the Indian Inns and Orchid are beer market had enoramong the companies that mous potential and he was have survived by going “very confident” of being through pre-pack adminisable to raise the funds. tration in the past year.

Bilimoria added that it Bilimoria said that remained to be seen what being part of a larger size stake in the business brewing concern would new investors would be help Cobra start to make granted. He told the AV money. Last month he that Cobra has been manpromised to repay millions aging a brewery in Bihar owed to creditors of the from January 2008 and British business who lost after acquiring it, they out as a result of the would like to acquire 8 administration. more breweries in India.

The peer had previousLord Bilimoria added, “We ly said that he was “devasneed fund to acquire the tated” by the collapse of brewery in Bihar.” He Cobra, which was estabadded, “5 years back, in lished 20 years ago and China consumption of described the pre-pack beer was administration as “the 500ml/person/year. Now, least worst option” to save its 30 litres. In other counthe company. tries it has become But he told the AV, 120litres/per head annualthat the collapse did not ly. For India it has just affect the brand name and doubled.” He is hopeful it's still the best selling Cobra would be able to beer in Indian restaurants allure Indians to drink in the UK.

WTM show at ExCel on Monday World Travel Market, a travel exhibition to be organised by Reed Travel Exhibitions will open at the ExCel Exhibition Centre, London on 9th November.

The four day event, an annual affair is likely to

attract more than 50,000 visitors.

One of the leading show for travel sector, WTM 2009 is an imperative show which will offer enormous opportunities for meeting the international travel industry.

Nepal enters into a new trade pact with India With the aim of creating a more stable framework for greater bilateral trade and investment, Nepal last week entered into a new trade treaty with India in Kathmandu. This was done after a review of the 13 year old pact that is currently in vogue. India is Nepal’s biggest trading partner. Under the new treaty, Nepali businesses will now have access to Vishakhapatnam port also, in addition to Kolkata.

Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma and

Nepal's Minister of Commerce and Supplies Rajendra Mahato signed the 2009 India-Nepal Treaty of Trade as well as an Agreement of Cooperation to Control Unauthorized Trade, giving a shelf life of seven years to the trade treaty instead of the earlier five and including a provision to have it automatically extended every seven years.

'A new trade treaty was needed keeping in mind the changes in IndoNepal bilateral relations,' Mahato said.

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

‘Launch Your Life’ resource to encourage UK teenagers learn long term financial plans for future A charity, pfeg has launched the resource in association with AEGON, UK Teenagers across the UK are being encouraged to think about making long term financial plans for the future at the same time, as research suggests that one in three 14-18 year olds associate retirement with health worries and one in ten associate it with poverty.

The research also reveals that 45% of 14-18 year olds feel positive about their own finances when it comes to retirement, but a third are more likely to trust advice about pensions and retirement planning from family and friends than financial advisers and other sources. pfeg conducted an online research by Dubit October 2009.

This research coincides with the UK’s leading financial education charity, pfeg, (Personal Finance Education Group) launch of the first ever resource dedicated to helping young people think about their longterm financial future.

The interactive website - www.2070launchyourlife.org helps young people to achieve their future goals and aspirations by encouraging them to imagine what their lives will be like in 40 or 50 years time in order to develop a positive attitude toward long-term financial planning.

Funded by leading life assurance and pensions company AEGON, “2070: Launch Your Life” has been developed in partnership with teachers from England, Scotland and Wales as an engaging, “real-life” way of teaching personal finance in the classroom and beyond.

The exciting website gives 14 – 18 year olds the opportunity to draw on current and projected trends in the economy, population, health, leisure, technology and

family life to imagine what their lives will be like by the time they retire and explore the behaviours and attitudes they need to develop now to achieve their longterm goals.

The website includes interactive games and downloadable worksheets and activities that teachers can use to bring the subject to life. It also includes real-life video vox-pops of young people talking about how they view their future as well as an easy tool for teachers to upload new videos created by their students. News and Twitter feeds ensure that teachers can easily source the latest information, trends and commentary to bring topical events into the classroom.

Wendy van den Hende, chief executive, pfeg, said “pfeg is delighted to have been able to work in partnership with AEGON UK to deliver a resource that we believe will be of real value to teachers in helping young people to start

thinking about their long term financial future. It is vital that in today’s, ‘buy now, pay later’ culture, we can give young people a head start in planning their future finances so that they are able to lead successful, happy lives in later life.”

Otto Thoresen, chief executive, AEGON UK, said “Longevity is the biggest issue facing young people and their money today. AEGON believes it’s important to find engaging ways to help them think about, and begin to plan for, their financial future at a stage when their attitudes towards money and savings habits are being formed. This resource will help young people visualise their lives many years into the future and encourage them to think about the steps they can take to ensure their future is a positive and fulfilling one. We are delighted to work with pfeg on launching this innovative initiative for school children”

Lakshmi Mittal remains at the top of SA rich list Four other India born businessmen also in the list of 150

India-born, London based steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal remains the richest business tycoon in South Africa even after his fortune having halved in the past year due to the global recession. Four other India born South African also figure in the list of 150. They are Ragi Moonsamy (61), Akhter Deshmukh (143), Mustaq Brey (145) and Yogesh Narsing (147).

Mittal, in spite being not a resident of South Africa, heads the rich list, a ranking of the 150 wealthiest businessmen in South Africa released by the weekly Sunday Times, for the fifth consecutive year.

Lakshmi Mittal

He is in the list because of his shareholding in Arcelor Mittal SA, the steel company that came into being after the tycoon’s takeover of Iscor.

It was formerly a stateowned monopoly.

According to the rich

list, Mittal remains at the top of the list despite the value of his stake in Arcelor Mittal SA having come down to more than half in the past year, from 45.7 billion rand to 16.95 billion rand owing to weak global markets.

The rich list is based on an analysis of holdings of all companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange.

Mittal narrowly beat South African businessman Patrice Motsepe of African Rainbow Minerals, whose stake value stood at 14.246 bn rand.

ArcelorMittal back to profit Meanwhile, the steel

giant, ArcelorMittal, after posting losses for three consecutive quarters posted a net income of $900 million for the quarter ended September 30.

The net income of the company in the third quarter of this fiscal was, however, 76 per cent lower from the year-ago period.

The company had a net income of $3.8 billion in the year-ago period, after which it posted three consecutive quarterly losses amid demand slump.

"As anticipated, we have seen the first signs of recovery in the third quarter," ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO LN Mittal said in a statement.

Six Indians call the shots at Microsoft Most of the global tech companies have Indians at the top

Indian talent is at the forefront at Microsoft, the global software giant.

They run some of the key businesses within Microsoft, with at least half-a-dozen of them among the top 25 out of the company’s 95,000strong workforce.

The tenets of the world’s largest software company are being defined by the likes of S Somasegar of Chennai, Amit Mittal of Mumbai, Amitabh Srivastava from Kanpur, Gurdeep Singh Pall from Chandigarh, Satya Nadella of Hyderabad and Anoop Gupta of Delhi. Along with a few others, they run everything from cloud computing, unified communications to new soft-

ware development initiatives at the software behemoth.

As part of the crack team, they report directly to the top four in the Microsoft management hierarchy, with some among them being Technical Fellows (the highest technical rank).

These ‘Made in India’ techies hold over 100 patents, have written key research papers in technical journals and are now driving the company to its next growth path.

Microsoft is not the only one witnessing a great Indian takeover.

Several global technology companies have at least one or two Indians in the top management. Quite a shift, considering that not

too far back Indian code writers were dismissed merely as ‘tech coolies’ doing the low-end tech jobs.

Says Ravi Ventakesan, chairman, Microsoft India, “There’s a sea change on how Indians are seen.

They are moving up in sync with contributions they have made to technology and business.”In Bangalore, Anshuman Das, co-founder & managing partner of CareerNet, a technology-focussed headhunting firm reckons 20% of senior vice-presidents and above in several multinational technology companies could be Indians, up from almost zilch a few years back.

“This will pick up as Indians have now proven

themselves. Many Indians from the 1988-1994 batch of IITs and other engineering institutes are in senior positions now.”

The bright kid from Hyderabad Public School, Satya Nadella, is Binging Google head on, being the senior VP, R&D, online services division, while Amitabh Srivastava, senior VP, Windows Azure, leads the development for Microsoft’s cloud computing business.

Srivastava reports to Ray Ozzie, chief software architect. Somasegar, senior vice-president, developer division (reports to Bob Muglia, president, server & tools), has over 4,000 people under him worldwide as he heads the developer division.

FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

ArcelorMittal to explore new sites for Orissa, Jharkhand projects Posco also to shift the Orissa site ArcelorMittal is exploring for alternative sites for its steel projects in Orissa and Jharkhand as they have stuck mainly due to problems of land acquisition. The projects are worth Rs 1,000 billion.

Aditya Mittal, Chief Financial Officer of the world’s largest steel maker also said they are looking at options to move out of the two states. “We are in talks with the state governments for alternative sites for our projects. We can shift the sites within the two states.

Theoretically, we are also looking at other sites within the country,” Mittal said.

The company is “disappointed” with the

Aditya Mittal

progress made so far on its proposed 12-Million Tonnes Per Annum steel plant, each in Orissa and Jharkhand. It has rued the regulatory hurdles as well.

Asked whether the group would drop the projects, Mittal said,

UBA to have banking operations in 7 more African countries United Bank for Africa (UBA) is soon full banking operations seven more countries in the continent, including Zambia. UBA is already present in 13 countries, having almost 750 branches.

UBA also has operations in London, Paris and New York.

A UBA release in Lagos (Nigeria) said the

bank will soon have presence in Gabon, Mali, Congo Brazzaville, Congo Democratic Republic, Guinea Conakry apart from Zambia. It already has operations in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Chad and Benin.

“India continues to be an important destination for ArcelorMittal.”

“We are disappointed with the progress made in India. It is a greenfield project, we were aware of the challenges, like land acquisition we could face in India,” Mittal added.

The steel major had proposed to set up a plant in Keonjhar, Orissa, and at the tribal-dominated area between Khunti and Gumla districts of Jharkhand.

Faced with similar problems, South Korean steel giant Posco had earlier said that they will slightly alter the site of its proposed Rs 510 billion steel plant near Paradeep in Orissa.

Cairn allowed to sell crude to private refiners Cairn India, a subsidiary of British petroleum giant has secured government of India’s green signal to sell crude oil from it’s oilfield in Rajasthan to private refiners in the country. The company started pumping crude oil recently, in August. Cairn India reported a 60% rise in quarterly profit after two straight quarters of decline.

The exploration and production company said its consolidated net profit in the September quarter rose to Rs 470 crore from Rs 293 crore a year earlier.

Cairn has sold its first consignment to Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL).

Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and MRPL are the government nominees for receiving the Cairn crude.

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Mobile money transfer facility launched from UK to Kenya

In a new, highly convenient facility, now those in UK can send money to their families or friends in Kenya via just a mobile phone.

After a successful pilot project for 3 months, this service, known as “M-PESA” is now opened for people in both the countries.

The international component of M-PESA makes Safaricom the first telecom company to offer a mobile based international money transfer service.

A total of 19 outlets were carefully selected to cover areas with relatively high number of Kenyans, including Reading, London, Luton, Wembley and Glasgow, the report said. They comprise a variety of shops including forex agents, news agents and grocery shops that are commonly visited by Kenyans and whom are registered with HM

Revenue & Customs in the UK as money services businesses.

According to the service, the sender in UK will be required to identify himself/herself and furnish the agent with the recipient’s name, Kenyan mobile number and the amount being sent in Sterling Pounds.

There is no registration fee to either party for using M-PESA’s international service. The sender will pay a competitive transaction fee ranging from £4 – £6.90, depending on the amount sent and the outlet at which they are transacting, the report added.

A major benefit to users of remitting money to Kenya direct to a customers M-PESA account is in the convenience to the recipient of collecting their money.

US banks fall like a pack of cards 9 banks collapsed in one day, toll rises to 140 Even as the US economy is own the revival path, failing of banks continue.

In rate of collapse has gone up sharply in 2009, with 115 having gone bust in first ten months this year, as compared just 25 in 2008.

Moreover, the collapse of 115 banks so far this year is the highest for any

year since 1992, when 181 entities were shut down, in the wake of the savings and the loan crisis.

The situation is likely to worsen in the months to come as higher unemployment is expected to result in more defaults.

The authorities closed down nine banks on October 30. They are

Bank USA, Community Bank of Lemont, San Diego National Bank, California National Bank, Pacific National Bank, Park National Bank, Citizens National Bank, Madisonville National Bank and North Houston Bank.

The nine banks had combined assets worth

USD 19.4 billion and deposits of USD 15.4 billion, as on September 30.

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insures deposits of over 8,000 American banks, these collapses would cost its Deposit Insurance Fund about USD 2.5 billion.

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FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

Quality for Community

Alpesh Patel’s Political Sketchbook: From the Prime Minister, to the Supreme Court to the Lords, down to the Media in a week

Consider my experiences of this past week. I found myself sitting in the TV studio at CNBC. Here I co-host (CNBC’s term) hour-long segments each fortnight. I was to comment on George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor’s speech.

During the commercial break, with the cameras off and the lights blazing, my interviewee from a major City financial institution, stated ‘and Gordon Brown appointed that dogy Bilimoria to the Lords’. I furiously and instinctively reacted, ‘if you equate a loss for shareholders as dogy, then presumably you also consider the CEOs and Boards of every British FTSE 100 and American Dow Jones company last year dodgy too, including those who run your firm in which you knowingly continue working the dodge?’ To this, the interviewee went silent. I concluded he was as intellectually bankrupt as the City’s banks are financially bankrupt and little wonder the City is in trouble with muppets like this interviewee applying their judgement to finance.

Now I have on dozens of occasions heard members of the asian community claiming how they ‘knew’ Karan, were his ‘friend’, and generally basked in the reflected glory of his achievements. But at a dinner recently I was asked, ‘will Karan’s reputation recover?’ I was asked this presumably as I am a friend of Lord Bilimoria and was indeed invited to his inaugural speech in the Lords and invited him nine years ago to his first Foreign Office meeting to join the ‘Special Task Force on Involving the Asian Community in Foreign Policy Formulation’, and have sat on the Boards of two organisations with him as well as co-chairing the Loomba Trust Advisory Council with him...so you could say I

know the man somewhat.

But as I recounted to a family member, an uncle, in Dubai my experience at the CNBC studio, he recounted how two decades ago Karan would in his old car deliver Cobra Beer to my uncle’s nightclub. My uncle reminded me that seeing Karan’s success was a tribute to all businesspeople in this country. It is not easy succeeding in business. It is the path less trodden, to choose not to be an employee, but an employer of people, to take on the risk and responsibility and have a less than 10% statistical chance of being in business three years later – because that is the failure rate of business. And on top of all that, hear the whispers of your own community.

Well, it’s one thing to damn a guilty man, but it is the worst most pathetic kind of cowardice to speak behind the back of a giant, to speak without informed consideration of all facts. I assure you the interviewee in the CNBC studio had no idea why Karan was appointed to the Lords, that it was not a political appointment, that it was more to do with services to his Parsee community, that his father was a patriot and General in the Indian Army, that when Cobra was part sold and unsecured creditors erased, it was using legislation passed by Parliament which balanced the interests of a company, its employees, its shareholders, that Karan received hate mail, that the media manufactured ‘facts’ to attack the Prime Minister through the Lord.

They are called noble Lords. But nobility is not an exclusive franchise of the Lords. The truth is a concept to which we all owe a loyalty, and loyalty to our friends to speak up too is an act of nobility. Sadly, we so often have become strangers to

the truth thanks to quick ill-informed judgements.

No, it is a trait of people that judgement is made without being informed; manufactured from snippets from the press.

I also this past week was at a dinner with Lord Goodhart who was instrumental in the establishment of the new Supreme Court out of the House of Lords in Parliament – the highest British court. Imagine the work of these Law Lords sitting in the new Supreme Court. They too make judgements.

Imagine if when they damned persons, they did so by reading the a few column inches, nothing from the defendant.

The next time you judge, whether you judge a Lord, MP or layman, consider why judges have such long trials to establish facts before dispensing justice and the damage done when seal a judgement with anything less. Far better to say, ‘I cannot form an opinion without the facts’ than to say ‘I summarily damn you’.

Karan does not know I am writing this. The article is not really about him, it’s about our own cowardice in not showing loyalty to either the truth in politics or our friends and in our silence damning both.

The answer to the question ‘will Lord Bilimoria’s reputation recover’ is ‘in my eyes and every right thinking person, it never diminished. I could not say that of those members of the Lords who stay silent and on the sidelines and don’t show loyalty to their noble friend.’

The columnist is a former Visiting Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

He read Philosophy, Politics, Economics at St Anne’s College, Oxford when he also interned in the US Congress and read Law at King’s College, London, qualifying as a barrister.

Mayank S. Rawal, FCQI CQP

Document Control: a Fundamental element of management system

Today we look at the first part of Document Control.

Documents are basically a vehicle by which information is carried.

In the context of your Community organization, these documents could include documents such as constitution, event programme, membership forms, community hall details, event duty lists, meeting minutes.

One of the most fundamental elements of the management system is Document Control which is about how information is controlled and on what medium (paper, electronic). It also means ensuring the document being used is the correct and latest revision, applicable to the task in hand and more importantly approved for use. This also involves controlling the information through document preparation, review, issue, approval, usage, changes, distribution, storage, security, disposal, and retention.

Possible confusion between documents and records should be prevented. Documents are basically live and the contents within can be subject to changes and revisions. Records are historical and cannot be changed. They are generated as a result of an activity, and are factual

s t a t e m e n t s .

Obsolete/superseded documents can become records.

All documents must be approved for adequacy, completeness before use.

This can be demonstrated through e.g. signature, being visible to the reader to maintain the value of approval.

Approvals should be limited to persons having direct responsibility and knowledge for the document. An approvals matrix can also be useful to define who is authorized to approve documents.

Document approvals must be kept as a record. The introduction of a review cycle during the document preparation stage can often help improve the content of information contained within the document, and can help reduce the time taken to approve a document.

This also gives concerned persons the chance to comment on the document prior to release.

A twice yearly documentation review to identify redundant documents, documents no longer required, and opportunities to consolidate commonly related documents often helps to keep document system clean and lean. Any documents requiring amend-

ments and changes should go through a reapproval process.

The Inadvertent use of out-of-date documents could have significant, and negative impact on costs and satisfaction of members of a Community organization, therefore obsolete documents must be identified, removed or discarded from all points of issue to prevent unintended use. Equally, obsolete documents should be retained where necessary for legal or knowledge capture purposes.

Maintaining revision control of documents is absolutely vital; therefore documents must be identified with a revision status. This would enable the reader to know whether they are in possession of the most current document. The revision status could be indicated by revision number, letter, and date clearly written on the document. The revision status of each document should be traced back to a master document register. As documents progress through revisions a history log describing the changes is can be useful should any queries arise at a later date.

Next time we take a look at further sub-elements of Document control.

2 Oberoi hotels in India among 10 best in the world

Indian Hospitality chain, Oberoi Hotels and Resorts said last week two of its hotels have been ranked among the ten best in the world by a leading USbased travel magazine.

"Two Oberoi hotels have been ranked amongst the 10 best in the world in Condé Nast Traveler's 2009 Readers' Choice Awards," the group said in

a statement.

It said readers of Condé Nast traveler magazine have rated The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur and The Oberoi Vanyavilas, Ranthambhore amongst the 10 best hotels in the world for the third consecutive year.

Besides, Oberoi Udaivilas has been ranked the best hotel in Asia

while Oberoi Vanyavilas has been voted amongst the two best resorts in Asia for the third year in succession.

Readers' Choice Awards are derived from the Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Survey, the largest independent poll of consumers' preferences in the US, the release added.

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FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

17

Suresh Vagjiani is the Managing Director of Sow & Reap, a Property Investment & Financing company.

Bread and Butter... then the Cake!

Last Friday we completed on a deal for a new client of ours. His family is based in Kenya and is involved in business over there. The family consists of a few brothers who wanted to place their hard earned money in a more stable environment. They have children who are currently in the UK for education purposes.

Their aim is to set up a base here for their family who will be increasingly spending more time here in the UK. We sourced a three bedroom property near the Church Street side of Edgware Rd. The property is a large three bedroom duplex flat. It is large enough to be converted to a four bedroom which another client has done in the same block, this would attract a rental of £1,050 per week.

The property though bought in two individual names has been bought for the benefit of the whole family. This will be formalised by a trust agreement which proves the property although in only two names is for all named members of the family, it will be treated as such for taxation purposes.

The aim is to pur-

week giving a yield of £36,400. Over a 10% gross yield.

The family approached us wanting a fully managed solution; they did not even view the property prior to commencing the process. It was a numbers game for them. And in one sense it matters

gishness of the UK property market, though recent statistics show this is fast changing.

The family have been so impressed with their purchase and they have already started the ball rolling for another property in the area this time priced lower but again with the same three bed-

little that this happens to be a property. The bottom line is the amount which is put in and what comes out every month. The valuer sent independently by the bank will verify the value of the property.

The underlying growth of the property will be insured by virtue of its central location. The rental will be confirmed by the solicitor during the purchase. If we even

rooms and a possibility of even higher rental due to the market rental now being higher than when their existing tenant signed up for rental.

With the issue of several high income properties this will bring in to play a high level of taxation on the income. It is better to prepare in advance for these kinds of situation rather than having to react when things get too late. We

chase a few properties like these so that there is a stable income coming in with the eventual aim of doing more irregular but more lucrative projects once there is a good inflow. This stable cash flow will fund the cost of more irregular projects.

The property was bought with the benefit of a tenant already paying a rent of £700 per

assume a zero growth on the property value it will still be a solid income earning investment due to the high level of income earned every month after paying expenses.

With funds being brought over from overseas they have benefited hugely. First from the favorable currency and secondly from the slug-

are working with them to ensure this can be done in the most tax efficient way as possible, through our association of clever tax advisors.

If you would like us to source property deals for you and provide a total turnkey solution call Sow & Reap now 0207 706 0187.

Mortgages Commercial Finance Gujarat Properties - Sale & Resale Property Sourcing

Anand-the centre is shifting

Anand is located between Ahmedabad and Vadodara. Anand is known as Milk Capital of India, because of its cooperative movement started by Late Shri Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel which was later led by Dr. Verghese Kurien.

GCMMF (Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation) which manages AMUL is jointly owned by some 2.7 million milk producers in India.

AMUL is based in Anand town of Gujarat and has been a sterling example of a co-operative organization's success in the long term. It is one of the best examples of co-operative achievement in the developing world.

"Anyone who has seen ... the dairy cooperatives in the state of Gujarat, especially the highly successful one known as AMUL, will naturally wonder what combination of influences and incentives is needed to multiply such a model a thousand times over in developing regions everywhere. The Amul Pattern has established itself as a uniquely appropriate model for rural development. Amul has spurred the White Revolution of India, which has made India the largest producer of milk and milk products in the world. It is also the world's biggest vegetarian cheese brand.

Anand now a district headquarters is also the Headquarters of the National Dairy Development Boad (NDDB), a stautory organization created by Late Prime Minister of India Mr Lal Bahadur Shastri to spearhead the co-operative dairy devel-

opment replicating Anand Pattern throughout India. It is also the home of world renowned Institute of Rural Management (IRMA), another one of Dr. V Kurien creation.

It is also main Junction of AhmedabadVadodara Expressway.

Any Train from Ahmedabad Mumbai route connect it.

Distance : 73 Kms from Ahmedabad and 38 Kms from Vadodara.

Recently Buildquick Infrastructure Pvt Ltd has completed a prestigious project of 5 Star Spa Resort in Anand. It is the same group which is developing Green Acres & Green Villae developments in Anand.

The chairman and managing director of Elecon Group Mr Prayasvin Patel is very excited about this resort and is now planning to promote various sports in Anand city.

He has already declared a development of 18 hole sprawling golf course surrounded with residential township worth Rs 400 crores in Anand.

Mr Patel along with his wife is already promoting tennis by setting up Elecon Tennis Academy in milk city, and is also passionate about promoting other sports in the small town.

“The sports club will have international standard facilities for every sport, be it football, badminton or squash,” They have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit 2009.

So now Anand will be benefiting from a sports club in near future with all the sports facilities

for the localites.

5 Star Spa Resort at Anand The builder has many other prestigious developments within the proximity of the area.

Indeed many of you will know these buildings and know they are still in very good order, this is testimony to the quality of construction you can expect from purchasing in Green Acres or Green Villae.

Buildings constructed by the developer:In-plant structures with affiliated facilities for General Motors India Limited at Halol Boy’s Hostel S o p h i s t i c a t e d Instrumentation Centre for Research and Testing (SICART) ADIT Engineering Collage for Charutar Vidya Mandal (CVM), Cardiac Centre for Charutar Arogya Mandal (CAM) Shree Swaminarayan Vidyapith for Bochasanwasi Shri Aksharpurushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), Ahmedabad Day Care Centres at scattered places of 42 villages in the district of Kutch for Save the Children State-of-the-Art School for Swastik Group of Schools, Ahmedabad State-of-the-Art School for Aga Khan Foundation, New Delhi The list is very exhaustive, but one thing is sure that all the developments by the group will set benchmarks for others in terms of construction quality and effectiveness with which the projects are carried out.

Please call us on 0207 706 0187 today to register your interest in our Anand development.

Sow & Reap Call On: 0207 706 0187 Email at: info@sowandreap.co.uk

Sow & Reap Properties Limited is trading as Sow & Reap.

Registered in England No. 05083823 Registered Office Address: 31 Southwick Street, Paddington, W2 1JQ

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Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

BY

SWATI BHAN

Alternative methods to reduce cholesterol High cholesterol levels are a cause of concern and the medicines needed for its cure are many a times unaffordable for many because of the costs. The medicines can reduce the cholesterol level but its only the right kind of diet that enables to keep cholesterol under check. Herbs and other natural products have been around alot longer than the standard prescription drugs used to control high cholesterol. They are usually derived from plants, trees, and other sources.

Unfortunately, herbal drugs are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, so you have to be careful about what other chemicals are in the pills you are taking besides the herb that you want to take. This is especially true of herbal drugs manufactured in foreign countries, which will actually put a prescription drug, like a statin drug, into the pill with the herb without

listing it in the ingredients section. So, be careful, and consult your health care practitioner before you start any

type of herbal drug, because it might interfere with other medications you are taking.

There are many natural products that can be used as an alternative to

treating high cholesterol.

This may be especially optimal to patients who are regulating their cholesterol levels with diet and exercise.

Natural products reduce cholesterol levels by dissolving fat in the b l o o d .

Although much research has gone into evaluating which natural products are more helpful in reducing cholesterol levels, the exact mechanism by which it does this is not completely understood.

Natural Products Effective in Lowering Cholesterol Levels The following list includes natural products that have been noted to reduce cholesterol levels through research. Although natural products are regulated by the FDA, many of these drugs have not undergone extensive investigation required to list them as legitimate cholesterol-lowering agents.

Therefore, as with any new regimen, consult with your health care practitioner before beginning any of these.

• B Vitamins, besides niacin, decrease the rate at which LDL is

damaged through oxidation.

• Carnitine has been

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

• •

seen to increase HDL levels, therefore decreasing total cholesterol levels.

Chromium has been seen to reduce LDL levels and increase HDL levels.

Fiber can be obtained through fiber supplements or through foods such as whole grains and vegetables.

It is thought that fiber binds to cholesterol in the small intestine and preventing cholesterol absorption into the bloodstream.

Garlic has been widely studies for its cholesterol-lowering properties.

Grape Seed Extract has been noted to reduce total cholesterol serum levels.

Pantothine has been seen to increase HDL levels, therefore decreasing total cholesterol levels.

Red yeast rice contains a natural form of l o v a s t a t i n ( M e v a c o r ® ) .

Although effective, this natural product is not regulated by the FDA, so the dosage may vary from pill to pill.

Royal Jelly has been seen to lower cholesterol levels by reducing some of the cholesterol-elevating effects of nicotine.

Soy has been shown to reduce total cholesterol levels Vitamin C has been noted to slightly reduce cholesterol levels.

kitchen

Treats

Indian Samosa Traditionally, samosas are an Indian snack food, but can be eaten with some kind of vegetarian Indian food sides, such as rice and dal. However you prefer to eat your Indian samosas, be sure to serve them with a dipping sauce and enjoy your traditional Indian food meal.

Ingredients: • 2 onions, minced • 1 tbsp coriander • 1 tsp cumin • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper • 1/2 pound potatoes, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces • 1 10 ounce package frozen peas, thawed and drained • 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro • dash salt and pepper to taste • 9 sheets phyllo pastry, thawed • olive oil

Preparation: Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, sautee the onions in a bit of oil until they are soft, about 6 to 8 minutes.

Add the coriander, cumin and cayenne, and cook for another minute. Remove from heat and add the potatoes, peas and cilantro, stirring to mix well.

Season with a bit of salt and pepper.

Stack 3 or 4 sheets of phyloo together, and slice into 4 even rectangles with a pair of kitchen shears.

Continue with the rest of the phyllo, then cover with plastic wrap.

Place two or three tablespoons of the potato and peas mix in a corner of the dough, then roll the corner towards the center.

Fold in the left and right corners, then roll up again.

Place each samos on a baking sheet, and lightly brush the tops with olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

Kofta Tikka Masala Ingredients For Koftas • 2 boiled mashed potatoes • 2 tspns peas boiled • 1 carrot boiled and mashed • 10 beans boiled and mashed • 1 tspn pepper powder • Salt to taste • 1/2 tspn ginger & garlic paste • 2 tspn coriander and mint leaves chopped For gravy • 2 onions chopped finely • 2 pods of garlic chopped • 1" of ginger cut into fine stripes • 1/4 tspn turmeric powder • 1/2 tspn garam masala • 1 1/2 tspn chilly powder • 1 tspn coriander powder • 1/2 tspn cumin powder • 1 tomato puree • 2 tspns cashew paste • 1 knobbutter • Salt to taste • 1/4 tspn pepper powder • 3 tpns panner • 2 tspns sugar • Capsicum pieces Method For Kofta • Mix all ingredients together and make round balls.

• Dust this with cornflour and keep aside.

• Heat oil in a wok and deep fry them.

Keep in a casserole to keep warm.

For Gravy • Fry onions in oil alongwith ginger and garlic. Fry till oil seperates and onions should turn brown.

• Then add garam masala, turmeric and chilly powder, coriander and cumin powder, pepper powder & salt to taste.

• Add paneer, just sprinkle them so that it gets shredded. Add water and don't throw away the whey. It can be used to give it a little sour flavour.

• Add 2 tspns of sugar and let it bubble.

• You can add capsicum pieces and add koftas and butter. Remove from fire • Let it simmer to required consistency.

• Garnish with coriander leaves.

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

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Aamir to open Yashraj’s TV show Rishta.com Sanjay Dutt on special Yashraj Productions is making its debut on a small screen with a show called Rishta. com. It is a comedy series which will show a matrimony office through which couples meet. Like their films, the TV show has all the star power as well.

YRF has tapped all their loyalists, including

Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta, Uday Chopra, Tabu and Riteish Deshmukh to make an appearance on their show but opening the curtains will be Aamir Khan.

According to reports, Aamir has agreed to be a part of YRF’s new show and the main reasons for his nod is the fact that it’s

very close to real life. The perfectionist star's inclusion also comes as a surprise as the banner has always flaunted SRK to be their lucky mascot.

Industry sources indicate that it’s going to be big indeed, however, the details of Aamir’s role on the show haven’t been divulged as yet.

Abhay Deol ‘plays safe’ with first home production Abhay Deol is a ‘rebel’ compared to other Bollywood actors. But he wants to play safe when it comes to his first home production “Basra.”

"Romance, comedy and action are safe genres.

People in general tend to go for them. The idea is to survive in the market and entertain. As long as you keep the integrity intact, the difference lies the way you do it," said Abhay.

The actor, who carved a niche for himself with off-beat hits like 'Dev D' and 'Oye Lucky Oye', also insists that he has always

been commercial in his choice of films and would continue to do so as he turns producer.

"I have always been commercial. In all the films I have done so far, the idea has been to translate into commercial success."

"So when I say that I am going commercial with 'Basra' it doesn't mean that I am turning over new leaf or going the Bollywood way. I am not going to make something like Om Shanti Om 2," he added.

Apart from producing the action-thriller, the 33-

year-old actor will be seen playing the lead with Chitrangada Singh in 'Basra', which is being directed by Navdeep Singh of 'Manorama Six

John angry with Anthony, says not doing ‘Blue 2’ Director Anthony D’Souza has rubbed John Abraham on the wrong side. This has led to John being upset and a getting a bit rude on him. He has been going around telling the media that John will be working with him on ‘Blue 2’ as well as a film called ‘Aerial’ where he will star opposite Sonal Chauhan. John denies even discussing any film with Anthony.

John usually doesn’t flare up this way and

respects newcomers a lot but he isn’t pleased with

Anthony’s behaviour at all. John has made it clear that it wasn’t right on Anthony’s part to spread rumours like this.

Anthony later apologized and said that he won’t mention John’s name in the media again.

John confirmed the news and stated that he doesn’t wish to be rude and he is touched that Anthony really wants to work with him. But he is not part of either Blue 2 or Aerial.

Ranbir was scared of walking with Katrina Bollywood youth icon Ranbir Kapoor turned showstopper with modelturned actress Katrina Kaif at the Rohit Bahl show of Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week held in New Delhi last week.

The hot hero though says he was nervous while sashaying the ramp with Katrina.

“I was pretty nervous to face the stage with a veteran model like Katrina. The idea of walking the ramp with her made me go blank every time I thought of it. It was she who led me beautifully to the stage making me feel comfortable with her,” says Ranbir, who had been

to New Delhi with Katrina to promote their film ’Ajab prem ki gajab kahani’, set for release on November 6.

Donned in Rohit

Bahl’s exotic collection Ranbir emerged in cream colour sherwanistyle coat with pyjamas and Katrina had an embellished similar colour tunic to team up with him.

With models such as Muzzamil Ibrahim, Carol Gracias, Jessy R a n d h a w a , N a y a n i k a Chaterjee and Lisa Hayden, Bahl’s says his show at the grand finale of the fashion week was based on ‘Exotic India’ signifying the country’s inherent luxury.

Feet Under' fame.

The actor, who has earned the tag of 'Different Deol' by staying away from usual Bollywood fare, does not want his films to be labelled as niche as they will only attract a select audience.

"I will continue doing the things my way but the point is that what I do now should be seen as a commercial stuff because as soon you tag it as niche you need to attract the niche. I want to reach the masses and want everybody to appreciate my films," he said.

diet for Kangana

50-year Sanjay Dutt is cast opposite 20-something Kangana Ranaut in ‘Knock Out’.

And they were looking super-compatible in spite of Kangana being half of Sanju Baba’s age. Wonder why, it’s all because of a special ketosis-based diet.

A source close to Dutt said, “Sanjay is on this special diet since June. It required him to take lots and lots of fattie food and no carbohydrates at all.”

In fact carbs would’ve been potentially lethal for this diet. In no time Sanjay started losing weight. And that too, without Sanju having to give up his favourite food.

Today Dutt is looking trimmer than he did ten years ago. And when he shot with Kangana last week the camera couldn’t tell their age difference.

Dutt plays an assassin out to get his victim with a sniper rifle in ‘Knock Out’. Kangana Ranaut has always had a fascination for assassin heroes. She began her career with Gangster where her assas-

sin-hero was the 30-plus Shiney Ahuja.

Now in Mani Shankar’s Knock Out she’s again attracted to the killer-hero, this time played by the 50-year old Sanjay Dutt. The two became professionally fond of one another while shooting for the comedy ‘No Problem’ in Cape Town.

When Mani Shankar was looking for a bright intense young actress to play a television journalist, Sanju Baba who recommened Kangana.

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Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

Aishwarya, SRK celebrate their b’days

Bollywood stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan celebrated their birthdays on Sunday and Monday respectively. Aishwarya ushered in her 36th birthday with family members and close friends in Mumbai on Sunday. The actress, who has completed shooting for Mani Ratnam's bilingual film ‘Raavana” had taken a break for a few days.

"We have also just brought in Aishwarya's birthday and wished her love and happiness and a long prosperous life. It was just the family," the actress's father-in-law mega star Amitabh Bachchan wrote on his blog posted in the wee hours of the morning.

'I feel 25,' says Shah Rukh Shah Rukh turned 44 Monday, but said he still feels just 25 - barring the physical problems he has

had in the past year. The heartthrob also said he wants to work for youngsters and underprivileged girls.

'I have been in my 40s since a few years now and I gracefully accept the age.

But honestly, I feel like I am just 25 or 26 except for the physical problems I've had in my past year,' Shah Rukh said.

'Maybe I look older, but then when I look younger, people say I get plastic surgeries done to my face. When I look old, they say I am over and done with. But the fact is that when I sleep well, I look young and when I don't get enough sleep, I look old,' he quipped.

The actor underwent an arthroscopic surgery for acute pain in his left shoulder here in February and was on a forced break to recuperate completely.

But he promises to make up for his absence.

Deepika Padukone finds comedy a tough business With just four films released and three more on hand, Deepika Padukone is already one of the top Bollywood babes.

She is very a sober girl, as most of the Journalists find she doesn’t have half the airs most A-listers make journalists suffer. At the Yahoo! office in Lower Parel, she surprisingly walks in dot on time.

Along with her, come a swarm of photographers pushing to get a perfect picture.

She doesn’t flinch, is happy to oblige to the relentless shutterbugs. The lens-men walk away only half -hour later.

Deepika, just back from London shooting her first comedy, Sajid Khan’s ‘Housefull’. “It’s an out-and-out comedy, a genre really tough to get right,” she says. “You can’t do

comedy well without having that perfect comic timing. I’m lucky I had Sajid to guide me through it.” It must have also helped to have Akshay Kumar as a co-star, “Of course.

Akshay is also so good at comedy so to have him around made it easier but also more challenging,” she says earnestly.

Also in the making is a film with Farhan Akhtar, called ‘Karthik Calling Karthik’. “This is a compete thriller,” she tells us. “If you look at the past films that I’ve done, I think I have experimented with all there is. I’m not partial to any and I’m just glad that I’ve been able to do these films. But I have to

which will star Neil Nitin Mukesh and is being directed by Pradeep Sarkar.

In between, she makes sure that she keeps in touch with all her fans through e-mail.

Salman ignores Asin, Katrina factor working?

While Asin claims to be having cordial relationship with Salman Khan, media is abuzz with the news of their friendship turning sour. During the shooting of ‘London Dreams' the chemistry that the on-screen couple shared had become the talk of the town. But recently Salman Khan has been spotted ignoring the actress to the core.

So much so that the eternal bad-boy of Bollywood even refused to acknowledge her presence at a press conference held for the promotion of their flick. Avoiding the actress, Salman walked away from the interview leaving Asin all alone to face media. The reason for Salman ignoring Asin is because their friendship was under constant scrutiny of the media, leading to rumours of a link-up, which was affecting his relationship with Katrina.

Hema’s allout bid to save Esha’s sinking career

Hema Malini is doing everything she can to ensure her daughter Esha’s re-launch into Bollywood goes well. She has roped in four veteran cinematographers for shooting separate portions of the film ‘Tell Me Oh Khuda’ and its four actors.

Grant Appleton, Hayk Kirakosyan, Carlos Catalan and Burak Turan are the four cinematographers who will be working on the film.

Burak Turan will shoot Esha’s scenes with Rishi Kapoor in Turkey.

Vinod Khanna’s scenes will be shot in Rajasthan. The four cinematographers will give a distinct feel to each of the parts.

The plot for ‘Tell Me Oh Khuda’ is very similar to Hema Malini’s previous directorial venture– Dil Aashna Hai. When this was pointed out to the director of ‘Tell Me Oh

say that comedy is tougher.”

It’s going to be a sixmonth break between releases, but the actress has been keeping herself busy with all her shooting. “I’ve also just signed on Yash Raj’s next,” she says about the untitled film

Khuda’, Mayur Puri, he simply stated that both films are about a quest.

He narrated three to four ideas to Hema Malini and she liked this one the most.

According to a source, "Asin reached the studio at 1pm as scheduled. Salman was unwell. His face was swollen and he had a running nose. Hence, he was not very comfortable doing the interviews and requested the media guys to reschedule it, but continued to chat with them.

Asin was aware that the joint interviews won’t happen, but she refused to move. It was evident that she wanted to meet Salman. To everyone’s surprise, Salman did not even greet her. In fact, he completely ignored her.

She sat there for sometime but Salman simply refused to speak to her.

Minissha Lamba yearns for beach vacation After sashaying down the ramp in beach wear for designer duo Hemant-Nandita at the recent Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW), Bollywood actress Minissha Lamba yearns for a beach vacation.

"I'm dying to go on a vacation - some place where I can dive into the blue ocean water and sunbathe. I have had a lot of commitments lately so it was hard to take out time for a holiday," Minissha said.

The actress, who was the showstopper for designer duo Hemant-Nandita, says she went into the holiday mood as soon as she slipped into the designers' chic resort wear collection, inspired by "a vacation in Ibiza".

"After wearing this dress, I really think I want to go to Ibiza without all the stress of work, " said Minissha, who walked the ramp confidently in a colourful,

flowy dress with prominent work on the neckline.

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

BollyKats

Jail

Bebo’s role in a Pankaj Kapoor film might go to somebody else Pankaj Kapur is believed to have written a script keeping Kareena Kapoor in mind. But the idea was conceived when the duo were very much a pair. Atleast for now, the scene has changed.

And yet, guess what? Even Bebo is ready to work in the movie, if she likes the story and has a good role in it.

Shahid and Kareena were very much together when the idea of the movie cropped up in Pankaj's mind. But after the duo's break-up, Kapur started considering other options which lead to the delay.

Now the question is whether Kareena would work in the movie if offered a role? Bebo says, Yes.

“If they have a good script and a good role and ask me to do it, I see no reason why I shouldn’t.”

A source said, “Things are fine now but they can’t go back to Kareena saying that they want her to do the film. They are feeling quite awkward about asking her to star opposite Shahid and hence they have decided to launch a nationwide hunt to look for a girl who will be suitable for t h e film.”

After Priyanka, Asin faints!

After Priyanka Chopra, overwork has affected the health of another Bollywood actress. This time it is the turn of Asin. She has fainted because of non-stop interviews that she had to give for her latest film, “London Dreams.”

She passed out at an Andheri club and had to be revived by her staff and friends by instant energy boosters.

Asin rested at home on her birthday last week and stated

Something keeping Bips sleepless these days

Bipasha Basu is sleepdeprived these days. Well, don’t let your imagination fly!

The actress bursts the bubble by revealing the real reason behind her sleepless state. “It’s only work, and some more work,” she states laughingly.

The Bong beauty has been shooting all night through for past few days. But surprisingly, that sleep-starved look barely shows on her fresh-as-everface. Spilling the beans on that

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secret, Bips adds, “I have been trying to catch up on my sleep during the daytime.”

Which is not much, we think, considering the freqeunt public appearances the actress has been putting in off late for h e r

recent film. Now, how and when the actress manages to catch on her beauty sleep is a mystery waiting.

that the reason she fainted was because she had slept for barely 3-4 hours last week and on that day, she had no sleep or food.

But she was making it up by spending a restful birthday.

On her birthday, her closest friends came over to dinner after which they made her cut the cake at midnight.

Earlier, when she came home in the evening, her parents had done up the entire house with balloons, like they used to when she was younger.

She admits that this was the best birthday of her life.

The later part of the day was spent with children from her building.

A dramatic flick by Madhur Bhandarkar, Jail is produced by Shailandra Singh under the banner of Percept Picture Company and Bhandarkar Entertainment.

Parag Dixit is living a dream life with a great job and his loving girlfriend Maansi! However things take an ugly turn, as after a series of unfortunate events he suddenly wakes up in jail; handcuffed and randomly beaten up by the cops.

Parag is perplexed and in a place far from his utopian life. He tries hard to face away from the ugly truth and wish it’s all a bad dream, but soon succumbs to the prison anarchy. The only salvation he finds is in Nawaab, a convict and a warden who believes that Parag is innocent.

Soon, he discovers the inner mechanism and the science responsible for the wretched status inside the prison and hordes of broken hearts and shattered souls which managed to find comfort amidst the four prison walls. He is left with a choice, to either live a life that is controlled and exploited or fight against the system!

The lead cast of the film consists of Neil Nitin Mukesh, Mugdha Godse, Manoj Bajpai, Arya Babbar, Ashish Sharma, Rahul Singh and Sayali Bhagat.

Director Madhur Bhandarkar also shares the credits for story and screenplay with Manoj Tyagi and Anuradha Tiwari. Dialogues are by Raghuvir Shekhawat.

Sandeep Nath, A M Turaz, Toshi, Sharib and Ajay Garg have penned the lyrics, while Shamir Tandon, Toshi and Sharib have scored the music.

Playback is by Lata Mangeshkar, Toshi, Sharib, Sonu Kakkar and Neil Nitin Mukesh.

New Hindi movies releasing this week 1. Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani 2. Jail

Top 5 Bollywood movies for the week ended 29nd October

No. Film 1.

2 3 4 5

No. Last Week All The Best 2 Blue 1 Wake Up Sid 4 Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna 3 Bal Ganesh 2 New

Total weeks 2 2 5 2 1

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INDIA

Karunanidhi wants PR status for Lankan Tamils in Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has asked the Centre to grant permanent residential status to over 160,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees residing in the state. He announced Rs. 120 million grant for the refugees housed in 115 camps across the state.

The Lankan Tamils should be given permanent residential status to enable the state government to initiate steps for improving their economic and social well-being, Karunanidhi wrote in the DMK's official organ 'Murasoli'. The government is of the view that any effort to improve these refugees living conditions would only be an effort to enhance the livelihood of Tamils as a whole, he said.

Karunanidhi sanctioned Rs 120 million to improve the conditions at the refugee camps yesterday, said he was pained to read an article published in a magazine on the conditions in the camps.

He said there were 115 refugee camps housing 73,241 Lankan Tamils in 26 districts in the state.

Besides, 31,802 of them were living outside the camps in the state, he said.

Sikh religious leaders to discuss Nanakshahi calendar The SGPC decision to revise the Nanakshahi calendar for Sikhs, adopted in 2003 has stirred up a controversy. The Sikhs earlier used to follow the Bikrami calendar.

Right from the day of implementation, the Nanakshahi calendar has been rejected by a large number of Sikh organisations. Since then, Sikhs have been organising their religious functions on two different dates. The controversy also overshadowed the celebrations of the 300th installation of Guru Granth Sahib at Nanded in Maharashtra last year.

Delhi Sikh gurdwara management committee chief Parmjit Singh Sarna has called ameeting in New Delhi on November 9 to deliberate on the issue.

Besides Sikh scholars, leaders of Damdami Taksal, who have been opposing the Nanakshahi calendar, the five Sikh high priests and Pal Singh Purewal, who was instrumental in casting the calender, have also been invited to the meeting.

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

Gujarat CM Modi recovers fast after down with swine flu He was diagnosed with H1N1 after his Russia visit last week The team of doctors attending on Narendra Modi declared on Tuesday that Gujarat Chief Minister is free of swine flu symptoms. He is however advised further rest for another two days, and may start working from Friday.

The health condition of Gujarat Chief Minister, down with swine flu since his return from the Russia visit witnessed a fast recovery. An official bulletin on CM’s health on Monday

Narendra Modi

said though the improvement in his healthy is speedy, he will be kept in isolation at his residence for some more days. He is perhaps the first VVIP to have been caught in epidemic globally.

Narendra Modi was declared having swine flu on Saturday after he had complains of cough, fever and body ache on Friday.

He returned from his tour of Russia on Thursday.

All members of the delegation who had been to

Russia with Modi were also under observation.

The delegation included some members of the Gujarat cabinet and leading industrialists from the state.

Health officials feel the Chief Minister perhaps caught the infection during his hectic pre Diwali and Diwali programmes.

He had traveled extensively before Diwali and had also met a large number of people during the festivals.

Maharashtra muddle over key ministries continues Congress – NCP stick to their guns, govt. formation in limbo The differences over key ministries between the Congress and the NCP continued even 13 days after the elections results were declared. A meeting was called by the Maharashtra Governor S C Jamir to resolve the deadlock but if failed to yield any result. In a signal of hardening stances, NCP leader and deputy CM designate Chhagan Bhujbal told the media after the meeting that NCP was prepared to lend outside support to a Congress government. He accused the ally of adopting delaying

tactics. While another key NCP leader, union civil aviation minister Prafull Patel said NCP was sure joining a coalition government in the state.

Formation of new government in Maharashtra is due as Wednesday, 4th November is the last day of the outgoing assembly’s term.

Whiel NCP is insisting to stick to the 1999 power sharing formula, Congress wants to renegotiate, with a view to keep important ministries for itself.

The two parties Congress with 82 seats

and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with 62 seats in the 288-member assembly - are locked in a bitter squabble over the sharing of portfolios in the new government. Both the parties have adopted an uncompromising stand on the issue of certain key portfolios like home, finance, power, agriculture, urban development and public works ministries.

Last week, NCP leader Ajit Pawar had said that in the 2004 elections, even though NCP had 71 seats compared to 59 of Congress, it agreed to

accept the post of deputy chief minister and give the chief minister's post to the latter.

"At that time, to keep the CM's (chief minister) post, the Congress offered us (NCP) four extra ministries and three departments," he pointed out.

Sensing a kill, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena combine have given an ultimatum for the government formation by Tuesday, failing which they would demand imposition of President's Rule in the state.

Karnataka BJP dissidents defy Rajnath, adamant on Yeddyurappa’s ouster BJP dissidents in Karnataka have defied party’s national president Rajnath Singh as they are adamant on ouster of B S Yeddyurappa from the Chief Ministership of the state. Rajnath Singh had just on Monday asserted in New Delhi that there will be no change of leadership in Karnataka.

Rajnath Singh and senior leader Sushma Swaraj indicated, after day-long discussion in New Delhi on Tuesday that solution to the turmoil was not in sight.

When asked about leadership change and whether a solution has been found, Swaraj said: "Talks are on, not reached that stage".

Yeddyurappa sent out contradictory signals while talking to reporters in Bellary, stronghold of state Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy and his elder brother and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy, who are leading the rebellion against him.

Yeddyruappa hoped the crisis would be resolved in a day or two as

the BJP leadership was talking to the Reddys. He blamed assembly Speaker Jagadish Shettar, propped up by the Reddy brothers and supporters as an alternative leader, for the crisis simply because he was not made a minister. Shettar holds Yeddyurappa responsible for depriving him of a political post.

Janardhana Reddy in New Delhi and Karunakara Reddy in Bangalore dismissed talk of the party favouring Yeddyurappa continuing as chief minister.

Former Jharkhand CM hospitalized after IT raids Madhu Koda has allegedly amassed wealth worth more than Rs. 20 bn Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, who is facing intense heat from the Income Tax department in connection with alleged hawala transactions, was on Tuesday admitted to a hospital in Ranchi after he complained of illness.

Incriminating documents have been seized by the department officials which indicate of Koda having used hawala route to stash illegal money out of the country. He is also believed to have wealth much more than his known sources of income.

"He was admitted to hospital around noon after he complained of some ail-

issue notices to ment. He is in Koda and others the intensive for "detailed quescare unit. The tioning" after the doctors are completion of attending on scrutiny of the him and only seized material, after getting official sources the pathologisaid in New cal report can Delhi. we say anyMadhu Koda The departthing about the ment carried out countryailment," a spokesman of wide searches on at least the Abur Razzak Memorial 70 premises associated Weavers Hospital Javed with Koda and seized Akhtar told media. voluminous documents, As raids continued in computer peripherals and the premises of Koda for other records pertaining to the fourth day today, a top bank details in connection income tax official alleged with alleged hawala transnon-cooperation by him actions and illegal investresulting in delay in the ments made by him and conclusion of investigation. his associates abroad.

The IT department will

INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

Chidambaram says India will retaliate now US, intelligence agencies and Army chief warns of more 26/11 type terror strikes Taking a tough stance against Pakistan-based terrorist groups, Home minister of India, P Chidambaram late on Saturday warned that any more 26/11-type terrorist attacks on India, emanating from Pakistan would invite fierce retaliation. He said this amidst reports of warnings from USA, Indian intelligence agencies and even the Army chief that India was still facing threats of more terror strikes like the one that happened in Mumbai last year.

US intelligence agencies have alerted the Union home ministry about possible26/11-type terrorist

Paresh Mokashi, whose Marathi film “Harishchandrachi Factory” has been selected as India's official entry to the Oscars, is stuck without a visa to the US. The US consulate in Mumbai refused to give him the visa, saying they didn't know him or that his film is going for the Oscars.

"I don't really blame them. I didn't have a face that was instantly recognisable. They didn't know who I was. And I had no papers to prove that this disoriented looking man had made a film that had

strikes on coastal states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka.

The warning came a few weeks ago, home ministry sources said.

The BSF has also raised an alert about a possible intrusion by terrorists through the Sir

Creek area in the Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat. According to the BSF, the disputed area is the most vulnerable spot, and it would only take a few hours for a group of terrorists to sneak into India from the Pakistani side.

Chidambaram warning “Our strength to take on terrorism from foreign soil is increasing by the day.

I’ve been warning Pakistan not to play any more games. Let Mumbai be the last such game. If they carry out any more attacks on India, they will not only be defeated, we will also retaliate with the force of a sledgehammer,’’ he told a public meeting in Madurai.

He was addressing Congress workers in Tamil at a public meeting held in connection with the 25th anniversary of Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

“Pakistani terrorists will be dealt with severely if they attempt to meddle with India again,” he said.

About the Naxal problem, Chidambaram said successive governments had underestimated the Naxalites in the last 12 to 13 years. The Naxalites were underestimated by the Congress in the last five years and the BJP before that and now they have spread like poison in many states including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

been sent to the Oscars," Mokashi said.

The director had no papers, not even a letter from the Academy Awards committee to prove his eligibility for the visa because he had given all the documents to his producers, UTV. "Whatever intimation I received about the Oscar entry from the US, I handed over to UTV. But, of course, the US consulate didn't say I was lying.

They rightly felt I was not eligible until I had the documents. This was my first encounter for an American visa. And natu-

rally my first trip to the US," said Mokashi.

"The only time I've been abroad was to London to shoot a part of the film. So I was completely unaware of how things work. I don't know how to handle it," added the director who had to mortgage his property to make the film.

UTV had to step in to rescue the director, who needed to be in LA from November 2.

"The US consulate has promised to give me a visa after taking my passport.

They said they'd grant me a visa. Let's see. They had

yet to decide for how long and in what capacity. They seem to have a very thin line dividing the people who want to visit for genuine reasons from those who are wrongly motivated," he said.

Mokashi hopes to be in the US for 25 days in November to promote the film for the Oscars.

"I need to understand the situation. I've never been to the Oscars, have no idea of how the Oscars work. I also need to be back for the film's release in India. Then I return to the US to be with the film till the Oscars," he said.

P Chidambaram

23

Rukhsana offered Police job, declines for family’s safety The brave Kashmiri girl, Rukshana Kausar declined the job of Special Police Officer (SPO) in J & K Police, offered to her as a reward for showing courage in killing a terrorist of the LeT. Her brother and uncle were also offered the SPO’s job. She dared the LeT terrorists on 27th September, killing one of them in Rajouri district.

Rukhsana said she had declined the job offer of the J&K government as she didn’t consider it a fit reward for her act of bravery. She added that she would only accept a job in the Central government.

She also reiterated that

Rukshana Kausar

there was a grave threat to her family’s life. Rukhsana was in Delhi to attend an award function organised

by All India Anti-Terrorist Front headed by MS Bitta.

The brave girl said she wishes to live in Jammu and not in Delhi.

Two Hizb terrorists meet US denies visa to Indian filmmaker nominated for Oscar a wild death in Kashmir Terrorists in Kashmir are having hard times these days. Primarily, the people fed up with violence and disruption of routine lives has started to confront the subversives. This as well as security forces hot on their trail were reasons for them to be on their toes.

Now, even angry wild life seems to have become intolerant to the gun wielding clan.

Over the weekend, two commanders of Hizbul Mujahidden who had infiltrated from across the border, dared to occupy a bear’s cave at Darwal Nar in Pir Panjal area,

Shopian. The two were sleeping in the cave on Sunday night, when the bear came. The animal attacked the armed intruders in its home and killed them on the spot.

On Monday morning, as the Army patrol saw two dead bodies inside the cave and frisked them.

They were found to be Hizbul Mujahidden commanders - Kaisar Ahmad and Saifullah, both residents of Kashmir.

According to defence spokesman Lt Col J S Brar, medical examinations revealed that the two were mauled to death by a bear.

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24

INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

Roundup Chief Justice, other SC judges declare assets Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan and 20 other judges of the Supreme Court on Monday made public their assets.

The assets of Justice B N Agrawal, who retired on October 15, were also declared on the website on his special request, the apex court website said.

"The above declaration of assets is purely on voluntary basis," the website said. However, the details of the assets of Justice H S Bedi were not available.

Bhopal women prisoners keen to wed Rahul Mahajan Rahul Mahajan, son of the late BJP leader, Pramod Mahajan has a new fan following - women inmates of the Central Jail in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. Nine of them wanting to participate in the TV show "Rahul Dulhania Le Jaayega". The show where 33-year-old Mahajan, will choose a life partner has already received 16,755 entries.

The nine aspirants - from an 18-year-old undertrial to a 32-year-old convicted in a drug case, have already started preparing for the event and their inspiration is none other than their erstwhile jailmate, actress Monica Bedi. Rahul Mahajan had grabbed headlines with his arrest for drug possession as well as a messy divorce, had turned to reality TV with the show ''Big Boss 2''.

"These nine prisoners, including convicts and undertrials, have moved applications, seeking permission to participate in the TV ''Swayamvar'' of Rahul, Bhopal Central Jail Superintendent P D Somkunwar said last week.

India buys 200 tonnes of gold from IMF Continued from page 1 The sudden spurt in the yellow-metal was attributed to surge in demand from retailers and jewellers in view of ongoing marriage season, traders said.

Gold rose towards last month's record in Asian market on Tuesday as the dollar slipped ahead of a US interest rate decision, and that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had

completed half of a planned gold sale.

In the Indian market, standard gold (99.5 purity) went up by Rs 150 per ten grams to open at a new peak of Rs 16,235 from Monday's closing level of Rs 16,085. India is the world’s biggest consumer of gold, primarily in the form of jewellery and investment among its billion-plus people.

Muslims should not sing ‘Vande Mataram’, says JeU Jamait issues a fatwa as it finds the song against Islamic tenets Patriotic Indian song ‘Vande mataram’, which was once selected as the national anthem of India is against the tenets of Islam and Muslims in India should not sing the song.

Jamait-e-Ulema Hind (JeU) has issued a fatwa for this on Tuesday.

A resolution passed at the Deoband national convention meet says some verses of the patriotic song are against the tenets of Islam. The resolution also cited the Supreme Court judgement which has very

clearly said that no body can be compelled to sing the song.

Even the Muslim Law Board has justified the decision, saying that Muslims can’t offer prayers to anyone else but Allah.

Kamal Farooqui, a prominent leader of the MPLB has said, “We love the nation but can’t worhip it.

The Jamiat adopted 25 resolutions for the welfare and rights of the minorities.

Meanwhile, home minister P Chidambaram addressed a Jamait-e-

Ulema Hind conference in Deoband on Tuesday.

Reaching out to Muslims, he said a nation can ignore its minorities only at its peril and pointed out that it was the duty of the majority community to protect them.

Speaking at the 30th general session of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind at Deoband in Uttar Pradesh, he said, "We cannot view Islam as an alien faith because this is the land of your forefathers, this is the land of your

Govt gets 4 weeks to decide on Sethusamudram project SC questions about the report of the Pachouri committee The Supreme Court of India now wants the government of India to clarify its position on the Sethusamudram project within four weeks.

The ambitious project has been on hold after the Pachouri Committee was formed to look into the environmental costs of the project.

On Tuesday the apex court demanded to know why 15 months after the appointment of the committee, nothing had happened yet. The court will hear the case again on December 11.

The Supreme Court was hearing a fresh application filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy for a direction to the Centre to scrap the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project citing the adverse report submitted by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO).

The SC told the government, "At some stage or other you will have to say something. Disclose your stand. What is the report? It may be in your favour or in their favour.

We have to take a deci-

sion."

The government informed the court that the NIO report was inconclusive and it needed more data and that the Pachouri Committee had met four times.

In July last year, the court reserved verdict on the petitions filed by Dr. Swamy and others, and said the matter would be taken up after the R.K. Pachauri Committee submitted its report on an alternative alignment for the project, without cutting across Adam's Bridge or Ramar Sethu.

Dalits enter Tamil Nadu Shiva temple after 100 years Dalits in a village in Tamil Nadu have finally been allowed to enter and pray into a temple for Lord Shiva after a century of worshipping from a distance.

Chettpullam village in the Nagapattinam district witnessed huge change

last week, when policemen escorted a group of Dalits into the temple, where they prayed for close to half an hour.

The Dalits had in the past been arrested when they tried to break into the temple. Villagers had also

thrown stones at them to keep them away. The government then coordinated talks between dalits and non-dalits to broker a new agreement. The police says it will stay on guard for a few days to ensure there is no violence in the village.

birth. It is a matter of our pride that Islam exists in India along with other major religions".

The home minister said the government was committed to protect the rights of the minorities at a time when minorities in other countries were being targeted. "We have no hesitation in speaking for the rights of Muslims at a time when Tamils were denied their rights in Sri Lanka and Indian students were attacked in Australia" he said.

Kashmir’s historic railway link inaugurated Srinagar and other areas of Northern parts of the Kashmir valley got their railway link with South operational last week.

Qazigund has thus become the highest broad gauge station in India, situated at a height of 1,722 metres. The 129 km railway line in the Kashmir valley is now completed.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh flagged off a new train on the section on Wednesday last week.

The 18-km stretch, not so long in terms of geographical distance, will be of huge socio-economic and political significance to the militancy-affected Kashmir Valley.

The stretch is part of the government's Kashmir rail link, declared a project of national importance.

The new train service will reduce by one hour the otherwise three-hour travel between north Kashmir's Baramulla and Qazigund.

Mahatma Gandhi: A father with no nation If he were to visit India now, he would be shocked to find his legacy in tatters BHIKHU PAREKH Mahatma Gandhi has most probably realised his ambition of attaining moksha and is unlikely to return to earth. However, should he do so, he would be deeply disturbed by many aspects of contemporary India. He would be shocked at the corrosive corruption that has spread to all walks of life and eroded the great moral capital that he and his colleagues left behind by exemplifying in their lives the highest norms of public life. It is not the petty corruption of a junior government officer that would have worried him, but rather the way in which the common good of the country is constantly sacrificed at the altar of sectional and individual interests and the almost total absence of embarrassment and guilt with which it is done.

Gandhiji would be even more saddened by

the depth and extent of poverty. On the official criteria of earning one dollar a day, 25 per cent of our people live below the poverty line. But if this poverty were to be defined in terms of calorie consumption and the satisfaction of basic needs, the figure would rise to 60 per cent. Gandhiji would see this as nothing short of a national shame. He would consider it a betrayal of his legacy that no systematic movement has been mounted for the abolition of poverty and the growing economic inequality in the 60 odd years of the India’s Independence.

He would be equally disturbed by the country’s lack of an inspiring moral vision. It has set its eyes on becoming an economic super power by 2020 on a growth rate of between 5 and 7 per cent. Gandhi would want to know the point of this. Economic growth exploits nature, creates deep inequality,

Mahatma Gandhi

puts enormous pressure on social and political institutions and encourages mindless consumerism.

At best, it can be a means to a worthwhile goal but never an end in itself. Gandhiji would want to know what great moral and political ideals we intend to realise by means of economic growth and how we intend to make India a humane and compassionate society.

Gandhi would have

been shocked by the increasing cultural philistinism and lack of moral idealism of the new middle class, on which he had placed his hopes for Independent India. The middle class of his time had a strong social conscience. It was bicultural and at ease with both the Indian and the Western tradition. It was both rooted and open, and took a morally serious approach to human life. It had certain standards by which it aspired to live and felt guilty when it could not.

The new middle class could not be more different. It lacks social conscience and has little regard for the worse off. It is rootless and is neither well versed in its own traditions, nor in those of the West. It is culturally and economically insecure and prone to panic. Its primary concern is to make money and spend it in shallow pursuits.

Faced with all this,

what would Gandhiji have done? First, he would have mounted a campaign of satygrahas against clearly identified and suitably dramatised cases of inequality and injustice. In so doing he would have offered the victims of injustices a badly needed alternative to Naxalism.

Second, he would have built up a nationwide cadre (lok sevak sangh) of committed workers, dispersed them in villages and expected them to attend to local problems and act as a powerful check on the local power structure.

Third, he would have set a personal example of incorruptibility and inspired his close colleagues to do the same.

Fourth, he would have thrown up a political movement that would have cleared away the decaying and unprincipled political parties and created a space for the emergence of new ones.

Finally, while confronting a situation like the destruction of the Babri Mosque in 1992, he would have explored all possible political ways of resolving the issue peacefully.

He would have put pressure on Hindu and Muslim religious leaders to work out a compromise, which was not impossible and perhaps suggested building a multi-religious complex around it to symbolise India’s commitment to religious pluralism.

If Hindus had still insisted on destroying the mosque, he would have seen it as a grave violation of their great tradition of tolerance and an indelible stain on the national conscience.

He would have felt that he had no choice but to embark upon a fast, even perhaps a fast unto death, to save the honour of the religion and the country that he loved more than his own life.

25

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

9th ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS (AAA) Date-3rd December 2009

NOMINATION FORM The prestigious Asian Achievers Awards is hosted every year by UK’s leading news weeklies Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar to honour British Asians par excellence. If there is someone you know who has broken boundaries and deserves recognition for their unique contribution to the community and the nation then please nominate them for one of the awards listed below.

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Award Categories ! AAA Platinum Award for Business Person of the Year A Business Person who is a success in every sense of the word and can demonstrate a genuine passion for social issues. ! AAA Gold Award for Professional of the Year Professionals in any field who have scaled the heights of their chosen profession. ! AAA Gold Women of the Year In recognition and honour of a woman who has made a significant mark in any chosen field. ! AAA Gold Award for Sports Personality of the Year Awarded for excellence in sports. ! AAA Gold Award for Achievement in Community Service In recognition of any individual’s service to community

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26

WORLD

Africa Focus Homosexual census to be carried out in Kenya Nairobi: Kenya is to carry out a census of its gay population in an effort to bolster the fight against HIV/Aids - despite homosexuality being against the law. Nicholas Muraguri, head of Kenya's Aids prevention programme Nascop, said that it was vital that the government reached out to the gay community. He said gay people suffered from a lack of information about the disease. But analysts say many gay people will be afraid to come forward in a country where homosexuality can result in jail. Mr Muraguri conceded that an accurate count was unlikely. But he said that getting a clearer idea of the number of gay people would be a huge help with targeted interventions such as provision of condoms. He said the survey would involve gay men identifying each other, and officials carrying out HIV tests and providing along with information on safe sexual practice. "Kenyans cannot actually afford to say that the gay community are isolated somewhere in the corner - they are part of our lives," he said.

Snows of Kilimanjaro could vanish in 20 years Washington: Global warming may smelt the snows capping Mount Kilimanjaro in 20 years, a US study said last week. The ice sheet that capped Kilimanjaro, Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tallest peak, in 1912 was 85 per cent smaller by 2007, and since 2000 the existing ice sheet has shrunk by 26%, the paleoclimatologists said.

The findings point to the rise in global temperatures as the most likely cause of the ice loss. Changes in cloudiness and precipitation may have also played a smaller, less important role, especially in recent decades, they added. "This is the first time researchers have calculated the volume of ice lost from the mountain's ice fields," said study co-author Lonnie Thompson, professor of earth sciences at Ohio State University. "If you look at the percentage of volume lost since 2000 versus the percentage of area lost as the ice fields shrink, the numbers are very close," he said in the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

US, Uganda sign open skies agreement Washington: The United States and Uganda have signed an Open-Skies air services agreement, the State Department announced last week.

The US-Uganda Open Skies Agreement was signed in Atlanta by Uganda's Minister of Transport John Nasasira and US Department of Transportation's Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs Susan Kurland at US Trade and Development Agency's Conference on African Aviation. "The Agreement, which entered into force upon signature, reflects the close and growing cooperation in developing economic ties between the United States and Uganda," the State Department said.

So far the US has concluded over 90 Open Skies accords including that with India, of which 20 such agreements have been signed with African countries.

Open Skies deals have vastly expanded international passenger and cargo flights to and from the US, promoting increased travel and trade, enhancing productivity, and spurring high-quality job opportunities and economic growth, the statement said.

Zimbabwe denies entry to UN torture investigator Harare: Zimbabwe has denied entry to UN's torture investigator. Since then the angry investigator returned to South Africa.

Manfred Nowak was detained by officials in Harare who said he had no clearance to visit, despite his insistence he had an invite from the prime minister. "I have never in any other country been treated in such a manner," Mr Nowak, who had planned a weeklong fact-finding mission, said. He blamed his treatment on the divisions within the unity government.

"This is a major incident because you can't on the one hand invite a special rapporteur to meet the prime minister and on the other hand somebody gives an order to the immigration police not to let me in," he said last week.

His said his treatment showed there were clearly parts of the government who did not want him to assess "the current conditions of torture", and promised to file a strongly worded complaint.

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

Karzai vows to fight corruption Pledges to lead an inclusive government after winning a new fiveâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;year term Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has vowed to remove the "stigma" of corruption, a day after winning a new five-year term.

In his first remarks since being declared winner on Monday of August's fraud-marred poll, he also pledged to lead an inclusive government.

And he called on "Taliban brothers" who have been fighting an insurgency against him to "embrace their land".

The Taliban said in a statement it would continue its fight and called Mr Karzai "a puppet".

Hamid Karzai

The Afghan president's comments came a day after poll officials scrapped a run-off vote that had been planned for

this weekend.

Mr Karzai's only challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, pulled out of the race on Sunday, after his demand for the sacking of key poll officials he accused of corruption was not met.

What is astonishing is two weeks ago they were arguing that the puppet president Hamid Karzai was involved in electoral fraud... but now he is president.

In the news conference in Kabul, Mr Karzai said he had hoped Dr Abdullah, his former foreign minister, would have

taken part in the vote.

"It would have been better for our country, for the democratic process and for us, if our brother Dr Abdullah had participated... and the second round had taken place," Mr Karzai said.

The Afghan president's relations with the West have cooled since he was first elected in 2004, amid allegations of widespread corruption in his administration.

On Monday, US President Barack Obama asked 51-year-old Mr Karzai to intensify efforts to eradicate it.

Indians to build Taj Mahal replica in New Zealand Auckland: A group of Indians have drawn up a $20 million plan to build a replica of the Taj Mahal in this New Zealand city.

The miniature version of the monument of love is planned to be built at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre in New North Road, in the Auckland suburb of Eden Tce. "What we want is a building that will reflect the grandeur and the rich Indian culture and history, and be the pride of the community here," New

Zealand Herald quoted the centre's chairman Kanu Patel as saying.

The replica may include a marble mausoleum, a pool and goldplated ornaments.

The Mahatma Gandhi Centre, which cost $6 million to build, sits on a hectare of land formerly occupied by Findlay's Bakery. The Auckland Indian Association bought it for $1.9 million in 1990.

The centre launched its fund raising efforts this month.

Patel said: "The new building will benefit not only the Indian community but also Auckland City as a tourist attraction, maybe - so I think there is a good reason for us to be

Dhaka to disband four border guard battalions Dhaka: Four battalions of Bangladesh rifles (BDR), whose troopers mutinied in February, will be disbanded, a media report has said.

Troopers of battalions 13, 24, 36 and 44 were 'directly involved' in the killing spree on Feb 25-26, when 74 people, including 57 officers of the Bangladesh Army on deputation to the BDR, were gunned down.

The disbanding is part of the revamp of the force that is being undertaken since the mutiny that posed the biggest challenge to Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina's government within six weeks of its taking office in January.

The government has approved a proposal from the border guards for disbanding four of its battalions for direct involvement in the BDR mutiny.

'We have approved the BDR proposal for disbanding the four battalions,' said Home Affairs Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder.

He told The Daily Star newspaper that most members of the four battalions were involved in the mutiny.

'We have received gov-

ernment permission and will disband the four battalions at the end of the process of trying the mutineers,' said BDR Director General Maj Gen Mainul Islam.

He said a few members of the four battalions would be attached to other battalions.

Gen Islam, however, said those who are in the four battalions will not lose their jobs after the disbanding. An unspecified number of troopers are in jail, while some are said to be absconding. Some of them under interrogation have reportedly died.

receiving support from local government and charities."

He said the centre had hosted some of the community's most significant social, cultural, religious and musical events and festivals over the years, and the new building would be doing the same, "only on a larger scale".

"Having a piece of land this size in central Auckland is like sitting on a gold mine, and we just have to maximise its potential.

New Zealand enacts a new immigration law Wellington: Provisions of use of biometrics and a single, independent appeals tribunal are a part of the new Immigration Act that became a law in New Zealand Friday, 30th October, Immigration minister said. It also includes a new refugee and protection system and a universal visa system.

Jonathan Coleman, the Immigration Minister said that the new act will enhance border security and improve the efficiency of the immigration services.

Dalai Lama hurting ties with India: China Beijing: China on Tuesday for the first time accused the Dalai Lama of trying to 'wreck' Sino-Indian ties after calling his planned visit to Arunachal Pradesh a 'separatist' activity.

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit the northeastern Indian state, a part of which Beijing

claims, next week. China has repeatedly criticised the trip and asked India to foil it.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu on Tuesday flayed the Dalai Lama for his 'separatist' activities, media reports said.

Ma said: 'The Dalai

Lama often lies and often engages in acts to sabotage China's relations with other countries.'

He told a news briefing: 'I am confident that his scheme to wreck China's relations with the relevant country will come to nothing.'

Ma went on to say that

last month Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh had agreed to focus on promoting 'healthy and stable relations'.

'We hope that each side will continue striving to make strides in that direction,' Ma was quoted as saying.

Saudi sex TV producer spared of flogging Riyadh: The Saudi king has waived a sentence of flogging on a female journalist working for a TV channel which aired graphic accounts of sex in the kingdom.

King Abdullah cancelled the sentence of 60 lashes against Rozanna alYami, after being briefed on the case.

The programme broadcast by Saudi-owned

Lebanese channel LBC caused a huge scandal in the conservative kingdom.

Three men who bragged about their sexual adventures in the show, as well as the cameraman, have been jailed.

No reason has been given for the king's decision. It is the second time he has intervened in a high-profile flogging sen-

tence in two years.

The original programme was part of a series called Red Lines, examining taboos in the Arab world, including extra-marital sex in Saudi Arabia.

Mazen Abdul Jawad provoked outrage by describing his techniques for meeting and having sex with Saudi women.

He has apologised and

claimed LBC tricked him, but he was jailed for five years and sentenced to 1,000 lashes.

Three of his friends who appeared on the show got two years each and the cameraman was jailed for two months.

The station's offices in Saudi Arabia were closed down and two of its producers - both female - put on trial.

PAKISTAN

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

MQM wants Zardari to resign Fresh trouble for Pakistan prez on graft issues Islamabad: A political storm appeared to be brewing in Pakistan on Monday with Asif Ali Zardari's ally Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) asking him to quit over a controversial law that allowed the President to return home in 2007 by scrapping graft cases and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif threatening to challenge the legislation in court.

In a day of fast-paced developments, MQM's London-based chief Altaf Hussain said Zardari should be "prepared to make major sacrifices" to save Pakistan's democratic system.

His remarks came hours before parliament was to take up the issue of endorsing the National Reconciliation Ordinance,

Chicago: America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has unearthed a terror plot by the Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) against India and Denmark. Details of the plot are in an affidavit which the FBI has submitted in a Chicago court.

As per the affidavit the LeT plot was to take the help of an American national in carrying out attacks in India and

a law passed by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to grant immunity to former Premier Benazir Bhutto and Zardari in graft cases.

Senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Mohammad Anwar told reporters that Hussain had sent a message to Zardari through a minister of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, advising that he should resign to save the democratic sys-

tem.

There is a danger of democracy being derailed if Zardari did not act swiftly, Anwar said.

"If he (Zardari) reads the writing on the wall, he should realise he is under immense pressure," said The MQM Anwar. believes that supporting the NRO in parliament would be tantamount to "legitimising corruption".

Shortly after Hussain's views became public, PML-N chief and former premier Nawaz Sharif told a news conference that his party would challenge the NRO in court if it is endorsed by parliament.

"We ask the government not to bring the law to parliament as it will damage Pakistani politics and shake the people's

confidence in democracy.

The NRO is not in Pakistan's interest and we will make no compromise in our efforts to oppose it," Sharif said.

Sharif pledged that the PML-N would vote against the NRO in parliament and mobilise the people to oppose it.

Under a ruling given by the Supreme Court on July 31, the NRO has to be endorsed by parliament within four months.

Zardari decides to surrender key presidential powers to PM Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has decided to surrender his presidential powers related to the dissolution of assemblies and the appointment of services chiefs to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Denmark.

The affidavit says the American national David Headley was in close contact with several LeT members in Pakistan.

Headley exchanged several emails with an LeT member and in one of them he asked whether a visit to India that the LeT member had asked him to undertake was for the purpose of surveying targets for a new terrorist attack.

American’s target was mysterious ‘Rahul’ According to US investigators a mysterious ‘Rahul’ appears to have been the prime target of Headley. Headley (49) made several trips to India and intended staying there for some time - two to four weeks - to execute the LeT plans.

He was arrested, along with a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin, earlier this month by the FBI’s

joint terrorism task force at Chicago Airport before he boarded a flight to Philadelphia, intending to travel to Pakistan.

Following his arrest, Headley said the reference was to a prominent Indian actor with that first name, the FBI said in its complaint.

Intelligence sources in New Delhi discounted speculation that the reference could have been to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Asif Ali Zardari

LeT terror plot against India busted in USA

Indian dies in Pak jail in suspicious circumstances

Indian Sikh pilgrims gather upon their arrival at Wagah railway station in India - near Lahore, Pakistan on Saturday. Hundreds of Indian Sikh pilgrims visited Pakistan by a special train to participate in three-day festival to celebrate 541st birth anniversary of their spiritual leader Baba Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikh religion, at Nankana Sahib near Lahore, which began on Tuesday.

Islamabad: An Indian national died in a Pakistani jail under “suspicious” circumstances, leading human rights activist Ansar Burney said on Thursday last.

Suraj Singh died at Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore on Wednesday, Burney said. Details about the exact nature of his death were immediately not available. Singh had been in jail for the past one year.

“His body is being sent for an autopsy on Thursday. I have demanded that there should be an independent and impartial inquiry into the death,” Burney said.

Islamabad: Pakistan on Monday offered rewards worth 5 million dollars for information leading to the capture, dead or alive, of the country's Taliban warlord Hakimullah Mehsud and 18 lieutenants.

The rewards for topranking Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants were offered in a blackand-white government advertisement on the front page of The News daily and flashed on Pakistani television channels on Sunday night.

Mehsud, who took on

in South Waziristan and considered a contender for the TTP succession, and Qari Hussain Mehsud, commander for his hometown, Kotkai, were also the subjects of 50 mn rupee awards. Eleven other commanders had rewards of 20 million rupees and the government posted rewards of 10 million rupees each for five lesser-ranking militants.

Informants should contact the local administration or law enforcement agencies, said the advertisement.

$5 mn bounty offered for Taliban leaders the leadership mantle after a US drone attack killed his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud in August, headed the list with 50 mn Pak rupees (600,240 dollars) slapped on his head.

TTP has been blamed for some of the worst attacks in Pakistan, which have killed around 2,400 people in a deadly wave of carnage over the past two years. The hardcore faction has also claimed responsibility for many strikes in a recent surge in bloodshed, in which more than 300 people died last

month, as the military launched a ground offensive against the TTP in South Waziristan.

"Anyone who captures these people dead or alive or provides concrete information, the government will award them a cash reward," the advert said.

"These people certainly need just punishment.

They are the killers of humanity. Help the government of Pakistan to annihilate them."

Wali-ur Rehman Mehsud, head of the Baitullah Mehsud faction

27

Car bombs kill 139 Islamabad: There is no end in sight of car bomb attacks in Pakistan.

Deadly bombs have claimed at least 139 lives during last week and on Monday this week. A deadly car bomb ripped through a crowded market in Peshawar city in northwestern Pakistan last week killing 105 people, as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived on a visit to the country and assured full support in fight against terrorism.

About 200 people were injured in the blast that occurred in the Peepal Mandi area of Peshawar, the capital of the restive North-West Frontier Province, when hundreds of women were shopping in the Meena Bazar, a market predominantly for women.

'We have here 91 deaths confirmed so far. In addition, there are large numbers of severed limbs that are brought here in plastic bags,' Abdul Hameed Afridi, chief of the city's main Lady Reading Hospital, said.

He said up to 30 injured victims were in critical condition.

'In this incident the percentage of female and child victims is very high,' Afridi added. More dead and injured were also believed to be trapped under the rubble of a twostorey building that collapsed after the blast.

30 killed in Rawalpindi suicide attack In Rawalpindi at least 30 people were killed in suspected suicide attack on Monday morning, while over 40 people have been injured, police say.

"Two men arrived in the car park on a motorbike, and blew themselves up. The men were probably wearing explosive jackets and the bike was definitely packed with material as well. That was why the explosion was so powerful," BBC quoted Police Supt Rana Shahid, as saying.

The blast took place at 10:40 am in a car park behind the four-star Shalimar hotel, next to a branch of the National Bank of Pakistan, outside where customers had been queuing. The army’s general head quarter is located 500 yards from the blast site.

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Coming Events

28

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

This week you will get to hear the brilliant music by Mridula Desai and Vishwa Kunchala before their performance on the 7th of November at Aapno Malak.

Also Sri Yogendrabhai Patel will be in conversation with CB about ‘Nijanand’ near Anand in Gujarat, India

Sneh Joshi - 020 8518 5500

If you do not have a tv, go to www.tvunetworks.com and watch CB Live on TVU Player Channel 75203

Week commences 7th November 2009

For more information e-mail:

cblive_matv@yahoo.co.uk

Don't miss !!!

If you are your own boss, then you can look forward to a fairly good week. Aries who face a strict schedule may find the next seven days a little frustrating, because this is a week where you will need a certain amount of personal space. You may be absorbing new ideas about how to create financial independence.

Others may not understand, so you may have to keep your ideas to yourself.

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

To ask questions please call on: 020 8963 1001

Thursday 7pm to 8pm

Only on CB Live - MATV Sky 793 - Thursday 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21

1. Harrow Mencap AGM Saturday 14th Nov 2009, 7pm at Shaftesbury high School, Hatch End, HA3 6LE Contact: 020 8869 8484 2. Kingston Memorial Evening by Sarvoday Hindu Association to mark Rememberance Day and Hindu period of Shraad Sunday 8th November 3:30pm-9pm.

Historic Royal Palaces Garden Room Hampton Court KT6 9AU Contact: info@sarvoday.org.uk or Mahendra Thakar at 07989 244 065 3. Nehru Centre, 8 South Audley Street London W1k 1HF Contact: 020 7491 3567 ● Friday 6th Nov 6:30pm: Illustrated Talk: The Indian inheritence and the Evolution of Art and Architecture in ancient Sri Lanka by Dr Sinha Raja TammitaDelgoda ● Mon 9th Nov 6:30pm: Illustrated Talk: Talk of an explorer, Mandip Singh Soin FRGS ● Tuesday 10th Nov 6:15pm: Exhibition of Paintings: Ramnikar ● Tuesday 10th Nov 6:45pm: Music SUL Yatra, Hiren Chate, Nikhil George and Jatanil Banerjee ● Wednesday 11 Nov 6:30pm: The Maulana Azad National Education Day: Talk/REcitation: Henry Derozio- The Storm-Petrel on the Indian Horizon ● Wednesday 11th Nov 6:30pm: Lecture Series: India in the 16th Century (7) The Consolidation of British Power ● Thursday 12th Nov 6:30pm: Book Launch: The Second World war Story of the Poles in India 1942-1948

Amazing predictions Sneh Joshi, the UK’s leading Vedic astrologer, writer and TV personality can answer questions on: ! Health Problems ! Investments ! Married Life ! Children’s matters ! Marriage Compatibility ! Love Affairs ! Court Cases ! Any other problems

● Saturday 14th November 3:30pm Children's Day: Storytelling Niru Desai 4. Sadler's Wells presents Svapnagata: A Festival of Indian Music and dance curated by Akram Khan and Nitin Sawhney Monday 16- Saturday 28th November, Sadler's Wells, Rosebery Avenue, Islington EC1 Contact: 0844412 4300 5. Asian Art Week, Friday 6th Nov 6pm: Lecture and Slide presentation 'South Indian Wall painting and Iconography' by Dr John Marr and Mrs Wendy Marr Saturday November 7 20m-3pm Screening of Play, Lucia King Venue: M P Birla Millenium Art Gallery The Bhavan centre, 4a castle Town Road, London W14 9HE Contact: The Bhavan: 020 7381 3086 6. National Conference of Gujarati Organisations by NCGO, Sunday 6th December, kadwa Patidar samaj hall, Kenmore Avenue, Harrow Middlesex HA3 8LU Contact: C B Patel at 020 7749 4080 or cb@abplgroup.com 7. Nadiad Nagrik Mandal presents Sangeet Sandhya with dinner 5pm till late, Sunday 15th November at Kingsbury High School, London NW9 9AT Contact: G P Desai 020 8452 5590 8. Kutch Madhapar Karyalaya (UK) presents Bhajan Night by Wembley sanatan Bhajan Mandli and Woolwich Bhajan Mandli Saturday 7th November, 2009 starts at 7pm till late SKLP community centre, India Garden, West End Road, Northolt, Middsx UB5 6RE

Mr Fakole Seeking Professional Solutions to your Personal Problems Serious African International Medium 20 Yrs of experience in Haiti ! Quick return of your loved one ! Success in business and games ! Protection against bad spirits Results are sure, serious and guaranteed, Pay in accordance with your means For appointment call: Tel - 020 8691 7267 - Mobile - 07983 871 142 207 Deptford High Street, London SE8 3NT

Call 020 8518 5500 and face your future with confidence!

Editor: CB Patel Associate Editor: Anne Hoose Deputy Editor: Rupanjana Dutta Tel: 020 7749 4098 - Email: rupanjana@abplgroup.com Senior News Editor: Dhiren Katwa Chief Financial Officer: Surendra Patel Tel: 020 7749 4093 Email: surendra@abplgroup.com Accounts Executive: Akshay Desai Tel: 020 7749 4087 Email:accounts@abplgroup.com Advertising Managers: Alka Shah Tel: 020 7749 4002 - Mobile: 07944 151 893 Email: alka@abplgroup.com Kishor Parmar Tel: 020 7749 4095 - Mobile: 07957 694 909 Email: kishor@abplgroup.com Advertising Sales Executive: Rovin John George - Email: rovin@abplgroup.com Business Development Managers: Urja Patel - Email: urja@abplgroup.com Liji George Tel: 020 7749 4013 - Email: george@abplgroup.com Design and Layout: Harish Dahya & Ajay Kumar Tel: 020 7749 4086 Email: graphics@abplgroup.com Customer Service: Saroj Patel Tel: 020 7749 4080 - Email: support@abplgroup.com (BPO) AB Publication (India) Pvt. Ltd. 207 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad Tel: +9179 2646 Fax: +9179 6061 Chief Executive Director: Kamlesh Amin Tel: +91 922 710 4308

Email: kamleshamin123@yahoo.co.in Editorial Co-Ordinator (BPO): Suresh Samani (M) +91 9898441330 Email: sureshsamani@yahoo.com Dy. Editorial Co-Ordinator (BPO): Nilesh Parmar (M) +919426636912 Consulting Editor (BPO): Bhupatbhai Parekh, Ahmedabad, Gujarat Fax: +91 79 2550 9944 Mumbai: Kanti Bhatt, Hemraj Shah (Jumbo Advertiser) Horizon Advertising & Marketing: 205 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad Tel / Fax: +91 79 2646 5960 (M) +91 9913346487 Email: horizonadvt2009@yahoo.in Neeta Patel, (Advertising Manager) (M) +91 98255 11702 International Advertisement Representative: Jain Group(South India) Tel: +91 44 42041122/3/4 Fax: +91 44 25362973 Mumbai: +91 222471 4122 Email: jainmedia@eth.net

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It’s all about communications, as they take centre stage this week. As stubborn as you tend to be, you’ll have to openly speak up about your wants and needs without fear. Regarding love there will be a struggle between devotion and freedom. You need to feel completely consumed by the passion of your lover, and yet you need personal space to explore your own thing.

Expansive Jupiter in your Solar 9th house of travel and spirituality is going to play a great part for some of you, who are widening their horizons. An important time to build too, as Saturn in your solar 5th House can be very severe and cold especially regarding relationships. Regardless of the limits, you have the capacity to turn the course of your life in a more fulfilling direction.

GEMINI May 22 - June 22

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

Whether you’re single or attached you’ll have to go through a lot, as deep psychological transformations are taking place in all types of relationships. No matter what your chosen path is, you’ll be recognised and rewarded for it. Don’t be afraid to experiment, trust your hunches, go with your gut feeling.

Solutions to minor problems should be considered very carefully if cash is involved.

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23 You have been going through major changes in your relationships, as a result of your own radical personal transformation. Your ideas about love and partnership are changing daily. As with most things, your health waxes and wanes. You might even find the energy to keep up with your projected gym schedule. No matter how hard you are working, try to make time for relaxation.

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23 If your ambitions have been undefined, don't worry as from now on, you understand exactly what kind of impact you need to make on the world. Jupiter in your work sector rules your daily life. All those little details should run perfectly, without you constantly worrying. That means you can focus on matters that are important to you. Healthwise you will be feeling fit and relaxed.

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23 Responsibility is your key word, especially at work. Set your own goals, rather than trying to meet those set by someone else. You will achieve a lot more, especially when you're motivated by your own desires. Your ability to manage what you have on your plate earns respect from others around you. You will benefit in every way if you learn to self-discipline and pace yourself wisely.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22 Relationships are likely to widen your horizons, but exercise caution, because some opportunities won't prove quite as amazing as they first seem. Saturn in Libra, the sign of diplomacy, will help you organize your priorities and systematically put them into practice. People entering your life now will encourage you to move beyond your established SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21 boundaries of safety.

Anything or anyone that drains your time and energy should be re-evaluated. It’s time to use that creative imagination of yours to create grandeur in your life. Jupiter, the planet of expansion in your Solar 3rd house is creating a lot of opportunities for you.

Don't get too carried away and lose sight of little things that mean a lot to you.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20 This is a good time to appreciate what you have already created in your life. Of course, there are still challenging issues on both a personal and practical level. It's a time of slow and steady progress that can set the stage for a long time to come. To get here you may have overcome obstacles by making important decision and choices that set the direction of your life.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19 You know you’ve got no choice but to streamline and reassess your priorities before haphazardly saying yes to everything that smells like a potential opportunity. Try to create a balance between expansion and conservation. Jupiter in your sign makes you feel invincible, but the way to utilise this transit is to sift through all the opportunities that come your way.

At work sometimes a little upheaval and chaos is exactly what you need to set things right again. There’s no need to be complacent: the time is now. you’ll have no qualms about deciding what you want and going after it with total devotion.

Unpredictable energies continue to influence your health sector, bringing erratic highs and lows. The key for you as always is to remain calm and collected.

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

TIME

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

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Across 1 Crooner Mel 6 Split particle 10 Greek letters 14 Labor group 15 Sunscreen ingredient 16 Act of faith?

17 Start of a quip 19 Pond life 20 Vegetarian rule 21 Keaton/Garr movie 22 Resinlike substance

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Yucky stuff Part 2 of quip Spouses Border Caps or glob ending?

Ta part One-time homer king List add on Gingiva Otovious hair places French writer Gide Part 3 of quip

SCRAMBLE - 42

How to play

Now arrange the letters in the circles to form the answer to the riddle or to fill in the missing word as indicated

RAILS

24 Insect stage 25 Had already been awakened 26 Knocker’s reply 27 Gram the use of flats 28 Anklebones 29 Oriental sash 30 Better 31 Cause anxiety 32 Martinique volcano 37 Inspiration for some 38 In the past 39 SASE for example 41 Uncommon 42 Comparison 44 Bly or Bloch 45 Wiliow flower Cluster 46 Med. School subj.

49 Tonsorial touch-up 50 Latvian capital 51 Sacred image 52 Cara film 53 Land unit 54 Low 55 Actress Kedrova 56 Slays, slangily 57 See 9D 59 Hit on the noggin

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47 Prospector’s find 48 Gasleyer of “SNL” 49 Family group 52 Coup de grace 58 Take the us 59 End of quip 60 Inventor Sikorsky 61 Actor Katz 62 Chasms 63 Hammer part 65 Brewery supply Down 1 Inner attachment?

2 SSS classification 3 Breach 4 Natural staellite 5 Signs on 6 Each 7 Voila!

8 Funeral info 9 With 57D, life jacket 10 Some cigars 11 Steering mechanism 12 Othello’s nemesis 13 E-mail Splatter 18 Webzine 21 Medieval Protaction 23 Serengeti roamers

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Words: Dense, swill, native, relent.

Answer:If you were the most honest and the most modest man in the world, and someone asked you who the most modest man in the world is, would you have to give up one of your titles in ordrs to answer?

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Nothing you can lose by dying is half as precious as the ____ to die, Which is man’s charter to nobility. - George Santayana. (9).

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WHATZIT? - 61

LOOP THE LOOP - 42

MINDBENDER - 61 What word, expression, or name is depicted below? COTAXME

Solution of 60 : Sister and brother. The blind beggar was a women.

Sudoku-61

Today’s Ratings: 02-average |03-good | 04-outstanding.

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How many words of four or more letters can you make from the letters shown in today’s puzzle? In making a word, each letter may be used once only. Each word must contain the central letter. There should be at least one seven-letter word. Plurals, foreign words and proper names are not allowed. British English Dictionary is used as reference.

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Polka dot bikini

The numbers in the pink squares refer to the sums of the digits that you must fill into the empty spaces directly below or to the right of the pink square containing the number. For instance, in the given example, the 2 boxes below 12 must contain 2 digits that add upto 12, whereas for 20, the 3 boxes places horizontally next to it must add upto 20.

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Rules Connect adjacent dots with vertical or horizontal lines, creating a single loop.

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Crossovers or branches are not allowed 2 2 2 (As shown by dotted lines in Fig B).

2 2 1 1 Numbers in the puzzle indicate the 3 0 2 1 2 number of lines that should 3 2 3 2 surround it, while empty cells may 2 2 1 2 1 3 be surrounded by any number of 3 3 lines.

You can’t draw lines arround 3 zeroes.

Each puzzle has just one unique solution.

How to begin: Example (Fig A) - Begin with the zero next to 3. Since no lines can be drawn around zero, mark crosses around it, as shown. Now there is a cross in one space around 3. So we know the three lines of 3 can only be drawn in the remaining three spaces. Next these lines can only be extended in one direction each. Continue, using the same Solution of LTL No. 41 logic. x Hints: Keep elimix 2 x x 2x nating possibilix x ties by marking x x 2 x 3 x 2 x 1 x crosses in x x x x spaces between x 2 3x 2x 2x 1 3 dots where a line x x x isn’t possible, x 2 x 2 x 2 2x i.e., if you have x x x already complet3x 1x 2x 0 x 3 ed required lines x x x x or where a line x x 2 2 extension may x x x x x create a branch or cause a dead3x 2 3x x x end (Fig B)

Find the familiar phrase, saying or name in this arrangement of letters.

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Solution of sudoku-60 HOW TO PLAY Each row, column and square 3x3 box is a subgrid of 9 cells. Fill in the grid so that each sub-grid contains the digits 1 to 9.

Every puzzle has one solution.

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HEALTH WATCH

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

Vitamin E can help your new hip last longer A vitamin found in avocados could transform hip replacement surgery, enabling one replacement to last a lifetime.

Vitamin E works by preserving the protective lining of the joint which tends to wear out, often requiring patients to have revision surgery.

Around 70,000 hip replacements are carried out in England and Wales each year. They are usually necessary because osteoarthritis has caused wear and tear on the original joint.

The operation replaces both the natural socket and the rounded ball at the head of the thigh-bone with a prosthetic version.

The head fits into a prosthetic shell, with a cushioning plastic liner in between the two parts.

Replacement hip joints typically wear out in ten to 15 years, because tiny pieces of

this cushioning plastic liner break off as they combine with oxygen inside the body, causing the liner to become progressively thinner.

Over time, these loose fragments also wear away the surrounding bone, and replacing the hip joint becomes harder each time as there's less to attach it to.

As a result, people in

their 30s and 40s are often told they are too young for a hip replacement, as a new joint would need several revisions. Instead they face years of pain.

However, six years ago American scientists discovered that bathing the plastic liner with a small quantity of vitamin E during manufacture about as much as one

avocado contains - meant the liner lasted many years longer.

Vitamin E protects the liner just as vitamins protect the body by mopping up the free radicals thought to cause diseases such as cancer before they become damaging.

Infused in the plastic liner, vitamin E soaks up the free radicals from the plastic before they can break off and damage the joint.

The technique, known as E-Poly, is being used at 20 centres in Britain. It's hoped it could one day be used in other joint replacements.

'This is a quantum leap in hip surgery,' says Evert Smith, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Bristol's Southmead Hospital. 'A hip replacement could then last 25 years. Younger patients could be spared years of pain without repeat surgery.'

Why daily aspirin could be a danger: Stop giving it as routine protector, doctors told Doctors should stop prescribing aspirin to ward off heart attacks in people without heart disease, a leading doctor has said.

Giving aspirin to these patients can do more harm than good, raising the risk of dangerous stomach bleeding while having a 'negligible' effect on curbing death rates, he warned.

Thousands of people with high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes are prescribed low-dose aspirin in line with medical guidelines because their doctors consider they are at high risk of heart attack.

In addition, hundreds of thousands of healthy middle-aged people - the 'worried well' - regularly take aspirin, many of them daily, in case it does them some good.

This is based on its established role in reducing the risk of repeat heart attacks and stroke by up to a third, even though doubt persists over whether aspirin has the

same benefit in patients who have never suffered an attack.

Growing evidence in recent months has increased the view that giving aspirin for primary prevention where patients do have symptoms of heart disease - is counter-productive. Now Dr Ike Iheanacho, editor of the respected Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, says the practice should be 'abandoned' because the evidence does not back it up.

Some 2.3million Britons have type 2 diabetes, which is closely linked with growing levels of obesity, and they are up to five times more at risk of heart disease than the general population.

Several guidelines issued between 2005 and 2008 by professional health bodies recommend routine use of aspirin for people aged 50 and older with type 2 diabetes and those with high blood pressure. 'But current evidence makes it hard to rec-

ommend starting aspirin for primary prevention,' said Dr Iheanacho.

'We believe the evidence is against low dose preventive treatment in these patients,' he added.

A British study released in September found aspirin can double the chances of dangerous internal bleeding in people without a history of heart disease, while having no effect on the rate of heart attacks or strokes.

Dr Iheanacho said patients taking aspirin for this reason should not stop without consulting a doctor.

He urged doctors to review all their patients taking low-dose aspirin for primary prevention whether prescribed by themselves or whether it was bought overthecounter by the patients.

'The decision about whether to continue or stop treatment should be made only after fully informing patients of the available evidence. Some patients may see a small

risk of harm as worth taking because they gain a small degree of possible benefit,' he added.

June Davison, of the British Heart Foundation said: 'It is well established that aspirin can help prevent heart attacks and strokes among people with heart and circulatory disease. They should continue to take it as prescribed by their doctor.

'But for those who do not have heart and circulatory disease the risk of serious bleeding outweighs the potential benefits. We advise people not to take aspirin daily, unless they check with their doctor.'

How junk food diet 'can give you depression' Eating junk food can make you depressed, doctors have warned.

Those who regularly eat high-fat foods, processed meals, desserts and sweets are almost 60 per cent more likely to suffer depression than those who choose fruit, vegetables and fish.

Researchers claim their study is the first to investigate the link between overall diet and mental health, rather than the effects of indi-

vidual foods.

Dr Eric Brunner, one of the researchers from University College London, said: 'There seem to be various aspects of lifestyle such as taking exercise which also matter, but it appears that diet is playing an independent role.'

The study, in the British Journal of Psychiatry, used data on 3,486 male and female civil servants aged around 55.

Each participant completed a questionnaire about their eating habits and a self-report assessment for depression five years later.

The researchers found that those with the highest consumption of processed food were 58 per cent more likely to be depressed five years later than those eating the least amount.

The researchers suggest several reasons for the protective effect of a

healthy diet.

They believe that high levels of antioxidants in fruits and vegetables protect against depression, as does the folate found in broccoli, cabbage, spinach, lentils and chickpeas.

However, it is possible the effect comes from a 'whole food' diet that has many nutrients from different types of food rather than one single nutrient.

A nicotine patch to help your wounds heal faster and how almonds can cut cholesterol levels Health stories from around the world this week include a German study that found nicotine patches used just four weeks before surgery can help wounds heal faster.

Also, patients who ate a handful of almonds every day reduced their bad cholesterol by more than 30 per cent.

fered problems with wound healing.

Among those who did not, the complication rate was 28 per cent.

Eat almonds to cut your cholesterol levels by a third

Can a nicotine patch heal your wounds faster?

Nicotine patches could help to speed up recovery after surgery.

New research shows smokers who use patches to help them quit just a few weeks before a scheduled operation are half as likely to have problems with wounds healing.

Smoking is known to be a risk factor for a poor rate of recovery after surgery.

Toxins in cigarette smoke reduce the amount of oxygen that circulates in the blood.

Healing wounds need a constant supply of oxygen-rich blood to produce healthy new tissue and reduce scarring after an operation. Failure to heal properly is one of the most common complications after surgery.

The German study shows starting nicotine patches just four weeks in advance can have a major impact.

Researchers found only 14 per cent of smokers who used either patches or chewing gum suf-

Eating almonds may help lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

Canadian researchers divided subjects into two groups - the first group ate a low-fat diet, while the second followed a diet high in soy products, fibre and plant sterols (shown to reduce cholesterol).

They also ate a handful of almonds every day.

The patients in the second group managed to reduce their LDL or 'bad' cholesterol by more than 30 per cent, some in as little as two weeks.

The other group saw no big change.

It's thought the almonds may have helped to lower the participants' levels of a substance called C-reactive protein in their blood.

High levels of this indicate artery inflammation and high blood pressure.

Diet drinks 'could harm the kidneys' Diet fizzy drinks may damage the kidneys, a study suggests.

Research on 3,000 women found that two or more artificially sweetened drinks a day doubled the risk of a faster-thanaverage decline in kidney function.

The link persisted after taking account of other risk factors including age, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, and heart disease.

Drinks made with sugar did not have the same effect on kidney function. The scientists from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts said more work was needed to understand what was behind the trend.

Dr Julie Lin, who led the research, said: 'There are currently limited data on the role of diet in kidney disease.

'While more study is needed, our research sug-

gests that higher sodium and artificially sweetened soda intake are associated with greater rate of decline in kidney function.'

All the study participants were older Caucasian women. The scientists said it was not clear whether the findings also applied to men or people of different ethnic backgrounds.

The American Beverage Association said: "It's important to remember that this is an abstract being presented at an annual meeting.

"Until it has been subjected to the rigors of peer-review and published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, it is impossible to provide thoughtful comment on the results."

A spokesman pointed out that the two main causes of chronic kidney disease were diabetes and high blood pressure "not consumption of diet soda".

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

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Sport in Action Andre Agassi confesses taking drugs Former tennis star could face perjury case American tennis star Andre Agassi has confessed to using crystal methamphetamine and dodging a drugs ban in his tell-all autobiography.

What is perhaps more shocking is that he escaped penal action way back in 1997 after having failed the drug test. A doctor working for the ATP did inform him of test results, but Agassi lied and claimed he was innocent.

Andre Agassi

At that point of time, he said meth was found in his system only because he consumed a spiked drink from a friend. He said he made this confession so that people can learn from his difficult times.

Agassi may face Wada ‘perjury wrath’ over claims of taking speed. The WADA asked tennis bodies to investigate the possibility of a perjury case against the tennis player.

The American tennis

legend revealed his use of the substance in his new autobiography “Open”.

“It wasn’t easy to be so candid. I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” explained Agassi, 39, in a video to promote his book.

“I wasn’t keen on embarrassing myself, but I felt my story was one from which many people could learn: difficult childhood, unhappy first marriage, struggle with professionalism, feeling of inadequacy.”

David Shepherd passes away Former first class cricketer and England Umpire David Shepherd passed away last week. He fought a long battle with cancer. He was 68. He was a very popular and one of the most respected official. He stood for the last time as an international umpire at Kingston, Jamaica in West Indies for the WI – Pakistan series in June 2005.

Shepherd officiated in 172 ODIs, including three consecutive World Cup finals, and 92 Tests between 1983 and 2005.

His good-humoured approach to officiating and quirky superstitions made him a favourite with

players and spectators the world over.

He started his umpiring stint at the first class level in 1981 and made his international debut at the 1983 World Cup. David Shepherd went on to become one of the game's most decorated and beloved officials. Only Steve Bucknor and Rudi Koertzen have stood in more Tests.

After his last match, Brian Lara presented him with a bat

David Shepherd

inscribed with a message thanking him for “the service, the memories and

the professionalism" - and his final county appearance came at his former home ground of Bristol.

Shepherd had represented Gloucestershire as a batsman over a 14-year career, which included 282 firstclass matches and 12 centuries.

Upon his retirement from umpiring, Shepherd returned to Devon and remained involved with his local club. He married Jenny, his long-time partner, in 2008.

ICC President David Morgan called him a true gentleman of the game, a match official of the very highest quality with an immense positive influence on the sport.

Australia’s injury woes piling Peter Siddle to head back home after Hopes, Lee and Paine Injury woes for visiting Australian cricket team keep mounting as Peter Siddle became the fourth member of the team to return home after suffering stiffness in his left side during Monday's win in Mohali. Siddle bowled five overs during the victory and the team physio Kevin Sims said the decision was in part a precautionary measure.

James Hopes

Siddle joined James Hopes, Brett Lee and wicket keeper Tim Paine.

Hopes could not fully recover from the hamstring injury he suffered during the first game at Vadodara.

Cricket Australia said Victoria fast bowler Clint McKay will be replacing Hopes.

Brett Lee was unable to complete his quota of

overs in Vadodara after complaining of a sore right elbow.

Paine broke his finger during the second game in Nagpur and was replaced by Graham Manou. Even before the series began, Australia had already lost Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Callum Ferguson and Nathan Bracken to injuries.

Services team barred from Ranji Trophy by BCCI Defence ministry decided not to play in Kashmir for security reasons There is likely to be a small tussle in the offing between the armed forces and the strongest of the sports body in India, BCCI. The domestic cricket season in India has just started and Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir was about to witness revival of the game in the state after 5 years.

But the first match was slated to be played between the J & K and the

Services, turned out to be a non starter.

The defence ministry of India, controlling the services team decided that the services team will not play in Srinagar. This led the BCCI to suspend the team from the Ranji Trophy for the entire 2009/10 season.

BCCI secretary N Srinivasan confirmed that the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB), which manages all sports

teams of the Indian defence forces, had been disqualified from the tournament for this season.

“A decision on any further action against the SSCB will be taken by the BCCI Working Committee.”

Apart from the expulsion from the Ranji Trophy, the decision means no Services players will be considered for the zonal tournaments like Duleep trophy. They will

not receive any match fees also.

The pullout seems to have taken the hosts by surprise. Ehsan Mirza, treasurer of the J&K Cricket Association, said his colleagues had checked with Services last week whether they needed any help with accommodation and other issues but were told Services had already made arrangements at the 15 Corps base in Srinagar.

PCB to earn more cash from ICC Even as it missed a golden opportunity to co-host the 2011 cricket world cup, Pakistan Cricket Board, in desperate need of cash, is almost assured to receive an additional sum of 7 to 8 million US dollars. This amount will come to them out of the sale of rights to the 14 world cup games it was supposed to host, but now have lost it to the other 3 co-hosts. PCB is also to get the US$ 10.5 million of guarantee money or hosting fees that it would have received had the games been played there.

After discussions with the ICC President David Morgan, PCB sold the rights of the 14 matches to IDI, the commercial arm of Cricket’s global governing body. Official documents with the PCB confirm this fact.

Matches of the quadrennial tournament was shifted out of the strife-torn country by ICC to the other co-hosts India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on security ground earlier this year.

Chris Gayle to lead WI for OZ tour The contract dispute between the West Indies cricketers and the board has finally been resolved.

West Indies have announced a regular squad for their forth coming tour of Australia, to be led by Chris Gayle.

Senior players such as Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo also returned to the squad, while youngsters such as Chris Gayle Adrian Barath, Kemar Roach and Gavin Tonge have got a chance to make it.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) met in Barbados on Saturday to approve the selectors' recommendation of Gayle as captain and made the announcement on Monday. Clyde Butts, the chairman of selectors, said he was confident of the team's prospects in Australia. "I think we have a good combination and an experienced team which I expect to do very well," he said. There are only two uncapped players in the squad, Barath and Tonge.

Fast bowler Fidel Edwards was not named in the squad because of a knee injury. Edwards had a problem with his knee after returning from the Champions League in India.

Gayle has had mixed results as captain, winning three Tests out of 14 and 13 ODIs out of 38.

He led West Indies to two series wins in one-dayers, including an away victory against England last year, and against the touring Sri Lanka.

The team: Chris Gayle (capt), Adrian Barath, Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Brendan Nash, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor, Gavin Tonge.

Anand beats Karpov to clinch four-game Chess series Chess World Champion, Viswanathan Anand of India won the rapid four game chess series, beating former World Champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia in successive two encounters to win the series 3.5 - 0.5. The Indian champion, leading the series 1.5 - 0.5 after winning the first game and drawing the second with the Russian at Bastia, beat Karpov Viswanathan in both the remaining games to Anand clinch a spectacular victory.

Anand will now move to Moscow to take part in the Tal Memorial chess tournament, commencing from November 5, which is arguably the toughest event of the year.

The field of the championship includes Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Levon Aronian of Armenia, among others.

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OZ tame Dhoni’s boys at Mohali

Asian Voice - Saturday 7th November 2009

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Bangladesh take Zimbabwe series 3-1

Visitors crumbled for just 44 runs at Chittagong

Ponting’s team level ODI series 2 - 2

Even as their injury woes are piling up, Australia won the 4th encounter with India at Mohali on Monday with a margin of 24 runs, making it a scoreline of 2 – 2 in the seven match ODI series. While India beat the opponents comprehensively in their victories, It was a rather close finish for Ricky Ponting’s boys. They won the first match by just 4 runs. As in Vadodara, Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar once again threatened the rivals, but just fell short of beating them.

At Mohali, India made a mess of the game after they restricted Australia to a total of 250 on a good batting pitch. A fiery start provided by Virender Sehwag was just the silver lining in the Indian batting. Australia won the vital moments during the chase to level the series in Mohali.

It was a roller-coaster of a chase and whenever India appeared to be getting ahead, Australia fought back. It wasn't necessarily great bowling that did the trick but it was disciplined enough to force mistakes on the underpressure batsmen.

India were off to a cracking start. Sehwag looted 30 runs from 14 deliveries from Mitchell Johnson but no one took ownership of the chase and India slowly lost their way.

The second blow was a direct hit by Ponting to run out Yuvraj Singh. MS Dhoni took the score to 134 before he became the fifth wicket to fall. Raina didn't last long, cleaned up

by Hauritz when he failed to connect with an attempted dab to third man and finally, Ravindra Jadeja ran himself out, attempting a non-existent single.

There would have been a moment of apprehension for Ponting when Harbhajan and Praveen played cameos. Harbhajan opted for the batting Powerplay after Jadeja's exit and pushed the score to 204 but fell, scooping a return catch to Watson, who later induced Praveen

Tamim Iqbal shapes to play a stroke at Chittagong on Tuesday

Nathan Hauritz gets the congratulations after dismissing Suresh Raina at Mohali on Monday

to edge behind.

Australia, battered and bruised with injuries, showed their famed fighting spirit. The fielding was sharp and the bowling, if not spectacular, was tight.

They still needed a slice of luck to swing things decisively in their favour and they got it when Bollinger returned for his second spell in the 32nd over. It appeared to be a harmless delivery, bouncing down the leg side, but Dhoni nicked the attempted glance to the keeper.

Suddenly, the momentum had shifted and India's lower order was put under severe pressure.

Four Australian batsmen went past 40 but none carried on for a big score and the innings meandered

at times, especially in the last ten overs where they scored only 49 runs.

Ponting and Watson couldn't build on their promising partnership and the same fate befell Michael Hussey and Cameron White's association.

White played responsibly to keep Australia in the game. He found solid support in Hussey and the duo added 73 runs for the fourth wicket with the lefthander playing another typical innings: he was calmness personified.

Australia's task was made harder by the discipline of all the bowlers except Ishant Sharma.

The new-ball bowlers, Praveen and Ashish Nehra, found enough movement to keep the top order quiet and both

returned to choke the batsmen in the end overs.

The spinners, too, found enough bite to cover up for Ishant's wayward spells. Harbhajan put in his best performance of the series, slowing up the pace and flighting on off and middle stump line. {Brief scores: 4th ODI - OZ 250 (White 62, Ponting 52, Nehra 3-37) beat India 226 (Tendulkar 40, Watson 329, Bollinger 3-38) by 24 runs. 3rd ODI - India 230 for 4 (Yuvraj 78, Dhoni 71*) beat OZ - 229 for 5 (Hussey 81*, Ponting 59, Watson 41) by six wickets. 2nd ODI - India 354 for 7 (Dhoni 124, Gambhir 76, Raina 62) beat OZ - 255 (Hussey 53, Jadeja 3-35) by 99 runs.}

After tasting victory only in the first match, Zimbabwe has not been able to give a good fight to the hosts in the ODI series, as Bangladesh won the series 3 – 1 on Tuesday, with the last game still to go.

After the first three matches at Mirpur, the venue shifted to Chittagong. The home side's bowling demolished Zimbabwe for 44, the fifth lowest total in one-dayers.

With such a paltry target, even a familiar failure at the top couldn't stop Bangladesh from taking the series by knocking off the runs in 11.5 overs.

For Bangladesh, the bowlers delivered again, but the batting wobbled, and the fielding was a mixed bag. Zimbabwe could have been in for even more embarrassment had Bangladesh not grassed three catches.

In Chittagong, the pitch offered plenty of turn and bounce, but for Zimbabwe that couldn’t be an excuse as most of

No series with Pakistan possible, say India India cited a packed international calendar to virtually say no to a PCB request for a bilateral cricket series as the two board chiefs met at Mohali on Monday during the 4th ODI between the visiting Australian cricket team and India.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) spokesman Rajiv Shukla, giving details of the

exchange between Ejaz Butt and Shashank Manohar said the BCCI president explained to his PCB counterpart that there was little possibility of a bilateral series between the two countries in the next seveneight months.

After the current ODI series against Australia, India play a full series against Sri Lanka fol-

lowed by the World T20 in West Indies.

"The two countries will explore the possibility of a bilateral series next season," said Shukla.

The BCCI president also said the talks would be held, keeping in mind the diplomatic relationship between the two countries.

The BCCI refused to

send a team to tour Pakistan earlier this year due to tension between the two countries in the wake of November 26 terrorist attack in Mumbai that claimed 170 lives.

The latest Future Tour Programme (FTP), drafted by the International Cricket Council (ICC), has no space for an IndiaPakistan series till 2012.

the wickets were due to poor shot selection rather than due to some demon in the track.

Mark Vermuelen is one Zimbabwe batsman who can construct a dour, defensive innings, but even he lasted only nine deliveries.

Zimbabwe's top-order had done a decent job so far in the series, but the batsmen lower down showed little backbone.

Zimbabwe's innings barely lasted an hour-andhalf, and the fans were still trickling into the stadium on a sleepy Tuesday morning when Bangladesh openers strode out for the chase. A straightforward victory seemed on the cards when Tamim Iqbal and Junaid Siddique made a confident start. They had coasted to 33 for 0 before the spinners, Ray Price and Graeme Cremer, snared three wickets in the space of nine deliveries to give Zimbabwe fans something to shout about {Brief scores: 4th ODI – B’desh 49 for 4 (Tamim 22) beat Zim 44 (Shakib 3-8, Enamul 3-16) by six wickets. 3rd ODI - B’desh 198 for 6 (Tamim 80, Ashraful 63) beat Zim 196 (Masakadza 84, Enamul 3-45, Hossain 3-13) by 4 wickets. 2nd ODI – B’desh 221 for 3 (Shakib 105*, Raqibul 39*) beat Zim 219 (Razzak 5-29) by 7 wickets. 1st ODI - Zim 189 for 5 (Chigumbura 60*, Matsikenyeri 47*) beat B’desh 186 (Mushfiqur 56, Dolar 41) by 5 wickets.}