Asian Voice

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Natural remedies to get rid of high blood pressure

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Britain based Indians in freedom struggle – A century ago See Page -30

VOICE

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

VOL 38. ISSUE 29

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Rift between General and President- a better omen for Sri Lanka

cal future for himself, even the army chief had spoken out against the government on the issue of Lankan Tamils.

Fonseka told Rajapakse that the government had failed to win the peace after the army won the war. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is no clear policy to win the hearts and minds of the Tamil people, Continued on page 24

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Skilled migrants targeted by the UK government?

BY DANIEL HENRY MUTIBWA & RUPANJANA DUTTA With the New Draft Immigration Bill, the government seeks to tighten the borders in order to keep out migrants deemed not to be an asset to the country's economy. However, there is the likelihood that the bill could target existing migrants, who are responsible tax payers and law-abiding residents. The new shortage occupation list, for instance, though intended to reduce the number of foreign employees, will significantly affect

existing migrants.

This began when UK started closing its door on unskilled non-EU migrants. Now the Prime Minister is preparing to close it on even skilled migrants from outside the EU. In reality the number of foreigners prevented from taking a skilled job will be lower, probably in the tens of thousands.

Figures published last year showed that there were 3.7 million foreign-born workers, known as non UK-born, in jobs in Britain.

Continued on page 7

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Sri Lanka's outgoing Chief of Defense Staff General Sarath Fonseka (L) inspects a guard of honour during his farewell in Colombo on November 16, 2009

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General Sarath Fonseka was hailed as the hero of the war against the Tamil Tigers. His growing popularity among the masses perhaps made Mahinda Rajapakase, Sri Lankan President jittery.

Sidelining Fonseka via a promotion triggered the ambitions of the army boss, who relished his popularity as huge posters portraying him were put in almost entire Sri Lanka.

Rajapakase and the

Lankan government was facing severe criticism from the UN and the world community over possible war crimes and showing no urgency in resettlement of Tamil refugees. Sensing a politi-

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Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

ONE ON ONE Keith Vaz MP with

Chinyelu Onwurah Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Newcastle Central Born in Wallsend to a Nigerian father and Geordie mother, Chi grew up on a council estate in Newcastle upon Tyne before studying Electrical Engineering in London. In a career spanning twenty years she has worked in the UK, France, the US and Africa, specialising in rolling out new technologies in emerging markets. Chi has always campaigned actively for the Labour Party and against injustice and spent many years on the executive of the Anti Apartheid Movement and the advisory board of the Open University Business School. Chi now works in the public sector on superfast broadband whilst preparing to stand as PPC in Newcastle Central.

1) What inspired you to follow a political career?

I grew up on a council estate in Newcastle, my mother was a Labour party activist and political discussion was always a part of our home life.

I joined the party when I was sixteen, for the same reason as most people – to make a difference. During my career in engineering I was always active in politics and campaigned for causes such as Anti Apartheid. I am also very committed to promoting education; it has made such a difference to my life.

2) What are your proud-

est achievements?

My proudest political achievement is being selected by the Labour members of Newcastle Central, though you could say it was really their achievement in having the confidence that someone relatively new to politics, but with lots of real world experience and strong values, could be the best representative for this great city.

3) What advice would you give to someone wishing to pursue a career in politics today?

Not having yet enjoyed a career in politics myself it is a little arrogant to give advice. For me, what was most impor-

Geeta Aulakh

been cut off.

Police and paramedics were called and she was taken to Charing

tant was knowing that I could represent everyone in my constituency, whether they were male or female, black or white, rich or poor. But it is also important to understand what is important to you, and being able to communicate that.

4) What are your long term goals?

I have to long term goals: firstly to retire from politics, eventually, with Newcastle a richer and

more equitable city, with a strong and diverse economic and cultural base.

To be part of a Labour Government which helps reduce the gap between rich and poor, improves social justice and equality of opportunity.

5) What has been the biggest obstacle in your career?

Not believing in myself enough at times, succumbing to others’ views of me.

Cross Hospital where she died about four hours later.

Investigators believe the woman may have been targeted after an acrimonious split with a former partner.

Sources say Mrs Aulakh's husband Harpreet has been arrested along with five other men in alleged murder charges.

The couple had been separated for a year and she had custody of their two sons, aged eight and nine.

Detective Chief

Inspector Andy Chalmers, who is leading the inquiry, has appealed for help from the public.

He said: 'When the victim was found, we know that a lot of people were in the street and that several people may have tried to administer first aid before the police or ambulance arrived.

'These people left the scene before speaking to police and I would ask that anyone who was there, or anyone else who has information about the incident, call us in the strictest of confidence.'

Preacher and four men held in terror raids A muslim preacher was one of five men arrested in terror swoops across the country on Monday. The 62-year-old, who teaches the Koran in mosques in the North West, was picked up by police thought to be investigating a network sending young men abroad for terrorist training. His

house was one of four targeted in early morning raids in Manchester and Bolton.

A fifth arrest - of a man aged 26 - was made at a hotel near Heathrow airport. Police sources said there was no imminent terrorist danger and the arrests were related to an

7) What is the best thing about your current role?

My current role is as an engineer specialising in superfast broadband.

The best thing is that I get to understand and develop what will be a critical part of tomorrow’s infrastructure.

8) And the worst?

Because what I do is so technical, it can be very difficult to communicate it effectively.

Asian woman, 28, mutilated, found dying in street Detectives launched a murder inquiry after a radio station receptionist was left mutilated and dying just yards from her child minder's front door.

Passers-by found tragic mum-of-two Geeta Aulakh slumped on the ground with a fatal head injury and one of her hands severed in Greenford, West London.

The 28-year-old was discovered by a passer-by in Greenford, north west London, at about 7pm on last Monday.

Witnesses said she had serious head injuries and one of her hands had

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

My mother – she believed both in core Labour values and the inherent goodness of people, and lived her life in accordance with those beliefs.

alleged overseas threat.

Officers from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit described the operation as "low key" and no armed officers were involved.

Several properties were sealed off and searched as the men were taken into custody for questioning

under the Terrorism Act 2000. Officers are thought to have been looking for computers and laptops.

Police also searched a house in Levenshulme, Manchester, but no arrests were made there. It is thought more arrests may follow later this week.

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

The gap between rich and poor - sounds simple but it would take a lot of different policy measures over time. Labour has done a lot to lift different groups out of poverty but there is still much more to be done.

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

Cleopatra, Jesus Christ, Robert Stephenson, Keir Hardie, Mandela, Mary Shelly Wollstonecraft. I think we’d sort the world out!

People ! Ranjit Baxi has just

been appointed to the new Olympic Legacy Company which has been set up to deal with assets that are left after the 2012 Olympics. He will hold this position alongside 2 honorary positions as President of the World Punjabi Organisation and the European Waste Disposal Syndicate. ! Has there ever been a more dramatic conversion in Southall?

Tony Lit’s best mate and putative election agent in Southall Sanjay Anand will be at the Muslims for Labour Dinner in a fortnight’s time. But don’t worry folks, it’s nothing permanent. It’s just that Madhu’s food unites both Labour and the Conservatives – he’s doing the catering! ! On the subject of food, Tory leader David Cameron was the guest of honour at the British Curry Awards last week. On returning home he told surprised wife Samantha that he was hungry. “But you have just been to the curry awards,” she said.

Poor David had to explain that despite the availability of curry, he was not able to eat because from arrival to departure he was mobbed. I bet they also do that to him in Tescos!

Educate a woman and you educate a nation

Girls from Hindu Sevika Samiti held a Charity Raas Garba on the 14th November at Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple, Birmingham. Over 200 people enjoyed a night filled with dancing, with amazing music provided

by Echoes International, and in the process helped raise funds for Devi Ahalyabai Trust.

This Trust runs a hostel in Nagpur for the welfare of disadvantaged girls from remote villages in the North Eastern states of India, providing accommodation and full time education for 46 girls

between the ages of 5 to 21.

In addition to the garba, girls at the Birmingham branch have initiated a pen-pal scheme with the girls at the Devi Ahalyabai Trust to find out more about each other and learn about the different lifestyles led in the UK and India.

Hindu Sevika Samiti UK is a national voluntary women’s cultural organisation with the aim of encouraging girls and women to learn, practice and preserve universal Hindu values and to proactively contribute to society.

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

COMMENT

Whither Sino-Indian relations and the Dalai Lama?

Relations between India and China are fraught.

Some Chinese columnists appear to get a kick reminding Indians of their humiliation in the autumn of 1962, when the People's Liberation Army humbled their Indian counterparts on the snowy Himalayan heights. British media pundits, with detectable schadenfreude, never tire of repeating the tale ad nauseam. There is always the risk that such braggadocio may backfire. It did in 1979 when an invading force from China, commissioned to teach Vietnam a lesson, was taught a bruising one instead. India was indeed taught a lesson in 1962, hence its defences this time are in place for any misadventure Beijing might unwisely undertake.

Hailed as America's only rival on the world stage - the G2 (shorthand for the duo) are viewed as the two indispensable guarantors of world peace. More's the pity that someone as benign as the Dalai Lama should cause such disquiet in China's ruling circles. Reading the ritual high octane attacks to which His Holiness is routinely subjected one could be forgiven for thinking he is Osama bin Laden in disguise. He is simply the revered head of Tibetan Buddhism, who is wedded to peace and peaceful dialogue with China. He asks only that its rulers respect Tibetan culture and permit the Tibetan people space to practise their faith without hindrance.

This clearly does not bug China as much as his presence on Indian soil. By pressing aggressively with their territorial claim to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, Beijing is hoping to intimidate Delhi into complying with its demand to either expel the Dalai Lama or restrict his movements. An Indian climb-down would signal to the rest of Asia and the international community beyond that the Middle Kingdom is back in business, that rulers far and near must “tremble and obey,” as the Chien Lung Chi'ng Emperor enjoined George III to do in the late 18th century when his envoy Lord Macartney came calling at the Celestial Court.

China's communist leaders may be caught in a time-warp, but this being the 20th century, despised long-nosed foreigners are within their rights to expect some respect.

That the Dalai Lama escaped his Han captors in Lhasa in April 1959 and fled for the sanctuary of India is no fault of his Indian hosts. They granted him the asylum to which he was entitled under International Law. Living in Dharamsala, he is geographically close to Tibet and thus remains a potent symbol for his people. The wisest solution surely is for Beijing to make its peace with the Dalai and his people, and not to hold India responsible for its present difficulties. Heavy handed repression in Tibet and Uighur-populated Xinjiang is likely to add to China's woes.

Jane Macartney, The Times Correspondent in Beijing, writes that China will be looking to President Barack Obama to validate its authority and power in Tibet as a means of expunging Indian influence there. British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, obliged a year ago by declaring the Simla Convention of July 1914 on Tibet's status and the McMahon Line, demarcating the Indo-Tibetan frontier, null and void. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had shown the way in the late 1980s, when she refused to receive the Dalai Lama in London, afraid this would upset the Chinese government. She had no qualms, however, in conferring an honorary knighthood on the Romanian communist dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu.

The understated Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, made it clear to his Chinese counterpart Wen Jia Bao, that the Dalai Lama, as “an honoured guest in India” was free to travel to whichever part of the country he chose. Period. Chinese threats on this account have inflamed Indian opinion. India is not paranoid about China, as James Lamont claims in the Financial Times. The Indian people are exercised by China's arrogance, and their anger is surely justified. British morality, it would appear, is defined by the City of London, so China must be placated at all costs. Curiously, the bar for Russia is raised exponentially. Such are the wonders of international politics, but neither Chinese threats nor British condescension will deflect India from doing the right thing by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. There is too much at stake.

Sri Lankan leaders fall out All is not well with Sri Lanka. As one troublesome chapter in the country's history is closed, another has opened: the bloody Tamil Tiger insurgency ended months ago, with a clear cut victory for the government forces, but peace and reconciliation between between the majority Sinhalese community and the minority Tamils are nowhere in sight.

The war has been won, but not the peace.

That is the claim of General Sarath Fonseca, the head of the Sri Lankan Army at the time of its victory. Having fallen out with his prime minister Mahendra Rajapakse, the angry general was kicked upstairs to the largely ceremonial role of Chief of Defence

Staff.

General Fonseca now asserts that Prime Minister Rajapakse warned the Indian government to put its troops on alert as he apprehended a military coup. “The action tarnished the image and reputation gained by the Sri Lankan Army as a competent and professional force capable of defeating a terrorist group,” he said in a letter to Mr Rajapakse.

Both men being hugely popular with the Sinhalese population, General Fonseca's decision to challenge Mr Rajapakse in the country's next general election is certain to split the Sinhalese vote, possibly paving the way for a new political alignment in Colombo

Two kings of cricket Sachin Tendulkar has marked his twentieth anniversary as an international cricketer. As India's most charismatic figure, he is a role model for princes and paupers alike, and those betwixt and between. He is idolized by every section of Indian society, his deeds of derring-do with the bat the cynosure of all eyes. The wonderful thing is that success hasn't in the least corrupted him, he remains what he has always been: a great batsman, the finest of his generation and, arguably, the most imposing since the legendary Sir Donald Bradman, who saw in him, his youth self. Long may Sachin Tendulkar climb the peaks open to him.

In England, meanwhile, Andrew Flintoff, has held pride of place as the nation's best allround cricketer since the mighty Ian Botham was on song. In cricket, as in life, you need a generous slice of luck to succeed at the top.

'Freddie' Flintoff, alas, was injury prone, and this eventually forced him to retire from Test cricket at the relatively tender age of 31, when under normal circumstances he would have had many years of good cricket left in him.

He was occasionally a hell-raiser, but otherwise played fair and square and gave immense pleasure to those who followed his meteoric career. Thanks Freddie!

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Thought for the Week

The wheel of change always turns in the direction of what you put into your mind.

- Unknown

Steve Pound, MP Ealing North (Labour)

Resilient India

Although it is never wise to live in the past we must never ever forget our history and the significance that the community gives to anniversaries and propitious days bears witness to this.

As I watched the pictures of the vast storm breaking in from the Arabian Sea to breach the defences of Mumbai this week I thought back to the horrifying events that took place almost a year ago.

From November 26th. to the 29th.2008 Mumbai, and by extension India, was under attack and the 173 people who died and the three hundred plus wounded testify to the murderous extent of the assault that was committed by deluded terrorists allied to Lashkar-e-Taiba.

This was far from the first attack on the city which is now the financial centre but which was, in the distant days of the Raj, the Gateway to India.

Bombs had been exploded in Gjatkopar, the Zaveri Bazaar, Mulund station, a BEST ‘bus and near Vile Park station.

These attacks may have had a common origin but they had the same effect.

Although people were killed and wounded the sprit of Mumbaikers was unbroken and India did not rise to the provocation.

The fact that the National Security Guards managed to capture Mohammad Ajmal Amir and deliver him for a fair trial shows that India did not respond to the attack in kind but rather showed the world how a mature democracy can act – even in the darkest hour.

Mumbai is now really an international city and even occasional visitors like me know the Taj Mahal Palace and have paused on the stairway to admire the bust of Jamsetji Tata and marvel at the fact that corporate social responsibility was invented by Indians in India and still imbues the Tata empire with its principles today.

The Leopold Café was

– and is – known to younger travellers and “backpackers” from all over the world and the choice of this target shows how the terrorists sought to widen the impact of their assault.

St.Xavier’s college is also well known to me and although I don’t know the Oberoi Trident and the Metro Cinema as well I have passed them and felt a personal sense of injury as I saw the devastation.

My connection was strengthened when I realised that Sir Gulam Noon was actually in the Taj Mahal hotel at the time and his dignified and sober response to the unfolding horror stands in sharp contrast to the hysterical communications emerging from those who allied themselves with the murderers.Indeed, it was a friend and constituent, Niraj Dattani, who first rang me to alert me to the unfolding terror and although he had no family in Mumbai at the time the pain that he felt was sharp and personal.

Not for the first time I realised that any primitive nihilist can destroy or damage a place of beauty and murder a people of pride and principle – but it takes a great people to build in the first place and it takes a people of even greater strength and courage to rebuild so swiftly.

India showed its collective strength and resilience in the days after November 26th.and even as the sirens wailed, the blood flowed and the smoke poured up to the heavens India proved that she would not, and could not, be beaten by terrorism.

November 2008 may be a dark anniversary but there are grounds for real pride and while I send my sincere condolences to the friends and families of the slain and my deepest sympathy to the injured I am redoubled in my admiration for an India that rose again from the chaos to show the world why she is truly great.

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

Vande Mataram R.N.Patel's recent letter in AV (14/11/09) on 'Vande Mataram' needs to be commented upon.

The Vande Mataram song has been controversial for many years now. During 2006, BJP called up on all the BJP- ruled states to ensure, it was mandatory for every one to sing Vande Mataram in all offices and schools and the party had insisted that the song was to be sung in all madrassas also.

Since then, Indian Muslims have strongly objected to sing Vande Mataram, because the song is asking for worship of Hindu deities other than Allah (s.w.t.) and that certainly is forbidden in Islam.

Having realised the very serious nature of the issue which would exacerbate the situation, it is reported that Congress Party arrived to a compromise by favouring the recitation of the first two stanzas which are non-controversial, due to the fact these are in praise of the country and not of any deity.

A.M.A. Pira Via Email

Multiculturalism among Afghanistan and its borders Afghanistan has had migration from neighbouring countries and various ethnic groupings vied for power over centuries.

Afghanistan -Sunnis 84%, Shia’s 15%; languages: Pashtu 35%, Afghan Persian (Dari) 50%, Turkic 11%; literacy 36%; poor 23%.

Iran -Shia’s 89%, Sunnis 10%; languages: Persian 58%, Turkic 26%, Kurdish 9%; literacy 79%; poor 40%.

Turkmenistan -Muslim 89%, Eastern Orthodox 9%; languages: Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%; literacy: 98%; poor 34%.

Uzbekistan -mostly Sunnis 88%; Eastern Orthodox 9%; languages: Uzbeck 74%, Russian 14%, Tajik 4%; literacy 99%.

Tajikstan -Sunnis 85%, Shia’s 5%; languages: Tajik (official) but Russian in government and business); literacy 99%.

Pakistan -Sunnis 77%, Shia’s 20%; languages: Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashto 8%, Urdu 8%; literacy 46%; poor 35%.

From 1992 to 96 Burhanuddin Rabani, an ethnic Tajik was President of Afghanistan; in 1997 Saudi Arabia and Pakistan recognised Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan while other countries continued to recognise Rabani.

Current President Hamid Karzai is a Pashtun royalist.

The region needs techno-economic assistance, not military invasion by a Christian army that does not respect all cultures and/or ethnic mix of all peoples living there for centuries.

Nagin Khajuria Via Email

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

Indian attacked in Australia Recently, a Sikh was attacked by a group of Australians. I am surprised that Indian publications in the UK including very well known Asian Voice haven’t taken this matter very seriously. Even the well settled Australian Indians have got away by saying that "Indian students risk their lives by working and living in unsafe places" rather than providing moral support and relief to victims!

I request the various Indian organisations in the UK to come forward and arrange a peaceful protest against these racist attacks on innocent Indians in Australia.

Devang Bhatt Via Email

Legal voice Since the past couple of months, I've been reading the insightful articles contributed by Shahzea Tahir.

After reading these articles, a lot of confusion and doubts have been cleared on aspects related to family law. I tried to contact her a couple of times but was unable to get through. I've sent these articles to a couple of friends whom I thought were in need of a professional help to get them through the divorce proceedings. I want to read more of such articles by her especially on true cases and how she has advised her clients and what has been the outcome of those cases.

I appreciate Asian voice for re-staring this Legal voice column as it gives us more in-depth knowledge on legal aspects. Generally if we go and seek suggestions from lawyers on anything, they charge us a lot in consultation fees, hence atleast I grow weary of approaching them. Maybe Asian Voice can focus on various other aspects like taxation, personal injury, property matters etc under this section, that would help a lot of people in understanding the law.

Raina Seth London

Daylight Robbery Have you had an occasion to visit a hospital either for treatment or to visit someone who may be admitted there?

When previously we had local hospitals at our doorsteps, now the general hospitals are in remote places which can only be reached by travelling on a number of buses or trains. How else can reach there except by cars? But the parking charges are exorbitant! For the first couple of hours, the charges are tolerable but if you need to stay longer, you will not see much change out of a £20 note!

Can the Government not make car parking free of charges at hospitals?

After all, we only go there out of necessity and not for shopping or entertainment.

Incidentally, car parking is free at supermarkets. And the cost for a cup of tea containing just one tea bag and hot water is also unbelievable.

Dinesh Sheth Newbury Park, Ilford

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Equal right for pension

The letter written by Nagindas Khajuria regarding Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru is absolutely correct in relation to the importance of Hindi as a language in India. It is fashionable amongst the young generation in India to speak in English all the time. Sonia Gandhi speaks Hindi all the time but the original Indians can’t speak it. What a shame!

I wish to describe a very small incident when I was in primary school in Junagadh. A motorcade including Panditji was passing by, travelling from Junagadh to Keshod. I was standing on the road holding a rose which my late father had given me in order to welcome Panditji. The motorcade with high police officials passed and suddenly the car stopped. The window was lowered and a very handsome face with a white cap appeared; Panditji asked me in Hindi “Bacha kya Hindi bolsakte ho?” (Child, an you speak Hindi?) I replied 'haan' (yes). He asked me to come to the car and very happily accepted the flower, and told me a sentence in Hindi – “Bacha desh ki abadi aur azadi dono ka khayal rakhna” (Child, make sure you keep in mind the population and India's struggle for independence).

I took my son to the Nehru Bhavan in Delhi. I read the open will for Indians dedicated to our people written in Hindi outside the gate, which is very emotional.

Jai Hind!

Dr Pravin Kalaiya, Hornchurch, Essex

I would like to thank Asian Voice for running the story 'Gurkhas to fight again for their equal right' published on your last week issue (14/11/09) which was very well covered and reported. The Mass meeting at the lobby of HOC on 10 November 2009 about the Ex Gurkhas Pension Issue was a great success considering the number of MPs who attended and supported our fight for equal rights. I hope the large community who read AV and GS now realise that the British Government has not treated us fairly.

What actually happened with us in the pension services is very unfortunate.

For my 32 years exemplary service, as an Ex Major I receive only £300 as pension, but a British Officer in my place gets over three times more than myself. I believe that the British public will support our campaign for fairer pension and the government has a duty to pay fairer pensions to all ex gurkhas for services prior to 1997.

Conspiracy against Asians I've noticed a number of times that certain important news gets smaller coverage than certain irrelevant news. Your last weeks Asian voice had a news about racist attacks on Asians which is truly a front page news but the news on Dalai lama was absolutely unnecessary.

It just goes on to show that the ethnic media is still very irresponsible and fails to acknowledge the level of importance given to certain news items.

The attacks on Asian students is worrying especially when it is related to religion and combined with the aspect of recession. The world has also started acknowledging that Asians especially Indians are brilliant and is evident from the movie 2012 (if at all you have seen it).

We are still the underdogs but the business world has now realised our potential especially after the acquisitions of business worldwide by Indian business houses. Hence the racist attacks on students is very worrying. Is it a part of a major conspiracy where Asians especially Indians are being targeted in UK, Australia and Canada? Something worth investigating I reckon.

UK EUROPE WORLD 1 Year £25 £55 £70 2 Years £45 £100 £125 £225 £300 *5 Years £110 £450 £550 *10 Years £200

Hansraj Patel Via Email

Major(Retired)Suryaparsad Upadhya Via Email

Can Vegetarianism save the world?

The respectable think tank "The World Watch Institute" has come out with some alarming figure that would put off most non-vegetarians from tucking into their juicy steaks, kebabs and chicken tikkas, the favourite take away of the British people.

No one can deny that we, the humans are responsible for the speed of climate change that is threatening the very existence of low lying islands, like Maldives, South Pacific and the huge chunk of Bangladesh and even our own coastline that is crumbling into the sea.

Looking closely at climate change, it is not difficult to ascertain that farming, ranching, the livestock agriculture is the main culprit, producing 51% of methane gas that is infinitely more harmful than carbon dioxide.

Carnivarous diet is also responsible for hunger and food shortages, as some 50% of corn and 30% of wheat are waisted on feeding some 50 billion animals slaughtered every year for human consumption.

It is time for the rest of the world to join us, the vegetarians for the common good, to banish hunger and famine so that every one has at least one decent meal a day.

Bhupendra M Gandhi Via Email

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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).

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5

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

Leicester Voice

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

leicester@abplgroup.com

Festival fever as Sikhs party in style Thousands of people lined the streets of Leicester last Sunday to celebrate the birthday of the founder of the Sikh religion.

Floats led a parade of worshippers from the Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurdwara, in East Park Road, Leicester, to the Guru Nanak Gurdwara, at Holy Bones, near St Nicholas Circle.

Nagar Kirtan â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the name for a Sikh procession â&#x20AC;&#x201C; took place to mark the 514th birthday of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. A huge crowd of people followed the floats, with people coming out of their homes along the route to join in, singing and saying prayers as they wound their way across the city.

The parade followed morning prayers and hymns which were relayed from inside Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurdwara to people outside via

loudspeakers.

Tarlochan Virk of the Punjabi Listener's Club, a Sikh group based in the city, said: "The birthday of Guru Nanak is a big occasion for us Sikhs and it's great that we have been able to celebrate today in Leicester.

"We have one of the biggest Sikh communities in the UK and thousands of people from all over have come down to enjoy themselves. It was a really big turnout and very successful. Lots of families will have put on spreads and parties afterwards."

Kabeer Ghale, 32, from Evington, set up a stall along the route, playing music and giving out food.

He said: "It great to see so many people celebrating in the city. We're very lucky that we can do this in Leicester. I was serving Indian food that

me and my friends made last night, but it ran out very quickly."

Some local residents who took along flags and horns with them said, "We're treating it like a big party. We all met up in the morning and had some food and then walked along the route with everyone else. We've organised a meal for friends and family afterwards. I'm surprised how

many people there were here."

Parts of London Road and St Nicholas Circle closed for the parade as well as East Park Road, Evington Road, Granville Road, Regent Road, King Street, Welford Place, Berridge Street, Grey Friars, St Martin's, Peacock Lane, Vaughan Way and Great Central Street.

Family hopes charges will be dropped in Punjab case The family of two men imprisoned in the Punjab for more than a month after an incident at a wedding say they are hopeful charges against them will be dropped at a hearing this Monday.

Amarjit Sohal and his 19-year-old son, Talvinder, of Evington, Leicester, were arrested and jailed on October 3 after an alleged fight.

Reports in India at the time of their arrest stated the men faced charges including attempted murder, theft, fraud and rioting.

Aman Sohal, 26, is Amarjit's daughter and Talvinder's sister.

She said talks with lawyers had left her feeling positive and that their recent appearance would be "a formality" and that charges would be hopefully dropped.

She said: "I spoke to my brother on Saturday for the first time in weeks.

It was so good to hear his voice. He was putting on a brave face telling me that he was being treated well and was watching television all the time but I know that's not the case.

"I told him how much support he's been getting back home and he was asking how Chelsea have been getting on while he's been away. They are doing well so he was happy about that.

"I'm just so looking forward to getting that call on Monday when we'll hopefully be told when they can come back."

Meanwhile hundreds of people signed a petition for the pair's release at a protest by the city's Clock Tower on Saturday.

Sital Singh Gill, of the Indian Workers Association, which organised the event, said: "We've had so many people coming up to us to show their support. We are seeking public sup-

port and want to increase awareness of the situation so they can be brought back to Leicester.

"A lot of people were aware of why we are here and they wanted to do something to help."

The group will be protesting at the Clock Tower every Saturday and outside the offices of The Consulate General of

Top 10

Ms Jay Virk Headteacher, Rowatts Hill Primary School

1. Favourite colour: Blue 2. Favourite food: Pizza & Chips 3. Favourite film: Up! 4. Favourite holiday destination: Italy 5. Favourite artist: Michelangelo 6. Favourite pop star: Beyonce 7. Favourite part of Leicester: Highcross 8. Lucky number: 20 9. Favourite TV programme: NCIS 10. Who is the person you admire the most: Nelson Mandela

India, in Birmingham, every Thursday, until the pair are released.

Row over dropped scarf sparked a 'pack' attack in city centre Two men have been jailed for their part in an alleged "pack" attack which left a victim severely injured with multiple facial fractures.

Iftakhar Ali Ismail (34) was off duty from his cabin crew job with British Airways when he allegedly became involved in a row with a man who refused to give back a scarf he dropped in Leicester city centre.

Ismail and his friend Nasar Ali Mahmood (22) set upon the victim outside Liquid nightclub in Gravel Street, along with a passing group of unknown youths, who joined in with punches, kicks and stamps.

The alleged 35-year-old victim, from Earl Shilton, was left unconscious and bleeding on the ground. His jaw, right cheekbone and eye socket were fractured. He underwent surgery to have four metal plates inserted in his face and needed metalwork on his teeth to keep them in place.

Ismail was jailed for four-and-a-half years and Mahmood was jailed for four years. Both were convicted by a jury at Leicester

Crown Court of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent on November 1 last year. Both defendants had denied the charge, along with a third man who was acquitted.

Passing sentence, Judge Michael Fowler said that "glowing" references showed they were normally decent, law abiding men and it gave him "no satisfaction" to pass substantial sentences.

Philip Gibbs, prosecuting, said: "It was an extremely brutal attack and that's been conceded by everyone.

"The victim suffered significant consequences and is psychologically a different person. He's reluctant to leave the house, self-conscious of still visible injuries and doesn't like being in crowds."

During the trial the court heard the victim was attacked as he walked along New Road towards Gravel Street with two friends at about 3am. He picked up a scarf, dropped by Ismail.

When he refused to hand it back he was allegedly punched to the ground and up to eight others joined in.

6

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

Kapil’s

Celebrating forty years of ISKCON in London It has been forty years since ISKCON made its first mark on the streets of London, with Vaishnava kirtan and the Hare Krishna maha mantra.

The unmistakable sounds of cymbals, saffron and shaven heads charmed and startled Oxford Street in London’s West End. Now, of course, the Hare Krishnas represent mainstream Hinduism and are woven to the fabric of London life. 1969 was the year that the late George Harrison of the Beatles produced the chart-topping "Hare Krishna Mantra" single, and the Hare Krishnas made their first appearance on British television, singing live on Top of the Pops.

Shyamsundar Das, who was one of the first Krishna devotees in London, said: “To many, the Hare Krishnas represented the psychedelic spirit of the sixties.

Although their philosophy is one of actual abstinence, of non-violence and pure vegetarianism.”

Govindas was one of the first vegetarian restaurants in central London which is still going strong.

The Hare Krishna faith, also known as Gaudiya Vaishnavism, has firm roots in the 8,000 year old Vedic culture of India. The movement is famous for spreading the

by Kapil Dudakia - email: kapil@abplgroup.com

What colour – Politics?

London’s Radha Krishna Temple celebrating 40 years

teachings the ancient text Bhagavad-Gita, whose admirers included Albert Einstein and Gandhi.

ISKCON has made a very positive contribution to the UK, and in particular it is building a leading centre of cow protection and working oxen and is the faith advisor for the first state-funded Hindu primary school in the UK. After 40 years the Hare Krishnas have grown into a major international organization, with more than 400 centres, 60 organic farms, 52 schools and 60 restaurants.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary, the RadhaKrishna Temple (off Oxford Street), which is the oldest Hindu temple in the UK, will be hosting a cultural evening at the historic Troxy Theatre in London, on 21st November 2009.

The event will celebrate the Hare Krishna's arrival in London and their achievements in the fields of art, culture, spiritual education, Vedic philosophy, food and ecology.

“As the Member of Parliament for the Cities of London and Westminster I am looking forward to take part in the celebrations marking the 40th Anniversary of ISKCON in London,” said Mark Field MP. “The chanting processions of the orange-garbed devotees in Oxford Street have become a welcome and indeed exotic part of the city's multi-cultural landscape. The help that members of the Hare Krishna movement have given to the homeless has been much appreciated and I hope that they will continue their good work for many years to come."

Cameron praises 2009 British Curry Award winners

Trevor McDonald, Anjum Anand, Enam Ali, David Cameron

Tory party leader David Cameron has praised Britain’s £3.5 billion curry restaurant industry for

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KHICHADI

showing what can be achieved when communities come together.

Speaking at the 2009 British Curry Awards in London, Mr Cameron said: “It’s a real pleasure to be here at the Oscars of the spice industry. The British curry industry is a great success story. It’s shown how people from all backgrounds, with different creeds and cultures, can come together as one.

And it’s shown exactly what an open-minded, dynamic and enterprising country can achieve.

Enam Ali – and everyone here this evening – should be incredibly proud of what they've achieved.”

Earlier he had heard

British Curry Awards founder and organiser Enam Ali appeal for help from politicians to help solve a skills shortage that was damaging the curry restaurant industry.

Mr Ali said that the points-based immigration system, introduced earlier this year, had done nothing to help their cause.

“We were told this would provide us with a sensible solution to our problems.

Sadly it has turned out to be anything but restaurateurs are still facing problems obtaining sponsors’ certificates from the Home Office, which is always a lengthy process, and now we have the requirement for chefs to pass an

As we get ever closer to the May 2010 election, parties of all colours are attempting to position themselves to maximise their impact and ride the wave of prejudices of the voting public.

Race will no doubt become an issue as usual.

Each party will claim and counterclaim to be harder, tougher and even far rightist in nature when it comes to immigration.

The BNP will continue to garner support but I feel we should also expect UKIP to increase their vote more significantly than predicted hitherto.

The elephant in the room is all to do with who do you vote for if you don’t want Europe?

Or if you don’t want people of colour other than white? Or if you don’t want Muslims? Or if you don’t want gypsies from Europe? Or if you don’t want the Polish? Or, well where does the list end?

This election is going to be about false promises on health, education, welfare and our economy.

It will also be about race and faith but couched in terms to exploit the various social strata and their inherent prejudices. It will go down in history as an election where all the leading actors will promise you the earth, and even more if they can get away with it – yet each knowing that the ground reality and the global arena has changed so dramatically that none can fulfil even a proportion of their promises. And to cap it all, the media moguls have already decided which government they want – just in case the voter mistakenly believes it’s in their hands!

many ‘non-whites’ join; surely it then presents the proposition that the BNP could be forced to become a pro-immigration Party. Now how ironic would that be!

In another twist, the BNP leader Nick Griffin will make yet another attempt to see if the British public are indeed stupid enough to elect someone like him as their MP. He will stand in the Barking constituency in East London, the seat currently held by Margaret Hodge with a majority of around 9000.

Theoretically he stands no chance whatsoever, however, the BNP has found favour amongst some of the local voters which means we should see an increase in their vote.

Westminster rumours

This week the BNP will agree to amend its constitution so that all British citizens have the same equal right to apply for membership to the organisation.

Interesting development and one wonders what happens if

The corridors of power tend to be busier than the Internet when it comes to gossip, hearsay and of course, out and out lies.

A source tell me that we should not be surprised if in a major announcement David Cameron offers a position to Lord Mandelson as the new Europe Minister (this is assuming that Mr Cameron does win the next election and becomes the Prime Minister). In what would then be seen as the most dramatic change in party allegiance, would Lord Mandelson actually jump ship or is this yet again another clever rumour doing the rounds? Time will reveal all.

On the other hand there is some talk that maybe the Prime Minister might stand down a few months before the next election. The thinking being that a new fresh energetic face (maybe someone like David Miliband) could galvanise the party as well as the general public. I am not sure that this would work at this late stage, but what is certain is that the party would not do any worse under his lead-

English test in order to obtain a UK visa. Why is it that footballers and football managers can come to work in this country without knowing English but chefs can’t? Chefs are in great demand here, but only for their cooking skills. They don’t need to know English to cook a damned good curry!”

The British Curry Awards are recognised as

the ‘Oscars’ of Britain’s £3.5bn spice restaurant industry.

The ceremony, hosted

by Sir Trevor McDonald and attended by more than 1,500 restaurateurs, diplomats, MPs and celebrity guests, honoured nine that had each been judged the best in their regions.

Anjum Anand, presenter of the popular BBC2

Colourful BNP !

ership than if it stayed with Mr Brown.

Nick Clegg leader of the Liberal Democrats has got until the next election to show that the party has made some progress under his stewardship.

Failure will almost certainly spark a search for his replacement from the very few they have who might possibly do any better. The only way LibDem’s can affect any policy or governance change is if we have proportional representation, or if they find themselves in a hung parliament. Both of these possibilities look remote at present with the net result, they may well become an irrelevant party of British politics.

The unions are beginning to flex their muscles (what they have left after the thrashing they got from Mrs Thatcher) and similar to 1979 are walking directly into a Tory trap. They don’t have the power to bring the Government down this time, however they still do have the power to undermine the Labour party as well as remove much needed financial support. The irony being that the unions are well capable of destroying the chances of Labour, the only party that may have some sympathies towards them. Yet they are willing to gift the next election to the Tories who will certainly put them back in their place, just as Mrs Thatcher did all those years ago. History may well repeat it self.

Lakhani and McNulty This has not gone away yet and I expect a response from Number 10 and also the House of Commons very shortly, and yes, I will of course share whatever is revealed. In the meantime, members of the community continue to call me to tell me of their horror stories on this issue. series ‘Indian Food Made Easy’ and one of the first writers to create Indian recipes catering for the health-conscious cook, was the Personality of the Year and Sanjay Anand, boss of Asian outside catering operation Madhu’s, who provided the food for last night’s awards dinner, received a special Recognition Award for Catering.

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009 Continued from page 1

Climate change: Time for a reality check why I feel passionately about the environment and climate change.

AV: Why did you associate yourself with Act on Climate change?

I want to help show people how a few simple steps can help protect our environment.

Puja Darbari

Puja Darbari is in her 30’s, married, lives in London and recently had a baby girl. Born in the UK, her grandparents are from Gujarat and she has visited India many times and worked in an ashram near her grandparent’s town when she was in her early 20’s. family back With in India and the birth of her daughter, Puja is acutely aware of how her daily actions here in the UK contribute to the droughts and floods being experienced in the sub-continent - and to the world her daughter will grow up in the near future.

Asian Voice had the privilege to have an exclusive interview of Puja.

AV: Puja, tell us something about yourself.

I am 33 and live in North London.

I am travelling to Mumbai to introduce my daughter to her great grandmother. There will be four generations holidaying together. I mention this because in four generations time Mumbai could be submerged under water and no longer exist. This is

AV: Why did you decide to campaign about climate change?

I wouldn’t call myself a campaigner but do think there are some simple things that we can all do to make a difference. The birth of my daughter has made be even more passionate about doing something. I have learnt not to leave my TV on standby, I walk to the local shops rather than take the car (this has also helped get rid of that extra weight I put on during pregnancy) and I put on an extra layer rather than turn the heating up. Most conversations about climate change tend to focus on what Government need to do but I think we should all take responsibility for the environment.

AV: Why do you think our community (British Indians/British Asians) does not really take the fact about climate change seriously?

People in the UK, including our community, think that climate change won’t affect them. The truth is that we are already seeing the impact and if anything as British Asians we should be the biggest campaigners. After all it is in our countries of origin that

we are seeing the devastation that climate change can cause. Just this year hundreds of people lost their lives, homes and livelihoods because of major flooding and extreme droughts in Gujarat. For me the most shocking sight was seeing the beautiful Lake Palace Hotel in Udaipur without any water surrounding it because the lake had dried up. These are not just freak incidents but changes that are likely to become more frequent and severe unless we act now.

AV: What would be your simple guideline about sustainable growth?

We should be reusing and recycling materials rather than just throwing things away.

AV: Give us some simple tips to educate our children about climate change.

Get your children interested in the amount of energy they use by getting them to work out their own carbon footprint. (http://carboncalculator.direct.gov.uk/ind ex.html) Then encourage them to try and reduce this by: 1. Walking or riding a bike to school rather than going by car 2. Getting them to turn off all their electronic gadgets, stereos, TVs at the mains 3. Replacing the light bulb in the bedroom for an energy saving one – then replacing the rest of the light bulbs in the house.

Hindu Council (Brent) celebrate annual culture show

Hindu Council (Brent) celebrated their Annual Cultural Show on Saturday 7th November, 2009 at Brent Town Hall in Wembley. About 700 people attended the show including The Mayor of Brent Jim O’Sullivan, Mr.

Barry Gardiner MP (Brent North), Councillors from the London Borough of Brent and affiliated members of Hindu Council (Brent).

Every year Hindu Council (Brent) provide a platform for the young and

developing talent from our local community, to give them a chance to showcase their artistic creativity, to enrich themselves and the community, through the experience of colourful Hindu culture in this country.

7

Skilled migrants targeted by the UK government?

The total, which includes both foreigners and UK citizens born overseas, has increased by an estimated 1.4 million in the past ten years. Overall, this shows that more than one in ten jobs was filled by a person born overseas.

A Migration Advisory Committee report showed that of the total, 682,000, were from the EU whereas further 518,000 were from eight former Soviet bloc states who joined the EU in 2004.

Concerns about widespread misuse of student visas also grew this year after an expose of bogus colleges. Last year 233,000 student visas were granted and another 140,000 people were granted entry as student visitors. It revealed that tens of thousands of foreigners with no right to work in Britain had been living here for years under the cover provided by hundreds of bogus colleges operating in London, Bradford and Manchester.

PM Gordon Brown said that he had asked Professor David Metcalf, chairman of the Migration Advisory Committee, to consider cutting the list of occupations that could be opened up to foreign workers if no suitable British workers were available. Mr Brown said the list should take account of the greater availability of skilled workers in the British labour

force.

Employers groups voiced alarm at the Government’s own plans to close off entry for some skilled foreign workers.

John Faraguna, of Hays Health and Social Care, a recruitment consultancy, told The Times, that the removal of hospital consultants from the shortage list was a “a retrograde step”.

The Institution of Civil Engineers warned that limiting employers’ access to skilled workers from outside the EU could delay progress on big projects such as the planned new generation of nuclear power stations.

Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary, said that Mr Brown’s speech amounted to “a series of minor announcements and pretty empty rhetoric”.

Kapadia, Amit Executive Director of HSMP Forum said, “as for a new bill that is expected to simplify the legal system for the government, past experience has shown that the new laws only complicate the system by making it more difficult to navigate through the bureaucratic red tape. It is our concern that the new draft bill, which intends to introduce the new streamlined power of expulsion, would further abuse human rights laws and would unfairly

penalise honest and hardworking migrants just as the Citizenship and Immigration Act which was passed in July 2009 will do”.

“We are very concerned about the Prime Minister’s open statement on the government’s new attempts to defeat the existing case laws by introducing bills in the parliament to enforce new legislation, at times these new laws implemented by the parliament have seriously undermined human rights, time and again this would be considered as an abuse of democratic principles and of a fair and just system. This tendency to undermine the case laws will only project the executive’s lack of respect for the Judiciary and interference with the judicial system. The government by trying to impose another bill is intending to act in an undemocratic manner and would be suppressing the voices of migrants by not allowing them to challenge unfair and unreasonable changes in the court of law.

The Prime Minister’s statement does not highlight the underlying issues that may result in such an action. Any retrospective action on existing migrants will warrant an outburst of protest and will force migrants to agitate against the unfairness of the system”.

8

Education /Council

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

Future Generations

Southwark MP, Tessa Jowell, helps celebrate Diwali

Sai School Harrow

by Vishali Kotecha, Age 15

Keeping the flame alight

President and event organiser Sunil Chopra pictured with Tessa Jowell Southwark MP, CB Patel, as well as other councillors, members and trustees

Diwali dinner and dance was celebrated on 25th of October at Harris Girls Academy and was attended by over 270 people.

Chief guest Tessa Jowell MP was welcomed

by President Sunil Chopra after having been garlanded by Mrs Satee. Mr Chopra requested Ms Jowell to light the candle.

Ms Jowell spoke about various issues and local issues and thanked the centre for inviting her. She also joined the ladies and

danced with various members of Dulwich. Every one was happy, thrilled, and in a great mood that their MP was celebrating Diwali, festival of lights with them.

Mr Chopra spoke about Ms Jowell’s hard work on behalf of the community.

He mentioned how non stop, tirelessly, and long hours she worked. He also thanked her for working hard to bring 2012 Olympic to the UK. CB Patel Publisher

/Editor of Gujarat Samachar and Asian Voice who also attended the event spoke about Diwali and the contribution of the Indian and especially the Hindu community in the UK. Mark Glover, Barrie Hargrove, Althea Smith, Cllr Nelson, Neeraj Patil, Allison Mcgovern Depty Leader of Southwark Labour Group of councillors were just some of the distinguished guests who attended the show.

I am Vishali Kotecha, aged 15 currently a youth member at Sai School of Harrow. I completed my GCSE in Hinduism last year through Sai School, receiving an A* and graduated into the youth wing. One of the community projects Sai youths have been running for 6 years is a computer club for special needs children and young people which operates from Stanmore College in partnership with a Disability charity, Link Up. Helping out on a one to one basis at the computer club gives me enormous satisfaction knowing I can pass on my skills to those who are less able. A team of us attend Stanmore College weekly to do our best to help our matched buddy to develop their IT skills moving at a pace comfortable to them. Sai School has a great influ-

Councillor takes the Walk of Fire A Sudbury Liberal Democrat Councillor is taking on a new challenge – and will be aiming not to get his toes burnt!

Fresh from a series of running feats to raise money for charity, Liberal Democrat councillor Chandubhai Patel is to undertake a Fire Walk in aid of St. Luke’s Hospice, Harrow.

The event was due to take place on Wednesday, 18th

November 2009, and had Councillor Patel getting specially trained to walk cross a 15 foot long bed of red hot coals.

The evening begins, however, with 2 hours of careful preparation – helping those undertaking the task to get psychologically ready for it!

Sudbury Liberal Democrat Councillor Chandubhai Patel comments “I am naturally a little nervous about undertaking this walk.

To say I will be hot-footing it is something of an understatement! It’s for charity though, and it will be another great experience for me after the charity runs I undertook recently. Being a councillor and using my role to help raise money is certainly broadening my horizons. I don’t know yet if there will be a bowl of cold water at the end of it, but no doubt all will be revealed on the night!”

ence as it teaches one about respecting all religions, most specifically Hinduism. It also teaches moral values and helps one understand that there is more to life than just the materialistic world that we live in. It is also a great opportunity to make new friends who are on the same wavelength.

I intend to stay at Sai School as a succession plan is in place to hand over the School to ex students. As it developed me spiritually, mentally and morally, I would like to offer the same to future generations.

Spiritually because Sai School includes meditation and prayers in morning assemblies which sets a calm frame of mind to induce a peaceful day, mentally because it makes you stronger as a person and morally

because learning about human values which are embedded in you for life.

Shaina Thakker, aged 6 in Year 2 quotes “I like Sai School because I get to draw and colour pictures of God”. A former student, Meera Solanki, who is now a teacher quotes. “Sai School is a fantastic way to start my Saturday. It has so much to offer, not just educationally but also spiritually and socially. It teaches the core values of everyday life and discipline.” Sai School is run on a voluntary basis.

There are so many people to thank for, teachers, parents and car park team who selflessly give up their Saturdays to make a difference in our lives. The devotion they offer through service is inspiring. As the upcoming youths, we hope to keep the flame alight.

Future Olympians pass the baton in Newham Olympic hopefuls from Newham were among those who greeted the 2010 Commonwealth Games baton on its journey through the borough last week. Youngsters from Newham's Sports Academy were joined by the inspirational Fauja Singh, a 98-year-old Sikh marathon runner.

Fauja, who belongs to Newham-based Sikhs in the City running group, met Mayor Sir Robin Wales and Newham

Sports Academy head Tessa Sanderson as part of the Queen's Baton Relay.

Sir Robin said: "Our young people can take inspiration from Fauja, who is a fantastic example of what can be achieved with hard work and determination.

Through Newham's Sports Academy the council is offering young people in the borough the opportunity to realise their goals across a range of sports from fencing to athletics.”

Hindu Council (North) presents Raas Garba Dance competition

CB Patel pictured with organisers and garba-raas competition participants

31st of October was yet another memorable and joyous event for over 600 audience and over 100 participants. The annual Raas Garba competition hosted by the Hindu Council of North was held at the Withynshaw Forum in Manchester.

Shree Dasharathbhai Nayee, the general secretary of the HCN invited Shreemati Truptiben Patel, President of the HCN to lead Shree C B Patel to start the event in a time honoured Hindu tradition by lighting of Deep-jyoti followed by a beautiful

prayer dance in a praise of Lord Ganesha by the youngsters of Indian Association Oldham performed in a classical Bharatnatyam style.

Participants and their supporters travelled from Preston, Leeds, Blackburn, Oldham, Ashton Under Lyne and Manchester to take part in this colourful and exciting annual event and were rewarded by the certificate of achievement.

After several weeks of intense practice and with innovative choreography, costumes, music and

props all teams exhibited very quality performance showing their skills, teamwork, commitment and confidence. Several complementary dance items covering traditional folk and Bollywood dance items further enhanced the competition.

Publisher/Editor of Gujarat Samachar and Asian Voice, Mr C B Patel was the Chief Guest and Ms Bhartiben Taylor, General Secretary of the British Hindu Forum UK and Mr. Surendrabahi Patel were the special guests for the event. They

both supported the strong massage given by the president Mrs Truptiben Patel to the community; “In order to have our Hindu voice heard ,we must increase our participation at all levels of the main stream society; from school governors; local interfaith representatives , local councillors to members of parliament and European Union.”

CB Patel commented, "This is such a wonderful programme. To see our youth performing with such expertise and talent is heart warming. I com-

mend all participants and wish them all great success.”

Bharti Tailor said, "It is an honour for me to attend this event.

As Secretary General of the HFB I note that the 100 plus Hindu organisations of the north are working so well together. This is the way forward and this dance competition is fascinating to watch.'

The whole event was expertly managed by the assistant general secretary of the HCN, Mr. Kantibahi Mistry and a team of volunteers. The evening con-

cluded with the singing of the Indian and English National Anthems.

The following trophies were given: Garba: Winners - Gujarat Hindu Society ; Runners up - Indian Association Oldham Raas: Winners - Indian Association Oldham ; Runners up - Shri Bhartiya Mandal, Ashton under Lyne Costume: Winners Indian Association Oldham ; Runners up Shri Bhartiya Mandal, Ashton under Lyne

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

9

Ugandan Asians in Britain: 37 Years Later

BY DANIEL HENRY MUTIBWA This article recollects the memories of the Ugandan Asians' expulsion from Uganda by the Idi Amin dictatorship in August 1972 and their subsequent settlement in Britain. It briefly revisits the historical context and looks analytically at how the events prior to and immediately after the expulsion decree unfolded. It also provides some personal experiences of how individuals saw and lived through the events that unfolded at the time.

According to Cecil Soans, Asian presence in Africa originates in the 15th century. However, large scale Asian migration to East Africa in general, and to Uganda

in particular began only in the late 19th century, and was entrenched within British colonial policy. The Asians were brought there under the auspices of the British Imperial government and with the collaboration of the British Indian government to work as administrators and labourers in the so-called Imperial service, since Uganda was a British colony at the time.

Historical accounts reveal that most of them were employed to construct and maintain what became 1,286 miles of rail network there.

According to BBC Legacies' archives, many Ugandan Asians gradually took up jobs in different sectors of society, particularly in administration, education, banking, insurance and industry. Others started businesses of different magnitudes, which explains why the overwhelming number of businesses then were owned by Ugandan Asians, who at that point fared much better in life than the majority of Ugandans.

However, this economic success gradually prompted a backlash against them in different ways. First, their incredi-

bly excellent business ingenuity and success were perceived as a threat by many ordinary Ugandans, who objected to the growing concentration of economic power in Ugandan Asian hands.

Secondly, it was claimed that the level of capital repatriation to India or UK was far too high, prompting Idi Amin later to publicly insult Ugandan Asians as “bloodsuckers”, prior to issuing the now infamous expulsion decree.

Additionally, Ugandan Asians were in many cases accused of being reluctant to employ native Ugandans, whom they considered mostly unskilled, unproductive and lazy.

Thirdly, Ugandan Asians were also accused of consciously segregating themselves from the rest of the population, the reason being that they regarded their culture as more advanced than the diverse ones prevalent in Uganda. The interplay of these factors gradually created friction and inevitably nurtured what became known as “Indophobia”, a situation in which Ugandan Asians were increasingly discriminated against in

many areas of life. This eventually paved the way for the so-called campaign of “deIndianisation”, which culminated in the decree of expulsion.

Yasmin AlibhaiBrown, for instance, herself an expellee and now Britain based author captures the mood at the time in the following context: “[Ugandan Asians] did little to share their wealth and skills, they sent money out of the country illegally and most of [them] were deeply racist, unable to imagine marrying Africans and living with them as equals”.

Most accounts estimate the number of those with British passports at the time to have been around 30,000, and virtually all of them were granted entry into Britain. Official records reveal that the expellees were offered temporary accommodation in converted RAF barracks, such as at Stradishall in Suffolk. Additionally, an intermediary organisation known as the Uganda Resettlement Board (URB) was established with the task of assisting them to settle in British society.

With regard to per-

sonal experiences on arrival in Britain, Sham Karnick, for example, now settled in Ipswich and formerly a young head teacher in Kampala, recounts how just by sheer luck one day he was offered a room and got work soon thereafter, “signing on at the Labour Exchange, the forerunner to today's Job Centre, and started work at the Guardian Royal Exchange within two weeks.”

Another expellee, Mr Manzoor Moghal, a former businessman in Uganda vowed to rebuild his life as an entrepreneur, stressing that “I never fell back on the state for any kind of support at any time from the very first day I arrived here. I wanted to explode this myth that Asians were scroungers”.

Born in Uganda and now settled in Harrogate, Mr Atul Patel says that he was warmly welcomed and immediately reunited with his

family which had travelled to Britain before him. He also recalls that he and his family were provided with a house, and that he instantly started working with the NHS. Today, Ugandan Asians in Britain are not only an established and affluent community, but have also gradually made a substantial contribution to the British economy through diverse investments. Nowhere in the country, according to the BBC Legacies' archives, has this been most visible than in Leicester, where by 2002 an estimated 30,000 jobs had been created through the rise of Ugandan Asian businesses. Indeed, as was neatly summarised elsewhere, Uganda's loss was Britain's gain.

If you want to contact me, you can mail at aveditorial@abplgroup.c om or call at 020 7749 4089 (till 27th November 2009 only).

Midland Voice Dhiren Katwa is currently away

10

UK

Spriha’s

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

Corner

Gliding with 96 and 97 Squadron

By Spriha Srivastava

Last week Britain observed its Remembrance Day 11th November. There were many events that took place, including the national ceremony that was led by The Queen at Cenotaph in Whitehall. A sombre occasion for the country’s war dead was marked by a traditional two minute silence. The ‘Poppy Day,’ as it is also called, comes at a time when Britain is highly debating its role in Afghanistan and with the number of deaths on the rise.

But the actual significance of marking this day is to commemorate the sacrifices made by the members of armed forces and civilians since the First World War. And thus this takes us back to 1914. It is observed on the eleventh day of the eleventh month to remember the end of the First World War on that day. Wreaths are laid beside war memorials by various clubs, societies and individuals to remember and acknowledge the sacrifices made by those who lost their lives in war.

But being an Indian, the year 1914 takes me back to the era of colonialism in India. It is also the year when Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa. And it is also the year when more than 1.3 million Indians were sent to fight the First World War as part of the British Expeditionary Forces.

According to figures, more than 53,486 Indian soldiers died and 64,350 were wounded in the First World War. When it came to fight the Second World War, India raised an army of 2.5 million men – the largest in the history.

What is interesting to note here is the fact that Indians were never even asked before declaring any of these wars, neither were they promised freedom. But still Indian soldiers played a big part in the two World Wars. And even though so many decades have passed by, not enough recognition has been given to the efforts of the Indian soldiers in these two wars.

Let us not forget that this was the first time that Indians were asked to

L-R: HE Asoke Mukerji, Ashok Kumar MP, Daljit Sehbai,Chairman National Council of British Indians, Baroness Shreela Flather, Mihir Bose, Lord Karan Bilimoria

fight an International war. And even though they contributed to the success of the two World Wars, the credit always finds its way to the biggies.

Well, this year, Britain acknowledged the efforts made by the Indian soldiers in the wars. An event organised by the National Council of British Indians at the House of Commons last week reminded everyone of the sacrifices made by the Indians in the war.

Speakers at the event included Sailesh Vara, the deputy leader of the Conservative Party in the British parliament, Labour MPs Ashok Kumar, Barry Gardiner and Virendra Sharma and Baroness Shreela Flather of the Conservative Party Britain’s Minister for I n t e r n a t i o n a l Development Gareth Thomas, who was representing Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the House of Commons, recognised the huge contributions made by Indians in defeating the fascist state.

“We must not also forget the current generation of Indian troops fighting for peace around the world as UN peacekeepers. One reason the UK supports India’s inclusion in the UN Security Council is India’s continuing preparedness to make contributions to the UN peacekeeping efforts,” said the Minister.

“These Indian soldiers are in harm’s way tonight serving the international community, just as UK troops are in harm’s way in Afghanistan,” he added.

Some other facts that came to light were the numbers and figures of deaths and injuries during these wars. More than 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers

served in Europe, Africa and Middle East. Large sums of money, food and ammunitions were sent to the British troops by the Indian government and the princely states during both these wars. High casualty rates, soaring inflation figures, widespread epidemic and the disruption of trade during the wars led to a lot o human suffering in India.

India’s Deputy High Commissioner, Mr. Asoke Mukherjee reminded the gathering about the contribution made by Indians in terms of equipments, animals and their own lives to these wars. He also read out the inscription on India Gate, the largest war memorial in India. The inscription at the top of the monument reads, “To the dead of the Indian armies who fell honoured in France and Flanders Mesopotamia and Persia East Africa Gallipoli and elsewhere in the near and the far-east and in sacred memory also of those whose names are recorded and who fell in India or the north-west frontier and during the Third Afghan War," “The names of the demised soldiers who died in these wars are also inscribed all along the walls of the arch,” he added.

Well, over 300,000 Indian soldiers died in these wars, fighting side by side with the British troops.

I personally believe that World War II helped in changing British public opinion on India. I agree that Ahimsa and Satyagraha led us to the path of freedom. But I also believe that sacrifices made by millions of Indian soldiers in a war that didn’t affect their ideology in anyway, cannot be forgotten.

Let us know what you think.

Email Spriha at spriha@abplgroup.com

Neeti Rao

On 8th of November 2009, 97 Squadron took four cadets gliding at Kenely along with another fourcadets from 66 Squadron, which included one cadet of British Gujarati origin.

Neeti Rao, 13, daughter of Kamal and Kinnari Rao, was one of the cadets from the 97 Squadron.

Having arrived at Kenely all the cadets had the opportunity to meet each other before being taken into a control room where they watched an instructor’s video related to gliding. The video gave the cadets a brief idea of what to expect whilst gliding and especially what to do in the event of the glider having a problem, how to jump from the glider as well as wearing a parachute and learning to control the glider.

After a while all the cadets were taken outside to the hanger where all the gliders were kept and were shown all the necessary parts to the glider, as well the pedals were used for,

Neeti with the pilot and glider

how to plug in the other parachute underneath the glider, how to open the door, how to sit in the glider, how to put on the belt and undo it and lots more.

The cadets then helped the pilots to take the gliders outside on the field and runway. Outside was a caravan that controlled all the gliders and kept in touch with the pilots whilst they were airbourne.

The cadets were instructed on how to help the pilot and the other people inside the caravan.

One of them was chosen to lift the wing of the glider and shout out the various commands across the caravan whilst two others were plugging in the parachute underneath the glider. This was a very important job because the cadet who was doing this had to follow the instructions that the pilot was saying or understanding the signs that the pilot was doing.

The first command

that the pilot gave was to look around and above to see if there was anything causing an obstruction in anyway. The pilot put his/her first finger up indicating to the cadet holding the wing to put their first finger up and shout “take up slack’ across the caravan. This was then followed by the pilot raising two fingers and the cadet mimicking the movement whilst shouting “all out” whilst keeping the two wings parallel to the ground until the glider was ready to take off.

Cadet Neeti Rao said “It was a wonderful experience because this is my first time. I have already had three goes on the glider and on my second try I was able to move the glider sideways, downwards and upwards. It was the most wonderful thing that I have ever done and I’m very fortunate that I got to do this wonderful job. I’m proud to be part of Air Cadets and 97 Squadron.”

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UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

TRS 50th Anniversary – A Success Story The British love of spicy Indian foods has helped the UK traditional Asian foods sector to grow steadily over decades and created a hugely popular, growing and vibrant food sector. The Indian foods sector now includes some of the biggest and most successful companies in the UK. This year sees the Golden Anniversary Celebrations of the founding of one such company and a brand synonymous with the highest quality standards of any Asian food producer TRS. Started 50 years ago, Taherally Rehmanji Suterwalla, had a vision that would enable a company with humble beginnings as a small wholesale outlet to grow into an international business empire and become one of the UK’s most successful Asian business stories. The original business concept (like all the best business concepts) was simple – to bring to the fast growing UK Asian population the finest ingredients and provisions from around the world, a taste of home for those far from home.

Originally beginning with a small wholesale outlet based in East London serving the local London community and complemented by the first TRS Cash & Carry in Southall, TRS was a pioneer in importing and distributing famous Indian branded products into the UK and

Founder Taherally Rehmanji Suterwalla

soon became a destination for favourite brands from home.

The reputation and demand for TRS products grew to the point where the company now comprises approx 250,000 sq ft of state-of-the-art manufacturing, packaging, warehousing and distribution centres in Southall and Leyton which now serves Asian communities in the whole of the UK, Continental Europe, Scandinavia, USA and Russia.

Today, the company is managed from its head in Southall by office Fakhruddin, Hatim, Siraj, Mansoor and Iqbal Suterwalla, the 5 sons of Taherally Rehmanji Suterwalla who all continue to follow the founders core business principle. The introduction by the brothers of modern distribution and warehouse facilities has ensured the fame of the TRS brand which now has the status of a national brand and distribution within mainstream supermarkets

as well as its strong, core independent grocery business.

The TRS Cash & Carries in Southall and Leyton and the TRS Wholesale delivered service are still as busy and bustling as they ever were during the last 37 years and continue to be an essential and popular service with UK grocery and catering businesses.

Indeed, anyone tucking into a plate of curry, dal and rice or any other Indian delicacy in London, Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester or Glasgow is almost certainly enjoying the mouthwatering flavours of ingredients originally supplied by the TRS facilities in Southall and Leyton.

A 50 year anniversary is a time to pause and reflect on achievements and TRS’s biggest achievement is the loyalty of its customers. The TRS brand would not have become what it is today without the continued, loyal support of its customers.

Some of whom have grown with TRS from similar small beginnings to become large independent supermarkets.

Whether it is the excellent service enjoyed by trade customers of the TRS Cash and Carries and TRS Wholesale, or the high quality and wide range of products enjoyed by individual consumers, both will continue to enjoy the excellent value for money which is a cornerstone of the TRS business philosophy.

11

Usurp Art Gallery awarded Arts Council funding The art collective “Usurp” has been awarded funding by the Arts Council of England to open the only public art gallery and studios in the London Borough of Harrow.

Usurp director, artist Poulomi Desai will launch the Usurp Art Gallery in a shop close to West Harrow tube station in February 2010, with the help of the Arts Council, who contributed a grant.

The Arts Council grant provides 50% of the funding for the Usurp gallery’s operating budget, while the remainder is being raised by Usurp to fund art workshops for schools and learning disability groups. Ms Desai stated: “We will do whatever is necessary to meet our funding requirements, Harrow Council has welcomed this initiative and we are hoping they will be forthcoming with practical support”.

Navin Shah, London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow, said, “There is a particular lack of art projects to increase contact and dialogue between the generations and Harrow’s diverse communities. I am of the belief there are no areas in London in greater need of arts provision than

Poulomi Desai, Director of Usurp outside the shop in Harrow that will become the new Usurp art gallery

Harrow and I welcome the Usurp Art Gallery as an important remedy to this”.

Cllr Anjana Patel has supported the project since the beginning and said, “The project will make a valuable contribution to our Local Area Agreement of Increasing Engagement in the Arts.

It seeks to both raise the profile of the arts, as well as generate an active interest by offering a range of participation opportunities for local people”.

The Usurp Art Gallery will host a dynamic 2 year exhibition programme, with a view to securing a permanent

art space.

The Usurp collective was commissioned by Transport for London’s highly acclaimed Art on the Underground scheme to create an exhibition of 72 local portraits at North Harrow tube station, which is now the longest running art exhibition on the underground. Usurp has also been commissioned by The Serpentine Gallery, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Science Museum, The Photographers Gallery and The Institute of International Visual Arts.

If you wish to help the Usurp Art Gallery visit www.usurp.org.uk.

After an accident at work

Rhaynukaa Soni Outreach Executive

53 construction workers were killed at work last year and many thousands suffered serious injuries.

Construction work is still very dangerous if the health and safety of workers is not taken seriously.

Hopefully you are working on a site where the risks are properly controlled by eliminating dangerous work or by ensuring safe working methods are used. Many construction sites are well managed and the risks to workers have

been reduced. But we all know that on many sites 'health and safety' are just words and bosses do not take it seriously.

What should happen if there is an accident on site?

In every workplace in Britain the employer should provide an Accident Book.

All injuries and ill-health caused by work, even minor ones, must be recorded in the Accident Book by the injured person or a colleague. But, more importantly, every employer should provide basic medical first aid facilities. First aid can save lives, reduce pain and help an injured person make a quicker recovery.

The minimum legal requirement for all sites is: ! a first aid box with enough equipment to cope with the numbers on site; ! an appointed person who has the responsibility to take charge of first aid arrangements and to call

an ambulance if one is required. An appointed person does not have to have first aid training; ! information, such as a poster, telling workers who the appointed person is and where to find trained first aiders.

A first aider is someone who has been trained to provide basic emergency medical help. Every workplace in Britain, including construction sites, must have the following: ! for workplaces with fewer than five workers there must be at least one appointed person; ! if up to 50 people are at the location there must be at least one trained first aider available at all times, and one additional first aider for every extra 50 workers.

Ideally nobody should administer emergency first aid unless they are trained – they may things worse. If a serious accident happens, if possible, try to start the heart, start the breathing, stop the bleeding and keep the injured person warm. But you should not put yourself in danger. Immediately call an ambulance by dialling 999.

Reporting accidents Employers and people in charge of construction sites have a legal duty to report certain types of workplace accidents to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Some employers have been prosecuted for not reporting an accident suffered by their workers. All accidents at work that cause deaths or serious injuries( such as amputations, multiple fractures, blindness and

unconsciousness) must be reported immediately by telephone. Other accidents or cases of ill health caused by work, that lead to absence from work for over three days must be reported within ten days of the accident.

Workplace accidents can be investigated by HSE inspectors, depending on how serious they are and the available resources. All fatal accidents are investigated

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

alongside the police.

Employers and people in control of construction sites also have a legal duty to report to HSE serious dangerous occurrences, even if nobody has been injured. Incidents that must be immediately reported by telephone include a building or scaffold collapse, and an overturned crane.

How employers can report an incident All incidents – including accidents, illhealth and dangerous occurrences – can be reported on the national number 0845 300 99 23. Or reports can be done online at www.hse.gov.uk/riddor/index. If you have concerns that legal requirements are not being followed on your site then you can call a special helpline to speak to someone, in complete confidence, in Gujarati on 020 7556 2181.

12

MEDIA WATCH

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

Scrutator’s India and Israel took their umbilical military and political ties to a higher level with the 4-day visit to Jerusalem by Chief of the Indian Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor. According to a Reuters report from Tel Aviv (November 9), the two sides signed a $1.1 billion contract to supply an upgraded Israeli tactical air defence system to India. The sale of the Barak system came as General Kapoor held talks with senior Israeli military officials, including his counterpart Lt-General Gabi Ashkenazi, and the country's Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

Indian chief of staff, Gen Deepak Kapoor with IDF chief of the general staff, Lt Gen Ashkenaz

Made by state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd, the Barak-8 (India has the earlier system) is designed for use aboard ships and can shoot down incoming missiles, planes and drones. It can also be deployed on land.

In wide-ranging talks with Israeli leaders, General Kapoor, referring to the terrorist attack on Mumbai last year, spoke of the intensified security co-operation between the parties. General Kapoor attended a special ceremony in the Yad Vashem Memorial where he laid a wreath for the Holocaust victims.

New Asian Cold War A Jeremy Page report of November 12 - “Cold war build-up is overshadowing the 'Asian century' ” was a trifle dramatized; while its broad outlines are true, all the author's proffered interpretations are unlikely to command universal assent. That is how it goes.

Mr Page begins with the transformation of Gan, on the southernmost tip of the Maldives, into an Indian monitoring base for monitoring Chinese naval activity in the Indian Ocean. He writes: “Under a deal signed in August, India is also installing radar across the Maldives, linked to its coastal command.” He interprets this development as “a direct response to China's construction of a giant port at Hambantota in nearby Sri Lanka. The plan is being seen as the latest move in a low-level but, escalating struggle;e for economic and military supremacy between between Asia's two emerging giants.” In addition, Mr Page threw in rivalry in Africa and a race to the Moon as part of an unfolding SinoIndian contest.

He quoted Alexander Neill, head of the Asia programme of the rightwing think-tank, the Royal United Services Institute, who said: “It

doesn't have the same proportion as the Cold War, but there is potential for this to spiral out of control. Allies on both sides need to think carefully about the consequences,” he commented neutrally.

Who are the 'allies' of China? Pakistan and North Korea certainly.

Beyond Islamabad, there are China's myriad well wishers in the West, Britain included, but they are mostly content to retain a studied neutrality between Beijing and Delhi.

think Chinese strategists have basically decided that they can deal with India on their own terms, but when you introduce the United States into that equation, it introduces all kinds of uncertainties. I think we are in for a period of India-China tension,” he said sagely.

Another Times guru, the Nairobi-based Tristan McConnell, was downbeat about India's prospects in Africa - quoting one Patrick Smith's sneering observation, “India is China writ small;” he was inebriatingly upbeat on China's ability to sweep the African board.

In the same issue of The Times, Jane Macartney's analysis from Beijing quoted Hu Shisheng, a researcher at the China Institute of C o n t e m p o r a r y International Relations, who warned India to take heed of the lessons of 1962: “India may have forgotten the lesson of 1962, when its repeated provocation resulted in military clashes [in which India was worsted]. India is on the wrong track again,” the Chinaman fumed.

India, Japan draw closer As General Kapoor was doing his bit for his country in Israel, India's Defence Minister A.K.Antony was doing likewise in Japan, having arrived in Tokyo last

J a p a n e s e defence-related co-operation, M e s s r s .

Kitazawa and A n t o n y “expressed their determination to take forward bilateral defence exchanges and co-operation in a meaningful way in 2010.” They expressed a “common interest in the safety of sea lines of communications” and “welcomed the recent Carlos Ghosn, Renault-Nissan CEO reinforcement of co-operation” in Reality must be sepathis domain. rated from hype. The Tata The two ministers also Nano is a reality in India welcomed the participaand is likely to become tion of their countries in one in Europe from 2011. the Malabar series of The Renault-Nissan-Bajaj naval exercises, which prototype is still pie in the the United involved sky. But there is an Indian States. market to be won for This story received not Renault, a global major a line of coverage in The with a mere 1 per cent Times - which reserved market share on the subtwo high octane pages on continent. Like Alexnder China's successes against the Great, Carlos Ghosn India, so draw your own is after new worlds to conconclusions. quer.

Nano car race On a more wholesome tack, Rhys Blakely (The Times, November 11) told how “Renault-Nissan is preparing to launch what is likely to be the world's cheapest car in 2012, undercutting the Tata Nano, which sells in India for as little as 100,000 rupees (£1,300) plus taxes.

Indian concerns Jeremy Page lists, among India's putative concerns, China's military infrastructure on their common Himalayan borders, Beijing's growing blue water navy and China's “string of pearls” around India, which apparently include Nepal, Burma,Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Mercifully, he hasn't called on India to request emergency military supplies from the UK in this dark hour, knowing only too well that doesn't work in Afghanistan isn't likely to fare any better against China.

Mr Page fell back on the wisdom of Evan Feigenbaum of the Council of Foreign Relations, an American research centre, who pronounced: “Since 1962, I

Defence Minister A.K. Antony and his Japanese counterpart Toshimi Kitazawa(centre) review a guard of honour at the Defence Ministry in Tokyo

weekend. Following talks with his new Japanese counterpart, Toshima Kitazawa, India and Japan renewed their commitment to “develop an Action Plan ....to advance security co-operation.”

(The Hindu, November 10). The two sides were keen to finalize the action plan in time for Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's planned visit to India.

Under the current framework of Indo-

Carlos Ghosn, the group's chief executive, said yesterday that Renault-Nissan had signed a deal with Bajaj Auto, an Indian group best known for its motorcycles and three-wheelers.

The companies are collaborating on the development of an ultra-low-cost, efficient runabout, codenamed the ULC, which will go on sale on the subcontinent in 2012 and may be offered elsewhere later.”

firm evidence.

The Indian Express (November 6) reports that the Airport Express Link, which will connect Delhi's Indira Gandhi Airport to the heart of the Indian capital from September, well in time for the Commonwealth Games, which are due to commence in midOctober.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has completed 95 per cent of the civil work.

Early next year, it will hand over the stations to the concessionaire Reliance Infrastructure and CAF, a Spanish company, for completion of operations.

The trains will be manufactured by CAF that has done similar work in Hong Kong. The total length of the section will be 22 kilometres. The frequency of trains will be 10 minutes, to be reduced to 2 minutes. It will be a 24hour service.

More oil in Gujarat

Reform plan James Lamont's Financial Times report on India's reform plan, posted from New Delhi (November 9), referred to Prime M i n i s t e r Manmohan Singh's pledge to “fulfil a deep financial reform programme [and] the 'winding down' of fiscal stimulus measures next year.

These have helped spare India from the worst of the global financial Mukesh Ambani Reliance Industries crisis with support CEO strike oil in Gujarat to the rural economy, infrastructure and Reliance Industries has export sectors. The reform struck oil in the one of agenda includes developits onshore blocks in the ing long-term debt marGujarat's Cambay basin kets, a corporate bond (The Hindu, November market, strong insurance 11). Oil was discovered and pension sectors and in the fifth well drilled at futures markets.

1,453 metres and the Government disinvestflow of 500 daily barrels ment in state-owned comwas being assessed. The panies would be acceleratdiscovery is expected to ed.” open up future potential within the block, said an Disinvestment RIL release.

Meanwhile an earlier programme Hindu report from New These were to be York (November 7) said addressed in carefully that US mega-firm IBM calibrated measures to would be setting up a make the sector more new Business Analytics competitive while ensurCentre of Competency ing an efficient regulatoin Bangalore. The cenry and oversight system, tre, with a planned staff declared Dr Singh to the of of 200 consultants World Economic forum with advanced analytics in Delhi. skills, will be able to proMr Lamont's specuvide support to clients lation on divisions withanywhere in the world, in the Indian cabinet on and come up with soluthese issues is pure contions to informationjecture in the absence of based challenges.

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

Alpesh Patel

www.abplgroup.com

13

FINANCIAL VOICE

Consultant Editor Financial Voice Dear Financial Voice Reader, “If you are confused and fearful, you don’t get over being fearful until you aren’t confused” says Warren Buffett – and so let’s remove the confusion for you if before we move on to the fear.

One are most investors are most confused and so fearful is investing outside their own shores. Yet that is one of the tragedies of investing – if you only invest in the country in which you reside you are putting all your eggs in one basket.

Indeed Warren Buffett is a big fan of private investors using indices rather than trying to pick individual stocks.

First let us address the Economic expectations for UK domestic investors to show why India is so attractive: Interest rates have remained at a historic low of only 0.5% for 9 months, therefore the “Risk free rate earned from 3 month Government bonds”, compared to return on equities, the FTSE 100 has provided a reasonable return above the risk free rate of around 14% this year. We believe that stock prices have exceeded earnings estimates, stocks look expensive, and market forecasts predict zero to negative growth in 2010 for the UK stock market.

Inflation has remained below the Bank of England’s upper band of 2%, falling to 1.1% in September; as a result real interest rates (base rate less inflation) were negative throughout 2009 and consequently eroding the value of your cash in the bank by around 1.4% this year. The Bank of England forecasts a sharp increase in inflation driven by higher oil prices, a return to 17.5% VAT and a weaker sterling foreign exchange rate. At the same time, rising unemployment and fragile growth makes increasing interest rates unpalatable. Therefore, UK Gilts would not be a wise choice as an alternative to cash.

So where do we believe international value exist?

In October the Australian Reserve bank became the first central bank to increase interest rates. While the Reserve Bank of India did not increase their interest rate, they reduced the amount of quantitative easing, re-introducing tighter reserve ratios’ for banks and financial lenders. While Asian economies have been posting positive growth, they have not been immune to inflation. Inflation remains a global phenomenon driven by the increased demand for energy, metals and foods. As the world’s economies recover from late 2009 and gain momentum in 2010, prices will increase.

India has recently experienced rising prices, but inflation has not eroded the value of money here; and during 2009 real interest rates were positive at 2.6%.

The Indian government has a firm stance against inflation, and given their advantageous position of 6.1% real growth during 2009, the Reserve Bank of India is in a position to increase interest rates in 2010 without inhibiting domestic growth. As a result, India’s stock market, the Nifty Index, has posted returns of almost 50% above the risk free rate this year. We believe that stock prices will gain momentum. Price earnings estimates look reasonable, considering the strong gross national product expectation and continued generation of wealth, supported and ready for new fiscal and monetary tightening by the Indian government. Our growth forecast for the Indian stock market is in the region of 10 - 20% in 2010.

Bottom line – investing in the Nifty for a 2-3 year period would still see you earning a good return over that period despite likely dips along the way.

If you want to follow my CNBC appearances go to HYPERLINK "http://www.cnbc.com" www.cnbc.com and search under my name.

PROPERTY MATTERS

Anand Unalkat Tax Investigations Senior - BY SEAN WAKEMAN The biggest single area which gives rise to tax investigations is property, and this has been the case for at least the last 20 years.

The reason for this is largely due to the rise in property prices, particularly in London, over the same period. Buying and selling properties has presented large numbers of individuals with the opportunity to make hundreds of thousands (and in some cases millions) of pounds.

Where individuals build up property portfolios there is no particular problem provided that when properties are disposed of, tax is properly accounted for. For unincorporated property developers this is usually in the form of income tax, but for

people holding property for medium or long term investment this is capital gains tax (with separate declaration of rental income).

Whilst H M Revenue & Customs does devote considerable resource to ensuring that individuals who complete tax returns pay the full amount of tax, they are equally if not more interested in those individuals who seek to evade tax by using false names or offshore companies.

They also track down so called “ghosts” who try to remain off the tax radar by not completing a tax return and not declaring rental income, and/or profits from the sale of properties. Such individuals are sitting on a tax time bomb which in the worst of cases can lead to imprisonment.

Horwath Clark Whitehill LLP recently helped a Mr Desai (name changed to protect his identity) with regard to a property transaction which had involved the purchase and development of a property in North London for a considerable profit. Mr Desai had arranged for the formation of an offshore company to carry out the development in order to evade tax in the UK. The directors of the offshore company did not make

any decisions, had no involvement in the purchase, development or sale, and were to all intents and purposes only there to rubber stamp the decisions made by Mr Desai in the UK. The case was taken up for investigation by the Civil Investigation of Fraud Office who stumbled on the development following an investigation into the tax affairs of the builder. There was clear evidence in the case that Mr Desai had dealt with all matters involving the builder, the solicitors and the bank that financed the purchase and development costs. Additionally, there were heinous features such as requesting that the directors of the offshore company despatch letters drafted by Mr Desai on offshore company headed notepaper.

Mr Desai also asked the offshore directors to sign blank cheques which he could distribute to service providers in the UK. There was therefore a very real possibility of HMRC prosecuting Mr Desai either under the 1968 Theft Act or the common law offence of “cheating” the Exchequer.

Horwath Clark Whitehill LLP was, however, able to negotiate protection for Mr Desai. They subsequently carried out a thor-

Sean Wakeman

Tax Investigations Partner ough review not only of this transaction but a number of others. The end result was that Mr Desai was not prosecuted and only had to pay his arrears of tax, interest and a monetary penalty.

Managing tax disclosures of this kind is a very specialised area and Horwath Clark Whitehill LLP is one of a small number of firms who have 100% dedicated expertise in this area. If you require any assistance in making a tax disclosure to H M Revenue & Customs or you wish to make a disclosure to HMRC under the current New Disclosure Opportunity (where deadline expires on 30 November 2009), you may wish to telephone Sean Wakeman on 020 7842 7285 or Anand Unalkat 020 7842 7143 for a free initial consultation.

Ratan Tata has no regrets over JLR buy Ratan Tata, Media Moghul Rupert Murdoch and Carlos Slim have no regrets over their recent decisions of acquisitions or investments.

Ratan Tata, the head of Tata Motors and the Tata group had bought the luxury British car Land Rover and Jaguar in 2008 from the Ford Motor Co. of USA did acknowledge that these days, it’s been a very difficult time. Rupert Murdoch and Carlos Slim, who bought or invested in US newspapers, also echoed the same sentiments with their purchases.

Speaking at the Wall Street Journal CEO

Council conference, Tata said he hopes the brands will be restored to their previous glory.

In a discussion focused on whether or not they have regrets, global business tycoons Rupert Murdoch, News Corp's chief executive, and Carlos Slim, who built a telecommunications empire and other big businesses in Mexico, denied any such feelings. "I have no regrets about the Wall Street Journal," Murdoch said.

As the newspaper industry faces layoffs and drops in advertising revenue and circulation, the

WSJ said in October that it will close its Boston bureau to save money.

Slim backed the NYT, in which he is a major investor, and said the

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newspaper industry is not just about the paper.

"It's about news and content," he said. "I think NYT is one of the best newspaper in the world."

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14

FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

Visa, MasterCard may soon have competition from India Reserve Bank mulling a launch to help Indian banks to lower costs With the aim of helping Indian banks to save costs for their credit card transactions, the Reserve Bank of India is looking at the option of setting up a domestic payment card system as an alternative to Visa, Mastercard etc. The plan is to set up a domestic payment card system with a PoS (point of sale) switch network for issuing and acceptance of payment cards.

The RBI, in a report titled ‘Payment Systems in India: Vision 2009-12’ says that the need for such an Indian system is being mulled, required for one prime reason that the cost to Indian banks for affiliation with such international card associations like Visa and Mastercard is pretty high. Another point is that of all card transactions, more than 90 per cent are domestic ones, and yet they have to be routed through a switch located outside India.

As per the RBI Annual

Report, the value of credit card transactions were Rs 65,356 crore in 2008-09, a 100 per cent jump in the last three years. This means almost Rs 60,000 crore was settled outside India through Visa and Mastercard — which act as the payment link on behalf of the bank, merchant and card holder — last year. Debit card transactions amounted to Rs 18,547 crore in 2008-09.

The Indian Banks Association is also in favour of setting up a payment card.

The RBI is also planning to implement a 24hour fund transfer system.

The bank would pursue

the suggestion to consider the need to extend NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer) to function on a 24x7 basis — seamless fund transfer without any break — or to develop a new system akin to the Faster Payments Service in the UK which operates on a 24x7 basis. The existing NEFT system operates during weekdays from 9 am to 5 pm and on Saturdays from 9 am to 12 noon. This will enable stock exchanges to extend trading hours and align their operations with other countries.

The central bank said mobile phones are expected to emerge as an important channel for transmission of payment instructions. "Efficient mobile payments would require real time transfer of funds with adequate security.

Currently all inter-bank mobile transfers are payment instructions for settling funds through existing payment systems....

Nano to have tough competition from Renault-Nissan

All problems over, the ambitious project announced by Bajaj Auto, India’s biggest two wheeler company will give Tata’s Nano tough competition.

While an agreement has been signed between the three companies for the Ultra low cost car that is expected to roll out by 2012, Bajaj’s presence will

be limited to building the car for the French – Japan partners. It will not have a share in the branding or any other aspects of the car.

But as Rahul Bajaj had announced initially, the key features of the car would be its price – cheaper than Nano and at the same time more fuel efficient than any other four

wheeler in India.

Carlos Ghosn, president and chief executive Renault Nissan announced the agreement last week. The success of the car is crucial to Renault-Nissan, which commands 10 per cent of the global market but accounts for only 1 per cent cars sold in India.

UK’s Multipart Holding is now a part of TVS group of India One of the top three market logistics companies in UK, Multipart Holding has been acquired by TVS Losistics, a part of the TVS group of India. The acquisition is considered as one of the largest overseas buyout by an Indian company in recent times.

Multipart Holding was initially associated with only Leyland, UK and engaged in distribution of vehicle parts. In 1993, it became a separate company, grew manifold with providing logistics services to even other automotive clients and also served UK’s defence sector. TVS – L already enjoys presence and substantial business in the USA, Germany, Spain and Thailand also, apart from UK. Multipart Holding has an annual sales of 60 Million Euros, has a team of 250 people across four locations in UK. Two of the locations are for Ministry of Defence sites.

TVS- L Managing Director, R Dinesh did not disclose the value of the acquisition but said last

week, “We will invest in excess of Rs 1.25 billion in Multipart in the next 18 months to expand operations in UK and rest of Europe.”

TVS- L Chairman, Suresh Krishna said, “Multipart is a fairly integrated logistics company and the acquisition will give us tremendous leg up, strengthen our base in the UK.” The company also became the first group entity to attract Rs 1 billion from private equity from Goldman Sachs.

The growing Indian logistics market has also encouraged the company to expand operations by floating ventures like TVS Dynamic Logistics services, TVS commutation solutions and TVS infrastructure. Krishna said, “The company should do an IPO in the near future. Having turned a robust company, it is very difficult task to resist an IPO”, he said.

TVS-L Director, Ram Santhanam said in the last four years, the company has strengthened its after-

market services by reaching out to various markets.

Multipart CEO, Chris Gateley, who will continue to steer the company said there is a potential for sourcing auto parts worth Rs 2 billion from India.

Mr Dinesh said, “As part of our aggressive growth plan, we will look at further consolidating our presence in India, US and Europe and enter South America (Brazil) and China through JVs by 2010. It will help us to emerge the first truly integrated supply chain MNC.” Welcoming the major investment by TVS group in UK, Mike Nithavrianakis, British deputy higher commissioner in Chennai said in Europe, UK continues to be the best open economy with its flexible labour market and stable regulatory environment. Despite the down turn, it had approved 1744 new investment proposals in 2008-09. Among the new deals, India accounted for 44%, next only to the US.

HOW CLOSE ARE YOUR FAMILY?...

REMEMBER TO MAKE A WILL!

By Krishna Kotecha

Rajendra and Usha has just celebrated 50 glorious years of marriage and they were totally devoted to each other although their children had not always given them the pleasure they had hoped for.

They had three children, Anish (45), Minal (40), and Niraj (36).

Anish, who had been disowned by the family due to his marriage with Lisa, had lost contact with his parents. Just over two years ago, they learned tragically that he had been killed in a car crash. Anish had left a daughter, Maya, whose whereabouts were unknown. Rajendra and Usha had never met their grand-daughter.

Minal was the apple of their eye. She married a consultant surgeon who was financially astute and had two children – Shivam who was 18 and Nikhil who was 13. Nikhil was sweet natured but Shivam was always rude and abusive to his grand-mother Usha, although he had a good relationship with his grand-father Rajendra.

They both shared a love of antique coins and Rajendra had always promised that one day Shivam could have his collection of coins. The third child, Niraj had a rebellious nature and was continually running up gambling debts. His business was always suffering financial difficulties. He was nearly always overdrawn at the bank and Rajendra was forever putting his hand in his own pocket to clear off Niraj’s debts!

Niraj was unmarried and was likely he would remain so in the future.

Will Rajendra’s estate was worth approximately £900,000 made up of their home in Hertfordshire (worth

approximately £450,000), an investment property worth £250,000 and the remainder of the estate comprised of monies in building societies, banks, national savings certificates and stocks and shares. Rajendra was always talking to his next door neighbour (Anthony) an accountant about making a Will.

Anthony said he would help him with some tax planning, but Rajendra always said that his main concern was that his devoted wife Usha should have enough to live on for the rest of her days.

In addition, Rajendra always admired the work Cancer Research carried out for people, particularly as his late mother had died at a young age from the disease. He intended therefore to leave a bequest for them.

Rajendra believed that his son Niraj would let any legacy slip through his fingers, and that his daughter Minal was well looked after by her husband. He did however intend to leave his coin collection to his grandson, Shivam. All this had been discussed with Usha and she agreed with Rajendra’s wishes.

Three days after they celebrated their wedding anniversary, Rajendra died of a heart attack.

After the funeral, Usha wanted to sort out Rajendra’s affairs and she had a chat with their neighbour, Anthony and asked if Rajendra left his Will with him. Anthony said that as far he knew, Rajendra had not made a Will and Usha should go and see his golfing partner, Suresh who was a solicitor.

Shock Usha made an appointment to see Suresh the following week, hoping to obtain confirmation that she would be entitled to Rajendra’s estate (except for his collection of coins which would go to Shivam and a bequest to Cancer Research).

Unfortunately she was in for a severe shock.

Suresh explained to Usha that as Rajendra had not made a Will his estate would be shared out according to the intestacy rules. These rules apply where the deceased had not made a Will. The impact of the

intestacy rules on Rajendra’s estate was as follows:Usha would be entitled to the first £250,000 in Rajendra’s estate.

This creates her with a difficult decision. Either she takes the investment property worth £250,000 as her entitlement under intestacy or she takes ownership of only part of her late husband’s home.

She’s in real dilemma as to which option to take!

In addition, she would be entitled to all Rajendra’s ‘personal chattels’ and this would include his coin collection.

Finally, Usha would be entitled to a life interest in half the balance of Rajendra’s estate. What this meant was that half the remaining assets would be used to create a small income for Usha but she would not be able to touch the capital of those assets.

The balance of Rajendra’s estate would be distributed equally between Maya, (the grand-daughter Rajendra had never met) upon her attaining the age of eighteen years. Minal, who was already financially secure and Niraj, who no doubt would spirit his inheritance away at the casino!

Cancer Research would not receive Rajendra’s intended legacy. When Shivam learned that his grandmother had received the coin collection, he became even more aggressive towards her.

Usha was therefore left with insufficient income to see her through the rest of her days.

Importance All the characters in the above scenario are fictitious but the circumstances that have been described could be very real.

This story clearly demonstrates the importance of every family man and woman to make a Will, setting out their clear intentions on how their estate should be distributed.

Do not put off until tomorrow what could be done today.

Krishna Kotecha Solicitor, Gillhams, Solicitors LLP, 020 8965 4266 kk@gillhams.com

Accenture to hire 8,000 in India With the easing of recession, global technology and consultancy giant Accenture said it was going to add around 8,000 people in India by the end of next year taking its total employ-

ee base in India to 50,000.

“We are 42,000 right now and we imagine we will be about 50,000 by the end of 2010,” Accenture Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William

D Green said while speaking to the media recently.

Indicating a recovery from the global downturn, Green said the company would continue to focus on India.

FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

15

‘Incredible India’ campaign wins World Travel Award in London

Dr. Manjit Singh and Mrs. Usha Sharma of Rajasthan Tourism at the World Travel Market exhibition

L-R: Mr Omar Abdullah, CM of Jammu & Kashmir, India’s Tourism Minister Kumari Shailja, Indian High Commissioner HE Shri Nalin Surie, Jagdish Chander, Director, Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India at Royal Garden Hotel, London (pic courtesy: Vipul Rao)

The “Incredible India” campaign, an initiative by the Indian government to promote tourism, has won the World Travel Award 2009 for being the best campaign of the year. The reigning Miss World, Ksenia Kukhinova of

Russia, presented the award to India’s Tourism Minister, Kumari Shailja at a gala function held at the Royal Garden Hotel in London recently.

Kumari Shailja, who was in London to participate in the World Travel

Kumari Shailja, Indian Union Minister for Tourism receiving award from Lord Peter Archer of Sandwell

Market, also received the Asian Guild Award for promoting the “Incredible India” campaign at a function held at the House of Lords.

The Award and Fellowship of the Asian Guild was presented to her by Lord Peter Archer of Sandwell.

The Guild also

bestowed the Fellowship on Jagdish Chander, Director, Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India, for his “hard work to carry out the conviction of Incredible India Campaign in the UK.” Suresh Joshi, Joint Director General of the Asian Guild, said “Incredible India has

Tamil Nadu Tourism chief Dr. A C Ramdoss (right) and Mrs. Alkaben Shah, Advertising Manager of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar

enriched the status of the Asians in British Society by broadening the tradition and culture of India.

Kumari Shailja said, “Incredible India initia-

tive was conceived in the year 2002, when we decided to brand the country as a unique, vibrant and inclusive identity.”

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16

FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

Quality for Community

Alpesh Patel’s Political Sketchbook: From the Commons to Oxford to the Holocaust– why care about India?

Which buffoon would in the present climate seek to defend MPs? Who would be that foolish to ask for instant shooting down?

Me. It’s not that I have any particular liking for MPs anymore than I do for lawyers, or burglars for that matter. My interest lies in the truth, as opposed to trial without thought.

Last week I found myself in the parliamentary office of the Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt, MP for Leicester West.

It could have been any MP, of any political colour. Our chat turned to a charity in India, K a t h a (www.katha.org), that she support through her role as a Director of British Telecom. It was 5pm and quite frankly she didn’t need to care about the work of this, or for that matter any other charity. No one would have been any the wiser. She has no idea I am writing this, or indeed that I write in newspapers at all.

The point is why do the British care at all about children thousands of miles away?

Why at 5pm don’t they just go home? It’s not self-publicity – you, the reader, can be as cynical as you like, but when you are on the Board of a FTSE 100 company and previously the longest serving postwar Trade Minister, then a small charity in India provides no personal motivation.

I was also this week invited to dine at High Table at my former College, St Anne’s. The subject turned to raising bursaries so outstanding Indian stu-

dents could afford to study at Oxford who may not otherwise get the chance. The reputation of Ramunajan I guess runs on. The College would gain no financial benefit from having these students since the bursary would pay for them and there are ample students from other countries.

But the College wanted the best and brightest in the world. Why does a British institution care about Indian students? Again, you could be cynical and come to some sort of theory.

The issue is, are people altruistic? Or is there always self-interest?

As President Obama touches down in Beijing to discuss climate change, we better hope they are altruistic.

An MP, again to make it clear, Tory, Labour or Liberal, with the flak they have all received need not do any extra work beyond the minimum. I am not saying we should be grateful to them; if we want to be grateful to anyone then teachers and nurses and armed forces should be at the front of the queue.

I met also this week in my office Nic Careem who is touring the production of ‘And then they came for me’ - the story of Anne Frank.

It’s been played in the European Parliament and the British Parliament. Why does he do this? Incidentally out of interest he is Muslim.

It is too easy to be cynical, to say all possess the character of the few, that self-interest should be the prime

concern. Perhaps the answer to the questions posed about the MP working on an Indian charity at 5pm and the College Principal wanting Indian students or the Muslim spreading the lessons of the holocaust can be elicited from the title of that play, ‘first they came for the socialists and I did not speak out-because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the gypsies, and I did not speak out-because I was not a gypsy; Then they came for Catholics, and I did not speak out-because I was not a Catholic; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me-and there was no one left to speak for me.’

The bottom line: we choose through our actions whether the next person will also do for someone else or for their own selfish reasons. And that is why I will be helping the MP with Katha, the College with the impoverished but talented Indian students and Nic with taking his play to India.

Because if enough of us do, then we all do – put others before ourselves.

And yes, to the cynic, all things sound cynical.

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.

JLR gets £170 mn loan from GE Cap Tatas-owned Jaguar Land Rover has secured a loan of £170 million from GE Capital. An agreement to this effect was signed on Monday. The five-year loan will help finance Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)

in distribution, GE Capital said in a statement.

Commenting on the loan deal, JLR Chief Financial Officer Ken Gregor said, “We are pleased that our funding plans have further pro-

gressed and welcome the confidence shown by GE Capital in the Jaguar Land Rover business.”

JLR had earlier this year sought the British government help for funds, but without success.

Mayank S. Rawal, FCQI CQP

Document Control: Part II Having clear legibility allows a document to be read and understood by the reader, therefore documents should be written in a clear, concise manner in a language spoken by the reader.

Making a document identifiable means should be exercised at all times by assigning a descriptive title, document number, version number, or a unique identification which separates one from another.

In order to execute this, a document numbering system should cover the various types of documents in place and their intended use.

This process of identification should be applied to both internal documents (generated within the community organization) and external documents; however for external documents, the identification would normally come from the source publishing the document, which is then adopted by the community organization.

External documents could be classified as documents produced by an external entity, or those such as instructions on use of equipment, external regula-

tions, commercial / legal, and reference material.

The document number should be traceable to a master document register, which should serve to record details of document number, description, originator, recipient, date of preparation and issue, revision level, media format, retention period, and more importantly preclude the use of obsolete documents. This would apply to both internal and external documents.

The method of format and storage of a document must ensure the document is protected from being rendered as unreadable due to wear and tear or damage.

As external documents may be received in paper form, distribution of documents is important as external documents may arrive in paper form, and equally their location and knowing what information is contained within them. The key to this is traceability, knowing who is in possession of the document and where it is located at any one moment in time, for it to be retrieved in the hour of need. A distribution matrix with types of documents against

intended recipients often helps to ease the transmission flow. Before any transmission, it is vital that documents are checked, reviewed, and approved for adequacy prior to release.

Retention involves informing all parties how long different document types are retained by the community organization.

The actual retention period should be determined in conjunction with the type of document, its importance and usage. Having a retention table in place shows how documents should be physically taken care off through their life cycle. This could include information such as retention duration (e.g. 3 years), storage method & facility, version to be retained, method of disposition (discard, shred), method of protection e.g.

Fireproof.

Archiving is a subset to retention, focusing on the long term retention and security of documents in a readable format, long after the working life of the document has ended. This is primarily done to retain documents in support of legal requirements and protection against any claims.

Franchising: is it right for you?

Asians are increasingly going in for this style of business in UK

BY TOM ENDEAN MARKETING MANAGER, BFA With most of the last 12 months providing less than positive news for many businesses of all shapes and sizes, followed by a rise in unemployment and diminished confidence, does today’s market still encourage many to think about new businesses of their own? If so, they would need to have a very robust proposition.

Interestingly, despite all of the negative press, recent months has seen the franchising industry stay resilient. Many companies have weathered well, attracting increased inter-

est from potential investors and even seeing growth.

Time and again, franchising has greatly out-performed other start-up businesses. Its formula of a locally owned and run enterprise, driven by a small business owner, with branding, economies of scale and support from the wider network, gives the consumer the best of both worlds and the business a far better chance of success.

This robust business model, fuelled by dedicated individuals, encompassing many different skills and backgrounds, opens up countless opportunities for people looking

for a new start. Requiring hard work, professionalism and a commitment, franchising has been a business model adopted

by Asian business people in recent years. In 2003 2% of UK franchisees were Asian; today that number is 13%.

The question to ask though is which franchise brand is suitable for you?

With hundreds of different brands, investment levels and business types, how can you know what you want? Visit the bfa’s website at www.thebfa.org for objective advice and access to numerous educational and advisory resources.

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FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

17

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

Set yourself up for a property deal Bharat and Mina residing in Perivale, Middlesex approached Sow & Reap for a remortgage in July of 1997 when the mortgage market was saturated with products, and lenders where competing for business instead of shying away from it. As a matter of course we sat with them and carried out a thorough fact find to find out what their current situation was and where they would like to be in a few years down the line.

Not only do we search the market for the cheapest product, we also help and advise how, what type, where and why to invest in properties dependent on resources you have currently.

Mina works as a Dispensing Optician in London and her husband Bharat worked as a building contractor, both earned reasonable salaries. In 1997 they only had one child, however when and if they had another child it was clear Mina would have to reduce her working hours and hence her salary would be reduced.

Most families have most of their wealth in their main residential home, this was the case with this couple too, they had bought their property early and it had quite a lot of equity in it as the house prices had risen strongly.

As with most working families if they carried on

as they were they would be working hard to earn and save and whilst doing so would spend a large portion of their lives simply for maintenance.

What they needed was an asset which instead would work hard for them.

It became clear to them, when we pointed out how their main residential property had risen since they had bought it, that it was their only substantial asset.

Their property, which if drawn upon and invested wisely over a medium to long term, will secure them into the future.

In order to prepare them to do this we suggested not to go for the cheapest rate but also to consider the type of product they should go for. In order to position them to move quickly on a property we suggested to opt for a product with an overdraft facility.

An overdraft facility can came in basically two types, one where the interest rate is fixed and the other where it goes up and down. Opting for more security they chose to go for a fixed rate of 5.19% fixed till 2012, this was done with an overdraft facility of £100,000 which can be drawn down in 5 days with a phone call at the same rate of interest of 5.19%.

Now is the perfect time to purchase a property and we are currently

helping them to source one in Central London.

An overdraft mortgage works exactly like an overdraft on a bank account, the only difference being is it is secured on a property.

Lenders have called this by different names such as offset, flexible and drawdown but in essence they mean the same thing.

The rate at which you can draw down varies, some do it at the product rate and others at their standard variable rate which is set by the lender and can vary.

It is rare to have a fixed rate which also has the flexibility of drawing down and paying back at the same rate of interest.

This gives security of knowing how much you can get the funds for and knowing they will stay at this cost, thereby knocking out one variable from your investment.

Northern Rock currently offers rates of 3.79% fixed for 3 years with full flexibility of drawing down and paying back without any restriction and always at the fixed rate of 3.79%. This is perfect to allow you to purchase at auctions and move quickly on deals.

Payment Holidays

Borrowers can apply for one payment holiday per year, as long as they have made nine consecutive monthly payments, even if they have not previously overpaid.

Many other lenders do not offer this service.

Overpayments

Unlimited, penalty free overpayments (down to £1) can be made on the mortgage.

Using overpayments could save you thousands of pounds in interest and help them pay off their mortgage more quickly.

This level of flexibility, particularly on a Fixed rate, is rare. Many lenders limit overpayments to just 10% per year or restrict overpayments to a specific calendar month.

Some of the most common reasons customers take advantage of overpayments are when they have received bonuses, wind-

poses only, and is based on a 25 year term capital and interest repayment loan of £140,000 with no fees added to the loan on a typical 5 Year Fixed rate at 5.09% reverting to SVR (currently 4.79%) after the 5 Year Fixed rate term. *The monthly payment is based on the original mortgage payment plus £125 extra per month.

Borrow Back

With this product you can borrow back any previous overpayments at the product rate. Many other lenders charge SVR on funds borrowed back from 'less flexible' mortgages.

Access to your money is granted by one phone call, this arranges for your funds to be transferred straight to a bank account.

Underpayments

For those who have chosen to overpay, there is the option of making underpayments (up to the

offer a free basic valuation and free standard legal work on residential remortgage cases.

Summary key features

Fast Track Service for qualifying residential cases – meaning no proof of income required Fully Flexible Features - overpayments, underpayments, borrow back at product rate and payment holidays.

Product fees (where applicable) can be added to the loan on completion.

Fee Saver Option - no product fee payable.

Early Repayment Charge applies to the original secured loan balance, payable on full redemption only.

Maximum loan size of £1m.

Daily interest.

A property to apply this facility:-

Features

Flexibility comes as standard with Residential and Buy To Let products.

There are no fees for using the flexible features.

SALES MANAGER REQUIRED Can you provide excellent customer service and close sales?

If so we want to hear from you!

falls, inheritance or endowment policy proceeds. You can make overpayments as one-off lump sums and/or regular or monthly overpayments.

There is no minimum or maximum amount.

The following graph shows potential savings: Please note: this diagram is for illustrative pur-

value of the overpayments).

This would suit clients who know they will have periods of greater disposable income (e.g. seasonal overtime) and would like to benefit from lower payments at a later date.

Remortgage incentives - free valuation and legal work For remortgages they

This means for putting no money in, the full purchase price will be borrowed, you will generate an income of £21,000, after all mortgage costs.

This example is genuine. If you would like us to help you sow some great investments for you call us now on 0207 706 0187.

We are looking for a sales manager for our India Property Sales. Previous property sales experience is required, as is fluency in Gujarati.

Email your CV to eana@sowandreap.co.uk with a covering letter explaining why you would be suitable for this role.

Mortgages Commercial Finance Gujarat Properties - Sale & Resale Property Sourcing

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 21st November 2009

BY

Life style

SWATI BHAN

Natural remedies to get rid of high blood pressure High blood pressure is a very common disease seen across the globe. It comes at a variety of age with varid reasons.

Going by the rise in pressure many go for high dose medicines which later become unavoidable. High blood pressure usually doesn't cause any symptoms in the early stages.

Symptoms associated with high blood pressure can include dizziness or dizzy spells, headache, nosebleeds.

There are several reasons for high blood pressure and there is no one identifiable cause. This kind of high blood pressure is called primary hypertension or essential hypertension. It is usually a combination of factors, such as, weight. lack of physical activity

seven randomized controlled trials of garlic supplements, three trials showed a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure and four in diastolic blood pressure. Researchers concluded that garlic powder supplement may be of clinical use in patients with mild high blood pressure.

Garlic supplements should only be used under the supervision of a qualified health practitioner. Garlic can thin the blood (reduce the ability of blood to clot) similar to aspirin. Garlic may interact with many drugs and supplements such as the prescription "blood-thinners" drugs such as Coumadin (warfarin) or Trental (pentoxifylline), aspirin, vitamin E, gingko. It is usually

tends to increase heart rate, which forces your heart to work harder with each contraction. tobacco use, sodium intake, potassium intake, stress, alcohol consumption, age and family history.

Natural Remedies for High Blood Pressure Lifestyle changes and natural remedies may help to control high blood pressure, but your doctor may also recommend medication to lower high blood pressure. It is important to work with your doctor, because untreated high blood pressure may damage organs in the body and increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, brain hemorrhage, kidney disease, and vision loss. See a drawing of a hypertensive heart.

recommended that people taking garlic stop in the weeks before and after any type of surgery.

• Garlic In a meta-analysis of

UK, 79 patients with type 2 diabetes were ran-

domized to receive either 1200 mg of hawthorn extract a day or placebo for 16 weeks. Medication for high blood pressure was used by 71% of the patients. At the end of the 16 weeks, patients taking the hawthorn supplement had a significant reduction in mean diastolic blood pressure (2.6 mm Hg). No herb-drug interactions were reported.

• Fish oil

Preliminary studies suggest that fish oil may have a modest effect on high blood pressure.

Although fish oil supplements often contain both DHA (docohexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), there is some evidence that DHA is the ingredient that lowers high blood pressure. Learn more about fish oil.

• Folic acid

By Mamta Bhatia, Psychologist

Create your State!

Being able to manage your feelings is one of the most important things in personal development.

When you realise you are in control of how you feel it gives you a lot of power, also it enables you to be in the driving seat of your life.

When you make others accountable and responsible for your feelings, you are at their mercy and they are in control.

It is easy to say yet can be difficult to practice.

Read the tips below to help you keep your calm regardless of the chaos.

Firstly try hard to stop.

Yes, stop and relax. All you need to do is take 5 minutes a day, be alone, with no noise or distraction. Stop in your tracks and breathe deep. Count to 10 and notice your heart beat.

Often, this is a good indicator of what is really going on.

Remembering that you can relax when you feel all tensed up can work

wonders.

Initially, it maybe difficult but all you have to do is make your decision by your will. Relax your muscles and direct your attention in the way you want to go, until the new habit is established. If you ever feel that using your will is an effort to relax start over as relaxing should never cause stress.

Secondly, notice the questions you are asking yourself. Usually you may ask ‘why must I do this?’ Instead you may want to ask yourself ‘how can I make this more fun for me?’ or ‘how can this help me?’ ask yourself positive questions about the things you are doing and empower yourself so you have power over your attitude and approach to daily activities.

Questions that direct your focus to answers and solutions open your mind to new possibilities instead of questions that just make you feel and

act negative, miserable and irritable.

Lastly, appreciate things and smile. When you appreciate you feel so much better, having gratitude for what you have creates an extremely positive mindset and then you are less likely to take things so seriously.

Also, smiling gives yu a boost of happiness. Try forcing a smile or laugh, notice what happens to you. Your body starts to realise happy chemicals in your brain that impact immediately on your levels of happiness.

Remember, developing is a bit like learning to ride a bike. You don’t learn it by reading about it and the first times you try you might fall. You have the excellence to get up, brush yourself of and go on the bike again and again. If you want a bright world make the effort, create the vision and purpose and it will come.

Good Luck!

If you have any questions write to mamta@abplgroup.com

kitchen

Treats

Crispy Cheese Rolls

• Hawthorn The herb hawthorn is often used by traditional herbal practitioners for high blood pressure. In a randomized controlled trial conducted by researchers in Reading,

With the winters setting in its time to think of food that is hot, spicy and at the same time does not consume time. Crispy cheese rolls in one such variety and the ingredients below is quantity enough to serve four people. So here’s how you go about making a plate of crispy cheese rolls.

Folate is a B vitamin necessary for formation of red blood cells.

It may help to lower high blood pressure in some people, possibly by reducing elevated homocysteine levels.

One small study of 24 cigarette smokers found that four weeks of folic acid supplementation significantly lowered blood pressure. Learn more about folic acid.

tablespoon(s) grated cheese cup(s) milk small onion(s) finely chopped green chilli(es) chopped fine teaspoon(s) ginger finely chopped bread slices tablespoon(s) finely chopped coriander leaves oil for deep frying salt to taste

ginger, coriander leaves and salt in a bowl.

2. Spoon the mixture on to each bread slice and roll it tight.

3. Heat the oil for deep frying on high flame. Drop in the rolls slowly.

Reduce the heat and fry on medium flame stirring frequently till the rolls are crisp and light brown in color. Drain on a paper towel.

1. Mix the milk, grated cheese, chopped onions, green chilli(es),

Serve hot with: Green Chutney (Hari Chutney) and tomato ketchup

2 !

2 2 1 8 1

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

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Om Puri blasts his wife, then feels sorry Biography of the actor brings out facts he is not comfortable about Om Puri, the acclaimed actor of Bollywood blasted his wife, journalistcolumnist Nandita Puri and later felt sorry for having directed his ire against her. He realized that his ire should have been directed at the publishers of the book written by Nandita - a biography of the actor himself.

Initially he thought it was Nandita responsible for exposing the parts of his life in a cheap manner, but later thought it was the publisher responsible.

Nandita has penned Om Puri’s biography – “Unlikely Hero: The Story Of Om Puri.” At the onset, Om was upset that Nandita had revealed his sexual escapades with his maid Shanti at the age of 14.

She also exposed Om’s longstanding liaison with a woman named Laxmi.

Om was sexually and emotionally involved with her.

A livid Om said, “My wife has reduced a very important and sacred

part of my life to cheap and lurid gossip. I had shared these dark secrets with my wife as all husbands do. If she chose to make them public at least she should’ve made sure to maintain a dignity about experiences that are a valuable part of my life. Has she forgotten that I have a standing in society and I’ve worked hard to achieve all that I have today? I won’t allow her to throw it all away

for the sake of sensationalism.”

Om says that Laxmi was one of the most important women in his life. “This lady whom Nandita talks in such an undignified manner was Laxmi, who raised me and my brother’s orphaned children. My relationship with this wonderful woman was a homage to her loyalty for looking after me unconditionally.” Om doesn’t deny he had sex with Laxmi. “But it was not a furtive and sleazy experience. It was beautiful. Why make such a tamasha out of these very sensitive moments?

Mahatma Gandhi spoke of his experiences with sexuality in The Story of My Experiments With Truth.

But was that all there was

Honour for Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan Bollywood actors Anil Kapoor and Irrfan Khan will be honoured at the ongoing 33rd Cairo International Film Festival 2009.

The duo will be honoured along with modelturned-actor Arfie Lamba, among the stars of the multiple Oscar-award winning movie “Slumdog Millionaire” at the fest.

With India being the special guest of honour at the gala, around 25 Indian movies will be screened during the festival that opened with Yash Raj Films' “New York.”

The jury of the fest is being headed by Malayalam filmmaker

Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Victor Okhai and Nour El Sherif.

Best actor award for Suniel Shetty at New York fest Bollywood produceractor Suniel Shetty has won the best actor award at the South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF) in New York for his performance in “Red Alert - The War Within.”

“Winning an award at such a big film festival is a big high for me as an actor. Now I really want to do good films and work harder and better.

The film is on Naxalites (Maoists)...,” Suniel said.

'I am very happy because it had also won the critics award at the

Stuttgart Film Festival in Germany,' he said.

Directed by Anant Mahadevan, 'Red Alert The War Within' also

stars Vinod Khanna, Ashish Vidyarthi and Sameera Reddy. The film is yet to be released commercially in India.

Suniel, who excels in action flicks and comedies as well, says he has always been keen to do serious cinema.

Asked if the Indian film industry has failed to recognise his talent, he said: 'I have no complaints about the Indian film industry because if it had not recognised my talent, it would have been impossible for me to sustain for so long.'

to his life? Why highlight these aspects when there’s so much more to me? Do you know, when I was a child, I was travelling by train with my destitute mother. The entire compartment collected money to feed us.

That incident remains etched in my mind. I was working in a teashop when I was seven years old. When I came to the FTII, Pune I didn’t have a decent shirt to wear. I had to borrow one from Naseeruddin Shah. I had hoped when my life was chronicled it would be an inspirational story.”

The actor complains that Nandita didn’t allow him to read the manuscript.

When we asked Nandita for her side of the story, she said, “This is all such a mistake. My book on my husband is a biography, not bl***y pornography. The book is about Om, the man and the actor. Om has all the human foibles, just like all of us.

Shahid breaks Priyanka’s heart

19

Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra's budding romance has come to an end. The duo who had been in news for their onscreen chemistry chose to keep their affair under wraps.

But B-town, at present, is abuzz with the rumours of their split.

It's believed that it was Shahid who called it quits leaving poor Priyanka totally devastated. Shahid's decision to part ways is being attributed to inherent differences in their nature. While Shahid is a introvert and reserved, Priyanka is extrovert and loves to party.

A friend close to the couple feels that it was a relationship that Shahid never really committed fully to. The couple never publicly admitted to being together although they were too close to be just friends. Shahid has been finding it hard to be in a strong relationship ever since Kareena Kapoor dumped him more than two years ago.

An insider adds, "They have been having fights, and that has been taking its toll on Priyanka. She has been falling ill because she cannot handle the stress in her personal life. She is now looking for peace. She visited a gurudwara and Ajmer Sharif last week. Her friends are rallying around her and helping her heal."

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Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

Bollywood connects to Nollywood at Ion International Film festival 2009

When Ajith and Vijay met When two superstars meet, it is always a field day for the media. And it was the same when ultimate star Ajith and Vijay met recently.

Both are shooting for their 49th films; Ajith for Asal and Vijay for Vettaikkaran.

Coincidentally, both actors were in AVM Studios, shooting for their respective films and they bumped into each other.

The actors have always been cordial to each other and when they met, they shook hands and chatted for some time, much to the delight of onlookers.

Vettaikkaran is expected to hit

screens in December and Asal for Pongal. After this, both actors will gear up for their 50th films.

Kamal to remake Salangai Oli?

He may be 55, but age has not waned his desire to give his all to cinema.

Kamal Haasan, who completed 50 years in cinema, said in a recent interview that it was his desire to act in the remake of his super hit film Silangai Oli. Made in Telugu as Sagar Sangamam, the movie directed by K. Viswananth and starring Jayapradha was a huge hit. The classical dance theme of the movie and Kamal portrayal (as a dancer who sacrifices his life for the art) won him accolades. The as movie, when dubbed in Tamil e Silangai Oli, repeated the sam gu.

Telu in success as Talking about the film, Kamal to said that if any director wished to remake the film, he was ready

essay He the same role once again. is he but 55, be may he said that . still ready to do a film like that We have no doubts that he at would still sizzle as a dancer . ago s ade dec did 55, as he

Peranmai to be dubbed in English Peranmai, Ayngaran International’s Deepavali release directed by S.P. Jananathan will be dubbed in English. US-based Fusion Edge has acquired the English dubbing rights to release the movie in the US and UK. Peranmai has Jayam Ravi playing an action role as a tribal and forest guard who fights against international terrorists, led by Austrian actor Roland Kickinger. The terrorists are trying to destroy the forests and the ecological system using biotechnology as a weapon of mass destruction.

The film stars debutantes Liyasree, Saranya, Tanusika, Varsha and Vasundra.

Director S.P. Jananathan’s third directorial venture, Peranmai has received a good response from the box office. Will the

‘Ghajini’ producer Madhu Mantena, Nandana Sen to attend at Bollywood representatives.

The world’s largest movie industry, India’s Bollywood for the first time meets Nigeria’s Nollywood - the second largest movie industry, at this year’s ION International Film Festival. Each year ION is held in a different international location in an effort to promote global awareness and unity. This is for the first time that ION lands in Africa, being hosted in Port Harcourt, Nigeria from 9-12 December. ION moved from Hollywood in 2007 to Dubai in 2008 and will move to Istanbul in 2010.

Award-winning film and television producer from UK, Parminder Vir OBE has been appointed as Programme Consultant to produce a core part of this year’s festival “Connecting Bollywood to Nollywood”. For over fifty years, audiences in Nigeria have been watching Bollywood movies, embracing the songs, fashion and stories of this film culture. “Over the years, I have become a great admirer of the Nollywood film industry which is very similar to Bollywood with their “can do” attitude. In the absences of government support, both have created an industry which contributes substantially to the wealth of the nation”, says Parminder Vir. As part of the programme, leading Bollywood Producer Madhu Mantena of the ‘Ghajini’ fame and actress Nandana Sen have been invited to share their experience of the industry, it’s cultural and economical values and explore collab-

oration opportunities for Nollywood Producers to work with the Indian film industry. This will be followed by a panel discussion.

Connecting Bollywood to Nollywood will also celebrate the stars of the world’s largest film industries by inviting a major Bollywood celebrity to attend the festival as guest of honour.

ION FILM FESTIVAL 2009 ION International Film Festival is a touring festival dedicated to promoting independent film, documentary, animation, original screenplays and music video. It honours and promotes individuals for their outstanding achievements while encouraging new artists to emerge. ION strives to bring awareness to individuals and organizations who are creating socially relevant films to positively impact our world. ION IFF LAGOS 09 is an opportunity to celebrate the local and international film talents as well as bringing international focus to the host city and country.

ION International Film Festival was established in 2004 by Chris David of Shout Studio and in 2007 it was acquired by the Farmani

Group. The Farmani Group is the founder of several charities and artrelated business and organization, including the award –winning VUE magazine, The Lucie Award (the Oscars of photography), Design Awards, Green Dot Awards, Hospitality Awards, International Photography Awards, Px3-PRIX DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE PARIS, London Creative Competition [LICC], Art For New York, Farmani Gallery, aNet Communication, Focus on AIDS, and FYI design.

Parminder Vir has over 20 years experience working with the BBC, ITV, Channel Four and Carlton Television. Her credits include Babymother, a reggae musical, with acclaimed documentaries such as Algeria Women at War, and The Sex Warriors and the Samurai.

Parminder is the Managing Director of PVL Media Consultants which specializes in accessing multi cultural markets and raising private equity finance for film and media businesses. She is also a non executive director of Goldcrest Films. In 2007, she founded the Mayfair Media Club, a network of media financiers, business and creative entrepreneurs where creativity meets business. Parminder is also on the board of several organizations working in various capacities as director or non executive director. Some of the organizations include Screen Writers festival, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Patron of Skillset, Young Vic Theatre, UK India Business Council and TiE Charter.

Vidya carries 45 kg boy on shoulder Vidya Balan had to carry a boy weighing 45 kg on her shoulders in her forthcoming film “Paa.” “In a scene, Vidya had to shoot with a child who is playing the younger version of Amitabh Bachchan in the film. The scene required Vidya to carry him on her shoulders,” said a source.

'Vidya weighs 45 kg and so did the boy. Vidya carried him on her shoulders nevertheless.

Suddenly there was this loud

thud and people saw that she had lost balance and fallen on the ground along with the boy.

The actress still completed the shot,' added the source.

'Paa', slated for a Dec 4 release, revolves around a father-son relationship. While Abhishek Bachchan plays the father, Amitabh Bachchan will be seen as his son who is suffering from a rare disorder called progeria.

Deepika to star opposite Imran

film receive the same appreciation abroad? Let us wait for its release in English to know!

Deepika Padukone, who recently split with Ranbir Kapoor, will star opposite his closest friend Imran Khan in a film produced by Kunal Kohli. The film is the directorial debut of Danish Aslam, Kunal's assistant.

A source says, “Post her breakup with Ranbir, Deepika is taking on more and more assignments to keep herself busy. She

now wants to focus on her career and make all the right moves. She has signed films with Ashutosh Gowariker and Yash Raj Films.

Danish’s film, which is jointly produced by Kunal Kohli and Big Pictures, is anoth-

er big film in her kitty. Deepika is very excited about it. She chose to sign the film despite Imran being Ranbir’s close friend as she has moved on. She doesn’t want to mix her personal life with her professional life.”

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

21

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BollyKats The real Katrina is a hyper person Katrina Kaif claims that she is an extremely hyper person in real life, eventhough she is famous for playing demure roles in reel life.

"I make up for my tiredness by getting hyper. If you see me on my movie sets I am very hyper, in fact during the shooting of a song for 'New York' I was jumping so much that the director told me to tone down my energy," said Katrina.

The 25-year-old actress is pepped up for the release of her

upcoming comedy flick 'De Dhana Dan' where she will be seen opposite one of her favourite co-stars Akshay Kumar.

"It's been a year and a half since me and Akshay worked together as I think the audience deserved a break from our pairing. ‘De Dhana Dan’ is an out and out comedy and a perfect film to end the year," Katrina said.

The actress is riding high after the success of her latest release 'Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahani' but gives the entire credit to the director.

"Shooting for the film was like a school as me and Ranbir would watch him do the scene before we actually shot it. The credit for the film's success goes to Raj Kumar Santoshi,"

she said.

Katrina is perturbed by a recent report of a fake marriage certificate prepared in Indore that suggested her to be the better half of a local BJP MLA Ramesh Mendola.

"The police are going to arrest him and I hope they do. I will support the police in whatever way I can," she said.

Mallika Sherawat in Hollywood film on Obama

Mallika Sherwat is all set to star in a film based on the US President Barack Obama.

This will be her second Hollywood project after Jennifer Lynch’s “Hissss.”

The film by Doug McHenry is a romantic political comedy - Love, Barack.

The film tracks the romance between a Democratic campaign volunteer and her Republican counterpart in the run-up to last year's US presidential election.

The film has Mallika's character Aretha Gupta inspired by Kamala Harris, the attorney general of San Francisco.

Sherawat is working hard

for that thick American accent for her role in the film, which has an all-American cast.

Mallika writes on Twitter: "Kamala is a great inspiration and to play a part inspired by her is an actress's dream. I will B 'shadowing' Harris to research my new movie. It's an amazing role. I'm working hard at. I'm ready, " adding: " One of the great things about western cinema is the diversity of female roles."

Gary Goldstein, famed for co-producing the Julia Roberts- Richard Gere blockbuster “Pretty Woman,” has scripted “Love, Barack.”

Bollywood filmmaker Govind Menon is co-producing the

film along with Hollywood producer and William Keenan's company Nuclear Mango. Kamala happens to be the first woman district attorney to be elected in San Francisco and the first AfricanAmerican elected as district attorney in California.

She is also a candidate for the prestigious post of the attorneygeneral of California in 2010.

“Love, Barack” had hit the floors in Los Angeles on January 13 this year.

There is nothing vulgar about my backless shot: Kareena There is nothing “vulgar” about my backless shot being used for publicity posters in “Kurbaan,” says Kareena Kapoor. In fact, she says, it subtly reveals a lot about the story.

"This shot of me in a backless posture and Saif with a wound on his chest tell so much about the film's theme, " Kareena said.

"There is love, passion and violence - all combined in here and what better way than to show it through a single still? You too would agree that there is nothing sleazy or vulgar about it. Knowing the sensibilities of Karan Johar (producer) and Rensil D'Silva (director), that's the least one could have expected, " she added.

Kareena said that after Geet in "Jab We Met", her

character of Avantika in "Kurbaan" will make people sit up and take notice.

"The girl's role has a lot

of edge in 'Kurbaan', something which starts becoming more and more visible as the film unfolds. In any

case the film is not one of those cliched love stories.

Every character has quite a few layers to it and Avantika, the character I play, is no exception. She is quite pivotal to 'Kurbaan', " she said.

Kareena plays a professor in "Kurbaan" who gets married to her colleague, played by Saif Ali Khan.

They move to New York after marriage, but as a series of events unfold she finds herself into a vortex of danger and intrigue.

She realises that she is a pawn in a huge game and no one could be trusted.

"What made this role special is the fact that I play this young beautiful professor who is quite normal. She reacts to terrorism for the first time and life is never the same again for her, " she said.

A drama thriller by Dharma Productions, Kurbaan is a flick that has raised quite a bit of curiosity, as the lead cast has Saif Ali Khan and Kareena, also a couple in real life. They have given some real intense, hot shots in the film.

Produced by Karan and Hiroo Johar, Kurbaan is directed by Rensil D’Silva.

Avantika is a teacher in a university in Delhi.

She has come back from New York where she teaches, because her father has suffered a heart attack.

During this period, she meets a temporary Professor called Ehsaan Khan. Soon they begin seeing each other and love blossoms. A few months later, Avantika receives a call from her university in New York, asking her to come back for the Fall Semester.

Avantika breaks the news to Ehsaan. He in turn, tells her he doesn't mind coming to the States with her, to find a job. But first they need to get married.

Soon after the marriage, they leave to start a new life in New York. They buy a house in an Indian neighbourhood and move in. Just as they are setting up home, their conservative Muslim neighbours, Hamid and Anjum, invite them over for dinner. The next morning, Salma, one of the women Avantika met the night before at the dinner, visits her under the pretext of gifting her sweets. When Avantika invites her in, Salma tells her that she is in grave danger. Nothing is what it seems. Salma pleads with Avantika to help her. What follows next, is a series of incidents that sucks Avantika into a vortex of danger and intrigue. As her life spirals out of control, Avantika realizes that she is a pawn in a huge game. And no one is to be trusted.

The lead cast of Kurbaan consists of Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Kiron Kher, Om Puri, Rupinder Nagra and Diya Mirza.

Karan Johar has written the story, while Rensil D’Silva has the credit for the screenplay.

Anurag Kashyap and Niranjan Iyengar have written the dialogues.

Salim and Sulaiman Merchant have scored the music, while Niranjan Iyengar and Irfan Siddique have penned the lyrics. Playback is by Kareena Kapoor, Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, Kailash Kher, Sukhwinder Singh, Salim Merchant, Marianne D'Cruz, Vishal Dadlani and Shruti Pathak.

New Hindi movies releasing this week 1. Kurbaan 2. Marega Salla

Top 5 Bollywood movies for the week ended 12th November No. Film 1 2 3 4 5

No. Last Week Ajab Prem ki Ghazzab New Kahani Jail New London Dreams 1 All The Best 4 Wake up Sid 3

Total weeks 2 2 2 4 7

22

INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

Britain based Indians in freedom struggle – A century ago

BY VISHNU PANDYA (end of the story) If you are passing by in the High gate area of London, a three storey building is still very much there, a monumental witness to the Indian freedom struggle. It still caries the name plate “India House” on the door. Those Indians now settled in Britain know of one “India House”, which is the office of the Indian High Commission at Aldwych.

But here, we are talking of the historic place called “India House”, which was in real sense a house for a huge number of Indian patriots, the ambassadors of the country’s freedom struggle.

First, let us revisit a few names: A trio of Indian nationalists had formed ranks to oppose the division of Bengal. The

trio was known as “LalBal-Pal”. Two of them, Lala Lajpatrai and Bipinchandra Pal were one of those who stayed in India House. Bal, the third member – Bal Gangadhar Tilak or Lokmanya Tilak had sent many good wishes to the India House. He was perhaps present in India House through his representative, Vir Savarkar, a Maharashtrian youth. Tilak, in a letter, had written to Pandit Shyamji Krishna Varma, the founder of India House Vir was a brilliant young man had the potential to be a key figure in the struggle.

Vir Savarkar has written in his memoirs that Gui-de-Aldred also brought Lenin there. They met Pandit Shyamji Krishna Varma, and later went to meet the Irish

leader de Velera.

The Russian author of the novel ‘Mother’ a brilliant journalist and leading literary personality, Maxim Gorki had a lot of love and immense respect for Panditji. He even described him as India’s Mezini. Panditji was invited by him to write in Gorki’s newspapers ‘Russian Democracy’ and ‘Foreign News’. He even had the French national anthem ‘The song of the Falcon’ translated by Madam Cama. The details of Gorki’s visit to India House are oblivious now.

The list of Western (British, American, French, German) leaders who were in touch with India House is pretty long - they were all active fighting for the independence of India.

Continued on Page 30

Air India passengers left high and dry, get luggage after 2 days London-Mumbai-Ahmedabad flight took off, leaving luggage of 80 passengers behind India’s national flag carrier, Air India is losing its market share continuously since the Indian skies were thrown open to private airlines. And one need not look too far for the reasons. Inept services, over booking and off loading, missing luggage are a few of the causes that have pushed passengers to fly with other airlines.

Just last week, almost 80 passengers of London – Mumbai – Ahmedabad flight were harassed immensely, as the flight took off from London without their luggage on Friday. The flight arrives Saturday early morning after a long halt at Mumbai. After some angry representations from the passengers, the airline staff at Ahmedabad airport told them that their luggage will be brought by next day’s flight.

The system for making available such missing luggage is so much passenger unfriendly that those who go through such an experience would perhaps swear not to travel with the airline any more.

In a recent case, though the luggage of the passengers had arrived early Sunday morning at Ahmedabad, they were asked to collect it only after 10 am Monday.

When questioned, the airline staff said since it is a Sunday, the customs staff is not available as they have no duties that day.

The situation becomes untenable for the harried passengers, as due to security concerns, the rules for hand baggage have become very strict.

At times, passengers are

even forced to put their medicines for daily use and other such important things in the booked luggage. Apart from this, many people who may have come just in time for engagements, marriages or such other social occasions will also be put in a real spot. In any case, whoever is the victim of such a situation has to buy atleast some new clothes and all that. Moreover, those who have to go to other places are also put in

staff is available on Sundays. If that is so, than what about scheduled flights that arrive or depart on Sundays? Are the passengers being allowed to travel without the customs check? In any case, special circumstances need special solutions and the Airlines, Customs as well as the Airport authorities need to work out a way to be still more traveler friendly, especially after the passengers are subjected to prob-

a peculiar situation, as they have to return again at Ahmedabad/Mumbai or to whichever city they have landed for collecting the luggage.

The airline even does not make any arrangement for such passengers who may have to stay put for a hotel accommodation.

The airline should atleast see to it that in such a case, the luggage should be delivered to the passenger at whatever place they want, or as an alternative, make arrangements for their stay till they get their luggage. The airline and the customs authorities should also work out some system to facilitate the harried passengers to ensure that those who are just waiting for the luggage should get it immediately as it arrives, irrespective of the time and day, be it Sunday.

It also sounds a bit ridiculously, even unbelievable that no customs

lems for which they are simply not responsible.

Even the regulators – the DGCA in case of India need to be stricter towards the authorities who may be at fault. The airlines slap hefty charges for any extra service that the passengers may seek, including changing their travel plans. They however, take no liability for any acts of omissions or commissions of their own. Even the airports are nowadays levying hefty charges in the name of development of passenger amenities which are passed on to the passengers.

But the sad reality is that the airlines or other responsible authorities get away with all the deficiencies in their services as very rarely do passengers complain about the services and seek appropriate compensation or take the matter to the logical conclusion, including fighting a case against the defaulter.

In divine light

BY RAJEN VAKIL

Dhritarashtra – the blind king…

We relate to the world around us in two ways, experiencing life as a dual entity; one, the physical side of us that experiences everything through the five senses, the other that distances itself from its immediate perceptions, and sees things through the mind. The objective of all spiritual “sadhna” or meditation is to awaken ourselves to this psychological facet, to witness and master its workings. To do this, we must move away from our ordinary sensual form of thinking.

The Mahabharata is one of the world’s greatest scriptures and its passages are full of layers of deeper and esoteric meaning. The scriptures use words to indicate something beyond words and what is read is merely the surface and cannot be taken literally. An important example is the depiction of the Kaurava king, Dhritarashtra.

The text tells us that “Dhritarashtra is blind” and our habitual reliance on our external senses tell us that he must actually be visuallyi m p a i re d .

Television programmes don’t help; they show a king who is literally without sight. A text as deep and sublime as the Mahabharata would not only mean so much.

Is it possible that we are thinking only of the obvious and missing the vital? Even Jesus preached through parables. In itself, the literal meaning of each parable is very ordinary but wearing our psychological cap, we can penetrate into the heart of deeper mysteries of the parables. For this, we have to move away from our normal sensual thinking to a new form of psychological thinking, which tries to feel the meaning beyond the written word.

In the Mahabharata, the key to understanding each character lies in the meaning of their name and its Sanskrit derivation. “Dhritarashtra” is derived from “dhrita” - to hold on to - and “rashtra” - kingdom, literally translating into “he who holds on to his kingdom”.

Suddenly all is clear: Dhritarashtra feels the

world around him only sensually, not psychologically, and “holds on to” his physical perceptions, believing them to be true.

He is “blind” to the whole other world inside of him.

The most valuable and subtle substance in our lives is our attention.

Attention comes from within, and to understand its source and work with it, is to realise the deepest mystery of life.

Attention is our divine light and it allows the senses to keep working, yet delves deeper.

Attention can move both in and out of us, and when it moves out, is governed by the law of attraction and repulsion.

The essence of our spiritual journey is to free Attention from the shackles of this law, only possible by sending it back in.

Our attention is drawn out of us by desire; desire for things, attachment to people and material; a never-ending process that eventually drains us. At the moment of supreme attachment, we are truly blind.

As we grip to our possessions, our inner psychic kingdom is flooded with darkness. Sage Patanjali calls this the state of “avidya” or absence of light. We are now internally blind and our condition is the same as that of Dhritarashtra.

Dhritarashtra has 100 sons. These sons are the hundred tendencies that bind him (and us) into sensual reality and hypnotise our attention outwards into millions of distractions that surround us.

Inner blindness means that we cannot see the working of our psychic nature. What would we see if we could?

If we could peep inside, here are a few snapshots of the world inside us:

• Our inner demons of pride and vanity at play • Our lies to ourselves and the world around us; “behold, how good a person am I” • The inner urge to be right all the time • Leaves from our accounting books, with accurate descriptions and reasons how people have fallen short in their goodness towards us • How affected we are, how violent and restless we become by what others say of us • How our anger hypnotises us • Our long lists of judgement and blame for others, but no responsibility for ourselves, about where our life is headed • The heady taste of revenge, and our plans for it inside and our virtuous faces outside • Our indignation at an insult; “I’m not valued enough, he doesn’t know better” • All the noise in our mind - inner chatter and clutter, which hypnotises us to every thought and emotion

• The faults that we see in others being actually our own. As Jesus said “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”

This, then, is the Dhritarashtra within.

When this reaches epidemic levels, our actions are those of Duryodhana, Dhrithrasthra’s eldest son and biggest weakness, the fruit of his inner blindness.

The first step in our spiritual journey would be to wake up to this blind mind of ours (Dhritarashtra), bring in a ray of consciousness and through that ray of consciousness, become a witness to its working. In the shastras, this is called as “sakshi”.

INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

H K Dua, Javed Akhtar to be nominated to RS

Gujarat to have 50% seats reserved for women in local bodies The Narendra Modi government last week decided to reserve 50 per cent seats for women in all the local bodies. The government will bring a Bill to this effect in the next Assembly session.

Gujarat will be the sixth state to have 50 per cent quota for women in such bodies after Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Briefing media persons after the weekly Cabinet meeting, government

spokesman Jay Narayan Vyas said the decision follows an initiative taken by the Chief Minister towards woman empowerment.

Recently, the state BJP’s executive committee had passed a resolution to provide 50 per cent reservation for women in the local self-government bodies, he added.

Meanwhile, sources in the state Urban Development and Panchayat departments said the bodies include all the seven municipal corporations — Ahmedabad,

Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and Junagadh — the 159 municipalities, 26 district panchayats, 224 taluka panchayats and 13,600 village panchayats.

The government is already providing 33 per cent reservation for women in these bodies, a senior Panchayat official said.

The official added that the 50 per cent representation for women was one of the recommendations incorporated in a report on the proposed electoral

reforms suggested by the State Election Commission recently. The Commission is likely to submit this report to the government shortly.

Leader of the Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil told a local English daily: “The Congress-led UPA government had, at its recent Cabinet meeting, passed a resolution to provide 50 per cent reservation for women in these bodies across the country.

Modi is just following the Congress policy to empower women.”

Canadian PM Stephen Harper in India, to visit Golden Temple Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on his first visit to India since Monday, would arrive in Amritsar on Wednesday, 18th November for paying a visit to the holiest of Sikh shrines, Golden temple.

Harper will reach Amritsar in a special flight and drive straight to the shrine around noon. The Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Deputy and Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal would receive him at the airport and

then accompany him to the shrine complex.

Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) President Avtar Singh Makkar said that Stephen Harper is scheduled to be in the shrine for about one hour. After paying obeisance at Harmandar Sahib, the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine, he will be shown the shrine complex.

He will also visit the 'Langar' (community kitchen) hall where hun-

dreds of devotees partake traditional food after praying at the shrine.

"All arrangements have been made for the PM's visit here," an official of the Canadian high commission in India said in Amritsar.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Punjab Police and central forces have worked out security arrangements for Harper's visit. Nearly 40 RCMP officials are camping in Amritsar.

Harper will be accom-

panied by a delegation of Canadian officials, members of the Canadian parliament and other leaders during the visit.

Canada is home to a big population of immigrants from Punjab. A number of immigrants from here now hold top political and administrative positions in Canada.

Canada has several ‘gurdwaras’ (Sikh shrines) and Punjabi is officially recognised as a language in some provinces of Canada.

CJI admits favouritism rampant in HC judges’ selections In a damning admission of past malpractices in selection of judges to High Courts, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan on Friday said the bright and meritorious among District Judges were seldom appointed as judges of HCs. Chief Justices of HCs have been used to following a pick and choose policy to push their favoured candidates, the CJI said. “The anamoly has been corrected. Whenever a vacancy in a High Court arises, we now follow a policy to consider all District Judges who have not crossed the

age of 58.5 years,” Justice Balakrishnan said.

"By scrupulously adhering to this policy we have eliminated the grievance of the District Judges," the CJI said while sitting on a Bench also comprising Justices P Sathasivam and Deepak Verma.

Senior advocate P P Rao, appearing for two District Judges, was expressing his clients' grievance that they had not been considered for the post of High Court judges. He asked if there was a policy to ensure equity, would it not be better that the judiciary adopt

it as a written rule.

The CJI said: "Earlier, HC CJs used to delay recommending names of District Judges and waited for seniors among them to retire so as to forward names of their favoured one. But now each and every District Judge who has not crossed the age of 58.5 years is taken in the zone of consideration for elevation as HC judges."

The CJI was against making the policy a written rule. He said: "There are a lot of advocates who are appointed to the HCs as judges. Could we possibly frame a written policy

23

regarding the manner in which their names are considered? Then every advocate would file a petition alleging that his name had not been considered for the post of HC judge."

"By scrupulously following the new policy we have brought in reasonableness, which was not there earlier.

The selection process has been streamlined. But, no one has a right to get promotion. They have a right to be considered for the post. When the right to promotion is absent, there could not be a service rule or written policy regarding that," he clarified.

Lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar (husband of actress and activist S h a b a n a Azmi), eminent journalist H K Dua, Prof CNR Javed Akhtar H K Dua Rao (chairman of the scientific fields like literature, sciadvisory council to the ence, art or social service."

PM), and former ISRO The practice of nominatchairman G Madhavan ing MPs to the upper Nair are being nominated house began in 1952 and to the Rajya Sabha, the like all Rajya Sabha memgovernment said on bers one-third nominated Monday. members must retire every The four have been two years. picked up in place of Javed Akhtar received Hema Malini, Dara Singh, the Padma Bhushan in Dr Chandan Mitra and Dr 2007 and the Padmashri Narain Singh Manaklao, in 1999. His wife, actress whose term expired in Shabana Azmi, was a August. K Kasturirangan Rajya Sabha member from and Bimal Jalan too 1997 to 2003. HK Dua retired in August, but the was the Editor of various government is yet to English newspapers of decide on who will fill in prominence, including their vacancies.

‘The Times of India’, Under article 80 of the ‘Hindustan Times’ and Constitution, the ‘The Indian Express.’ At President of India nomipresent, he is leading the nates 12 members to the editorial team of ‘The Rajya Sabha for a term of Tribune’.

A Padma six years. Nominated Bhushan, he has also members should have served as media adviser to "special knowledge or former PMs HD Deve practical experience in Gowda and AB Vajpayee.

A Bangalore Nanny renting out baby to beggars A shocking incident of a nanny sedating a seven month old baby with the aim of renting him out to beggars was exposed in Bangalore recently. A working couple who had hired a nanny to look after their son, were taken aback when one day the mother of the kid came home early, only to find the nanny viewing TV, while the toddler was not there.

The couple did not file a police complaint, but the matter is being investigated. According to the details of this horrifying incident, the couple had hired the nanny from an employment agency, thinking it safer than to

entrust the baby with her.

But an organised gang or beggars had approached the nanny and offered her Rs. 100 per day.

The nanny used to feed the kid with sedatives after the couple would leave for their job in the morning.

She would also dress the kid with rags instead of the clothes meant for him. The kid would be returned before his parents come back.

It's only then that the parents realized why their son was drowsy and inactive in the evenings - he was being sedated everyday but for weekends when the parents would be home.

Nitin Gadkari is RSS choice as BJP chief

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Rajnath may quit the party post early, has eyes on UP

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After RSS boss Mohan Bhagwat having openly called for a young leader who is not a Delhite for BJP Presidentship, Nitin Gadkari of Maharashtra has emerged as the man tipped to succeed Rajnath Singh, the current incumbent.

Rajnath in turn, is understood to be ready to move out quickly, as he senses trouble in his home state, Uttar Pradesh. As Kalyan Singh, shunted out

by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is indicated of his interest in returning to BJP, Rajnath feels he now needs to focus more on UP BJP, as there is nothing much left for him in the party at the nation-

Nitin Gadkari

al level.

Rajnath has reportedly expressed his reservations about Kalyan’s comeback into the party. Leaders like Vinay Katiyar are ready to welcome Kalyan back into the party, but Rajnath supporters have cited reasons given by leaders like for-

mer Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kesari Nath Tripathi warning against any move to take him back into the party.

Rajnath’s future, according to sources, would revolve around three coordinates — Hindutva, his home state of Uttar Pradesh and farmers’ cause. Rajanth, who counted his proximity to a section of RSS leadership as his biggest strength, would never like to cede the Hindutva constituency to any other leader.

Kalyan’s possible return to the party fold, or Murli Manohar Joshi’s elevation in the party set-up could change precisely this, add sources.

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24

INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

Terrorist Headley has more Bollywood links Pope invites Another of Bhatt family, Emraan Hashmi also met him Mahesh Bhatt, Pooja Global peace is the agenda for discussion. Pope is holding a meeting with artists from across the world at the Sistine chapel on 21st November. Indian filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and his actress, producer daughter Pooja Bhatt have got the invitation from the Vatican to join almost a group of 500. Mahesh says he and is daughter are the only ones from India to have got the invitation.

“There is a discord between the church and the artist community for quite some time now. The church wants to begin a process to have an intense interaction with the artist community so that both can contribute together in terms of global peace,” added Bhatt, who has helmed films like Arth, Saaransh, Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke and Zakhm, among others.

Taj loses top spot The Monument to Love seems to be struggling to keep the romance going.

Taj Mahal has been eclipsed

by Rajasthan’s palaces and forts and Kerala’s backwaters in an international survey that rated the world’s top 133 must-see sites.

The survey by National Geographic Society’s Center for Sustainable Destinations has ranked Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri, all put together, 30th on its list of dream destinations, way behind Rajasthan at 19th and the Kerala hotspots at 23rd.

Occupying the top spot is Norway’s Fjords region, followed by British Columbia and Quebec in Canada.The survey said Rajasthan had a strong sense of cultural identity and remarkable appeal and mystique.

Kerala’s lakes, rivers and canals present a unique travel and cultural experience for visitors when they sail

through them on houseboats, the survey says.

The study addresses fears of environmental degradation in the backwaters because of the visitor rush, saying the number of boats is not so large to cause damage. On Agra, the survey sounds a wakeup call: the three World Heritage sites of the Taj, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri are in dire need of environmental planning.

The survey says the townscape lies in utter neglect, suggesting poor management by the civic authorities and the Uttar Pradesh government, though it points out that some things are getting better at the sites because of the hard work of heritage activists.

David Coleman over.

Headley, the Sources have American who was revealed David on a terror mission Coleman Headley to India, has more first met with Bollywood links.

Emraan Hashmi at a After Mahesh pub in Bandra in Bhatt’s on Rahul 2008. Cousin Rahul Bhatt, it has emerged Bhatt introduced that Emraan Hashmi Rahul Bhatt Headley to Emraan had also met him, so had Hashmi. Headley again starlet Kangana Ranaut. met Hashmi on the sets of Though Rahul Bhatt is ‘Woh Lamhe’. There he believed not to be guilty of was also introduced to anything serious, he has Kangana Ranaut. been asked by the Rahul Bhatt is under National Investigative scanner for links with Agency (NIA) not to leave Headley and his associate Mumbai till the probe is Tahawwur Hussain Rana

Air India pilots to go on strike again As the long pending issue of timely payment of PLI for Air India’s pilots remain unresolved yet, the ICPA, representing the pilots have said on Tuesday that their plans to go on strike from November 24 remains effective.

ICPA general secretary R S Otaal told a news agency in Mumbai that the Air India management does not seem to be serious in resolving our issues which include payment of productivity-linked incentives (PLI) pending for the past three months. They said this after a meeting with NACIL CMD Arvind Jadhav.

Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), the non-executive pilots body of the erstwhile Indian Airlines is agitated over the continuous deferment of salary allowances for the past 4-5 months. The meeting between ICPA representatives and the management of the national carrier lasted for nearly two hours on Tuesday.

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who are in the custody of FBI for terror conspiracy against Indian targets.

National Investigation Agency may also question Hashmi in this regard.

matter of national security and the family will give whatever details it has to the investigators," Hashmi said.

According to the NIA,

Rahul Bhatt has been asked by NIA not to move out of Mumbai On Friday, in Chandigarh, Hashmi, the leading man in many of Bhatt's films as also the latest ‘Tum Mile’, said the family was willing to provide full cooperation.

"I spoke to Mahesh Bhatt and he said this is a

Headley and Rana closely knew eight Bollywood personalities, including two actresses.

The NIA believes that they were introduced to the film personalities by Rahul Bhatt, son of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.

India, Iran discuss terror from Pakistan, gas pipeline The foreign ministers of India and Iran on Monday held wide-ranging talks about terrorism emanating from Pakistan while Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reportedly reiterated New Delhi's commitment to take forward the threenation gas pipeline also involving Pakistan.

India’s External Affairs Minister S M Krishna held delegationlevel talks with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki on a range of bilateral and regional issues, including energy security, trade, Iran's nuclear ambitions and enhanced collaboration in science and technology.

The volatile situation in Afghanistan and the role of Pakistan-based terrorist outfits in fomenting unrest in the region domi-

Manmohan Singh (R) speaks with Manouchehr Mottaki (L) during their meeting in New Delhi on Monday

nated the discussions, said diplomatic sources.

Iran sought greater cooperation with India in countering terrorism.

A horrific suicide attack in southeast Iran in October targeted the country's Revolutionary Guards and was blamed on Pakistan-based Jundallah, a Sunni extremist outfit which

claimed responsibility. It was the first time terror outfits in Pakistan targeted Iranian territory.

As Iran and India share common interests in Afghanistan, they also discussed joint infrastructure projects like the deep sea port of Chabahar and a rail link to provide better connectivity for Afghanistan to Central Asia.

A better Omen for Lankan Tamils, perhaps Continued from page 1 which will surely ruin the victory attained,” he said.

Fonseka is believed to have clashed with the president and his brother, who is defence minister, in a wrangle over who should take credit for the victory over the rebels.

Now, after he was relieved of his army job in an undue show of urgency, the opposition parties, including Tamil parties may possibly prop him up as their candidate for the Presidential polls, likely to be held in Sri Lanka in early 2010.

Political analysts feel Fonseka’s entry into politics is inevitable. “He is certainly entering politics.

It is an irreversible process for him now," Sumanasiri Liyanage, a political science professor at the University of Peradeniya, told a news agency.

Some observers saw the prospect of a Fonseka challenge as being behind President Mahinda Rajapakse's weekend decision to delay the announcement of dates for elections next year.

In July, Fonseka was moved from his role as head of the army to chief of defence staff -- a more ceremonial position that has no command responsibility.

He announced his resignation last week in a bitter letter that read like an election manifesto, criticising the government on

"People now have a feeling that a military leader will ensure a cleaner government, but I feel Fonseka's entry into politics would be a danger to democracy," Purasinghe said.

Human rights activist and lawyer Nimalka Fernando said Fonseka's split with the government

a host of policy fronts.

Fonseka also accused his political bosses of corruption, violating human rights, stifling media freedom and suppressing political dissent.

Analysts say Fonseka would pose a formidable challenge at the ballot box, especially if he could unite opposition parties behind his candidacy.

"Boosting the image of the military has boomeranged on the government," said Terrance Purasinghe, political science lecturer at Sri Jayewardenepura University.

had strengthened the hand of those clamouring for improved human rights, at least in the short term.

"It is an irony of ironies that Fonseka is talking about human rights when he was our target of attack in the past," Fernando said.

Victor Ivan, political commentator for the weekly "Ravaya" newspaper, said the country's fractured opposition saw in Fonseka a candidate they could unite behind.

"But there is no guarantee that they will be able to have any hold on him if he wins," he warned.

! President’s fears of a coup led to his sidelining, claims retd. Army chief ! Fonseka is most likely to fight Presidential elections with opposition support

25

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

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26

WORLD

Africa Focus Kenyan MPs admit of local youths recruited to fight in Somalia Nairobi: Kenyan MPs have confirmed that Kenyans are being recruited to fight on behalf of the Transitional Federation Government of Somalia. A senior government official had admitted that he found out that 42 youths from his constituency had been recruited but were intercepted at Mwingi Town on their way to Manyani for training, they said.

A man who had been coordinating the recruitment has since gone underground, said the MP, who asked not to be named. Internal Security permanent secretary Francis Kimemia told Kenyan newspaper ‘The Nation’ on Sunday that under the agreement between Kenya and the Somali government, the neighbouring nation was to identify its citizens and hand them to Kenya for training.

Contradictory reports suggest that youths of ethnic Somali community who are Kenyan residents are being recruited to fight the Islamist insurgents in Somalia for the country’s UN backed government.

Somali is the name of the ethnic community spread out from north eastern Kenya, to Somalia. “We got to know of the youths we had accidentally recruited by their parents. Some thought it was normal recruitment for the Kenyan police and realised later they were going to fight for Somalia,” said Mr Kimemia. He could not be reached on Monday as it remained unclear why the youths were conscripted into the army at Garissa Primary School and taken to the boot camp at Manyani. Thousands of people, including children, are being secretly recruited and trained inside Kenya to battle Islamic insurgents in neighboring Somalia, according to deserters, local officials, families of recruits and diplomats. Most recruits are Somalis living in crowded refugee camps and Kenyan nationals who are ethnic Somalis living nearby.

Spokesmen from the Kenyan government, police and military, as well as the Somali chief of military staff, have denied that the government is recruiting fighters within Kenya. But interviews showed that recruiting has been taking place for months and that different government agencies and military resources, including vehicles with government license plates, have been involved.

A U.N. official says there have been rumors but no hard evidence of recruitment in refugee camps, which would violate the rights of the refugees.

Probe ordered into death of ex-army chief of Uganda Kampala: Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has ordered a police investigation into the death of exarmy chief James Kazini.

Maj Gen Kazini's girlfriend has confessed to killing him with an iron bar in a fight at her flat last week. The investigation has been ordered because of suspicion that it was not a domestic violence, but a planned assassination. The general was sacked as army chief in 2003 after UN accusations he plundered resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo when leading operations there. "The police... should easily establish whether the murder was due to an accident or deliberate," Mr Museveni said at the general's funeral at a cathedral in the capital, Kampala. He asked the police to find out whether Maj Gen Kazini's girlfriend acted alone or with a group of people, the Daily Monitor newspaper reports.

Jacob Zuma wins ‘Africa's Best President’ title Johannesburg: South African President Jacob Zuma has been awarded the title of 'Best African President' for his role in the country's struggle for liberation and his contributions for the continent at large, a media report said. Zuma was felicitated last week at the Africa Consciousness Media Leadership Awards organised to honour African individuals who have contributed towards the liberation and development of the continent.

Speaking at the event Zuma encouraged fellow leaders to keep their promises made to the people and work together to ensure sustainable development.

‘As Africa's leaders, we have pledged to our people that we will strive for the eradication of poverty, disease and conflict. We have pledged to promote trade, investment, economic growth, skills development and stability on the continent,' he said. He urged African leaders to use partnership agreements as the instruments to advance the cause of the continent and work for the unity of the African people at all times.

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

China can play major role in improving Indo-Pak ties: Obama Beijing: The United States thinks that China could play an important role in improving relationship between India and Pakistan. This is what emerges from a remark made by US President Barack Obama and the joint statement issued by the two governments in Beijing on Tuesday.

The US and China have agreed to work together to bring about “stable and peaceful relations in all of South Asia,” Obama said during his joint briefing with Chinese president Hu Jintao in Beijing. Hu, who spoke first in the briefing, did not mention Pakistan or South Asia.

“They (US and China) support the efforts of Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight terrorism, maintain domestic stability and achieve sustainable economic and social development, and support the improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan,” the joint statement said.

This is a rare occasion when a US president has acknowledged that Beijing has a role to play in the

Australian jailed for attacking Indian taxi driver Melbourne: An Australian has been sentenced six years in jail for attacking an Indian taxi driver with knife, an incident that led to hundreds of cabbies blocking the Melbourne strrets last week.

Justice Elizabeth Curtain of a Melbourne court sentenced Parrish Charles to six-and-a-half years in jail, saying the stabbing was "random, unprovoked and frenzied" and the fact that the 45year-old attacker had a hunting knife hidden in his pants showed a degree of "premeditation".

The judge said the unprovoked and unexpected assault on 23-yearold Jalvinder Singh was terrifying and left Singh with ongoing mental and physical injuries that would change his life, media reports said last week.

Hu Jintao (R) stands alongside Barack Obama during the playing of the US National Anthem at a welcoming ceremony in Beijing on Tuesday.

India-Pakistan relationship. The move, if serious, runs counter to predictions of US foreign policy experts that the US would not acquiesce in a future Chinese hegemony in the region.

The question is whether the US was pressurized to give China a bigger role in the region in return for other favors in areas like the North Korean and Iranian nuclear issues. The India government, which has always opposed thirdparty intervention in India-Pakistan dialogue, is likely to be worried about

the new development.

The joint statement also shows Washington is agreeable to the idea of China playing a bigger role in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is another issue that can rattle New Delhi.

“The two sides are ready to strengthen communication, dialogue and cooperation on issues related to South Asia and work together to promote peace, stability and development in that region,”

also careful not to read too much into it. It is too early to judge the purpose behind the mention of India-Pakistan relations in the statement, an Indian official said.

A Chinese foreign ministry official later said the two leaders did not discuss specifics of the situation in South Asia because there was not much time available for that. There were a lot of other issues for them to discuss, he said.

Tibet belongs to China: US Chinese President Hu Jintao hailed US President Barack Obama's recognition of sovereignty issues dear to China, after a bilateral meeting in Beijing on Tuesday. ''China approves of President Obama's repeated reiteration of the one-China principle,'' Hu told reporters. Hu referred to China's ''sovereignty over Taiwan and other matters'' during a state visit in which some Western analysts had predicted that China would also demand an explicit declaration by Washington of China's sovereignty over the restive frontier regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. the joint statement further said explaining the parameters of US-China cooperation in the region.

The statement is bound to be examined closely at the Indian foreign ministry, which is

But the joint statement is the product of weeks of discussions between two sides and the US administration officials did approve the phrases concerning China’s role in South Asia.

Dawood is world’s 50th most powerful person Washington: Underworld don and India's most wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim is the 50th most powerful person in the world, according to the first-ever such list complied by the Forbes magazine. Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar has been ranked at no. 50 in Forbes list of 'The World's Most Powerful People'.

Describing Dawood as the 'boss of Mumbai-based organised crime syndicate D-Company', Forbes says he reputedly oversees international drug trafficking, counterfeiting, weapons smuggling; suspected Al Qaeda associate; the US declares him a global terrorist, UN tried to freeze his assets'.

Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is ranked at no. 36, just one

Dawood Ibrahim

notch above the world's most wanted terrorist and Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.

In compiling our first ranking of the World's Most Powerful People we wrestled with these questions - and many more before deciding to define power in four dimensions.

First, we asked, does the person have influence over lots of other people?

Then we assessed the

financial resources controlled by these individuals. Next we determined if they are powerful in multiple spheres. Lastly, we insisted that our choices actively use their power.

US President Barack Obama emerged, unanimously, as the world's most powerful person, and by a wide margin. But there were a number of surprises.

Former President George W Bush didn't come close to making the final cut, while his predecessor in the Oval Office, Bill Clinton, ranks 31st, ahead of a number of sitting heads of government. Apple's Steve Jobs easily made the list, while Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie star governor of California (alone, the world's fifth largest economy) did not.

More Americans studying abroad favour India Washington: India is among five nations that have emerged as key educational destinations for US students wanting to study abroad, a new survey said. With a record number of US students studying abroad, India along with China, Japan, South Africa and Argentina have emerged as the most favoured educational destinations.

According to the Open Doors 2009 survey by the Institute of International

Education released on Monday, the number of Americans studying abroad increased by 8.5 per cent to 262,416 in the 2007/08 academic year.

The survey shows that the number of students to nearly all of the top 25 destinations increased, notably to destinations less traditional for study abroad: China, Ireland, Austria and India (up about 20% each), as well as Costa Rica, Japan, Argentina and South Africa (up nearly 15% each).

At the same time, the number of international students at colleges and universities in the United States increased by 8% to an all-time high of 671,616 in the 2008/09 academic year while the number of 'new' international students - those enrolled for the first time at a US college or university in fall 2008 - increased by 16%.

This represents the largest percentage increase in international student enrolments since 1980/81.

According to separate joint survey conducted by eight leading higher education associations, overall enrolments of international students increased this autumn at half (50 per cent or 348) of responding member campuses.

For the first time, the number of institutions reporting increases in students from India do not outweigh those who are reporting declines (29 % reporting increases and 29% reporting declines).

PAKISTAN

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

Pak government may seek Interpol notice against Musharraf Lahore: The Pakistan government is considering a proposal to seek Interpol's red corner notice against ex-military ruler Pervez Musharraf in a bid to bring him back from abroad to face treason charges, days after he called party Pakistan People’s Party chief and president Asif Ali Zardari "a criminal and a fraud".

Musharraf's remarks about Zardari, made in an interview to New York magazine, have virtually united the PPP and main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on the issue of dealing with the former president, who has been living outside Pakistan since April.

"The government is seriously considering a proposal to ask Interpol to issue a (red corner notice for) Musharraf so that he can be brought back here and tried for violating Article 6 of the Constitution (which relates to treason)," PPP leader Raja Riaz, who is senior minister in the provincial government of Punjab, said.

PPP leaders had so far refrained from backing the demand for Musharraf to be brought back to Pakistan to face trial on charges of treason.

Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani had even hinted it might not be possible to put Musharraf on trial after main opposition

PML-N stepped up demands for action against him.

However, PPP leaders changed their stance after Musharraf harshly criticised Zardari.

During the interview, Musharraf said, "He

(Zardari will) do anything to save himself. He's not a patriot and he's got no love for Pakistan. He's a third-rater."

Musharraf also described Zardari as "a criminal and a fraud".

The PPP will hold protests against Musharraf across the country and will do whatever is possible to bring the former dictator back to Pakistan to face trial, party leaders said.

"In fact, Musharraf has invited his own destruction by maligning president Zardari and he will have to face the consequences. As long as even one PPP worker is alive, no one can harm Zardari," Riaz said.

agreed kickbacks may have led to the deaths of 11 French nationals in a 2002 terror attack in the port city of Karachi.

In Islamabad, a spokesman of the government has taken serious exception to the claims made by the daily.

The spokesman said the purchase of equipment by the Armed Forces of Pakistan is done through a proper competitive process under the supervision of the Ministry of

Defence.

Zardari was neither the President nor the Prime Minister nor the Defence Minister when the submarines were purchased, the spokesman said.

The then 'Admiral' responsible for this purchase was investigated by the Accountability Bureau but no allegation of misdoing could be established by the investigation authorities against Zardari, the spokesman added.

Pervez Musharraf

Zardari received millions as bribe in submarine deal, claims French daily

Paris/Islamabad: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari allegedly received millions of dollars in kickbacks for the purchase of three French submarines for the Pakistani Navy in 1994, a French daily has reported.

Citing documents acquired by it, the daily 'Liberation' last week claimed Zardari received $4.3 million in kickbacks from the sale of three Agosta-90 submarines for 825 million euros (currently $1.23 billion).

Pakistan to get 36 combat jets from China Lahore: China will provide al least 36 advance combat jets to Pakistan after both the countries have entered into a major defence deal worth 1.4 bn dollars.

According to a Pakistani official, China would supply two squadrons of J-10 fighter planes in a preliminary agreement. The number of jets could increase in future. The official added that Pakistan may acquire 'larger numbers' of jets, but, rejected reports that the number could be as large as 150.

Describing the deal as a 'landmark' agreement, experts have pointed out that there is a wider dimension to it.

"The agreement should not simply be seen in the narrow context of Pakistan's relations with China. There is a wider dimension. By sharing its advanced technology with Pakistan, China is also saying to the world that its defence capability is growing rapidly," The Daily Times quoted Abdul Qayyum, a retired Pakistani general, as saying.

China has been supplying fighter jets to Pakistan for over three decades.

Asif Ali Zardari

In addition, the daily said investigators believed that the non-payment of the full amount of the

China gave enriched uranium to Pak in 1982: A Q Khan

Washington: China had provided weapons-grade uranium to Pakistan in 1982, sufficient to make two atomic bombs, disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr A Q Khan said last week.

According to Dr. Khan's accounts in The Washington Post, the transfer of nuclear fuel was 'part of a broad-ranging, secret nuclear deal approved years earlier by Mao Zedong and Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto that culminated in an exceptional, deliberate act of proliferation by a nuclear power.'

"The uranium cargo came with a blueprint for a simple weapon that China had already tested,

supplying a virtual do-ityourself kit that significantly speeded Pakistan's bomb effort. The transfer also started a chain of proliferation," the newspaper quoted Khan, who is currently under house arrest in Pakistan, as saying.

"China sent Pakistan

15 tonnes of uranium hexafluoride (UF6), a feedstock for Pakistan's centrifuges, which were difficult to produce on our own. The gas enabled the laboratory to begin producing bomb-grade uranium in 1982. Chinese scientists helped the Pakistanis solve other nuclear weapons challenges, but as their competence rose, so did the fear of top Pakistani officials that Israel or India might pre-emptively strike key nuclear sites," he added.

The United States maintains that had information about the illegal nuke transfers between Pakistan and China, but has never raised the issue in public.

Peshawar: At least 19 people were killed and over 80 wounded on Friday when a bomber driving a car stuffed with explosives set it off near the office of the Pakistani spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in this North West Frontier Province capital and another suicide bomber

struck at a police station in the province's Bannu area.

Pakistan has been struck by a series of terror attacks since Oct 5, when the latest wave of violence was unleashed by Taliban which is battling the army in the rugged terrain of South Waziristan.

Peshawar itself has seen

seven attacks in this period, killing 214 people and injuring more than 400, including Friday's attack.

Peshawar had witnessed this year's worst terror attack on Oct 28 when a massive explosion in a crowded market killed 117 people and injured over 200.

Abdul Qadeer Khan

19 dead as suicide bombers target ISI, police station

27

Pak court again adjourns Mumbai terror trial Rawalpindi: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Monday adjourned till November 23 the trial of seven suspects, including Lashker-eTaiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, arrested for alleged involvement in the Mumbai attacks.

“The proceedings were adjourned till November 23 as the Punjab bar association elections are scheduled for Saturday,” Shahbaz Rajput, one of the defence lawyers, said.

Mr. Rajput said the Federal Investigation Agency had provided defence lawyers some of the documents that the accused had sought in applications filed with the anti-terrorism court.

Among these documents was the statement made to Indian authorities

by Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested for the Mumbai attacks.

“However, we have not received all the documents we had sought.

This may apparently take some time,” Mr. Rajput

said.

Sources said the accused have sought details of the charge-sheet framed against them by the FIA and other documents.

The last hearing of the matter, scheduled for November 14, was not held as Judge Malik Muhammad Akram Awan, who is hearing the case, was on leave.

The trial is being conducted at the heavily guarded Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi for security reasons.

The court has directed lawyers and others associated with the trial not to discuss details with the media and journalists are barred from covering the proceedings.

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Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

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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.

4. Asia House, 63 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP, Contact: 020 7307 5454 Pakistan Now presented by Asia House and Ylva Taseer, 12th November-8th December 5. Blue Ginger- 383 Kenton Road, Harrow HA3 0XS. Contact: 020 8909 0100 Christmas party 1pm10:30pm New Year party 8pm till late

6.

Blue Zenzer: Playgolf Northwick park Christams party booking- 280 Watford Road, Harrow HA1 3TZ Contact: 020 8864 2922 7. Vanik Association of the United Kingdom AGM, St James' hall, 236 Church Mitchan Lane, Streatham.

London SW16 6NT Saturday 5th Dec, 3:15pm to 5pm, Contact: 020 8677 0774 8. Chha Gam Nagrik Mandal UK, Bhadran, Dharmaj, Karamsad, Nadiad, Sojitra, Vaso Annual get together at SKLP centre, West End Road, Northolt UB5 6RE, Sunday 22nd Nov 09, 3pm, Contact: Dharmesh Desai 07775620023

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TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 The pattern of significant relationships in your life will continue to favour you. It seems that a great deal of mutual benefit will accrue because of various interactions. The underlying trend indicates that deep creative energies are stirring within you and that seemingly insignificant events and meetings will play a vital role in the future enrichment of life.

Your communications are GEMINI May 22 - June 22 at their peak and any initia-

tives you take now will be well received by people in authority. An exchange of opinions ought to prove very enlivening at this time. Although the very practical affairs of life continue to be highlighted, this does not mean that there will be all work and no play. In fact, you will be very much in demand socially.

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22 Extra energy and drive will serve you well in getting things accomplished, but try not to come on too strong when you deal with others. There appears to be a more successful trend coming into effect.

Amorous affairs continue to be highlighted - whether or not this leads to a lasting relationship depends much on your own personal maturity and circumstances.

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23 Keep your assertive inclination under control as conflict and disagreement could be sparked off. Make a very conscious attempt to stick to main priorities. Organise your time so that it is not taken up entirely by the demands of other people. You will continue to be in a restless mood for some time to come. This makes you impatient and even more determined to cut your own path.

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23 If you are involved in a fairly competitive field of activity, you will be the one who comes out on top. There is a definite expansive trend where money is concerned, so do not be surprised if this turns out be a time of fortunate opportunities and lucky breaks. Play your cards right and you can pull strings in you favour. Good time for cultivating a deeper rapport with your loved ones.

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23 You are likely to experience some tension in close relationships - it may be a time to take careful stock of things. There is a great deal to suggest that the power of destiny is very much in your own hand and that any major decision you make will have a profound effect on your future. However, you will need to focus on what is most important in your life, otherwise mistakes will be made.

An inspiring boost to matters of communication but make sure your curiosity on a range of topics does not lead to a scattering of mental energy. It seems that the winds of change begin to gather momentum and put a strong focus on domestic and family matters. The outlook remains optimistic as developments point the way forward and bring you a sense of real achievement.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

You should enjoy a very popular phase in your life where everyone wants to invite you to parties. This will give you a chance to meet people and pursue any romantic liaisons that might present themselves. Your communications are extremely high making it easy to close those lucrative deals. The more you live up to your own set of principles the more cash you’ll pull in.

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

Call 020 8518 5500 and face your future with confidence!

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It would be a mistake always to blame the other person if your experience and expectations of love turn out to be disappointing. It is said that if you do not learn from past experience you will be condemned to repeat it until you do learn.

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CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

You will feel energetic and confident as the week begins. Your thinking is inspired, so listen to your thoughts. This may be a time of expansion and improved opportunity and it would be unwise to let yourself become complacent. A good time for restructuring and rethinking your aims and interests. Affairs of the heart are likely to flourish.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19 Don't be afraid to act forcefully if your instinct tells you it's time for change. If you know your ground and are not afraid to stick your neck out, you can create your own opportunities. This week the focus is your house of family and home. Besides spending more time tending to domestic affairs, the focus can be on cultivating and nourishing your inner foundations, so to speak.

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20 A great deal will depend on how you organise your priorities this week. This does not mean that you will have to compromise your ideals but you may be obliged to realise that sometimes a more flexible approach is needed. Your best line of action this week is to stick doggedly to familiar routines and avoid all distractions where possible.

TIME

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

C R O S S W O R D - 63 1

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Across 1 “American Women” band 9 Breakfast choice 15 Broadcasting 16 Travelling bag 17 Jagger’s partner 18 Puts up 19 Switchback curve 20 Like a little Scot 21 Chirping insect 22 Give guff to

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23 What’s left 24 “Snow White” dwarf 27 Minute fraction 31 Up to it 32 Sweet, thick liqueur 34 Eye defect: suff.

35 Conrad or Barbara 36 More mature 37 Christmas carol 38 Frosted 39 WWII submarine 40 Two times CClVII

Rearrange the letters in the four word jumbles, one letter to each square/circle, to make four ordinary words

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

DMOII AANSLN ADERBV

12 Guitar run 13 Punta del ___.

Uruguay 14 Trial by fire 21 Black Sea peninsula 22 Wastrel 24 Beloved in Arabic 25 Chinese adders 26 One who works at a trade 27 Indian soldier 28 Strong glue 29 Advertisign gimmick 30 Make two 32 Raw state 33 Blue and funny 42 fine fettle 43 Rotary engine name 45 Ancient Greek coins 46 Pope John Paul It’s first name 47 Bacchanal 48 Nevertheless, in Napoli 49 Genesis twin 51 Mother of Hera 52 Avg. 53 Health resorts 55 Snoopy’s foot 56 Twenty percents of DXXX

Solution of Crossword-62

SCRAMBLE - 43

EVILS

41 Info needed by an astrologer 43 Great Gretzky 44 Canine command 45 Validate 47 Object of a computer instruction 50 Interdiction 51 Hosp. Personnel 54 Spring back 55 Meat choice 57 Plant unions 58 Soothing plant juice 59 Teenagers 60 “Moon River” singer Down 1 Pierce with a horn 2 Les Etats-_____ 3 Customary extras, briefly 4 Keep it quiet!

5 St. lawrence, e.g.

6 Inventory items 7 Stashes away 8 Surgery rms.

9 Tax 10 Poughkeepsie college 11 November date

If you dare to see the _________, God will do the impossible. (9).

Solution of Scramble - 42 Words: Vexes, Iiars, admire, doings.

Answer : Nothing you can lose by dying is half as precious as the readliness to die, which is man’s charter to nobility.

–George Santayana.

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LOOP THE LOOP - 43

MINDBENDER - 63 Use 4 4’s and only 4 4’s along with any mathematical operators to make a total of 568.

Solution of 62 :

WHATZIT? - 63

12 minutes

Sudoku-63

Today’s Ratings: 08-average |10-good | 12-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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solution of - 62:

Solution of Spellathon - 62 Answer: choke, choker, chore, chose, echo, heck, hero, hock, horce, hose, kosher, ochre, shock, SHOCKER, shoe, shore 20

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Laughing gas

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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.

No zeroes are used here, only the digits one through nine.

Example

3 1

KAKURO - 63

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Rules Connect adjacent dots with vertical or horizontal lines, creating a single loop.

(Fig A).

Crossovers or branches are not allowed 2 3 (As shown by dotted lines in Fig B).

3 3 1 Numbers in the puzzle indicate the 0 1 1 number of lines that should 2 2 2 2 2 surround it, while empty cells may 2 2 3 2 be surrounded by any number of 2 3 2 1 3 lines.

You can’t draw lines arround 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. 42 logic. x Hints: Keep elimix x x 2 nating possibili2 2 x x x x x x ties by marking crosses in 2 x 2 1 x 1 x x x x spaces between x x dots where a line 3 x 0 x 2 x 1 x 2 x x isn’t possible, x 2 x x i.e., if you have 3 2 x 3 x x already completx 1 x 2 x 1 x 3 ed required lines 2 x 2 x x x or where a line x x 3 x 3 x extension may x x x create a branch x x x x or cause a dead3 x end (Fig B)

Find the familiar phrase, saying or name in this arrangement of letters.

SPELLATHON - 63

PASS

A digit cannot appear more than once in any particular digit combination. For instance in the example, we cannot have the combination of 8+4+8 for 20.

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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INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

Britain based Indians in freedom struggle – A century ago Continued from Page 22

To name some of the foremost - the socialist leader of France Monsieur Jaures, German nationalist leader August Bebel, Karl lie cknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, British leader H M Hyndman, Mikhail Pavlovich, Mohamed Farid and Kamal Pasha of Egypt, Editor of ‘Galic American’ George Freeman, Mairon Philips – the founder of India House in New York, Geon Long - Grandson of Karl Marx, Editor of ‘Positive Review’ S H Swinni, Harry Kwilek – Editor of ‘Justice’, F. Oddonel and others.

Others who supported India House included Dadabhai Naoroji and his grand daughter Parin Naoroji. Revolutionaries and inmates of India House include VVS Aiyer, Lala Hardayal, Madanlal Dhingra and many students who made India House their home in London. Many of them had come to Britain with scholarships by Pandit Shyamji and Sardarsinh Rana.

Key names include Abdulla AlMamoon Suhrawardy (later on, he went on to become the Chief Minister of Bengal), Sharadchandra Mukherji, Parmeshwari Lal, Saed Abdul Majid, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Moinuddin Mohamed, Kanaiyalal Varma, C N Prabhat, R G Pradhan, Vinayak Manohar, Madanlal Dhingra, Vir Savarkar and so on.

In the first parliament after India gained Independence, there were atleast 50 MPs who had availed the scholarships and studied in Britain and France. Ms. Laxmi Menon, who later went on to become the Minister of State for External affairs was also one among them.

Now, let us have a glimpse of the other Gujaratis who were involved with the India House and had put in relentless efforts to achieve the goal.

Dadabhai Naoroji was the first ParsiGujarati President of the Indian National Congress, the first ever Indian who was elected as an MP to the British Parliament, the ‘Moderate’ leader who made a detailed study and portrayed the facts of “India’s Poverty” before the world. He was one of the front ranking leaders who supported Pandit Shyamji Krishna Varma initially. He was also a witness to the foundation of India Home Rule Society, opening of India House, the establishment of ‘Indian Sociologist’ newspaper etc.

Barrister Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s meeting with Pandit Shyamji Krishna Varma? Yes, on 20th October, 1906 Barrister Gandhi came to London from South Africa. He was still not known as “Mahatma”. For the Indians of Africa, he was “Gandhibhai”. He also decided initially to stay at India House.

He met Shyamji Krishna Varma, Vir Savarkar and others on three Sundays.

They had discussed a few things. In 1909, he again visited England. Gandhiji had than participated in the ‘Vijayadashmi’ celebrations at the invitation of VVS Aiyer. The venue of the celebrations, organised by the revolutionaries of the India House was The Nizamuddin Restaurant. 70 Indians attended the celebrations. Gandhiji and Savarkar had given speeches on ‘Shree Ram’ and his ‘Incarnation – deeds’.

Madam Cama was highly popular in the West as the “Mother of Revolutionaries’. She used to run the ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Madan Talwar’ newspapers. She toured various places including Russia, Holland, Egypt, France, Germany and developed contacts with people there. She also was instrumental in spreading the voice of India, demanding her independence. In August 1907, at the International Socialist Conference held in Stuttgart, Germany, she gave a speech on India’s slavery and said while unfurling the Indian national flag for the first time, “This flag is of Indian Independence. Behold!, It is born. It is already sanctified by the blood of mar-

tyred Indian youths. I call upon you, gentlemen, to rise and salute this flag of Indian Independence. In the name of this flag, I appeal to lovers of freedom all over the world to co-operate with this flag in treeing on-fifth the human race.”

Barrister Sardarsinh Rana was the third person who had a very close association with India House. He was maternal uncle (Mama) of Gujarati poet Kalapi.

The correspondence between the two has been preserved. Rana got into the business of jewellery in Paris. Deepchand Zaveri, who was a close associate of a famous saint – Shree Mota, was Rana’s partner in the Paris business. Rana awarded scholarships not only to business students, but even to those students who were interested India’s fight for freedom got scholarships from ‘Indian Sociologist’. The Home Rule Society was founded in France. He had attended almost all the programmes at India House. Rana also accepted to be the chairman of many of such meetings. He was also in close contact with Rabindranath Tagore, Subhash Chandra Bose, Vithalbhai Patel among others. He provided financial support and documentary material to Indulal Yagnik for writing a book on Shyamji Krishna Varma’s life.

Indulal completed the book in 1935, the book was written in English. It was printed in 1950. An abridged version in Gujarati was penned by Gokuldas Bambhadai, also known as ‘Kutch’s Gandhi’. During the World War I, Sardarsinh and his son were put under house arrest at Vichy and Bordeaux.

Madam Cama also served prison term here. Rana’s son died during this house arrest. Vir Savarkar tried to escape as a prisoner at the Marcellus Port. He was being tried at the Hague court. Madam Cama and Sardarsinh Rana were very active in company of Paris Mayor, trying to defend Savarkar. Rana was the last person of the India House trio of heros who survived to witness Indian Independence.

Shyamji Krishna Varma passed away at Geneva on 31st March, 1930. His wife also breathed her last after two years, on 22nd August, 1933. Madam Cama died at Mumbai’s Cama Hospital on 12th August, 1936 with her last message: “He who loses liberty, loses his virtue.

Resistance to tyranny is obedience to the God.” Among other Gujaratis who did contribute significantly to India’s freedom struggle is Chhagan Kheraj Varma alias Khemraj Damji alias Hussein Rahim!

This man with many names, a businessman, born in 1865 at Porbander, left the native place at the age of 30 years and reached Vancouver in Canada. He fought legal battles against the harassment to Sikhs and other communities who had gone to Canada for jobs. Chhagan Kheraj was active at the “Yugantar Ashram”, founded by Lala Hardayal in San Francisco, USA. He played a role in the foundation of “Ghadar” party, became the Editor of the Gujarati edition of the newspaper “Ghadar”. This newspaper was being published in four languages. The first issue of this weekly was published on 1st May, 1914. Chhagan Kheraj wrote in the inaugural issue that a revolution, a change can only be brought through the mother tongue. Those responsible for the uprising were sent to India in the ship “Komagata Maru”. Chhagan Kheraj again tried to lead a sequal to the 1857 uprising in Singapore in 1915, amongst the Indian soldiers in the British army there. British rulers there either blew him up with a gun or hanged him there.

He was in touch with “India House” and published Shyamji Krishna Varma’s and Veer Savarkar’s articles in “Ghadar”.

He also serialised the book “The Freedom Struggle of 1857” in the weekly.

I have been able to find out a few other names of Gujaratis who were associated with “India House”. Parin Naoroji; J. M. Parekh; Manilal Patel; Nitisen Dwarkadas (Brother-in-law of Shyamji

Krishna Varma); Munchersha Barjorji, P. Godrej; Dr. D. E. Pereira; Dr. S. D. Oza; V. G. Patel; N. D. Zaveri; Khemchand Banker; Maneksha Sorabjee Master etc.

All these people have made valuable contribution to the independence struggle of India. A thorough research needs to be done and details regarding their activities at India House in London need to be brought in the public domain.

Natvarlal Vidhyashanker Acharya was born at Patan in 1879. He reached Paris in 1903 and started diamond business. A firm named “Gunvantlal Vidhyashanker Zaveri Company” was established. He came into contact with Sardarsinh Rana and Shyamji Krishna Varma and joined the freedom struggle. He was arrested and jailed. Natvarlal returned to India on 4th July, 1909 and again went to Paris in 1911, joined the freedom struggle.

M. S. Mansuri was a Gujarati Muslim from Sindh province (now a part of Pakistan). Born in Kherpur, he came to London in 1909 and studied in Cambridge. On his return to India, started his underground activities under the influence of Veer Savarkar, his friend. He again came back to London in 1910.

There were inquiries about his activities.

Nitisen Dwarkadas was born in 1878, in Mumbai. He was the son of Dwarkadas Lallubhai, a wealthy family and resident of the Nalbazar area of the city. He went to London in 1902, secured admission as a student of law at Lincoln’s Inn. Later, he also founded a company known as ‘Eastern Export and Import Company.’

With the aim of fighting for India’s independence, he joined the India House and worked there as a secretary. He brought 250 copies of the legal case on Lokmanya Tilak from India and distributed them in London. His residence in London – 128, Halland Park Avenue was a well known as the meeting place of Indian freedom fighters. Nitisen, Savarkar and Aiyer had applied to get the dead body of Madanlal Dhingra after he was hanged. Their requested was however not granted.

Nitisen also fought a legal battle to secure the possession of the personal belongings of Madanlal Dhingra, but he could not succeed.

He went to Paris in 1910. When he wanted to return to India, things related to India’s freedom struggle were found from his luggage and he was not allowed back to India. Nitisen’s last days of life were over in Paris itself.

Munchersha Barjorji Godrej was the brother of A B Godrej, the founder of the wellknown Godrej group of Industries.

He was connected with Sardarsinh Rana and India House in London for long; was actively involved with India’s freedom struggle.

Govind Amin was the son of Zaverbhai Ghelabhai Amin. He was born in a Patidar family at Virsad village of Borsad Taluka in Kheda district in 1883.

He studied only upto Std. 6 and went to South Africa in 1901 as a cloth merchant.

In 1907, he came back to India and almost soon after, went to London with Chaturbhuj Amin. In London, he stayed at ‘India House’. Govind sent a report of the celebrations of the Guru Gobind Singh anniversary celebrated in London to ‘Dhyan Prakash’, a Gujarati magazine.

He also used to send such reports and related material to ‘Shakti’ magazine, published from Surat those days. He used to have a revolver. All members of the Free India Society used to practice shooting, use it near Tottenham Court. Dhingra also practiced using the firearm here.

From London, Govind Amin went to Paris on 25th July, 1909. Shyamji Krishna Varma announced the “Shaheed Smarak Scholarship” for him. He joined the revolutionary activities and also worked alongwith activists like Virendranath Chhattopadhyay, Madam Cama, MPT Acharya and others. The British Intellegence has however noted that, during his last days, Govind Amin had turned promiscuous and was seriously ill.

M. S. Master alias Munchersha was born in 1860. He studied at Elfinstein College in Mumbai, worked as a teacher in Hyderabad. Munchersha also tried his hand at Hotel business there, but could not achieve success. He went to London in 1907. Shyamji Krishna Varma announced the “Edmond Berk Scholarship” for him. He started working for the Free India Society, organised meetings in the memory of Dhingra. He had even made an application for being allowed to remain present in the prison at the time of the hanging of Dhingra. He was the representative of ‘The Parsi’ magazine, being published from Mumbai. At the celebrations of the 1857 uprising in 1910, he was one of the leading Parsis in London.

Parin Naoroji was the grand daughter of Dadabhai Naoroji. Her father was a doctor in Bhuj, the headquarters of Kutch district. She worked with Madam Cama, Shyamji Krishna Varma and Vir Savarkar in London, New York and Paris. Her sister – Ms. Goshi was a London resident.

Parin participated in the Indo-Egyptian conference and also recited “Vande Mataram”.

She remained with Madam Cama during her last days. In the later years, Parin also took part in the Satyagraha programmes of Mahatma Gandhi.

Jethalal Motilal Parekh was native of Kathlal town of the Kheda district. He had married a British lady and was an activist at the India House. He was a ‘Bar-at-Law’. He was the president of a programme when the 1857 uprising was celebrated at Shaftsbury Avenue in London. In company of solicitor Dalgado, he provided legal support to the freedom fighters. He had also argued the case of Vir Savarkar at the Hague court. He played a prominent role in the ‘Hind Biradari’ established by Bipinchandra Pal. J M Parekh’s correspondence with Mahatma Gandhi is also an important part of the movement.

Shapoorji Dorabji Saklatwala worked as a manager of the Commercial Mill in Ahmedabad, in 1911. He married Jerbai, the sister of Jamshedji Tata. He was ill for long time. He had set up a business in England in 1910 at 19 Brazenose Street, Manchester. Saklatwala had also married Sara Marsh. He had invited Bipinchandra Pal to come to Manchester, remained in close contact with Madam Cama. He also participated in the socialist movement with Arthur Smith. Salkatwala had a noteworthy contribution in England’s trade union movement. Popular as ‘Biradar’ (comrade or brother) Saklatwala, the Parsi gentleman was a very prominent speaker. He had played a major part in getting Dadabhai Naoroji elected to the Parliament.

Amulakh Mohanlal Shah was born at village Sudamada of Surendranagar in 1885. He studied in a school there and later also became a teacher. He also worked in one of the textile mills in Ahmedabad. Later, he joined the company of Gulabdas Amrutlal Zaveri and came to Paris in 1906. There, he met Gunvantlal Bhavsar. The duo participated in the independence movement under the leadership of Sardarsinh Rana, Nitisen and Shyamji Krishna Varma.

Krishna Varma even had played a key role in the establishment of the Labour Party in Britain. All this contributions, anecdotes are the milestones of “Swarnim Gujarat”.

A poetry by Gujarati poet Zaverchand Meghani aptly describes the tribute that these unsung heros deserve. For the benefit of those who understand Gujarati, here is the prose: “Kadi Swadhinta Aave, Vinanti Bhai Chhani” “Amoney Smari Lejo, Jari Pal Ek Nani” (If independence comes some day, brothers - there is a secret request, do remember us also, even if it may be for a brief moment).

Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

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Sport in Action Akshay Kumar gets a huge Olympic torch honour Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar will soon be bestowed with a rare, rather huge honour, being the Indian Ambassador for the 2010 Olympic Games to be held in Canada. He will also be the only one representing the Global Entertainment Industry among the 15 international celebrites who will be carrying the Olympic torch.

Akki, as he is known, Akshay Kumar is a martial arts expert and practitioner, he was recently bestowed with the highest Japanese honor of the ‘Katana’, He has been the brand ambassador for Special Olympic(for handicaps), he shot for the 7 Deadly Arts for National Geographic Channel and his recent 1st invitational Open Karate Championship was a huge

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (R) applauds after handing over a prototype of the Vanvouver 2010 Olympic Torch to Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar in Mumbai on Monday.

success .The list of Akshay Kumar’s contribution to Indian sports is endless.

A source from the Olympic Committee said, “At a high power and exclusive lunch for 50 CEO’s of Prominent Tourism Companies the

Canadian PM will introduce Akshay Kumar as the sole torch bearer from India for the Olympics.

The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) will bring the Olympic Torch to the luncheon “ This will be the first

time an exception is made and the Olympic Torch will be presented to Akshay. Adds the source “This will be the first of its kind ...a sitting head of state travels abroad and invites someone from another nation to represent their nation (India).This is a very huge honour for Akshay Kumar and rightly deserved” Adds the source “Anything remotely related to sports in India is reminiscent of Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar, he has taken Asia by storm and has universal appeal” Akshay Kumar will present the Canadian PM Steven Harper with a token of appreciation and speak on the occasion of being the sole torch bearer from India for the Olympics.

Bosman and Smith blast England South Africa square up T20 series 1-1 The home team created a record of sorts on Sunday, as they blasted 17 sixes in the second T20 encounter against the visiting England side, beating them by a huge margin of 84 runs on Sunday. They also leveled the 2 match series after England won the first one on Friday.

Loots Bosman fell one blow short of recording only the second century in T20 internationals, and Graeme Smith made a statement of his own by hammering 88 from 44 balls, as South Africa responded to their defeat in Friday's first T20 at the Wanderers by squaring the series with one of the most powerful displays of batting ever witnessed at international level.

In total the South Africans smacked 19 fours and a world-record 17 sixes to rattle along to a

massive total of 241 for 6 second only to Sri Lanka's 260 against the minnows of Kenya two years ago.

It was a cruel introduction to the captaincy for Alastair Cook - who took charge of the side for the first time following the withdrawal of Paul Collingwood before the toss. His stint got off to a misleadingly competent start when James Anderson conceded just two runs from his first over, and at 14 for 0 after three, England appeared to be exerting a measure of control.

But it was not to last.

Sajid Mahmood's first over was a horror show he conceded 21 runs, including three fours from his first three balls, and a free-hit for six as Bosman belted his final ball of the over through midwicket.

To compound the indigni-

ty, Mahmood had also fired a perfect yorker through Smith's defences off another free-hit, as well as having Bosman caught at mid-off from his second no-ball of the over.

It was the tonic that South Africa's batsmen needed, and there was no holding back from that moment onwards. With Cook shuffling his bowlers and rearranging his field after every other delivery, Tim Bresnan was clubbed for 16 runs as he returned after a change of ends, while Luke Wright, unsurprisingly replacing the hapless Mahmood, was drilled for two further sixes from his first three balls.

At 82 for 0 after seven overs, it was an inauspicious moment for Adil Rashid to join the attack, and sure enough, the gamble of taking the pace off the ball backfired spectac-

ularly. Rashid's first over was smeared for 25, including a brace of sixes for each of the batsmen Smith biffed his first two balls over midwicket to hurtle to a 25-ball halfcentury, and after a stumping appeal and a single, Bosman sent his last two in a similar direction.

England never threatened to turn the tide of the match.

Trott and Pietersen's 52-run stand was as good as it got, and though Eoin Morgan picked up where he had left off at the Wanderers by reverse-flicking his first ball for four, Dale Steyn blasted through his defences for 10, before the tail dribbled away in a non-descript fashion. {Brief scores: 2nd T20 - SA 241 for 6 (Bosman 94, Smith 88) beat England 157 for 8 (Trott 51) by 84 runs.

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Maradona banned for 2 months over outburst Argentina's coach Diego Maradona was handed a two-month ban Sunday by FIFA's disciplinary body as punishment for postmatch comments made after his side's World Cup qualifier against Uruguay last month.

Maradona made a foulmouthed tirade after Argentina clinched their Diego Maradona place at the 2010 finals in South Africa with a 1-0 win in Montevideo Oct 14.

Football's ruling body also fined Maradona 25,000 Swiss francs ($24,600) while the ban will run from Nov 15 to Jan 15, 2010.

Elbow trouble another blow for Bret Lee Recurring elbow injury has dealt a major blow to Australian speedster Bret Lee’s hopes to play in the first test match against the West Indies, starting next week.

Bret Lee had to return home from the ODI tour of India due to this injury.

His strong T20 and one-day form had brought him significantly into the reckoning for the Test team, having not made it into the starting line-up during the Ashes.

Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus carried the pace attack in England and remain the likely frontline bowlers for the Gabba.

Shoaib Akhtar requires five more months to recover Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar will require another three to five months to get into shape to play cricket following liposuction surgery.

Shoaib underwent surgery at a private hospital in Islamabad on Friday, shedding a good amount of fat in the process. "He would require three to five months to get fit. Any one going through such surgery needs a proper rehabilitation programme to get fit and ready for the strenuous exercise.

"Any attempt to make an untimely comeback could further complicate his fitness problems," said Dr Waqar Ahmad, Deputy Director General Pakistan Sports Board. Waqar said that Shoaib is already 34.

"In such an age, there are always chances of complications. Shoaib has to be careful in order to regain his full strength."

Meanwhile, former Test pacer Sarfraz Nawaz expressed his unhappiness over Shoaib's decision to reduce the fat through liposuction. "He definitely has taken a wrong step. It is like taking a shortcut to make your body trim and ready. He should have instead tried to reduce the weight and trim his physique through workouts. That way you reduce your weight every day," The News quoted him, as saying.

Despite surgery, it is unlikely that Shoaib would be in a position get ready and in form for the Test series against Australia starting in 40 days time.

Ban threat looming large for Indian lifters at Delhi CWG Weight lifting body resigns enmasse following positive test on six lifters Indian weightlifters' participation in the 2010 Commonwealth Games is in jeopardy, the sport's governing body meets on Wednesday to decide whether to ban the country for a spate of dope flunks last month.

Six lifters returned positive for banned substances in out-of-competition tests conducted by WADA in September in Pune, which ultimately led to the en masse resignation of the executive committee of the national body on Monday.

Under International

Weightlifting Federation rules, if four or more lifters test positive in a calendar year, the national body can be banned for a maximum of four years. The resignations, under pressure from the sports minister and IOA, has somewhat brightened the chances of a lenient view from the executive board of the International Weightlifting Federation in its meeting in Goyang City, Korea.

One of the international body's demands, in its letter to the IOA after the dope spat, was to change the whole set up of the

national federation and that has been done.

International Weightlifting Federation chief Dr Tamas Ajan is said to have close relations with IOA officials.

What the Indian officials are banking on is that considering India is hosting the Commonwealth Games for the first time, Ajan can influence the other members of the executive board to take a lenient view.

A one-year ban may give a chance to the country to participate in the Commonwealth Games

though it does not solve all the problems.

"In case of a one-year ban India may be able to take part in the CWG. But there is still a problem.

The date of ban will no doubt start from September 10 when WADA took the samples and the ban will be over by September 10 next year while the CWG starts on October 3," a source in the know of things said.

"But the date of entry of the weightlifters will be over one month before the event (Commonwealth Games). These problem of

few days can be exempted by the international body or the Commonwealth Games Federation," he added.

The best case scenario for the country, however, would be only a fine of at least $50,000 but that would set a bad precedent for the other countries.

The general secretary of the outgoing national body B R Gulati will present the IWF's case before the International Weightlifting Federation in Goyang City, where the World Championships starts on November 20.

Before leaving India,

he said he would take the plea that the six lifters were not in the registered pool of lifters nor in any camps and thus the national body does not have control over them.

"India had participated in four international competitions in the past one year without any dope problems (junior world championships in Romania, Asian junior, Asian Senior Championships in Kazakhstan and C o m m o n w e a l t h Championships in Malaysia)," he said.

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Asian Voice - Saturday 21st November 2009

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Tendulkar’s 20 years

Sachin Tendulkar is perhaps the most famous personality in India. He has a fan following that is larger than any political leader, any Bollywood hero or heroine or any other Sportsmen in the country.

The Indian batsman last week completed 20 years in international cricket. He has almost all the batting records to his name. But this demi-God status was seen hyped beyond all limits, as newspapers in India – English and language as well, printed pages and pages of news and tid bits about him for almost a week in a build up to the celebration that was held in Ahmedabad. Even the TV news channels spent hours in preparing programmes on the little master and telecast on Sachin’s cricketing to human achievements for hundreds of minutes collectively. No other event or personality has perhaps got so much of publicity, atleast recently. From his teammates to his family members and friends,

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi felicitates Sachin Tendulkar for completing 20 years in International Cricket, at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday.

cricketers of other countries, all were asked to say something about Sachin.

No doubt, playing 20 years of international cricket is a rare feat by all means. But even Sachin

Now, Sri Lankans facing injury troubles Thushara going back, Fernando to replace him After Australia, it seems it is now the turn for the Sri Lankan team to face the injury problems during their India tour. Even before the first test match started in Ahmedabad, their opening bowler Thilan Thushara was out with a shoulder injury.

Now, he has been ruled out and will be flying back to home. Dilhara Fernando has been named as his replacement.

“Thilan Thushara will return to Sri Lanka due to a shoulder injury, and he will not be match fit for approximately two to four weeks,” Sri Lankan Cricket said in a statement.

Thushara hurt his shoulder after crashing

into Kaushal Silva during training on Sunday and the injury did not heal in time for him to play the first Test in Ahmedabad.

The decision to replace Thushara with Chanaka Welegedara was taken five minutes before the toss.

The expected duration of Thushara's recovery will rule him out of the one-dayers and T20 internationals that follow the Test series.

Fernando's call-up meant that he would fly to India earlier than planned for he was part of the limited-overs squads.

Nuwan Kulasekera is the other reserve fast bowler currently in the Test squad.

had to say that enough is enough, now I have to get back to the game. Gujarat Cricket Association felicitated him with a replica of the famous Somnath Temple at Ahmedabad.

He also was described as ‘Master Laster’ by one of the newspapers. Yes, Tendulkar has expressed his desire to play the next World Cup and bring the coveted trophy home.

‘The Wall’ crosses 11,000 runs milestone Rahul Dravid only second Indian and fifth batsman to scale this peak

Nick named ‘The Wall’, senior Indian batsman Rahul Dravid on Monday added another feather to his cap by becoming just the second Indian batsman to score 11,000 runs in Test cricket.

All over the world also, he just the fifth one to achieve this feat.

Dravid went into the three-match series against Sri Lanka needing 177 runs to reach the milestone and he achieved it on the opening day itself with an unbeaten 177. He ultimately got out on Tuesday at the same score.

The Karnataka batsman now joins the elite list which has compatriot Sachin Tendulkar at the top with 12,777 runs in Test cricket.

West Indies batting great Brain Lara is second in the list with 11,953 runs from 131 matches, followed by the Australian duo of Ricky Ponting (11,345 runs from 136 Tests) and Alan Border (11,174 runs in 156 matches).

Nicknamed as 'The

wall', Dravid has an aweinspiring Test career where he scored 27 hundreds and 57 half-centuries at an average of 53.39 in 135 Tests.

The 36-year-old batsman also has a whopping 10,765 runs from 339 ODIs at a average of 39.43 where he scored 12 hundreds and 82 fifties.

Meanwhile, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni crossed 2,000 runs in Tests cricket in company of Dravid. Dhoni reached the mark during the course of his second Test century.

IPL 2011 will be more intense, innovative

2 more teams to be added, teams to have 4 fielding substitutes England had the chance to perhaps go for the first experiment with a coloured, pink ball. But now, it will be IPL in India. Off course, the coloured balls will be used only in practice matches, to start with. The mega buck tournament will also be played under the ICC ACU scrutiny from 2010.

Among the other innovations, four fielding substitutes instead of the lone 12th man and abolishing the Icon player status will come in play from the 2011 edition.

Players who skip the tournament despite not having any national assignment might have

their contracts terminated, organisers of the event said in a statement.

The recent three-day franchisee workshop in Bangkok had threadbare discussions on player regulations, commercial aspects, logistics, hospitality, ticketing, licensing and merchandising.

"I am certain now that we are poised to bring a significantly enhanced IPL experience back home to

the Indian fans in Season 2010,” IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi said.

The total time-out during the matches has been reduced from 15 to 10 minutes, with four 2.5minute breaks.

The IPL governing council has also decided to open its doors to Indian Cricket League players, albeit with a catch. They won’t make it to the auction grade like international players.

Like domestic players, they will be paid between $18,000 and $45,000 under an agreed contract between them and the team owners.

“The franchise owners

are expected to fill up their ranks — especially those for fielding substitutes — from this domestic pool.

They are young, energetic and in search of exposure.

The arrangement will benefit the franchisees and the players,” the IPL official said.

IPL Season 3 will be a 60-match series, beginning March 12 next year and continuing till April 25. There will be four new venues ---- Dharamsala, Nagpur, Visakhapatnam and Ahmedabad.

The first match will be between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad.