AV 05th December 2020

FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

R

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

5 - 11 DECEMBER 2020 - VOL 49 ISSUE 31

BRITAIN BECOMING MORE RACIST? The country has recorded 70% increase in anti-Sikh hate crime

inside: How to stay healthy and active this winter SEE PAGE - 16 - 17

Indian-origin MP in New Zealand takes oath in Sanskrit SEE PAGE - 23

Photo courtesy: Sikh Lives Matter, Twitter

PM NARENDRA MODI VISITS THREE VACCINE PLANTS TO REVIEW PROGRESS

Priyanka Mehta Politicians, academics and faith leaders have expressed their concerns about increasing racial attacks and hate crimes against minorities after a disturbing video surfaced earlier this week where a young Sikh boy was attacked for wearing a turban on his way home from school. While the Police have launched their investigation into what was earlier labelled as a “bullying incident”, Sikh and Muslim community leaders also believe that

law enforcement alone cannot succeed in rooting out “racial prejudices”. They stress that teachers, parents and faith leaders need to play an active and equal role in helping bridge the ethnicity gap and class disparities. Urging Charlton School to take adequate measures against such attacks, Labour MP for Slough, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi said, "Bullying and antiSikh hate cannot be tolerated.

Saddened to see such vile behaviour towards a young boy.

Continued on page 6

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Zydus Biotech Park at Changodar in Ahmedabad

Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week visited the units of three vaccine manufacturers in India to review the progress of vaccine development and manufacturing process - Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad and Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune.

Continued on page 26

2 UK

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

5 - 11 December 2020

with Keith Vaz

Year long lockdown for Leicester?

Dr Siva Sivappriyan Dr Siva Sivappriyan was born in Jaffna, SriLanka. He is a consultant in Diabetes and Endocrinology at Maidstone and Tunbridge wells NHS trust, Kent. He studied Medicine at the University of Colombo and completed his postgraduate training in London.

He is also an Honorary senior lecturer at Kings College London and actively involved in teaching and training of next the generation of doctors at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

He also serves as the college tutor. Physicians lead and departmental lead. His specialist's interests include atypical forms of diabetes, self-education on diabetes, new therapeutics for diabetes, thyroid and pituitary. Siva has published his research at national and international level in his specialist fields and has been a guest speaker. He is a passion for improving the self-management and understanding of the patient's medical conditions. He is also involved with a various charity helping the training of health care professionals in SriLanka.

1

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

The United Kingdom. Being a doctor, I lived in 11 different cities in the UK, including Scotland, in the 16 years. This gave my family and me an excellent opportunity to meet new people and learn about their cultures, traditions, lifestyles and local languages. Everyone has a place in society.

What are your proudest achievements?

Meeting new people and involved with meaningful interactions, whether it is my colleagues or patients. This gives me an understanding of both sides of life and offers a multifaceted approach to their and team problems. No one is enemy or ally as we all are part of the same world full of questions.

And the worst?

It has been who I am. It was possible through the help of my parents, teachers, colleagues, mentors, my family. While I am not alone in this, I had so many hardships and sacrifices in my life due to war in Srilanka and am merely a reflection of their hard work.

What inspires you?

Seeing too late diagnosis being too late for cancers, for example. Our NHS is the best in the world for emergency treatment. But if presenting symptoms are mild it can be overlooked as non-significant leading to late diagnosis. We (educating the public) all have a part to play to improve this.

What are your long-term goals?

2

3

My patients. My work deals with human emotions and often reflecting their life through disease. I had to go the extra mile to address this. While I listen, learn and address challenges of life for my patients with them, this privileged opportunity to help the needy keeps me going.

What has been biggest obstacle in your career?

Despite likeminded people on board often, there are arbitrary barriers in doing the right care for our patients. This leads to unnecessary delays and frustrations for us, and our patients—things like getting funding, pathways for referrals. It is all paid by the single ultimate source if there is any.

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

My NHS colleagues. They are trying their best to do whatever they can during the current Covid pandemic. It has been so unfair the virus deadly to some. Personally, my father, who taught me ‘Never give up in life’ helps me to join my colleagues for this difficult battle.

What is the best aspect about your current role?

4

5

6

7

8

Education. It is educating my patients, junior colleagues and public. This should be a crucial part of primary prevention (Healthy lifestyles). And also, in secondary prevention (like diabetes). I am more addicted to doing this, and my days are becoming longer and longer. I welcome all to join with me.

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

I have two -digitalising NHS and abolishing postcode lottery for health care. I don't believe money is the only barrier but lack of determination and bravery. If Google can tell us where we were four years ago, why can't we do this as a country? These can't wait any longer.

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

Swami Vivekananda (hope you know him). He was famous for his speech which gave lots of intelligent, positive energy in his speech. There are lots of negative issues going on in the world, and he would have told to get on with it.

'Arise, awake and stop not till.'

9

10

As the prime minister ponders over new lockdown measures especially during Christmas to contain the spread of coronavirus, it has emerged that Leicester may continue to remain under strict coronavirus restrictions. The city's mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby believes that currently there is “little prospect of release before the one-year anniversary” and that the city may continue to live under lockdown measures until early March in all likelihood.

Leicester is likely to spend the first fortnight after the second national lockdown again. Leicester has been living under lockdown since March 23, making it the only city in the country that has spent every day in lockdown since Boris Johnson announced the first

was paralysed from the waist down while fighting in the Libyan revolution of 2011.

His trial heard that, from his wheelchair and mainly using a mobile phone, Abdallah arranged for the movement of money and fighters to Syria.

When he was sentenced, the judge said "there was no evidence of indoctrinating of others". Abdallah was considered to be a radicalising influence on Salman Abedi. Abedi reportedly visited Abdallah in prison and spoke to him on an illegally held mobile phone during the period in early 2017 when the bomb was being prepared.

However, the Arena inquiry has heard that when Abdallah had been

national lockdown under some limitations.

In his interview with the LeicestershireLive, he said, "We've already had two thirds of a year with restrictions in place, it's hard to see how it won't go the full year.

We made a huge effort with testing and it worked, but lockdown wasn’t lifted. It is something we would like to do again, it’s something that

Mother’s organ donation saves five lives A 47-year-old mother from Nottinghamshire who passed away in October following a brain haemorrhage has been hailed for saving five lives.

Leela Keshavji’s kidneys, lungs, liver, pancreas and heart valves were all used to help other people.

The mother of three has been described as an "inspiring individual" following her sudden death and her family’s contribution in establishing a foundation in her memory with the aim of urging black and Asian communities to take greater initiative in organ donation.

Leela, reportedly had regular conversations with her family about the importance of organ donation.

Speaking to the BBC, her husband Manoj said, "She

Leela Keshavji

was acutely aware there is a huge shortage of organ donation for everyone, but particularly the BAME community. Many years ago she registered as a donor and she regularly had these conversations with myself and the children to explain the importance of it."

According to him she wanted to become a donor after seeing the "heartache" some families were going through waiting for donors.

The NHS estimates that black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people have

to wait, on average, a year longer than white people for a kidney transplant in England. In May, a law change in England meant people were required to opt out of being organ donors, rather than opting in.

NHS Blood and Transplant said prior to the law change there was a record high number of black and Asian people receiving an organ transplant.

However, cultural and religious stigma around organ donation continues and charity workers have frequently insisted the need for greater participation and awareness among the BAME community around organ donation.

Woman charged with terrorism offences A 38-year-old woman Aaminah Amatullah, from Livingstone Road,

Friend of Manchester Arena bomber released on parole A convicted terrorist, who has refused to tell an inquiry about his contact with the Manchester Arena bomber, is to be released from jail on parole.

27-year-old Abdalraouf Abdallah, was jailed in 2016 after being found guilty of helping people travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group. The Manchester Arena Inquiry heard he was in touch with bomber Salman Abedi in the months leading up to the attack.

Abdallah is a "witness with important evidence to give" but has refused to answer any questions in case he incriminated himself. When released, he will spend a further four years on licence. He moved to the UK as a child and grew up in south Manchester, and

Sir Peter Soulsby

would allow us to do the same as Liverpool and drive rates right back down, but we can’t do it without the government’s support.

“If the government would tell us who has tested positive, give us that information, we could be tracking and tracing people and reducing the spread. It is that simple. All it would take was for them to copy us into an email. Tell us who the people who have tested positive are at the same time the national test and trace people and we can set about finding them and instructing them to isolate.”

Leicester has been issued with mass testing kits, but not the bar codes that allow them to be used, so instead of swabbing getting started, the kits remain in storage.

Abdalraouf Abdallah

arrested in 2014, his phone contained correspondence with Abedi about suicide, martyrdom - including the death of a senior al-Qaeda figure - and "maidens of paradise".

The prison authorities confiscated Abdallah's phone before the attack and - when analysed - it was found to have been used to make calls and attempted calls to Abedi's number.

That a man jailed for terrorist organising via a phone was able to obtain a mobile in prison, which he used to speak to a known extremist like Abedi, is a focus for the inquiry.

Handsworth, was arrested on 24 November as part of an investigation by counter terrorism police and faces two counts of disseminating terrorist publications contrary to

section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

According to West Midlands Police, Ms Amatullah is due to appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court.

FINANCIAL A SERVICES MORTGAGES Residential Buy to Let Remortgages

PROTECTION Life Insurance Critical Illness Income Protection

Please conta act:

Dinesh Shonchhatra S Mortgage Ad dviser

Call: 020 8424 C 4 8686 / 07956 810647 77 High Street, Wealdston ne, Harrow, HA3 5DQ mortgage@majorestate.co om ~ majorestate.com

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

UK

COMMENTS

3

5 - 11 December 2020

No time for mixed messages When Boris Johnson won the election in December 2019, he did not even imagine that he would face another Tory revolt in his lifetime. Coronavirus has torn Mr Johnson’s dream to march his country out of EU with rolling drums and trumpets. Coronavirus pretty much soiled every plan, with new tensions brewing over lockdown. On Wednesday, the country embraces a new Tier system to help residents enjoy Christmas. The system allows people in various low-risk tiers, to meet friends and families in bubbles.

Boris Johnson made a short stop in the factory of Indian drug maker Wockhardt, that’s working on the manufacturing process of AstraZeneca’s Oxford partnered Covid-19 shot in Wales to check on the progress. The country is getting ready for vaccination and it is believed that community testing and vaccination for BAME frontline staff may be on priority.

The Economist in an article last weekend pointed out that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which advises the government, has drawn up a prioritisation list, with carehome residents and workers at the top, followed by the over-80s and health-care workers.

Britain’s unimpressive response to the Covid-19 pandemic provides plenty of reason for trepidation about the roll-out. But unlike the test and trace programme, the NHS will be in control of vaccination, removing the need to set up a leadership structure and local organisation from scratch- which is definitely assuring.

But is this enough? British people are famous for their travels across the world. Spain tops their travel list within Europe, with 18.13 million visitors from the UK in 2019. France is second, with 10.35 million. Italy is next with almost half that number, at 5.11 million visitors. The USA is the most visited country outside of Europe and the fourth most visited overall, with 4.8 million Brits

travelling there. The second lockdown that the government announced was something avoidable if they had taken the right step at the right time, perhaps under the right leader! A failed Test and Trace system and mixed messages have caused 1.64mn Covid cases and 59,000 deaths. The Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Monday bravely announced the 'virus was under control', just when they themselves were trying to warn people to be more responsible during this festive period.

Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Jains gave up their major festivals without any questions- meeting parents and families to accommodate the celebration of Christmas. We all agree that Christmas is a time for family, goodwill and compassion. But do we express our best compassion by meeting vulnerable people on Christmas with failed policies around, we don’t know.

We could of course avoid meeting up and use our newfound ‘best friend’ Zoom to socialise. But the question remains, what is the incentive for any of us to make the sacrifices the government demands of us, while they continue to fail preventing even a fear of third wave of coronavirus?

A professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews said that to make a safe Christmas possible, the government could declare extra public holidays for next year, for instance in the spring and summer. People this Christmas should be allowed to meet outdoor, revive local community celebrations in socially distanced way in perhaps streets, parks and fields. What Britain needs is to revive is its feeling of community spirit, as the government fails to show any emotional warmth. Boris Johnson needs to stop this party in-fighting and look for plausible solutions to keep everyone safe this Christmas- specially the elderlies who sacrificed everything to see their family on Christmas.

Breach of ministerial conduct?

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is under the spotlight once again. This time not for his financial acumen in “levelling up” Tories in the North of England or unleashing the greatest spending review to fight the economic devastation of coronavirus. But in a row over disclosure and transparency of his own finances and that of his wife’s.

A Guardian report states that Rishi Sunak’s wife and her family hold a multimillion-pound portfolio of shareholdings and directorships that are not declared in the official register of ministers’ interests. Another separate report by the Guardian also details that Akshata Murty has amassed a fortune larger than Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Daughter of Indian IT giant Narayan Murty, Akshata’s shares in the Tech company Infosys are worth £430 million.

But most fundamentally, her investments have been on the radar following allegations of investments being funnelled through Mauritius to avoid taxes in India. Akshata Murty holds a 5% stake, at the International Market Management (IMM) which she bought at £500,000 in 2014. The Company allegedly essentially funnels investments through a “letterbox” or a “shell company” in Mauritius in an attempt at reducing taxes paid in India.

It follows a structure wherein investments are funnelled through an intermediary company – called IMMASSOCIATES Mauritius, to then invest in two Indian subsidiaries that operate restaurants in India. IMM is thus using Mauritius’ status as a tax haven to invest in dozens of restaurants in India – including Wendy’s and Jamie Oliver’s businesses while reducing payable taxes on profits in India, investigations by the Indian Revenue Service and the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation found. While this is not completely deemed illegal considering there are loopholes in the overseas business laws that allow such transactions but they are seen controversial

as they reduce payable taxes in India. These tax evasions include avoidance of 20% Capital Gains Tax (CGT) if the business is sold.

Tax payable on dividends has also been cut by half from 10% to 5%. While the CEO of IMM has maintained that this is a “standard approach to investing in India” and “nothing out of the ordinary”. It is noteworthy that when Murty had initially made her investments, she was not legally bound to declare her financial assets or investments considering she was not a public figure then. Ever since 2015, however, her husband Rishi Sunak has been an MP for Richmond and gradually climbed the ranks in the Cabinet Office thus, binding them by ministerial code, to declare any financial interests that are “relevant” to their responsibilities.

They are obligated to do so primarily to avoid any conflict of interest with their duty to the public. Ministers must also declare those interests of their close family, including siblings, parents, spouse, and in-laws.

Only recently, The Guardian had exposed a similar conflict of interest by Baroness Sandip Verma when she was in public office and her family firm had reportedly signed multimillion-pound deals to supply Uganda’s government with solar power equipment in what had been reported as a breach of ministerial conduct. Later she had apologised for “misunderstanding the rules” as she continued to deny breaching the ministerial code of conduct. Media being the fourth pillar of democracy as a watchdog must draw the attention of the country’s taxpayers to any untoward activities or breach of trust by those in public office.

Especially if there is a fragile opposition which is occupied in putting its own house in order and during a pandemic where the country is battling to ensure the emotional, mental and physical health of their citizens remains intact.

But this must be applied universally and not be seen as a media witch hunt against ministers from minority backgrounds.

PM Modi's visit boosts the morale of Covid-19 vaccine makers Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking a keen interest in the development of Covid-19 vaccine in India. He wants India’s efforts in developing a vaccine will be devoted towards the cause of global good. Recently he visited three vaccine manufacturers in India to review the progress of vaccine development and manufacturing process - Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad and Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune. His visit will boost the morale of the vaccine developers. The Prime Minister of a country visiting their manufacturing facility is an affirmation of the firms capability in undertaking difficult tasks. Modi’s first stop was Ahmedabad where he reviewed the vaccine development and manufacturing process of Zydus Group’s vaccine – ZyCov-D. Later, he visited Bharat Biotech’s facility in Hyderabad and his last stop was at the vaccine major Serum Institute of India’s new plant at Manjari.

Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is in phase III trials and let us hope that it will pass the final hurdle and India will have its own vaccine. Since India is a major producer of pharmaceuticals items in the world, it has an added responsibility to manufacture the Covid vaccine at affordable price and help the poor countries.

Congress MP Anand Sharma has praised PM Modi's decision to visit the vaccine facilities. He said the PM's visit will boost the morale of frontline warriors. Sharma also said that the PM's visit will also reassure the nation about the efforts taken by the government to tackle Covid-19. Sharma's comment left everyone surprised as the Congress has mocked PM Modi's vaccine tour with Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala attacking the prime minister for visiting vaccine facilities amid the raging protests by farmers at Delhi border. Sharma later came up with a clarification and wanted to delete his earlier comment.

Meanwhile, Telangana Minister and TRS president K T Rama Rao took exception to the State Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao not being invited to receive Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visited Hyderabad. In this regard, Rama Rao said the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers were not individuals but institutions, and they need to be respected by each other, adding Chandrashekhar Rao should have been invited to receive PM Modi. It is regrettable that politicians cannot see the positive side see things and they always wanted to be in the limelight. Rama Rao also said Modi’s visit to the facility reaffirms and endorses the fact that Hyderabad is a vaccine capital of the world and thanked him as, according to KTR, it indirectly indicates that the Telangana government has supported the expansion of life sciences ecosystem in the city.

"PM Modi during his visit to Varanasi discussed about the ongoing farmers agitation. He has blamed the opposition for inciting the farmers to agitate against the new farm laws. He said that after the introduction of the new farms laws, the farmers were being empowered by giving them options for a bigger market and the reforms have given them new options and legal protection. It seems that the farmers are being misled by the politicians. They cannot see the positive side of the new farm laws. The new farm laws will give the farmers the freedom to sell their produce to anyone they wanted. Earlier it was not possible.

They were bound by the APMC regulations which prohibit the farmers from selling their produce to outsiders. After the introduction of the new law the farmers are being empowered by giving them the option for a bigger market. The Prime Minister also paid tributes to all those who have laid their lives for the nation on the occasion of Dev Deepawali.

Imagine your life is perfect in every respect; what would it look like? – Brian Tracy

Alpesh Patel

Covid Proves Britain Is a Christian Country and That’s Fine Journalists try to draw Rishi Sunak on whether it was unfair Diwali was with more stringent covid lockdown rules than Christmas will be.

David Cameron as British PM once said Britain is a Christian country. Oh boy, did that cause a load of secularist, pluralist, liberals to go nuts and panic.

All the PM said is that Britain should be proud of saying it is a Christian country.

Like the BJP feels about India, Cameron feels about Britain – be proud to express your faith. But like all the secularist, pluralist, liberals go nuts at the name of ‘Modi’ so they did in Britain too.

A load of really famous clever people wrote a letter to the Telegraph saying the British PM is wrong. Just as people write in the Guardian that Modi is a crazy religious right-wing sectarian divisive bigot.

This is what they wrote in the Telegraph about PM Cameron: “we object to his characterisation of Britain as a Christian country…Britain is not a Christian country…At a social level, Britain has been shaped for the better by many pre-Christian, non-Christian, and post-Christian forces. We are a plural society with citizens with a range of perspectives, and we are a largely non-religious society…

Constantly to claim otherwise fosters alienation and division in our society. This needlessly fuels enervating sectarian debates that are by and large absent from the lives of most British people, who do not want religions or religious identities to be actively prioritised by their elected government.”

You really have to be in denial to think Britain is not a Christian country – what the hell do you think Easter holidays and Christmas breaks are? About bunnies and Fir trees? Or an established Church is?

The Queen is not a Defender of Faiths but of ‘The Faith’ .

And Rishi as a Hindu has no problem with that.

Neither do I. As for India, it’s also known as Hindustan for good reason. When three quarters of your population follow one faith – Hinduism – to deny it is a Hindu nation, when every corner street has a temple, the country stands still at Diwali – you’re fool to call it anything other than a Hindu nation.

The problem that the followers of Modi and Cameron have is that they want their countries to be more Hindu and more Christian respectively.

They wish it was even more proudly religious. The mistake they make is that they’ve won the battle, they will not persuade their enemies otherwise by argument. They should maintain their winning position by keeping quiet about it, doing good works.

One reason Sunak’s lighting of Diwali lights outside Number 11 was so palatable to the mainstream is because he did it without fanfare, in a western suit and without his family. It was not shoving a show of faith down people’s throats. The UK has never liked that – the religious wars between Catholics and Protestents are proof of how they hated overt show of religion. King Henry didn’t want God, through the Pope, telling him who to marry – too much religion.

Yes a Christian country but modestly so to be palatable to all – a broad Church. Equally so with India, a Hindu country but modestly so to be a broad Temple for all. The moment you shove it down peoples throat, you become like a football bore who just bangs on about how his team is the best. It just puts everyone else into a position of distance and not caring.

Asian Voice is published by Asian Business Publications Ltd Unit- 7, Karma Yoga House, 12 Hoxton Market, (Off Coronet Street) London N1 6HW. Tel: 020 7749 4080 • Fax: 020 7749 4081 Email: aveditorial@abplgroup.com Website: www.abplgroup.com

4 UK

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

5 - 11 December 2020

UK and France sign agreement to curb migrants crossing the channel Priti Patel and her French counterpart Gerald Darmanin said they wanted to make the route unviable and agreed to double the number of French police patrolling. However, the Home Office refused to say the number of officers that would be deployed. The announcement was criticised by a charity as an "extraordinary mark of failure" akin to "rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic".

Meanwhile, Amnesty International UK said it was "profoundly disappointing" that both also agreed as a part of the 31.4 million euro

Gerald Darmanin

package, to enhance surveillance hoping that it will detect migrants. Ms Patel said the new agreement

with France will "make a difference" in migrants crossing the Channel.

Speaking from Foreign Office with her French counterpart, she said: "This new package today that I have just signed with my effectively doubles the number of police on the French beaches, it invests in more technologies and surveillance - more radar technology that support the law enforcement effort - and on top of that we are now sharing in terms of toughening up our border security."

She said: "We should not lose sight of the fact that

illegal migration exists for one reason: that is because there are criminal gangs people traffickers - facilitating this trade and the cost charged by traffickers has gone down so people are putting their lives at risk".

Clare Moseley, founder of Care4Calais, said: "This package of surveillance, drones and radar sounds like the government is preparing for a military enemy. "These are ordinary people - from engineers to farmers and their families - they are not criminals and they do not want to make this terrifying journey”.

UK testing error wrongly tells 1,300 people they have coronavirus Around 1,300 people in Britain were mistakenly informed they were infected with coronavirus after a laboratory error at the government's NHS Test and Trace System, the Department of Health and Social Care told on Saturday.

"NHS Test and Trace has contacted 1,311 individuals who were incorrectly told that the result of Covid-19 tests, taken between November 19 to 23, were positive. An issue with a batch of testing chemicals meant their test results were void," a department spokesman said in an emailed statement.

"Swift action was taken to notify those affected and they

have been asked to take another test, and to continue to self-isolate if they have symptoms.”

The laboratory error was an “isolated incident” and was investigated, the statement said.

The government has announced an extra 7 billion pounds for testing and contact tracing system as part of an expanded programme of mass testing.

The NHS Test and Trace system has been heavily criticised after a series of high-profile failures since its launch earlier this year.

In September, nearly 16, 000 positive case records were lost from system for several days – causing a delay in contact tracing. The government blamed a “legacy” file system that cuts off records after about 65,000 rows of data.

Oxford Dictionary fails to pick 'Word of the Year' for 2020 The report, titled 'Words of an Unprecedented Year,' uses an adjective that has itself seen a big spike in use during 2020.

The annual 'Word of the Year' is a time-honoured tradition. This year, Oxford Languages, the owner of the dictionary, decided to ditch its traditional single-word pick and instead went with a selection that reflects 2020, the year of the pan-

demic.

"It is not a year that could neatly be accommodated in one single 'word of the year,'" Oxford Languages said in a report, as the language has adapted "rapidly and repeatedly."

"Though what was genuinely unprecedented this year was the hyper-speed at which the English-speaking world amassed a new collective vocabulary relating to

They looked forward to next month’s Climate

Ambition Summit, which will be an opportunity to

Can one single decision change the future? Do you feel any decision has such power to change the future for you and all concerned?

There have been incidents where one single decision has made long-lasting impacts on a person's life. Sometimes it may also affect community and society at large, depending on the type of decision.

One such decision, taken by none other than Gandhi.

A young lawyer Mohandas Gandhi was thrown off train's first-class compartment at Pietermaritzburg station in South Africa on the night of 7 June 1893 for not being a white passenger. He refused to give up his seat for which he had purchased a ticket. He decided, on that night, to fight against any discrimination and that led to the NonViolent satyagraha. This has changed the method of protest, mostly, to peaceful means. Many freedoms were won without raising arms or shedding blood.

Another decision, which will go long way in history is taken by the Government of India to ban single-use plastic. Consider the impact on sustainability, reducing waste, by a country of 135 crore people discarding singleuse plastic. As per a report in the Guardian, since the 1950s, 8.3 billion tons of plastic have been produced, that is equivalent to the weight of over 800,000 Eiffel Towers.

And you know, only 9% of it gets recycled. How beneficial it will be to the environment? Not to add the war-footing revolution of solar energy and reducing dependence on fossil fuel-generated electricity.

Historically, say one decision of Christopher Columbus to travel to discover a westward trade route to Asia has also changed the course of history and adventure forever. However, it led to colonisation, but the same has also been at the base of the industrial revolution and global economic integration. His proposal to fund his voyage was rejected by the kings of Portugal, France and England but finally accepted by the King of Spain. He landed in America, instead of India, that's another story.

Personally speaking, we also make some decisions which change things forever, at least for ourselves. I remember making such decisions. You might have taken such decisions too. It would be interesting to remember them and study how they have changed the course of your life.

From March, it familiarises to terms like 'Coronavirus', 'Lockdown', and 'Social distancing' represent the tenor of the early months of the year.

"The English language is studded with words from previous plagues and pandemics, mass social disruption, and an abundance of expressions that fulfil humanity’s perennial need to describe an often inhos-

the coronavirus, quickly became a core part of the language," the report reads.

It categorises words according to months, January includes 'bushfire' and 'impeachment', referring to the catastrophic Australian wildfires and President Donald Trump's White House crisis, respectively.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Rohit Vadhwana

(Expressed opinions are personal.)

Prime Minister’s telephonic conversation with Indian PM Narendra Modi The leaders discussed the work the UK and India are doing together across trade, climate change, defence, security and health. The Prime Minister said 2021 would be a year to deepen and strengthen the UKIndia relationship.

Both leaders discussed on joint efforts to find treatments and vaccines for coronavirus, and welcomed the collaboration between our countries’ leading scientists.

Does your decision have power to change your future?

reinvigorate the global efforts against climate change ahead of the UKhosted COP26 Summit next year.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of improving bilateral trade, investment flows and reemphasised the UK’s commitment to the wider IndoPacific region and looked forward to the first deployment of the HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier group to the region next year.

MORTGAGES • Residential • Buy to Let • Remortgages • Ltd Co Mortgages

pitable world," the report reads.

It laid bare how the 'language of Covid-19' had been embedded. Words like masks, lockdown, frontline, circuit breaker being used unprecedently. The lexicon came to recognise words like 'Zoom-ready', 'zoombombing', 'mute', and 'remote' as its own, referring to the work-from-home reality.

INSURANCE • Life & Critical • Private Medical • Income Protection • Professional Indemnity • Public Liability

No fees charged from customers Can speak Gujarati/Hindi/English Sanjiv Nanavati, CeMAP, M.B.A Mortgage & Insurance Adviser

07970 265 748 sanjiv@srfsmortgages.co.uk

Harrow Business Centre, 429-433 Pinner Road, Harrow HA1 4HN SRFS Mortgages Ltd is authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (No. 839035) Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up your payments on any mortgage secured on it.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

5 - 11 December 2020

UK

5

6 UK

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

5 - 11 December 2020

BRITAIN BECOMING MORE RACIST? Continued from page 1 Charlton School looking should take immediate action and for others in Telford to assist in ensuring swift measures taken."

Tan Dhesi

In their official statement, the school stated that it takes “full responsibility” for working with the students involved and is “working closely” with the local Sikh community and its leaders in the wake of the attack.

Commenting on the incident, Lord Rami Ranger CBE, said, “It was very sad to see two

Lord Rami Ranger

young boys attacking a Sikh boy in a street. I’m afraid, this was a sad indictment of their upbringing. I believe it is the first and foremost duty of parents to teach their children how to respect others. They must educate them about diversity, different religions and cultures now being practiced in the United Kingdom for a better understanding.

“No teacher can turn years of a neglected child into an upstanding citizen. However, teachers can always improve the behaviour of students, but they cannot instil tolerance if the child was not taught the same at home. We have laws against discrimination of every kind, but we also need to educate children to respect one another for peaceful coexistence.”

70% increase in anti-Sikh hate crimes This is not the first time, however, that the Sikh community has rallied against increasing incidents of anti-Sikh hate crime. Statistics published on Tuesday, 13th October during

Preet Kaur Gill

the national hate crime awareness week indicated that racial hate crimes had increased by a whopping 4,000 incidents in the last year. Almost two months ago an Indian Sikh taxi driver had reported an incident whereby passengers had asked him if he was “Taliban”. 41-year-old Vaneet Singh was driving four passengers from the Grosvenor casino in Reading when along the journey on the M33, they had pulled at his turban and subjected him to physical and verbal abuse. Earlier last month, in a letter sent to Home Secretary Priti Patel, Preet Kaur Gill had called the government to offer more funding to combat antiSikh hatred and for the issue to be treated similarly to Islamophobic and antisemitic discrimination.

She had written, “The scale of hate crimes targeting the Sikh community is a phenomenon that is largely invisible to government and the wider public.

Official Home Office data for the last two years shows the level of reported hate crimes targeting Sikhs has increased by over 70%. But, the increased reporting is the result of Sikh community organisations raising awareness of the need to report and has been achieved with no government funding or support. This must now change as hate crimes against the Sikh community are on the increase and should not be hidden away and ignored.”

Commenting on how such prejudices continue to exist, Jasvir Singh OBE of City Sikhs

Jasvir Singh

said, "It was a truly shocking attack, and it's raised great concerns amongst Sikhs about attacks on people from the community simply for looking different. It reminded so many British Sikh men of their own experiences at school and the racist bullying that they experienced growing up as a result of keeping long uncut hair.

Prejudices are still strong in many parts of British society, and we need to be able to challenge racism as best we can. In the meantime, we hope that the young man recovers from the trauma of his experience. All right, thinking people in the UK are fully behind him in their support."

Islamopbohia Awareness Month and EHRC investigation There have also been heated exchanges between Muslim leaders and Tories with community members feeling that they have been targeted by some ministers because of their “faith and religion”. Recently Michael

Fabricant Conservative MP for Litchfield accused MiqdaadVersi for damaging “Anglo-Muslim relations” and highlighting the prevalence of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party. It happened after MiqdaadVersi, a spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), tweeted about submitting evidence to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) implicating over 300 Conservative members of Islamophobia, which included Mr. Fabricant.

In a now-deleted tweet, Mr. Fabricant appeared to suggest that Muslims and Englishness are mutually exclusive and that one cannot be both. Though he has deleted the tweet, the MP has not retracted his statement nor apologised.

Commenting, a spokesperson for the MCB said, “Even though the Conservative Party faces hundreds of allegations of Islamophobia, Tory MP Michael Fabricant attacks MiqdaadVersi by urging him to look the other way and focus on bigotry elsewhere. Mr. Fabricant must face an investigation over his comments. Failure to do so will only underscore that the Conservative party does not have a zero-tolerance approach to tackling Islamophobia and racism.

“Over 300 Conservatives, including Mr. Fabricant, were highlighted as having engaged in Islamophobia in the MCB’s dossier to the EHRC earlier this year. Despite this, neither the Conservative party nor the EHRC feels it appropriate to take any action, allowing the problem to continue to fester.

This is a systematic disease that requires a systematic response.”

Black Lives Matter protest increased racial tensions In the meantime, a recent poll has highlighted that 55% of the UK adults believe the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests increased racial tensions, according to a survey of more than 2,000 people by pollsters Opinium. Only 17% of the people polled in October disagreed.

The polling also showed 44% of ethnic minorities felt BLM increased racial tensions. In a statement to The Guardian, Prof Kalwant Bhopal, director of the Centre for Research in Race and Education at the University of Birmingham, said the results suggested BLM had made some white people “feel their privilege is being threatened and questioned”.

“When they see something like BLM they do what they can to protect it and there is a backlash,” she said. She added that the response of some institutions, such as universities, to pledge support for the goals of BLM, had created a “mask of inclusion” which obscured a reluctance to deliver real change. In the aftermath of Brexit and economic devastation caused by coronavirus, politicians, academics and faith leaders worry that such racial overtures may reflect in divisive societies and toxic workplaces.

(Additional reporting by Rupanjana Dutta)

Happy 551st Birthday to Guru Nanak Dev Ji Lord Rami Ranger CBE, Chairman, The British Sikh Associations We are privileged to be celebrating the historic 551st Prakash Utsav (Birthday) of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji this year. It is a matter of pride for every Sikh that Guru Nanak’s birth is being celebrated across the world not only by Sikhs but also by the Govt. of India on an unparalleled scale to demonstrate that His Lord Rami Ranger CBE teachings are universal and benefit the entire of humanity. Guru Nanak’s teachings have become even more relevant than ever before in our fractured world where religious intolerance and disharmony is on the increase.

Pakistan is now the land where Guru Nanak Ji was born on 15th April in 1469 in Nankana Sahib and is also where He left for his heavenly abode on 22nd September 1539 in Kartarpur, Pakistan. The Govt of Pakistan under Imran Khan has given the ultimate respect to its son of the soil by opening the Kartarpur corridor to pilgrims so that His devotees can have visa free access to the shrine where Guru Ji took his last breath. The stature of Guru Nanak Dev Ji is such that even the arch-rivals, nuclear adversaries, are ready to open their border to show their respect to Guru Nanak Dev Ji. What is religion?

It is a philosophy which is designed to guide us through life. If one follows an enlightened and progressive philosophy, then one becomes an enlightened and progressive person. It is as simple as that! In other words, the way we are taught from the beginning is the way that we are conditioned to lead our lives.

No one is born intolerant, but the doctrine one follows will prepare their attitude accordingly.

Guru Nanak Dev Ji was curious from his young age to find out about the true meaning of life. He was puzzled to see the disparity in society. He could not understand the difference in the status of people based on religion, caste or gender.

He found it hard to believe that to find God; people had to divorce themselves from their everyday family life and endure extreme hardships in isolation for an extended period in jungles and mountains. He felt that if God was our creator, then surely, he must reside within us and indeed, we must all be equals as his children.

Guru Nanak travelled the length and breadth of India and beyond, in search of truth and to discover the true meaning of life. He even travelled to Mecca, the holy place for Muslims, in his quest to find answers. During his travels, he met many holy and wise men which led him to the conclusion that no one religion or person could have a monopoly over truth or wisdom. He said that whatever was fundamental and right, must be the language of God and should be adopted without hesitation to realise its benefits. As a result, He brought teachings of Saints and Holy men and helped compile the most appropriate and relevant book on the truth, the Guru Granth Sahib Ji. It includes the teachings of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslim Saints as well as that of ordinary learned men regardless of their caste or social status, making it a genuinely inclusive holy book based on interfaith teachings.

The result is that the Sikh holy book enables its followers to lead fuller lives, thereby making them the most progressive and prosperous human beings in the world. Guru Ji was ahead of his time to realise over 500 years ago that religions must unite and not divide humanity if we are to live in harmony. Let’s see how progressive the founder of the Sikh faith was.

Firstly, He was against gender inequality and gave equality to women over 500 years ago. He said, “So Kyon Manda Aakhiye Jin Janme Rajan” which means “Why should we consider someone inferior who bears Prophets and Kings”.

He was the first against religious conversion. Guru Nanak said that God is not interested in our religious labels; instead, he is interested in our actions and deeds.

Bala, a Hindu accompanied him, and Mardana, a Muslim, throughout his life and yet he never once asked them to become Sikhs. Instead, he said, “If you are a Muslim, then be a good Muslim and if you are a Hindu, then be a good Hindu”.

He was also the first against the caste system. He said, “God is the creator of us all, and as a result, He has created us equal regardless”.

He was the first against religious intolerance and to incorporate teachings of every faith in the Granth Sahib as a mark of respect for every religion.

He was the first against ritual and outdated practices. He said that obsession with God would make us focus far too much on the creator and lesser on our worldly duties and responsibilities towards His creations like family, work and helping others who are less fortunate in society.

He was the first to seek the welfare of the whole of humanity which he included in the Sikh prayer. “Tere Bhane Sarbat Ka Bhala” meaning “O Lord, please bless the whole of humanity regardless”.

He was the first to provide food and shelter to anyone who walked through the doors of a Sikh Gurdwara regardless of race or religion. It is also on record that Guru Nanak dedicated his life to social reforms, the uplift of humanity and above all, to human freedom. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

We will always find followers of Guru Nanak Dev Ji serving humanity regardless. During the Covid -19 pandemic, the Sikh community has emerged as the one serving free food to those affected by this dreadful pandemic. Sikh volunteers are even delivering free food door to door to those who are too frail to look after themselves. The Sikh community has received worldwide recognition and commendations for their care and concern for humanity. Those who work hard can support the weak and vulnerable in society. The teachings of Guru Nanak uplift the soul, making us realise the real meaning of life. One only has to visit a Gurdwara to see the effect of our Guru’s teachings upon people regardless.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

UK 7

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

5 - 11 December 2020

What would Sir Winston Churchill Son charged with mother’s death in Greenford make of Chancellor Rishi Sunak?

Nitin Mehta Next to the residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at 10 Downing Street is the residence of the second most powerful politician in the country. He is a young man named Rishi Sunak. He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In his brief time in the office, he has impressed the people of the country with his deft handling of the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Addressing the parliament with utter confidence he put in place a raft of measures to help businesses and millions of jobs at stake.

Rishi was born in the UK and his parents are from Kenya. Like tens of thousands of others, Rishi's parents emigrated to Kenya from India. The Indian migration mainly from the states of Gujarat, Punjab and Goa to the East African countries is a saga of adventure, enterprise and nation building of which legends are made. The countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia were transformed into modern states by the Indian settlers. They also brought with them their ancient traditions and heritage. This heritage was passed on to Rishi Sunak's parents' generation who in turn brought them to the United Kingdom. They in turn passed their heritage on to Rishi's generation. And so, the people of the United Kingdom witnessed a sight which is extraordinary.

On the occasion of Diwali,

Sir Winston Churchill

Chancellor Rishi Sunak

Rishi stepped out of his door at 11 Downing Street and laid out a rangoli and lit four lamps and then he went back in. It was a symbolic act whose impact is as great as perhaps Gandhiji’s picking of a handful of salt to start the Satyagraha movement. What would Sir Winston Churchill make of this, an Indian in the second most powerful position of Great Britain lighting the Diwali lamps? Would any of Indian's great freedom fighters have ever thought that a day will come when one of their descendants will be holding the purse of the nation that ruled over them for 200 years?

But it is not just Mr Sunak.

Priti Patel who holds the powerful position as the Home Secretary is also a child of Ugandan Indian parents. This is how the Kaal(time) chakra moves. A thousand years of subjugation and plunder of India could not extinguish the timeless heritage of the country. A new dawn is seeing the Indian diaspora playing a vital role in the running of many countries. The secret to their success is that they assimilate well with the host countries, they do not try to impose their values

-ѴѴ ŐƑƓņƕőĹ

on others, and they remain loyal citizens.

The Diwali messages by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince Charles testify to this positive image of Indian's abroad. Boris Johnson congratulated Hindus, Sikhs and Jains for the way they responded during the pandemic.

Free food distribution to the poor and to the hospital staff, the role of the Indian doctors and other professionals were an inspiration he said.

Just as Lord Ram and his wife Sita defeated the forces of evil, we shall defeat this pandemic, he said. In his jolly way he said, have the odd samosa and sweets in celebrations.

Prince Charles in his message said he was so touched by the generosity of the Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities. He said that the Indian community was indispensable to the country. He expressed his heartfelt appreciation of the community. He ended his message by lighting a candle.

In ancient times Indian's took their civilization to almost all the continents of the world. A new assertive India and the huge Indian diaspora abroad can do the same, that is share all that is best in their ancient heritage with the world.

Hansa Patel, 62, was found with head injuries inside a home in Drew Gardens, Greenford, at around 5pm on 25 November. Her 31-year-old son has been charged with the murder on 27 November 2020.

Despite of all efforts from police officers and paramedics, Hansa was pronounced dead at the scene almost 30 minutes after the incident. The Met Police said that a post-mortem examination has been scheduled in due course.

Since then tributes have been paid to the ‘gentle and loving’ mother. Neighbours said Ms Patel lived with her husband and their son, while their older son lived in nearby Ruislip.

The Sun reported that Akbar Khan, a civil engineer, said his wife was friends with Ms Patel. He told The Sun, “She was a lovely lady, it’s very sad. She was a gentle person, a placid person.

“My wife knew them well.

Yesterday, I left the house at about 5.05pm and my wife said as soon as I left, it all went crazy.

“It’s quite shocking. The parents were really nice people, they were really nice people.

“She worked in a hospital and her husband told her to retire early because of Covid."

A spokesperson for the Met Police confirmed that Shanil is Hansa's son.

Following the incident, police officers and a forensic team was seen as gathering evidence at the

Hansa Patel

place, and the road was closed off to non-residents.

Chief Superintendent Peter Gardner, of the Met’s West Area Command reportedly said, “This is a devastating incident and my thoughts are with the victim’s family at this difficult time.

“I would like to reassure residents who will have noted a large police presence in the area last night and throughout today.

“These officers are there to assist with the investigation and also to provide local reassurance and support.”

A hearing was held at the Central Criminal Court on Tuesday 1 December. Shanil did not attend.

He is next due to appear at the same court on Tuesday 16 February 2021, pending the completion of a psychiatric report.

1;ѴѴ;m|

(bvb|Ĺ EULJKWVXQ FR XN

0XOWL )DFLOLW\ 1DWXUH &XUH &HQWHU 9LVLW RXU 1DWXURSDWK\ &HQWHU ORFDWHG DW /DNKDEDYDO MXVW .PV IURP -DPQDJDU RYHUFRPH IROORZLQJ GLVHDVHV

!

+ ŽŽŬ zŽƵƌ īŽƌĚĂďůĞ

ϱΎ >hyhZz h / ,K>/ z

ŬѵѶѶ

ĨƌŽŵ

ƉƉ

m1Ѵ 7bm] bu;1| !;| um Yb]_|v b|_

&RQVWLSDWLRQ

)DWW\ /LYHU

2VWHRDUWKULWLV

&KURQLF +HDGDFKH

'LDEHWHV 0HOOLWXV

9HUWLJR

*RXW

5KHXPDWRLG $UWKULWLV

0DODEVRUSWLRQ $OOHUJLF %URQFKLWLV

$Q[LHW\ 'HSUHVVLRQ

+\SHUDFLGLW\

,QGLJHVWLRQ

*DVWULWLV

0HQVWUXDO GLVRUGHU

3HSWLF 8OFHU +\SHUWK\URLGLVP

%URQFKLDO $VWKDPD

0LJUDLQH

+\SHUWHQVLRQ

$FQH 3LPSOH 6FLDWLFD

6LQXVXWLV 1HFN 3DLQ

%DFN 3DLQ

,UULWDEOH %RZHO 6\QGURPH

3DQFUHDWLWLV 6NLQ $OOHUJ\

!

,QVRPQLD

)UHH 5RRP 8SJUDGH ZLWK .LQJ %HG 2FHDQIURQW 5RRP )UHH 0HDO 8SJUDGH IURP %UHDNIDVW WR +DOI %RDUG )5(( 3ULYDWH $LUSRUW 7UDQVIHUV

ş Ɣ mb]_|v -| ƔŖ -0|oou u-m7 !;vou|ķ 0-b

/HHODYDWL 1DWXUHFXUH <RJD 5HVHDUFK &HQWHU /DNKDEDYDO -DPQDJDU *XMDUDW ,QGLD #OHHODYDWLQDWXUHFXUH

&KRRVH %ULJKWVXQ 7UDYHO

2EHVLW\

u;; Ѵb]_|v -|; _-m]; ঞѴ ƑƏƑƑ

v|ĺ ƐƖѶѵ

o b7ŊƐƖ $u- ;Ѵ mv u-m1; -bѴ-0Ѵ;

Ѵ; b0Ѵ; 1_-m]; roѴb1b;v

#OHHODYDWLQDWXUHFXUH ZZZ OHHODYDWLQDWXUHFXUH FRP LQIR#OHHODYDWLQDWXUHFXUH FRP

)RU ,QTXLU\ &DOO QRZ RU ZKDWVDSS RQ

8 UK

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

5 - 11 December 2020

British-only passport holders barred from playing Prince William in film Spencer A new casting notice asking for boys aged between nine and 12 years old, who could conceivably play Prince William at age 11, in the forthcoming film which stipulates that only European passport holders can apply. “Not British-European,” warns the note, “due to new Brexit rules from 1 January 2021.”

Amy Hubbard, casting director on the film, explained that it is common practice on films for key roles to be filled by actors who share citizenship with the financiers. In order to qualify for various grants, tax breaks and to meet eligibility

Prince William

criteria for some film festivals and awards, productions must fulfil a number of quotas, which can include nationality.

Spencer, a biopic of Diana, Princess of Wales starring Kristen Stewart and directed by Jackie’s Pablo Larraín, is due to shoot in Germany.

Larraín said it’s an anti-fairytale, saying: “When someone decides not to be the queen, and says, I’d rather go and be myself, it’s a big, big decision, a fairytale upside down.

I’ve always been very surprised

by that and thought it must have been very hard to do. That is the heart of the movie.”

“It’s one of the saddest stories to exist ever,” said Stewart, discussing her preparations for the role. The actor added that she was finding mastering the accent “intimidating as all hell”.

New memorial park a tribute to London lives lost in Coronavirus The memorial garden, near the 2012 Olympic stadium in Newham, will remember the thousands of Londoners who lost their lives in the Covid-19 pandemic with a new garden of blossoming trees in east of the city, the Mayor has announced.

Newham had the highest coronavirus death rate in the country in May, and remains among the hardest hit London boroughs. East London remains at the centre of the second wave: Redbridge, Havering, Barking and Dagenham and Bexley are the worst hit boroughs in the city, with more than 250 cases per 100,000 people, according to the latest Government briefing.

Announcing the new memorial, Sadiq Khan said coronavirus has “changed our capital forever” and “widened inequalities” in

London society.

“While we continue to battle the virus we are creating a lasting, living memorial to commemorate those who have lost their lives, pay tribute to the amazing work of our key workers and create a space for all Londoners to reflect on the experience of the pandemic,” he said.

The garden will also be “a symbol of how Londoners have stood together to help one another,” he said.

Some 33 blossom trees planted in three circles – representing the 32 London boroughs and the City of London – will be the centrepiece of the new public space.

The garden will be planted by the National Trust and funded by finance and media company Bloomberg, the first part of a

Olympic Stadium

spring blossom campaign due to launch next year. Spring flowering trees were chosen because the pandemic first struck in March.

Nicola Briggs, London and South East director of the National Trust, said the charity hopes to “bring beauty and nature to urban areas” in the coming years. “This space will thrive and become more beautiful as the trees grow and become part of their surroundings,” she said.

Medical practitioners urge Priti Patel to close barracks housing asylum seekers Medical staff have written to the home secretary, Priti Patel with a damning assessment, to raise concerns about the sites at Napier barracks in Kent and Penally barracks in Pembrokeshire, which are holding more than 600 men.

The group, represented by Doctors of the World, a human rights organisation, believe the sites are unsuitable due to the lack of access to adequate and appropriate healthcare services and risks from a lack of compliance with Covid-19 regulations.

They also fear the military environment will trigger further trauma for the men, many of whom will have fled conflict, militia and may have been detained in similar environments in their home

countries. “Although these sites are not classified as detention centres, the sites bear many of the hallmarks of detention and operate like an open prison,” the letter says.

One resident was also admitted after contracting Coronavirus while staying at the barracks. Dr Jill O’Leary, who along with other clinicians and lawyers has been meeting remotely with volunteers, has been working to improve health and vulnerability screening assessments for residents.

The letter is also signed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Faculty of Public Health, warns lack of capacity locally means the residents of the sites are not seeing a GP and are depen-

Home Secretary Priti Patel

dent on outreach support from a nurse and paramedics.

The letter says without access to a GP, residents are at risk of being cut out of the NHS completely. Healthcare

screening services are not in place and there are no specialist trauma-focused therapeutic services, the letter adds.

Paul Morrison, immigration services director at Mitie Care and Custody, told MPs he had urged the Home Office to open a new, large short-term holding facility in Kent to replace current facilities.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Asylum seekers are staying in safe, Covid-compliant conditions, in line with the law and social distancing requirements.

“We take the wellbeing of asylum seekers extremely seriously and have provided guidance in relation to selfisolation, social distancing and hygiene.”

Three Gunas Subhash V Thakrar I have just finished reading the 14th chapter of the Bhagwat Gita as part of my daily reading. It is astonishing that despite this scripture having been written over 5000 years ago, its teachings are as much applicable in today’s times. We can learn and benefit from the age-old teachings and apply in modern life.

This chapter is referring to the three gunas or aspects of our nature. They are satwic or goodness or pure, rajasic or passionate or selfish and tamasic or ignorance or laziness. We are all born with all these three strands of nature in us.

However, the proportion or strength of each of the strands varies amongst us.

Some have more of satwic and less of rajasic or tamasic. You can identify those who are more satwic when you see them full of wisdom and kindness. Others have bigger portion of rajasic and less of satwic or tamas which you can recognise when those people are concentrating to accumulate wealth for themselves and obtain self-glory. When they start using their wealth for wider human good, they are transitioning from rajas to satwa. We can recognise tamasic natures when you see them abusing their selves, full of laziness and even harming others.

In satwic, our nature is dominated by goodness in life which means good character, considerate to others, wise and willing to help others, doing things with purity, with more spirituality etc.

In rajasic, our nature is more selfish, inclined to profit from situation, doing things for self-glory and passionate towards attractive material things. Even greed can be part of this characteristic.

Tamasic nature involves laziness, lethargy, bad vices, harming others for personal benefit etc.

We all have elements of these three natures in our characters and they also evolve over time. It is essential that we try and identify our character by these characteristics. Sometimes family or friends may have commented about our nature.

It is fair to say that majority of working people and business people will have dominance of rajasic with bits of satwic and tamas. Our aim should be to eradicate tamasic and adopt more satwic activities.

If we are conscious of these characteristics, we can begin to start improving our nature over time.

For example, when selling goods or services we do this with a view to making good profit. That is fine. However, we should be more satwic and less tamasic in the way we deliver the goods or service.

We should aim to provide more than expected by the customer and for a fair profit instead of excessive profit.

Over time we can improve our character and enjoy peace of mind.

(The columnist is the former Chair of London Chamber of Commerce and Founding Chair of Charity Clarity).

Wembley trader avoids jail after selling jewellery containing elephant hair Rajtharan Mahalingam (40) resident of Isle of Wight was found guilty at Harrow Crown Court on November 24 as he sold jewellery derived from African and Asian elephant’s hair from his shop in Ealing Road. He has avoided jail after illegally selling the jewellery containing specimens derived from endangered species (elephant hair) contrary to

the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations 1997.

He was charged with seven counts of buying, selling and commercially using products contrary to the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations 1997.

He was sentenced to 32

weeks jail, suspended for 16 months, 200 hours unpaid work, a £200 fine, all jewellery containing elephant hair to be forfeited and £1,500 costs with a £140 surcharge.

Enquiries established that the jewellery had been illegally imported without permit in place for the premises to import, sell or commercially use specimens

derived from elephants, Scotland Yard said.

A warrant was carried out on May 15 2018, and a large quantity of jewellery containing elephant hair was seized. Forensic analysis was conducted on samples of the seized jewellery and hair. Results from the same matched DNA from both an African and Asian elephant.

Mahalingam was inter-

viewed under caution on May 21 2018 and charged on November 19 2019.

Det Con Sarah Bailey, of the Met’s Wildlife Crime Unit, said: “There are legal requirements in relation to the import, sale and commercial use of specimens derived from protected and endangered species and these had not been complied with. “African and Asian ele-

phants continue to be poached and it is worrying that the derivatives of such activity may appear for sale in London.”

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

5 - 11 December 2020

10 READERS' VOICE

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

5 - 11 December 2020

Lord Desai’s resignation

Allegation against Priti Patel

I was surprised to hear that Lord Meghnad Desai has resigned from the Labour Party to protest against the racism faced by the Jewish community. It was well known to all that over the last two years under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn the targeting of the Jewish members of the party was intense. Why did Lord Desai not resign then?

Did he raise his voice against what was going on at the time?

Under the present Labour leader Keir Starmer there is zero tolerance of racism towards the Jewish members. The gravity and the urgency of the matter has passed. So, Lord Desai's resignation now is irrelevant to the problem.

Moreover, in its present form the House of Lords has become an embarrassment to British democracy. Some of the Indian-origin Lords have used their position to criticise India and have never spoken up for India on any issue.

They have also supported anti-Hindu groups by voting for Caste legislation.

In contrast it is really nice to see the new generation of Hindu MPs like Rishi Sunak and Priti Patel who hold high positions in the government are actually making a difference. They do not see the need to constantly please their peers. Rishi Sunak lighting the Diwali lamps outside 11 Downing Street sent a symbolic message which our older generation of politicians could not even dream of.

It is really disheartening to read the allegations made against the Home Secretary Priti Patel as reported in AV dated 28th Nov to 4th Dec 2020. It seems people are unable to accept a woman with Asian background as a boss or a superior. She has come from a very humble background and reached this position because of sheer hard work, dedication and determination.

The Prime Minister knows the potential of Ms Patel and provided her full backing but some people in his own party are unable to accept her at the top position. As you have mentioned there are not more than 2% Asian women in politics, it is very difficult to reach and maintain that position.

Home Office is dealing with many sensitive issues which have got far-reaching implications for the country. Civil servants are there to support and implement the political agenda of a legitimately elected government and their ministers, not to impose or force their decisions on political leaders.

Resignation by a person, because the PM did not oust Ms Patel based on his findings, shows that civil servants want to act as decision-makers instead of advisers to the government.

Ms Patel has already apologised for her behaviour, so it is time to move on with other priority areas like Covid, Brexit and how to bring the economy back on track at the earliest.

Bullying, shouting or harassment has no place in the civilised society but a person handling such a sensitive department will have few friends and more enemies to judge the performance and magnify the smallest possible issue. Amber Rudd and Sajid Javid left or were forced to leave in a relatively short span shows the gravity of the situation there.

Nitin Mehta By email

Pros and cons of overseas aid Overseas Aid was a touchy subject for a long time, pet project for bleeding heart politicians who live in “Ivory Tower” with the bridge raised! Most of these politicians live in comfort who have never missed a single meal, their children going to private school and they are enjoying private treatment on demand, bypassing over-worked and under-funded NHS, taking holidays in the Caribbean, French Rivera and such exotic hot spots we can only dream about.

When I read in papers that some of them have installed £50K new kitchen, an indoor pool or a summer house, I could not help but wonder how they could justify such grand living with left-leaning political thinking, it is like having two set of teeth of an elephant, one for the show and one, the tiny one for practical use!

Our contribution at 0.7 % of GDP was one of the highest in the world, more than that of super-rich nations like Germany, Japan, China and South Korea who dominate world trade to the tune of 50%.

At one time, before WW2, our share of world trade was 20%, today it is miserly 1% and going down.

Chancellor showed his mental strength and judged the pulse of British people, when he reduced our contribution to 0.5%, saving some £5 billion that could go to NHS, provide meals to school children; widely approved by British people with an approval rate of 66% with 18% against the cut.

So many of our children are going hungry, many OAPs live in cold, damp houses, having to choose between heating and eating! Chancellor has done nothing for these elderlies, having deprived them of income generated on their savings, by cutting interest rate 0.01%, thus facilitating loans for his rich friends and the government borrowing of some £400 billion that will leave heavy burden on the future generation to pay!

Bhupendra M. Gandhi By email

Chancellor’s Spending Review One in nine households in our capital won’t be able to escape the cold this winter as they struggle to meet the costs of heating their homes.

We have recently marked Fuel Poverty Awareness day (Friday 27th November) which has highlighted the stark choice facing many low-income families and vulnerable Londoners of putting food on the table or keeping warm.

This could be the bleak reality for yet thousands more who are at risk of losing their livelihoods due to the pandemic. It really doesn’t have to be this way and with its Green New Deal, City Hall plans to slash household energy bills through low-carbon heat and energy-efficiency projects.In the meantime, the Government need to repair the holes they have poked in our welfare system over the last decade. It was disappointing to see the Chancellor’s Spending Review fail to commit to keeping the uplift in Universal Credit payments beyond April or increase the rate of Local Housing Allowance to cover average rents.

With unemployment rising, and in-work poverty at an alarming level, Government Ministers simply cannot put off taking action on making our benefits system fairer any longer.

Navin Shah AM London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow

Hitesh Hingu London

Gift of life The other day it was very cloudy, rainy and miserable in Markham. But our day brightened up when we read online in Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar about the very noble work by Jain and Hindu Organ Donation & NHSBT campaign to raise awareness and encourage people to donate organs after death.

Many Hindu and Jain saints sent messages explaining how their religion and scripture marked the importance of donating organs. Also, organ donors or those who received donations, talked about the importance. In our community not only in UK but also in North America and other parts of the world there is less awareness and also people are hesitant to donate organs due to social, religious and peer pressure, though our community needs more organ donors. Hats off to all involved in JHOD & NHSBT and the families of organ donors for noblest thing they ever did, not just for themselves but in memory of their loved ones.

Five years back in April 2015 I was reading print edition of Toronto Star editorial “Sharing gift of life”, I was motivated to sign up the organ donation form. The last line of this editorial said “the gift can be marvellous legacy” which touched me. I am narrating my decision not to take any credit but to motivate others.

Suresh and Bhavna Patel Markham, Canada

Kash Patel- an inspiring story In the last issue of Asian Voice (28 Nov), we read the remarkable story of Kash Patel written by Priyanka Mehta. So many of our families came to the UK, leaving everything they ever had in Uganda and set up a life here after so much struggle.

Son of a Ugandan Gujarati myself, it makes all of us proud of our families’ sacrifices and to read stories of remarkable achievements like that of Kash Patel’s. It is also interesting to read about his comments regarding President Trump’s policies and Kashmir issues. More importantly it is heart-warming to read, that a man of his stature believes that UK-US relationship will remain ever so important, even after Brexit.

It gives us hope.

Anil Morjaria Leicester

Diwali issue Our family with much interest read Asian Voice’s Diwali issue. Every year this magazine brings a mix of good articles.

This year as well the magazine did not fail to impress us. My daughter who does not read Gujarati loved the English articles, especially about the remarkable work of some charities.

It was good to see Boris Johnson’s message too. It must have been so prestigious to receive a message from him for your readers.

My younger son loved to read about children and their experience about Diwali. I think he will send his submission next year. Well done Asian Voice. Even amidst all the challenges, you brought out a fantastic issue of the magazine.

Monali Patel London

KHICHADI Kapil’s

Follow me on Twitter: @kk_OEG

Saving Labour Kapil Dudakia It has now been several months since Keir Starmer took over as leader of the Labour Party. Labour’s path of selfflagellation will continue until they accept their core issues of internal and external conflict. Labour is like an alcoholic; we can all see the downward spiral of decay which cannot be stopped until the party acknowledges the extent of its problems.

So, to help out I will give them a free guide to how it can save itself. They won’t like it, but who said the medicine was going to be anything but bitter.

Let’s start with the positive, I believe Keir knows the destructive nature of the Corbyn followers. However, hitherto, his actions suggest one step forward and two steps back approach when it comes to dealing with Corbyn and his cult. Keir needs to take the scalpel and cut out the cancer. He needs to medicate the whole party with a strong message that ensures that such destructive members will not be tolerated.

The Corbyn cult is not necessarily the same as Momentum in Labour. Labour cannot have a party within a party. The aim and objectives of Momentum often contradict those of the party. So on what basis can Labour continue to turn a blind eye to the madness of momentum? Keir needs to ban Momentum and make it clear that members of Momentum cannot be members of Labour.

There is a third step that is required before Keir can begin to restructure Labour so it’s fit for the future. This being Labour’s folly in appeasing to the Muslim vote bank.

Especially to Pakistanis. This whole process started during the time of Blair but has accelerated during the past 15 years.

So what is the common thread running through the Corbyn cult, Momentum’s madness and the Pakistani vote bank? All three groups seem to have an issue with the Jewish and Hindu communities. Or put another way, with Israel and India. Or put yet another way, their allegiance to Palestine and Pakistan.

The working class voters in the north have noted this also, even if Labour politicians wish to turn a blind eye. The last election showed beyond any doubt tens of thousands of working class voters abandoning Labour. Labour lost more than they secured from the Corbyn cult, Momentum and the Pakistani vote bank put together. The British electorate lost confidence in Labour as a party fit for governing the nation.The only way to save Labour is for it to abandon flirting with toxic groups. Each brings their brand of cancer to the party whilst adding nothing of value to it. In fact, all three groups can be described as anti-national. How can a national opposition party allow itself to be taken over by such anarchists?

Can Labour be saved? Yes. However, is Keir the man to do it? I doubt it though time will tell whether he has a leap of faith and forces a quantum jump forward that refreshes Labour for the 21st Century.

If I was Keir, I would use 2021 as the year for reformation when the cancer within is eradicated and the ideology is updated to reflect the nation and its needs, as opposed to a socialist utopia which can never be achieved. Even if that means a decade more in opposition. This country needs a national opposition, not an opposition that is anti-national.

“When one with honeyed words but evil mind persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.” - Euripides, Orestes. Time for honeyed words is over for Labour if it is to be saved.

Introspection- Asian Voice columnists I have been reading Asian Voice for a few years now. Ever since the lockdown, I feel Asian Voice, I have had more time to read the newspaper.

I feel over the last few months it has improved remarkably. There are some very good articles by your journalists and a mix of informative, hard core news and light reads. I am especially fond of Rohit Vadhwana’s introspection column. His last week’s column about 5 health targets was also quite brilliant. A few weeks back, he wrote a piece about haircuts during lockdown. It was an enjoyable read.

It is also great to read Ruchi Ghanashyam’s column. The former High Commissioner was remarkable, and it is such a delight to read her last two articles. I hope she will talk about more of her experiences and encounters.

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

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

UK 11

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

5 - 11 December 2020

Karma catches up with ex-Lord Nazir Ahmed Ruchi Ghanashyam For the first time ever, the House of Lords Conduct Committee of the UK Parliament recommended the expulsion of a peer, Pakistani origin Lord Nazir Ahmed on charges of sexual assault. He announced his resignation before the report was published. This seemed like a repeat of his resignation in 2013 from the Labour Party two days before he was scheduled to appear before the Labour Executive Committee for antisemitic remarks he had allegedly made in an interview on television in Pakistan. Nazir Ahmed has been a known anti-India figure in UK politics, known to be closely aligned with the Pakistani establishment.

The House of Lords Commissioner for Standards found that “Lord Ahmed breached the Code of Conduct by failing to act on his personal honour in the discharge of his parliamentary activities by agreeing to use his position as a member of the House to help a member of the public but then; sexually assaulting the complainant, lying to the complainant about his intentions to help her with a complaint to the Metropolitan Police regarding exploitation by a faith healer, exploiting the complainant emotionally and sexually despite knowing she was vulnerable”. He denied the allegation of exploiting his position, but his appeal was also rejected. House of Lords has formally taken away all the privileges from him.

This was not the first accusation of impropriety against Nazir Ahmed. In March 2019, he was charged with two offences of attempted rape and one offence of indecent assault between 1971-74, on a boy and girl who were both under 13 years old. His two elder brothers have also been charged with indecent assaults on boys as young as 8 and 11 years. According to media reports, Ahmed’s trial was to take place earlier this year, but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Nazir Ahmed is no stranger to controversy. In 2007, Nazir Ahmed was involved in a fatal car crash, leading to a jail sentence, for which he, reportedly, spent a few days of prison time. Apparently, he has stated incorrectly in subsequent interviews that he had no criminal record and his sentence had been overturned. In a replay of his earlier alleged antisemitic remarks,The Times newspaper of London revealed that he had blamed a Jewish conspiracy for his driving conviction.

Nazir Ahmed seems to have had a knack for making bizarre claims. He claimed in 2012 that the attack on Malala Yusufzai could have been carried out by unknown elements in Pakistan to discredit the Taliban, though he later accepted that he had no idea of what had happened!

Though Nazir Ahmed began his political career as a local Councillor from the Labour Party, he is better known for his ties with Pakistan government and his lobbying in the UK Parliament for the so-called Kashmir issue on Pakistan’s behalf. He claimed to have changed the Labour Party’s policy on the ‘Kashmir’ issue and to have had it discussed on the floor of a conference organised by Justice Foundation, whose then Director, Ghulam Nabi Fai, was arrested by US authorities for spying and illegal lobbying. US prosecutors reportedly alleged that Kashmir Centres of Justice Foundation in UK, USA and Saudi Arabia were run on behalf of Pakistani government and its Inter-Services Intelligence Agency.

Nazir Ahmed was in the forefront of demonstrations outside the High Commission of India, including efforts to mobilise crowds to join these so-called protests, believed to have been orchestrated by Pakistan.

Important occasions like visits of dignitaries from India, Indian Independence Day and Republic Day have been special targets. He was involved in organising the large and violent crowds that gathered outside India House in London on India’s Independence Day on 15th August 2019, when a group of innocent Indians celebrating the occasion were attacked.

Given his one-track politics and the notoriety surrounding him, he is unlikely to be missed in the House of Lords, except, of course, by Pakistani intelligence agencies. This development raises serious questions about the validity of the moral high ground that UK Parliament or its members often adopt while denigrating the democratic institutions in a democracy like India.

(Mrs Ruchi Ghanashyam is the former High Commissioner of India to the UK. With a career in Indian Foreign Service for over 38 years, she has been posted in many countries including before arriving in the UK. She was only the second woman High Commissioner to the UK since India’s independence and during her tenure, she witnessed a number of significant developments in the UK-India relations).

Sign hailing 'hero' British soldiers to be replaced after Indian-origin doctor complaints 26-year-old junior doctor, Dr Vivek Majumder saw a 'distasteful' sign claiming Lucknow had been 'relieved' following a siege in India in 1857.

According to Dr Majumder, the Daily Mail reported, “The sign, next to the India Cross on the castle's esplanade, was 'too celebratory of the British and dismissive of the Indian forces.”

Further Dr Majumder told the newspaper “In my eyes it was blatant pandering to imperialism, and It was not the first time I had seen distasteful imperialistic things in Scottish public spaces, but this was the first that painted the British as 'Heroes' and that Lucknow was 'relieved'.”

The Siege of Lucknow followed a mutiny of most of the 100,000 soldiers in the British East India Company's Bengal Army, stationed in North India, in 1857.

Sir Henry Lawrence, the East India Company's Commissioner in Lucknow ordered his garrison to retreat into the British residency in

the city.

A week after Dr Majumder emailed Historic Environment Scotland, who is responsible for the sign, officials accepted his criticism and promised to change it.

Dr Majumder further told the daily, “I don't think Britain's past should be forgot- Edinburgh Castle ten, nor its attitudes in the past. There's an 8ft stone Celtic cross there that needs explaining and it’s a step in the right direction.”

Dr Crispin Bates, Professor of South Asian History, reportedly said although Britons saw the event as a 'great victory', Indians viewed it as the First National Indian War of Independence.

“Unsurprisingly, Indians see these events very differently. In 1910, Indian nationalist Savarkar called it ‘The First

National Indian War of Independence’.

A spokesman for HES said the sign would be updated to include a 'fuller context' from the Indian perspective.

It said, “It is critical for our visitors to better understand this event and why it led to the erection of the India Cross on the Edinburgh Castle. As such, one of our historians is currently undertaking research to ensure the new content on an updated panel, is accurate and balanced.”

Manchester bombing reportedly reshaped UK’s terrorism strategy On Monday 30th November, it emerged that "fast-time learning" from the Manchester Arena bombing attack had resulted in several changes in how UK counter-terrorism teams work.

The inquiry into the attack of 22 May 2017, which killed 22 people, heard that senior officers reviewed what happened five days later to learn from it and that their 21 recommendations had mostly been implemented.

A senior officer said that at the time, counter-terrorism focused on the nature, not the timing, of a threat.

Lucy D'Orsi, deputy assistant commissioner with National Counter Terrorism Police, said she believed the security advice at the time was correct.

She said, "I think there should be a holistic focus on what the attack methodology is, which in this case was a person-borne IED (improved explosive device).

There was no mention in

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D'Orsi

the guidance of the specific terrorist threat of people leaving a concert, the inquiry heard.

According to

Manchester Evening News DAC D'Orsi also said the legislation would be a 'seismic shift' in the way 'everyone approaches protective security', and be 'as groundbreaking to protective security as GDPR has been for data handling'.

"I think it is important that we move it forward as quickly as possible," she told the inquiry. This is about everybody playing their part. It reflects the learning from attacks and dreadful loss of life we have seen."

Havelock Road in Southall to be renamed as Guru Nanak Road A part of the famous Havelock Road in Southall, which is also home to Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha will be renamed the Guru Nanak Road, the Ealing Council has announced last week. The Havelock Road is named after British general Sir Henry Havelock who is known to have suppressed the Revolt of 1857 in North India.

The council, which is the local authority for the London Borough of Ealing that includes Southall, noted, “Following the decision by cabinet on 14 July to celebrate and commemorate the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, it has been decided to make an order to rename part of Havelock Road.”

The statement added that consultations had taken place with residents and businesses directly impacted by the change as well as the Royal Mail and the emergency services.

The largest Gurdwara outside India, which was inaugurated by The Prince of Wales in 1997, is located on Havelock Road. The section of the road to be renamed lies between King Street and Merrick Road.

The announcement was made ahead of the celebration of Guru Nanak Jayanti on 30 November and the new name will come into effect in 2021, fol-

lowing necessary procedures.

The move is part of London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s campaign, which began in June, to re-evaluate memorials, statues and public spaces that honour British colonialism in view of the global Black Lives Matter movement.

Councillor Kamaljit Dhindsa, cabinet member, welcomed the change on Wednesday and said it “reflects the importance of celebrating the borough’s diversity”.

Labour leader Keir Starmer sends his best wishes to Gurdwaras Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer wrote to all Gurdwaras in the country to express his “heartfelt best wishes” to the Sikh community on the 551st anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s birth.

In the letter, the Labour leader thanked the Sikh community for looking after their local communities

and the most vulnerable in our society during the Covid-19 pandemic. He wrote, “We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Sikh community in exemplifying the core teachings of Guru Nanak. The seva of Sikhs during the pandemic is a shining example of their community spirit.” While Covid-19 restrictions mean that families cannot come together as they normally would, Keir Starmer finished his letter by saying, “Guru Nanak’s teachings of selfless service and perseverance will continue to be an inspiration to us all.”

12 MEDIA WATCH

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

5 - 11 December 2020

SCRUTATOR’S India conducts two more BrahMos tests India conducted two more “live operational firings” of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, amidst the continuing military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh. The land-attack variant of the “deep-strike precision missile” hit the target on an island almost 300-km away with pinpoint precision in the tests conducted by the Army and then by the IAF. The firings are part of the continuing tests of the air breathing missile, whose range is now being enhanced to almost 450-km from the existing 290-km.

Flying at almost three times the speed of sound at Mach 2.8, the BrahMos missile is considered to be the best in its class in the world. “The first test from a mobile autonomous launcher was conducted on Tuesday last.

Both the tests on Wednesday followed different trajectories to hit the target from different directions, with the Army firing the missile in fullcombat mode. A naval warship will also fire the anti-ship version of the missile later,” said an official. (Agency) Indian navy gets US Predator drones on lease

In a sign of growing closeness between India and the United States amid conflict with China, the Indian Navy has inducted two Predator drones from an American firm on lease for carrying out surveillance in the Indian Ocean Region and which can also be deployed along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh. The American-origin drones have been inducted by the Navy under the emergency procurement powers granted by the Defence Ministry in view of the India-China border conflict.

"The drones arrived in India in the second week of November and were inducted into flying operations on November 21 at Indian Navy base at INS Rajali," top government sources said.

The drones have already started flying operations and with an endurance capability of being in the air for over 30 hours, they are proving to be a big asset for the maritime force, they said.

An American crew from the vendor is also accompanying the equipment and would help the Navy to operate the machines, the sources said. The drones are flying in Indian colours and would be on lease with India for one year even as the three services are preparing the case for acquiring 18 more such drones from the US, the sources said. (Agency) HC moots Covid sewa for face mask violators The Gujarat high court sought a quick response from the state government on whether it

could introduce punishment of social service in Covid centres for those who are caught without wearing masks in public places. The bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice J B Pardiwala was of the view that the mandatory mask rule is not “strictly complied with” in Gujarat. The judges appeared interested in the idea put across by petitioner-advocate Vishal Awtani, who proposed to increase the fine and introduce punishment of placing the violators in Covid centres for social service and they should be assigned the non-medical tasks for 14-15 days. This could work as a great deterrent. “The amount of fine has no deterrent effect among public,” the lawyer argued and suggested social punishment so that people should understand the gravity of situation. The judges of concurred with the idea and said such steps if taken would definitely ensure greater implementation of compulsorily wearing a mask, which will definitely help us in containing the spread of Covid-19. (The Times of India)

“100 most influential and inspiring women across the globe who are leading change and making a difference during these turbulent times.” At 13, she is the youngest person to feature in the coveted list this year. Anti-CAA protester Dadi Bilkis Bano, parabadminton champion Manasi Joshi and singer Isaivani are also featured in the list. Riddhima currently lives in Haridwar with her parents - father Dinesh Pandey, a wildlife activist and mother Vinita, a government employee. A student of class IX, the young activist shot to fame at the age of nine when she filed a petition against the Centre for “failing to implement the Environment Act properly” in the country. In 2017, she filed a plea in the NGT asking the government to prepare a ‘Carbon Budget’ to limit carbon dioxide emissions and create a ‘national climate recovery plan’. She was also among the 16 child petitioners, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who petitioned the UN against Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey in 2019 for causing maximum pollution.

(Agency)

Teen eco activist in BBC’s coveted list Uttarakhand-based teen

Deserted at 4 days old, he gets a home in Italy Vishal, now six, got a new home and identity last week as Andrea Miazzo and Nadia Gottardo from the Veneto region of Italy became his

environmental activist Riddhima Pandey has been included in the recently-released BBC’s list of

proud parents. This was the second adoption of a child from Ahmedabad by an Italian couple

in the past fortnight. “Our struggle to get a child started a decade ago. We initially concentrated on Italy. When it did not work out, we expanded our search to various agencies in Europe. At the suggestion of some friends and well-wishers, we approached the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) in India about two years ago,” said Miazzo. They zeroedin on Vishal and after our initial meetings it was a match they really liked. After completion of the paperwork, the couple was set to visit India in February to take him home. “But then Covid-19 happened, both in India and Italy. The plan was postponed as we continued our periodic chats with Vishal on video calls. He has only learnt ‘Mama’, ‘Papa’ and ‘Ciao’ so far.

But we are hopeful that his Italian vocabulary will improve soon,” said Gottardo. Sources said Vishal was abandoned when he was four days old.

6th-century pottery with oldest nanostructures found in TN

Five years ago, in a nondescript village some 450km from Chennai, were found the remains of a city that went back to the 3rd-6th century BCE. Now, in broken pieces of pottery from the excavation site, Keeladi, scientists have stumbled upon the world’s first known use of nanotechnology, over 2,600 years ago. The findings have been documented in a paper published in ‘Nature’ this month. “Before this, the oldest known carbon nanostructures were found in Damascus blades from the 16th18th century CE,” corresponding author of the paper, Dr Nagaboopathy Mohan, said. The Damascus blades, in fact, were also made in India. “The technique for coating used in Damascus blades appears to have been known only to Indians,” Mohan added, referring to a paper in ‘Nature’ about this. Before that, gold and silver nanoparticles were found in Islamic pottery from the 7th-8th century CE and in the Roman Lycurgus Cup from the 4th century CE. This pushes the oldest known use of nanotechnology back by a thousand years. Carbon nanotubes are tubes of carbon that are a billionth of a metre in diameter. Their occurrence was discovered in 1991 by Japanese scientist Sumio Iijima. Since then, researchers have come up with many ways to synthesise it.

The most common method is

chemical vapour deposition, Mohan explained, involving a complex process with high temperatures from 800°C. (The Times of India) 'Bribe’ complaint against Lalu Bihar BJP MLA Lallan Paswan filed a complaint against jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad at Patna’s Vigilance police station, accusing him of offering a ministerial berth to abstain from voting in the Speaker’s election. Former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi and minister Mukesh Sahani, too, claimed to have received feelers from Lalu - just as former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi alleged that the RJD chief tried to induce him to join the opposition alliance. “It is wrong to lure an MLA, a public servant, into doing anything. Such actions come under the Prevention of Corruption Act. I have taken the required legal action by lodging a police complaint against Lalu,” Paswan, elected from Pirpainti seat, said. Ex-CM Manjhi said he received multiple calls until midnight from an aide of Lalu, whose use of a phone while in jail custody at Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences has left the Jharkhand administration squirming. “I was told that Laluji wanted to talk to me. However, I did not speak to him. If Lallan Paswan and Sushil Modiji are making such allegations, it is 200% true. Lalu was repeatedly trying to talk to me and other members of my party during and after the polls,” Manjhi said. (Agency) Fan sacrifices finger to celebrate Nitish win Anil Sharma, an avid supporter of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar cut off a finger for the fourth time and offered it to a local deity after Nitish was sworn in as CM for a fourth consecutive term.

This time, it was the forefinger of his left hand that was offered to Goriaya Baba, a local deity, by the 45-year-old resident of Vaina village, under Ghosi block in Jehanabad district. He lopped off a finger the first time in 2015, when Nitish won the assembly polls, and has done it each time he has won - 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2018, said residents of Vaina village. “He visited the village temple and offered his finger to the deity as thanksgiving for showering blessings on Nitish,” a local resident, Sanjay Kumar, said. Sharma, who worked as a gardener in Chennai, returned home after the results of the recently concluded state elections were declared. “I had promised Goraiya Baba I would sacrifice my finger if Nitish was voted to power once again,” Sharma told reporters. (Agency)

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

5 - 11 December 2020

13

14 UK

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

5 - 11 December 2020

Neasden temple helps those at risk of hunger and malnutrition across London BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London – popularly known as ‘Neasden Temple’ partnered with The Felix Project to support the delivery of over 40,000 of its meals to people from vulnerable communities at risk of hunger and malnutrition across London between 9 and 13 November 2020.

The Felix Project collects fresh, nutritious food that cannot be sold. They deliver this surplus food to charities and schools so they can provide nutritious meals and help people most at risk of hunger and malnutrition in London.

This collaboration coincided

Mark Curtin CEO of The Felix Project with Swami Yogvivekdas and Swami Satyavratdas at Neasden Temple

with Diwali. During this time, a variety of dishes are prepared every year as a devotional offering to God made in thanksgiving and consumed by worshippers

as part of the festivities.

Neasden Temple reached out to over 50,000 homes as part of its festive messages, thereby raising further awareness of this cam-

paign to support the needy.

Swami Yogvivekdas, Head Sadhu of Neasden Temple, explained, “This is a very difficult time of year for so many, and their challenges are compounded by the impact of the ongoing pandemic. We were thrilled to support the brilliant work of The Felix Project once again and helped deliver food across London to those who needed it the most – and in doing so, shared the spirit and values of Diwali.”

For more details about The Felix Project see: https://thefelixproject.org

Enfield Saheli organises panel discussion about domestic abuse to mark White Ribbon Day Domestic Abuse has sharply risen during the pandemic. White Ribbon Day on 25 November was marked by Enfield Saheli with a discussion about domestic abuse, support for perpetrators and victims.

Krishna Pujara welcomed all present and explained the background and services of Enfield Saheli, ‘Saheli’ meaning female friend and how the charity supports and empowers women to be the best they can be.

The White Ribbon is a symbol of hope for a world where women and girls can live free from the fear of violence. Wearing the ribbon is about challenging the acceptability of violence – by getting men involved, helping women to break the silence, and encouraging everyone to come together to build a better world for all Lynn Hope Thomas, Domestic Abuse Advocacy Worker at Enfield Saheli explained how services included awareness about domestic abuse and that White Ribbon Day was being marked to have conversations around domestic abuse. She said, “During this difficult time - Our clients represent some of the most isolated, vulnerable and marginalized people in the community.

The current pandemic, and measures

imposed to control it, have had an acutely negative impact on a group of already very vulnerable people, exacerbating existing mental health challenges for many of our clients now facing e.g., financial instability, escalating domestic tensions, bereavement.

We’ve also seen people revert to positions of helplessness, rather than feeling able to confront challenges independently.

“We’ve seen urgent calls for action over the crisis lower incomes and insecure housing, which show that BAME groups are disproportionately affected by the crisis, and ultimately put at greater risk of physical, psychological and economic suffering. This vulnerability links to an inordinate increase in the incidence of mental health issues amongst sections of minority groups during this pandemic.”

The online event was attended by many guests from Enfield and surrounding boroughs who listened to the powerful and inspiring words of Kate Osamor, MP for Edmonton.

She said, “We need longer term strategies to deal with the factors that lead to the mental health issues, such as housing and jobs."

Lord Rami Ranger CBE explaining that

education plays an important role said, “Domestic abuse will end when we bring our children up in a loving family environment.”

“Love” said Cllr Sabri Ozaydin Mayor of Enfield,” is definitely important.”

“Gentlemen ask your wife, is there any way in which I am hurting you?” recommended Rohit Vadhwana the First Secretary of the High Commission of India, as he believes that by men being more communicative with their spouses, they might uncover something they were not aware of.

Dr Ajai Kumar, a Consultant Psychiatrist in London using the Tantric story of Kali and Shiva, explained about emotional intensity and rational thought and how we need to be able to step back and see the emotion, as the first step in making the choice to act and behave differently, if abusers are to recover.

Enfield Saheli is a charity set up 28 years ago - which provides Confidential Advocacy, Advice and Support to women who are isolated, vulnerable and going through emotional and mental distress.

Saheli works not only with women but also with other organisations to raise awareness about the issues faced by women.

Kishan Devani BEM appointed as Visiting Lecturer at London Met A politician, consultant and educator whose work has been pioneering in the area of community-cohesion will explore Geopolitics, Diplomacy and International Relations with students. London Met has appointed Kishan Devani BEM as a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations. During his time here, he will have a particular focus on Geopolitics and Diplomacy during his time here.

One of the youngest BAME Freemen of the City of London as well as a seasoned politician, consultant and educator, his work has been pioneering in the area of community cohesion within the BritishAsian community. Since leaving university ten years ago, he has engaged young Asian people to get involved in British civic life through talks at schools, colleges and universities, with the aim of inspiring them to join the fields of politics, education and social service.

He has previously served as Deputy Chairman of the London Conservative Party, becoming the youngest politician of ethnic minority background to be appoint-

ed to the role, before leaving to join the Liberal Democrats. He now serves as a Board Member of the Lib Dems and Vice President of the Liberal Democrats Campaign for Race Equality.

Kishan Devani BEM

Kishan was honoured by Her Majesty the Queen in Her New Year’s Honour's List 2020 with the BEM (British Empire Medal) for Services to Community Cohesion.

On his appointment at London Met, Kishan told Asian Voice, “I fundamentally believe in Unity in Diversity, which is exem-

plified at London Met. Your students, academics and staff come from across the globe and work together as one family. This inspiration forms the basis of my own values and vision of bringing communities together.

“The diversity of the student body is a huge asset to the University.

I believe what London Met has to offer is second to none, as it provides students the opportunity to interact with people from all walks of life and learn from one another. This is one of the institutions biggest strengths and one of the major reasons I look forward to being a part of the London Met family.”

in brief in brief NADHIM ZAHAWI APPOINTED VACCINE MINISTER

Nadhim Zahawi

On Saturday 28 November, Downing Street has announced that it had appointed Nadhim Zahawi, minister for Business and Industry, in charge of overseeing the deployment of the Covid-19 vaccine. No. 10 said the Stratfordon-Avon MP would take on the role until at least next summer.

Zahari will temporarily relinquish responsibility for most areas of his brief at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Under the interim arrangement, he will serve as a joint minister between BEIS and the Department for Health and Social Care.

Zahawi said he was delighted to be appointed to the role.

He tweeted, “A big responsibility and a big operational challenge but absolutely committed to making sure we can roll out vaccines quickly – saving lives and livelihoods and helping us build back better.”

INDIAN TEACHER SHORTLISTED FOR GLOBAL TEACHER PRIZE

The Varkey Foundation is geared up to support Global Teacher Prize of US $1 million (Rs 7 crores) to a winner from about 12,000 nominations across 130 countries. An Indian teacher Ranjitsinh Disale, a primary teacher from Solapur is included in the short list of ten candidates.The virtual event will be held with the background of Natural History Museum in London on Thursday 3rd December from 11 am BST. The Institute of Jainology is also assisting and coordinating the event with The Varkey Foundation.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

UK

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

15

5 - 11 December 2020

Rohan Radia Last week, I had the privilege of visiting GMSP Foundation’s latest project: a new food kitchen in Watford – a cutting-edge facility providing 9,000 wholesome meals for the vulnerable in north London, the first of its kind in the UK. I am a keen observer and writer of philanthropic efforts in our community, and the GMSP Akshaya Patra kitchen is a leading example not only of philanthropy at its best but also of a true partnership between a funder and a grantee This was evident in the interactions between the two organisations on my visit with each explaining how they could not have achieved the end result without the other.

Over lunch, the founders of GMSP, Ramesh and Pratibha Sachdev, alongside their daughter who is CEO, Sonal Sachdev Patel, explained their admirable journey and ambitions for the Foundation. Bhawani Singh Shekhawat, CEO of Akshaya Patra UK, shared his incredible knowledge of the model in India and its future in the UK. They introduced the kitchen to other leaders in the community: Lord Dolar and Lady Sandhya Popat, Dean Russell (MP for Watford), Bob Blackman (MP for Harrow East) and Harrow Councillor Ameet Jogia.

The kitchen is based on Akshaya Patra’s model in India, a charity which serves 1.8 million meals to children every day across the country. In the UK, almost 20% of children under the age of 15 are unsure if they will have a proper meal on a given day. Free school meals are needed all year-round to ensure no child goes hungry. Akshaya Patra’s model is therefore exactly what we need in the UK, an extremely efficient and scalable structure able to serve highly nutritious meals. A Michelin star chef is an ambassador of this very slick operation.

I was taken aback by the number of state-of-the-art machines with the capabili-

A visit to the GMSPAkshaya Patra Food Kitchen

Dean Russell MP, Bob Blackman MP, Sonal Sachdev Patel, Ramesh and Pratibha Sachdev and Bhawani Singh Shekhawat at the GMSP Akshaya Patra Food Kitchen in Watford

ty to cook thousands of bespoke meals within 30 minutes or so. The latest technology was ubiquitous, from freezers to cleaning devices. Indeed, lunch was delicious

UK Vis Immig as and ration

Secure English Language Tests (SELTs) approved by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) Trinity has many SELT centres across the UK with tests available 7 days a week and Trinity is committed to providing you with a COVID-secure testing environment.

Citizenship, Settlement and Spouse/Partner visas (A1–B1)

Entrepreneur, Student and Minister of Religion visas (B1–C1)

GESE: Graded Examinations in Spoken English

ISE: Integrated Skills in English

A reading, writing, speaking and listening exam A speaking and listening exam Provisional result received in 24 hours Completed in one day Certificate sent within 7 days Certificate sent within 21 days

Book your test today at trinitySELT.co.uk /TrinitySELT

@Trinity_SELT

0333 358 3183

trinitycollege.com/SELT

with an array of piping hot vegetarian meals. Most importantly, the food is highly nutritious – every meal is lab-tested to create the perfect balance of micro and macro-

nutrients to ensure children are receiving optimal nutrition. This is so vital as a number of studies show the strong link between the quality of a child’s food intake and their ability to learn in the classroom. It was quite clear that tasty food need not be unhealthy, quite the opposite in this case! Nutrition is at the heart of what the GMSP-Akshaya Patra partnership stands for.

The kitchen is now starting to serve their first meals to children and the vulnerable in Watford, Harrow and the surrounding areas. One of the topics discussed among the esteemed politicians and philanthropists present was how to optimise the uptake of the meals, particularly to ensure as many children on free school meals as possible can be fed, as well as those who are food insecure The local politicians are keen to meet this aim. In the meantime, I strongly recommend anyone in this space (especially schools) to explore the GMSPAkshaya Patra kitchen.

The GMSP founders, Ramesh and Pratibha Sachdev’s style of philanthropy brings more than just funding, and this is a great example of the philanthropists bringing their skills, network and commercial know how to enhance social gain. The values of dignity, kindness and respect that are central to their family, are also the bedrock of the Foundation. They have ambitions to open more kitchens to feed children and the vulnerable around the country and are looking at sites in North London and Leicester. This has the potential to upend the existing way of doing things by replacing it with a high-tech, cost-effective and nutritious model. This will be of great benefit to our country.

(Rohan Radia has recently graduated from the University of Oxford and beginning a career in business with a leading management consulting firm. His interests lie strongly in philanthropy and related topics).

16 UK

AsianV Voi oiceNewss

5 - 11 December 2020

AsianV Voi oiceNewswee ekly

www w.asian-voi voice.com

PRODUCED IN ASSOCIA ATI TION

WIN NTER WELLNES W SS: PAR P AR RT ONE OF YOUR R THREE E-P PAR ART GUIDE

HOW TO STAY HE EALTH THY AND ACTIVE AN C E THIS IS WIN NTER R Ph hysicall inactivi v ty and gaiining wei e ght are common during perriods of self-isolati t on and loc ckdown. w It is believed th hat Covi v d-19 is more likely to cause serious and potentiall e t y de evas a tatin t g symptoms if th hose who contract it are overwei e ght or o hav ve underlyin y g healt co onditions. Therefore, good o physical health is more essenttial than ever at the moment. t The U UK guidelines recomm m end 150 minutess of exercise per we eek, and all activi v ti t be eneficia al. It is go ood to ge et a mix of aer e obic an nd streng gth activi v ty, but the go ood news is that it d doesn’t ’ hav ve to inv volv ve lots of equipmen e t; a brisk wa alk also counts o t as exer e cise. Re Regular g ex xer e cise benefits both physiical and mental t health t in the short and long term.

Rup panjana Du utta Laavina viina Mehtaa MBE, an aw waard-winningg personal train ner and weellness coach tellss us how to feeel good physically an nd mentally, duriing this pan ndemic.

Pre-covid, Lavina v had launched d a national presss campaiggn to ‘get UK Asiaans fit.’ In h her early 40s, a m mother of three boys and a recent recipient of Queeen’s hono ours, Lavina v has devoted th he lockdown periiod to providing free dailyy virtual workouts to help p people of all ages keep p healthy and a mentally posiitive from h home.

She also pr p ovides free virtu ual seniorrs’ workout sesssiions in i Gujarati j ti and d Engglish with her 73-yearold mother-in n-law, which is veery popularr in the Asian com mmunity.

Se eve en tips p from La av vina to keep e yo ou acti c ve Fin nd your fav avourite wallking spot Wallking h helps in main ntaining heealthy weight and lowers thee risk of heart diseease and ostteoporosis.

I guarantee t that it will make you u feeel good, espeecially outd doors in the fresh h air. It ccan help beat deprression aand stress,

Lavina with her 73--yearold mother-in-law N Nisha

walking app.

Crea e te a weekly plan that works for you Cost and motivati tion are the hardest part o of one’s fitness journey. I use a concept called ‘exercise snacking’, treating your body and mind to o bouts/ bites of exercise through the day. Find som mething you enjoy and mak m e a meal of it by combining mbining

Lavina Mehta MBE

releases endorp phins, and has mental heallth benefits. benefits It has a mood liffting effect: e the feel e -good facctor.

Walking a liittle further or faster can in ncrease the heart boosting benefits of your stroll, so o challenge yourself. Walkin ng fo or even 10 minutes or 1000 steps after dinner iss also very

useful. There are so many wonderful walking ng routes at our doorstep p, There are so many wonderful w walking routes at our doorstep, so go fo or a ‘feel e good walk’!

See www w.nhs. . uk/ better-health/ge get-active/ fo or tips to get started arted and access the free Active A 10

w w.asian-voi www voice.c .com

AsianV Voi oiceNews

UK

AsianV Voi oiceNewsweekly

5 - 11 December 2020

WITH H UK GO OVERNMENT VERNMENT

a cardio/strength/mobility orr ‘strength snack’! Every m ute of physical activity min co ounts. Start off small and th hen build up to the UK Go overnment’s guidelines of 150 minutes of exercise per weeek fo or optimum health.

Find a time to exercise th hat works fo or you and schedule it in your diary. If you o ’re working from home orr just sitting fo or too long, set an n alarm every hour to get up an nd do some simple exercises att your desk or on your sofa.

M y be turn a phone meeting Ma in nto a walking meeting.

Scchedule it and tie it on to an exxisting habit, like going for o a 10-minute walk after each m l or doing meal d i some simp i le strretches or squats while the kettl e e is boiling, so that it beecomes part of your daily liffesty e le.

M e it a family even Mak e t Over the Covid-19 pandemic I havve provided daily free 15-minute lunchtime exercise ‘sn nacks’ of family workouts, to o encourage all ages to come to ogether fo or a fun short break an nd use exercise to help physical wellbeing and your m mood.

I demonstrated these wiith my husband and children to o help encourage others to do th he same with their families. I wo ould like those living alone to o be a part of my virtual ‘feel e go ood community’, experience a sense of purpose through th he dayy, combat loneliness a use technology and gy to keep p connected and moving.

My free evening live ‘feel e -good workout’ is a structured programme with my family and covers my fitness prescription of

17

mobility, cardio, strength and m sttretch. Yo ou can access and follow my ‘exercise snacks’ an nd free ‘21 dayy feeel good’ plan on my Instagram.

Utilise your living space Covid-19 has revolutionised th he fitness industry and so m y are now confident man ab bout working out from h home and follow virtual w outs without expensive work equipment wherever they are in n the world. Yo ou don’t need d dumbbells or expensive kit, an nd can exercise using tins, bottles and safe household o objects.

Yo ou can work o an nywhere in the comf o your home, saving of v tra tiime i and d expensive i gy m memberships.

Although en ncourage everyone to go o o walks, if you cannot or on you’re vulnerable or elder you can use my concept ‘stair s snacking’ i.e. usi sttairs in your home or t ap partment stairwell. It is fr q ck, and perfeect duri qui lock o down and winters. A for o 3 flights of stairs, 3 tim a dayy befor o e your meals a reap e the health benefits.

It’s imperative to remember t that when you are starting o on a fitness journey of out your own, take small steps t towar ds your strength fitness and consider a and your personal goals and l limitati ons. Don’t rush your feel e -good g wellness journey j y, g better at exercises and get h habits, one step at a time.

D ’t look at how long it Don w take, it’s an investment. will B consistent, realistic and Be p ent. Make attainable pati d y commitments in order dail t become better one step a to t time.

One workout at a time,

Are you eligib g le for a

Don’’t D under e estima stretching Not only can regu sttretching help to impro flexibility and range m on, it can also help ca moti you down and reduce inju A my workouts inclu All sttretch as a key component.

Stretchingg reduces soreness,, p omotes healthier muscles, pr rel e eases tension and helps release e the happy feel e -good en ndorphins.

For those w working from home or even siitting too long watching Netflix, get up and do s p, al r I n: y

Free apps to he elp improv ove y yo our u heallth th Enjo E j y iconic sights t on t o wheels tw Now is the perfeect time to N e experi ence London’s usually p ed spots with fewer pack e p peop le around. And, thanks t Santander Cycles, you can to d it while exercising and do k keeping a safe distance from o others.

Cycling helps to reduce r risk of cardiovascular d diseases.

Riding a cycle can a also reduce stress levels. It is g tle on your joints, so it can gen b enjoyed by all ages. be For more see: https:// feelgood e withlavina.com.

d r t o d ff e w t e.

Some useful websites • Here’s NHS advice on walking: https://www.nhs. . uk/ live-well/ e exer e cise/walkingfor o -heal h lth/ • For weekly walking plans or to stretch out see www.nhs.uk/ live-well/ex e e er e cise.

• Here’s NHS advice on getting active: https://www.nhs. . uk/ better-health/get g -active/

During a time, such as this, t it’s important that we look after a all aspects of our health. Tr Try r these useful, free apps – each aavailab vailable to download from Apple’s App pp Store S and Google Play – to get you started...

EASY MEALS S There are more than 150 reciipes for for easy, balanced d meals complete with h cal calorie counts on this h NHS-approvved d app.

Savve ingredients to your sh hopping list and search according to mealtime m or ffood ood type.

COU OUCH TO 5K K Even the most running- avversse speak wonders of this his nineweek exercisee plan, designed for for beginners who want to develop and improve their running stamina Y stamina.

You ou can choose fr from a range of celebrity coaches to help h you through it.

ACTIVE 10 Set goals, track progress p and get tips on n how to increase the iintensity of your walkin ng with

the handy Active 10 app. app Easy-to-use, it’s a great starting point to help everyo one gets moving more.

DRIN NK FREE D DA AYS Cuttiing down alcohol consumpti umption will not only h help you reduce your calorie intake but is also likely to o help you ffeel eel healthier and saave ve money. m This app l you choose lets h alcoh l hol-fr h l f ee da d ys y and d provides helpful support. port.

NHS SMOKEFREE S Makee a daunting daun task all the mor more surmoun ountable with this helpful app app.

It off ffers ers a ffour our- week eek programme, pr complete with practi actical support, encouragement, milestones mil and tailored advice to help smokers smo pursue a healthier, healthier ci cigar igarette-free liffe. e e.

Life e ha ac cks All the above apps ps ar are free to download from the App Store and Google Play.

18 FINANCE - UK

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

5 - 11 December 2020

Dear Financial Voice Reader, Alpesh Patel It’s a captivating headline isn’t it. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you which stocks in a moment and whether I agree with Goldman’s. And between and Goldman’s, history suggests you should bet on me.

The US market’s Dow Jones Industrial Average just had the strongest monthly gain in November since 1987.

In case you’ve not noticed with all the talk of US elections, Covid and Brexit, plus global recession, that the US markets are at an all time high. Of course the UK market, FTSE 100 is at 1999 levels – which makes me feel in my 20s again.

So, should we be expecting falls from such heights? Or, are we missing our on huge opportunities?

Let’s be picky. After all, from the 9,000 stocks in the UK and US, we cannot own them all. Indeed I always give the 15-12-25 rule. 15 stocks, for 12 months (then review) and sell out earlier if any falls 25% from the peak since you bought it.

Now stopping you from undertaking this activity are headlines like the one I’ve used here. You buy magazines, look online and before you know it you are buying too many stocks.

What also makes your life more difficult is people not knowing what to look for, so they hang on to any article, any headline, and source and sometimes give up and give it to fund managers and expensive investment advisors who – well – let’s say turn around and say they matched the FTSE 100 – still at 1999 levels.

So, what are those Goldman Sachs picks and which do I agree with and why?

EOG Resources, Raytheon, Amgen, Alphabet, Oracle, Axalta, and Wingstop make the Goldman Sachs ‘conviction buy’ list.

But which make my list? Mine which is based on far stringent filters than Goldman Sachs. I require not just a good story and strong growing profits, but consistent growing sales and cashflow with a lot of ‘resilience’ built in – names the ability to produce consistent returns on strong working capital and a healthy balance sheet.

Only Alphabet and Axalta come close to making my list. For those who don’t know – Alphabet owns Google and Axalta according to the web, “Axalta Coating Systems is an American company specializing in coatings in a wide variety of industrial applications, materials and sectors, such as for example automotive paints. Its corporate headquarters is located in Philidelphia that develops and manufactures coatings for light and commercial vehicles, industrial, and refinish applications. The firm does business in 130 countries, has nearly 13,000 employees, and has more than 100,000 customers.”

At this critical time for people, their jobs, their savings, their pensions, I’ve created a free newsletter/blog to teach people and keep them informed with the best insights.

You can access it here: www.alpeshpatel.com/blogsignup

Inflation could rise, says BoE chief economist Andy Haldane Bank of England (BoE) chief economist Andy Haldane warned inflation could rise by more than expected as progress on Covid19 vaccines and Andy Haldane huge amounts of ting its 2 per cent inflation stimulus increased chances target sustainably. Haldane of a swift economic bouncesaid recent news of progress back. with the development of Covid-19 vaccines “offers Speaking at a University some economic light at the College London webinar, end of the long, dark tunnel Haldane said, “As the ecoof this year” and there could nomic recovery gathers pace be a rapid economic recovnext year, it will be imporery in Britain and other tant central banks remain countries. squarely focused on their Haldane said, “Taken core medium-term price together with the huge stability mandates.” amounts of policy stimulus The BoE's nine-member provided this year, this will Monetary Policy in my view leave risks to the Committee has stressed economic outlook more that it will not be in a hurry evenly balanced than for to tighten monetary policy, sometime, including risks to saying instead, it first wantinflation over the medium ed to see clear evidence of term.” “significant progress” to hit-

Sunak outlines how public funds will be spent over the next year Chancellor Rishi Sunak while warning that the economic consequences of Covid-19 pandemic have just begun, announced the government's 2020 Spending Review (SR20), outlining a number of key insights into how public funds will be spent over the next year from April 2021.

Sunak warned that government borrowing will continue to be at its highest peacetime levels over the coming years, stating that tough decisions had to be made on where to cut spending. During his speech in the House of Commons, the Chancellor said: Today's Spending Review delivers on the priorities of the British people. Our health emergency is not yet over. And our economic emergency has only just begun.

So our immediate priority is to protect people's lives and livelihoods.

The Spending Review also delivers stronger public services.

Paying for new hospitals, better schools and safer streets. And it delivers a once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure.

Creating jobs, growing the economy, increasing pride in the places we call home.

Rishi Sunak

Sunak didn't provide much detail in his speech about how money will be allocated for digital, technology and data projects, but upon closer inspection of the official Spending Review documents, there are some key announcements that are worth highlighting.

SR20 outlines the government's ambition to modernise and reform the Civil Service and improve outcomes in public services, including £33 million to enable the government to provide the public with better, more personalised public services; £32 million to develop a consistent way of signing into government services online; £30 million for the Infrastructure and Projects Authority to reform project delivery capability across government; £1.7 million to establish an evaluation task force to improve knowledge of what works.

The Cabinet Office will get £4.1 million to create simpler and more flexible procurement rules, and £16 million seed funding for the Border and Protocol Delivery Group to develop a Single Trade Window.

SR20 will invest in clean energy technologies, aiming to build on the UK's strengths and venture into new industries.

This includes £1 billion for a Carbon Capture and Storage Infrastructure Fund, and additional investment in low hydrogen carbon production, offshore wind, and nuclear power. The total package to support a "green industrial revolution" stands at £12 billion.

Funds have been allocated to a defence modernisation programme, which includes £6.6 billion of R&D funding for areas such as artificial intelligence, future combat air power and other "battle-winning technologies". Pound 81 million of R&D funding will be provided between 2021-22 to launch a programme of investment in low and zero emission transport technologies. To support the electric vehicle manufacturing industry, the government will spend nearly £500

million in the next four years for the development and mass-scale production of electric vehicle batteries and associated EV supply chain. £559 million to support the modernisation of technology across the health and care system. SR20 outlines £600 million to fix outdated government IT to ensure core systems are secure and can support better administration. This includes new funding of £268m in HMRC, £232 million in the Home Office, £40 million in the Ministry of Justice and £64 million in the Department for Education to bring technology up to date. The government hopes that these funds will reduce the risk of failures, improve efficiency and ultimately means a better service for the public.

The government wants to position the UK as a global leader in science and innovation and will invest £15 billion overall in R&D in 2021-22. SR20 also sees £375 million investment in the National Skills Fund in 2021-22. Pound 50.7 million for business support programmes to improve SME productivity through leadership, management and technology adoption.

Very significant week for Brexit talks, says Raab British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said Britain and the European Union are heading into a “very significant” week as negotiations over a trade deal enter the final phase with serious differences still remaining.

Talks continued even on a Sunday as both sides looked for a deal to prevent disruption to almost $1 trillion of trade at the end of December.

Raab said, “This is a very significant week, the last real major week, subject to any further postponement... we're down to really two basic issues.” The negotiations have so far failed to bridge differences on competition policy and the distribution of fishing rights.

However, Britain's transitional EU exit agreement expires on December 31, and Britain says it will not seek

any extension. “The bottom line is... in the ordinary course of things we need to get a deal done over the next week or maybe another couple of days beyond that,” Raab said.

Fishing rights have become a major topic of contention for both sides, despite accounting for only 0.1 per cent of the British economy. Britain has so far rejected EU proposals and remains adamant that as an independent nation it must have full control of its waters.

EU threatens to pull out of talks Earlier, EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has warned his British counterpart David Frost that without a major negotiating shift, he will pull out of the Brexit negotiations. Barnier told his British counterpart that further negotiations

would be pointless if the UK was not willing to compromise on the outstanding issues. During a speech in the European parliament last week, the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the EU was willing to be “creative” to get a deal with the UK but admitted an agreement was in the balance with “very little time ahead of us”.

“These are decisive days for negotiations with the United Kingdom,” Von der Leyen told MEPs. “But, frankly, I cannot tell you if in the end, there will be a deal. We will do all in our power to reach an agreement. We’re ready to be creative,” she said. “But we are not ready to put into question the integrity of the single market, the main safeguard for European prosperity and wealth.”

Dominic Raab

Von der Leyen said legal texts on judicial and social security coordination, trade in goods and services and transport were almost finalised. “However, there’s still three issues that can make the difference between a deal and no deal,” she added. She said fishing communities needed “predictability” from year to year over access to British waters, in a reference to Downing Street’s wish to hold annual negotiations over catches in UK seas, with the option of blocking access.

Retail giant Arcadia struggles to cope with Covid-19 Retail giant Arcadia is on the verge of a collapse, and is currently working on a number of options to secure its future as the ongoing pandemic hammers its business. Owned by Sir Philip Green, Arcadia owns and operates Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Evans, Outfit and Burton. Reports reveal the group risked going into administration within days, threatening 15,000 jobs.

The company released a statement saying, “The forced closure of our stores for sustained periods as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic has had a material impact on trading across our businesses. As a result, the Arcadia boards have been working on a number of contingency options to secure the future of the group's brands.”

Arcadia holds a prime spot on the British high

street. It said its brands continued to trade and its stores would reopen next week when the government's latest pandemic restrictions ease. Meanwhile, the Labour and the Unite union have called on Sir Philip Green to ensure his retail empire's pension scheme is fully funded in case the administrators are called in.

Labour's shadow minister for business and consumers, Lucy Powell said,

“Sir Philip Green should do what is right and cover Arcadia's pension deficit to make sure hardworking people don't pay the price.”

Meanwhile, National officer for Unite, Matt Draper said, “Thousands of Arcadia's existing workforce and its previous employees face the prospect of the value of their pension being greatly diminished in yet another example of bandit capitalism on the UK's high street.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

5 - 11 December 2020

19

20

FINANCE

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

5 - 11 December 2020

Citi Private Bank Investment Strategy Head upbeat about UK economy A positive outlook despite the currently bleak UK economic situation was the message from an online interview conducted on 26 November by Axiom Stone Chairman Jonathan Metliss.

Jeffrey Sacks, experienced City analyst and currently head of EMEA Investment Strategy at Citi Private Bank, was responding to a series of questions from Jonathan in a Zoom conference organised by the Asian-Jewish Business Network.

On the colossal levels of Government spending to support companies and individuals through Covid-19, he thought it could be repaid by both growths, although more limited in the short term, and higher taxes

Axiom Stone Chairman Jonathan Metliss

Jeffrey Sacks, Head of EMEA Investment Strategy at Citi Private Bank

phased in from next autumn.

There would be challenges with vaccines, such as production, distribution and public take-up. But he added, “We believe with the confirmation of a vaccine that the Government will be committed to keeping

strong the financial bridge it has built to get us through to the other side of the pandemic and not raising taxes too soon.”

Mr Sacks felt the Government, working closely with the Bank of England, had done a “fantastic job” in the pandemic by recognising

early on that aggressive support for the economy was needed. Finally, he advised entrepreneurs not to “hunker down” in these darker times, but to focus on the UK economy fundamentals which will see a far stronger performance in 2021.

Axiom Stone Solicitors is a highly diverse law firm and a headline sponsor of the Asian Jewish Business Network (AJBN) which brings together business leaders from both communities.

AJBN’s 2020 activities have included inspirational speakers at live events producing active, highly productive connections. This has been followed by regular online meetings since March.

RBI Governor happy with Indian economy's recovery RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das is happy with the way the Indian economy is performing. He said that the pickup in recovery has been stronger than expected.

Much like the rest of the world, the coronavirus pandemic ripped India's economy apart, leaving thousands jobless and pounded almost all sectors.

Das was speaking at the Foreign Exchange Dealers' Association of India (FEDAI) where he expressed satisfaction at the trajectory taken by the Indian economy. "After witnessing a sharp contraction in the economy by 23.9% in Q1 and

a multi-speed normalization of activity in Q2, the Indian economy has exhibited stronger than expected pick-up in momentum of recovery," Das said.

"Even as the growth outlook has improved, downside risks to growth continue due to recent surge in infections in parts of Europe and also in parts of India," he added. It is extremely important to maintain demand, more so in the post-festive season, Das stated.

The governor said India witnessed a change in the last three decades - "from being a virtually closed economy to one that is

Shaktikanta Das

globally connected and open to a much larger volume of international transactions and capital flows than before.

Capital account convertibility will continue to be approached

as a process rather than an event, taking cognizance of prevalent macroeconomic conditions. A long-term vision with short and medium-term goals is the way ahead," said Das.

India’s FY21 GDP sees upward revisions on faster Q2 rebound Forecasters are revising upwards their projection for the current fiscal’s GDP growth after better-thanexpected numbers for the second quarter. Most economists expect India’s GDP to shrink between 6% and 8% in FY21.

Until last month, international agencies like the IMF were expecting the economy to shrink by 10%. The RBI is widely expected to continue with its accommodative stance, keep liquidity in surplus without actually cutting rates, given that credit growth continues to remain negative but is expected to hold on to its policy rate in its post-monetary policy statement.

Nomura has upgraded the FY21 GDP forecast to -8.2% from -10.8%. Most agencies have raised their projections over the weekend, while others are expected to do so. “It is likely that the outturn would trigger sharp upgrades to consensus estimates for full-year

GDP, including that of the RBI that had pencilled in more than 9% contraction for the same period when it detailed its quarterly projections in October,” said A Prasanna and Abhishek Upadhyay of ICICI Securities in a report. They noted that the RBI had predicted a sharp contraction of 5.6% even in the Oct-Dec period, and it is likely that a reasonably strong upgrade is plausible to that estimate too based on highfrequency data in the current

quarter.

Although the RBI is expected to maintain the status quo in rates, liquidity is expected to be in surplus due to a record purchase of dollars by the central bank to keep the exchange rate in check.

Also, demand for credit has not picked up. Despite the festive season that pushed up demand for home loans and personal loans in October, the outstanding loan book of lenders continues to be below end-March 2020 levels, as

large corporates have reduced dependence on bank loans.

However, weekly data shows that loan growth finally turned positive in November.

According to SBI group chief economist Soumya Kanti Ghosh, one of the drivers for the rebound has been the growth in manufacturing. However, he believes that a large part of the improvement is due to costsaving, particularly wage, which could have implications for consumption.

TOYOTA PUTS UP LOCKOUT NOTICE AGAIN Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has yet again issued a lockout notice at its Bidadi plants, a week after it was reopened following the intervention of the Karnataka government.

TKM cited the low participation of workmen as the reason for the lockout.

TKM’s two plants, which

have a total installed capacity of 310,000 units annually and employ 6,500 people, have seen less than 10% of the workers reporting to duty, a person familiar with the matter said. The workers are continuing to maintain their demand of reinstating about 40 workers who were suspended on disciplinary grounds, pend-

ing inquiry. TKM said that the majority of the team members are continuing their “illegal strike”. “For the plant operations to run smoothly and effectively, a minimum workforce of 90% in each shift is required and in view of the current situation, it is not viable to carry on with manufacturing activity,” it said.

Nothing beats local knowledge

Suresh Vagjiani, Sow & Reap Properties Ltd

Often, trying to close a property deal becomes more like detective work; and at times we do have to use specialist consultants to do the digging around for us.

Regarding a block we acquired, we were interested in acquiring the adjacent row of properties. However, the seller had a very unrealistic price on the three one storey units; a price of £2M, which quite clearly would not be worth it.

It’s a strange situation. The units are not being fully utilised. You would be hard pressed to find someone in the premises on any given day.

There has been a feeble attempt at planning, which has not really gone anywhere; partly, because there is a requirement to keep a certain distance from our building.

Therefore, the current situation is that unless they sell to us or vice versa there is not anything really one can do productively with the site.

I of course pointed this out to them with no avail.

They suggested doing a JV which involves nailing down many variables, and having the party agree to execute them; which is not always as straight forward as it would seem. The potential to do a U turn at any point is always there.

Meanwhile, I decided to see who else was in the parade, and see if there was any appetite to do a deal collectively.

Rather than purchasing the individual sites, the most suitable method would be to do an option agreement to purchase all the property. This is an option, and not an obligation. This means you can simply not exercise it, and can walk away from the deal.

Once this is in place you are in gear to go for planning on the whole site, which if gained you would go ahead and exercise the agreement.

If the whole site can be secured, there seems to be great potential to go for a high rise development, which instead of having to follow the street scene you would be setting the street scene. There has been precedent, for a 27 storey block, which has been given approval just a stone’s throw away from this site.

So, the potential is there. In order to execute this well, it’s best to securely maximise the site we have and enjoy the rental income; and then chip away at the others. It’s essential to speak to the locals in this situation.

One conversation might furnish you with all the local information you need.

I got a good insight into all of the individuals and their personal circumstances by getting into a conversation with a local who has been in the area for 35 years.

He knows the psyche of all the owners, and this is key to understanding their appetite to sell.

From this conversation I was able to gain a valuable insight which has changed the playing field. Now, it is a waiting game.

BANKS TOLD TO BLOCK FOREIGN FIRMS UNDER FEMA The RBI has directed banks that deal in foreign exchange to not grant approval to foreign legal firms to set up any office in India under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). This follows a Supreme Court decision in the matter. The central bank has also asked banks to report any foreign law firms that do business here. In September 2015, in the case of the Bar Council of India versus A K Balaji and others, the apex court had directed the RBI not to grant any permission to any foreign law firm, on or after the date of the interim order, for opening of a liaison office (LO) in India. After this order, the RBI told banks not to grant fresh permission or renew permission for liaison offices of foreign law firms. The RBI said that the Supreme Court, while disposing of the case, held that only advocates enrolled under the Advocates Act, 1961 are entitled to practice law in India.

AMAZON FINED FOR NOT SHOWING ‘COUNTRY OF ORIGIN’ The consumer affairs ministry has asked e-commerce major Amazon India to pay a fine of Rs 75,000 for not providing the details of ‘country of origin’ of products displayed on its platform.

This is the first such penalty that the government has imposed on an e-commerce player under The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodity) Rules, which came into effect in 2018. “If you are willing to close the matter departmentally, you can compound the case as per section 48(1) of the Act on payment for credit to the government an amount of Rs 25,000 each on behalf of each director plus Rs 25,000 on behalf of the company,” the legal metrology department wrote to Amazon Seller Services. It added that in case the company failed to give a satisfactory reply within seven days, the department will be “constrained to initiate” prosecution proceedings against the firm and all the directors at a competent court without any further notice.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

WORLD 21

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

5 - 11 December 2020

in brief PAK SUMMONS INDIAN DIPLOMAT OVER ‘CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS’ Pakistan last week summoned a senior diplomat from the Indian High Commission to register its protest over the alleged “ceasefire violations” by the Indian forces along the Line of Control (LoC). The Foreign Office said that due to “indiscriminate and unprovoked firing” in Bagsar Sector of the LoC, 33-year-old Ansar, a resident of Garhi village, was killed. The Indian side was called upon to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding; investigate this and other such incidents of ceasefire violations and maintain peace along the LoC and the Working Boundary, it said in a statement.

34 KILLED IN TWIN AFGHAN SUICIDE BOMBINGS At least 34 people were killed on Sunday in two separate suicide bombings in Afghanistan that targeted a military base and a provincial chief, officials said. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks, which took place as Afghan government representatives and the Taliban hold peace talks in Qatar. In Ghazni, 31soldiers were killed and 24 others wounded when the attacker drove a military humvee full of explosives onto an army base before detonating the bomb, according to an official. Afghanistan’s defence ministry said 10 soldiers were killed and nine wounded. The ministry also offered a different account of what happened, saying the vehicle exploded near the army base after forces opened fire on the car. It was not immediately clear why there was a discrepancy. A spokesman for the interior ministry said a suicide bombing took place. In southern Afghanistan, another suicide car bomber targeted the convoy of a provincial council chief in Zabul, killing at least three people and wounding 21 others, including kids, according to a provincial spokesman.

BILAWAL TESTS COVID+VE, IN ISOLATION Chairman of Pakistan’s opposition Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari announced that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and was exhibiting mild symptoms.

Bilawal’s infection was diagnosed just a day before the engagement of his sister, Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari, to a Dubai-based businessman and four days before the next rally of Pakistan Democratic Movement, an anti-government alliance of 11 opposition parties, in Multan.

UAE HALTS VISAS TO 13 NATIONS OVER SECURITY CONCERNS The UAE has stopped issuing new visas to citizens of 13 mostly Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a document issued by a state-owned business park. A source said the visas had temporarily stopped being issued to Afghans, Pakistanis and citizens of several other countries over security concerns, but did not give details.

The document cited an immigration circular that came into effect on November 18. The UAE’s Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship had no comment.

BEIJING MARKET HALTS SALE, STORAGE OF FROZEN FOOD Beijing’s Xinfadi market, which was linked to an outbreak in June, has suspended sales and storage of cold-chain and aquatic products, state-backed Beijing News reported. Several infections in recent months in Qingdao and Tianjin cities involved handlers of imported frozen food.

Refrigerated meat and seafood in the market were disposed of, and over a hundred cold storages were disinfected and shut.

India to build dam on Kabul river to ease Afghan water woes NEW DELHI: The Indian government announced that it would build the Shahtoot Dam on Kabul river in Afghanistan, which will bring relief to the residents of Kabul but greatly unnerve neighbouring Pakistan, which is likely to protest vehemently.

India's foreign minister S Jaishankar announced at the Geneva donors conference, “India had just concluded with Afghanistan an agreement for construction of Shahtoot Dam, which would provide safe drinking water to 2 million residents of Kabul city.” The announcement is likely to be received with dismay in Pakistan, which has accused India of choking its water supplies from Kashmir

and Afghanistan.

The plan for the dam is not new, it has been discussed and feasibility assessed at least for the past three years. But this is the first time India pledged it in an international conference, which makes it significant. The dam on the Maidan river, a big

tributary of the Kabul river, will ease the growing water woes of a stressed country.

“I am happy to learn of India's commitment on constructing the Shahtoot Dam on Kabul river. It is essential for drinking water supplies to Kabul which is staring at serious water

shortage. We started a conversation on this in 2016. We should, together with Afghan partners, expedite work on this project for which basic ground work has been done,” former ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha said.

MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, “The minister also announced launch of Phase-IV of high impact community development projects in Afghanistan, which envisage more than 100 projects worth $80 million that India will undertake in Afghanistan.” The high impact small development projects have shown to have very high levels of popular support and participation. Started in Afghanistan, India has now replicated this template in other neighbouring countries as well.

Rights group slams Pak over 'discrimination' of religious minorities NEW DELHI: The Christian Solidarity Worldwide has said in a report that discriminatory legislation by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government has empowered people with "extremist mindsets" to carry out attacks on religious minorities. In its 47-page report titled, ''Pakistan-Religious freedom under attack'', released in December, the CSW has expressed concerns over the increasing "weaponisation and politicisation" of the blasphemy laws and the anti-Ahmadiyya legislation which are being used not only to persecute religious minorities but also to gain political ground.

The body said that Christian and Hindu communities in Pakistan are "particularly vulnerable", especially women and girls. "Each year hundreds are abducted and forced to con-

vert and marry Muslim men.

Victims have little or no hope of being returned to their families due to the serious threats and intimidation from abductors against the girls and their families. This is compounded by the lack of police will to take action, weaknesses in the judicial process and discrimination from both police and judiciary towards religious minority victims," the report read.

The body has cited several prominent examples to substantiate that minorities in the country are portrayed as second class citizens. In May 2019, Ramesh Kumar Malhi, a Hindu veterinary surgeon from Mirpurkhas in Sindh, was accused of blasphemy for wrapping medicines in pages containing verses from the Quran.

Protestors burned down his clinic and other shops belonging to the Hindu community.

The body contended that blasphemy laws in Pakistan, which criminalise anyone who insults Islam, are often misused to lodge false cases against the religious minorities and are a "source of controversy and suffering".

"The prolonged misuse of the blasphemy laws over the last three decades, combined with the rise of extremism, has had a damaging normative impact on social harmony. The sensitive nature of blasphemy cases serves to heighten religious fervour and has created an environment of mob violence in which people take matters into their own hands, often with fatal consequences," the report read.

The CSW stated that cases of forced marriages and forced conversions are prevalent among Christian and Hindu girls and women, particularly in

the Punjab and Sindh provinces. Many of them are girls under the age of 18 years.

Hindu girls and women who are systematically targeted because they come from lower economic backgrounds in rural areas, and are generally under-educated.

The CSW in its report said that it had interviewed children from religious minorities in 2017. According to the report, the children admitted that they were "routinely subjected to severe physical and psychological ill-treatment, including being segregated, bullied, teased, insulted and beaten on multiple occasions, by both teachers and classmates". The body also said that human rights defenders in Pakistan face constant threats and intimidation from multiple sources, including the state and nonstate actors.

Pak cabinet approves chemical castration of rapists ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Cabinet has approved two antirape ordinances which called for the chemical castration of rapists with the consent of the convict and setting up of Special Courts for rape trials, according to a media report.

A meeting of the Cabinet committee on legislative cases chaired by federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem approved the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Ordinance 2020 and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2020. The ordinances have already been approved in-principle by the federal Cabinet, the Dawn News reported.

The concept of chemical castration for first or repeated offenders has been introduced mainly as a form of rehabilitation, and subject to consent of the convict, it said. According to Law Minister Naseem, it is mandatory under the international law to take consent of

the convict before castrating him.

In case chemical castration is ordered without taking consent, the convict might challenge this before a court of law, he said. If a convict would not agree to castration, he would be dealt with in accordance with the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) under which the court might award him death sentence, life imprisonment or 25-year jail term, the Minister said.

However, he said, it is up to

the Court to decide the punishment. The Judge may order chemical castration or the punishment under the PPC. The Court might order castration for a limited period or lifetime, Naseem said. The ordinances also provide for setting up of Special Courts to conduct trial in rape cases. Special prosecutors for the special courts will also be appointed.

As per the proposed legislations, anti-rape crisis cells headed by a commissioner or

deputy commissioner will be set up to ensure prompt registration of an FIR, medical examination and forensic analysis. It also bar the cross-examination of a rape survivor by the accused. Only Judge and the lawyers of the accused will be able to cross-examine the survivor.

The proposed laws include in-camera trials, witness protection for the victim and witnesses, use of modern devices during investigation and trial, legal assistance to the victims and appointment of independent support advisers for the victims. It prohibits the controversial two-finger test performed on rape survivors. The World Health Organisation has already declared the test as unscientific, medically unnecessary and unreliable. Human Rights groups have also termed the test as invasive, disrespectful and a gross violation of a woman’s right to dignity and privacy.

22 WORLD

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

5 - 11 December 2020

11 killed, 117 injured in Lanka prison riots COLOMBO: Police Spokesperson DIG Ajith Rohana said that the situation at the Mahara Prison has been totally controlled and a special operation was conducted successfully without using any force with the participation of 600 officers of the Prison, Sri Lanka Police, and the STF. The Deputy Police Chief noted, all the inmates who were inside the prison have been sent to their respective cells and detaining areas. The latest statistics according to the DIG are as follows: At least 117 Injured, out of which 2 are prison officers. The death toll has been increased to 11 inmates.

Autopsies of the bodies will be conducted in due course after the magisterial inquest.

According to DIG Ajith Rohana, 80 inmates are being treated at the Ragama hospital and one remandee is being treated at the National Hospital.

A total 24 inmates have been released from the hospital and transferred to the Colombo Remand Prison.

The situation has been normalized in the Mahara Prison, however, security is provided continuously in the outer perimeter of the Mahara Prison by Police and the STF, the Deputy Police Chief concluded.

CID probe ordered The Criminal Investigations Department commenced an inquiry into the prison riot, confirmed Deputy Police Chief Ajith Rohana. A CID team led by a Superintendent of Police was dispatched to investigate the events leading to the Riot. The bodies of the dead prisoners are yet to be identified said the Police Spokesperson adding the

magisterial inquiry into the deceased will take place soon, followed by a postmortem examination.

A total of 107 prisoners were injured in the riot, said the police spokesperson who also said 200 Police Special Task Force personnel and 400 Police Officers have been deployed for security at the prison and the other perimeter. The riot started on Sunday (29) evening and went on until Monday (30) afternoon.

The Police Spokesperson said the Prison Superintendents Office, the Head Jailors Office, archives, stores, and infirmary were damaged by the rioting

prisoners. Justice Minister Ali Sabry appointed a five-member committee to investigate the riots and violence that erupted at the prison. According to a statement from the ministry, the committee is chaired by retired High Court Judge Sarojini Kusala Weerawardena and includes Chief Legal Advisor to the Ministry of Justice U R De Silva, Justice Ministry Additional Secretary Rohana Hapugaswatte, Police Media Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana and former Prisons Commissioner Gamini Jayasinghe. The committee is expected to submit an interim report within one week and another with recommendations for short and long-term actions within a month, the ministry said. The Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Maj. Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne instructed the Inspector General of Police (IGP), C.D. Wickramaratne to probe into the tense situation escalated at the Prison after several inmates were reportedly struggling to escape the prison premises demonstrating unruly behavior.

Building decent homes for vulnerable Ugandans KAMPALA: Habitat for Humanity Uganda (HFHU) in partnership with Buganda Kingdom have started building decent homes for the vulnerable Ugandans living in the 18 counties of the kingdom.

In August 2018, HFHU signed a MoU with the Buganda Kingdom which served as a framework agreement for the cooperation between the two partners to offer among others affordable housing, clean energy and water as well as conserve the environment through climate change mitigation approach in the counties of the kingdom.

Last year, the two partners kicked off a five-year ‘Decent living campaign’ which aims at improving the lives of vulnerable families through improved decent shelter, hygiene and sanitation, access to safe water and improved livelihoods. The first decent home under this campaign was built in

Katabi, in Busiro county. It was officially handed over to Abubakar Ssentongo by the Kabaka of Buganda Ronald Muwenda Mutebi during his 26th coronation in July 2019.

Now, HFHU and the kingdom have again embarked on setting up more decent homes for the Kabaka subjects in Mawokota county in Mpigi district. By the end of December this year, two houses will be completed and ready for use by recipients. Currently, both houses are on foundation stage.

One of the beneficiaries, Josephine Nabwegamu, resident of Nabitete village, Luwala parish says she cannot thank Buganda Kingdom and HFHU enough for thinking about an old woman like her by giving her a free nice house. Nabwegamu who stays with her two grandchildren says she was identified and selected for the project by the Mawokoto county chief Kayima Gabriel

Kabonge. Diana Mpande, an official at HFHU says they decided to work with Buganda in order to improve the well-being of the people in the kingdom. She says by this time, they would have built more houses but they were affected by the negative impacts of Covid-19. “Our campaign relies on well wishers and corporate organisations and with the outbreak of Covid-19, they were all affected in terms of funds. So what we do now we assess the vulnerable families and we keep the records. When funds come in we go back and build decent homes for them,” says Mpande.

Kabonge, the Mawokota County Chief asserts that when Kabaka Mutebi appointed him and his deputies to the positions, they started to visit all residents (house to house) in the county so it was easy for his team to identify the vulnerable Kabaka subjects who needed to benefit from the campaign.

The homes built by HFHU come with a ventilated pit latrine, shower stall and a 3,000 liter water tank. On the other hand, the Buganda Kingdom Minister for Lands, agriculture, trade, cooperatives and community service (Bulungibwansi) Owek.

Mariam Nkalubo Mayanja lauded HFHU for making the campaign goals achievable.

Owek Nkalubo says they plan to build 10 decent houses each year in different counties of the kingdom. “Its now two years of partnership with HFHU. We started with Busiro and now we are in Mawokota. We focus on the vulnerable people who need help in terms of housing. And for a person to benefit from this campaign, he/she must possess a piece of land with its legal documents,” she reveals. “We call upon all capable people who can join us in this important project to step in so that we can achieve more success.”

Sudhir Ruparelia urged to set up Victoria University branch in S Sudan Kampala: Dr Sudhir Ruparelia, the founder of Ruparelia Group of companies has shared an impressive journey and future of Victoria University which left many people yearning for more.

During an event organised recently at the University, Dr Sudhir revealed that in 2013,they acquired Victoria University from a group which was based in Dubai and since then, their motive has been to improve the quality of learning in Uganda.

“When Victoria university was set up, we acquired this university from a group which

was based in Dubai, I was approached to buy the institution which we did. We were cleared by the National Council for Higher Education,” he said. “But we need to grow more, we need to be the best university in Uganda that’s why we look for professional people

who can help take us to the next level,” he added.

Recently, the institution dropped its tuition fees by 50% for any course taught at the university.

And highlighting on that matter, Dr Sudhir said that the 50% offer was given to make every student’s university dream come true, despite the Covid-19 economic crisis.

“We have to accept the fact that we have an economic crisis, and if we as a responsible institution don’t look at the nature of our people, then it will be wrong. That’s why we have

tried this time to make everything affordable, we can all play a part in educating our people,” the businessman said..

Given the success story of this university, a one Deng Santo Guot (Facebook names) requested the property mogul to open a Victoria University branch in South Sudan’s capital Juba. Deng wasn’t the only one who was moved by Dr Sudhir’s speech as Nkulanga Enock also said that “Great discussion! An eye opener into Victoria University, sound great how the institution is positioning itself, kudos to Dr Lawrence Muganga and all the stakeholders.”

in brief CHINA LAUNCHES MOON PROBE TO BRING LUNAR ROCKS China launched a spacecraft to the moon’s surface, aiming to be the first nation to bring back lunar rock and soil samples in more than four decades. The mission, Chang’e-5, is the latest step in an ambitious space programme that China hopes will culminate with a lunar research station and ultimately a human colony on the moon by the 2030s. Unlike in the past, the launch, from the Wenchang space site at Hainan Island, was broadcast live by state media, a sign of growing confidence in its space programme. If the mission is successful, China will be only the third nation to bring pieces of the moon back to Earth after the US and the Soviet Union.

S KOREA, CHINA AGREE ON XI VISIT, N KOREA TALKS South Korea and China agreed to prepare for a visit to South Korea by Chinese President Xi Jinping and to cooperate on stalled talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme and on tackling the novel coronavirus. China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, arrived in Seoul, after a two-day visit to Japan, as Asian governments prepare for change under a new US administration.

China and US ally South Korea have traditionally been suspicious of each other but in recent years they have found common ground in economic cooperation and a shared concern about North Korea’s rush to develop nuclear weapons.

TOP IRANIAN NSCIENTIST SHOT DEAD Iran vowed retaliation after the architect of its nuclear programme was assassinated on a highway near Tehran, in a major escalation of tensions that risks placing the Middle East on a new war footing. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was ambushed with explosives and machine gun fire near Tehran. Efforts to resuscitate him in hospital failed. His bodyguard and family members were also wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said Israel was probably to blame, and an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed retaliation. “We will strike as thunder at the killers of this oppressed martyr and will make them regret their action,” tweeted Hossein Dehghan.

US COVID CASES TOP 4MN IN NOV The total number of coronavirus cases in the United States for November surpassed four million last week, more than double the record set in October of 1.9 million cases. And the sharp escalation is likely to continue - or grow even steeper. “We are on track to continue this accelerated pace of the epidemic and see even more speed of rise of cases because of the movement indoors, of activities around the country and because large number of people have moved around the country for the holidays,” said Tom Inglesby, the director of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University. The milestone came as Americans travelled by the millions for the long Thanksgiving weekend and amid a Black Friday that saw some store crowding.

More than 170,000 people in the US are now testing positive on an average day.

More than 1.1 million people tested positive in the past week alone.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

WORLD

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

5 - 11 December 2020

in brief in brief LARA TRUMP CONSIDERING RUN FOR US SENATE Lara Trump, Donald Trump's daughter-inlaw, is considering a run for the US Senate in a move that could start a new American political dynasty. Lara, 38, who became a prominent campaigner for her father-inlaw, said it would be "incredible" to stand in her home state of North Carolina. If successful, she would be the first member of the next generation of the Trump family to be elected to national office. Donald Trump Jr, the president's eldest son, and his daughter Ivanka, have both also been touted as possible future political candidates. Lara, a former television producer and personal trainer, is married to Eric Trump, 36, the president's second eldest son. She said, She told Fox News: "It would be an incredible thing. It's my home state, a state I love so much. And look, I think we need some strong Republicans in Washington DC. We had a great run with the Senate and the House this go-round, but you know, let's see what happens. Let's get through this one and then we'll talk about the next one."

SC BACKS RELIGIOUS CHALLENGE TO NY VIRUS CURBS As coronavirus cases surge again in the US, the Supreme Court barred New York from enforcing certain limits on attendance at churches and synagogues in areas designated as hard hit. The justices split 5-4 with new Justice Amy Coney Barrett in the majority. It was the conservative’s first publicly discernible vote as a justice. The SC’s three liberal justices and Chief Justice John Roberts dissented. The move was a shift for the court. Earlier this year, when Barrett’s liberal predecessor, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was still on the court, the justices divided 5-4 to leave in place pandemic-related capacity restrictions in California and Nevada. The SC’s action could push New York to reevaluate its curbs on houses of worship in areas designated hot spots.

WHO PUSHES FOR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY The WHO says people need to get more active, warning that up to 5 million deaths worldwide could be avoided each year if people become more active. The UN health agency, launching updated guidelines on sedentary behaviour, is pointing to figures that one in four adults don’t get enough physical activity - a situation complicated by the Covid-19 crisis that has shut many people indoors. The agency recommends at least 21/2 hours of “moderate to vigorous aerobic activity” for adults per week, and an hour per day for kids and teens. A lack of physical activity leads to extra health care costs of $54 billion per year, plus another $14 billion in lost productivity, the WHO said.

MEXICO'S PRESIDENT AGAIN DECLINES TO RECOGNIZE BIDEN WIN Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador again declined to congratulate Joe Biden for winning the US presidential election, making him stand out increasingly among world leaders who have withheld their recognition. Speaking shortly after China's President Xi Jinping congratulated Biden for his victory, Lopez Obrador reiterated that it would be wrong to offer congratulations until the electoral process has been formally concluded. "We do not agree with offering congratulations in advance," Lopez Obrador told reporters at a regular government news conference.

"What's the best thing? For us to wait."

Indian-origin MP in New Zealand takes oath in Sanskrit WELLINGTON: Dr Gaurav Sharma, one of the youngest and newly-elected MPs in New Zealand, took oath in Sanskrit in the country’s Parliament.

Sharma, 33, hailing from Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur, was recently elected as the Member of Parliament from the Labour Party for Hamilton West in New Zealand.

India’s High Commissioner to New Zealand and Samoa, Muktesh Pardeshi said on Twitter that Sharma took oath first in “New Zealand’s indigenous Maori language, followed

by India’s classical language Sanskrit, showing deep respect for cultural traditions of both India and New Zealand.”

Sharma, who did his MBBS from Auckland and MBA from

Dr Gaurav Sharma

Washington, is working as a general practitioner (GP) in Nawton, Hamilton. He has previously been involved in public health, policy, medicine and consulting in New Zealand, Spain, the US, Nepal, Vietnam, Mongolia,

Switzerland and India.

Replying to a Twitter user who asked why he didn't take oath in Hindi, Sharma said it is hard to keep everyone happy so he decided Sanskrit as it pays homage to all the Indian languages. “To be honest I did

think of that, but then there was the question of doing it in Pahari (my first language) or Punjabi. Hard to keep everyone happy. Sanskrit made sense as it pays homage to all the Indian languages (including the many I can’t speak),” he said in a tweet. Sharma, who had unsuccessfully fought elections in 2017, defeated Tim Macindoe of the National Party this year.

Earlier this month, Priyanca Radhakrishnan became New Zealand’s firstever Indian-origin minister after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern inducted five new ministers into her executive. Born in India, Radhakrishnan, 41, went to school in Singapore before moving to New Zealand to further her education.

US announces reward for information on Mumbai attack mastermind WASHINGTON: Twelve years after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the United States has announced a reward of up to USD 5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba member Sajid Mir for his "role" in the attacks in Mumbai in 2008.

According to an official statement issued by the US Rewards for Justice program, "Sajid Mir, a senior member of the Pakistan-based foreign terrorist organization Lashkar-eTayyiba (LeT), is wanted for his involvement in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. The Rewards for Justice program is offering a reward of up to USD 5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction in any country of Sajid Mir for his role in these attacks."

On November 26, 2008, 10 terrorists, trained by the Pakistan-based terrorist organi-

sation LeT, carried out a series of coordinated attacks against multiple targets in Mumbai the Taj Mahal Hotel, the Oberoi Hotel, the Leopold Cafe, the Nariman (Chabad) House, and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus - killing 166 people.

In these gruesome attacks, nine terrorists were killed and the lone survivor, Ajmal Amir Kasab, was caught and sentenced to death. On November 11, 2012, Kasab was hanged at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune.

"Sajid Mir was LeT's operations

manager for the Mumbai attack, playing a leading role in its planning, preparation, and execution. Mir was indicted in the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division (Chicago, Illinois) on April 21, 2011, and was charged with conspiracy to injure the property of a foreign government; providing material support to terrorists; aiding and abetting the killing of a citizen outside of the US; and the bombing of places of public use. According to the indictment, during the attacks, Mir advised the attackers to kill hostages, set fires, and throw grenades and also sought the release of a hostage in exchange for the release of a captured attacker. A warrant for Mir's arrest was issued on April 22, 2011. In 2019, Mir was added to

the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists List," the department said.

It added that on August 30, 2012, the Department of the Treasury designated Mir for holding leadership positions within the LeT. "According to the US Department of Treasury, as of 2005, Mir directed training for operatives preparing for overseas recruiting, money laundering, and operational planning. The LeT was designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the US Department of State in December 2001," the department added.

However, Pakistani authorities continue to deny culpability and are yet to take action on the multiple dossiers shared by India. A trial underway in a Pakistani anti-terrorism court against seven suspects has made little headway in more than a decade, as Pakistani officials serially question the sufficiency and legitimacy of evidence against them.

Chinese troops struggle to survive extreme cold at Indian border Taipei (Taiwan): The People's Liberation Army's misadventure in the Eastern Ladakh sector has started to cost it heavily, as inexperienced Chinese soldiers are struggling to survive in sub-zero temperatures, at heights of over 12,000 feet, with poor quality of clothing and accommodation. The Indian Army's actions, particularly in Galwan and on the southern bank of Pangong Tso have put the PLA on the backfoot, forcing raw Chinese soldiers to endure a freezing winter in an inhospitable terrain, reported The Taiwan Times.

Reports indicate that casualty evacuation of PLA troops through helicopters and stretchers has been observed on

a daily basis, with an average of one PLA soldier succumbing to altitude and temperature-related ailments every day. Morale and motivation at the posts have also dipped below the freezing point.

PLA commanders, who have no prior experience in high altitude and winter deployments, had initially invited local garment manufacturers to produce winter clothing for their troops deployed in Ladakh. A Chinese mouthpiece newspaper had released a number of videos showcasing newly developed winter clothing being provided to the Chinese soldiers, as part of Chinese communist propaganda.

However, having misread the logistics requirements, local

Chinese garment manufacturers produced clothing that can at best be utilised by troops deployed at 9,000 feet.

The lack of combat experience across the entire PLA is so glaring that commanders and their political masters did not realise that surviving in heights greater than 12,000 feet is totally different from equipping soldiers for operations at normal altitudes of up to 9,000 feet. A steady line of emergency medical evacuations from the PLA positions could be witnessed once the temperatures in the Ladakh region plummeted below minus 20 degrees in areas around Pangong Tso and Kailash ranges.

According to report, the PLA troops deployed in Ladakh

are facing an extreme shortage of specialised cold climate clothing and have been forced to go for emergency procurement, which was a drastic change from where the PLA was showing off its insular cabins and multipurpose jackets and pants on Chinese national TV a few weeks ago. While reports indicate that PLA has constituted a Quality Supervision Team for emergency procurement of Extreme Cold Climate clothing, and has put emergency plans in place, China's difficulties in dealing with high altitude and inclement weather will only increase with time and the current steps taken by them are just an indicator of the problems to come.

24 INDIA

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

5 - 11 December 2020

SOUTH INDIA

After ‘Nivar’ another storm to hit Kerala, TN NEW DELHI: A fresh lowpressure area, formed over the Bay of Bengal after landfall of cyclone ‘Nivar’, is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm of low intensity and cross the Sri Lankan coast on Wednesday evening, bringing heavy rainfall to India’s southernmost parts, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned.

After crossing the Sri Lankan coast, the cyclone will move westwards and emerge into the Comorin area, the agency added. The system, as per the IMD’s forecasts, will bring heavy to very heavy rainfall over south Tamil Nadu and south Kerala and adjoining areas during December 24.Though it will not be severe like ‘Nivar’, the agency has advised fishermen not to venture into south-east and adjoining south-west Bay of

Bengal.

Nivar wreaks havoc in TN, Puducherry Three persons were killed and an equal number injured as cyclonic storm Nivar wreaked havoc in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry last week.

According to the Tamil Nadu government, three persons lost their lives due to rain related incidents and three got injured.

The state government also said

that 26 cattle had also perished in the storm.

The cyclone also damaged several houses, uprooted trees and power lines in Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore, Marakkanam and in Puducherry also. A total of 101 houses, including thatched huts and tiled houses were damaged by cyclone, the Tamil Nadu government said. According to the government, about 380 trees were uprooted by Nivar and 14

acre banana plantation was also damaged.

In Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district, police said the fallen trees have been removed to ease the flow of traffic. The government said it was carrying out the repairs quickly to restore power lines. A total of 19 electric poles, which fell down, have been repaired.

At Marakkanam near Puducherry, several electric poles fell down and the fishermen community requested the Tamil Nadu government to restore the power lines at the earliest. In the suburbs of Tamil Nadu capital Chennai, water got logged due to rains affecting the residents as well as the traffic flow. Bus and train services that were stopped from November 24 afternoon ahead of the cyclone were resumed in seven districts of Tamil Nadu.

PUNJAB

Govt reaches out to farmers; invites them for talks NEW DELHI/BHATINDA: In a fresh effort to break the deadlock with farmers’ organisations agitating against the new farm laws, the Centre has invited them for talks. The invitation from agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar came after consultations among senior BJP leaders over ways to reach farmers’ leaders in order to end the stalemate.

Home minister Amit Shah reached out afresh to farmer leaders two days after he spoke to BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan. BKU (Ekta Dakaunda) president Buta Singh Burjgill received a call from Shah asking farm organisations to begin talks with no conditions.

Burjgill said the organisations were waiting for a formal written invitation.

“I had got a call from Amit

Shah, who asked to come for a meeting without putting any conditions and asked me to convey this to all the farm organisations. As conditions were put before holding the meeting earlier, we had rejected it. We have now decided to attend the meeting after we get a written invitation," Burjgill said. Former Punjab minister Surjit Kumar Jyani of BJP, who facilitated the phone calls, said a fresh invitation could help end the impasse.

Earlier in the day, addressing the media at Delhi’s Singhu border, farmers’ leaders refused to go back, clarified that their demands were “nonnegotiable” and, responding to PM Narendra Modi's comments, said their "mann ki baat" should also be heard.

Farmers reject govt’s conditional talks offer Earlier, the agitating

farmers’ unions rejected the Centre’s talks offer, saying they were ready for discussions but not at the government’s condition of first moving to the designated protest site at Burari in the Capital despite the Centre inviting them for deliberations. The groups, assembled on the DelhiHaryana border, decided to intensify the protests and called for all-India mobilisation of farmers for state-level protests across the country to press key demands, including legal guarantee to procurement of farm produce at minimum support price (MSP) and repeal of the newly-enacted central farm laws.

“The condition put forward for talks is an insult to farmers.

We have decided that we will never go to Burari ground as we got proof that it is an open jail.

Instead of going to an open jail, we have decided to ‘gherao’ (encircle) Delhi by blocking five main entry points to the city,” said Surjeet Singh Phul, Punjab president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Krantikari). Asked how long they will be on the roads, Phul said, “We have got four months of ration with us. So, nothing to worry about.”

WEST BENGAL

Mamata plans roadshow on party rebel Adhikari’s turf KOLKATA: As Trinamool Congress rebel Suvendu Adhikari quietly prepared for his first political rally since resigning from the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, almost the entire party machinery got cracking to arrange a December 7 roadshow planned by the CM in his pocket borough Midnapore. Mamata's primary objective is to quickly quarantine her party ranks from the "rebel" bug as she focuses on taking on BJP and CPM in the battle for the Bengal assembly, sources said.

The flurry of activity in the Trinamool camp included party seniors meeting representatives of West Midnapore, Malda and Murshidabad ahead of the CM’s meet with the party's district heads on December 4. While TMC described the meetings as "routine", the buzz was that the party has been shaken and stirred

by Adhikari's resignation as transport and irrigation minister, although he remains a Trinamool

member for now. All three districts where TMC is trying to set its house in order are those where Adhikari was the party observer.

Trinamool state president and MP Subrata Bakshi was in Midnapore to take stock and oversee arrangements for the CM’s rally. Bakshi and other TMC seniors – Manas Bhunia, minister Soumen Mahapatra and district president Ajit Maity – didn’t utter a word against Adhikari, who is being wooed by BJP and cheered by Congress. At least four senior Adhikari loyalists from Midnapore were conspicuous by their absence at the meetings.

Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee held talks with the party’s Malda district leadership at his south Kolkata office.

Minister and TMC Mahila unit president Chandrima Bhattacharya presided over a meeting of the women’s wing in Murshidabad to reassure the ranks that the party would retain

power in 2021. "Our CM has done a lot for women. She has been doing it throughout the year and not just ahead of polls," she said.

At Mahishadal in Nandigram, decorators were busy giving finishing touches to the dais from which Adhikari will address a crowd. None of his aides was seen around the venue. There wasn't any instruction either from the former minister to mobilise people. Yet, 20,000 chairs were being arranged in front of the dais. Sources said Adhikari wouldn’t use the Mahishadal platform for political ends. But the elaborate arrangements suggested he will make a point with a big turnout.

Earlier, in what could be a blow to Trinamool Congress ahead of next year's Assembly poll, senior minister Suvendu Adhikari has resigned from his post. The resignation letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was submitted last week and a copy sent to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Mamata Banerjee

Adhikari has quit as minister for transport and irrigation, but remains a Trinamool MLA as he has not resigned from the Assembly. His resignation is being widely seen as a precursor for his exit from the party; Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said that Adhikari is "welcome to join".

The Nandigram MLA, who was seen taking money on the Narada sting operation tapes and has been named in a money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate, has made no secret of his discontent within the Trinamool for the past months.

in brief £45 MN UNDISCLOSED INCOME DETECTED The Income-tax department has detected undisclosed income of £45 million after it searched an IT SEZ developer, its former director and a stainless steel supplier based in Tamil Nadu, the CBDT said. The searches were carried out at 16 premises in Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Cuddalore on November 27, it said. "The searches, so far, have resulted in the detection of undisclosed income of more than £45 millione," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement. In the case of the ex-director of the information technology special economic zone (IT SEZ), the taxman unearthed evidences of about £10 millione "accumulated by the person and his family members in the past 3 years." "The search further unearthed that the IT SEZ developer claimed bogus work-in-progress expenses of about £16 million in an underconstruction project," the statement said.

SC REMOVES GAG ON AMARAVATI LAND DEALS The ban on reporting details of a criminal case involving illegal land deals in Andhra Pradesh's Amaravati by influential people was removed by the Supreme Court in a major victory for the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. The state government had pleaded against a high court order in September restraining the media from reporting on an FIR filed over the buying of land in Amaravati six years ago by those privy to the decision to make it the state capital. Investigations into the case remain suspended, however. Justices Ashok Bhushan, RS Reddy and MR Shah did not scrap the high court's ban on a probe into the FIR or First Information Report filed by the Andhra government.

The Supreme Court will hear the case next in January-end.

PUNJAB GOVT ORDERS FRESH CURBS FROM DEC 1 Amid the grim Covid situation in DelhiNCR and "apprehensions of the second wave" in Punjab, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh ordered a series of fresh restrictions in the state, including reimposition of night curfew in all towns and cities from December 1. The Punjab government has also doubled the fine for not wearing masks or following social distancing norms, according to an official release. As per the Union Health Ministry, Punjab has 6,834 active cases of Covid-19.

Night curfew will remain in force from 10 pm to 5 am, announced the Chief Minister, warning people against letting their guard down under any circumstances. The curbs, which will be reviewed on December 15, also restrict opening timings of all hotels, restaurants and marriage palaces till 9.30 am.

6 RESCUED AFTER VESSEL CARRYING TRUCKS CAPSIZED IN MALDA Six people were rescued and two others went missing after a vessel carrying eight trucks capsized in Ganga river in Malda district of West Bengal on the night of November 23.

According to Malda’s Zilla Parishad, Sabhadhipati Gaur Chandra Mondal, the launch boat was coming from Rajmahal ghat of Jharkhand, but got drowned during unloading of trucks at Manikchak ghat in Malda. Search and rescue operation were undertaken to trace the two missing individuals. Meanwhile, the Malda administration has initiated an inquiry to find the cause of the incident.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

INDIA

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

25

5 - 11 December 2020

The writer is a Socio-political Historian - E-mail: haridesai@gmail.com Dr. Hari Desai

Only in 1963 Puducherry became integral part of India • Since 2014, 1st November is celebrated as Liberation Day of Puducherry • The cession treaty was signed by the French Ambassador and PM Nehru nlike Indian Armed Forces taking over the Portuguese Goa, the merger of the French colony Puducherry with India was rather a peaceful and smooth. Of course, the role played by Puducherry in the freedom struggle of India does not find mention in the colossal documentation that speaks of the actual struggle on the road to freedom on mainstream India. Even the revolutionary Aurobindo Ghosh originally arrived in Puducherry from Begal in 1910, to be out of reach of the British Government. Bharathi, Aurobindo Ghosh and V.V.S. Iyer, all three who were outsiders to Puducherry combined together with some other locally based patriots to form a society of intellectuals to discuss topics on the theme of ways and means to achieve Indian independence.

The people of Union Territory of Puducherry won freedom from the foreign yoke only after seven more years of struggle after India became free on August 15, 1947.

Though the erstwhile Pondicherry provided a favourable climate for the political exiles from British India for long, the people of the Union Territory had to launch a separate movement to replace the French Flag with the national tri-colour.

Puducherry According to a historian’s India. account, it was the municipal election that The treaty was entered between France paved the way for the cession of the French and India, establishing the cession by the colonies to India. Chandranagore was the French Republic to the Indian Union of the first of the five enclaves which broke away French establishments of Pondicherry, by conducting a referendum in 1949 and Karikal, Mahe and Yanam. The treaty was merged with the Indian state of West signed by the then French Ambassador Bengal.

Stanislas Ostrorog and the then Prime The merger itself was democratically Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was also decided through a referendum conducted the Union Minister for by the French Next Column External Affairs. The treaty administration at the border village of Kizhur to ascertain Junagadh back to India says, “France cedes to India in the wish of the people. On and the New Year Day full sovereignty the territory of the Establishments of 18 October, 1954, the Pondicherry, Karikal, Mahe and Yanam. The municipal councillors and the members of Establishments will keep the benefit of the the Assembly representatives gave their special administrative status which was in verdict in favour of merger with India. force prior to 1 November, 1954.”

Later, an agreement for the de facto It was only in transfer of the four 2014, that, acceding remaining French to the demands of settlements to India freedom fighters, was signed on 21 Chief Minister N. October 1954, which Rangasamy declared came into effect on 1 November 1954. that 1 November On 1 November would be celebrated 1954, the French as Liberation Day of possessions in India Puducherry. On 1 Puducherry Railway Station November were de facto 2020, transferred to the P u d u c h e r r y Indian Union and celebrated its 67th Puducherry became De Facto Merger a Union Territory. (liberation) Day, About 280 years of which marked the French rule finally former French came to an end. But colony's merger with it was only in 1963 Indian Union in that Puducherry The French colony Village first to vote for merger with India 1954. Chief Minister officially became an V Narayanasamy integral part of India after the French unfurled the national flag at the Parliament in Paris ratified the Treaty with celebration held on the Beach Road.

U

Chronology of Puducherry • 1521 Arrival of Portuguese • 1618 Dutch textile trading • 1624 Danish establish shops • 1664 Colbert founds the French East India Company • 1674 French buy the city from the Governor of the Gingee fortress, vassal of the Muslim King of Bijapur • 1686 Establishment of the first trading post on the Coromandel coast • 1693 The Dutch retake the city and begin to lay out the streets in a grid pattern • 1700 French trading post; the city has its peak with Dupleix1761 English domination; the city is destroyed • 1763 French trading post; the city is rebuilt • 1778 English domination • 1783 French trading post • 1793 English domination • 1815 French trading post • 1954 Transfer "de facto" of French possessions to India • 1956 Signature of the Treaty of Cession of French possessions between France and India

Bombay HC pulls up Sena MP; warns Kangana Ranaut The Bombay High Court reprimanded Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut for an expletive aimed at actor Kangana Ranaut earlier this year, as the two waged a bitter battle over comments comparing Mumbai to Pakistanoccupied Kashmir (PoK). The court also warned Kangana from making such comments in the future and said: "Petitioner should show restraint in airing opinions on the government." The court cautioned the actor, noting: "We do not agree with what she has said".

Raut was criticised for conduct that "does not befit a parliamentarian" as the court said it did not accept his explanation: "... (comment was) in the context of her dishonesty and that... the derogative statement made (by Ranaut) insulting the State of Maharashtra and Mumbai". In September Raut was caught on camera flinging an abusive term in his tirade against Kangana.

Sanjay Raut

He never apologised for the comment, but said, "I may have made a mistake".

"Kangana also makes these mistakes, we have seen several times," he added, referring to Kangana's tweet about feeling unsafe in The court's Mumbai. observation came as it ruled on a petition by Kangana against the demolition of her office in Mumbai that same month. The court said the demolition was "nothing but malice in law", in a ruling seen as a big win for Kangana, who will also be compensated for the damage caused by the demolition.

The Brihanmumbai

Municipal Corporation demolished a part of Kangana's office on September 9. The actor alleged the action was motivated by comments against the Maharashtra government and the ruling Shiv Sena.

"MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) has proceeded on wrongful grounds, against the rights of the citizens. It is nothing but malice in law," a division bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and RI Chagla said. Kangana has been in the thick of controversies this year because of an ugly faceoff with Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra government over her criticism of the Sushant Singh Rajput investigation.

Matters escalated sharply after her remarks in September about feeling unsafe in Mumbai and comparing the city to PoK, with the actor accusing the civic body for targeting her for her comments.

Five Covid patients die in Rajkot hospital fire Five Covid-19 patients, all of them male senior citizens, died in a massive fire that broke out in the ICU of a Covid-designated hospital on Mavdi Road in Rajkot last week.

A short-circuit in one of the ventilators is suspected to have triggered the fire, which spread so fast that the fire brigade could not save their lives, though their office is barely 300m from the hospital. The incident happened at around 12.40 am at the 54-bed Uday Shivanand Hospital, which was designated for Covid treatment about two months ago. There were four staff in the ward including a doctor, but they could not use the fire extinguishers since the fire spread so fast.

In all, there were 33 patients in the four-storey hospital and 28 of them were shifted to other

hospitals. The condition of all patients is said to be stable.

There were 11 patients in the ICU ward located on the first floor. Three of them died on the spot due to severe burns while two others, who suffered minor injuries, succumbed to breathing problems when they were being shifted to another hospital.

The facility runs in a building owned by Shivanand Mission Trust and is operated by Gokul Life Care Pvt Ltd, popularly known as Gokul Hospitals. The hospital

runs in a residential society.

The Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) has designated 24 private hospitals for Covid treatment.

Municipal commissioner Udit Agrawal said, “There was some spark, but we are yet to ascertain whether it was in a ventilator or some machinery.” Expressing grief over the incident, chief minister Vijay Rupani announced a compensation of Rs 40,000 to the kin of each deceased and ordered a probe that will be headed by additional chief secretary, AK Rakesh.

India bans another 43 new Chinese apps, 267 in all now The Indian government last week launched a fresh offensive against Chinese apps, blocking another 43 new apps, amid continued tension at the border. With the latest move, India has banned 267 apps in addition to getting countries such as the US to follow suit.

Those ordered blocked include some top ones such as AliExpress, Taobao Live and CamCard. They join other big ones already banned such as TikTok, PUBG, UC Browser, WeChat, CamScanner, Baidu Search and Weibo in being disallowed in India’s

thriving digital eco-system.

The government said the action was taken under Section 69A of the IT Act, as it accused the Chinese apps of engaging in activities prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.

“Ministry of electronics and IT has issued the order for blocking the access of these apps… based on the comprehensive reports received from Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center, Ministry of Home Affairs… Government is committed to protect the

interests of citizens and sovereignty and integrity of India on all fronts and it shall take all possible steps to ensure that,” the government said.

Govt to squeeze influence and sway of Chinese apps in India The government has decided to squeeze the influence and sway of Chinese apps in India in view of the growing tensions between the two countries, especially as they have been accused of misusing the data of Indian citizens and businesses, surveillance and engaging in anti-India activities.

26 INDIA

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

5 - 11 December 2020

Yogi Adityanath pitches for renaming Stolen Annapurna idol on its way back to Varanasi: PM Modi Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the statuette of the Annapurna deity that was stolen over a century ago is on its way back to its original home in Varanasi.

While addressing the public during Dev Deepawali Mahotsav in Varanasi, PM Modi said, “it is a matter of great fortune that Mata Annapurna will come back to her original home.”

Prime Minister said that the statues of deities are part of “our priceless legacy. It is true that if so much effort was made earlier, the country would have got back many such idols. But some people have different thinking. For us, heritage means the country’s heritage but for some people, heritage means their name and their family’s name. For us, heritage means our culture, our faith.

For them, heritage means their own statues, their family photos,” he added.

Prime Minister also paid tributes to all those who

have laid their lives for the nation. “On the occasion of Dev Deepawali, I pay my tributes to all those who have laid their lives for the nation. The nation is giving a befitting reply to the expansionist forces, those trying to infiltrate into India or be it those trying to break the country from within,” he said.

PM Modi said that none can change the Urja (energy), Bhakti (devotion) and Shakti (power) of Kashi.“No matter how much things have changed due to Covid19, none can change the Urja, Bhakti and Shakti of Kashi,” he said.

Prime Minister Modi lit the customary first diya at

the Raj Ghat in Varanasi and launched the Dev D e e p a w a l i Mahotsav.

The Prime Minister was accompanied by state Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath for the ceremony.

Some 15,00,000 diyas lit up on the ghats of Ganga to mark the beginning of celebrations on the occasion of Kartik Purnima. Classical dancers performed during the occasion. Dev Deepawali is a function after Deepawali when a large number of lamps are lit on the banks of rivers and other places on Kartik Purnima.

Prime Minister Modi and Yogi Adityanath reached Raj Ghat for Dev Deepawali Mahotsav after offering prayers at Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi. They also visited the site of Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor Project.

Ghats of Varanasi were decorated for Modi’s visit.

Amid the campaigning for Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath pitched for renaming Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar.

“Some people were asking me if Hyderabad can be renamed as Bhagyanagar.

I said, ‘Why not?’ I told them that we renamed Faizabad as Ayodhya and Allahabad as Prayagraj after BJP came into power in Uttar Pradesh. Then why can’t Hyderabad be renamed as Bhagyanagar?”

Adityanath said at a roadshow in the Malkajgiri division of Hyderabad.

Adityanath also slammed All India Majlise-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) over its Bihar MLA Akhtarul Iman’s objection to the word “Hindustan” while taking the oath of office. “In Bihar, a newly-elected MLA of AIMIM declined to utter the word ‘Hindustan’

PM Modi comes out in strong defence of agri laws Amid ongoing protests by some farm organisations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly defended the new farm laws and said the changes met the long-pending demands of the agriculture sector and a new set of rights for farmers had also started delivering results.

In his monthly radio address ‘Mann ki Baat’, the PM said the reforms had opened doors to new possibilities and urged those studying and researching agriculture to go to villages and create awareness about the new laws that aim to offer more options for sale and also set out rules to protect farmers.

The PM also offered greetings on Guru Nanak Jayanti which fell on Monday and while the salutations were not out of place, the current

agitation that is strongly driven by Punjab farmers gave it an added context. He said the government had carried out the work of a “servant” (sevak) and the Guru Sahib gave the opportunity to serve. Though Modi often mentions major festivals, his address just a day before the 551st Prakash Parva of Guru Nanak is seen as an outreach to the Sikh farmer community.

“After a lot of deliberation, the Indian Parliament gave agricultural reforms a legal recognition. These reforms have not only served to unshackle our farmers but also have given them new rights and opportunities. In just a short span of time, these new rights have begun to address the sufferings of our farmers,” Modi said. His remarks, the first

detailed references since farmers from Punjab and Haryana reached Delhi, indicated that while the Centre could look at ways and means to address concerns of farm organisations that MSP will be done away with or big corporate houses will set prices for farm produce, it is not likely to roll back the new laws . The PM gave a set of examples, including that of Jitendra Bhoiji, a farmer from Dhule in Maharashtra who did not get paid for his corn crop for four months and how the new laws came to his help. The new rules make it clear that farmers have to be paid in three days, he said. “Whichever the field, correct knowledge, free from misconceptions and rumours, can act as a force multiplier for every individual,” he added.

during oath-taking. They will live in Hindustan but when it comes to taking oath in the name of Hindustan, they hesitate.

This shows the true face of AIMIM,” Adityanath said.

Iman had objected to the word “Hindustan” while he was administered the oath of office by Protem Speaker Jitan Ram Manjhi. “Oath is taken as per the Constitution which mentions ‘Bharat’ everywhere. I wanted to know whether it’s okay to say ‘Hindustan’ or shall I say ‘Bharat’ during oathtaking today. We are lawmakers. We should place the Constitution above all. I love my country,” Iman said.

Attacking the ruling Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS), Adityanath said, “A nefarious alliance of TRS and AIMIM has been formed, which is hindering the development of Hyderabad. Every citizen including businessman is upset here. The people who have been in the government and corporation here have nothing to do with the development and basic amenities of the people.”

Asking people to vote for BJP candidates in

GHMC polls, Adityanath highlighted some of the major policies of the Modi government. “Under the guidance of PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah repealed Article 370, giving full freedom to the people of Hyderabad and Telangana to purchase land in Jammu and Kashmir and become a citizen of the UT,” he said.

“Huge development has been done by Modi government in the last 6 years. Toilets were given to the poor for free.

Thirty million poor people were given free homes, 80 million people were given free LPG cylinders.

During coronavirus lockdown, the Modi government provided free ration to the poor. We are here to seek your votes for development. The BJP has been firmly present among you through its election manifesto.

For the formation of a good Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, we have to come forward to make BJP victorious by an overwhelming majority here,” he added.

The GHMC polls were held on December 1 and the results will be declared on December 4.

PM Modi visits vaccine plants in 3 cities, reviews progress Continued from page 1

Modi’s first stop was Ahmedabad where he reviewed the vaccine development and manufacturing process of Zydus Group’s indigenous plasmid DNA vaccine – ZyCov-D. Later, Modi visited Bharat Biotech’s facility at Genome Valley in Hyderabad as part of his three-city tour. The PM interacted with the company’s top brass, including its chairman and managing director Dr Krishna Ella, as well as scientists involved with the development of Covaxin, India’s first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine that is being developed by the Hyderabad-based vaccine maker.

The Phase III trials of Covaxin, involving over 26,000 volunteers at 25 sites across the country, kicked off earlier this month. The first and second phase of human trials at Covaxin involved around 1,000 volunteers. Bharat Biotech had earlier indicated that going by the results of Phase I and II trials, Covaxin’s efficacy is expected to be

well over 60%.

His last stop was at the vaccine major Serum Institute of India’s new plant at Manjari and interacted with its team about the manufacturing, logistics and distribution of its Covid-19 vaccine – Covieshield. In a tweet, the Prime Minister said, “Had a good interaction with the team at Serum Institute of India. They shared details about their progress so far on how they plan to further ramp up vaccine manufacturing. Also,

took a look at their manufacturing facility PM wants India’s vaccine efforts to help world The Prime Minister Modi on Saturday last visited the Zydus Biotech Park at Changodar in Ahmedabad to review the vaccine development and manufacturing process.

The Ahmedabadheadquartered Zydus Group has been developing an indigenous plasmid DNA vaccine-- ZyCov-D-for Covid-19. Commenting on the visit, Zydus Group chairman Pankaj Patel said that the PM is firmly rooted in the vision that India’s efforts in developing a vaccine for the Covid-19 pandemic will be devoted towards the cause of global good.

“What struck me and left me impressed was PM

@narendramodi's emphasis on science and vision for global good.

PM Modi is firmly rooted in the vision that whatever India does regarding a Covid vaccine will be devoted towards global good and will benefit the larger humanity,” Patel tweeted after the PM’s visit.

Clad in a PPE kit, the PM was escorted by scientists around the facility where research and other work for the ZyCov-D vaccine is presently underway. He was greeted at the Zydus Biotech Park

by Pankaj Patel along with his son Sharvil Patel, who is also the managing director of Zydus Group.

“Visited the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad to know more about the indigenous DNA based vaccine being developed by Zydus Cadila. I compliment the team behind this effort for their work. Government of India is actively working with them to support them in this journey,” the PM tweeted after the visit. “PM Modi reviewed the efforts towards vaccine development. He shared very valuable inputs on how

to further strengthen the vaccine development programme and ensure a Covid-free world,” said Zydus Group MD Dr Sharvil Patel.

Stating that the PM’s visit has encouraged Zydus Cadila in doing more and fast with regard to the vaccine development, Pankaj Patel further added in a video message that in India’s journey in the Atmanirbhar Bharat, 1,800 scientists and 25,000 Zydans are continuously thriving and working to provide safe and effective vaccine, better Covid treatment and diagnostics. The company has already completed the phase-II human clinical trials of ZyCov-D and the results are currently being analysed. “Soon, the data will be presented (to the regulator) and the third phase will be kicked off. The phase-III trial is expected to begin in December and we hope to complete the third phase trials by March,” Pankaj Patel said. “The vaccine is likely to come to market after March next year, subject to regulatory approvals,” he added.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

HEALTH

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

27

5 -11 December 2020

When and which Covid-19 vaccines are likely to be available in Asia Pfizer Inc with partner BioNTech SE, Moderna Inc and AstraZeneca Plc have released trial data this month showing their experimental vaccines are effective in preventing the disease. If regulators approve any of the vaccines in coming weeks, the companies have said distribution could begin almost immediately with governments around the world.

But many Asian countries do not expect to receive big amounts initially, and below are estimated distribution timelines, supply deals announced so far and clinical trials under way in the region.

Australia It has agreed to buy 135 million doses: 34 million from AstraZeneca, 40 million from Novavax Inc, 10 million from Pfizer and 51 million from CSL Ltd. It expects delivery of 3.8 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in January and February next year.

China China has not announced supply deals with Western drugmakers, which instead have partnered with private companies.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine may be approved in China by mid-2021 and its Chinese partner Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products plans to have annual production capacity of at least 100 mil-

lion doses of the vaccine by end-2020.

For the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, a unit of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group plans a Phase 2 trial.

Tibet Rhodiola Pharmaceutical Holding is bringing in Russian vaccine candidate Sputnik V and plans early and mid-stage trials of the shot in China.

China has also approved three vaccine candidates developed by Sinovac and state-owned Sinopharm for emergency use programme, and Sinopharm is hopeful of its two candidates receiving conditional approval for general public use within this year.

Japan Japan has deals to purchase 120 million doses from Pfizer/BioNTech in the first half of next year, 120 million from AstraZeneca, of which first 30 million will be shipped by March 2021, and 250 million from Novavax. It is also in talks with Johnson & Johnson and has a deal with Shionogi & Co. Experts said vaccine makers would need to conduct at least

Phase 1-2 trials in Japan before seeking approval.

South Korea It aims to secure vaccines for 10 million people from COVAX and 20 million people from separate deals with drugmakers by the end of this year. It has the “Optional Purchase” arrangement with COVAX that allows it to select vaccines from specific vaccine makers. The timing of the procurement and the amount depend on the production schedule of those vaccines, according to health officials. Inoculation is likely to start in the second quarter of next year to allow more time to observe potential side effects.

India The head of the Serum Institute of India, which makes the AstraZeneca vaccine, said on Nov 23 the positive late-state trial result of the candidate will allow it to seek emergency use authorisation by year-end, before gaining approval for a full rollout by February or March next year. India also expects a governmentbacked vaccine to be

launched as early as February, while it is conducting a late-stage trial of Sputnik V. Taiwan Taiwan aims to secure around 15 million doses initially, both via the COVAX scheme and by directly purchasing from vaccine makers, and may buy additional 15 million doses. The government has said it hopes to begin vaccinations in the first quarter of next year.

The Philippines It is in talks with AstraZeneca for the supply of at least 20 million doses, which may arrive in the country in the second quarter of next year. It hopes to lock in 60 million doses in total and also is in talks with Pfizer and Sinovac. Vaccine makers can apply for approval with the country’s regulators even if no clinical trial is done in the Philippines.

Indonesia It is one of the countries listed as 92 low and middle income economies, which means it is entitled to have access to vaccines through COVAX for 20% of its population, or approximately 106-107 million doses if each person gets two injections. Indonesia is testing Sinovac vaccine and preparing to start mass vaccination for medical staff and other frontline workers as early as late January.

AstraZeneca, Oxford vaccine candidate faces questions about their trial results AstraZenec Plc and the University of Oxford face several mounting questions about their trial results after acknowledging a manufacturing error.

In an announcement made last week, they revealed their shot was 70 per cent effective on average in a late-stage study. However, details released by the UK partners have sparked worries about whether regulators would clear it.

In a later statement, Oxford said a difference in manufacturing processes led to some participants being given a half dose instead of a full one. Astra and Oxford said their vaccine was 90 per cent effective when a halfdose was given before a fulldose booster, and that two full doses showed an efficacy of 62 per cent. However, they then said the dose showing the higher level of effectiveness was tested in a younger population and that the halfdose was given to some people because of an error in the quantity of vaccine put into some vials.

Fund manager at EdenTree Investment Management, Ketan Patel said, “Any time you have confusion in trials it's not a

good thing because it effectively removes any kind of credibility you had. I think there will be a lot more scrutiny of Astra's product due to the manufacturing issue.”

Oxford said in a statement, that when it was apparent that a lower dose was used, it was discussed with regulators, and an agreement was reached to push ahead with the two regimens. “The methods for measuring the concentration are now established and we can ensure that all batches of vaccine are not equivalent,” it said.

In its statement, Oxford said that when it was apparent that a lower dose was used, it was discussed with regulators, and an agreement was reached to push ahead with the two regimens. “The methods for measuring the concentration are now established and we can ensure that all batches of vaccine are now equivalent,”

according to the university.

New trial of vaccine Oxford University and AstraZeneca said that they would go for an extra trials to satisfy regulators after US health officials revealed that nobody in the group with 90 per cent efficacy rates was above the age of 55. The revelation sparked widespread concern because the jabs will be targeted at the elderly first.

However, scientists in the UK pointed out that previous trials suggest the vaccines are highly effective in the elderly.

Later, the UK government instructed regulators to start their formal assessment of the jabs, with hopes that vaccination rollout could start next month.

AstraZeneca insisted that the extra trial would not delay the process of authorisation in Britain, but scientists have urged those involved in the trial to provide more information about their findings.

The head of AstraZeneca has said the company would run an extra study in order to validate the findings in the sub-group. While the study of those given two full doses involved 8,895 people, the 90

per cent efficacy was based on a dosing regime given to just 2,741 people.

AstraZeneca chief executive officer Pascal Soriot said: "Now that we've found what looks like a better efficacy we have to validate this, so we need to do an additional study." He said he did not expect the additional trial to hold up regulatory approvals in the UK.

Why Healthy relationships matter Psychologist Mamta Saha Dearest Readers, The year 2020 was a year filled with learnings. The year taught us to slow down from the neverending rat race and enjoy the things in front of us and spend time with your loved ones. During the lockdown, most of us have reconnected with our friends after a long time. While it's good to cherish all those wonderful times you've had together, have you ever felt yourself investing too much into that friendship compared to your friend?

I caught up with author Dr. Hannah Korrel who explained that wanting closure is specific to each individual, and each individual must go with their "feeling."

For example, if you are a "cool" person and have tons of friends and are loved by all, you wouldn't care if the other person has hurt you and would move on. This mentality is commonly portrayed on social media, and through various Netflix shows that being unbothered is much cooler. In contrast, it's different for a person who genuinely cares about details and if things are not going well. This can be deeply upsetting.

Suicides among celebrities are growing. We instantly think that this person would have so many friends and looked like they had many friends but were lonely in reality. Research has shown that it's not about the number of friends but the quality of those friendships.

They found this positive effect of friendship in older generations of people, even if they had just one or two quality friends they would live longer.

The pressure of being famous and surrounded by people on social media has impacted mental health. For example, a lack of response from the group chats must mean that your not a good enough person. A survey revealed that many people have just one or two friends and 50% feel lonely. We may feel fearful therefore, we hesitate to voice various issues. Such as, "I'm upset you didn't accept my request on Facebook, or I'm lonely" because no one wants to come off as a person who cares too much. An essential step in friendship is communicating values with your friends that may not be aligned and sharing how we feel about that misalignment or the lack of alignment.

Most of us have had friends who were with us for a long time. We tend to believe that since we've been friends with a particular person for a longer period, they'll always be with us. However, this is not true.

Longevity does not necessarily equal quality in friendship. It's not about the number of years that matters but the quality of the relationship. It is good to honor the relationship you had with the person and accept that the two of you have drifted apart. The quality of friends in our lives determines the quality of our health, stress levels, and experiences of life.

Download your free e-book ‘Just in time’ from www.mamtasaha.com, tune into Saha Mindset podcast on Spotify and follow me on Instagram: saha_mamta.

Feel free to email too: mamta@mamtasaha.com.

British hospitals risk being overwhelmed without govt's new plan for restrictions Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove warns hospitals in England risk being overwhelmed if lawmakers do not support the government's new plan for restrictions. Over 20 million people across large swathes of England will be forced to live under the toughest category of Covid-19 restrictions when a national lockdown ends on December 2. The Parliament is set to vote on the restrictions the day before.

Several lawmakers have criticised Prime Minister Boris Johnson's tiered restrictions plan, with some arguing the areas they represent have low infection rates but the toughest rules. Gove said “difficult decisions” were necessary to confront the crisis. In a column in The Times, he said the virus “is no respecter of constituency boundaries and the hardships we are facing now are unfortu-

nately necessary to protect every single one of us, no matter where we live.”

He said the level of infection across the country remained “uncomfortably and threateningly high”. He noted that the number of hospital beds filled with infected patients was not far from its peak earlier in the year. He said the National Health Service would be under severe threat if infections started to rise again, and tougher measures were needed to manage the virus when the current lockdown ends.

28 ART & CULTURE

AsianVoiceNews

5 - 11 December 2020

SP

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

TLIGHT

Jinal Shah: Neyava Sunetra Senior Jinal’s technology consultancy is economically essential at a time when working online has become the new norm. “People want reliability online," the founder told us, "and companies don’t want to lose customers or sales." His enterprise, Neyava, offers a range of IT solutions that either upgrade existing technologies or introduce entirely new ones to assist business to excitingly adapt. Started in 2014, the business has created numerous, robust end-toend systems that are both at the forefront of modern IT and internally secure. “The consultancy manages many servers around the country. We broadly organise and interconnect every facet from networks to the speed of the service and firewalls to make sure a company runs smoothly. This always includes the most advanced technological features available where our team is superb.”

Jinal gave the example of giant online retailers to illustrate the nuanced nature of Neyava’s work: “Let’s say a company such as Amazon usually gets 100,000 customers and they wish to launch a new campaign or their clientele is generally expanding.

They would need more servers to serve more customers on a day-to-day basis. To do this effectively, we would need to slowly build and sync more servers that became part of the wider system. It would require careful supervision and execution.

It may seem especially technical compared to the glamour of developing apps or new websites but what we do is infrastructurally necessary.” Indeed, forming entire self-sustaining ecospheres, Neyava’s niche is fundamental. Here, the founder also explained the unique efficiency afforded by The Cloud in recent years: “This has allowed us to fully automate big systems so that they can simply run with just the touch of a button. Moving away from traditional data centres, Neyava is increasingly designing architectural solutions within the platform of The Cloud. The provider has allowed incredible breakthroughs with the speed of dataprocessing e.g. an action that used to take a year or two can now be done within a couple of weeks!” As the worldwide shift to digital life is fast-tracked by the viral pandemic then, Jinal reports an unprecedented rise in clients and the need for technological sharpness: “the most

common question is ‘where do I start?’ Naturally, organisations have found the change to going completely digital overwhelming.”

Neyava has worked with a variety of different industries internationally such as medical research companies and financial institutions in addition to big retailers to help them achieve seamless transformation.

“There is a high volume of data and the demand to transfer and properly manage it.” However, this is exactly the aspect of the job on which Jinal thrives: “I love the challenge of timely problem-solving. I’m able to learn new things all the time and promptly implement them. I also enjoy being able to contribute to change in the everyday. Graduating with a degree in electrical engineering, I was never drawn to the idea o f

progress.

What has been a project you’ve recently completed?

Going six years strong, we’ve helped shops go digital, this year. Many high-street stores were struggling to provide during the pandemic. They did not have the appropriate systems in place to cope or the tech know-how to be able to modify them.

We were able to give the online solution. At the peak of the crisis, they were able to start selling to and serving customers regularly again through an automated revamp.

Can you tell us a bit more about tech advancement in recent years: you’ve mentioned The Cloud?

Yes, actually there is a whole philosophy dedicated to this. It’s known as DevOps which is the combination of cultural philosophies, practices, and tools that increases an organisation’s ability to deliver applications and services at high velocity. It is committed to improved speed, reliability, security scale and the rapid delivery of emerging digital tools where organisations who follow this believe in enhanced products that can deliver applications faster.

What made you want to start the great venture of Neyava? Did you see a big gap in the market?

Yes, I had an appreciation for digital organisation happening in the background. I didn’t see many companies addressing this. As a young boy, this concept is what inspired me. I’ve always been into inquisitive tech where I can explore analytically.

What are a couple of skills required to be a strong IT solutions consultant?

You need to be able to learn the operating system, Linux, and the ins and outs of working with networks.

Finally, what is Neyava’s ethos?

Delivering the best technical solutions whilst utilising the latest tech.

W: https://www.neyava.com/

"Moving away from traditional data centres, Neyava is increasingly designing architectural solutions within the platform of The Cloud. The provider has allowed incredible breakthroughs with the speed of dataprocessing e.g. an action that used to take a year or two can now be done within a couple of weeks!” sprawling power systems such as the national grid."

Instead, the young innovator preferred portable devices: phones, laptops, iPads: "when you’re in the business of digital systems, you can do your job from anywhere in the world, from Asia to Europe and the US. This is to truly be at being at the fore of new technology.” Finally, if productivity is the rate at which quality work is profitably completed, Jinal’s grand Neyava emerges as the height of evolved

Remembering legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee Bengal Heritage Foundation London organised a tribute on behalf of the global Bengali diaspora to legendary actor, director, playwright, writer and poet – Late Soumitra Chatterjee who passed away on 15th November 2020. The theme of the webinar was not to mourn the passing away of this legendary actor but to remember him through his work and his visionary perspectives.

This was a digitally hosted event and audience from all around the globe joined the event to participate this priceless conversation. The event was kicked off by Sourav Niyogi, President of Bengal Heritage Foundation.

The eminent speakers who spoke about Soumitra Chatterjee on a broader aspect and the Think Tank webinar were HE Gaitri Issar Kumar High Commissioner of India who said “Soumitra Chatterjee’s passing is a great loss to the entire Indian Film Industry.

His 6 decades of Bengali films were a huge contribution to not only Bengali film industry but even outside Bengal.

His works have truly made him immoral

in our hearts and minds. He will remain a cultural icon and a true Hero for India.”

Barbara Wickham, Director, British Council said “Soumitra Chatterjee watched the world of arts, movies and theatre from a different perspective. He was an exceptional talent with spectacular achievements and with multiple facets. He will always remain an icon of Indian cinema who will also be remembered for his modesty and humility.”

Amish Tripathy, Director, Nehru Centre and renowned author, who spent a part of his life in Kolkata added how to him Feluda was synonymous to Soumitra.

His exposure to Soumitra’s movies has been through Sonar Kella. He expressed the delight Nehru Centre has partnering this event along with BHF. When asked to share about the man on and off the set, multiple national award-winning actress Sharmila Tagore added, “I made my first debut against Soumitra when I was only 13 and he was 24. The film that we made had tremendous impact for decades. When I

www.asian-voice.com

look back at our professional partnership, I view it in phases. In the early phases, when I did Apur Sangsar, Devi I was a schoolgirl. Then I took a gap and returned to do Barnali with him directed by Ajoy Kar. Soumitra was at his peak – talented and gorgeous. Then I went to Bombay and later worked in Abar Aranya and that was another phase. But over so many phases, he still remained a good friend and I had high regards for him. I think Apur Sangsar had set the tone – it has the fortitude, innocence, optimism. People remembers and loves Apu and Aparna and probably are romanticised by people after Romeo and Juliet! Professionally, Chatterjee was very committed to his work. He used to make a backstory of the scripts. He was so enthusiastic that on days when he didn’t have his shoot, he would still be present at the set to give cues, help other co-actors. His love and hold on Bengali language was very strong and was a pleasure to hear him. Not only with Manik Da’s (Satyajit Ray) films but he become a giant of an actor with his other films as well."

Author and journalist Sathnam Sanghera joins ‘Bagels and Samosas’ to discuss upcoming book The British Indian Jewish Association held its fifth 'Bagels and Samosas' webinar on Thursday 26 November with guest speaker Sathnam Sanghera. He was interviewed by committee member Natalie Joseph about his career and his new book 'Empireland' which will be released in January 2021. The webinar was attended by over 70 people.

Sathnam Sanghera

Sathnam, a columnist and feature writer at The Times, spoke about his range of experiences as an author and journalist. He shared stories of about growing up in Wolverhampton as part of a Punjabi immigrant family and his journey as an author and journalist. He covered interesting topics on the similarities between Jewish and Indian communities, how antisemitism is "the original racism" and his mental health activism.

Sathnam spoke about the similarities between the Indian and Jewish communities.

He described that growing up he had no exposure to the Jewish community and was shocked that classmates poked fun when watching the film Schindler's List at school whereas nowadays he has a number of Jewish friends.

Sathnam said: “Sikhs in particular have a lot in common with the Jewish community.

We are actually almost the same size [communities] in the UK and internationally we compete to be the 5th or 6th largest religion in the world. There's the obsession with food, the overbearing mothers, the weird hair and the hats. We have a lot in common.

I've ended up with quite a few Jewish friends because of that. We face a lot of similar issues and challenges. There is also the obsession with education!"

At the webinar, BIJA highlighted its Winter Campaign to provide food packages for those in need in partnership with Amrit S Maan’s Punjab Restaurant. Its initial target is to raise the money for 2,000 parcels, but it hopes this will grow.

Committee member Natalie Joseph said: “It was an honour to interview Sathnam for the Bagels and Samosas webinar. In a wideranging and thought-provoking talk, he encouraged both the Indian and Jewish communities to reflect on our respective pasts and consider future responsibilities. The event highlighted the essence of what BIJA aims to do, namely strengthening relationships between our two communities."

Zaki Cooper, Co-Chair of BIJA, said: “This was another successful BIJA webinar with a popular speaker, who both entertained us and made us think. It was also important to highlight our winter social action campaign.

At BIJA, we believe passionately in not only holding interesting events but also doing things together to strengthen the fabric of society. Feeding the hungry is intrinsic to our religious communities, and something that we all need to take responsibility for.” The final “Bagels and Samosas” webinar of 2020 takes place on 17 December with founder of Ebookers, Dinesh Dhamija.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

BOLLYWOOD 29

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

5 - 11 December 2020

Deepika puts up photo with Ranbir on her social media display picture Much to her fans' surprise, actor Deepika Padukone changed her social media display picture on social media to one featuring actor Ranbir Kapoor.

No, there's nothing cooking in there!

The actors were just celebrating five years of their film 'Tamasha'. Released in 2005, the movie was directed by Imtiaz Ali and featured Ranbir as storyteller Ved and Deepika as the female protagonist, Tara.

Deepika put their picture from the film's poster as her display on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. She also changed her profile title to 'Tara'.

While the movie failed to make it at the box office, it has since become one of the favourites for Hindi film lovers.

'Tamasha' follows the story of Ved, who dreamed of becoming a writer and storyteller was suppressed when he was a child. As an adult, he lives dual

lives as a meek, bullied employee at an MNC and as a savvy and confident man on holiday. He meets Tara on a holiday in Corsica and she instantly falls in love with him. However, when they meet years later, she finds out that he isn’t anything like the Ved she had met before.

On the work front, Deepika will soon be seen opposite Prabhas in an untitled trilingual.

Emmy award for 'Delhi Crime' series Several Bollywood celebrities expressed pride and congratulated the team of Netflix India Original series 'Delhi Crime,' as the show won the prestigious International Emmy Award in the 'Best Drama Series,' category.

Actor-filmmaker Nandita Das and actors Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone hopped on to their social media profiles to extend their greetings to the makers and the cast of the show.

'Chhapaak,' actor Deepika shared a poster of the web-based show on her Instagram story with a special 'congratulations' sticker. "#EmmyAwards2020 @Netflix_in @Netlfix #Richi Mehta & to the entire cast," she further wrote in the story.

Alternatively, Nandita and Roshan both took to Twitter to extend their warm wishes to the team of 'Delhi Crime.'

"Congratulations Team #DelhiCrime So Proud & Happy for you all," tweeted Nandita tagging the entire team of the show in her tweet.

Actor Hrithik Roshan, on the other

hand, took a bow to the director of the series Richie Mehta and wished the "talented team," for the victory.

"Take a bow @RichieMehta & the talented team of #DelhiCrime for your well deserved win at #Emmys2020!

Congratulations on setting an International precedent @ShefaliShah_ @_AdilHussain @RasikaDugal @rajeshtailang," he tweeted.

The Netflix series has been directed

by Richie Mehta and is based on the horrific 2012 Delhi gang-rape. The cast of the web show comprises actor Shefali Shah who essayed the lead role of the Deputy Commissioner, South

Delhi in the show.

Others that were a part of the show were Abhilasha Singh, Adil Hussain, Rasika Dugal, Rajesh Tailang and others in key roles.

Everybody is bored, says Ignorance is bliss for star actor Kareena on online trolling Aditya Roy Kapur Actor Kareena Kapoor Khan has a devil-maycare attitude when it comes to online trolls.

She says they are simply bored sitting home

lockdown and pandemic have caused a lot of chaos in people's minds and we have a lot of time on our hands. So people are just over-

without a job, and are only trying to voice their opinions. A major party of 'Film Royalty', Kareena and her family name are trolled heavily online, more so after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. No stranger to virtual hate, Kareena faces rude comments on her social media page every single day.

Speaking in an interview recently, she said the comments should not be considered “trolling”. She said, “I just feel that the

discussing, over-analysing, over-trolling things. Everyone is all over the place.

Everyone is sitting at home, lot of people are without jobs. One shouldn't even look at it as trolling. I guess everybody is just bored and wants to say something.”

She added, “I think we are also here to spread peace and positivity. The idea is that everyone should just be happy in their space and not get into each others' hair. If trolling makes someone happy then so be it.”

Actor Aditya Roy Kapur faces criticism on a regular basis and has the perfect method to tackle them.

Speaking in a recent interview, the star said, “Personally, I don't take all the criticism in and that is my method. I kind of don't really read very much at all. I am very technologically challenged so I don't have social media other than Instagram. I am not on any of that other stuff which is incessantly giving you that information. I honestly didn't read any of it and hear any of it. I did hear about some of it but quite honestly it was a lot like as if it didn't happen for me.”

He said not much can be done about the criticism a film receives after it releases. Aditya added, “Some situations are just out of control.

Even a film is out of your control once you have done it. There is nothing that I am going to achieve by hemming and hawing about it when there is nothing I can do. The case of the last film ignorance was bliss for me.”

Currently basking in the success of his latest film 'Ludo', which was released digitally, he said, “It has been a good year” for him. Aditya wants to be in the positive mode for as long as the pandemic situation is on and that is what he recommends everyone else too.

30 BOLLYWOOD

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

5 - 11 December 2020

Anushka has the perfect plan to resume work after baby Anushka Sharma has been working non-stop for the last couple of months. Seven months pregnant, she is expecting her first baby in January. In a recent media interview, she talked about her decision to come back to work amid the coronavirus pandemic.

She said, “I had to be sure that the sets are going to be a safe place to shoot because I would be shooting during the pandemic. Though I was looking forward to shooting again, I was also careful that all the precautions were being taken. I'm thankful to everyone for following all the necessary steps for me to shoot. The virus is here to stay and we have to embrace the new normal and deal with coronavirus with

the strictest precautions, which is what I have done.”

Anushka also has plans to resume work just four months after delivering her baby. She said, “I will be back to my shoots after I deliver my child, and will establish a system at home that ensures I can balance time between my child, home and professional life. I intend to keep working for as long as I live because acting truly makes me happy.”

On the work front, Anushka was last seen in Shah Rukh Khan's 2018 film 'Zero' which failed to make a mark at the box office. She, however, did produce two successful projects, Amazon Prime Video's 'Paatal Lok', and Netflix's 'Bulbbul'.

Genre: Sports Comedy Drama Duration: 136 minutes

When a lazy man realises he has to work to win his love and the respect of others Montu is a PTI teacher at a school and he is very lazy. One day a new PTI teacher is appointed and Montu realises he now has to work harder then ever to impress the girl of his dreams.

Kangana calls herself a 'hero' in fight against the BMC Actor Kangana Ranaut has reacted after the Bombay High Court gave its verdict on the demolition of a part of her bungalow by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The HC said the action was “actuated by malafide” and was in complete disregard of her rights. It also quashed the demolition order passed by a ward officer of the civic body.

Ranaut went on to social media to thank her followers for their support.

She wrote, “When individual stands against the government and wins, it's not the victory of the individual but it's

the victory of the democracy. Thank you everyone who gave me courage and thanks to those who laughed at my broken dreams. Its only cause you play a villain so I can be a HERO.” A division bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and RI Chagla noted that the action undertaken by the civic body leaves hardly “any manner of doubt” that it was unauthorised. It said the action was initiated after Kangana compared Mumbai with Pakistan occupied Kashmir. In this regard, the bench said irresponsible statements made by an individual should be ignored, howsoev-

er distasteful those may be, and no action can be taken against such individual by resorting t o colourable exercise of power and causing injury to that individual or his property by the State or any of its instrumentalities.

Madhur Bhandarkar responds to KJo's apology with a hard-hitting letter Filmmakers Madhur Bhandarkar and Karan Johar are wrapped up in a small tiff of their own over Netflix's brand new show 'The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives'. Madhur was left deeply upset with Karan using a tweaked version of his registered title 'Bollywood Wives', despite him having made it clear that he would not part with it. Karan shared an open apology letter on Twitter last week, to which Madhur shared an open response.

He wrote, “Dear @KaranJohar. Thank you for your response. This is indeed a close-knit industry and it operates on mutual trust and respect. When we blatantly disregard norms that we ourselves have established, then it makes very little sense calling ourselves a 'fraternity'.”

Madhur said, “I didn’t hesitate a moment in the past before granting you the title “Gutka” in 2013, that you had requested from me, and hence I would have expected the same courtesy in return when I declined you the use of a title I had duly registered, and which I did not intend to part with.

The fact that you went ahead and used the title anyway

despite our conversation and despite it also having been rejected by the trade associations, is what had upset me deeply. This is not how I believe real relationships work. But let’s move forward. I accept your apology and would like to leave things here. I too wish you well in your future endeavours.”

In his apology letter, Karan defended his move saying, “I humbly apologise for any grievance that has been caused to you during the course of the last few weeks. However, I would want to clarify that we have chosen this new and different title – The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives keeping in mind the non-fiction format of our realitybased franchise series. As our title was destine, I did not foresee it upsetting you as it has and for that I duly apologise.”

'The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives' premiered on Netflix on November 27. It is based on four star wives, featuring Sohail Khan's wife Seema Khan, Sanjay Kapoor's wife Maheep Kapoor, Chunky Pandey's wife Bhavana, and Samir Soni's wife Neelam Kothari.

Randeep Hooda makes his web series debut in 'Inspector Avinash' Jio Studios in association with Gold Mountain Pictures, has roped in versatile actor Randeep Hooda to essay the role of a police officer in its web series – 'Inspector Avinash', a cop thriller based on real life events of super cop Avinash Mishra. Helmed by Neerraj Pathak and produced by Neeraj and Krishan Chowdhray, the show also marks Hooda’s debut in the web series space.

Set in Uttar Pradesh, Hooda’s cop avatar will see him in action in a dramatic retelling of the life of the famed cop dealing with criminal activities of the state. The series is all set to hit the

floor in December 2020.

Taking about the web series, Randeep says, “I look forward to exploring new challenging roles with each of my characters and Inspector Avinash gives me a fabulous opportunity to do that. It’s a highly inspiring and interesting role based on true life events of a super cop. I believe in Neerraj’s vision for the show and can’t wait to begin filming this thrilling cop drama. This is also my first collaboration with Jio Studios and I am looking forward to this association.”

“I am very glad Jio Studios believed

in my vision and came on board to back the project. Hooda is ideal for reprising the role of a super cop and will add an interesting dimension to the character, we are very excited to have him play the lead. We commence shooting next month in December”, said director Pathak.

Montu’s father is a lawyer and manages to get him the job as a psychical training instructor teacher at a school in Haryana. Montu is content with his life and is very lazy, one day a new teacher Neelu arrives and she is beautiful.

Montu falls in love with her and things are going well until the laws change and the school must hire a PTI that has a qualification. They do so and along comes Inder Mohan Singh, Montu must now work under him as an assistant.

Montu is not happy as Inder is a much better teacher then him and Neelu starts spending time with Inder.

Montu’s brother Babloo goes to the school and he isn’t paying attention so Inder pins him to the ground as pun-

ishment. This irks Montu and so he decides to quit.

Montu actually needs the job and so he is forced to go back and challenge Inder. They decide to have a threegame challenge where each one will train their team towards a contest. Trying to be the bigger man and show off to Neelu, Montu allows Inder to choose his team first but obviously this backfries as Montu is left with a load of misfits.

Neelu encourages Montu to choose a few girls in his team and then she starts helping him train his team up.

They use different methods to train such as making them run away from guard dogs and this would help them build their running skills and other common everyday methods like catching chickens.

The day of the challenge arrives and the three games they must play are Basketball, 400m relay and kabaddi.

Will Montu’s team win and will he win back Neelu’s heart or will Inder come out top as always?

Chhalaang is a hilarious film showing the feat of a man who gets everything without having to work but finally is challenged. Rajkummar Rao is hilarious as Montu and will keep you laughing throughout the film.

Check out Chhalaang now streaming on Amazon Prime.

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

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

KOLLYWOOD

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

31

5 - 11 December 2020

Shirley Setia all set to make Telugu acting debut Singer Shirley Setia is all set to make her Telugu acting debut with a yet-untitled project opposite Naga Shaurya.

She tweeted, “I am super excited to announce my launch in Telugu film Industry with @IamNagashaurya. Directed by #AneeshKrishna and produced by #Ushamulpuri garu under banner @ira_creations”. The makers are yet to reveal the rest of the cast and crew. However, sources reveal the project will go on the floors in December.

Tipped to be a romantic drama, the project will be coproduced by Naga Shaurya, who was last seen on screen in Telugu action-thriller, 'Aswathama'.

On the work front, Setia was recently seen in Netflix's 'Maska'. Known as a pop singer, Shirley made her singing debut with her 2014 single album 'Those Se Hum', later rendering her voice to Hindi films like 'Passengers', 'A Gentleman', and '5 Weddings'.

Mahesh Babu gives a small glimpse of upcoming film Actor Mahesh Babu took to Twitter recently to share a video from his upcoming Telugu production 'Major'.

He tweeted, “#MajorBeginnings to the inspiring journey of the nation’s undying hero, Major Sandeep Best wishes to Unnikrishnan!! @AdiviSesh and the entire team! @MajorTheFilm @SonyPicsIndia @GMBents @sonypicsprodns @AplusSMovies @SashiTikka (sic).”

The film is based on the life of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who rescued hostages during the 26/11 terror attack on the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, and died in the mission.

Babu is co-producing the film with Sony Pictures Films. Directed

by Sashi Kiran Tikka, 'Major' stars Adivi Sesh in the role of Major Unnikrishnan. A bilingual production, it also stars Sobhita Dhulipala.

The video sees Adivi Sesh talk about the inspiration to make a

film. He said, “I can only say that he impacted my life from the first moment I knew about him. It was in 2008, I remember when I had seen his photograph, splashed across all the channels. I didn't know what to make of it, I kept wondering, who is this man?” He added, “There was some sort of madness of spirit in his eyes. There was madness and there was a smile, I couldn’t understand it. He looked like he could be one of my family members, an older cousin, and then I found out he was Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and he’d given his life for the country. I couldn’t stop looking at that now-iconic passport photograph.”

Malayalam film 'Jallikattu' is India's official entry for the Oscars Short Malayalam film 'Jallikattu' has been chosen as India's official entry for the 93rd Academy Awards in the International Feature Film category. Based on a short story by Hareesh, the movie was directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery and stars Antony Varghese, Chemban Vinod Jose, Sabumon Abdusamad and Santhy Balachandran.

The film is based on the controversial bull-taming event traditionally held in Tamil Nadu and explores “the reducing differences between man and animal.”

Filmmaker Rahul Rawail, Chairman, Jury Board, Film Federation of India, said,

27 films including 'The Disciple', animal that has run amok. The “There were a total of 27 'Bhonsle', 'Chhalaang', 'Eeb Allay film has been depicted films that had entered Ooo!', 'Gulabo Sitabo', 'Check wonderfully and it has been shot the race from Hindi, Post', 'Atkan Chatkan', 'Serious very well. The emotion that comes Malayalam, Oria, and Men', 'Bulbbul', 'Kaamyaab', 'The out really moved all of us to have it Marathi. The film which Sky is Pink', 'Chintu ka Birthday', selected.” has been nominated by and 'Bittersweet'.

The movie was chosen out of the jury to represent India at Oscars is TV Listing Malayalam film Jallikattu. It is a film 21:30 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) that really brings out 23:00 NAMAK ISSK KA the raw problems SATURDAY 5 DEC which are there in human beings, that is 18:30 DESI BEAT RESET we are worse than 19:00 ISHQ MEIN MARJAWAN 2 animals.”

19:30 CHOTI SARDAARNI Rawail said * Schedule is subject to change 20:00 NAAGIN (SEASON 5) 'Jallikattu' is a MON 7 DEC FRI 11 DEC 2020 21:00 NRI HAADSA production that the 6:30 INTERNET WALA LOVE 21:30 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) country should be 14:30 KASAM WEEKEND KA VAAR proud of. “The whole film talks about an 16:00 THE GREAT INDIAN GLOBAL KITCHEN SUNDAY 6 DEC

Rana Daggubati reveals he was severely sick in 2019 After a long time of denying everything, 'Baahubali' actor Rana Daggubati has finally ended his silence on facing severe health issues. Speaking during an appearance on Samantha Akkineni's new chat show 'Sam Jam', Rana broke down as he addressed the ordeal he went through in 2019.

The actor said, “When life was on a fast forward, there was suddenly a pause button. There was BP, calcification around the heart and you have failed kidneys... It could have been a 70 per cent chance of stroke or hemorrhage and 30 per cent chance of death straight.” Fans of the actor were left baffled when he shared a photo of a leaner

looking version of himself. When questions were raised about his well-being online, he had taken to Twitter to share an update. Denying everything, he had tweeted, “Hearing lots of strange things about my health, I'm fine guys just some BP based issues I'm addressing. Will be fixed and sorted soon. Thanks for the concern and love but don't speculate it's my health not yours ;).”

There were also multiple rumours suggesting he was going abroad for a kidney transplant.

16:30 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR 18:30 SHAKTI 19:00 ISHQ MEIN MARJAWAN 2 19:30 CHOTI SARDAARNI 20:00 SHAKTI 20:30 MOLKKI 21:00 PINJARA KHUBSOORTI KA

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 7 DEC FRI 11 DEC 2020 8:30 BHARADWAJ BAHUEIN 16:00 SILSILA BADALTE RISHTON KA 16:30 THE RASOI SHOW 17:30 CHHUTA CHHEDA 18:00 TUM KAUN PIYA 18:30 DIL KA RISHTA 19:00 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR 21:00 BALIKA VADHU - LAMHE PYAAR KE 22:30 MERE HUMRAHI

16:30 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR 18:00 CHOTI SARDARNI 19:30 NRI HAADSA 20:00 NAAGIN (SEASON 5) 21:00 NRI HAADSA 21:30 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR

SATURDAY 5 DEC 11:00 DESI BEAT SEASON 2 16:00 SILSILA BADALTE RISHTON KA 16:30 THE RASOI SHOW 17:30 DESI BEAT SEASON 3 18:00 KHATRA KHATRA KHATRA 19:00 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) 20:30 BARRISTER BABU 21:00 BALIKA VADHU SUNDAY 6 DEC 11:00 DESI BEAT SEASON 2 16:00 SILSILA BADALTE RISHTON KA 16:30 THE RASOI SHOW 17:30 DESI BEAT SEASON 3 18:00 KHATRA KHATRA KHATRA 19:00 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR 21:00 BALIKA VADHU

32

www.asian-voice.com

5 - 11 December 2020

AsianVoiceNews AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Kohli, Ashwin nominated for ICC Player of the Decade Award India skipper Virat Kohli and spinner Ravichandran Ashwin have been nominated for the ICC Player of the Decade Award. Along with Kohli and Ashwin, Joe Root (England), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Steve Smith (Australia), AB de Villiers (South Africa), and Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) have also been nominated for this accolade.

For ODI Player of the Decade, Kohli, Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), Mitchell Starc (Australia), de Villiers, Rohit Sharma (India), MS Dhoni (India), and Sangakkara have been nominated. The full list of nominations was announced on the official website of ICC and the winners will be decided on the basis of the number of votes a player receives.

For ICC Women's Player of the Decade, Ellyse Perry (Australia), Meg Lanning (Australia), Suzie Bates (New Zealand), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies), Mithali Raj (India), Sarah Taylor (England) have

Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin

been nominated.

Kohli, Root, Williamson, Smith, James Anderson (England), Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka), and Yasir Shah (Pakistan) have been nominated for the Test Player of the Decade award.

For ODI Player of the Decade, Kohli, Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), Mitchell Starc (Australia), de Villiers, Rohit Sharma (India), MS Dhoni (India), and Sangakkara have been nominated.

Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Kohli, Imran Tahir (South Africa), Aaron Finch (Australia), Malinga, Chris Gayle (West

Indies), and Rohit Sharma (India) have been nominated for the Men's T20I Player of the Decade.

For Women's T20I Player of the Decade, Lanning, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Deandra Dottin, Alyssa Healy, and Anya Shrubsole have been nominated.

While, Lanning, Perry, Mithali Raj, Suzie Bates (New

Zealand), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies), and Jhulan Goswami (India) have been shortlisted for the ICC Women's ODI Player of the Decade. For ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade, Kohli, Williamson, Brendon McCullum (New Zealand), Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan), MS Dhoni, Anya Shrubsole (England), Katherine Brunt (England), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), and Daniel Vettori (New Zealand) have been shortlisted.

Kohli - most popular cricketer Virat Kohli is the most popular cricketer in the world after new research revealed the extend of the India captain's popularity during the recently concluded IPL. Cricket Bet India's research reveals that the 31-year-old has been searched for online an average of 797,000 times a month over the past year, making him by far the most popular cricket in the world. Using data and analysing all 160 players to play in the IPL in 2020, Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya are the most popular cricketers, ahead of stars such as Steve Smith, David Warner and Ben Stokes, who all feature in the top 10 list. Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant attracted more global searches for their names online than RCB favourite AB de Villiers, while Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal were also very popular.

ITW Playworx bags the sponsorship rights for the fourth edition of Abu Dhabi T10 Ten sports management has awarded ITW Playworx the sponsorship rights of the fourth edition of the Abu Dhabi T10 league. ITW Playworx, the entertainment, media and communication arm of ITW Consulting Private Limited, has been awarded the sponsorship rights for the international cricket event that will commence from January 28, 2021 and will run up to February 6, 2021 at Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

As per the association, ITW Playworx is exclusively authorised to market and sell

the central sponsorship, instadia advertising rights to potential brands for strategic engagement in India, UK, and UAE. “We are excited to explore this opportunity with brands across India and globally for the season 4 of Abu Dhabi T10. It will be exciting to associate with this fast-paced tournament and I look forward

SRK’s T20 franchise invests in the future of American cricket For a long time, Bollywood has been one of India’s big cultural and commercial exports to the US. Now one of its biggest stars has decided to invest in what promises to be a bigger entertainment and business opportunity in America. Shah Rukh Khan, the co-owner of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise in the IPL, has completed a major long-term investment in US cricket in partnership with American Cricket Enterprises (ACE).

The partnership between ACE and the KKR will include financial investments and significant expertise to help ACE develop and launch Major Cricket League in the US. The investment is being led by Khan, along with his partners in the Knight Riders franchise, Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta. Sources say the Knight Riders are also likely to own and run the Los Angeles franchise, a city that plays host to legendary clubs like the LA Lakers (basketball) and the LA Galaxy (soccer).

to extending this opportunity to our brands and partners,” Sidharth Ghosh, CEO, ITW Playworx said.

“Through this partnership, it is evident that the team will be crafting multi-faceted advertising experience for brands to be associated with the league and build connect with cricket fans across borders. Our

extensive experience in this arena will enable us to enjoy an exciting partnership,” Joshey John, director, ITW Consulting Pvt. Ltd. said.

“We have entrusted ITW Playworx with the exclusive rights for the ADT10 League as they possess a vast understanding of working in international cricket tournaments across the globe.

We believe that this association will not only enable us to reach new milestones but also create more opportunities for brands globally,” Shaji Ul Mulk, Chairman, Abu Dhabi T10 League said on the association.

Australia seal ODI series against India An in-form Australia overcame India in the second ODI of the threematch series on Sunday at the SCG. With a second successive victory, the Aussies have sealed the ODI series with one game to spare. Steve Smith (104) notched a brilliant hundred to guide Australia to 389/4.

In reply, Virat Kohli's 89-run knock wasn't enough for the Men in Blue (338/9).

Australian openers David Warner and Aaron Finch added 142 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform.

After their dismissal, Smith and Marnus Labuschagne added 136 runs for the third wicket.

Labuschagne (70) and Glenn Maxwell (63*) stitched a quickfire 80-run

in brief I’M IN RACE FOR OLYMPICS: SAINA Shuttler Saina Nehwal said she's definitely in the race for the Tokyo Olympics but before that she has to get back to her rhythm and win tournaments. The 2012 London Olympics bronze medalist, who has slipped to 22nd in Badminton World Federation's (BWF) Tokyo Olympics qualification rankings, has recently struggled with niggles and is likely to return to action in next year's Asian Tour. “I know Olympics is in everyone's head. It's something very big but before that you have to think about so many tournaments. I've to get back to my rhythm,” Nehwal said. “There's some two-three months' of training before that. You have to be perfectly fine and play seven-eight tournaments, after that only I will think about the Olympics. But yes, I'm definitely in the race.”

ENG WILL PLAY FULL SERIES IN INDIA IN 2021: GANGULY Sourav Ganguly said that England will indeed tour India in early 2021 and play a full-fledged series with the hosts. “England’s tour will consist of four Test matches, three ODIs and five T20Is,” the BCCI president said during a promotional event. He asserted that all necessary precautions will be taken owing to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. “It is a bilateral series, so it will not be too difficult to manage,” he said. Ahmedabad is tipped to host a day-night Test match in the series. “We will continue to assess the situation,” he added. Ganguly also said that efforts are on to have the next edition of IPL in India. “This is India’s tournament and should be held here,” he said. The T20 World Cup is also scheduled to be held in India later in October.

ARCHERY FEDERATION GETS BACK RECOGNITION Suspended for eight long years, the Archery Association of India (AAI) was granted annual recognition by the sports ministry as a national sports federation (NSF), validating its elections held for new office-bearers on January 18 this year. The ministry informed that the recognition will be valid for one year.

The ministry accepted the elections of AAI for a period of four years from 2020-2024 and put its stamp of approval on the elections of Arjun Munda as president, Pramod Chandurkar (secretary general) and Rajendra Singh Tomar (treasurer). However, the ministry nullified the elections of P B War Nongbri (vice president) and K B Gurung and Kumjum Riba (joint secretaries) on account of the violation of certain provisions of the national sports code, 2011. Accordingly, the ministry has directed the AAI to ask these officials to demit office and conduct fresh elections for these posts.

ARGENTINA BIDS FINAL FAREWELL TO MARADONA

stand to help Australia score 380-plus runs. In reply, the Indian batsmen got starts, but couldn't maximize. The only bright spot for the Men in Blue on the field was Pandya, who is still recuperating from a back injury but bowled four overs after a gap of more than a year. In their chase of 390, the Indian batting wasn’t completely overpowered

and there was a hint of a counter-attack by openers Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Agarwal, who added 58 runs. But Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins proved way too wily and experienced for these conditions. It was soon down to Kohli but the captain’s chasing abilities weren’t enough to keep India in the series.

Argentina’s Diego Maradona, one of the world’s greatest ever soccer players, was buried last week amid a global outpouring of grief from the streets of Buenos Aires to Naples in Italy. The death of Maradona at the age of 60 on Wednesday last, following a heart attack, has sparked both mourning and celebrations of a true sporting star. In a day of high emotion, the World Cup winner was taken by hearse to the Bella Vista cemetery on the outskirts of Buenos Aires - where his parents are also interred - for an small private ceremony of his family and close friends.

Thousands of Argentines lined the roads as the procession passed on the hour-long journey from the presidential palace in central Buenos Aires, where Maradona had lain in state during the day.