AV 05th March 2022

FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

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5 - 11 MARCH 2022

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

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“It’s not a job, it’s a career”

Magistrates should represent the communities they serve

‘Monetary compensation can never truly compensate those affected’

HUMANITY Diaspora rushes to help the community stranded in Ukraine as Russia invades the country

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VOL 50 - ISSUE 43

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A TEST FOR

IPL to begin on March 26, final on May 29

Indian student killed in Ukraine shelling

‘BELIEVING’ LONG COVID The world may be going back to the new normal, but how will those cope and start over who suffer from Long Covid?

How will long hauliers retain livelihood and what kind of future would children with Long Covid dream of?

Shefali Saxena

Arrangements were done for students in Poland by the Embassy of India (Poland) in cooperation with the Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

Here students take a group photo with Amit Lath, President - Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

Rupanjana Dutta

With an unfolding humanitarian crisis following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many people in the UK are looking how to offer assistance. The South Asian diaspora in the UK, organisations and businesses have immediately come forward, as always, sending relief, donations, and mobilising their networks across Europe to assist in the evacuation of the community, stranded in Ukraine. The British Parliament was lit up in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

Continued on page 11

The Office of National Statistics estimates that there are 1.3 million people in the UK who are suffering from Long Covid. Long Covid symptoms have temporarily or permanently altered the lives of thousands of individuals across the globe. With the reopening of offices and schools in the UK and things getting back to normal without any social distancing rules or compulsion to wear masks, it is difficult to imagine how the lives of those with Long Covid will be affected and how they will cope with the pace and demands of their workspaces, families and friends.

Continued on page 6

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5 - 11 March 2022

with Keith Vaz

London stepping up for rough sleepers

JAY PARMAR Associate Partner - Estate Planning Jay specializes in Wills and Estate Planning in a firm Paradigm Will & Legal Services covering the UK. His aim is to take away the legal headache upon the death of a loved one and ensure the wrong person does not inherit.

Jay has been married for 15 years to Jyoti and is a proud father of two boys Theeran and Khian. When Jay is not working he likes eating out with family and friends and enjoys listening to his favourite music which he finds very relaxing taking away the stress and strain of daily life.

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

Birmingham - during my childhood, as my parents worked hard to ensure they could provide the best for us, they sent my brother and I to my Grandparents who ensured we had a stable upbringing. My Gran is one of the most amazing people in the world and ensured we were always happy when away from our parents. My most current project is to establish our firm in Birmingham which was music to my ears.

2) What are your proudest achievements?

Becoming a father. My wife and I were always advised that we could not have children and after years of trying, the miracle happened with the Birth of my eldest, the second son was even more of a shocker but still great.

3) What inspires you?

My family truly inspires me.

Especially the elder generation, that came to the UK and started with nothing, then built up businesses while adapting to a new culture. Thanks to them my generation were provided some great opportunities in our families.

4) What has been biggest obstacle in your career?

People saying, I am not capable. I used to believe that for a while however life taught me that these matters are all in my control. I started to focus on my tasks and learn on how to tackle these to overcome them. These days I can do anything I put my mind to.

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

My first ever Employer – Harish Parmar. This person taught me so much in my career that remains with me to this day. How to approach busi-

ness, to leave a positive lasting impression, not to take things personally and to be persistent persevere.

6) What is the best aspect about your current role?

Support my clients in a positive manner. Especially when minors are concerned. As when both biological parents die, by default children automatically go into care however I can provide assistance in appointing a guardian through their Will to raise their children.

7) And the worst?

When hearing about my clients passing away as we genuinely build a great relationship with them due to the amount of time spent and information shared. Another difficult part would be watching families destroyed over money. I have seen the closest of families torn apart due to greed.

8) What are your long term goals?

I’d like to concentrate on charitable efforts, one that is something my family and I would like to do more of is supporting the homeless.

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

Something that is important to me is to regulate the Wills industry. Many companies out there are charging clients for this service and not providing a Will that is suitable for their beneficiaries.

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

The Notorious B.I.G. AKA Biggie Smalls – In my opinion, one of the greatest rappers ever lived. Biggie always had a story to tell and I always wanted to listen! His music is always on my playlists as it was always a big part of my youth.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wrote that London is stepping up for rough sleeping and has seen good results. According to government statistics, there is a decline in the number of people sleeping rough on London’s streets. It has fallen by 10 per cent in the last year and has halved over the last three years.

Between 2010 and 2016,

people sleeping on London’s streets doubled said the mayor. This prompted him to do things differently and take action. Since he was elected as a Mayor, City Hall has helped 12,000 rough sleepers off the streets.

The government also sponsored new and groundbreaking services like the rapid response outreach team and made it available

for the most vulnerable in the city when temperatures drop. During the pandemic, more than 2,500 rough sleepers were helped into City Hall-provided accommodation, said the Mayor.

Croydon’s council to declare bankruptcy Croydon’s cash-strapped council is on the verge to declare itself bankrupt for the second time in 18 months. Auditors are refusing to sign-off on its annual accounts because £73million are missing and cannot be accounted for.

Croydon has been criticised for failures of governance and proper accounting with regard to its property assets in various reports from external auditors and consultants. To supplement the creaking budgets of other council departments,

a total of £112million of funding for property purchases was used. This has not gone down well with the auditors who believe that council officials were not acting within their legal authority to spend the money in that manner.

Chickenpox is spreading faster than Covid Despite Covid-19 lockdowns putting a lid on the flu, Chickenpox is one of the few major infectious diseases that is spreading quickly in Australia. It is majorly associated with children but it can be severe for adults. One infected person can potentially pass on the virus to more than a dozen other people.

Clare Walker, a GP and secretary of the Rural Doctors Association of Queensland, said, “It’s been around for a long time and will be with us, probably, for a long time yet — not one that we're probably going to get rid of. I always just recommend seeing your GP, as they can look at your history.”

In serious cases, chickenpox can result in scarring, pneumonia, brain damage and even death.

According to the authorities, last year in Queensland, more than 10,000 cases of the varicella-zoster virus responsible for chickenpox were reported, with similar numbers reported in 2020.

Less than 1% asylum seekers deported As per the new figures, fewer than 1 per cent of asylum seekers the Home Office tried to deport to the EU were actually deported last year. The official data also revealed that more than 100,000 asylum seekers in the UK are waiting for an initial decision on their claim.

In 2021, the Home Office identified 9,622 asylum claimants for consideration on “inadmissibility grounds” and more than 8,500 of these subsequently had their asylum claims put on hold. But, figures published on Thursday revealed that only 11 of these were actually returned to the con-

tinent.

Home secretary Priti Patel has said she intends to replace the Dublin regulation, which previously allowed her department to return asylum seekers to EU member states while Britain was part of the bloc, with “bilateral returns arrangements”.

UK lost up to £16bn in Covid loans schemes Parliament spending watchdog demands Treasury come up with estimates and how much it intends to recover According to parliament’s spending watchdog, the UK government has incurred

Emma Raducanu’s stalker gets five-year restraining order Amrit Magar, 35, was found guilty of stalking the 19-year-old US Open champion and British tennis star Emma Raducanu, between November 1 and December 4 last year after a trial at Bromley Magistrates’ Court, has been sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work.

Ms Raducanu and her family are shaken by Magar’s actions and are constantly worried about their safety.

The stalker visited the world number 12’s home on three separate dates, hung around outside, left unwanted gifts and cards and once stole her father’s shoe from the porch as a souvenir, the court

heard.

District Judge Sushil Kumar handed Magar, from Harrow, north-east London, a five-year restraining order and sentenced him to an 18-month community order, including 200 hours of unpaid work and an eight-week curfew between 9 pm and 6 am monitored by an electronic tag.

a loss of as much as £16bn across the Covid19 emergency loan schemes. The watchdog described the losses as “unacceptable”.

A report from the public accounts committee published on Wednesday said the Treasury should come up with estimates of fraud and error losses and how much it intends to recover.

To support people financially through lockdown restrictions, the government guaranteed or gave out loans worth £129bn to people and companies. However, reports from crime and bankruptcy agencies have shown that some loans were used to fund gambling, luxuries and home improvements. Last month, Theodore Agnew dramatically quit his role as a Treasury minister in a speech in the House of Lords after criticising the lack of action to recover stolen money.

Correction In the 26 February issue of Asian Voice, a story on P2 headlined 'Met Police boss admits, officers are racist', the copy included the phrase 'but insisted that the force was a 'racist a organisation'.

The word "not" was omitted due to human error. It should have read as 'not a racist organisation'. We have corrected it in our e-paper version.

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Thought for the week

Can China resolve the war that the West cannot?

The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, caused by Russia’s effort to reclaim the country is a reminder that humans don’t learn from pandemics and mistakes. The Middle East, Iraq, Palestine, Gaza, Syria, Afghanistan have seen non-stop wars, lives and livelihood lost forever. With UN summits seeing standing ovation for Ukraine, India has stayed out of the polarised opinions, though condemnation does not always need a stamp on paper. The Operation Ganga launched to evacuate Indians from Ukraine through borders, saw Indians being racially attacked, as they struggled to enter Poland and Romania. Many community organisations and businesses in the UK have come forward to help people in distress (see P111) in raising funds for relief and refugees. Home Office, despite not allowing Ukrainian refugees to settle in the UK without formal application, has opened visas for family members of Ukrainians already residing in the UK. Zed Tarar, US’ Hindi and Urdu language spokesperson in the UK, in an interview on US’ Indo-China policies also spoke about the current war situation in Ukraine, with Indian Journalists’ Association. He said, “No democratic state can accept a state capturing a neighbouring state by force. It is not acceptable. It’s not just the US, as President Biden said. It’s G7, EU, NATO- we are prepared to increase our sanctions to unprecedented levels if Russia further invades Ukraine.”

To stop Ukraine from joining NATO, which was formed after World War II, Neo-Nazism is one of the central claims behind Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. But it is not true.

In an article by People, quoting the Post, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, during a trip to Jerusalem in 2020 had talked about three of his great uncles who died in the Holocaust during World War II. His grandfather had survived. Many other Ukrainians lost their family members in WWII. More than 20 million Soviet soldiers were also killed during the war, when Nazi Germany occupied the region now known as Ukraine.

But Russia, as Daily Mail reports is now losing China as an ally- which may turn around the table. Mail said how

China's foreign minister has now called his Ukrainian counterpart to say he 'deeply regrets' the Russia conflict, says Chinese state media. Last month, President Xi Jinping marked 30 years of relationship with Ukraine, paying tribute to their 'deepening political mutual trust'.

In a blow to Russia, the move comes after China, India and UAE abstained on UN resolution condemning Russia's invasion, which vetoed the motion. The non-participation was reportedly seen as a win for Western countries after last-minute talks. Meanwhile, several Chinese public banks are limiting financing to purchase raw materials from Russia, fearing Western sanctions could be imposed. About 30 percent of oil and gas produced by Russia is now sold to China.

President Putin has been relying on Russia's good relationship with China and President Xi Jinping to ‘bail him out’ of tough Western sanctions.

In the meantime, UK’s MP Tom Tugendhat, Chair of Foreign Affairs Select Committee in a tweet said, “Russia is murdering Indian students. This is a tragedy. It’s also Putin’s choice. He knows there are many Indians in Ukraine. He’s bombing civilians anyway.” This sparked controversy whether Britain is trying to instigate PM Narendra Modi and his government in India to pick a side, after India has successfully abstained from UN resolution condemning Russia. While Indian families are worried sick for their children studying abroad and stuck in Ukraine, Tom’s comment has not been welcomed as unpolitical bias.

The Independent in an article wrote, how experts think that India's decision to abstain from voting on a UN Security Council resolution demanding that Russia cease its invasion of Ukraine does not mean support for Moscow but reflects India’s reliance on its Cold War ally for energy, weapons and support in conflicts with neighbours.

India regretted countries giving up the diplomatic route to resolve issues but refrained from voting on the resolution, which could have damaged its relationship with Russia - built spanning over seven decades.

India's obsession with gold affecting the economy India’s obsession with gold is affecting the economy of the country. Despite Covid-19 leaving millions of people without jobs, the demand for gold is not waning. A good percentage of Indians looked upon gold as one of the best options when it comes to security and savings. There may be various reasons as to why gold is treated in high regard in comparison with other investment instruments. With a large portion of peoples’ savings going into gold which they are likely to keep idle until they need the money, the economy is left wanting. This gold doesn’t flow in the overall economy and as such does not contribute toward it. The demand for gold is rising despite people finding it difficult to meet their dayto-day needs. On particular occasions, they rush to the gold market to buy and hoard precious metals. Diwali, wedding season and other festivals are special occasions when people rush to buy gold. The sales have been booming since the lockdown ended. The pent-up demand for gold has proven that Indians will never stop buying gold. In the last quarter, 2021 saw Indians picking up around 340 tonnes of gold over the period.

India’s special relationship with gold predates Covid-19, of course. It is the world’s second-largest market for yellow metal, behind China, though it produces almost none at home. This is partly driven by tradition. Brides are given jewellery as part of their dowry and it is deemed auspicious to buy bullion around certain religious festivals. It is one of the best options to store undeclared wealth and it can be stashed in wardrobes or under the mattress. But the pandemic has also affirmed investment advice passed on over generations: park savings in gold for a rainy day. In the past two years, many families have made ends meet by selling jewellery, ornaments, bars and coins at pawn shops and informal markets. Others have borrowed against the yellow metal. The three largest non-banking financial companies offering gold loans saw their assets jump in 2020. Gold’s appeal as a safe haven is only rising as tensions escalate in Ukraine, its price is approaching records.

This insatiable appetite is a worry for policymakers. Vast gold imports can destabilise the economy. During 2013, when India’s foreign-exchange reserves were lower than they are now, a rush of gold imports helped push the current-account deficit to 4.8% of GDP and fuelled worries of a currency crisis. Savings stashed away as idle gold could be put to more productive use elsewhere.

Indian households hold 22,500 tonnes of the physical metal - five times the stock in America’s bullion depository and worth $1.4trn at current prices. The average family has 11% of its wealth in gold (against 5% in financial assets). The government has tried using sticks to push people away from bullion. Import duties hover around 10%, even after cuts in last year’s budget aimed at keeping smuggling in check. It is also experimenting with carrots that lure savers away from physical gold. The Reserve Bank has ramped up the issuance of sovereign gold bonds, which are denominated in grams of

gold. Of the 86 tonnes’ worth issued since 2015, about 60% were sold after the pandemic began. And the gold monetisation scheme, which allows households to hand gold over to a bank and earn interest, was revamped last year to reduce limits on the size of deposits.

Lockdowns inadvertently helped the state’s agenda.

Researchers found that when shops shut and sales of physical gold ground to a halt, some Indians turned to online alternatives. Mobile payments platforms reported a rising appetite for digital gold, which is sold online and stored by the seller. Money also rushed into gold exchange-traded funds. Their assets hit $2.5 billion in December, a 30% rise in a year. Still, only a tiny percentage of the population invest in complex financial products. A large part of India’s demand for physical gold comes from rural areas, where it seems in no danger of losing its lustre. Those in far-flung villages don’t always have a bank account or a smartphone, making it hard to buy gold online. Gold imports directly affect the current account deficit (CAD) of India. As a thumb rule, the larger the CAD with respect to GDP, the riskier it is for the overall economy. In fact, gold is the second-most purchased overseas commodity after oil in India. In India, religious places are also to be blamed for hoarding so much gold. The government wanted to discourage people from buying gold, but the glitter of the yellow metal is so much that it is next to impossible to discourage people from buying gold. Gold is also an easy option for the anti-social elements to investing in their ill-gotten wealth. Gold is also an important attraction for the thief to commit crimes and murders.

While the current account deficit of India has been controlled to some extent by the present NDA government, the main question on the minds of financial and economic experts is whether or not sufficient funds are flowing into the economy to compromise for the difference. The cultural importance of gold makes it instrumental in ceremonies such as weddings. And it’s not just the villagers who offer gold the amount of significance they do. Even lawyers, bankers, politicians and others purchase gold jewellery during festivals or special occasions. They consider it a foolproof financial strategy, and since the real estate and capital markets are losing promise off late, the wealthy section of Indian society is now a new class of gold investors on its own. Though the demand for gold has always been high, the past four years have seen the demand turn into an investment and everyone who has the money goes in for gold, thereby adversely affecting the Indian economy.

Recently, on Mahashivratri, an anonymous donor donated 60 kg gold to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple (KVT) in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and 37 kg of this has been used on the inner walls of the sanctum sanctorum. The remaining 23 kg gold will be used for covering the lower portion of the golden dome of the main KVT structure. Clearly, the obsession goes beyond personal liking for the yellow metal.

The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. - Ayn Rand

Political Sketchbook Alpesh Patel

The Russian View from an Indian Perspective There are on social media many posts about how USSR supported India in its hour of need when due to Cold War politics America and the West did not. And how India could rely on Russia’s veto on Indian internal matters such as Kashmir. And of course, India has two nuclear enemies over each shoulder – Pakistan and China. It can do without an unhinged third in Russia. We get that. Not happy about it but get it. Indians don’t trust anyone. And that is understandable given the various accidents of history.

Plus, India gets so much defence arms from Russia. I was in the room when Mandelson tried to sell British post Mumbai attacks and on Newsnight when India went with French not British. So, I know what I want and get India’s reliance on keeping Russia sweet and not needing a Putin headache. The thing about conflicts beginning in Europe is they always have a habit of bringing the world into taking sides eventually.

But let me explain in Indian terms what Russia is doing in Ukraine. It would be like an Indian politician from the extreme right giving this speech – I’ve made it rambling to sound more like Putin.

“We the peoples of India can no longer tolerate the treatment of ethnic Indians and minorities in Pakistan.

These were all people of Indian origin anyway. They now are being ethnically cleansed and the history of India removed from Pakistan.

We also think the country is an invention of Jinnah. It is not a real country. It is artificial. Anyway, who were the British to claim to create it. They were here illegally so under UN charter Pakistan does not exist.

For all these reasons we order Indian troops to go into Pakistan to disarm it. In any event it is often taken over by undemocratic governments and military junta. They do not look after minorities, indeed target them, and these are minorities who want to be part of India, are ethnically Indian. They have been converted away.

By these actions we are saving India from a bigger war in the future. Plus, we believe they intend to move nuclear missiles into Kashmir occupied territory.

They are shelling India and shelling people of Indian origin. They have wanted to remove all remnants of Hindustan. Including the language. They are removing teaching Indian history and the Indian language. So again, we have every right to bring Pakistan into India and prevent future wars.

Moreover, Pakistan is forming alliances with China.

This is a threat to India. They also gave territory to China in Kashmir, which is Indian territory. In every way they are de-Indianising Pakistan. We warned them and China not to build belt and road and station military so close to us. But they with China attack and encroach. So, India has to bring Pakistan into India and rid it of its corrupt Government.”

Now believe me, some numpty is going to think this is a manifesto. But this is what in the Indian context is happening between Russia and Ukraine. It’s outrageous what Russia is doing as much as if an Indian Prime Minister gave the above speech.

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Never give up, says, multi-award-winning dance artist and choreographer Shefali Saxena

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ulti-award-winning dance artist and choreographer Sonia Sabri has announced a full programme of events and performances for the first half of 2022 to mark the start of the 20th anniversary year of Sonia Sabri Company.

The programme, which will be extended across the year, features the co-creation of a largescale outdoor production which will receive its world premiere in March marking the launch of the Birmingham 2022 Festival. The six-month Festival will shine a global spotlight on creativity in the West Midlands that will sit alongside the Commonwealth Games.

Also featured is a nationwide tour of the company’s first dance production for children; three world premieres including a visually stunning live music, theatre and art installation piece touring to key cities; a concert displaying the talent of a new generation of upcoming dancers and musicians; a community art development programme as well as the launch of an innovative brandnew musical ensemble.

The 20th anniversary cele-

Sarvar Sabri, Sonia Sabri; Credit:Simon Richardson

brates the music and dance company’s continued passion to collaborate with professional performers and choreographers, develop new talent in the UK and create work relevant to modern diverse audiences inspired by Indian and British culture.

Wolverhampton born Sonia Sabri, based in Birmingham is an Associate Artist of the Curve theatre in Leicester her company is an Associate Company at Birmingham Hippodrome.

In a year where Birmingham will be hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the opening of a six-monthlong cultural festival that will attract visitors from across the UK and internationally, we

Women In Conversation To mark International Women's Day this year, Asian Voice in association with the Royal Air Force is hosting ‘Women In Conversation’, an event charting the UNKNOWN Breaking STEREOTYPES. The event has a stellar lineup of women who will be sharing their personal stories of how they have broken stereotypes, the wisdom they have collected in their careers and how women can work collectively to support each other.

'Women In Conversation' will be moderated by Award-winning publicist and author, Sangeeta Waldron.

The esteemed list of panellists includes: 1. Sahara Chohan, Leadership consultant and former BBC TV Presenter 2. Sam Ubhi, Award-winning designer 3. Rumer, British singer and songwriter Date & Time: 18th March 2022, 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm

Please see the advert on page 9 for more details and how to register.

Road campaigner dedicates MBE to her late son Road campaigner Meera Naran dedicated her MBE to her son who was killed in a smart motorway crash in 2018. She has vowed to continue highlighting the risks that road accidents involve until there are zero deaths on the roads.

Meera, who lives in Leicester and lectures at De Montfort University, was given her award by Princess Royal at Windsor Castle this week.

“It was very emotional. I was very touched by how invested Princess Royal was in the work. I don’t want anyone to ever feel what we

had to feel. Our eight-yearold little boy didn’t reach home and I don’t want any parent to lose their loved one in such a sudden and tragic way. Road deaths are tragic and that’s exactly what I will continue to campaign for – everyone reaching home,” she said.

look forward to welcoming new audiences and participants to our celebratory programme that will entertain, promote debate and showcase this wonderful City.”

Over the last 20 years, Sonia Sabri Dance Company has reached a global audience of over 7 million with over 16 students going on to enjoy a professional career in dance.

Speaking to Asian Voice, Sonia Sabri Artistic Director and choreographer, Sonia Sabri Company said, “I’m so immensely proud to be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Sonia Sabri Company during a year when my hometown of Birmingham will be the focus of a cultural festival and the Commonwealth Games.

“I’m particularly proud to have been invited to be Associate Choreographer for Motion house’s Wondrous Stories which will see Centenary Square light up with over 250 performers for an extraordinary dance-circus performance.

“As well as our exciting 20thanniversary programme we continue our commitment to training the future generation

of female dancers.

“As a British Asian female choreographer, it is important to me to promote equality within the dance world where female dancers are valued. All too often so many talented dancers are pressured by their families to give up their dance training.

Sonia Sabri; Credit: Simon Richardson

“Through our continued commitment, our global classes and workshops for professionals, online and face to face, have provided a professional platform to encourage those talented women to pursue their ambitions with many going onto a professional career in dance. Never give up!”

For further information on performances, classes, workshops dates and times please go to www.ssco.org.uk

Instagram doctor faces disciplinary hearing Instagram fame doctor Dr Natasha Ranga who has 20.5 followers on the social media platform has been accused of sharing patients’ information and plagiarism. Currently, she is facing a disciplinary tribunal after being accused of disclosing confidential information about a patient and passing other people's work off as her own.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) is look-

ing into accusations that between December 31, 2017, and January 5, 2018, Dr Ranga, an advanced aesthetic practitioner and GP, submitted two essays that were not her own for a post-graduate qualification in clinical leadership and research which she was studying for at De Montfort University.

Along with this, she is also accused of discussing a patent with another doctor via

Instagram direct messages, which is a violation of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws.

The tribunal began on Monday, February 14, and is still ongoing.

Labour MP attacks UK in a letter over Ukraine crisis Tahir Ali, Labour MP for Birmingham Hall Green has withdrawn his name from a letter that accused the UK Government of "disdain for Russian concerns" over Ukraine. He was one of 11 Labour MPs to sign a letter from a group called Stop the War, which called for a settlement that "addresses Russia’s security concerns".

A Labour spokesperson said: "The small number of Labour MPs that signed the Stop The War statement have all now withdrawn their names. This shows Labour is under new man-

agement.

With Keir Starmer’s leadership, there will never be any confusion about whose side Labour is on - Britain, NATO, freedom and democracy - and every Labour MP now understands that."

Last Friday on February 18, the letter was published before Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.

in brief THE ROYAK OAK, HIGHEST-RATED RESTAURANT IN HANDSWORTH The Royal Oak on Holyhead Road which opened after the first lockdown in October 2020, is considered the desi pub in Birmingham.

The pub has undergone a drastic change after coming under new ownership. The Royal Oak on Holyhead Road that lies between Soho Road and Birmingham Road, exemplifies how modernised these pubs have now become. It is a family-friendly place with a very glitzy looking bar that does not look out of place in a city-centre nightclub. Unlike other desi pubs, that have screens to watch sports, The Royal Oak has more tellies than a Currys superstore. The menu is vast, including a children’s menu of British menu faves - scampi and chips, fish and chips and fish fingers and chips. On a list of top restaurants based on TripAdvisor and Google, The Royal Oak is marked as the highest-rated restaurant in Handsworth.

SEXUAL ASSAULTER PUSHES WOMAN DOWN THE STAIRS, JAILED 43-year-old Wajid Ali of Webster Road, Walsall, lured the woman into his home under false pretences in March 2019 and sexually attacked her.

The victim pleaded with him to stop but he didn’t budge. She managed to scream which alerted the neighbour who then called the police. Ali was detained by officers and immediately denied his attack. However, the evidence provided by his victim made a strong case and he pleaded guilty to sexual assault at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday, February 18. He was jailed for four-and-ahalf years. Det Con Gina Tonks, who led the West Midlands Police investigation, said: "The woman was courageous enough to make a statement and support a police investigation. Ali is a dangerous man and she has helped ensure he's lost his freedom and can't do the same to anyone else.”

Man brutally hits and strangles his partner Christian Chambers, a 43-year-old builder, of Flathome Road, Netherhall, Leicester attacked his girlfriend in a hotel bedroom and strangled her, making her unconscious, twice.

He was high on booze and steroids when he was brutally hitting and beating his girlfriend, the court heard.

At Leicester Crown Court, Judge Philip Head described her severely bruised face as

resembling "a battered pumpkin with slits for eyes". Chambers admitted hitting his then partner and smashing her phone into pieces in a fit of rage during an overnight stay at Leicester's Holiday Inn, in the early hours of Sunday, October 31.

Naeem Valli, prosecuting, said Chambers was in a relationship with the victim for about four months prior to the attack.

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PRODUCED IN ASSOCIATION WITH UK GOVERNMENT

“IT’S NOT A JOB, IT’S A CAREER” Have you ever thought about working to support your community? Or are you looking for a chance to start a new job?

The Civil Service gives people a fantastic opportunity to make a change within the community, by working for a range of different skills. Once you join the Civil Service, you’ll become part of a profession that not only offers networking opportunities, career routes, training and development programmes – but also offers a real sense of belonging within a profession. Ranging from apprenticeships to senior roles, there are a wide range of benefits throughout the civil service including opportunity to make a difference across a vast range of professions.

There are a wide range of benefits throughout the Civil Service including opportunity to make a difference, flexibility, annual and parental leave, pension, learning, development opportunities across a vast range of professions such as: • Analysis • Commercial and Procurement • Digital Data and Technology • Communications • Finance • Legal • International Trade and Negotiations • Knowledge Management • Operational Delivery • Policy • Project Management and Delivery • Human Resources • Property • Counter Fraud • Security

Whitehall lined with UK Government departments and ministries

Rupanjana Dutta They preach what they practice 50-year-old London-based Havisa Asia comes from a working-class family. She was out of work for

Havisa Asia

a decade, managing invisible disabilities before she joined the Cabinet Office HR, as a Human Resource Apprentice, supporting the Learning and Development Team.

With experience in organic food growing and an avid gardener, she is also a member of the Green Network within the

Cabinet Office, which discusses environmental issues like sustainability of the planet etc.

Havisa has learnt digital skills and how to operate in a modern workplace culture. She also received help from Smart Works, a UK charity that gives women the confidence they need to reach their full potential, secure employment and change the trajectory.

She spoke about her own journey and expressed her gratitude towards her mentors and the opportunities she has received so far. Havisa told Asian Voice, “While I was out of job, I went to the local Adult Learning Centre that helped people who were on benefit. I met Kiechelle there, who particularly contributed to my success today. She helped me identify IT courses that I could use to brush up my digital skills.

She helped me with confidence building courses and interviewing skills, and the whole journey to prepare me to complete my job application, interview, have confidence and dress well too.

“When I got in touch with the Head of Apprentices at the Cabinet Office, she also encouraged

me to make my apprenticeship application and go through the full process of the interview. And I can’t believe I got my job! It’s been a happy 8 months now.

“I am now also a part of the Cabinet Office Apprenticeship Network. I help manage a mentoring scheme for Cabinet Office Apprenticeships, matching other apprentices like me up to experienced staff and help them maintain a mentoring relationship.”

Encouraging the Asian community to consider Civil Service as a career option, she said, “It’s a real opportunity to make a difference. The Cabinet Office’s purpose is to help everything that’s at the centre of the UK Government, and their values are – ‘Respect, Trust and Collaborate’.

And they just don’t preach, they actually practise these values.

“They have an active wellbeing programme, and policies supportive of diversity and inclusion. When I started, I was very nervous, but they were fully supportive and kind. Now I am studying for my apprenticeship as well as working on the other four days a week. I’m going to get a

professional qualification which is paid for by the apprenticeship levy and supported by the Civil Service.

“Once you pass the probation, then the whole of the service becomes open to you. If you do your personal development plan, stick to your objectives, and achieve them, you have opportunities within the wider Civil Service to apply for other jobs, or apply to other departments. It’s not just a job, it’s a career!”

Great for raising young family and work-life-balance 36-year-old Ruth Elder has been working as Deputy Head of Finance Technology

Ruth Elder

in HM Treasury, Darlington since November. A Chartered Accountant by profession, a mum with two young children, Ruth has spent ten years in IT delivery and digital transformation. For the last 5 years, she has spent in the utilities industry but in November, she crossed over into her new role in Civil Service in Darlington and is quite pleased with her current

work-life-balance.

She said, “I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how supportive and inclusive the Civil Service is. Being a working mum to 6-year-old Henry, and 4-year-old Harriet, it’s important to have some flexibility and bring your whole self to work. It’s very family friendly. I work hard, but I like having the balance and flexibility. If you’ve got young children or caring responsibilities, it’s great to work in such a supportive and flexible environment.

“I work 32 hours over fourdays a week from Monday to Thursday. My little girl has some quite significant health issues, so I have appointments to attend, and everyone at work is very understanding of that. Having that flexibility is so important to me.

Tech is usually male dominated in the private sector, but it’s been a refreshing surprise to find that the balance is much better in Civil Service. Two female staff above me also do four-day a week, so there’s an opportunity to look at that career trajectory.

“When the Treasury moved to the Darlington area, I registered for the job alerts straightaway.

Before that, there never have been an opportunity to work for the Treasury unless you lived in London. Here, in the Government finance function, there’s a good gender balance, lots of diversity and lots of different skill sets that people bring to the team. I think it reflects the people in the country we serve, which is exactly what it should do.”

Speaking about the opportunities in the Civil Service, Ruth added, “The Civil Service is very good at looking at people’s transferable skills rather than if you’ve worked in the same job before. I could have stayed in the private sector because there’s big money to be earned, but some of that is quite short-lived. You work on one contract for a year and then have to find the next one. For me, I like doing a role that adds value in society and I’ll hopefully have a career where I can succeed and get promoted. As a working mother, that’s possible here. Training opportunities are a real strong point, from courses to mentoring.

“The Civil Service is a unique organisation, and you get to be involved in things that make a difference to people around the country. It’s quite special.”

To find out more about the opportunities available visit: www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk

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‘BELIEVING’ LONG COVID Continued from page 1

Asian Voice attempts to make our readers understand the current status of Long Covid research, how individuals suffering from Long Covid are unable to live a normal life since the UK is not equipped to tackle this health crisis. We spoke to experts and a parent about the impact of Long Covid on children and adults, and the roadblocks in healthcare that are hindering their treatment.

What is Long Covid?

Long Covid is a multisystemic condition. Symptoms vary widely. Common symptoms include pain and Post-Exertional Symptom Exacerbation, in which even minor activity leads to lasting exhaustion.

Cognitive dysfunction (commonly known as brain fog), rashes, headaches, pain and stomach upset are common and vary in intensity and duration. Less common symptoms include; loss of mobility, significant visual disturbances, inability to swallow or eat, inability to communicate. Long Covid can occur weeks to months after even mild or asymptomatic acute infection of Covid and can last months, in some cases years.

tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which is quite poorly recognised but seems anecdotally reasonably common after Long Covid.

How Dr Kane’s daughter manages Long Covid Long Covid is not just her priority because she’s a doctor. Dr Kane’s daughter Jasmin is managing Long Covid. Dr Binita told us, “My daughter was 10 when she got ill, and it was about 13 months ago. And before that, she was a very bright, happy child. She's lived a normal life, she was very sporty, like doing gymnastics and dancing and swimming. She had a quite mild initial infection, but just never recovered. Her main symptoms now are severe fatigue, So to the point where we have had to buy a wheelchair to help her manage because she can't walk any great distances. If she walks too far she'll get pains in her legs, develop sore throats, ankle pain and she will ‘crash’ if she overdoes things. So we have to manage her energy very carefully.

“She hasn't really been able to go to school properly since April 2021. Jasmin manages at most, a couple of hours, a few

2020, 1 in 100 children in primary schools and almost 1 in 36 secondary school pupils reported an illness that lasted 12 weeks and impacted their day to day lives (Office for National Statistics). This is pre-omicron.

In addition, almost 3,800 children were recorded as Covid-19 hospital admissions in January, with February marking the eighth month of over 1,000 admissions in a row.

The numbers of hospitalised children that go on to develop Long Covid are unknown.

While NHS England has established Long Covid hubs for children and young people with ongoing persistent symptoms, families report they are 'unable' to obtain a referral.

Obstructed access Long Covid hubs across England are difficult to access. There are long waiting lists for them. Dr Kane says that it's even harder for children to get any sort of treatment because there's little evidence to inform guidelines and research is lagging far behind that in adults. Doctors are reluctant to look a bit deeper, trying to understand what's going on, because it's a child.

How will long hauliers start over?

As the UK reopens, offices let go of the work-from-home model or switch to hybrid, it is difficult to imagine how those with Long Covid will be able to manage their energy and work.

A champion of Long Covid kids, Respiratory Lead at Health Innovation Manchester and Co-founder of South Asian Heritage Month, Dr Binita Kane said, “It's extremely challenging, and I think we have absolutely no idea at the moment about the scale of this because we're not measuring it.

We are measuring deaths, hospitalisations, and we have some estimates about Long Covid, but we're not measuring the impact it's having on the workforce.

“I work in the NHS, I've seen with my own eyes, how many colleagues now can't work full time or if they've had to reduce their hours or they can't work at all because of Long Covid. Teachers were hugely affected too. But we can't prove the impact because we're not measuring it as a country, and I think that the economic damage is going to be huge. I think it’s extremely short-sighted to ignore Long Covid and not be pouring more money into research.”

The respiratory lead also explained that there's something called post-exertional malaise (PEM) due to fatigued muscles not getting oxygen properly. What is advisable according to science is ‘pacing’. Dr Kane insists that such people need to work within an “energy envelope”. They must know how much energy they have and their tasks and work especially will have to be reduced and adapted to prevent worsening of symptoms.

“What we have seen from the national statistics is that Asian and Black people are underrepresented in referrals to Long Covid services. So they're overrepresented in the deaths and disability but underrepresented in getting help,” Dr Kane added.

Blanket tests not the solution Dr Kane told us, “We need better ways of understanding on an individual basis, what is going on and then tailoring treatment to them. What we are very clear on, is that whilst blanket tests are important to rule out other causes of symptoms, they are not helping many people because they're not picking up changes at a microscopic level.”

Dr Kane explained that some people get a lot of activation of something called MAST cells that drives a kind of histamine type reaction and allergic reaction.

Hence, we could be hearing about people who developed allergic rashes, allergies.

So antihistamines are being used to treat those people with some success and there is also a condition called Postural orthostatic

Understanding Long Covid Dr Binita Kane said, “Brain fog can be very disabling. Some people who require a high degree of cognitive thinking for their jobs are going to struggle. Until we have some treatments that can help this it's going to be a very difficult path for some people to get back into work.”

According to Dr Kane, Long Covid may affect the Dr Binita Kane heart the lungs, brain, muscles because it seems to be a problem of the blood vessels. It can affect any part of the body, which is why there is such a wide range of symptoms with Long Covid.

“One is the discovery of micro-clots in the blood. These are tiny clots that don't show up in normal blood tests and scans. So often, people with Long Covid consult doctors, and they undergo several blood tests, scans, the results of which come out as normal. And then they get told that ‘there's nothing much we can do because we can't find anything’. But what a group in South Africa found is that there are these tiny little micro-clots circulate around the blood, and they trap inflammatory materials inside them.

And these tiny little micro-clots can clog up the very small blood vessels that you need to get oxygen into your bloodstream. So, this can explain the fatigue it can explain the brain fog and a lot of the other symptoms that you see with Long Covid,” Dr Binita Kane explained.

Besides this, there is a theory, that the abnormal inflammation in the body triggers something we call ‘autoantibodies’ that's basically the body attacking itself, and that can cause some of the symptoms that we're seeing.

‘Hyper-activated’ platelets are also characteristic of Long Covid. They get abnormally sticky, come together and also start clogging up the little capillaries which are vital for oxygen to get into tissues and muscles. The virus just persists in the tissues and the body has not been able to clear it.

There are postmortem studies showing that the virus can persist in people's tissues for many months after infection. Long Covid is also impacted by gut health. times a week. I think what people don't understand is when you've got a hidden illness, and you can't physically do the things as a child that your friends are doing, those children just end up being hidden away because they're at home. They can't socialise with their friends. They can't go to school and it's a very lonely existence. The help and support that's available for them from the NHS is very limited.”

Children and Long Covid Long Covid Kids support over 10,000 families worldwide with demand increasing week on week.

Unprecedented levels of Covid infection in children caused a 52% increase in Long Covid in November, and the December figures remain at the same high level. The Office of National Statistics (published 4th Feb) reports that 20,000 children have been ill for over a year and 117,000 for at least four weeks.

Since the pandemic began in March

“We desperately need the research to ramp up and drive this forward because there are thousands of families and children who are affected and the thing that we don't talk about is the wider impact on working parents.

“As soon as your child becomes disabled, they need full-time care. This impacts household income, ability to work as a parent and school attendance. There's no comprehensive schools’ policy at the moment.

This means that people are getting a very different experience based on where they live. I've been very lucky our school has been absolutely fantastic, incredibly supportive, but I think it helps that I'm a doctor and I've been able to make the case. But I know there are many children who are really, really struggling with school focusing on attendance. So they're being almost forced to go into school and they're not well enough and that's making some of them worse,” Dr Kane said.

A doctor battles Long Covid Lung Doctor, Dr Asad Khan contracted Covid in November 2020. A month later, he developed Long Covid. He now has severe POTS, which makes it very hard for him to stand without getting nauseated or dizzy, and sometimes Dr Asad Khan even makes sitting difficult for him. Dr Khan also has sound and light sensitivity, due to which he can't tolerate light or any kind of sound. He has also developed multiple food allergies. Dr Khan also complains of severe post-exertional malaise.

“If I have any kind of physical or cognitive exertion, then for the next 24 hours I have a really bad relapse of my symptoms. I can go 2-3 days without sleep and use quite strong medication to help me sleep,” Dr Asad Khan told Asian Voice.

In August-September 2021, Dr Khan became severely ill. He said, “I was in a darkened room with earplugs and a blindfold on because I was totally intolerant of light and sound. I have gastroparesis. So my stomach was not working at all. I was losing weight, and I thought I was on my way out basically.

This is no life.”

He then came to Germany from the UK for treatment. “I am on medication, and I still have the clots in platelets, although they are better. I’ve had triple anticoagulation with aspirin, clopidogrel and apixaban in Germany following the finding of hyperactivated platelets & micro clots in my blood. I've had about 13 cycles of that. I've also had six cycles of plasmapheresis which removes antibodies,” he told us.

‘Long Covid is horrendous.

It robs you of everything’ These treatments have brought some respite to Dr Khan who has been away from his working wife and school-going who live in the UK. Dr Khan doesn’t visit them often in order to avoid infection and exposure because they still could be carriers of the virus even if he stays at home.

“I am still 50% bedbound which is better than 100% before. I’m basically better but still nowhere near a level of function that would enable me to participate in work or family life. I mean, the illness is just kind of defines my identity now. Whilst I've had really good care in Germany, I think if I had stayed in the UK, people would have had no clue what to do, I would have continued to be dismissed and told that this was psychological and that we had to wait for research before any treatment could be offered when actually, this is a global public health emergency, a lot of people have fallen over a short period of time and they need urgent diagnostics and therapeutics.”

Dr Khan believes that it is a very cynical way of engineering a narrative that the pandemic is over. if you don't test you don't count, then there's no data.

“When it comes to schools, there seems to be this propaganda that kids don't get Covid or if they get it, it's mild. That's false because kids do get it. Long Covid is horrendous. It robs you of everything,” he said.

Besides the need for the government to strongly recommend vaccines for children, Dr Khan feels that schools need HEPA filters in classrooms, which will eliminate the risk of spread between children in the class.

In April last year, ONS declared that 122,000 NHS staff had Long Covid. “This is in the background of an already underfunded crumbling healthcare system, the number is going to be only higher now. I think, now that you will have to pay for a test if somebody gets the illness from work, it's going to be very hard for them to prove that they actually got Long Covid, if they develop the symptoms,” Dr Khan added.

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back to her local community and to bring her background and knowledge into the mix. In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, she spoke about her journey and challenges of being a woman in power.

Magistrates should represent the I communities they serve

n your experience as a magistrate, how far do you think the law has come in Britain when it comes to delivering justice?

by: Shefali Saxena Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is launching a £1 million recruitment drive to appoint over 4,000 new magistrates across the UK, to help tackle the backlog of criminal cases caused by the pandemic. A key aim for the campaign is to diversify the bench - and we want to share details of current magistrates who are working with us on this such as Ibrahim Ilyas (24 years old) from Birmingham, who is of Pakistani heritage and was appointed as one of the youngest Justice of the Peace at the age of 19. An aspiring barrister, Ibrahim is currently studying the Bar course at the University of Law (Birmingham) but wants to raise awareness that you don’t need a degree or any legal experience to become a magistrate.

Baljit Atwal

The MoJ is not only looking to increase the pool of people coming forward but to continue to diversify the magistracy so that it is more representative of the communities it serves. As of April 2021, just 13% of sitting magistrates were Black, Asian and minority ethnic - we are working with magistrates from ethnic minority backgrounds who want to encourage others who think the role might be suitable for them to apply.

Baljit Atwal from South Derbyshire is of Indian heritage and has been a magistrate for 5 years. She became a magistrate in order to give

As magistrates, we are a permanent part of the justice system and sometimes is difficult to estimate the contribution magistrates’ courts make to their local communities. We sit each and every day to help to make our communities safer and more secure. We show fairness, decisiveness and the ability to apply reason and common sense. In carrying out our duties, magistrates make a tremendous contribution to the safety and prosperity of the country.

There are areas where we can and must improve, we are definitely on a journey we would love others to join us on.

W

hat are the challenges of being a woman in power as a magis-

trate?

I am not a fan of defining what a human being can professionally achieve based on their gender. I think the sky is the limit for everybody.

However, as a Magistrate, married woman and mother in full-time employment has had its challenges at times. During the 5 years of being a magistrate, I have been supported and encouraged to take on additional roles to play on my strengths from becoming a Presiding Justice to now as I embark on a new role as Deputy Chairman.

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hat are challenges if not opportunities to grow and develop into better versions of yourself?

Would you recommend more women to join the judicial services? If yes, why?

Women are represented in the judiciary, the last diversity statistics which were published in September 2020 show that 56% of sitting magistrates were women. So, yes I would absolutely recommend more women to join the judicial services as having more women serve in these roles helps to build the inclusivity, fairness, trans-

parency, and representation of the people that the judicial system stands for.

Sitting with different people with different ways of thinking helps you develop as a person and trains you to think logically. Being a magistrate has opened my eyes to the way different people live their lives; everybody lives their lives differently, and you see everybody at their worst and at their best, and in the middle.

How do good ideas come to us?

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hat does it mean for you to be a woman of Indian origin, delivering justice in the UK? How does your family look at your achievements?

On a daily basis, magistrates make decisions that will shape the lives of individuals for years to come, and for the vast majority of those accused of a crime, the Magistrates Court will be their only sight of the criminal justice system. Therefore it is vital that magistrates should represent the communities they serve if trust in the criminal justice system is to be maintained.

I became a magistrate in order to give back to my local community and to bring my background (Indian Origin) and knowledge into the mix in order to add value to the judicial system, how can be family be nothing but proud of me.

P

lease give a message to our readers and tell them why more people from ethnic minorities must diversify the bench.

The lack of a diverse judiciary is having a detrimental impact on defendants’ confidence that they will have a fair hearing. They may feel that the bench they trust to make decisions about them don’t represent the community they are part of.

Making them feel that their culture and what they have gone through is not taken into account, there is no common ground at all. This is why it’s important that anyone who appears before the bench feels that it’s representative and might have an understanding of their world, making our communities better and safer places to live.

If you are interested in the role, visit icanbeamagistrate.co.uk for more information on the role and how to apply.

Rohit Vadhwana Sometimes we wonder how someone gets an innovative idea that revolutionises the world? Take an example of the discovery of a printing press or sewing machine. Or in the modern time, the invention of the computer or the World Wide Web. People need to be simply extraordinarily brilliant to have such ideas - isn't it? True, these inventors are geniuses in a true sense. But are these ideas actually an outcome of a gifted mind or some systematic method that anyone can learn from and follow?

Do you ever get any idea that you consider has the potential to change the world? Well, then the best way is to follow it to its logical conclusion. Because a close study of the evolution of ideas suggests that most of them are the outcome of a combination of thoughts, combined and pursued with other existing ideas. Sometimes it is just an accident but that has to be founded on a strong footing to become an innovation. Take an example of the German scientist August Kekule who dreamed of a snake eating its own tail, resulting in the discovery of the shape of benzene which opened up a new field of organic chemistry. It was not just a dream, but a consistent work on that particular subject that was connected with the dream.

In a book titled 'Where Good Ideas Come From' by Steven Johnson, the subject is interestingly analysed. The ideas are a collaboration with adjusting and existing mechanisms that finally becomes a game-changing discovery.

People use the existing systems, modify them with their innovative thoughts and bring an excellent new world into play. Sometimes it is the work of others that is borrowed as a platform to place a new idea. In other cases, the new idea just improvises what is already in practice. It also happens that some of the most brilliant ideas and inventions, which have real potential to change the world, do not materialise because there is no support system available. Let's say an electric car made fifty years ago would not have been popular because of a lack of infrastructure. So, it is not only an idea and invention that changed the world but the supporting infrastructure and adjusting innovations help it to succeed.

In case you ever get such an innovative idea, look for support from the surrounding situation, add your innovation to the relevant ones and create a new world. Because this is the way your innovative and genius idea will get to see the real result.

(Expressed opinions are personal)

IAF to participate in exercise Cobra Warrior in UK Young girls suffering from Indian Air Force will participate in a multi-nation air exercise named 'Ex Cobra Warrior 22' at Waddington, the UK from 06 to 27 Mar 22. IAF Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas will participate in the exercise along with fighter aircraft of the UK and other leading Air Forces.

The exercise is aimed at providing operational exposure and sharing of best practices amongst the participating Air Forces, thereby enhancing combat capability and forging bonds of friendship. This will be a platform for LCA Tejas to demonstrate its manoeuvrability and operational capability.

Tejas 2

Five Tejas aircraft will fly to the United Kingdom. IAF C-17 aircraft will provide the necessary transport support for induction and de-induction.

Tejas 1

No.45 Squadron was formed on 20 Nov 1959 at AFS Palam. The squadron emblem of Dagger with Wings was formally approved on 16th Sep 61. Equipped with British made Vampire, it was put under the command of Sqn Ldr MS Grewal as its first Commanding Officer. The Squadron motto is 'Ajeetakshay' which means ‘Invincible in the Sky'.

On the very first day 1965 war, operating out of Pathankot, the Vampires halted the Pak Armour thrust in the Chamb-Jhurian sector by completely destroying 10 Patton tanks and putting out of action some enemy armoured vehicles. In 1966 the squadron added Mig 21's to its invento-

ry. In the 1971 war, the squadron played an important role and was able to carry out all the tasks assigned to it during the operations. In the months following the Kargil War, on 10 Aug 1999, a two aircraft mission from the squadron callsign 251 was scrambled from Naliya in the Kutchh (Gujarat) sector against an intruding enemy aircraft. Sqn Ldr PK Bundela and Fg Offr Narayanan successfully shot down the intruding Atlantique aircraft.

On 01 Jul 2016, the squadron was re-equipped with the indigenous Tejas aircraft at Bengaluru and on Jul 18 the sqn moved to Air Force Station Sulur, its present location.

In Mar 2019, the squadron participated in Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition 2019 at Langkawi Malaysia. On Feb 21, it participated in 70th Sri Lankan Air Force Day. The unit participated in Dubai Air Show on Nov 21 and in Singapore Airshow on Feb 22.

The squadron celebrated its Diamond Jubilee in Nov 2019.

deep distress in the UK Thousands of girls as young as 11 are suffering from poor mental health, according to a report that also throws light on a growing gulf between the

2021, where 15,000 pupils from 92 state secondary schools in England were asked to give online responses. It showed that girls aged 11 were 30 per

mental health of girls and boys. Children in large number are seeking access to NHS mental health services amid the pandemic.

Steer Education did a survey from before the pandemic up to December

cent more likely to suffer from poor mental health than boys of the same age.

Along with this, 60 per cent of girls hide their feelings of unhappiness before the pandemic compared with 80 per cent now.

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‘Monetary compensation can never truly compensate those affected’ Shefali Saxena Sandip Patel QC FCIArb, Managing Partner of Aliant Law represented a small group of individuals affected by the Post Office Scandal, including those acquitted at the Southwark Crown Court, Court of Appeal, and also under the Historic Shortfall Scheme during the greatest miscarriage of justice Britain has ever seen. The wrongful prosecution of his clients resulted in prison sentences and some severe financial hardship.

In an exclusive Q&A with Asian Voice, Sandip Patel QC spoke to us about the case and its learnings. ow did you come to an understanding that the post office was indeed at fault and what were your hopes back then about the end result of the cases?

Both the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) and Court of Appeal relied heavily on the decision of Mr Justice Fraser in the Bates litigation – the civil case brought by sub-postmasters against the Post Office. Through the decisions in the Bates cases and documents disclosed by the Post Office during the criminal appeals, the problems with the prosecutions brought by the Post Office became clear. Our principal aim in all cases was to clear our clients’ names, which we successfully did. s an expert, what do you think is the collateral damage that the victims of the scandal in our community had to suffer from, besides of course the monetary loss?

The loss of reputation in tight-knit communities has been particularly devastating for many of those who were wrongly prosecuted by the Post Office.

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Sandip Patel QC

W

hat learnings can employers and employees take away from this entire scandal?

This case underlines the importance of not just relying on computers to get things right every time, and when scores of individuals are protesting their innocence, to ensure that a thorough and fair investigation is carried out before taking draconian steps against employees. ow many readings, hearings and hours did it take for you to fight cases for subpostmasters in our community?

These cases were very time consuming to prepare, as thousands of documents were required to be considered as part of the criminal appeals. hat according to you is the apt compensation (if there is one) for the victims who were wrongly accused?

The reality is that monetary compensation can never truly compensate those affected by the Post Office scandal. The most important thing for many is that their names have finally been cleared and they are able to get on with their lives after all these years.

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Help Us Help You – Cervical screening saves lives campaign The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), with the support of NHS England and NHS Improvement, has launched a major new national campaign, to increase the number of those eligible attending their cervical screening in England. The new Help Us Help You – Cervical Screening Saves Lives campaign urges women and people with a cervix not to ignore their cervical screening invite, and if they missed their last one, to book an appointment with their GP practice now.

The latest figures for March 2021 show that nearly a third (30%) of eligible individuals - women and people with a cervix aged between 25 and 64 - were not screened.

As part of the campaign, a new survey of 3,000 women and people with a cervix commissioned by DHSC revealed that 17% of South Asian respondents who have been invited to screening have never attended.

This is higher than the England average, where 7% have never attended. The survey also revealed a number of concerns around cervical screening. Across England, embarrassment was the most common reason for having never attended or missed an appointment (stated by 42% of respondents in England), followed by those who “kept putting it off” (34%) and “being worried it would be painful” (28%).

To tackle these barriers and drive takeup, a new film has been released featuring Dr Henna Anwar discussing cervical screening with South Asian women and answering their questions. Dr Anwar also encourages those eligible to book their appointment when invited and contact their GP practise if they missed their last screening.

Dr Henna Anwar said: “Two women die every day from cervical cancer. This is particularly sad because cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers.

Screening can help stop cancer before it

starts and saves thousands of lives every year. Do not ignore your cervical screening invite, and if you missed your last one, you can still book an appointment with your GP practice now.”

Maria Caulfield, Minister for Patient Safety and Primary Care said: “Around two women die every day from cervical cancer, but screening takes just a few minutes and can stop the disease before it starts.

Through our new campaign, we’re calling on all women and people with a cervix to get screened to help save hundreds of lives.

Even if you’re feeling embarrassed or nervous, please don’t ignore your invitation.”

Jas Dosanjh, aged 48, believes we are fortunate to have the cervical screening programme. She said: “As soon as I get my letter, I immediately book my appointment with the nurse at my GP surgery. My last screening was fine but when I was younger, my screening results showed abnormal cells, so I had to be monitored every year for a number of years until the cells came back clear.”

Broadcaster, Nadia Ali has joined the campaign to help raise awareness of cervical screening and encourage uptake within the community. She said: “It’s so important for us as South Asian women to talk about cervical screening. We need to encourage our friends and family to attend their appointment when invited so more lives can be saved.”

Around 2,700 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in England each year and 690 die from the disease– around two deaths a day. Previous estimates suggest screening prevents 70% of cervical cancer deaths, but 83% could be prevented if everyone attended regularly.

Any cervical cell changes can be treated, preventing cervical cancer. That is why attending screening appointments is so important.

Home Secretary says ‘Enough’ to violence against women and girls The Home Secretary has today launched an ambitious new, multi-year national communications campaign which says ‘Enough’ to violence against women and girls.

The campaign includes television adverts, billboards, social media and radio advertising and will highlight different forms of violence against women and girls and the simple acts that anyone can take to challenge perpetrators of abuse. Forms of violence against women and girls represented include street harassment, coercive control, unwanted touching, workplace harassment, revenge porn and cyber-flashing.

The campaign was informed by the unprecedented 180,000 responses to the Call for Evidence last year.

This multi-year campaign will also include communications to educate young people about healthy relationships and consent and ensure victims can recognise abuse and seek support.

It has been developed with an advisory group comprising over 30 voluntary sector organisations, survivors and academics who have given their expert insight. The latest findings in behavioural science have also been used, including the role of peers and wider society in influencing people’s actions, and the importance of providing simple, clear options to overcome the barriers people can have to challenge abuse.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “For too long, the responsibility of keeping safe has been placed on the shoulders of women and girls. This campaign says "enough", and

recognises it is on all of us to demand major societal change. Everyone has a stake in this.

“Our new campaign shows that everyone can play a role in challenging abuse and making our country a safer place. By accept-

ing all of the recommendations in the HMICFRS report I commissioned last year, the government and the police are doubling down to support victims and survivors and punish perpetrators.”

CEO of Karma Nirvana Natasha Rattu said: “We welcome the launch of ‘Enough’, which the Karma Nirvana team and survivor ambassadors contributed to. The campaign is an important step and sends a powerful message that violence against women and girls cannot go on, and everyone has a role to play to stop it. We are pleased to see the Home Office launch a communications campaign that raises awareness of the abuse women and girls can face on a daily basis, challenges perpetrators and empowers others to know how to safely intervene if they witness unacceptable abuse.”

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5 - 11 March 2022

Who is going to destroy the Ravana of Russia?

Has Putin lost his marbles?

I must admit when Russian President Putin came to power, an ex-KGB member when Russia was opening up to the outside world, I grudgingly thought the cold war atmosphere was behind us, especially after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, a counterweight to NATO. It was President Mikhail Gorbachev who dissolved the Soviet Union, gave freedom to East European nations to go their separate ways with free elections and pro-West governments with a promise from then-President Ronald Regan not to let these East European nations into NATO. Unfortunately, Gorbachev was followed by whiskey-loving Boris Yeltsin who practically obliterated good work done by Gorbachev.

Unfortunately West did not reciprocate this noble gesture by dismantling NATO, as promised to Gorbachev, on the contrary NATO encouraged former the East European States, like Hungary, Poland, Romania and three Baltic States to join NATO, surrounding Russia with hostility, cementing the age-old mistrust of Communist Russia!

When relations between Russia and Ukraine detreated, NATO, with encouragement from US and UK, started fishing in troubled waters, seized the opportunity to make Ukraine a scape-goat and Russia a pariah state on the international map, with cunning and clever strategy, as direct involvement by NATO, could have led to WW3 with unimaginable consequences, Russia being armed with 4500 nuclear weapons, each bomb 2000 times more powerful than nuclear bombs dropped on Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just one such bomb is capable of whipping London of the world map! It is surprising that Putin fell in the trap, hook, line and sinker; perhaps he is overconfident of Russia’s capability, having developed hypersonic missiles that drop on targets from outer-space, difficult, if not impossible to shoot down by anti-missile missiles! This is the first time Russia has led the US in missiles technology, perhaps this has made Putin over-confidence and rackless!

Bhupendra M. Gandhi

Numbers, please Why are the Premium Bond prizes of £1 million and £100,000 not drawn on the television like National Lottery jackpot numbers? Especially I am not liking any system of the secret draw. I am thinking maybe many readers of your newspaper will have the same opinion.

Ash Gupta

Your good health!

Rupanjana Dutta's brilliant article on Better Health (Asian Voice dated 19-25 February 2022, page 07) should be cut out and put on display in all our kitchens as a permanent reminder of how we Asians can enjoy a healthier life by eating the right foods in moderate portions.

Rudy Otter

Every so often, there is a struggle in the world between good and evil, dark and light. This time it is Putin, in the guise of Ravana, making an attempt at sabotaging the good in the world. Our Sanatan Dharma says that when this happens, the dark is always destroyed by the good.

I wonder which Rama of this world will arise and nullify the evil, bringing peace in the world? Those of us who believe in Sanatan Dharma should have no fear and fully trust that evil shall ultimately be destroyed.

Let us all send love, light and compassion to the dark forces that drive Putin and his allies, to soften them so they open up to dialogue and reason. This way we can influence the situation instead of feeling anxious about having no power or say in this matter. This is not just about the politicians. We all can do our little bit to lighten and bring peace into this world.

Hansa Pankhania

Modi playing a smart game All said and done, we can conclude that the Russia-Ukraine conflict occurred due to the inefficient leadership of the USA. Secondly, India under PM Narendra Modi is playing a smart game in this hour of crisis. Let's pray and hope that the war ends soon and issues are solved through diplomatic talks.

Jubel D'Cruz, Mumbai, India

Strengthening port operations Right now, the Tuticorin port in Tamil Nadu has created a major breakthrough by successfully handling a big vessel loaded with the longest wind blades and towers. In fact, the so-called cargo vessel had left the Tuticorin port for Germany loaded with the longest wind turbines.

Thanks to perfect infrastructure, efficient administration and skilled workforce, Tuticorin port has long been proving its cargo handling operations.

In fact, my first-ever job was in port operations in the Tuticorin area way back in the early 2000s. That apart, I have always been attracted to the Tuticorin port because of its beautiful infrastructure and neat operations/cargo handling.

Plus, factors like agricultural activities and other industrial operations will help boost port operations across the board.

My native areas like Korkai, Tuticorin, Tiruchendur, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari have been home to major agriculture activities and salt production operations.

After all, port operations are usually interdependent.

Still, there are steps required to furthermore strengthen facilities and infrastructure in port areas. For this, Asian countries should take bold steps to streamline inter-port operations in the best interests of all.

Struggling Brent and Harrow households encouraged to reach out to City Hall-backed debt helpline Brent and Harrow residents struggling with the rising costs of living are being encouraged to contact Debt Free London’s helpline by local London Assembly Member, Krupesh Hirani AM. The number of Londoners contacting the service has more than tripled over the last year and the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has now pledged £200,000 in support to ensure it can meet rising demand. Mr Hirani is expressing concerns that with rising energy bills, food costs and rents that Brent’s 43,240 Universal Credit claimants and Harrow’s 21,947 Universal Credit claimants “will be placed at the sharp end” of a growing debt crisis in the capital.

Recent YouGov polling has revealed that over a third of Londoners have found it difficult to keep on top of their household bills in the last six months. City Hall expects that the Government’s changes to taxes and benefits could plunge another 130,000 Londoners below the breadline, bringing the total number living in poverty in the capital to 3.7 million.

Mr Hirani has also criticised the Government for forcing council tax rises after it has failed to adequately fund the police, fire brigade, adult social care, transport and other public services in the capital.

Recent increases in energy bills have also pushed an estimated 75,000 Londoners into fuel poverty.

The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that in 2019, 20,322 households in Brent and 13,014 households in Harrow were living in fuel poverty. This week, The Trussell Trust revealed that nearly half of people referred to food banks in their networks are in debt to the Department of Work and Pensions due to the benefits system.

At the latest Plenary meeting at City Hall, the London Assembly passed motions calling for the weekly £20 Universal Credit uplift to be reinstated, the removal of the benefit cap, an increase in the National Living Wage and for the Government to reconsider its planned hike to National Insurance.

P Senthil Saravana Durai Mumbai, India

Man admits murdering school teacher

36-year-old Koci Selamaj admitted to beating and strangling the 28-year-old primary school teacher Sabina Nessa as she walked through a park in Kidbrooke, south-east London, on 17 December.

When Ms Nessa was on her way to meet a friend, she was targeted and attacked by Selamaj who is said to have travelled to London to carry out "a predatory attack on a stranger".

At an earlier hearing, prosecutor Alison

Morgan QC said, the killing was carried out with "extreme violence" and the murder involved a sexual or sadistic element. The court heard that CCTV showed Selamaj had spotted Ms Nessa and when he confirmed that no one else was around, he ran towards his victim and struck her 34 times using a metal traffic triangle, before carrying her away unconscious and strangling her in the park. He is due to be sentenced on 7 April.

•

Kapil Dudakia

Kapil’s KHICHADI

BJP Saves Bharat On 11 and 13 May 1998, India conducted the Pokhran-II nuclear tests. It was under the auspices of the then PM, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The development in Ukraine shows us why that daring decision by Vajpayeeji was not just correct, but it has become the very foundation of modern India.

Post Pokhran, puppet nations of the west jumped into action to denounce India.

Lest we forget, a bit of history: United Nations Security Council Resolution 1172 was tabled with the Security Council on 6th June 1998.

The members who voted against India were Bahrain, Brazil, Costa Rica, France, Gabon, Gambia, Japan, Kenya, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Sweden, UK and USA. Attending to speak against India were Argentina, Australia, Canada, Egypt, Iran, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Ukraine, and UAE. A reminder, it was Sonia Gandhi in opposition who made a speech undermining India. The signs of the antinational mentality of Congress exposed and recorded in history.

Interestingly, look at the list of those anti-India countries in 1998. Amazing that in 2022 most of them are now supporting Modi’s India.

Twenty-Four years later, the same United Nations has come up with a resolution to condemn Russia for invading the Ukraine, and India abstained. Every Tom, Dick and Harry across the world piled in to either condemn India for abstaining, or in trying to figure out why India abstained.

Do I know why India abstained? Probably. However, rather than tell you, let’s see if we can consider the many competing issues that go into making such a decision.

India should always have a long memory. Many nations over the past 7 decades have in one way or another shown anti-India tendencies. Some have changed their attitude and can now be considered closer partners (e.g., Japan, UAE, UK, Russia etc). Though there are some who continue to support the anti-India rhetoric. And then you have those nations who change their colours to suit their own agenda (e.g. USA and many EU nations).

India should also remember who stood by them during the 1971 war against Pakistan. When the USA openly assisted Pakistan by bringing their war machine to their aid, it was Russia that came into the arena to stand by India.

When it comes to Kashmir, how often have we seen western nations either sit on the fence or openly support Pakistan! Whereas nations like Russia have remained steadfast with India.

India has many threats stemming from Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, and Bangladesh. As such, PM Modi (BJP) has to make a difficult decisions keeping in mind that his first and only responsibility is to India. It is easy to jump on a western opportunistic bandwagon against Russia and collect some brownie points for self-gratification. But it takes a true leader to take action that is in the interest of his own nation. And PM Modi excels in this regard.

In 1994 the western world (including Russia!) convinced Ukraine to give up nuclear weapons with a promise that their borders would remain sovereign. Had Ukraine kept the nukes, maybe today it would not be fighting to remain an independent nation.

The cat is now out of the bag. Many nations will now attempt to secure nukes at any cost. The lesson of Ukraine is simple, you cannot trust the world to come to your rescue. It exposes the failure of the western world that exercises duplicity for personal gain at the expense of freedom of others.

As someone once said, “Your pride for your country should not come after your country becomes great; your country becomes great because of your pride in it”.

Indians must not judge India and its action via the duplicitous and morally bankrupt metric of the west.

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 Shefali at shefali.saxena@abplgroup.com

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A TEST FOR HUMANITY Continued from page 1 Stories of racial assaults towards South Asian and Black communities trying to cross the Ukrainian border have spread like wildfire, making people more anxious, worrying for those, who have undertaken long and tough journeys towards the Polish border, to escape the violence.

When the news of Indian student Naveen Shekharappa’s death on Tuesday, a final year medical student from Haveri in the Indian state Karnataka (full story on page 26) hit the press, MP Tom Tugendhat, UK’s Chair of Foreign Affairs Select Committee in a tweet said, “Russia is murdering Indian students. This is a tragedy. It’s also Putin’s choice. He knows there are many Indians in Ukraine. He’s bombing civilians anyway.”

This sparked debate whether Britain is trying to instigate PM Narendra Modi and his government to choose a side after India has successfully kept away.

Coming forward to help BBC reported that several UK charities have launched appeals. The British Red Cross has launched a Ukraine Crisis Appeal to support the work to fund food, water, first aid, medicines, warm clothes, and shelter.

Go Dharmic, a charity inspired by Hindu Dharma has been helping people crossing the border into Romania from Ukraine.

Hanuman Dass, Founder & Chairman told Asian Voice, “Our volunteers, our head of projects in Romania, Samida and other locals have been working to help the refugees fleeing the crisis at the borders. Over 200,000 people- mostly elderly, women and children have been coming in from zero-degree temperatures with very little to their name. Go

Photo credit Go Dharmic

Dharmic is also sending relief shipments for broader distribution to the area.

“We pray for peace and safety for the civilians in Ukraine. We pray for those who have lost their lives.

“Go Dharmic is raising funds for those affected by the crisis and serving aid to those in need on the borders with Romania. Visit: https://godharmic.enthuse.com/cf/standfor-humanity.”

Sal’s Shoes, a children’s charity is sending footwear to many NGOs located on the Ukrainian/Polish Border, to help refugees fleeing Ukraine. They are also preparing to help refugees as they arrive here in the U.K. The charity would welcome monetary donations to help reach those most in need. You can donate via their website: www.salsshoes.com. Sal’s Shoes has sent almost 3 million pairs of shoes worldwide to reach communities most in need: in over 50 countries including here in the UK. The National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) UK with the use of social media groups on WhatsApp and Telegram, has been actively helping to carry evacuation messages across to the officials in India.

The group told Press Trust of India that 18,000 students remain stranded in the region as their long-distance rescue efforts continue. More than 4,000 students have

Glorious Golden Jubilee of Seva Yagna and Gyan Yagna A Tribute to Community and Culture Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar are the largest selling and most popular publications for the Asian Community in this country. As you all know, Gujarat Samachar is completing 50 years of serving the community on 5 May 2022.

On this auspicious occasion, a special souvenir will be published. Historic events and grand celebrations are also being planned in London and other prominent places. At these events, outstanding individuals who served the community in the fields of art, culture, social, philanthropy, politics, business etc will be honoured.

In the past, Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar organised successful grand events like AAA and many more in a very dignified way.

The Glorious Golden Jubilee This Glorious Golden Jubilee publication will be a bumper issue. Our Team has started working on it. It will be a book for record and reference. There will be the Historic Glimpses of Past 50 Years along with the Vision of Upcoming 50 Years. It will contain important happenings, developments and campaigns for community causes.

We will also include the contribution of outstanding individuals and organisations who have served the community.

Well researched Articles will recall the inspirational Growth and Prosperity of Gujarati, Indian and Asian communities in the last 50 years. It will talk about our settlement in this country; how we started, where we stand and and what we are aiming in the future.

It will showcase the archives from the start of Gujarat Samachar, New Life and Asian Voice.

There will be inspiring messages from leading personalities from this country, India and abroad.

In recent days, many people contacted and approached us. They want to be involved with us in the Golden Jubilee celebrations. If you also have some suggestions, advice or announcements, please share them with us.

Readers, community-political-business leaders, philanthropists and all who wish to strengthen their community and culture please share your ideas about the special bumper publication and events.

You can write to us/phone us or have a visit to our office.

Mahesh Liloriya Group Editor Kindly take note of our new address (as below) for your valuable feedback or any correspondence via post. Please note our customer care phone numbers remain the same as before.

ASIAN BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS LTD Units 207-208 Harrow Business Centre, 429-433 Pinner Road North Harrow, Middlesex HA1 4HN ----------------------------------Tel.: 020 7749 4080 Email: mahesh.liloriya@abplgroup.com

already reached out to a group of student volunteers in the UK for help.

Sanam Arora, NISAU UK chair and UK advisor to the Rescuing Every Distressed Indian Overseas (REDIO), launched by Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi reportedly said, “We have 24/7 helplines where we are non-stop coordinating with impacted students and advising them with the government instructions and advisories.

“Students are saying that they are unable to reach Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Sanam Arora officials on the ground for coordination; our team is helping by ensuring the right information reaches students in a timely manner.

“Students are now telling us that they are starting to run out of food, so we will be looking at how we can support on-ground efforts in getting food over to them.

“The efforts of our volunteers are helping the MEA coordinate its efforts as otherwise there is no record of which students are where.”

Sanam also shared that Gurudwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Warsaw was helping out Indian students.

Cllr Bazil Soloman is encouraging residents to help people through their local Ukraine Support Group. In a crowdfunding effort on the Just Giving page, he said, “We stand united and resolved with the people of Ukraine and Europe. Women, children, the elderly, the sick, vulnerable need our help because they suffer the most during wars.

They need our help. We are collecting funds via Justgiving which will go to the British Redcross (food, water, first aid, medicines, warm clothes, shelter); United Help Ukraine

Sidhya Govindraj, a Swindon businessman who runs Chennai Dosa donated non-refrigerated and canned foods to the local Polish community centre

(medical supplies); UNICEF Ukraine (supports children & education); CARE International (food, water & psychosocial support). For more visit : https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/supportforpeopleukrainewarfoodshelterclothes) In their support group on Facebook is the video of Sidhya Govindraj, a Swindon businessman who runs Chennai Dosa, who has donated non-refrigerated and canned foods to the local Polish community centre to help refugees coming from Poland due to the Ukraine crisis.

Khalsa Aid group CEO Ravinder Singh also wrote on Twitter by sharing a viral video of Sikh community helping in Ukraine: "Guru Ka Langar on a train These guys were fortunate to get on this train which is travelling east of Ukraine to the west (to Polish border ). Hardeep Singh has been providing Langar assistance to many students from different countries. What a guy."

While PM Modi has requested Pujya Brahmanivari Swami of BAPS to help Indian students stuck in Ukraine, Amit Lath, Vice President of Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce & Industry coordinated with the Embassy of India (Poland) to organise for coach, food and shelter for more than 600 Indian students as we went to press. On their departure, the students took a group photo with Lath.

They chanted Bharat Mata Ki Jai outside Rzeszow Airport before flying out of Poland in the first flight under Operation Ganga.

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Coventry University graduate creates app to help young people find freelance work A Coventry University graduate is to launch an app designed to help students and young professionals find skilled freelance opportunities.

Hakim Mohamed is set to introduce the HyreHub app to the market in the coming weeks, with hopes of helping his young peers to market themselves to employers, secure regular freelance work and bolster their skilled work portfolio.

There are currently a number of platforms available for freelance professionals, but for students and young people competing in large talent pools with experienced professionals, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd and attract employers.

This is something Hakim himself found difficult to manage during his studies, with many of his peers who were also seeking freelance work reporting similar challenges.

Hakim, 23, originally from

Essex, entered an app design competition at Coventry University while he was studying aerospace systems engineering and it was that which kickstarted his entrepreneurial journey. He has since teamed up with fellow young entrepreneurs Adam Oyekola and Dami Adebayo to develop the initiative.

He said his experience at Coventry University has played a pivotal role in helping him to improve his business concept.

Hakim is hoping the app will help other young people get to pursue

their career goals.

He said: “Honing desirable skills and building experience are both absolutely key to improving the trajectory of your career, but students and young people can often find it difficult to secure skilled opportunities due to the competition in the market and employers’ attitudes towards relatively inexperienced talent.

“HyreHub will aim to provide a space where employers who are looking for young talent and fresh ideas can connect with young professionals and students, offering them skilled freelance work. The opportunity to secure this kind of flexible skilled work is not only crucial for the development of young people’s skills and experience, but it can also be really helpful to students looking to fit work flexibly around their studies.”

The House of Lords votes to remove clause 9 of the Nationality and Borders Bill The House of Lords has voted to remove clause 9 of the Nationality and Borders Bill, which seeks to create new powers to strip British nationals of their citizenship without even telling them. MPs must follow suit and strike this discriminatory provision from the Bill.

Members of the Lords began further examination of the Nationality and Borders Bill in the report stage, on Monday 28 February.

The Nationality and Borders Bill seeks to increase the fairness of the system to better protect and support those in need of asylum; deter illegal entry into the United

Kingdom, thereby breaking the business model of people smuggling networks and protecting the lives of those they endanger; remove more easily those with no right to be in the UK. Citizenship stripping disproportionately affects ethnic minority British communities, who are made to feel like second class citizens.

Reprieve director Maya Foa said: "Peers have heard the outcry against this attempted power grab by the Home Secretary. Now MPs must listen, and strike this discriminatory provision from the Bill."

"The Government's powers to strip citizenship are already the broadest in the G20. They are used disproportionately against people from ethnic minority communities. Today the House of Lords said: enough."

Dying people will get legal rights to healthcare For the first time in NHS history, dying people will be given an explicit legal right to healthcare. The government has promised to back a House of Lords amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill, which requires every part of England to provide specialist palliative care.

Various groups such as Marie Curie, Sue Ryder and Alzheimer’s Society did months of campaigns highlighting the need to put palliative care services on the same footing as other areas of healthcare, such as maternity and dental services.

The charities believe that this could end a postcode lottery

More than 400 NHS staff in England have quit every week A record number of more than 400 NHS staff in England have quit every week, according to a new analysis of the workforce crisis hitting the health service.

John Hall who is a former strategy director at the Department of Health and Social Care, for the Engage Britain Charity, did an assessment of the health service and came out with startling findings.

The staff has been complaining of burnout from two years of battling the Covid pandemic and cases of posttraumatic disorder which is

leading them to quit.

“The UK has long had significantly lower numbers of doctors and nurses per capita than comparable systems. More recently, the impact of working conditions is showing an increasing impact on the ability of the NHS to retain staff.

Around 50 in every 10,000 staff working in hospital and community health services in June 2021 left the service within the next three months, citing work-life balance as the reason.

This was a new record,” writes Hall.

under which tens and thousands of people die every year without adequate support or pain relief.

According to the Marie Curie group’s new analysis, about 215,000 people a year miss out on end-of-life care and without intervention, this could rise to 300,000 within 20 years.

Prince Andrew could face more sex abuse lawsuits The Duke of York, Prince Andrew who recently settled the rape case brought against him by accuser Virginia Giuffre, 38, for undisclosed, thought to be $15 million, has a new abuse claim against him. 42-year-old Virginia Giuffre, the salon owner in Florida, has repeatedly claimed that Andrew touched her breast in 2001 when she was 21. Due to the potential change in the law, victims of historic child sex abuse have got a year where they can sue their alleged abusers despite the statute of limitations.

Being a gay pharmacist - a South Asian perspective As a part of The Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s work around inclusion and diversity for February’s LGBT History Month, Vimal, a South Asian pharmacist has taken a commendable initiative with stupendous courage to share his experiences growing up and working as a gay man.

Being the eldest child made it much more difficult for Vimal to express his feelings and thoughts, let alone to come out as a gay man. Growing up in a South Asian household, his life was planned out right before his eyes, there was an expectation to have an assisted marriage to the opposite sex within the community the moment that you graduate.

Having a relationship with someone of a different caste or race was frowned upon and discussed by the elders in the community in a negative way, so adding same-sex attraction into that pot made it nearly impossible for him to come out to his family.

Vimal used his profession as a distraction to hide who he was.

“The more I focussed on my role as a pharmacist, then the less I thought about the reality of my life. I was openly out to most of my friends and to all my work colleagues, but never to my family and kept it that way for a long time,” Vimal said.

“I believe that my sexuality is a part of me and does not define my professionalism or integrity. I let patients make their own assumptions, but I have never faced any discrimination with regard to my sexual orientation from them. As long as they have the right advice and treatment, I find they’re not particularly interested in dissecting my personal life!” he added.

Here are a few excerpts from Vimal’s exclusive interaction with Asian Voice.

What the Asian community needs to learn about the LGBT community The issue for me with Asian communities is that whilst they have a great sense of community, everyone sticks to a pre-arranged set of should and should-not. If any individual deviates from this, their name, and that of their family, is tarnished. This name and shaming of individuals and their families for being homosexual, going out with somebody outside their caste, religion, race, or not adhering to the cultural code need to stop. It is these outdated practices that have prevented others from coming out or trying to be themselves because the people in the community they would normally go to for advice are the same ones that will ostracise them.

Marriage is classed as one of the biggest celebrations in Asian culture. There is pressure for people to get married, sometimes by assistance and sometimes by using “emotional blackmail” if they do not hurry up and find a bride/ groom. This is even more

difficult if you are LGBT. There are many that go through marriages of convenience (eg a gay man marrying a lesbian woman of the same caste) just to please their families and community. It disgusts me that south Asian LGBT members have been coerced to go through this.

The individuals that go through this lead a double life, keeping their family and community happy, but indirectly ruining their own lives.

This leads to the next point that mental health issues are rife in LGBT people, and even more so if you are both South Asian and LGBT. Yet mental health is another taboo subject alongside LGBT, so it’s very difficult to get help.

If these issues do not get discussed, then how will the Asian community move on?

Asian community leaders must no longer brush this issue to the side and must speak to their congregations about the need for acceptance. They are the ones that can pioneer this and promote acceptance of LGBT members and make them feel welcome; currently, I feel that the Asian community has no value for me in my life which is a shame.

Advice for readers of Asian Voice My advice is before you intend to come out, ensure that you are not living in the family home as that will make it easier for you in case the conversation goes sour or they do not accept you coming out. Please do be strong and be prepared to answer any questions that they have and try not to be intimated. Good points to make would be: -

Only God can judge

-

I hope as your son/daughter we can work together towards a place of acceptance and understanding

-

Don’t worry about what people will say; people will always talk about something or someone

Keep on persisting with your family and most importantly, stick to your guns whilst keeping the door open for communication. Remember, use your friends as emotional support as I have found that my friends are like my family.

How Asian families can support a member of the LGBT community at home They need to learn that is not forbidden to be LGBT, there is nothing wrong with having a child who is LGBT. The same goes if your child is born with a disability, you would not disown a child with a disability, so why would you disown a child who is LGBT? They also need to stop worrying about community and cultural pressures, they need to be aware there is a lot of support out there, there are LGBT groups that support parents who have LGBT members in their families.

They must learn that accepting your child/children is a part of being a good parent.

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ASIAN VOICE AND GUJARAT SAMACHAR hosts reception to introduce new group editor to the community Leading dignitaries attended the ‘Meet and Greet’ reception hosted by Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar to introduce their new group editor Mahesh Liloriya to the thriving Asian community in the UK. Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar held a Meet and Greet ceremony at Sangat Centre in Harrow on 19 February.

Leading dignitaries from all walks of life were present on this occasion. Editor-inChief C B Patel introduced the newly appointed group editor Mahesh Liloriya to all.

He said, “Our motherland, culture and to serve the society with utmost dedication are very important to us. In the last 50 years, whenever the questions of society, people's rights, existence, and identity have arisen,

L-R: Rohit Vadhwana (IFS), Vinodbhai Thakrar, Femida Shaikh, CB Patel, Mahesh Liloria

we have launched a campaign to help find justice. There have been recent attempts to spark controversy about the Godhra riot in the British Parliament, on its 20th anniversary. We strongly condemn the attempts to divide and gaslight communities. Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar promptly took a stand, along with the community, raising concerns against such divisive actions.”

CB also announced that there will be a special issue of 'Uganda - A Report', prepared under the guidance of Lord Popat marking the 50th anniversary of the expulsion of Indians from Uganda. This voluminous informative issue will be published soon.

First Secretary (Economic), High Commission of India in London, Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar columnist and

CB Patel, Editor-in-Chief, addressing the guests during the event

L-R: Dr. M. N. Nandakumara of Bharatiya Vidyabhavan, Members of Mahavir Foundation, Paras Maisheri of Global Travels, Dr. Natubhai Shah, CB Patel, Vinodbhai Kapasi

Chairman and Cllr author Rohit Ameet Jogia said, “It is an Vadhwana said, honour to welcome “Humbleness and Maheshbhai Liloriya to prudence are two take on this new role. The qualities that everyappointment comes at an one should specifiassimilate. Mahendrabhai Pattani of Brent Hindu Council, important time when we cally Changes certainly Dineshbhai Sonchhatra, Cllr. Anjanaben Patel, celebrate the 50th annivercome with new Bhanuben Mehta, Solicitor Shaliniben Bhargav sary of the ABPL. I look blood and new ideas.

CB is my mentor and I strongly request him to write a book to guide society based on his vast experiences.

By doing this, the legacy of social service and social relations Sharadbhai Parikh of Gita Foundation can be a source of CB Patel with Tusharbhai Shah of Oshwal Association UK and Kantibhai Nagda MBE inspiration for all. As we all know that there forward to working with Maheshbhai in cannot be a second Gandhi or Vivekananda, serving the British Indian community and in the same way, we cannot have another strengthening links with India.”

CB Patel.”

Oshwal community leader Tusharbhai Cllr Krupesh Hirani AM, London Shah said, “CB Patel has close relations with assembly member from Brent and Harrow, every society, and he is always there to serve said, "Everyone must unite when it comes the community.” Dr Natubhai Shah extendto the interests of the community. Political ed similar thoughts, saying, "I have been ideologies may be different, but society associated with Asian Voice Gujarat needs to connect as a stream.”

Samachar for many years. CB Patel has Conservative Friends of India Co-

always rushed to give direction to society.”

Kantibhai Nagda, head of Sangat Centre and a well-known social worker said, “Change is the hallmark of progress.”

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Executive Director Dr M. N. Nandakumar chanted prayers to mark the auspicious occasion and a new beginning.

Guests included NCGO Vice President Jitubhai Patel, Social Worker Heeral Param Shah, Cllr Anjana Patel, Lohana Samaj leader Vinodbhai Thakrar, NCGO’s PRO Krishna Pujara, Chartered Accountant Kaushikbhai Desai, NCGO’s Deepak Patel, Rajesh Jain of Jain Vishwa Bharti, Dr Vinodbhai Kapasi, Sudha Kapasi, Chandreshbhai Patel from Shayona, Dineshbhai Sonchhatra of Major Estate, Mahendrabhai Pattani of Brent Hindu Council, PRO Rupal Pandya, Praveenbhai Amin of National Association of Patidar Samaj, Bhanubahen Ramanikbhai Mehta, Sharadbhai Parikh of Geeta Foundation, Arunaben Sharadbhai, Mahavir Foundation President Nirajbhai Sutaria, Sureshbhai Vagjiani, Paras Maisheri of Global Travel, Kamal Bhadresa, Bhavesh Kapadia, Alka Shah, Rajnibhai Shah, Photographers Raj Bakrania, Vineet Johri, Sanjeev Nanavati, Pravin Patel and Solicitor Shalini V Bhargava to name a few.

Israeli Embassy and Bridge India host event for Arab-Israeli Christian activist The Israeli Embassy and non-profit think tank Bridge India hosted a session recently with leading members of the British Indian diaspora to help break down some of these misconceptions about the integration between Jews and Arabs.

The Chief Guest was Yoseph Haddad, an ArabIsraeli Christian who fought in the Second Lebanon War and works towards integrating ArabIsraelis into mainstream society. In Yoseph’s first visit to the UK, he was keen to meet leaders in the British Indian community from across faith, business and civil society backgrounds, to share his experiences of growing up in Israel.

The event was organised as part of Bridge India’s engagement with various embassies in London, which has seen its members meet Ambassadors from Israel, Kenya, Bangladesh, Uganda and Malta in closed-door private briefings in just the last four months. It marked the latest collaboration with the Israeli Embassy in London that was initiated by one of its members, Jack Green, who sought to build closer relations between the British Israeli and Indian communities.

Attendees included Founder and Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Asian Voice CB Patel, Founder of City Sikhs Param Singh MBE, Founder of Faith in Leadership Krish

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Raval, Bridge India board member and psychiatrist for the NHS Dr Sarfraz Ashraf and others.

Topics discussed included how Yoseph tackles antisemitism and hatred towards Israelis, integration for the Arab Israeli community, their roles in the technology sector, common values Israelis shared with the British Indian community and opportunities between Britain, Israel and India. He shared that misinformation and disinformation were often to blame for animosity between different communities and that dialogue was a great way to bring people together.

Yoseph already shares a deep connection with India, including having travelled the breadth of the country for several months earlier in his life. The session also marked the ongoing and deep engagement from the Israeli Embassy in London to work across different communities, via their public diplomacy wing.

Perfect sales strategy and proper medium of approach can boost any business. In the Golden Jubilee Year, we are receiving a lot of suggestions from our business clients, who want to extend their reach to the new customers through Gujarat Samachar and Asian Voice. As the market is fully opened now, this is best the time for you to enhance your career. We are hiring a full time Sales/Marketing person.

Sales and marketing are very important parts of any business. In the free market, advertisement is the main adhesive between manufacturers/business people and consumers. Many of our business clients want a hassle-free approach. So, we have decided to hire a full time Sales Person.

This job is very challenging and highly rewarding. It’s a golden opportunity for anyone who wants to prove calibre, to grow and to achieve. Excellent packages will be offered to deserving candidate.

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Be a part of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar which are the largest selling and most popular publications for the Asian Community in this country.

- Mahesh Liloriya Group Editor

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The Evolving Commercial Landscape

The Final Word

SURESH VAGJIANI Sow & Reap Properties Ltd. The commercial property market is in a state of flux.

The auctions are awash with ex bank buildings being sold off; Nationwide and Santander to name a couple.

They are keeping only the most strategic locations. The rest are being removed.

The high street too is changing. Independent retail shops are being gobbled up by large scale well funded mammoths. The online world is taking over real street facing businesses. A cursory glance at the rents and the rates, in practically any high street in London, will show that an independent retailer would need to run very hard to simply make ends meet.

This then leaves the gaps the internet cannot fill, like coffee shops, hair and nail salons, and takeaways. Though I may stand to be corrected in regards to the coffee; coffee is now on tap for delivery in New York, this may be coming to London soon. The trends always follow.

The trend is also changing in regards to takeaways; there is this mushroom like growth of what’s known as “dark kitchens”. Also known as “cloud kitchens” or “ghost kitchens”, dark kitchens can be either facilities where a single restaurant brand prepares meals, or buildings where a number of companies share space; these tend to be in warehouses on the outskirts of cities. There are two saving to be had, one is the outer location of the kitchen which lessons the rent and rate liability, and the co-work-

ing environment, which means they only pay a fraction of the expenses.

There is also the new Amazon smart shop, which claims to deliver fresh produce, and dispenses with queues and tills. This seems to be a pilot currently, no doubt they will look to ramp up the model.

Many property funds set up in Jersey or Guernsey, who purchased property for the stream of rental income are at a loss in regards to what to do when the property becomes vacant. They do not have the appetite to engage in the development of empty commercial spaces. Their game plan was a hands off investment approach.

Therefore, when the asset is no longer producing an income, and on the contrary is costing them in regards to rates and enhanced insurance etc, it needs to be offloaded.

I recall a premises which was in the South West of England, Stroud I recall. It consisted of 4,500 sq. ft. of empty commercial space. It was next door to a Specsavers and opposite a Boots; a good strong location. The property company purchased the property in 2015 for £450K, presumably it would have been cash flowing well. When it was no longer producing the site was placed in auction and achieved a sale price of £154K, about a third of its original value.

This clearly didn’t suit the property company but fitted into someone else's profile.

Opportunities such as these, will increase in this coming year. There will be increased opportunity for the small investor to be had.

Watch this space.

IDNAN LIAQAT Head of Property & Partner, Axiom DWFM

Despite the far reaching, and unprecedented impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has left in its wake, the property market prevailed in the face of adversary. A 10% rise in house prices in 2021 is a tangible illustration of this market’s buoyancy in spite of the rough conditions that it has been subject to in the past few years. The rise of inflation also presents a challenge as interest rates will be impacted.

Of course, there has undeniably been many who have suffered greatly under the pressures of the pandemic, with over 17,500 chain stores, and 10% of British restaurants closing in the UK freeing up commercial spaces. Regardless of these setbacks, residential property and a handful of commercial sectors continue to increase in value, and with it, an opportunity to redefine how we use commercial and office spaces transforming them innovative and exciting pop-up stores or new business ventures.

Onwards and upwards!

ICICI Bank UK PLC to facilit itatte home loans in India fo for Indian diaspora based in the UK

I

CICI C ICI Bank Bank UK UK PLC PLC is is now now facilitating facilitating home home loans loans in in India India tthrough hrough its Bank Ltd its parent, parent, IICICI CICI B ank Lt L td IIndia ndia ((ICICI ICICI B ank), fo ffor or Bank), N RI ((Non-Resident Non-Resident NRI IIndians)/Overseas ndians)/Overseas C itizen Citizen o ndia ((OCI)/ OCI)/ P ersons o off IIndia Persons off IIndian ndian O Origin rigin ((PIO) PIO) b based ased iin n tthe he U nited K ingdom United Kingdom ((UK).

UK).

With ICICI Bank’s India home loans, NRIs/OCI/PIO living in the UK can av avail home loan to buy properties in India (residential al as well as commercial al) without trav avelling to India.

ICICI Bank India has a portfo folio of pre-approved properties, accessible online on www.home.icicibank.com that mak akes the selection process easy and eff ff icient.

ICICI Bank UK PLC has a dedicated team based in

the UK to assist homebuyers who are looking to av avail a home loan in India. Customers can also transfe fer their existing loan fr from other lenders to ICICI Bank or avail a loan against their av existing property.

ICICI Bank has also enab abled its online platfo form fo for sal alaried customers (ap applicable to NRIs) to av avail a provisional al sanction letter di i alllly, in digit i just j a fe few clicks. The online platfo form provides customers an opportunity to av avail competitive interest rates and discounted processing fees. Currently, ICICI fe Bank’s interest rates in India are competitive and developers too are off ffering lucrative deals and schemes on properties.

PRAT TA A P S I NG H Head, Retail Banking - UK & Europe, ICICI Bank UK PLC

The currency conversion between a Pound Sterling and Indian Rupee R is at present much better fo for a Rupee buyer as against a year ago, which fu further weighs in fa favour of buyers living in the UK. All of these fa factors make it a great time fo for NRIs to purchase their dream home or expand their real al estate portfo folio in India.

Customers C ustomers rs ccan an gget et in in touch touch ch with with wi th ICICI ICI CICI CI Bank Bank UK UK PLC PLC branches, PL bra ranches, s or or ccan an aalso l o vi ls vvisit isit o our ur w website ebsite w www.icicibank.co.uk ww. w icici cibank.co.uk or or drop drop dr p an an email e ail em il at at nrihomeloansuk@icicibank.com nri rih ihomel eloansuk uk@i @icicibank. k com to to request request a ccall all ll b back. ack.

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F

Dean W Waalik Solicitorr,, Axiom DWFM’s Commercial Property team remains in fl flux u as UK companies deliberate how it can bee repurposed to suit an everchanging worrk environment. Some companies haav ave insisted that all workers must return to t the off ff ice, while others have opted fo for a more m flexible approach, fl allowing staff ff to choose a hybrid ap approach.

Retail Leisure Re etail Leisur re & Hospital Hospitality lity Aft fter the devaastating eff ffects of Covid-19, the resurgence in retail and hospitality is still under way. Th he recovery may be bolstered by record con nsumer savings and a gradual return to worrk. This, coupled with increasing rattes of pedestrianisation, is likely to increase fo footfa fall which will, in turn, significantly aff affect retailers and those in hospitality. Ass rental and capital values are recalibrated, investors i will continue to reengage with the market. However, risks in the fo form of fu further u Covid outbreaks and supply chain issues, i may hinder the sector’s growth.

Conclusion The worst of the pandemic is now behind us and the UK iss in recovery mode. Real estate businesses acrross the country have had to become moree innovative, fl flexible and collaborative. There has been a surge in proptech and other technologies as some companies seeek to retain the hybrid model of working an nd keep communication seamless.

Conversely, fa faactors such as the recent rise in infl flation and interest rates as well as other issues, such ass the cost of labour, may hamper the country co ountry’ss fu future economic prospects. Only time will tell.

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The impact of increasing mortgage m rates

The Commercial Property Market Report ollowing our last report in July 2021, while the ripple eff ffects of Covid-19 are still being fe felt globally, leading UK market commentators remain cautiously optimistic that 2022 will see a gradual return to normal conditions. This is our market observation on the Commercial Property market.

Logistics & Warehouses Demand fo for logistics and retail warehousing is likely to remain high an and increase. This is par artially caused by the imbalance in supply and demand which will continue to push up rental growth.

On the other hand, site av availability, protracted planning and costs of lab abour ar are all restricting the supply chain and may ay hinder the rate of growth. Further, investors should be mindfu ful that all fu future assets will need to be ESG compliant and, therefo fore, procuring this specific type of stock will become increasingly competitive.

Off ff ice Office Historically, off ff ices have accounted fo for allmost 40% % off all ll commerciial property investment. However, questions are being raised as to whether this asset class will retain its prime standing in the long-term given the lack of clarity surrounding Brexit negotiations and the slow rate of workers returning to the off ff ice This worry is compounded by the fa fact that almost £2.5bn worth of off ff ice stock is not fit fo for purpose and lan andlords, seeking to maximise yields and capital values, will need to invest signif icant capital to bring in the best tenants an and avoid vacancy periods. periods The design and fu future uses of off ff ice space

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With th th the recen ent announcem emen ent of Bank of Engl En gland base rate incr creasing to 0.50%, I’l’ll be answe wering some common questions th that new & ex existi ting mortg tgage cl clien ents ts may ay have.

What’s W hat’s happened? happened?

On Th Thursday 3 February 2022, the Bank of England increased the base rate fr from 0.25% to 0.50%. This is the second increase in the base rate since December.

What is is the the base base rate rate and and why why does does this this What matter? matter?

The base rate, set by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, is the main driver of rates on mortgages and savings products in the UK. Changes in the base rate are usually likely to impact the cost of mortgages and return on savings. Generally, a higher base rate means banks and building societies are like kely to increase the cost of mortgages, whilst savers can expect a slightly higher rate of interest on their savings.

However, this isn’t always necessarily the case.

Why is is base base rate rate increasing? increasing?

Why Base rate is increasing as a response to rising infl flation. The Consumer Price Index (a measure of the costs of goods and services) hit 5.4% in January, well above the Bank of England target of 2%. By increasing the cost of borrowing, the Bank of England hope to reduce rising infl flation.

What What does does it it mean mean for for mortgage mortgage rates? rates?

For the 80% of UK borrowers on a fixed rate, this rate change will not yet impact your monthly thl payment. t For F those ap pproaching the end of their existing mortgagge deal, looking to purcchase a property with new mortgage, or alreadyy on a Standard Variablee Rate, it is likely Va that ratees will increase.

Ho owever, this rate r rise has been well fo forecasted in advance of VIJAY VARU the increase on Mortgage Adviser Thursday, 3rd

February an nd many lenders had already factored thee increase in costs into new mortgage deaals on sale. Some lenders will however with hdraw mortgage rates and launch new productss with higher rates.

However,, despite the two recent increases, the base rate remains below the prepandemic leveel of 0.75% and mortgage rates in general are low compared to historic levels.

What What does does it it mean mean for for my my existing existing mortgage? mortgage?

Four out of five mortgages in the UK are currently fixxed rates. This means that borrowers willl not see an immediate increase in the cost of their mortgage.

For borrow wers on a variable rate mortgage, including a ‘Sttandard Va Variable Rate’ mortgage, rates are like kelyy to rise, though this depends on the type of variable rate mortgage you have.

For thosee on a tracker mortgage, which directly fo follow w the Bank of England base rate, your rate is likely to increase by 0.25% immediately and a payments go up fr from March 2022.

For thosse on a discounted rate, or Standard Variiable Rate mortgage, your lender may decide to o pass all, some, or none of the increase in raates on to you but will write to you befo fore your payments increase.

What What does does it it mean mean for for my my mortgage mortgage offer? off ffer?

Those cusstomers with existing mortgage off ffers will nott see rates increase fo for as long as the mortgage off ffer remains valid.

What What should should I do? do?

In any eveent, the best course of action is to seek advice. We can help you with understanding how the increase in base rate might impactt you, explore your options fo for remortgaging or switching rates, and give you help to access support if you think you may encounter d diff ff iculties in paying your mortgage.

Want Waant to to talk talk in in more more detail? detail?

For expeert mortgage advice, contact Vijay Va Varu att Crystal Financial Solutions on 0208 901 3737 or email: email: m mortgages@crystalfs.co.uk.

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I hav ave built up a property porrtfolio and I’m worried ab about Inheritance Taax ‘IHT’, should I gift properties to my my adu ult children?

I

have h ave come come across ac ross this thi s w reservation of benefit, with ssame ame question q uestion from fr o m H HMRC will still treat you numerous numerous clients client s over over as owning the property fo for the the last last 20 20 years years and aan nd being being a IH HT purposes until such tax tax advisor advisor it it is is not not natural natural tiime as you cease to to to say say to to clients clients that that tax tax is is benefit fr from it. not not the th e most most important i m p o r t a nt The situation gets factor fac tor they they should sh ould be be worse w because the gift ft considering. considering. gives rise to an immediat ate RAJ JIWANI Important factors factors I ask fa ch harge to capital gains tax Joint Managing Director clients to consider in the ‘C CGT’ based on the open first f irst instance are:fi market valu ue of the property, so the aying A. Does the income fr from the donor could find themselves pay ft and then the estat at e properties fu fund your current CGT on thee gift would also pay ay IHT on the value of l festyle? life y the property that at had been gift fted.

B. Does the income fr from the There arre ways in which you can prop perties fe feature in your plan to protect your financial fu future and fund d your retirement? fu p reserving the t f fa a mily assets at death C. If you were to gift ft the properties b but this r equires carefu f u l bespoke to your children, are you prepared to never be able to benefit fr from planning, we certainly do not ft now and worry about the income or capital value of the advocate a gift how I willl pay the bills/fu fund my properties again? retirement later approach. There are D. If you were to gift ft the properties way ays in whiich to mitigate tax charges to your children they become in every sceenario, the most basic of both the legal and beneficial plans if exeecuted correctly can save owner, how do you intend to your fa family hundreds of thousands of protect the fa family wealth in the pounds, yo ou should talk to a tax event that your children were to advisor to establish the options sq quander the wealth or get available to you. d divorced?

We can n help you achieve your The answer to the fi f irst question can be complex. Many clients hav ave goals but will look at a holistic said I’m prepared to give the solution to meet your needs.

To T o find f ind o fi out ut th tthe he aanswers nswe wers tto o th tthe he rrest est prop perties to my children, they will off th questions tthese hese se q uesti tions rread ead th tthe he ffull ull ll aarticle rti ticle le look l k aft fter me, they will continue to o on Charterhouse website, n tthe he Ch C harterho use we w e b s i t e, give me the income earned fr from the o www.charter-house.net/news-andw w. c har t er- h o u se. n e t/ t /n /n e ws ws- a n dproperty so long as I need it. it This in w vents ve ts/ s//aarti ticle le s the world of IHT is known as a gift ft eevents/articles

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5 - 11 March 2022

Revealed: The best UK areas to invest in a property The safety and community aspect of a neighbourhood is a significant deciding factor when moving home, alongside other major considerations like the location, cost of property and local amenities. To highlight some of the most desirable places to live in the UK, Swann Security has investigated crime rates and property prices, as well as nationwide survey data about people’s relationships with their neighbours.

The best areas to move to for community spirit 1. Plymouth: The residents of Plymouth are most likely to say they get along well with their neighbours, and the city also has the most community events of all UK cities.

2. Belfast: Belfast comes in second place, with 69% stating they get along well with their neighbours.

They’re also one of the top two cities that say everyone in the local area knows each other, alongside Plymouth.

3. Cardiff: Cardiff ranks third for friendly neighbours, with 67.5% saying they have a good relationship with them. Of all UK cities, they’re also the most likely to socialise with their neighbours.

The safest areas in the UK 1. York: With just 60.6 crimes per 1,000 people, this makes York the safest city in terms of crime. It’s

also a great choice if you’re looking for fresh air, thanks to its abundance of green spaces and low pollution levels.

2. Poole: The second safest city in the UK with 70.69 crimes per 1,000 people is Poole, which also has the largest natural harbour in the whole of Europe.

3. Swindon: Coming in third, Swindon has 73.04 crimes per 1,000 people. If you’re an art fan, the Swindon Museum & Art Gallery is home to one of the best collections of 20th-century British art outside of London.

The areas with the highest crime in the UK 1. Middlesbrough: Unfortunately, Middlesbrough has the highest crime rate in the UK, at 160.92 per 1,000 people. This said it is on the small side with a population of only 177.5k, bringing down total crime figures in comparison to larger cities.

2. Manchester: Manchester has the second-highest crime rate with 159.38 crimes per 1,000 people. But if you’re a foodie, you’ll love that it has more restaurants than any other city after London.

3. Kingston Upon Hull: Ranking third with 149.08 crimes per 1,000 people, Hull also has the secondlowest average rent price of all UK cities.

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Designing post-pandemic homes - backyard offices and open kitchens Shefali Saxena Since the new normal began amid the ongoing pandemic, architects are seeing more and more property refurbishments, as people are more at home, they want beautiful looking yet functional homes.

Mayura Chandekar, Director of architectural design practice MCAPS Global ltd in the UK told Asian Voice that Underfloor heating (UFH) is one such very common feature. Over the life of a building, UFH is known to be 15MAYURA CHANDEKAR 20% more efficient than traditional heating systems.

Choices of heating appliances are also changing and UFH can be combined with heat pumps, condensing boilers and solar panels to make an excellent energy-efficient package. Along with the UFH and efficient heating appliance, the right heating controls which can monitor, adjust and optimise temperatures in rooms, can minimise energy consumption, making homes energy efficient.

Other than heating she has told clients who ask for PV (photovoltaic) panels to be installed on their roofs for electricity generation and have gone to the extent of installing batteries to put the extra electricity generated back into the grid. “We have had demands to design systems where rainwater could be harvested, starting from a simple water butt in the garden to proper tanks in the garden.

Another interesting change is where we are asked to incorporate car charging points near the parking area of the houses,” she said.

Demands for Home Office space According to Mayura, since the pandemic, the most common requirement is to have

relate to terrace houses, semi-detached or detached houses,” she told us.

Converting backyards into offices Mayura’s clients are looking to build outbuildings. She said, “One can choose to have a built one like brick/block/timber outbuilding vs an assembled one like an insulated log

home office spaces. At least one and in most cases two, where both husband and wife are working. “The most common idea is to have an outbuilding, where office space can be set up. If not in combination as in alternative a garage is asked to be converted into a study.

In addition, we hear a lot from people who have big loft spaces that can be converted into a study or additional bedrooms to free up rooms on the first floor to be converted into a study. All these examples typically

cabin. Insulated log cabins are becoming popular due to lesser costs involved depending on the size, ease of installation and providing equally good space as

a built one.”

The architect mentioned that typically design practices charge something between 5-13% of the construction cost depending on the scale of jobs/ projects.

Open kitchens Mayura said that many times open-plan spaces are being avoided with a concern regarding the Asian cooking and odour.

With powerful extraction systems, good ventilation such risks can be easily mitigated making the open plans a good feature, for families who like to entertain or spend time together with kids etc. “We have convinced many clients to go for an open kitchen who have given positive feedback in years that followed and have had no issues regarding the odours,” she added.

Manchester entrepreneur plans to create the next generation of property investors A Manchester businessman is throwing a lifeline to young people who want to master their own destiny.

Ibby Aslam, a self-made millionaire who has interests in four Manjaros restaurants in Manchester, Blackburn, Huddersfield and Newcastle and manages a thriving property portfolio, has set up a mentoring and training service specifically designed to help younger people and newcomers to the property market future proof their own employment.

The self-styled ‘Property Coach’ has launched a mentoring and training scheme designed to help 18 -30-year-olds become property owners and benefit from

passive monthly income and security against job loss in an economic climate that has hit them particularly hard.

Ibby explained, “People under the age of 35 have been particularly hard hit by job loss and rising unemployment during the Covid pandemic. In fact, 80% of all jobs lost have been to those under the age of 35.

“When people think about a career they generally think about where they would like to work. I say instead of looking for an employer, why not create that job yourself in the thriving property market.

“As 'The Property Coach' I show them how it’s possible to not only create assets but earn passive monthly income from

rental while exercising some control over their destiny. “ R e s e a r c h IBBY ASLAM shows that there are fewer opportunities than in recent years as employers freeze their recruitment programmes and work experience placements dry up.

“This has been the worst public health emergency and economic downturn in living memory and it’s because of this that I want to help newcomers to the property market develop their skills and potential to create financial security,” Ibby added.

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Lena Thakrar Carter Bond Solicitors In M In March arc h 22020, 0 20, shops, s hops, rrestaurants es taura nts and an nd offices off ff ices emptied emptied as the the ‘Stay ‘Stay ay Home.

Home. Save Save Lives Lives message message eechoed choed tthrough hrough tthe he sstreets. treets.

The Omicron T he eemergence mergence of of tthe he O micron variant varriant in in late late November November 2021 2021 has has also also served served as as a stark starrk reminder reminder that that the the threat threat a of of new new waves wav aves of of infection infection continue contin nu ue to to loom loom and and 2022 2022 starts starrts with with similar similar uncertainties uncertaaiinties as as the the start start of market of 2021, 2021, however however the the real real eestate state m arke ket iiss off rrecovery. sshowing howing ssigns igns o ecov o ery.

B e h av io u r a l c h a n g e s ( w i t h m o re working ffrrom home, online and local shopping) mean that the requirement ffo or both retail and offff ice space has chaan nged since the pandemic with tenants seeking to ffu uture proof plans with break clauses, m o n t h l y r e n t p ay m e n t s a n d o t h e r l e a s e concessions when agreeing terms ffo or new space.

The market has T he rreal eal al eestate state m arket h as ccontinued ontinued tto o off tthe uncertainties and eevolve volve iin n tthe he fface a ce o he u ncertainties an nd key wee h have k e cchanges ey hanges tthat hat w ave sseen een iinclude: nclude: (a) An increase in demand ffo or difffeerent leases, including turnover based leases where part of the rent is based on the level of turnover generated by the tenant, which can be a valuable m e c h a n i s m e n g a g i n g b o t h l a n d l o rd s and tenants – when the tenant succeeds, so does the laan ndlord. (b) Sub-letting of part - most commercial leases restrict sub-letting of part, but this is becoming more attractive, particularly to tenants that occupy offff ices.

(c) Te Tenants becoming acutely ffo ocused on clauses that may allow ffo or rent concessions where there is a ‘lockdown’.

Without such a clause the tenant must carry on paying the rent even though it cannot use the property. (d) Flexible and alternative space -although there is more agile working as a result of Covid, this does not necessarily mean it is ffaarewell to the offff ice. In most industries there will be a combination of working ffrrom home and being offff ice based. (e) Commercial property holders diversiffyying their portffo olio to more progressive lateraall thinking regarding alternative uses ffo or property, including t h e c o nv e r s io n o f p re m i s e s t o residential property aan nd the conversion to serviced offff ices. (f ) The advent of the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill (expected to become law in March 2022) means that the c u r r e n t r e s t r i c t i o n s o n l a n d l o r d s’ enffo o rc e m e nt a c t io n w i l l c o nt i nu e t o apply beyond March 2022.

We started 2021 talking about the Covid-19 pandemic, and the impact that restrictions and lockdowns were having on the property industry and 2022 has also s t a r t e d w i t h s o m e a nt ic i p a t io n o v e r t h e possible impact newly tightened restrictions might have. 2022 will no doubt be another roller coaster year but the changing legal landscape will ffo orm an important backdrop to transactional activity in the year ahead.

Lena Thakrar L ena T hak akrar Carter Bond Solicitors Email: E mail: lena@carterbond.co.uk Telephone: T elephone: 0203 475 6751 Mobile: M obile: 0793 903 3890

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How more space and sunlight became paramount for British Asians while buying new houses Shefali Saxena House prices may have been going up and down during the pandemic, but many British Asians did end up finding their new dream home in the last 20 months. Some realised the importance of having more space and essentially home offices due to work from home or hybrid culture; others grew in size as a family and realised that a more sustainable and spacious set-up would be key to surviving any kind of situation in the future.

Asian Voice spoke to new homeowners to understand the change in their needs, buying experiences and the criteria to select a comfortable home.

Sumit Srivastava who works for a top Indian information technology company in the UK bought a brand new house during the pandemic. He lives in Reading with his wife and a one-year-old daughter. He said that because of the pandemic, there was a shortage of supply of raw materials. “Especially for the UK, Brexit and the pandemic coming together did not help at all,” Sumit told Asian Voice.

While searching for his new home, he physically visited over 100 homes and realised that the demand for old homes as compared to new homes was also equally high. He directly wrote to the CEO of the real estate firm who assigned a senior level associate to help Srivastava find his perfect home, which made his search much better.

While looking for a new house, the Reading-based professional he and his wife were sure that they wanted a 3 - 5 bedroom house which would also have a separate study space (office space) and coordinates that would make sure ample amount of sunlight came into the house. Most people according to him now utilise their garage space as an in-house gym or office, while they park the car in the driveway.

“Both my wife and I are working professionals, and our

daughter also needs her own playroom, so a four-bedroom set-up worked best for us. We have a backyard along with a space we’ve designed in a way that is separate from our living room, and more like our living space with a couch and TV. When the UK is lucky enough to get sunlight, this area will be sunbathed. So we did our math.

“Getting the sunlight inside the house was imperative. In winters at 2 degrees we cannot go out to soak the Sun, so we have chosen a place where the garden will receive sunlight and we can be indoors.

“This place has a fair mix of British and Indian population, so that was comforting for us. Old houses tend to have a larger courtyard because some of them are from the 1920s, and also have a front yard, but then we realised that the houses we liked were already quite expensive and on top of it you’d have to put in money for renovation,” he told the newsweekly.

“Some friends who have bought old homes have spent £5000 fixing old gas pipes. So we were more inclined to buy a new home,” he added.

The price that Sumit Srivastava paid for his house was £100,000 above the budget he initially had in mind, but the layout of the house makes each penny worth spending for him. “I wouldn’t say it’s a fabulous deal but I can’t say that I have been looted either!” he told us.

Debasree Ghosh, a creative professional at a leading global advertising agency is moving into her new plush four-bedroom home with her husband, two young daughters and two dogs. While looking for a suitable property, for Debasree, the non-negotiable rule was to at least have four beds and outside space. She wanted to make sure that it wasn’t on a busy road.

Speaking to Asian Voice, she categorically mentioned, “We have room for a home office,” which was another important requirement while she was looking to move. For Ghosh, she said that the price she and her husband paid for

The importance of choosin ngg the riigght loan for a bu uy y-to-let inv veestment

Paresh Raajja CEO, Market Financial Solutions Finance fo Finance ffor or b buy-to-let uy-to-let (BTL) uy (BTL) investments inv n estments is is in in high demand. h i gh d emand. IIn n 2021, 2021, BTL BTL lending lending rreached eached a massive billion, m as sive ££44.5 44 .5 b illion, aaccording ccording tto o Mortgage Lenders Association IIntermediary ntermediary M ortgage L enders A ssociation off 117% on previous – a rrise ise o 7% o n tthe he p revious yyear. ear.

The outlook ffo or the coming 12 months is s i m i l a r ly p o s i t i v e . Wi t h m o s t e x p e r t s predicting house price growth in the region of 3-5%, and rents expected to increase by around 4.5%, it is lik keely that the buy-to-let mark keet will remain highly competitive. In ffaact, a recent study suggested that 34% of UK landlords plan to buy at least one property in 2022.

The question, then, is where should buyto-let investors turn to f inance their property purchases?

There are two primary options to choose between: bridging loans, ffo or those seeking a short-term solution beffo ore capital becomes available to them ffrrom elsewhere (such as the sale of another property); or Buy-T To o-Let Mortgages.

Choosing buy-to-let C hoosing tthe he rright ight b uy-to-let product uy product BTL in nvvestors will, of course, primarily be ffo ocused on selecting the right property – one that will match long-term capital growth with high tenant demand and healthy rental yields. However, if they are to successffu ully navigate the competitive market and efffeectively develop a portffo olio of rental properties, they will also need to choose the right f inancial products.

Market Financial Solutions (MFS) can provide both bridging loans and mortgages.

W i t h 1 5 y e a r s’ e x p e r i e n c e a s a l e a d i n g bridging lender, we recently launched a new

range of Buy-T To o-Let Mortgages.

We are offfeering a super ffllexible interest cover ratio (ICR) ffrrom 120%, which can then be combined with rolled up and deffeerred monthly payments, deffeerred interest of up to 1.5%, and top slicing. This will help achieve the right loan size, even on prime London properties, while av o i d i n g failed transactions, delays and lost ffeees.

With two and three-year terms and a bespok kee approach, our loans provide choice and breathing space between bridge exits or i n i t i a l p u rc h a s e s a n d f u t u re lo n g -t e r m f inancing.

Speed Speed and and flexibility flexibility remain fl remain key key Whether going down the bridging or mortgage route, there are several qualities to look ffo or in a Buy-T To o-Let lender: Speed is one. As noted, the property market is expected to remain highly competitive in 2022 due to signif icant demand and limited supply, so the ability to act ffaast will prove a major advantage ffo or a buyer.

Flexibility is another. Brokers and in nvvestors will want a lender that is able to tailor products to the borrower’s particular n e e d s a n d c i rc u m s t a n c e s . O f f -t h e - s h e l f products leave little room ffo or more complex cases – these typically require a bespoke approach, particularly in the uncertain climate brought about by Covid-19.

Ultimately, with residential properties likkeely to be in high demand, and potential challenges on the horizon in the ffo orm of rising interest rates, it will be more important than ever that buy-to-let investors choose both their lender and products wisely in 2022.

Paaresh Raajja is tth P he ffo ounder and C CE EO of Market F Fiinancial Solutions ((M MFSS)) – a London-based brid dgging loan provviiderr.. Prriior to establissh hing MF MFSS in 20066,, P Paaressh h worrkked as a senior proffeessional consulttaant in one of tth he to op p ffiive manageem ment consultanccyy ffiirrm mss,, and also set u up p an indeep pendent invveesttm ment ggrrou up p.

19

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the property was justified considering the area. However, it was slightly under budget.

When asked what she does in order to practice sustainable living methods at home, Debasree said, “I'm Indian. Reuse and recycle is a way of living for us.”

20

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5 - 11 March 2022

Dear Financial Voice Reader,

Alpesh Patel

With the Russian situation you may think the stock market is too complicated and decide to give their money to a fund manager should be careful. British Indians, the readers of this paper tend to be more cash-rich than average and so more likely to invest.

It has been a difficult few years for UK investment fund managers. Between the debacle of the Woodford Equity Income Fund and the COVID-19 pandemic, "star" funds that promised so much have led only to disappointment for investors. Investors looking to find the right home for their pension, SIPP, or ISA, have a decision to make: lose money due to UK investment fund manager's underperformance or learn more about investing themselves.

Everywhere you look, you can find evidence of UK fund managers terrible performance. The S&P Global's Indices Versus Active (SPIVA) scorecard is a measure of how fund managers perform against their benchmark. In 2018, they reported that almost three out of every four active fund managers had underperformed against the market. More recently, in the tumultuous economic conditions that are touted as the most favourable for fund managers, only around 70% beat the benchmark.

While this would be concerning alone, it's only one part of a larger picture. The performance of some of the UK's largest funds is shocking. Over the last three years, the Invesco UK Equity High Income Fund had a three-year underperformance of 21%. This fund — in the UK All Companies sector — holds over £3.2b, much of it pension and savings funds.

Two other funds of similar size with a lousy performance are JP Morgan's US Equity Income Fund which holds over £3.2b and has badly underperformed against the resurgent US stock market by around 27%. Another behemoth fund that can't keep up with its benchmark is Schroders Personal Wealth Multi-Manager International Equity X. While it is up overall, it lags the market by 11%.

Sadly, this pattern continues throughout the investment fund industry. Witan (WTAN) chief executive Andrew Bell has recently apologised to investors after what he termed a lamentable performance during the covid crisis. They trailed the market by a shocking 12%, which Bell explained, was due to inactivity in cutting the fund's exposure to UK stocks affected during the pandemic and the resulting lockdowns.

The fund had performed strongly in 2019, but that progress was wiped out by dithering for too long during the crisis, eventually leading to the losses.

Ninety One, the self-styled sustainable active investors, have admitted that about a third of its funds are underperforming against the market. With a total value of close to £2b, three of their funds had all suffered low returns for investors.

The Cautious Managed — a £1.2b total fund — is down about 11% over three years and trailing the industry average by around 17%. While things weren't looking too good for two of its other funds, the UK Special Situations (down 18%, 15% against the market) and the UK Total Returns have returned a staggering -23%, well behind the market average of 3%.

For those who invest in their pensions in index funds, 2020 was a bad year. The FTSE 100 fell by around 14.3%, which was its worst year since the global financial crisis of 2008. While some of these problems were due to Brexit and a larger market recession, these mitigating circumstances will be of scant consolation to anyone who has lost a large chunk of their retirement fund. This exposure, of course, is the long-stated issue with index funds and underlines the importance of diversifying into different types of bonds or other investments.

One of the most striking aspects of UK funds chronic underperformance is the high fees charged to have a seat at the table. It is estimated that underperforming funds have charged their investors around £1/2bn over the last years. Seventeen significant funds lagged behind the market over the previous three years, with funds like Investco's UK Equity Income and High-Income funds drawing over £70m in fees.

Paying huge fees to underperform the market is scandalous. Jupiter Asset Management also has three funds on the list of companies charging exorbitant fees for terrible returns: Income Trust, Absolute Return and the Uk Growth.Prices for these funds are around £35m combined.

For UK investors looking to grow their pension pot, none of this is good news. UK funds operate in a very efficient marketplace where small margins decide who the occasional victor is. Unfortunately for the investor, picking one of the handfuls of firms who make good on their promised returns isn't always easy. It is for this reason that UK investors should consider reducing the fees and learning to invest themselves. With the right guidance and some research, they can hardly do worse than some of these funds.

Global firm to create 2,000 new jobs in Gujarat IT sector Shefali Saxena An MoU has been signed between QX Global Group Limited, an international business process management company, and the Department of Science and Technology of the State Government, in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel.

The MoU on Strategic Partnership will create about 2,000 jobs in the IT sector in the state.

QX Global Group also acquires an 80% stake in Management Consulting & Advisory Services Firm Chazey Partners enhancing its reach and service offerings.

Under the visionary leadership of Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel, the Gujarat Government has signed its first MoU for Strategic Partnership with an international company in the field of business process management.

The signing of this first MoU was a result of the newly announced IT / ITES Policy-2022-27.

The Strategic Partnership MoU was signed in the presence of the Chief Minister and under the guidance of Shri Vijay Nehra, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Gujarat Government.

The Deputy Director, Science and Technology, Gujarat Government, and Shri Snehal Patel, Chief Financial Officer of QX Global Group Ltd., signed the MoU on behalf of the two sides.

Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel welcomed the first-ever Strategic Partnership MoU signed under the recently announced IT Policy aimed to build a robust infrastructure to accelerate IT sector growth in the state.

He added that Gujarat was committed to building a self-reliant India under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. This new IT policy will take this vision to the next level.

The Chief Minister congratulated QX Global for this initiative and said

that the state government would also provide all necessary assistance for their Gujarat operations.

Frank Robinson, Group CEO of QX Global Group, who participated in the MoU signing virtually, said that QX Global, which started with its collaboration with the state at Ahmedabad in 2006-07, has now gained international fame with a trained workforce of over 2,300. Of them, 1,700 professionals are working in Gujarat. As a result of the fresh MoU, an additional 2,000 jobs would be created in the IT sector in the coming years, he added.

Speaking to Asian Voice in an exclusive interview, Robinsons said, “What we've seen increase in 18 years in the journey of QX in India is the progress from slow India to fast India.

Our offices in Ahmedabad have transformed. We're proud to bring our clients there, because they stand up against New York City, or London and anywhere in the world. Our offices in the metro cities are in fast India. India is ready for the next generation.”

“We're looking to scale the business and we've doubled it in a year. So we're going to double it again next year, which means that potential 2000 opportunities for bright young Indian talent to join our organisation. And that links nicely with the MoU where clearly the Gujarat government has identified a sweet spot. The timing couldn't have been better. Our commitment to the chief minister was about recruiting more than 2000 new employees in the next five years in Gujarat.

“But actually, that's just a drop in the ocean before we could actually recruit across the whole of India.

We're very grateful to the Gujarat government for being so innovative and so far-sighted in terms of that opportunity. Even though we've expanded across India, 80% of our employees work in Gujarat, and it's just been a joy and a pleasure to be the first company to be able to sign an MoU with the Chief Minister,” Frank added.

Speaking of recruiting and gender balance, Phil Searle, CEO - Chazey Partners told Asian Voice, “The biggest thing about Gen Z is that they're not just interested in working for money. They're interested in working for a company that gives back. At the moment, our business is 67%, male and 33% female, however, we've got when it gets to the senior management level, the danger is that women are underrepresented. Now, I'm a dad, with two strong independent young women who have both grown up to be in their mid-20s. Now and above gone on for careers. So I'm passionate about ensuring that we can change the demographic within QX and allow females to really benefit from our hybrid working and our family culture.”On Monday, 14th February 2022, QX Global Group also announced the multi-million dollar acquisition of an 80% stake in Austin, Texas-based Chazey Partners, a world-class management consulting and advisory firm specializing in business and digital transformation.

Together, QX and Chazey Partners will work to deliver innovative solutions that cover transformative consulting, digital services, and business process outsourcing, customized to meet each client’s specific needs.

QX also plans on augmenting its near-shoring and offshoring capabilities by opening a new Centre of Excellence (COE) in India.

Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister Shri Pankaj Joshi and officials of the IT department were also present on the occasion.

Hinduja Global Solutions will provide customer support to UK Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS), a business-process management firm, said that its subsidiary has won a contract from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) worth £211 million.

The UKHSA runs the National Health Service’s Covid-19 test and trace exercise and this contract will assist with future contact-tracing needs and other health security risks such as a large flu outbreak or new pandemic.

HGS has been operating in the UK market for over 10 years. While rev-

enues for the year ended March 2021 were approx £67 million, in the nine months ended December 2021, HGS UK more than doubled its revenues to £87 million, said the company.

HGS UK will now provide customer support to UK citizens for two years, with an option to extend the contract. They will be employing more than 2,000 work-at-home positions

across the UK. Over the last decade, HGS has developed and grown its partnership with the UK government, with this becoming its biggestever win in the public sector to date.

Adam Foster, CEO of HGS Europe, said, “Winning this opportunity is a credit to the past 10 years of expansion of the UK business, and the public sector expertise we’ve developed and have become recognised for.”

Sunak says tax hike necessary to fund NHS In a speech at the University of London's Bayes Business School, Chancellor Rishi Sunak insisted that the ruling Conservative Party remains the party of low taxation, despite his plan to hike National Insurance from April 1 so workers, employers, and the self-employed pay 1.25 pence more on every pound earned.

Sunak said, “I am going to deliver a lower tax economy, but I am going to do so in a responsible way, and in a way that tackles our long-term challenges.” He said tax cuts will only become possible after “hard work, prioritization, and the willingness to

National Health Service, make difficult and often and pay for improvements unpopular arguments to the social care system. elsewhere” and cannot Ironically, the be made if the governInternational Monetary ment has major spendFund added to Sunak's ing plans. problems this week by saySunak's tax hike ing in its annual review of comes as UK housethe UK economy that, while holds face a sharp rise in Rishi Sunak growth should remain heating bills because of strong, 'price pressures and risks' will rises in the price of oil and natural mount. It said Sunak should, theregas, and as inflation, fueled by govfore, address 'demand-supply imbalernment spending on the fight ances' by raising taxes on people 'who against the pandemic and supplyhave benefited most from the panchain challenges, has devalued the demic' - a so-called 'windfall on money in people's pockets. The tax wealth tax'. rise will help fund the under-pressure

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FINANCE & REAL ESTATE

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5 - 11 March 2022

Govt pays £790 mn, settles Cairn dues The government has paid the UK’s Cairn Energy £790 million to refund taxes it had collected to enforce a retrospective tax demand, ending a seven-year-old dispute that had tarred India's image as an investment destination.

The company, which is now known as Capricorn Energy plc, said it has received “net proceeds of $1.06 billion”, of which nearly 70% will be returned to

shareholders. The tax department had used a 2012 legislation, which gave it powers to go back 50 years

and slap capital gains levies wherever ownership had changed hands overseas but business assets were in India, to seek £1.02 billion in taxes from Cairn.

Cairn had in 2006-07 reorganised its India business, which comoperations of prised Rajasthan oilfields, prior to

its listing on stock exchanges. While the company sold majority holding in the India unit to Vedanta in 2011, it was in 2014 slapped with the tax demand notice over alleged capital gains made on the reorganisation. The British firm contested the demand, saying all taxes due were duly paid when the reorganisation, which was approved by all statutory authorities, took place.

Airtel to buy Voda’s 4.7% stake in Indus Towers Bharti Airtel said it has signed an agreement to buy Vodafone’s 4.7% stake in Indus Towers on the condition that the proceeds will be used for investment in Vodafone Idea and clearing its dues towards the mobile tower company.

The deal is expected to be in the range of £300 million, industry sources said, though the companies refused to confirm.

Debt-ridden Vodafone Idea (Vi) has been unable to pay dues to Indus Towers and both Vi and promoter Vodafone have proposed a payment plan to clear the

outstanding amount by July 15.

In the meantime, Vi has committed to pay certain minimum amount each month to Indus Towers.

Vodafone through its group firm Euro Pacific

Reliance may take charge of 500 Future retail stores Reliance Retail could be taking over around 500 stores that are operated by Future Retail (FRL), parent company of hypermarket chain Big Bazaar among others, which is facing “an acute financial crisis”.

Around 30,000 people employed by FRL are expected to join the rolls of Reliance Retail over the next few days as the company intends to replace the signages of FRL-related brands at these stores with those of its own.

“Depending on the store formats and locations, the decisions will be taken,” said a source. “Some, for instance, could become Reliance Smart.” The development is seen as a win-win proposition for the two entities that have faced a stiff legal challenge from Amazon over the last 18 months as the US e-tailer is seeking to block the transaction. It is part of the scheme of arrangement to keep FRL stores afloat at a time when the Kishore Biyani-controlled company has defaulted in loan repayment and has been classified as a non- performing asset.

“The company has been finding it difficult to finance the working capital needs.

Increasing losses at store level is a grave concern and is a vicious cycle where larger operations are leading to higher losses. The Company has made a loss of £444.5 million in the last four quar-

ters. Termination notices have been received for (a) significant number of stores due to huge outstanding, and we would no longer have access to such store premises. The company is scaling down its operations. . . ,” Future Retail said in a stock exchange filing.

Securities has sold nearly 2.4% stake in Indus Towers in a bulk deal at an average price of around Rs 227 per share to an undisclosed buyer for about £ 144.2 million.

Airtel said the acquisi-

tion of stake would be at an attractive price, representing a significant discount typically available for such large block transactions.

“In addition, Airtel is also protected with a capped price which is lower than the price for the block of Indus shares sold by Vodafone on February 24, 2022. This shall be value accretive to Airtel and protect its existing significant shareholding in Indus Currently, Towers.

Vodafone holds about 28% stake in Indus Towers, while that of Bharti Airtel is close to 42%.

Swiggy looks to start drone delivery service Swiggy, which is in the process of making the transition from a food-ordering and delivery company to a digital convenience platform, is set to take its drone-led delivery ambitions to the next level.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company has invited proposals from bidders for drones as a service to help it execute deliveries using these for groceries and essential items in several major cities for six months. While last year it ran test flights with airspace company ANRA Technologies in a controlled environment, the current exercise will see the food-tech company run test

flights in real-life scenarios.

Consumers, however, may have to wait a bit more before a drone delivers pizzas and biryanis to their doorstep, as Swiggy will be piloting the service as a strictly business-to-business (B2B) model.

A drone, for instance, can be used to fly goods from one Instamart dark store to another if either one runs out of stock for certain items.

Instamart is Swiggy’s quick commerce initiative that depends on a network of warehouses (dark stores) to deliver groceries within an hour.

LIC starts to attract global investors ahead of its IPO LIC has started its roadshows to attract investors across the globe. The aim is to get the attention of bigticket investors seeking their participation in India’s leading public issue to date.

Following fund houses has participated in the roadshow – Aberdeen Asset Management, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Capital Group, California University Endowment, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. Moreover, the following investors participated in this roadshow virtually- HSBC MF, Franklin Templeton and Standard Life.

Besides these big global investors, some of India’s

leading domestic institutional investors are also participating in this roadshow.

As per Government sources, they are in conversation with various domestic and international investors regarding their participation in this public issue.

However, they do not want to make any public announcements till they are sure about their participa-

tion. Moreover, factoring in the current market scenario and the time constraints, they have started this process as soon as possible.

As per the draft papers, the government is planning to raise about $10 billion through this public issue.

Additionally, it will also help the government to meet its disinvestment targets and fiscal digit.

Suzuki, Toyota in talks to make electric cars in Gujarat The Gujarat plant of Japanese carmaker Suzuki Motor could be used to manufacture electric cars for both Maruti and Toyota, a top Maruti Suzuki official said. Suzuki, which is the parent of Maruti Suzuki, has been selected for benefits under the government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, and may make green cars for the requirements of both Maruti and Toyota.

On the prospects of manufacturing Toyota cars at Gujarat, Maruti MD & CEO Kenichi Ayukawa said, “We have to discuss with them. ” Asked for further details, he said, “That part is still in discussions by Suzuki Japan. We haven’t received any final result. But we have to carefully see.”

Ayukawa said Toyota Japan has announced an aggressive global plan for electric models, but added that he is not sure whether any of them would come into the fold of Suzuki’s Gujarat plant. “We don’t know that yet. We have no information as yet.”

Toyota and Suzuki are already in a business alliance as well as a product-development and model-sharing relationship. The partnership stems from an agreement that the companies signed in 2018, years after Suzuki’s alliance with the German Volkswagen Group had collapsed.

The partnership has seen Maruti share products such as Baleno hatch with Toyota (under the Glanza badging), as well as Brezza mini SUV (called Urban Cruiser). These are produced at Maruti and Suzuki’s factories and are then sold to Toyota with certain changes to the exterior and interior styling. It is also understood that the companies have developed a premium SUV - a competitor to Hyundai’s Creta, Kia’s Seltos, and VW’s Taigun - which would be made at Toyota’s factory in Bangalore.

CBI arrests former NSE top executive Anand Subramanian Former NSE Group Operating Officer Anand Subramanian, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation earlier on February 25, was the mysterious Yogi who guided the actions of former CEO Chitra Ramkrishna, CBI sources said. Sources said that Anand was the person who had created the e-mail ID ‘rigyajursama@outlook.com’, which Chitra used to transfer NSE's confidential information from rchitra@icloud.com.

The CBI had arrested Anand after expanding its investigation into a co-location scam in the National Stock Exchange following the emergence of “fresh facts” in a Sebi report that referred to a mysterious yogi guiding the actions of Chitra.

Chitra, who succeeded former CEO Ravi Narain in 2013, had appointed Anand as her advisor who was later elevated as Group Operating Officer (GOO) at a fat pay of £421,000.

Anand's controversial appointment and later elevation besides crucial decisions were guided by an unidentified person who Anand claimed was a mysterious Yogi dwelling in the Himalayas, a probe into Anand's email exchanges during the Sebi-ordered audit showed.

An audit report allegedly referred to Anand as a mysterious yogi, but it was dismissed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in its report on February 11, the CBI said. Anand had left the NSE in December 2016.

Years later, the SEBI charged Chitra and and others with alleged governance lapses in the appointment of Anand as the chief strategic advisor and his re-designation as group operating officer and advisor to MD.

Madhabi Puri Buch appointed Sebi head The government has appointed Madhabi Puri Buch as the chairman of markets regulator Sebi with an initial term of three years. Buch, the first woman to be a whole-time member at Sebi, will now be the first woman to lead a financial regulatory body in India. Buch took charge on March 1, the day the term of Ajay Tyagi, the current chairman, ends. She is also the first person from the private sector to head a financial market regulatory body in India. Till October last year, Buch was a whole-time member at Sebi and demitted office a few months before completing her five-year term with the regulator. In December, she was appointed to head Sebi's Advisory Committee for Leveraging Regulatory and Technology Solutions, a panel that advises the regulator on using cutting-edge technology solutions for regulatory and supervisory actions.

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SCRUTATOR’S Enjoy music while travelling in Shatabdi, Vande Bharat Express Now the passengers of the Delhi division of Shatabdi Express and Vande Bharat Express trains can enjoy radio music while travelling. When passengers travel across Delhi, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Amritsar, Ajmer, Kanpur, Dehradun, Varanasi, Katra and Kathgodam, they will be greeted by radio music and connectivity in transit. The Northern Railway has been awarded a contract to provide full entertainment to passengers and give a feel about cities they are travelling through radio service in all Shatabdi Express as well as Vande Bharat Trains of Delhi Division. According to sources, the primary focus of this initiative is to provide an enjoyable journey to each passenger and with a feel good factor and it also mentioned that travellers would love to have various types of music listening in trains. According to Northern Railways, this innovative idea is for advertising through Radio in a total of 10 Shatabdi and two Vande Bharat Express trains. (Agency) Doing sit-ups in the middle of an election rally

A BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh stood up on a chair at an election rally and performed a series of sit-ups on stage, asking his constituency for forgiveness for any mistakes made during the past five years of BJP rule. The show of repentance came as Bhupesh Chaubey addressed a workers' conference in his constituency, Robertsganj in eastern UP's Sonbhadra, where he is seeking re-election. Praising the workers at the convention as "godlike", Chaubey asked them to once again give him their blessings (votes) just as they did in the 2017 elections. "With folded hands, I am asking for your forgiveness," said Chaubey. Then he dramatically started doing sit-ups on a chair. The crowd responded with loud cheers, shouting slogans and raising their hands in support of the BJP candidate. Reports suggest that Chaubey allegedly faces some voters' anger. But his party seems confident that he will make it through. "Like in 2017, Chaubey will win the 2022 election with a huge majority," said Jharkhand's former health minister and BJP MLA Bhanu Pratap Shahi. (Agency) Brother gets emotional during sister’s 'vidai' Siblings fight, tease, and even get angry at each other. However, that is not all that this relationship is about because beneath all the fights, there is a special bond of love that the siblings share. A video recently aptly shows that relationship and there’s a chance that it will melt your heart into a puddle. The clip shows a brother’s emotional reaction during his sister’s 'vidai'. The video was shared by Abhiram EK on his Instagram page. The clip shows him with his elder sister Harsha. It was captured on the day of Harsha’s wedding that took place in Kerala. The video shows the brother and sister embraced in a tight hug. From the body language of the brother, one can figure out that he is in tears over his sister leaving. Abhiram said, “It was that moment I realised I won’t be seeing her

every day, she’s not just my sister anymore she’s also a wife of another person and all the memories started to appear as a flash in front of my eyes. I never thought we shared such a strong bond until that very moment,” he said. (Agency) India's Don Juan arrested Bibhu Prakash Swain believed in soulmates and true love, or so he might have told dozens of women he allegedly married and conned across India before his arrest recently in Bhubaneswar.

Investigators believe Swain married at least 27 women in 10 states and they are now going through his mobile phone records where he saved his wives’ contacts – as Madam Delhi, Madam Assam or Madam UP – named after the places in India where they stayed. “He primarily did this for their money, and some sexual pleasure,” senior police official Sanjiv Satpathy said. The diminutive 67-year-old scoured marriage websites posing as a 51year-old doctor and persuaded professors, lawyers, medics and a paramilitary officer all over the country to tie the knot. In status-conscious India he claimed to draw a fat salary and used fake identification cards and appointment letters to bolster his credentials and family background. He targeted successful single, widowed or divorced women in their late 40s. A few “happy and satisfying days into the marriage”, police said, Swain used to make excuses to borrow his new wives’ money or jewellery to help him with an emergency. He then moved on to his next target. He also allegedly defrauded 13 banks of $135,000 with forged credit cards, and ran a chain of medical labs where doctors and other staff went for months without pay. Swain, born in a small village in Odisha, first married in 1978 and has three children – two of them doctors and one a dentist – with his first wife. (Agency) This Muslim publisher's undying bond with Sanskrit

Murtuza Khambhatwala, the 41-yearold publisher from Surat, will complete 11 years of a bond that he has with Sanskrit.

The desktop publishing professional, a Muslim from Dawoodi Bohra community, has been bringing out a Sanskrit daily since 2011 notwithstanding the hardships he has to endure in the process, but these challenges only keep him motivated to

strive harder to keep his passion alive.

Khambhatwala started it in partnership with D C Bhatt, later became the sole owner after Bhatt discontinued. “It was challenging to run the paper from the start. But due to some government advertisements, it survived for the initial few years and later it has become a passion for me,” said the man who spends from his pocket to keep the paper running. Due to financial crisis, he printed copies only to order and started a website to provide free access to all who wish to read or learn the ancient Indian language.

“We are the only daily that provides news only in Sanskrit. The website was started to provide benefits to foreign readers as well,” he added. (The Times of India) Youngest yoga instructor Reyansh Surani, now 10, achieved the

impossible feat of becoming the youngest certified yoga instructor in the world, setting a new Guinness record on July 27, 2021, at a tender age of nine. He started practicing yoga since he was one-year-old.

Now settled in Dubai with his parents, Reyansh received his certification from Anand Shekhar Yoga School. He had completed a 200-hour Yoga Teacher’s Training Course to be awarded the certificate. The young guru has no definite plans for the future, even though one of his ambitions is to host virtual reality yoga classes. Now, he is teaching individuals in small private classes. He also teaches his peers in groups of 10-15 kids per session at school. (The Times of India) Disability won't deter this research scholar Disability studies is an all-new realm of academics. It deals not with the medical aspect, but the social, cultural and political realms. And Sharada Devi, a research scholar based in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala believes it is a field brimming with potential. And she has gone ahead and submitted a doctoral thesis in the field. Titled ‘The Politics of Privilege in Select Discourses on Disability’, the thesis was submitted on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, December 3. “Disability studies looks at how people and society see disability,” Sharada says. “It’s a field that has activism involved in it and uses a humanistic approach. Disability doesn’t mean limitation.” She says disability studies came into being to thwart the discrimination, oppression and

marginalising of the community in society. Her research work spanned three years and seven months, more so because she was a disabled researcher using a wheelchair. “I’ve faced a lot of difficulties in this society that caters to the nondisabled people. As a disabled researcher, I find that the pandemic period has helped me a lot, when the digital platforms were engaged for academic purposes.” Sharada feels that ‘differently-abled’ is a euphemistic term, and not one that is true to the situation existing in our society.

Hence, she prefers the term ‘disabled.’

Sharada is now gearing up to defend her thesis, and preparing for job interviews and doing online tutoring. (Agency) Women cyclists connect India’s East to West

Meera Velankar and Tasneem Mohsin began their cycling expedition from Kibithoo, the last town on the Indo-China border in eastern India on January 27.

Almost a month later they will reach Koteshwar, the last Indian town on the Indo-Pakistan border, having covered 3,800 km on their bicycles. Covering between 150 to 175 km every day these Bengaluru-based cyclists will achieve a unique feat. Never before has a pair of women cyclists travelled from India’s easternmost town to the last town on the western borders of the country. They reached Bhuj last week. Meera, 45, who has been cycling for the past 10 years and is among India’s top long-distance cyclists, said that cycling from India’s eastern-most town to the last town on the western coast with another woman cycling has been extremely satisfying. “I have done long distance trips with male cyclists earlier, but this expedition has truly been challenging and satisfying,” said Meera. Mohsin, 42, who is passionate about cycling, has earned the ‘Super Randonneur’ two times by completing 200, 300, 400 and 600 km in a single year.

When asked about how tough the expedition was, Meera said, “Managing temperature variations in a short span is tough. Cycling in mountains in freezing cold to high temperatures in Gujarat and Rajasthan was a challenge. “It was scary at times when for miles together we did not see anything on the roads in Arunachal.

We are so used to seeing people, vehicles and roadside stalls, but the hilly regions of Arunachal Pradesh are completely deserted, she said.” (Agency)

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in brief INDIAN FOUNDER OF CRYPTOCURRENCY IN US INDICTED An Indian national in US who founded the cryptocurrency investment platform BitConnect has been indicted on charges of orchestrating a global Ponzi scheme worth $ 2.4 billion, federal prosecutors said. As per court documents, Satish Kumbhani (36) of Hemal in Gujarat misled investors about BitConnect’s “Lending Program.” BitConnect reached a peak market capitalisation of $ 3.4 billion, the department of justice said. “This indictment alleges a massive cryptocurrency scheme that defrauded investors of over $ 2 billion,” US attorney Randy Grossman for the southern district of California said. Kumbhani is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and price manipulation, operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business and conspiracy to commit international money laundering.

Pak PM Imran's Moscow visit termed 'foolhardy', ill-timed ISLAMABAD: Amidst the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the decision by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to visit Moscow has been termed 'illtimed' and 'foolhardy'. Terming it 'bad diplomacy', Federico Giuliani, writing for 'Inside Over' said that getting cozy with Putin is especially bad when Khan is facing a no-confidence motion and is in dire need of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans.

Calling the visit 'badly

timed' for taking place during the Ukraine crisis, the article highlights that no major deal has been promised, nor there is a chance of Pakistan being able to secure a loan from the Russians. The domestic audience in Pakistan has been told that the visit is a 'successful' attempt to wean Russia away from India. However, any notion of India and Russia falling apart is 'foolish', when India is a major buyer of defense equipment and can offer more

business to Russia than Pakistan can, the article further argued.

Imran Khan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week amid the ongoing crisis at the Ukraine-Russia border. Khan's ill-timed twoday visit, the first such trip by a Pakistani PM in 23 years, also aimed to push for the construction of a long-delayed, multibillion-dollar gas pipeline to be built in collaboration with Russian companies.

Pakistani security experts

In a first, Pak makes 2 Hindu officers as Lt Colonels US NATIONAL SENTENCED TO DEATH IN PAK A Pakistani court sentenced a US national of Pakistani origin to death for raping and beheading the daughter of Pakistan’s former envoy to South Korea. The body of Noor Mukadam, 27, was found in Islamabad on July 20. Police charged Zahir Jaffer, from one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families, with a murder that has dominated headlines ever since. Investigators say Jaffer lured Mukadam to his home, held her there for two days and then brutally murdered her.

NEPALI, CHINESE MEN HELD IN SCAM TARGETING INDIANS Police in Nepal arrested 115 Nepali and two Chinese nationals for their involvement in running an online fraud loan scheme targeting Indians. They were arrested in separate raids conducted in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur districts in Kathmandu valley for their involvement in fraudulent cyber activities. One of the arrested Chinese national, identified as Chang Hu bao, operated illegal business activities targeting Indians with the help of Nepali youth. A total of 48 laptops and 14 desktop PCs were also confiscated in the raids.

BIDEN NOMINATES FIRST BLACK WOMAN SC JUDGE US President Joe Biden has selected federal appellate judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to become the first Black woman to serve on the US Supreme Court, the White House said, setting the stage for a confirmation battle in the closely divided Senate. Biden picked Jackson, 51, for a lifetime job on the nation’s top judicial body to succeed retiring liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, who at 83 is the court’s oldest member. Of the 115 people who have ever served on the SC, only two have been Black and both of then were men.

Jackson, if confirmed by the Senate, would become the sixth woman ever to serve on the court, which currently has three female justices.

QUAKE KILLS 7 IN INDONESIA’S SUMATRA A strong and shallow earthquake hit Indonesia’s Sumatra island, killing seven people and injuring 85, while causing panic on the island and in neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.

The magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck about 66 km north-northwest of Bukittinggi, a hilly town in West Sumatra province, according to the US Geological Survey. At least four people, including two children, were killed in Pasaman district and three people died in the neighboring district of West Pasaman, which is near the epicenter where dozens of houses and buildings reportedly collapsed, said Abdul Muhari, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s spokesperson. The quake sent more than 5,000 people fleeing their homes to temporary shelters mostly in the devastated areas of Pasaman and West Pasaman districts.

ISLAMABAD: Two Hindu officers in the Pakistan Army have been elevated to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel for the first time, Pakistan’s official media has reported. The move has garnered considerable interest on social media in country.

Major Kelash Kumar and Major Aneel Kumar have been promoted to the post of Lieutenant Colonel after the Pakistan Army Promotion Board approved their promotions, media reports said.

Kelash Kumar, who hails from Tharparkar district in Sindh province, had also become the country’s first-ever Major from the Hindu community in 2019, according to local media reports.

He was born in 1981 and joined the Pakistan Army in

Imran Khan

doubt if Khan has gone to Moscow with any strategy in mind. He has been urged to "be careful" while dealing with Putin as the Russian retains 'high regard for India and Modi as a leader.

Fuel crisis brings Sri Lanka to its knees COLOMBO: A worsening shortage of fuel has brought Sri Lankans of all walks of life to mile-long ques across the island, with little hope for a solution over the coming days. “We have never experienced anything like this in our lifetime. It is a disaster”, noted a senior citizen, forced to queue up for hours for a few liters of fuel.

The situation has worsened with farmers, already struck by the fertilizer crisis, left with no fuel for machinery used to harvest crops.

Farmers from ‘breadbasket’ areas in Sri Lanka were seen spending long nights on the street near fuel stations, for want of fuel to run crop processing machinery during a very short ‘dry’ window before rains are forecast. Farmers say that if harvested crops are not processed before wet weather hits, it could result in an unmitigated disaster.

Public transport has also come to a near standstill, and many Sri Lankans are finding it next to impossible to get to their places of work or carry out their day-to-day activities. The fuel shortage has also resulted in vegetables at the key wholesale markets dropping to a low, as they cannot be transported out of the markets to towns and villages.

Speaking on the crisis, Minister of Petroleum Udaya Gammanpilla said that if the Government will provide foreign exchange continuously, a continuous supply of fuel can be guaranteed. He claimed that the key crisis is neither fuel nor power, but the foreign exchange crisis.

2008 as a captain after completing his MBBS from the Liaquat University of Medical Health and Sciences in Jamshoro. Aneel Kumar is a year younger to Kelash, and he hails from Badin, also in Sindh province. He had joined the Pakistan Army in 2007, reports said. State-run Pakistan TV tweeted about the promotion of Kelash Kumar.

“Kumar has become the first Hindu officer promoted as Lt Colonel,” the PTV tweeted. The news was picked up by Kapil Dev, an active campaigner for the rights of the Hindu community in Pakistan. “History in Making Kelash Kumar becomes the first #Hindu officer to have been promoted as Lt Col in #PakArmy. Congratulations, Kelash!!!” Dev tweeted.

Former Sikh model sues IPL founder Lalit Modi LONDON: Former Indian Sikh model Gurpreet Gill Maag has sued IPL founder Lalit Modi in the London high court for £5 million. Maag, now a Singaporebased venture capitalist, claims she was scammed by Lalit, 56, who lives in London, alleging he duped her into thinking royals and world leaders such as Prince Andrew, former UN SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan and former Thailand PM Thaksin Shinawatra had invested in his cancer treatment company Ion Care.

Maag alleges that Lalit persuaded her to invest £1.4 million in Ion Care and is claiming direct losses of £700,000 -

which she did invest - and consequential losses. Ion Care was dissolved in June 2019. Maag claims she was persuaded to invest $2 million in the company during a four-hour meeting she had with Lalit between April 13 and 14, 2018 at the Four Seasons hotel in Dubai alongside her husband Daniel and that they were given a slide presentation.

Maag’s case is that Lalit falsely claimed that patrons of the Ion Care cancer scheme included Prince Andrew, King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain and Princess Haya bint Hussein of Jordan. She alleges the presentation showed that

prominent investors of the scheme included former Pakistan PM Shaukat Aziz, Antigua PM Gaston Browne, Indian politician Sharad Pawar, CEO of Pirelli Marco Tronchetti, billionaire Ravi Jaipuria and deputy PM of the UAE Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, who had allegedly invested $100 million.

Judge Murray Rosen QC asked whether these well-known political figures knew their names were being talked about,

Lalit Modi

Anna Dilnot QC, representing Maag, said that world leaders were unaware of their names being misused.

Chinese bank puts 'stringent' Insurance cover for disabled Bangladeshi people terms on Uganda airport loan A top Chinese lender has imposed aggressive repayment terms on a $200 million loan to expand Uganda's Entebbe international airport forcing the government to repay its debt before funding public services.

Chinese state banks are the biggest source of infrastructure funding to Africa, and have been criticised for their predatory lending practices although details of contracts are rarely made public.

Under the loan from China's Exim Bank to modernise the Entebbe Airport, the Ugandan government is required to chan-

nel all revenue from the country's only international airport into an account held jointly with the lender, according to the contract.

The government is then required to use part of the revenue to repay the loan each year, before it can invest in public services. "These are (more) aggressive terms than what we have seen earlier," US-based research lab AidData said. Chinese creditors - unlike other lenders from developed nations - require governments to deposit some earnings from big infrastructure projects in bank accounts they control to serve as collateral.

Dhaka: For the first time in Bangladesh, people with disabilities are being brought under health insurance. The name of the insurance policy is Bangabandhu Suraksha Bima for Persons of Disabilities.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina virtually opened the policy through a programme to observe National Insurance Day. Initially, four types of disabilities such as autism, down syndrome, intellectual disability and cerebral palsy will be treated at low cost.Initially it will be implemented through NeuroDevelopmental Disabilities Protection Trust (NDDPT) and Sadharan Bima Corporation (SBC), but later it will be implemented through all private non-life insurance companies.

Recently a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between the NDDPT and Sadharan Bima to implement the initiative. The initiative has been piloted for the disabled in Dhaka city, Dhaka district and Sylhet district. Chairman of Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority M Mosharraf Hossain and Bangladesh Insurance Association President Sheikh Kabir Hossain also spoke at the programme organised in Dhaka's Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.

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SOUTH INDIA

in brief

Karnataka HC reserves order in hijab row

Huge victory for DMK in urban civic polls CHENNAI: Ruling DMK and its allies notched a huge electoral victory in the just concluded urban civic polls winning over two-thirds of the 12,800 plus ward member posts and bagging all the 21 municipal corporations in Tamil Nadu for which results were declared last week.

DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin said the win is proof of people's endorsement of the 'Dravidian Model' of governance and added that he would slog to uphold the faith reposed by the people on him.

He thanked the people for bestowing his party and allies with victory.

A significant aspect of the poll result is the DMK wresting the western region from arch rival AIADMK. On victory in this region, which includes Coimbatore among others, Stalin recalled his pledge made after 2021 Assembly election win to work for all sections of people and regions including for those who have not voted for the DMK. Such complete dedication to ensure

people's welfare has led to the DMK capturing even the western 'Kongu' region, considered a fortress of the AIADMK, the Chief Minister said.

The DMK has won a majority in all the 21 municipal corporations including the Greater Chennai Corporation and also came out victorious in most of the 138 municipalities and 490 town panchayats. The ruling party has won 946 wards in corporations, 2,360 in municipalities and 4,388 in town panchayats which includes local bodies in the home turf of AIADMK leaders including former Chief Ministers K Palaniswami (Edappadi, Salem district) and O Panneerselvam (Periyakulam, Theni district).

BENGALURU: The full bench of the Karnataka high court which has been hearing the hijab row concluded hearing all the parties concerned in the case on the 11th day and reserved the judgment. The parties have been asked to give their written submission to the court. Indicating that the hearing would be wrapped up this week, the court had earlier asked the counsels in the case to finish their arguments by Friday last.

On Thursday last, senior advocate Devadatt Kamat appearing for a petitioner argued that the government order prohibiting any clothing that disturbs harmony in educational institutes is illegal.

The advocate general argued in the court that there is no ban on hijab as the government order banning all religious clothing in educational institutions. The government has also submitted a report on the progress of investigation in the complaint registered against Campus Front of India (CFI) in a sealed cover.

As the court was hearing the case, confusion was created by several interpretations of the government order banning all religious clothes from educational institutes.

According to reports, a Sikh girl was asked to remove her turban in a private minority institution, though the government has clarified that it is not interfering with the uniforms in the private-run minority institutions.

PUNJAB

SC to examine plea to reopen Sidhu's road rage case NEW DELHI: Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu could be in more trouble with the Supreme Court agreeing to hear the plea for expanding the ambit of review petition to examine whether he could be punished for the offence of culpable homicide instead of causing hurt for which he was held guilty in 2018 and let off with fine by the apex court.

Although the apex court had earlier said that the review petition against its order in Sidhu’s case would be confined only on the issue whether the quantum of sentence be increased or not, it, however, agreed to hear an application seeking his conviction under IPC Section 299 and not under Section 323 in a 32-year-old road rage case.

A bench of Justices A M

Navjot Singh Sidhu

Khanwilkar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul said that it had to deal with the issue of expanding the ambit of the review petition as application has been filed and asked the politician to file response in two weeks.

Sidharth Luthra, appearing

for the petitioner, contended that the 2018 verdict was erroneous and it was against the settled principles of law and it was also wrong on the part of the court to say that there was no medical evidence.

“The impugned judgment

contradicts the settled position of law that if a person receives injuries and is admitted in hospital because of those injuries and suffers from some other disease (in this case alleged heart attack), and the victim subsequently dies; even in those cases, the accused persons are guilty of an offence falling clearly within the ambit of Section 299 of the IPC,” he submitted. Opposing his plea, senior advocate P Chidambaram, appearing for Sidhu, said that the court had very clearly held that the review was only on the sentence and the scope of review petition should not be enlarged four years after the order. He said that the SC held that he did not cause death and there was no need to reexamine the finding.

WEST BENGAL

Violence mars civic polls in West Bengal Kolkata: Cases of violence and malpractices marred polls to 107 municipalities across West Bengal on Sunday, even as a voter turnout of around 76.5% was recorded till 5 pm, election officials said.

Elections were scheduled in 108 municipalities. However, with TMC winning one civic body uncontested in Dinhata in Coochbehar, polls were held in 107 towns on Sunday, a state Election Commission official said. Opposition BJP, which dubbed the poll process as a “mockery of democracy” has called a 12-hour shutdown to protest the violence. TMC dubbed the allegations as baseless and said opposition parties are trying to find excuses sensing defeat.

Till 5 pm, 76% of 95,60,000 voters exercised their franchise in more than 2,000 wards amid tight security and strict adherence to Covid guidelines.

“There have been reports of sporadic incidents of violence.

There have been some complaints.

We noted disturbances in a few areas and took action,” the official.

West Bengal DGP Manoj Malaviya said the polls have been peaceful as there have been “no reports of deaths or shot being fired”.

However, widespread violence, rigging incidents and clashes with police were reported from various parts of Bengal. West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has summoned state Election Commissioner Saurav Das to

LANKAN NAVY ARRESTS 8 TN FISHERMEN Eight fishermen from Thangachimadam near Rameswaram were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy near Katchatheevu island last week on charges of poaching in international waters. Their mechanised boat was seized by the authorities. Around 540 fishermen from Rameswaram ventured into the sea. As they were about to return, eight of them were detained by the Sri Lankan Navy for crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL). Fishermen’s associations in the coastal district strongly condemned the incident and demanded the immediate release of the arrested fishermen. In the last 26 days, 81 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Karaikal have been arrested for poaching.

“This is unacceptable and an anti-fishermen act by the Sri Lankan Navy,” said Sesu Raja, a fishermen leader in Rameswaram.

SIKH GIRL IN KARNATAKA ASKED TO REMOVE TURBAN While the row over allowing hijab in educational institutions in Karnataka continues, a 17-year-old Amritdhari (baptised) Sikh girl was asked by her college to remove her turban in accordance with its dress code and the interim order of the Karnataka High Court. The court earlier had restrained students from “wearing saffron shawls, hijab and religious flags or the like in classrooms of colleges which have prescribed a uniform”.

The student of Mount Carmel PU College, Bengaluru, who is also the president of the students’ association, was politely asked to remove her turban for the first time on February 16 to which she refused. The college later spoke to her father stating they understood the importance of the turban for a Sikh but were bound by the high court order.

COVAXIN SHORTAGE HITS PUNJAB VACCINATION DRIVE The Covid-19 vaccination programme in Punjab’s schools has hit a roadblock at several places due shortage of the vaccine.

Vaccination camps in several districts have been cancelled over the past two days due to the shortage. The government has approved Covaxin for adolescent children between 15 and 17 years of age. However, for the past several days, the state has been witnessing a severe shortage of the vaccine.

The state government had shot off several emails to the Government of India regarding the shortage of Covaxin, but it had failed to make arrangements for the supply of the vaccine. The vaccine drive has been badly hit in Mohali district. District Immunisation Officer Girish Dogra said they had discussed the matter with the state health authorities and they were hopeful that the supply would be restored soon.

LEFT WORKERS CLASH WITH BENGAL COPS

brief him on the situation.

Congress activists clashed with the police at Dalkhola in North Dinajpur district in north Bengal over allegations of rigging by TMC supporters in the area. They blocked roads and

pelted stones at police officers, following which police resorted to baton charge to disperse the mob. Violence and clashes were also reported in Dhulian municipality area in Murshidabad.

Police were unable to exhume Anis Khan’s body for a second post-mortem after locals, including women, stopped and forced them back. The latter half of the day unfolded with large-scale vandalism during protests

by CPM’s youth and students’ wings. In the violence, police were attacked with brickbats and glass bottles. NH-2 was blocked for over an hour and 10 police vehicles were damaged, while some were set on fire. Three crude bombs were also burst. Cops said one vehicle had documents and evidence related to criminal cases which was razed in a fire.

Police resorted to a lathi-charge and used several rounds of tear gas to disperse the mob. Around 10 policemen and some protesters were injured. Cops later arrested 17 people.

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in brief GATES PRAISES INDIA'S VAX COVERAGE India’s way of handling the Covid-19 pandemic and its role in the global fight against SARS-CoV-2 has come in for praise from Microsoft founder and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-chair Bill Gates. “In India, really there’s two things that stand out.

One is creating great vaccines with global partners, including the Gates Foundation, and getting those vaccines out. India’s (Covid-19) vaccine coverage is very impressive. It is even better than most rich countries, which is quite phenomenal,” Gates said.

NIGHT CURFEW LIFTED FROM GUJARAT With the number of new Covid-19 cases seeing a marked decrease, the Gujarat government revised its Covid-19 guidelines by removing the mandated night curfew from Ahmedabad and Vadodara.

The state home department issued a notification, removing night curfew from Ahmedabad and Vadodara. The new guidelines came into force on February 25.Earlier, the government removed the night curfew in a phased manner - first from 19 towns and then the six cities of Surat, Rajkot, Gandhinagar, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and Junagadh.

CONG PROMISES CHEAP POWER, JOBS The Gujarat Congress promised to provide electricity free of cost or at concessional rates to domestic users, a cap on domestic gas cylinder price at Rs 500, and creation of 10,00,000 jobs annually if voted to power in the state Assembly polls scheduled later this year. The party also promised Rs 400,000 assistance and a government job to the kin of Covid-19 victims and said it would free farmers from debt, cut their power bills by half and provide direct assistance of Rs 70,000 per year under the ‘Nyay Yojana’ to needy families. The party also promised to reintroduce the 2004 pension scheme, start the 'Mahatma Gandhi Education Complex' model to “liberate parents from exploitation through commercialisation of education” as well as a “timely recruitment calendar” to fill more than 500,000 government vacancies.

State unit president Jagdish Thakor released the party's ‘Dwarka Sankalp Patra’ (resolution) on the last day of its three-day conclave organised at Dwarka.

20 STUDENTS RESCUED FROM BLAZE IN SURAT Fire brigade officials rescued 20 students from the basement of M Square building in Dabholi area of Surat last week. The fire quickly spread up the stairwell, blocking access to 20 students who were in a library at Divine Study Centre on the third floor.

The children attempted to go to the terrace of the building but the access door was locked. The Surat Fire and Emergency Services (SFES) received a call and reached the spot with three hydraulic platforms and 15 firefighting vehicles and 90 firefighters.

They quickly abandoned the terrace rescue plan. CFO Basant Pareek said, “We then positioned one hydraulic platform at the rear of the building and brought all the children out, five at a time.” The fire department could only operate one hydraulic platform due to lack of space in the area around the building. Firefighters who entered the basement found that it was being used as a commercial space to store packaging material and toys. One of the students said that as soon as they saw the smoke enveloping their floor, they called the fire brigade. This led to the firemen reaching there quickly.

Go for indigenous production of defence equipment: PM Modi Cyber security is no longer limited to just the digital world as it has now become a matter of national security, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

He also noted that the process of importing defence items is so long that by the time they reach our security forces, many of them have become outdated and therefore, the solution is to go for indigenous manufacturing.

"Even during the period of slavery and immediately after Independence, the strength of our defence manufacturing was very high. Weapons made in India played a big role in World

Narendra Modi

War II," he said in his address at the Defence Ministry's postbudget webinar.

"Although this strength of ours kept on weakening in later years, it shows that there was no shortage of capacity in India

then and neither it is there now," he added. About 70 per cent of this year's defence budget has been kept for domestic industry only, he said.

"The strength of India's IT is our great strength. The more we use this power in our defence sector, the more confident we will be in our security," he noted. "For example, cyber security is no longer limited to the digital world only. It has become a matter of national security," he added.

It is a source of happiness that in the last five-six years, India has increased defence exports by six times, he said.

“Today, India is providing Made in India defence equipment and services to more than 75 countries," he noted.

Noting that indigenous weapon systems would surprise adversaries during battles, the PM said, “If 10 countries will have the same type of defence equipment, your defence forces would have no uniqueness.

Uniqueness and the element of surprise are possible only when the equipment is developed in your own country.”

India gets 1st batch of Rafales Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's 26-year-old son dies with country-specific enhancements In a booster shot for the country's depleting air combat capabilities, India has received the first lot of Rafale fighters with India-specific enhancements to make them deadlier, even as indigenous Tejas jets are being deployed for a multi-nation exercise abroad for the first time.

Three Rafale jets touched down in India last week, taking the total number of the 4.5-generation fighters delivered to 35 now under the £5.9 billion deal inked with France in September 2016.

The three Rafales have come with hardware tweaks for the 13 India-specific enhancements (ISEs), which includes the capability to fire top-notch Meteor air-to-air missiles, while the software upgrade will take place here. The last or the 36th Rafale, on which the ISEs have been tested and certified in France,

will be delivered in April. “A French team is in India for the ongoing hardware and software upgrade for the jets delivered earlier. Two to three jets will be retrofitted with the ISEs per month,” a source said.

Already armed with the over 300km range ‘Scalp’ air-toground cruise missiles and other armaments, the Meteor missiles with a strike range of 120 to 150km will make the omni-role Rafales lethal in beyond visual range combat with Chinese or Pakistani jets.

Leander Paes found guilty of domestic violence A metropolitan magistrate court in Mumbai has found former tennis player Leander Paes guilty of domestic violence in a case filed by modelactor Rhea Pillai against her former partner. In the case Reha alleged that he committed various acts of domestic violence against her.

The court also directed Paes to pay an additional amount of Rs 100,000 towards legal cost and expenses, while continuing to take care of expenses of their daughter.

There would be an additional increase of 5% every year, from the month of March 2023, so that Rhea “shall not be compelled to knock on the doors of court again and again for enhancement of the amount of maintenance and house rent to meet the inflation, till the date up to which the said order remains in force,” said the court.

Rhea had filed the case in 2014 seeking relief and protection under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, saying she was in a

Leander Paes

live-in relationship, akin to marriage, with Paes for eight years.

She had said that Paes, through his acts and conduct “caused verbal, emotional and economic abuse, which resulted in tremendous emotional violence and trauma.” The court said, “It is proved that the respondent caused various acts of domestic violence.”

Directing Paes to pay a monthly rent of Rs 50,000, apart from a monthly maintenance of Rs 100,000 to Reha, the court, however, said if she chose to continue living in their Bandra residence she would not be entitled to monetary relief. It rejected prayers of Reha seeking payment of past maintenance and partition of their shared residence.

Zain Nadella, the 26-year-old son of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella', died on Monday, the company said in an email. Zain was born with cerebral palsy. The American technology company has asked its executives to hold the Nadella family in their thoughts and prayers and offer them the space to grieve privately.

Since taking over as CEO of Microsoft in 2014, 54-year-old Nadella has steered the company towards designing products to better serve users with disabilities and cited lessons he learned raising and supporting his son Zain.

In 2021, the Children’s Hospital where Zain received much of his treatment joined the Nadellas to establish the Zain Nadella Endowed Chair in Pediatric Neurosciences as part of Seattle Children’s Center for Integrative Brain Research.

Jeff Sperring, CEO of Children’s Hospital, wrote in a message to his board, “Zain will be remembered for his eclectic taste in music, his bright sunny smile and the immense joy he brought to his family and all those who loved him."

UP phase 5 turnout down from 58% in 2017 to 55.7% A turnout of just over 55% in Round 5 of the UP elections on Sunday maintained the trend of declining voter presence compared to 2017, when the same 61 assembly seats straddling 12 districts of Purvanchal and parts of Bundelkhand had clocked 58.4%. Barabanki spared the poll belt the blushes with 66.9% while Chitrakoot, once the dacoit-infested badlands of Bundelkhand, reported a voting figure of 61.3%.

Hindutva nerve centre Ayodhya was the other outlier among the 12 districts with 61%. Sangam City, in comparison, reflected voter inertia with 53.7%, marginally lower than the 2017 figure of 54%. Of the other districts, Shrawasti recorded 57%, Sultanpur 56%, Pratapgarh 52%, Rae Bareli 56%, Kaushambi 59%, Amethi 55%, Bahraich 56% and Gonda 56%.

Barring an alleged attack on the convoy of Pratapgarh’s Samajwadi Party candidate Gulshan Yadav in Kunda, there were no law-and-order blemishes anywhere, officials said.

The 693 candidates in the fray in this round of polls included deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, cabinet minister Siddarth Nath Singh and sixtime MLA Raghuraj Pratap

Singh, alias Raja Bhaiya 60% turnout in4th phase Four out of nine districts in UP’s Avadh, Terai and Bundelkhand regions on Wednesday reported a higher voter turnout than in 2017, including a decade high of 61% in Lucknow, but the overall figure of just over 60% in the 59 seats that went to polls in Round 4 fell short of the 62% clocked five years ago.

Besides Lucknow, the districts that outperformed were Pilibhit, Rai Bareli and Fatehpur. Pilibhit’s voter presence was the highest at 67% while Lakhimpur Kheri, where four farmers were among eight people killed in violence during a farm protest last October, recorded 65%. Other districts in focus such as Unnao had a below par turnout of 55%.

Hardoi, where PM Narendra Modi campaigned for BJP, reported 57%. Fatehpur's 57.9%, though lower than the average for the fourth phase, exceeded its 2017 showing.

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Indian student killed in Ukraine shelling An Indian student was killed on Tuesday in shelling in Ukraine, the foreign ministry said as it urged Russia and Ukraine to secure safe passage for thousands of citizens stranded in the middle of war. The 21-year-old Naveen Shekharappa, a final year medical student from Karnataka's Haveri, died when Russian soldiers blew up a government building on Tuesday.

The external affairs ministry said that Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla talked to the ambassadors of Russia and Ukraine to reiterate India's demand for urgent safe passage for Indian nationals whoa re still in Kharkiv and cities in other conflict zones". Prime Minister

Naveen Shekharappa

Narendra Modi spoke to the student's father and called his fourth meeting in three days on the Ukraine crisis.

Naveen Shekharappa was standing in a queue outside a grocery store when he was hit.

Pooja Praharaj, a student

coordinator in Kharkiv, said that he died soon after the shelling.

"The deteriorating situation in Kharkiv is a matter of grave concern. The safety and security of Indian nationals in that city is of utmost priority to Government," government sources said. Around 16,000 Indian students are still stranded in Ukraine.

The Indian embassy had asked students to go to the railway station in Kyiv, where special evacuation trains have been arranged by Ukraine to take people to the western region.

Many students complained that they were not allowed to board the trains or they were mistreated by officials.

India abstains in another UN vote on Ukraine, welcomes Moscow-Kyiv talks India abstained from a procedural vote taken in the UN Security Council to call for a rare special emergency session of the UN General Assembly on Russia's aggression against Ukraine, even as New Delhi welcomed Moscow and Kyiv's decision to hold talks at the Belarus border.

The resolution was adopted with 11 votes in favour, paving the way for the General Assembly to meet on the crisis. India, China and the UAE abstained, while Russia voted against the resolution. This will be only the 11th such emergency session of the General Assembly since 1950.

The 15-nation Security Council met on Sunday afternoon to hold the vote on the emergency special session of the 193-member General Assembly on Russia's invasion of

Ukraine. This comes two days after the Russian veto blocked a UNSC resolution on its "aggression" against Ukraine.

The vote calling for the UNGA session was procedural so none of the five permanent members of the Security Council - China, France, Russia, the UK and the US - could exercise their vetoes. "It is regrettable that the situation in Ukraine has worsened further since

the Council last convened on this matter," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti said in the explanation of Sunday's vote.Earlier, India joined China and the UAE in abstaining from a vote on a UNSC resolution that “deplored” the Russian aggression against Ukraine in keeping with what official sources in New Delhi described as India’s consistent, steadfast and balanced position on the matter.However, under pressure from its western partners to adopt a stronger language on Russia’s actions, the Centre in its explanation of vote called upon “all states” to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries and the UN Charter, while regretting that the path of diplomacy had been given up.

PM Modi speaks to Ukraine President, Putin Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a telephone conversation with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The conversation came four days after Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal had reached out to PM Modi and hours after India’s abstention during a UN Security Council resolution on the unfolding conflict.

“President Zelenskyy briefed the Prime Minister in detail about the ongoing conflict situation in Ukraine. The Prime Minister expressed his deep anguish about the loss of life and property due to the ongoing conflict. He reiterated his call for an immediate cessation of violence and a return to dialogue, and expressed India’s willingness to contribute in any way towards peace efforts,” said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office here.

In his conversation with President Putin, Modi had similarly appealed for "immediate cessation of violence". India's main concern is to ensure the safety of thousands of Indian students and professionals who are stuck in underground bunkers as Ukraine continues to be bombed by the Russian forces.

Though India has initiated

Narendra Modi & Vladimir Putin

evacuation of its nationals, the ongoing fighting continues to pose a serious threat to the process.

On February 22, the Ukrainian embassy had sent a letter to PM Modi seeking a conversation with Shmyhal for an Indian intervention to avert the imminent conflict. The letter sought the conversation “at the convenient nearest time to discuss the issues connected with the current tense situation around Ukraine”.

PM Modi calls for immediate end to violence In a telephonic conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for immediate

cessation of violence and asserted that differences between Russia and NATO can only be resolved through "honest and sincere" dialogue.

During their conversation, Modi also sensitised the Russian President about India's concerns regarding the safety of the Indian citizens in Ukraine, especially students, and conveyed that India attaches the highest priority to their safe exit and return, a statement issued by PMO said.

Prime Minister Modi appealed for an immediate cessation of violence, and called for concerted efforts from all sides to return to the path of diplomatic negotiations and dialogue, it said.

India sends aid to Ukraine, 4 ministers to help in evacuation Ramping up diplomatic efforts to evacuate Indian nationals stuck in cities and border points of Ukraine, the government decided to send four Union Ministers to supervise the evacuation, announced plans for more flights to bring back students not just from India but also from neighbouring and developing countries, and send relief supplies to Ukraine as a humanitarian gesture.

This was announced after a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who said the “entire government machinery is working round-the-clock to ensure that all Indian nationals there are safe and secure,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Modi also spoke to Prime Minister of Romania Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca and Prime Minister of Slovak Republic Eduard Heger – the two neighbouring countries west of Ukraine, from where India is planning to evacuate its citizens.

An important element in the readout of the two phone calls was that Modi “stressed upon the importance of respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations” – a language first articulated at the UN Security Council, aimed at Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

Of the estimated 20,000 Indian nationals who were present in Ukraine, the government said about 8,000 have left the country since its first advisory earlier this month. That leaves approximately 12,000 Indians sill there, most of them students in medical colleges.

The decision to send four Union Ministers Hardeep Puri, Kiren Rijiju, Jyotiradtiya Scindia and General (retd) V K Singh was taken during the meeting chaired by the Prime Minister. Puri is heading to Hungary, Rijiju to Slovakia, Scindia will look at Romania and Moldova while Singh will oversee the evacuation in Poland. They will visit these countries as Special Envoys of the Indian government.

In all, six evacuation flights have brought back stranded Indian nationals via Bucharest and Budapest, and at least another eight flights are planned to fly to these two airports to bring back more stranded citizens, officials said. In addition, evacuation flights are also being planned for Warsaw in Poland.

In addition to the Air India group airlines, IndiGo and SpiceJet have also announced their flights to Europe. IndiGo dispatched aircraft to Bucharest and Budapest via Istanbul as part of the government’s Operation Ganga mission. The flights from Bucharest and Budapest are expected to land in Delhi at 10.30 am and 10.55 am Tuesday, respectively. Both these flights, operated on 222-seater Airbus A321neo aircraft, are expected to make a refuelling stop at Istanbul.

India to rope in Air Force for Ukraine evacuation efforts Strengthening its efforts to evacuate around 12,000 Indian citizens - largely medical students - who are stuck in warhit Ukraine, the government has decided to rope in the Indian Air Force (IAF) along with commercial flights for its “Operation Ganga” initiative.

Sources said that the Air Force has been asked to send their transport aircraft as part of the evacuation efforts.

While there is no official word from either the government or the Air Force yet, it is expected to deploy its large C-17 Globemaster aircraft for the operation. The aircraft were also used for evacuation efforts from Afghanistan last year, after Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021.

Air Force officials said that it was ready for any task that will be given to it. Don't miss proud to be part of the effort, says Air India pilot who flew evacuation flight from Ukraine. The Indian Embassy in Ukraine issued an advisory on Tuesday asking all Indian nationals, including students, “to leave Kyiv urgently.

Preferably by available trains or through any other means available.”

On Monday, Air India, IndiGo and Spice Jet announced special flights to bring the Indian backs. Air India has operated six flights till now from Delhi and Mumbai to Bucharest in Romania and Budapest in Hungary, which brought back 1,396 nationals. Eight more flights are planned to the two airports in the coming days, with additional flights being planned from Warsaw in Poland.

IndiGo dispatched its aircraft to Bucharest and Budapest via Istanbul as part of the government’s “Operation Ganga” mission. Both these flights, operated on 222-seater Airbus A321neo aircraft, are expected to make a refuelling stop at Istanbul.

Similarly, a SpiceJet flight also departed for Budapest from Delhi on Monday, on the 189seater Boeing 737 Max plane, will make a refuelling stop at Kutaisi in Georgia on its return leg.

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Researchers determined participants’ cardio respiratory fitness. It is a measure of how well one’s body transports oxygen to the muscles, and how well the muscles are able to absorb oxygen during exercise.

Fitness levels were determined by how well participants did on a treadmill test. It measured exercise capacity, the highest amount of physical exertion a person can sustain.

The group with the lowest level of fitness developed

Alzheimer’s at a rate of 9.5 cases per 1,000 personyears, compared to 6.4 cases per 1,000 personyears for the fittest group.

"The idea that you can reduce your risk for Alzheimer's disease by simply increasing your activity is very promising, especially since there are no adequate treatments to prevent or stop the progression of the disease. We hope to develop a simple scale that can be individualized so people can see the benefits that even incremental improvements in fitness can deliver,” Zamrini said.

Benefits of a teaspoon of ghee on an empty stomach One of the latest Indian superfoods to be adopted by the West, ghee, or clarified butter is much more than its distinct flavour and taste. Ayurveda has recognised ghee as a medicinal food for centuries.

According to a nutritionist, consuming it on empty stomach only adds to its many benefits.

In her latest Instagram post, Avanti Deshpande writes, “According to Ayurveda, it (ghee) improves the absorption ability of the small intestines and decreases the acidic pH of our gastrointestinal tract. Poor diet, stress or lack of sleep, sedentary lifestyle, use of antibiotics are the major reasons the gut is unhealthy.”

Ghee is a rich source of Omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidants and also prevents ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. It also helps one lose

weight.

According to Deshpande, some of the major benefits of starting your day with a teaspoon of ghee on an empty stomach are: Cleanses your digestive system - Ghee leads to acid secretion in the stomach that helps in digesting food faster. Glowing and clear skin - Ghee nourishes the skin as it is loaded with Omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants which are beneficial for skin health.

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Physically fit people less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease According to a new study, people who are physically fit are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than people who are less fit. The preliminary study was carried out by the American Academy of Neurology and will be presented at its 74th Annual Meeting being held in person in Seattle, April 2 to 7, 2022 and virtually, April 24 to 26, 2022.

Study author Edward Zamrini and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, said, “One exciting finding of this study is that as people’s fitness improved, their risk of Alzheimer’s disease decreased. So people can work toward making incremental changes and improvements in their physical fitness and hopefully that will be associated with a related decrease in their risk of Alzheimer's years later.”

The study involved 649,605 military veterans in the Veterans Health

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Heals the irregular bowel movement: Ghee provides the much-needed lubrication to the entire body and clears the intestinal passage thus aiding in smooth bowel movement.

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Simple lifestyle changes to prevent arthritis in the knees The swelling and stiffness of joints are common in people who suffer from arthritis, a condition that has no cure. The best way to manage any kind of arthritis is to lead a balanced lifestyle including eating healthy, staying active, and maintaining weight. Knee arthritis is one of the most common types of arthritis and apart from family history and bone abnormalities, it can be triggered by injuries.

Pain, swelling, and stiffness are the most typical symptoms of arthritis, which can affect any joint in the body but is most frequent in the knee. While there is no way to avoid knee arthritis completely, there are steps you can take to alleviate symptoms and reduce the disease’s progression.

Experts suggest some lifestyle changes to manage knee arthritis:

Maintain a healthy weight - Diet and exercise can help one lose weight.

People with higher body weight are up to 4.55 times more likely than those with a moderate weight to develop knee osteoarthritis.

Exercising relieves a load of excess weight on your joints while also strengthening the muscles that surround them.

Take care of your joints - Joint difficulties may develop because of heavy lifting, squatting, and stair climbing.

Quit smoking - Kicking the habit will not only reduce the risk of heart and lung illness but also protects against arthritis.

Control blood sugar levels - Diabetes and arthritis have a symbiotic relationship. Elevated blood sugar levels cause the body to be in a continual state of lowgrade inflammation, and the development of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the joints, triggering the production of inflammatory proteins known as cytokines.

Study finds link between ageing, exercise and fat tissue function Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have found a link between ageing, exercise, and fat tissue function. In a study that was published in The Journals of Gerontology, the scientists demonstrated that even though our fatty tissue loses important function with age, a high volume of exercise can have a significant impact for the better.

The study suggests that the function of our fat tissue, or adipose tissue is central to why our bodies decay with age and is strongly linked to human diseases like diabetes 2, cancer, and obesity often develop and fat cells undergo functional changes as we get older.

Assistant Professor Anders Gudiksen of the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Biology, said, “Overall health is closely linked with how well our fat tissue functions. In the past, we regarded fat as an energy depot. In fact, fat is an organ that interacts with other organs and can optimise metabolic function. Among other things, fat tissue

releases substances that affect muscle and brain metabolism when we feel hungry and much more. So, it’s important that fat tissue works the way it should.”

He and his team looked at the role of age and physical training in maintaining fat tissue function. They studied mitochondria, which convert calories from food to supply cells with energy. The researchers compared mitochondrial performance across a range of young and older untrained, moderately trained and highly exercisetrained Danish men.

Gudiksen explained, “Although mitochondrial function decreases with age, we can see that a high level of lifelong exercise exerts a powerful compensatory

effect. In the group of well-trained older men, fat cells are able to respire more than twice as much as in untrained older men.”

Mitochondrial waste comes in the form of oxygen free radicals, known as Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS).

“The group of older people who train most, form less ROS and maintain functionality to eliminate it. Indeed, their mitochondria are better at managing waste produced in fat cells, which results in less damage.

Therefore, exercise has a large effect on maintaining the health of fat tissue, and thereby probably keeping certain diseases at bay as well,” said Gudiksen.

The researchers can also see that the older participants who exercised most throughout life have more mitochondria, allowing for more respiration and, among other things, an ability to release more of the fatrelated hormones important for the body's energy balance.

Meat-free diets associated with lower cancer risk: Study There has been a long discussion on whether eating meat aggravates cancer, and a new study has shed some light. According to a study, eating meat five times or less per week is associated with lower overall cancer risk.

Cody Watling and colleagues from the University of Oxford, UK investigated the relationship between diet and cancer risk by

analysing data collected from 472,377 British adults who were recruited to the UK Biobank between 2006 and 2010.

Participants who were aged between 40 and 70 years reported how frequently they ate meat and fish and the researchers calculated the incidence of new cancers that developed over an average period of 11 years. They accounted for dia-

betes status and sociodemographic, socioeconomic and lifestyle factors in their analyses. Fifty two per cent of participants ate meat more than five times per week, 44 per cent ate meat five or fewer times per week, 2 per cent)ate fish but not meat and 2 per cent were vegetarian or vegan.

Twelve per cent developed cancer during the study period.

The researchers found that the

overall cancer risk was two per cent lower among those who ate meat five times or less per week, 10 per cent lower among those who ate fish but not meat, and 14 per cent lower among vegetarians and vegans, compared to those who ate meat more than five times per week. The authors of the study found that those who ate meat five times or less per week had a nine

per cent lower risk of colorectal cancer, compared to those who ate meat more than five times per week. They also found that the risk of prostate cancer was 20 per cent lower among men who ate fish but not meat and 31 per cent lower among men who followed a vegetarian diet, compared to those who ate meat more than five times per week.

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World Book Day: Children STILL like to read World Book Day is a charity wearing Sherwani/Panjabi.” event held annually in the United Sharmeen Z said that her Kingdom and Ireland on the first child wants to be a demon Thursday in March. This year, dentist because she found a children geared up to dress up as whole costume with a wig for their favourite characters from £4 in the sale last year. books they love. Asian Voice While a STEM professional managed to catch hold of some Iman’s child wanted to be Pippi interesting avatars.

Longstocking, entrepreneur Shilpa Bilimoria’s child wanted Four-year-old Aditya Aditya Vikram to be a crayon.

Vikram’s favourite character is What’s heartwarming about Duper Spider-Man. Aditya has World Book Day is that children created this character by himself are still inclined to read. and he likes Duper Spider-man Charvi (4) loves to read all because “duper is really Julia Donaldson's books. Her intelligent and smart. “Duper’s mother Charul told us that she superhero powers are all of the has reached a stage where powers of Marvel Avengers put night-time reading has turned together,” Aditya said. Aditya reading all by herself. Charvi wants to become Duper Spiderhas a mini library at home. Her man when he grows older. In this mother told us, “Charvi’s picture, Aditya is wearing what communication skills and he calls a Duper Spider-Man Charvi Garg vocabulary are much advanced costume and is ready to fight all for her age. Also, she is quite imaginative the baddies in this world.” and keeps telling us interesting stories. Like Author and Journalist Saima Mir said, we passed a petrol pump the other day and “My eldest wants to be an arachnid (God she explained to me what it was as she read help me) from Beast Quest and then 2nd in one of her books. Today she came and child is going as The Mandalorian.” mentioned to me that ‘Mumma, you know Tamanna Karim told us, “My children the sun is a star’. I asked her how she knows, have to dress as adjectives. My daughter will to which she referred me to one of the books go as ‘discombobulated’ with a mish-mash she has read. We have been reading to her of Asian and western clothing hopefully! My since she was a baby.” son will go as ‘decorative’ because he loves

Punjabi music and poetry superstar in exclusive visit to UK university Acclaimed Indian singer, musician, actor and poet Sartinder Sartaaj visited Birmingham City University to meet and speak with staff and students ahead of a sold-out UK tour.

Following a tour of the £57m state-of-theart Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with Interim Principal Dr Shirley Thompson, the Sufi superstar took part in a special Q&A session with staff and students from the Conservatoire and School of Media along with guests from across the University and the worlds of politics, banking and music. Led by Brit Asia TV presenter Raj Shoker and Birmingham City University music industries student Corinne Stewart, the session also featured a screening of Sartaaj’s latest music video.

Released to accompany the new song ‘Naadan Jehi Aas’, the first-ever music video to be filmed at Royal Albert Hall in its 150-year history features the British-Indian model and Vitiligo awareness campaigner Jasroop Singh and has amassed over a 1.5million views since its release on Friday 25 February. Satinder Sartaaj’s visit formed part of Birmingham City University’s ongoing work to further develop cultural, business, political and academic links with India.

Corinne Stewart, in her second year of a three-year music industries degree at Birmingham School of Media, said, "Meeting Satinder Sartaaj was a surreal and inspiring experience. Someone at his level of stardom was so humble and gracious when answering my questions which made me feel extremely comfortable as this was my first in person interview. “Satinder’s in-depth answers to my questions really helped me to understand him

and how he works as a musician, and you can tell he really cares about the songs and poetry he produces. Satinder inspired to me to really hone my journalistic work and write about topics I am passionate about. His new song ‘Nadan Jehi Aas’ which embraces all types of beauty and raises awareness of the skin condition, Vitiligo, will really resonate with people."

Satinder Sartaaj earned a five-year vocal and instrumental diploma at Sangeet Vishard in Jalandhar. Satinder then moved to Chandigarh to pursue his Masters in Musical and M.Phil. as well as a PhD in Sufi music at Punjab University.

After teaching for a number of years, Sartaaj began a career as a singer, songwriter and poet, making a name for himself in the Punjabi music and film industries. He has contributed vocals for a number of Bollywood films and made his screen debut as Maharaja Duleep Singh in ‘The Black Prince’ in 2017.

His collaborations with Nelly Furtado, Talib Kweli, and other American music stars combined with his collaboration with Indian cinema queen Shabana Azmi in the film have helped propel the performer to stardom.

Sartaaj’s achievements with the United Nations to help raise funds for their fight against Human Trafficking saw him work alongside cultural royalty like A.R.Rahman, Sonu Nigam, Quincy Jones, and President Jimmy Carter.

The artist has long-established links with Birmingham, having released music through the city bhangra music label Moviebox, and promotion via Brit Asia TV.

Artistic director of Birmingham Rep announces the completion of the theatre’s 50th anniversary season Artistic Director, Sean Foley has added to Birmingham Rep’s 2022 programme of work. The Rep’s offering as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival, a 6month celebration of culture that surrounds the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, will include the newly announced, critically acclaimed production from Australia Counting and Cracking plus the youth-driven Festival Uncommon Riches. Counting and Cracking arrive at The Rep as one of only two venues in the UK to host this epic story. They are joined by the previously announced Coming to England and Playboy of the West Indies - The Musical. The Birmingham 2022 Festival is generously supported by Arts Council England and National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Outside of the Birmingham 2022 Festival, Ramps On The Moon, the pioneering initiative committed to putting D/deaf and disabled artists and audiences at the centre of their work will present a new production of Shakespeare’s raucous comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Robert Hastie.

The performance features the use of integrated creative sign language, audio description and captioning.

Associate company, Told by an Idiot, will present the world premiere of Would You Bet Against Us?, a hilarious and poignant celebration of the most important night in Aston Villa’s history, becoming European Cup champions in 1982. Would You Bet Against Us? marks the 40th anniversary of this huge event in the history of Birmingham football.

The acclaimed RSC production of Moliere’s classic Tartuffe directed by Iqbal Khan and adapted by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto to take place in Birmingham’s Muslim community will open at the Rep in October. Finally, The Rep will hold a symposium attended by comedians, directors, writers and academics entitled Serious About Comedy, a conversation and inquiry into the development of comedy in all its forms in association with the University of Birmingham.

Sean Foley said: “To have been able to programme and deliver a whole year of shows for The Rep in its 50th year in its ‘new’ theatre on Centenary Square has been a privilege; that it has also coincided with such an important year for the City is an incredible honour. Birmingham is on the move: the world’s most important super-diverse City has the Commonwealth Games in its sights, and The Rep does too… From the epic story of South Asian migration, Counting and Cracking, to the inspiring ‘Windrush story’ of Floella Benjamin’s Coming to England; from the extraordinary Young Rep festival of shows that is Uncommon Riches, to the musical comedy of Playboy of the West Indies - itself a wonderful example of how creativity shares and borrows across all borders, as Mustapha Matura’s version of Synge’s Irish classic is re-created as a new musical by a new generation of artists - these shows celebrate and interrogate how the legacy of Commonwealth has enriched our shared culture.”

Pancake Day: Meet the new British variant of Dosa Pancake day is celebrated exactly 47 days before Easter. A pancake is a thin, flat cake, made of batter and fried in a frying pan.

A traditional English pancake is very thin and is served immediately.

Experts at BBC Good Food, the UK’s number one food media brand, are predicting the pancake grazing platter as the biggest trend for Pancake Day next week (Tuesday 1 March), saying the chance to get together and share a celebratory meal after last year’s lockdowns and disrupted Christmas and New Year plans is too good to miss.

Pancake Day sees the biggest day of the year for traffic to bbcgoodfood.com; in 2021 the site had 8.1 million page impressions, the highest than Christmas

Eve or Christmas Day. The trend for grazing platters, or sharing boards, shows no sign of going away, online searches for “grazing board” and “grazing platter” have risen by over 130% over the last two years, 5000% over the last five years.

Chef Jomon, Chef de Cuisine at The Lalit, London says that Pancake Day is all about the Crispy Dosa ( a savoury rice pancake ). In Kerala, pancakes are called appams. Most of them are made from fermented batter.

Dosas are crispy, savoury pancakes that are a staple food in South India. Dosas are made from soaked and drained rice, fenugreek seeds, and urad daal, also known as black lentils.

Blended in a food processor and combined with water, the mixture makes a thin batter that ferments until flavourful.

Chef Jomon has a new Masala Dosa, which according to him, is the British Variant. He calls it Activated Charcoal infused Masala Dosa and Tomato Cashew Chutney. - “A deconstructive approach".

Three-day celebration of contemporary arts and culture in Birmingham, Pakistan and Bangladesh Bringing together artists, organisations and audiences, the Mela and Symposium is a platform for new art, music, film, critical discussion and reflection.

The Transforming Narratives Mela & Symposium is a digital festival, hosted on our dedicated online platform.

Over the three days, there are three simultaneous programmes to experience:

Mela: Performances and presentations from artists based in Birmingham, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

This is your chance to see new work and experience the theatre, music, dance and visual art being made across our three locations, right now.

Symposium: A programme of critical talks and debate, where we investigate

pressing subjects facing artists and arts organisations in Birmingham, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Ālaap: A series of oneon-one conversations, bringing together artists, curators and arts leaders from across the Transforming

Narratives community.

Within the Mela & Symposium platform, you’ll be able to create your own profile and network with other attendees.

The Mela element will also be livestreamed on the Transforming Narratives Facebook and YouTube channels. Tickets can be booked here: https://www.transformingnarratives.com/

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Alia reacts to Kangana’s comments on ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ A

ctor Alia Bhatt’s recent release ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ is heating up the box office, with her performance being praised in particular. While the majority of Bollywood shared words of appreciation after a special screening of the movie, Kangana Ranaut has nothing but criticism for the film and Alia’s casting in it.

In a recent interaction, Alia said that she has no “feelings of negativity” towards Kangana despite her disparaging remarks.

She mentioned that her character in the film is so confident that she does not need validation from others.

When asked if she feels bad that her open admiration for Kangana never gets reciprocated, Alia said, “No, I genuinely have no feelings of negativity or anything. I have no feelings only towards it.”

She elaborated, “I am also a person who spends a lot of time engaging with different energies, like in life also, meeting people and all and I always try and always focus,

Hrithik gives an instagram shout-out to rumoured girlfriend Saba Madhu Chopra reveals why Nick-Piggy Chops haven’t revealed their baby’s name yet

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ctor Priyanka Chopra and singer Nick Jonas welcomed their first child in January this year. The couple has not divulged many details about their baby yet, including gender and name.

Priyanka’s mother, Dr Madhu Chopra recently shared her joy as she spoke with the press on the occasion of her cosmetic clinic completing 14 years.

When asked about becoming a grandmother, Madhu Chopra said, “Nani bane toh bahut bahut khushi hui mujhe (I was so happy to become a grandmother). I am only smiling all the time. I’m very happy.” When asked why the stars haven’t revealed the name of the baby, she said the name has not been decided yet. “Abhi nahi rakha hai. Jab pandit naam nikaalege tab hoge. Abhi nahi. (We haven’t finalised it yet. When the priest gives us the name, then it will happen. Not now.)”

Both, Nick and Priyanka announced the baby’s birth on Instagram. Their post read, “We are overjoyed to confirm that we have welcomed a baby via surrogate. We respectfully ask for privacy during this special time as we focus on our family.

Thank you so much.” Priyanka’s cousin Meera Chopra had later revealed to the paps that the couple welcomed a baby girl.

The new parents have, in the meantime, keeping it low-key on social media after their baby’s birth. Priyanka recently shared a series of photos from her home. It featured images of her daughter’s toys, selfies, and an adorable picture with Nick Jonas.

On the work front, Priyanka has a number of projects lined up for release, including the Amazon Prime series ‘Citadel', romantic drama ‘Text For You’, and the Bollywood film ‘Jee Le Zaraa’.

even with the people that I meet, even if I am having a hard day, I try to be light and positive. Because I think you have one life so fill it with as much lightness as possible. So even if there is any negative thing out there, whether it’s trolling or people saying things about me or whatever it is, it somehow doesn’t even reach me. Like that. It just doesn’t reach me.”

Alia plays a character inspired by a real-life sex worker in the Sanjay Leela Bhansalidirectorial. It also stars Ajay Devgn, Vijay Raaz and Shantanu Maheshwari. Last weekend, Kangana slammed the movie and referred to Alia as “daddy’s angel” and “rom-com bimbo”.

She took to her Instagram Stories to write, “This Friday 200 crore will be burnt to ashes at the box office ... for a papa (movie mafia daddy) ki pari (who likes to keep a British passport) because papa wants to prove that rom-com bimbo can act... biggest drawback of the film is wrong casting.”

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rithik Roshan took to his Instagram Stories last week to give an adorable shout-out to his rumoured girlfriend Saba Abad. In Saba’s first appearance on the actor’s social media, he shared a post of her gig. He wrote, “Kill it you guys!” Saba responded to the gesture and wrote, “Hey thanks @hrithikroshan”.

Earlier last week, Saba had planned a family lunch on the occasion of Hrithik’s uncle, veteran music director Rajesh Roshan’s birthday. He had shared a family portrait featuring Saba, on his social media platforms with the caption, “Happiness is always around… especially on a Sunday, specifically at lunchtime.”

Rumours of the two dating began after they were spotted exiting a restaurant in Bandra, Mumbai last month. They remain tight-lipped on their relationship.

Hrithik was previously married to Sussanne Khan. They are parents to two sons, Hrehaan and Hridaan.

The couple announced their separation in 2014.

Saba made her debut with the 2008 film ‘Dil Kabaddi’. She then appeared in the lead role in 2011’s ‘Mujhse Fraandship Karoge’. She currently appears in the web series ‘Rocket Boys’ which is streaming on SonyLIV. Meanwhile, Hrithik has multiple projects in the pipeline, including the Hindi remake of ‘Vikram Vedha’ and Siddharth Anand’s ‘Fighter’.

Daughters remember Sridevi on her 4th death anniversary

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ridevi's daughters Janhvi and Khushi Kapoor remembered her on her 4th death anniversary last week. Janhvi, sharing a throwback picture with her late mother, wrote in an emotional caption: "I've still lived more years with you in my life than without. But I hate that another year has been added to a life without you. I hope we make you proud mumma, because that's the only thing that keeps us going. Love you forever." Sridevi, who was often addressed as Bollywood's "first female superstar," died in Dubai in 2018, where she attended a family wedding.

Janhvi's sister Khushi also remembered her mother. She shared a childhood throwback with mom Sridevi in her Instagram story and simply added a heart emoji along with it. Sridevi acted in 300 films in a career spanning over 5

decades. Her last onscreen appearance was in the 2018 film 'Zero', starring Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif.

The segment featuring Sridevi was shot way before her death.

Janhvi and Khushi are Sridevi and Boney Kapoor's daughters. Janhvi made her Bollywood debut with 'Dhadak' in 2018 and has starred in several projects since then. Khushi studied in New York and aspires to be an actress like her sister. She will reportedly star in he Hindi adaptation of 'The Archies' comics, directed and produced by Zoya Akhtar.

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Nayanthara and director Vignesh Shivan to debut in Gujarati cinema!

L ady Superstar Nayanthara is currently the leading actress in South Indian cinema who works in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.

Meanwhile, director Atlee took the alluring actress to Bollywood by casting her as the female lead opposite Shah Rukh Khan in the upcoming movie 'Lion'.

Now, the latest news is that Nayanthara is all set to make her entry in Gujarati cinema. It is well-known that Nayanthara along with her boyfriend and director Vignesh Shivan has produced many quality Tamil films through their banner 'Rowdy Pictures'.

Today, Rowdy Pictures announced that they will bankroll a Gujarati venture.

Vignesh Shivan took to his Twitter page to update that Rowdy Pictures will produce the Gujarati movie, "Shubh Yatra", starring their superstar Malhar Thakar and Monal Gajjar in the lead roles, written and directed by the National-award winner Manish Saini.

We have to wait and see if Lady Superstar Nayanthara essays a cameo in this upcoming flick.

Ajith’s ‘Valimai’ crosses £10 mn mark H

Actor KPAC Lalitha laid to rest with full state honours T

he funeral of Malayalam actor KPAC Lalitha was held with full state honours at Enkakkad in Wadakkancherry last week. The last rites were performed by her son and actor-director Sidharth Bharathan. Earlier in the day, the mortal remains of the veteran actor was taken to Thrissur after being kept in Tripunithara, where the public came to pay their respects.

Actors like Mohanlal, Mammootty, Dileep and Kavya Madhavan among others paid their last respects to KPAC Lalitha. The mortal remains were also kept for public viewing at Thrissur’s Sangeetha Nataka

Akademi. After making her silver screen debut in 1969 with ‘Koottukudumbam’, Lalitha went on to act in more than 500 movies in a career spanning five decades.

She was twice conferred the National Film Award under the best-supporting actress category for her roles in 1990’s ‘Amaram' and 2000’s ‘Shantham’.

She was also the winner of four Kerala State Film Awards. Lalitha also chaired the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi.

KPAC Lalitha passed away last week in Tripunithara, where she was residing with Sidharth Bharathan. The actor is survived by her son Sidharth and daughter Sreekutty.

Ram Charan surprises fans with video featuring Chiranjeevi, Pawan Kalyan A

ctor Ram Charan surprised Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan fans last week on the release day of ‘Bheemla Nayak’.

Sharing the video Charan wrote on social media, “#GODFATHER and #BHEEMLANAYAK visit each other’s films sets!” In the 93-second video, Chiranjeevi is seen visiting the sets of ‘Bheemla Nayak’ in a khaidi avatar, and Pawan is shown paying a visit to the ‘Godfather’ sets.

Lines in the video read, “One day the fugitive Khaidi visited the ferocious cop Bheemla Nayak. And then the duty-bound cop Bheemla Nayak met the Godfather. And they shared some delightful moments. All the best Bheemla Nayak.” Responding to the video, music composer Thaman wrote,

“THE #ThemeOfGodfather & #LaLaBheemla. Such a lovely Video to watch #MegaStar @KChiruTweets & Our dear #PowerStar @PawanKalyan gaaru.” A few fans called the video, “The ultimate crossover #BheemlaNayak and #Godfather”.

On the work front, Chiranjeevi is awaiting the release of ‘Acharya' and has ‘Bhola Shankar’, ‘Godfather’, and two untitled projects with directors KS Ravindra and Venky Kudumula. Pawan Kalyan has period drama ‘Hari Hara Veeramallu' in the pipeline.

Vinoth’s Ajith-starrer action-thriller ‘Valimai’ is taking the box office by storm in the south, and north India. Movie theatre chain company Inox Leisure Limited’s Rajender Singh Ayala revealed that the film had a “fabulous” opening in several parts of India.

A tweet of film trade analyst Ramesh Bala read, “#Valimai has seen a fabulous opening, not just in southern markets, but even in other parts of the country. #BheemlaNayak was sold out across our cinemas and same was the case with #GangubaiKathiawadi,’ said Rajender Singh Jyala.”

Produced by Boney Kapoor, the film is also written by H Vinoth and features Huma Qureshi, Bani, Sumatra, Achyunth Kumar, Yogi Babu, Raj Ayyappa, and Pugazh alongside Ajith. The film hit theatres across the country in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi on February 24.

Trade analyst Kaushik LM tweeted that the film has already rushed past the Rs 100 crore club worldwide. He wrote on Twitter, “#Valimai had a very good Day2 hold in Chennai city, after the humongous opening day. The film picked up force again in the evening & night shows after the usual working day morning drop. Friday city gross is 1.06 CR. 2-days total city gross is 2.88 CR Weekend rage begins ” Huma also shared a tweet celebrating the film’s milestone. She wrote, “Woo hoo !

Thank you for all the love #Valimai #AjithSir @BoneyKapoor”

TV Listing

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 7 MAR - FRI 11 MAR 2022 6.00 Jesal Toral 9.00 SHUBH PRABHAT 9.30 SUR PRABHAT 15.00 RASOI SHOW 17.30 SHRIMAD BHAGWAT MAHAPURAN 18.00 DESHI BEATS 18.30 SURI 19.00 BHAKT GORA KUMBHAR 19.30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 20.00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI 20.30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU 21.00 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM 21.30 GEETA SATURDAY 5 MAR 2022 6.00 Halaman Jethwo 9.00 SHUBH PRABHAT 9.30 SUR PRABHAT

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 7 MAR - FRI 11 MAR 2022 16.30 RASOI SHOW DESI FLAVOURS 17.30 CHHUTA CHHEDA 18.00 SASURAL SIMAR KA 18.30 TU AASHIQUI 19.00 BHAGYA KA LIKHA 20.00 SWARNA GHAR 20.30 DIL SE DIL TAK 21.00 THAPKI PYAR KI 2 21.30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 2

10.00 MOTU PATLU 11.00 GATTU BATTU 15.00 RASOI SHOW 17.30 SHRIMAD BHAGWAT MAHAPURAN 18.00 DESHI BEATS 18.30 SURI 19.00 BHAKT GORA KUMBHAR 19.30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 20.00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI 20.30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU 21.00 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM 21.30 GEETA SUNDAY 6 MAR 2022 9.00 SHUBH PRABHAT 9.30 SUR PRABHAT 10.00 MOTU PATLU 11.00 GATTU BATTU 12.00 Dholo Mara Malakno 15.00 Aav Taru Kari Nakhu 18.00 DESHI BEATS 18.30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 19.00 SHU CHALE CHE 19.30 GEETA 20.30 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM 22.00 SHU CHALE CHE SATURDAY 5 MAR 2022 15.00 SHU CHALE CHE 16.30 RASOI SHOW - DESI FLAVOURS 17.30 DESI BEAT 3 18.00 SASURAL SIMAR KA 18.30 TU AASHIQUI 19.00 BHAGYA KA LIKHA 20.00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL 21.00 THAPKI PYAR KI 2 21.30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 2 SUNDAY 6 MAR 2022 16.30 RASOI SHOW - DESI FLAVOURS 17.30 DESI BEAT 3 18.00 BFFs with Vogue - Season 1 19.00 KHATRA KHATRA KHATRA 20.00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL 21.00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL

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Will Smith, Jessica Chastain win top honours at SAG Awards A

Dhwani Gautam wraps up dream project ‘Hoon Tari Heer’

ctors Will Smith, Jessica Chastain, and the film `CODA` took home the highest honours at the 28th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held this year at the Santa Monica Barker Hangar. During the ceremony, Kate Winslet presented cine icon Helen Mirren with the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award. `CODA` took home the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. It was competing against movies such as `Belfast`, `Don`t Look Up`, `House Of Gucci` and `King Richard`. Will Smith and Jessica Chastain were named in the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role and Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for `King Richard` and `The Eyes Of Tammy Faye` respectively.

For the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series, actor Michael Keaton`s performance for `Dopesick` was recognised.

While Kate Winslet bagged the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series for `Mare of Easttown`. `Succeession` beat `The Handmaid`s Tale`, `The Morning Show`, `Squid Game` and `Yellowstone` in the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series category.

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ilmmaker Dhwani Gautam has announced the wrap of his upcoming film ‘Hoon Tari Heer’. The project has been hitting the headlines regularly. The makers and actors of the film were in Vilnius, and Lithuania and recently wrapped up shooting. Dhwani posted a couple of photos with his co-stars Bharat Chawda and Ojas Rawal. He also posted a picture with a ceramic plate that has the actor's signature on it, and many of his fans were astounded to learn about the ritual of crashing a plate before filming begins.

Recently, Bharat Chawda shared some pictures on his Instagram story, where he is seen alongside Puja Joshi. One can also see Dhwani peeking in the frame.

Another picture features Bharat and Ojas the protagonists of the film having a funny moment on the set.

A love triangle, ‘Hoon Tari Heer’ will shed light on a womancentric story. It features actors Ojas Rawal, Bharat Chawda, Puja Joshi, Dharmesh Vyas, and Surbhi Jhaveri Vyas, among others. The movie will be released in Gujarati, Spanish, English, and French.

`Squid Game` stars Jung Ho-yeon and Lee Jung-Jae were named in the Outstanding Performance by a Female and Male Actor in a Drama Series section. Sports comedy drama show `Ted Lasso` took home the award for best comedy series ensemble at the 2022 SAG Awards on Sunday. It`s main lead Jason Sudeikis was named Outstanding Performance

By A Male Actor in a Comedy Series.

For the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series, Jean Smart for `Hacks` took home the honour, beating names such as Elle Fanning, Sandra Oh, Juno Temple and Hannah Waddingham.

Hollywood actress Ariana DeBose took home the award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role for `West Side Story.` She was nominated alongside Caitriona Balfe, Cate Blanchett, Kirsten Dunst and Ruth Negga. The award marked DeBose`s first nomination and win.

A heartwarming and adorable reaction to Madhuri’s ‘The Fame Game’ V

eteran actress Madhuri Dixit recently made her OTT debut with Karan Johar and Sri Rao’s ‘The Fame Game’ and is already making the headlines globally and all over India. Touted as Dixit’s comeback to the entertainment industry, the series also marks her on-screen reunion with co-star Sanjay Kapoor after almost 27 years.

While the show has garnered a lot of love and attention, it was Canadian comedian and talk show host Lilly Singh’s Instagram post that won a lot of hearts. Lilly Singh posted a video of herself watching the series and eagerly waiting for Dixit to do the iconic ‘Chane ke khet mein’ step. Right when Madhuri delivers, Singh lets out a scream in support and thrill.

Sharing her love for ‘The Fame Game’, Singh penned a note, “Real footage of me watching #TheFameGame last night and losing my mind because @madhuridixitnene hit THE move.” She added, “Us Desis have limited shows to begin with, so truthfully I was nervous to see how this would be executed. And I was absolutely blown away. The outfits (and Madhuri’s jewelry ) are ON POINT and for once you can tell it’s not someone guessing what our culture should look like. The choreo and aesthetics are ON POINT. The writing is ON POINT. The cinematography is ON POINT.

Shehnaaz Gill’s childhood photo breaks the internet

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Tackling taboo subjects is ON. MF. POINT”.

“Congratulations and thank you to the creator @newyorksri for working hard on this show. The first concert I went to was Madhuri.

The first movie I watched was Madhuri. And so this was really special for me. And it makes me so happy and proud that the larger world will know the magic of THE Madhuri Dixit thanks to your vision. Not to mention that for the first time, my mom called me to tell me about a show that SHE binged. She’s never had that experience before.

Representation matters”, Singh wrote.

On a closing note, she added, “And real talk, if us South Asians want to see more shows like this or about our experience at all, we need to be loud with our support. That’s the only way. So watch.

Tweet. Review. Do all the things!! It’s a W for the culture!! HURRRRRR!!!!”.

hehnaaz Gill’s fans were in for quite a bit of surprise as her childhood picture went viral on social media. A younger version of the ‘Big Boss 13’ star is seen sitting on her father’s lap with her brother on her mother’s lap beside them. Shehnaaz is seen sporting short hair, wearing a deep blue sweater with a pair of printed jeans.

Fans showered the actress with love, with many of them remembering how the reality TV contestant spoke about being a cute child. One of her fans wrote, “She said “main paida hi sundar hui thi”

#SHEHNAAZGILL kabhi jhuth nahi bolti,” while another one added, “Shehnaaz Gill is born cutie but she grew up to be a beautiful soul…” A lot of users also mentioned how she looked cute, as they wrote, “Pyaari si gudiya hamari,” as another one replied, “Beautiful combination of Soft and Strong.”

Shehnaaz became a sensation after her appearance on ‘Bigg Boss 13'. Her bubbly personality garnered a lot of love from viewers who also shipped her relationship with actor Sidharth Shukla. Shehnaaz took a break from work last year in September following Shukla’s untimely demise.

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IPL to begin on March 26, final on May 29 The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 will begin on March 26. The final is set to be played on May 29. The decision was taken during a virtual meeting of the BCCI officials with the Governing Council members last week.

The tournament will be played across four venues Wankhede Stadium and Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and the MCA Stadium in Pune. The teams will be in a strict bio-bubble environment and the Board has allotted practice venues at the BandraKurla Complex and Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, DY Patil Sports Complex in Navi Mumbai and the MCA Grounds in Kandivali or the facility in Thane.

While Wankhede Stadium and the DY Patil Stadium will host 20 matches each, 15 games will be held at Brabourne and the MCA Stadium in Pune. "We will take a call on the playoff stages at a later date," a BCCI official, who attended the

India thrash Lanka in third T20 Dasun Shanaka’s fighting 50 went in vain as Shreyas Iyer smashed his third consecutive half century (73 not out off 45) and helped India thrash Sri Lanka by six wickets in the third and final T20I to complete the 3-0 clean sweep, at Dharamsala on Sunday.

It was India’s 12th successive T20I win, the joint longest winning streak for a full member and their seventh series win on the trot at home in this format.

With this win, they also completed their third successive 3-0 sweep of a series in the shortest format of the game.

Under Rohit Sharma captaincy, India registered a 3-0 win over New Zealand at home last year and they thrashed West Indies 30 earlier this month to go to the top spot of ICC T20I Rankings.

And with the sweep of Sri Lanka, India are set to retain the numero uno position. After winning the toss and opting to bat first, a courageous 50 from skipper Dasun Shanaka helped Sri Lanka post 146/5 in 20 overs.

The likes of Avesh Khan (2/23),

Mohammed Siraj (1/22), Harshal Patel (1/29), Ravi Bishnoi (1/32) picked wickets at regular intervals to keep Sri Lanka on the backfoot before Shanaka played a solid knock to help his team post a fighting total.

Chasing a challenging total, India were off to a poor start as Dushmantha Chameera dismissed Rohit Sharma (5) in the second over of the innings.

Sheyas Iyer then joined makeshift opener Sanju Samson at the crease and kept the scoreboard moving at a brisk pace from the word go.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 146/5 in 20 overs (Shanaka 74 not out, Chandimal 25; Avesh Khan 2/23) lost to India (Shreyas Iyer 73 not out off 45, Ravindra Jadeja 22 not out; Kumara 2/28) by 6 wickets.

Indian women beat SA in WC warm-up Harmanpreet Kaur struck form with a timely hundred as India eked out a narrow tworun win over South Africa in a warm-up match of the ICC Women’s World Cup here on Sunday. The India vicecaptain, who had regained some form with her first 50 in 12 months during the final ODI against New Zealand, slammed a 119-ball 114 with the help of 11 boundaries.

The innings will calm the nerves of the team management as she remains a key player for India’s campaign.

Opening the innings, Yastika Bhatia gained rhythm ahead of the tournament proper with a

78-ball 58 but the team didn’t get the impetus in the final overs to end at 244 for nine after being invited to bat first.

Defending the total, Rajeshwari Gayakwad (4/46) returned with a four-wicket haul to stop South Africa at 242 for seven, despite some good work from opener Laura Wolvaardt (75), Sune Luus (94) and Marizanne Kapp (31).

Ayabonga Khaka (3/23) was the most successful bowler for South Africa. In their campaign opener on March 6, India will face arch-rivals Pakistan who recorded a four-wicket win over New Zealand in another practice game in Lincoln.

meeting, said. However, there is a possibility that Ahmedabad could host the playoffs. Earlier, the Board was planning to host the IPL from March 27, but the broadcaster Star Sports had requested the Board to start the tournament on March 26.

Fans to be allowed The Board has decided to allow 50 per cent spectators during the first week, following which a maximum of 75 per cent will be allowed. "We will follow all the necessary protocols suggested by the Maharashtra government. As of now, the plan is to ensure that we have the fans back in the stadium," the Board official added.

Women's tournament in Pune BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had confirmed that the Women's T20 Challenge will be held during the IPL playoffs.

And in the meeting, it was decided that the tournament could be played in Pune in the second week of May. The Board also plans to start a full-fledged women's IPL by next year.

Kohli’s 100th test to be held behind closed doors The Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) made it clear that the opening Test between India and Sri Lanka, also slated to be former skipper Virat Kohli’s 100th Test, will be held behind closed doors. The Indian cricket board (BCCI) doesn’t want to take any chances despite Covid-19 cases being on the decline.

However, the second Virat Kohli Test, a day-nighter in Bengaluru, will have crowd attendance at 50% capacity, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) announced.

PCA treasurer RP Singla said that the state cricket association respects the sentiments of the fans, but also has to abide by the BCCI directive due to cases in and around Mohali. In the past 24 hours, Mohali reported 19 fresh cases.

“Apart from the people who are on duty for the Test match, no general spectators

will be allowed. We are strictly abiding by the directives of the BCCI. We are also ensuring that the ground staff and all others on duty are double vaccinated,” the PCA treasurer said.

“The Mohali ground is hosting an international match after almost three years.

Coincidentally this will also be a landmark Test for Kohli. But the safety of players, support staff, ground staff and the fans is paramount, which is why we had to take the call,” he said.

INDIA PLANS TO HOST CHESS OLYMPIAD NOW The All India Chess Federation (AICF) said it will be bidding to host the 44th Chess Olympiad later this year after the prestigious event was moved out of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The Chess Olympiad is a biennial event in which teams from some 190 countries compete over a two-week period. The 2022 edition was supposed to take place in Moscow from July 26 to August 8. Last week, FIDE (the International Chess Federation) decided to move the Olympiad and all other official competitions planned in Russia in the wake of the country's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. The other events that were moved away from Russia are the first chess Olympiad for people with disabilities and the 93rd FIDE Congress. If India gets the nod to host the Olympiad, it would be the second major world event to be held in the country after the World Championship match in 2013 between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen, the current world No.1.

BABA TWINS SCORE TONS IN THE SAME MATCH The Baba twins of Tamil Nadu - Aparajith and Indrajith - achieved a rare feat in Indian cricket. They became the first set of Indian twins to score centuries in the same firstclass match for the same team. However, the two had scored hundreds in a first-class match before - during the 2018 Duleep Trophy in Dindigul - though for different teams. Aparajith was representing India Red while Indrajith played for India Green. Last week Indrajith (127) and Aparajith (101 batting) - notched up a 206-run third wicket stand that was the highlight on Day 1 of their Ranji Trophy clash against Chhattisgarh at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati. The duo were instrumental in Tamil Nadu ending the day on 308 for 4.

“Batting with each other has always been fun right from the time we took up the sport as kids. We root for each other always. While the last time we scored hundreds in a match - it was for different teams - but doing so in the same match and that too for Tamil Nadu is a truly special feeling altogether,” Indrajith said. Aparajith, on the other hand, was all praise for Indrajith for the way he went about his innings. “He was striking so fluently. I didn’t want to do anything silly.

With the wicket on the slower side, the idea was to settle down before playing shots,” Aparajith said.

INDIA TO SEND SECOND-STRING TEAMS TO CWG

BCCI panel to probe threat to Saha The BCCI has formed a threemember committee to probe the alleged threat by a senior journalist to Wriddhiman Saha for not agreeing to give an interview. While Saha had initially refused to name the journalist in a series of tweets on February 23, it is understood that now he is ready to reveal the identity of the journalist and has given his consent to probe.

“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has constituted a three-member committee to look into the matter of Wriddhiman Saha receiving threats and intimidation from a senior

in brief

Wriddhiman Saha

journalist,” BCCI said in a release. “The three member committee comprises of BCCI Vice-President Rajiv Shukla, BCCI treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal and BCCI Apex Council Member Prabhtej Singh Bhatia.

The committee will start the proceedings as early as next week” BCCI stated that a "centrally contracted cricketer was allegedly threatened by a senior journalist for not responding to his messages asking for an interview".

India will send its second-string hockey teams for the men's and women's competitions at this year's Commonwealth Games due to a short turnaround time between the Birmingham event and the Hangzhou Asian Games, which is a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics. “We will send India 'A' teams for the Commonwealth Games this year because we want our main players to be fully fit for the Asian Games as it is an Olympic qualifier,” a Hockey India official said. “We will send reserve players who will not be part of the Asian Games squad.” He, however, hinted that first-choice goalkeepers of both the senior sides could be sent for CWG for some game time ahead of the Asiad. The Commonwealth Games are scheduled from July 28 to August 8, while the Asian Games will be held from September 10 to 25 this year.