AV 08th January 2022

FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE FTA to be greenlit this month?

SEE PAGE - 18

The man behind ‘The Big Fat Indian The League of Extraordinary Indians SEE PAGE - 11

R

inside

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side British Sikh Army officer becomes the first woman of colour to reach South Pole SEE PAGE - 12

Wedding Photography’ SEE PAGE - 28

8 - 14 JANUARY 2022 - VOL 50 ISSUE 35 Rotherhithe resident receives an appreciation letter from the Queen amid chances of deportation SEE PAGE - 13

Indian-origin man becomes the first employee to be hired by Tesla SEE PAGE - 22

SHORT SIGHTED SHORTAGE From BMA to legal experts, international recruiters to common man, everyone except the UK government has the foresight of the ongoing staff shortage across the UK, especially in the healthcare sector. Asian Voice decodes what this means for the future of Britain’s workforce.

Shefali Saxena The UK government on Tuesday reported a record of more than 200,000 coronavirus cases as Omicron strain surged through the country. The government is preparing for mass staff shortages due to the staggering rise in Omicron cases. In “worstcase scenarios” staff absences could be as high as 25 per cent. Data suggests that up to a quarter of the public sector’s workforce may be absent in the coming weeks.

Continued on page 6

Over 50 British Indians receive New Year Honours The annual New Year Honours list was released last Friday, which continues to give recognition to those showing courage and leadership in their local areas. 63% of the Lord Ajay Kakkar New Year Honours List recipients have been awarded for community work and Covid-19 initiatives. Over 50 Indians (13 are women) have been named in the New Year Honours list 2022. Last year, there were only 30 names of Indian origin.

Continued on page 14

2 021 M Mar kett Rev iew Visiit th he websiite link bellow to th he video rec www.prideviewgroup.c com/seminar

2 UK

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8 - 14 January 2022

with Keith Vaz

Reliance New Energy Solar to acquire Faradion Limited

SAMARAH SULAMAN ALBU [LLB (Hon) Law] Immigration Lawyer Samarah was born to immigrant parents in the 1970’s, She was the first female in the family to graduate with Honours in Law from Manchester University. Samarah moved to London working in Corporate Finance and Corporate Immigration for multinational firms including Price Waterhouse Coopers and Ernst & Young before setting up UK Immigration Solutions in 2006, which has grown from strength to strength.

1) Which place, or city or country do you most feel at home in? (50 words response) I feel at home in both London and Lancashire, my family life with children is in London, but the extended family is all in Lancashire. Hailing from Asian heritage family is at the core of our heart!

2) What are your proudest achievements?

(50 words response) Graduating and seeing my parents smile, when I was dressed in my gradation gown. I was the first person in my immediate family to graduate and the first female in our whole family. I did not realise the enormity of the achievement until years later.

3) What inspires you? (50 words response) My children and parents inspire me.

My parents arrived in the UK without any knowledge of language and cultures, yet they thrived! I want to achieve more to inspire my children to be the best they can be.

4) What has been biggest obstacle in your career? (50 words response) My gender, hijab and heritage!

However, these obstacles only made me more determined and stubborn to be successful. I did not let other’s prejudice hold me back and often I am told that I defy the general perception of an Asian muslim woman due to my confidence and character.

5) Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date? (50 words response) My family, especially my late father. I am blessed with having a very entrepreneurial family who gave me the platform to be confident and believe in myself. My father taught me the meaning of working hard with honour and slow and steady wins the race.

6) What is the best aspect about your current role? (50 words response) Meeting people from all walks of life, to hear stories of real people’s struggle and to be instrumental in their new lives, where they are successful and thriving with their loved ones.

7) And the worst? (50 words response) Not knowing when to stop working!! it is very hard running my own business, as I feel that I need to always keep working. I am getting better at having defined work/not working times!

8) What are your long term goals? (50 words response) I have recently started a new company Anglo German Education, assisting students study in the UK and establishing UK Universities abroad. we are excited to grow the access to British education all over the world.

9) If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change ? (50 words response) I would re-join the European Union, I believe that it is a travesty for future generations not to have the same luxury of access to Member States and the rights that it provided.

10) If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why. (50 words response) Mohammed Ali, I would ask him his life story, he was a phenomenal athlete, an activist and extremely intelligent. He used his sharpness to debate with World Leaders and he challenged boundaries. Through his work he became a hero to the poor, black and minorities. his legend will continue for centuries!

Virendra Sharma MP condemns sacrilege at Golden Temple Reacting to the recent incident, Virendra Sharma MP said, “The news of sacrilege in the Golden Temple will be deeply distressing for millions of Sikhs around the world. People of all reli-

gions deserve and have a right to worship in their own way, free from restrictions and persecution. No one should face discrimination on the basis of their faith, and the defilement of

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holy items is wrong.

“Tolerance is something we all deserve, those of all faiths and none.

Intolerance is best fought with toleration, understanding and coexistence, not more intolerance. In no places should we condone the killing or murder of people for their intolerance, the death penalty is wrong in all circumstances. The intolerance and crime of the defiler should be met with the characteristic understanding and magnanimity of the Sikh community. Even in the face of insult, we all know the strongest response is to stand above it. I utterly condemn the invasion of the Golden Temple and the insult to Sikhs worldwide and call on everyone to show tolerance and shared humanity.”

Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd (“RNESL”), a whollyowned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (“Reliance”), has today signed definitive agreements to acquire 100% shareholding in Faradion Limited (“Faradion”) for an enterprise value of £100 million. In addition, RNESL will also invest £25 million as growth capital to accelerate the commercial rollout.

Based out of Sheffield and Oxford in the UK, Faradion is one of the leading global battery technology companies. It has a competitively superior, strategic, wide-reaching and extensive IP portfolio covering several aspects of sodium-ion technology.

Faradion’s sodium-ion technology provides significant advantages compared to lithium-ion technology, including greater sustainability, a patented zero-volt safe transport and storage capability and immense opportunity for scalability.

The total cost of ownership is already comparable to lead-acid, and performance at par with lithium-ion

phosphate, both with runway for further improvements.

All of this combines to offer the most exciting opportunity globally for scaling and accelerating the use of sodium-ion technology for energy storage and EV applications.

Reliance will use Faradion’s state-of-the-art technology at its proposed fully integrated energy storage giga-factory as part of the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex project at Jamnagar in western India.

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries, said, “We welcome Faradion and its experienced team to the Reliance family. This will further strengthen and build upon our ambition to create one of the most advanced and

integrated New Energy ecosystems and put India at the forefront of leading battery technologies. The sodium-ion technology developed by Faradion provides a globally leading energy storage and battery solution which is safe, sustainable, provides high energy density and is significantly costcompetitive. In addition, it has wide use applications from mobility to grid-scale storage and back-up power.”

“Most importantly, it utilizes sodium, which will secure India’s energy storage requirements for its large renewable energy and fastgrowing EV charging market. We will work with Faradion management and accelerate its plans to commercialise the technology through building integrated and end-to-end Giga scale manufacturing in India. We believe this will be one of our many steps that will also enable, accelerate, and secure large scale energy storage requirements for our Indian partners developing and transforming India’s EV mobility and transport sector.”

Christmas: First baby born at The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Christmas is a festival that celebrates the birth of a child. So what better way to mark the occasion than to recognise the first baby born in our hospital at Christmas.

The first baby delivered on Christmas Day 2021 at Hillingdon Hospital was a boy to mother, Kulwinder Kaur and father, Sukhdev Singh. He was born at 1.48 am and weighed 2630g (5lb 8oz), delivered by a senior midwife, Karen Moses. He is brother to sister, Ekampreet, aged 8 years.

At The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation

Trust, we think that all of the babies born every day and year are special but as is our tradition, a bag of gifts will be given to the family of the first child born on Christmas Day and New Year's Day in the Labour

Ward and the Midwifery-Led Unit in the Maternity Department at Hillingdon Hospital.

Lynn Kennedy, the Labour Ward Co-ordinator, who was on duty for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day morning, said: “New babies bring such joy, especially at Christmas and even more so when our country is going through such uncertain times. It’s always a moment we enjoy when we welcome the first child born at our hospital at Christmas.”

Fuel poverty could climb to highest level for UK households Around 4 million homes in the UK were already classed as fuel poor before a surge in global energy market prices triggered one of the steepest ever energy bill hikes in October, but campaigners are braced for a record increase in the numbers unable to pay their energy bills following another hike

this spring.

The charity National Energy Action warned of the highest level of fuel poverty across the UK since records began in 1996. The double blow to household bills could cause at least 2 million more homes to slip into fuel poverty compared with the start of 2021, taking the total

to 6 million households.

It is to be noted that energy market prices climbed steadily over 2021 before leaping to record highs in December. The market rally has fuelled one of the steepest energy price hikes in the history of the UK’s liberalised energy market.

Hospital visitors may have to be banned soon According to Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS trusts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, “Hospital managers have to make very difficult choices and excluding visitors is one

of those very difficult choices."

As “very tough” few weeks will put the health service under enormous pressure, hospital bosses could be forced to reintroduce a ban on visitors.

However, the govern-

ment was also considering creating a rule that hospitals should not force women to give birth or attend scans without their partners present, even if tougher restrictions were deemed necessary to curb the spread of Omicron.

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8 - 14 January 2022

Morning shows the day The New Year bearing the news of an extraordinary achievement by a British Sikh soldier. Indian-origin Preet Chandi became the first woman of colour to ski solo to South Pole (story page 12). Chandi's adventure began in November last year when she embarked on her journey.

She spent the next few weeks skiing solo across Antarctica and announced on 3 January that she had completed the 700-mile trek in 40 days. A call for celebration among women and diaspora, this is a considerable achievement for a Briton and its ethnic communities. Twitteratis and Netizens have come forward congratulating Preet for making history, awaiting her return.

But in the backdrop of this moment of absolute blessedness in one of Britain’s largest communities, lingers fear of another year full of uncertainties. Labour party in a statement has revealed that poverty among ethnic minority children has more than doubled since the Conservatives have taken on the baton.

Analysis of Department for Work and Pensions figures shows that when the Conservatives entered in Government in 2010-11, there were just over 169,400 Indian children in poverty, out of 495,939. Now (2019-20) that has reduced to 162, 111 out of 597,356 children from the community. A reduction by 4%. However, the Bangladeshi and Pakistani community does not share the same fate. In 2010-11 Pakistani children in poverty were 172,721 out of 348,675 total children from the diaspora. In 2019-20, it has increased to 348,675 children in poverty out of 586,314. A rise by 88%.

The Bangladeshi community, in 2010-11 had 82,971 children in poverty out of 137,089. Currently it is 145,511, out of 238,164 children. A rise by 75%.

It comes as Anneliese Dodds MP, Labour’s Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary, reiterates Labour’s calls for a new Race Equality Act to tackle structural racial inequality at source.

Her call follows Labour’s publication last year of a report

by Baroness Doreen Lawrence calling for a raft of immedi-

ate and long-term measures to protect Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities from the Covid-19 pandemic.

These include a national strategy to tackle health inequalities, a race equality strategy and mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting – none of which the Government has implemented.

The Conservative Party in the last two years have of course outdone themselves with series of corruption charges, wrong decisions, in-fighting and scandals. Of course, Britain remains far tolerant than many other countries, perhaps inclusive too, but the last two years have broken all records, especially of racial inequalities.

The Covid pandemic saw deaths among ethnic community, fuelled much by the discriminations over decades.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing one of the worst Tory local election results in London in over 50 years, according to one of the party’s top polling experts, challenging his leadership, The Evening Standard reported.

Mr Johnson’s authority has reportedly been severely damaged in recent months following allegations of sleaze at Westminster, lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street and a major rebellion by his own MPs over Covid restrictions.

The series of setbacks has hit the Tories in the polls, with a survey for Opinium last week showing Labour now has a seven-point lead over the Conservatives.

The poll also showed that Mr Johnson has become a “significant drag on Tory fortunes”, sparking further speculation that MPs could be preparing to oust him as leader.

With that comes staff shortages – much of which is fuelled by an absolute lackadaisical and casual leadership, unprepared for even a pre-pandemic chaos.

Thankfully this is just the beginning of the year. And if one may dare hope, this morning should not show the day.

People deserve a chance in 2022. They deserve their much awaited justice.

Honours not for this era?

The New Year Honours List, released on the New Year’s Eve as always has added a fervour of extra jubilation in certain quarters of the community. 15.1% of the recipients on the list belong to an ethnic minority background, making this List for the fourth time running, the most ethnically diverse to date. The Asian community forms around 8.4% of the recipients. Last year, BAME community formed 9.1% of the recipients.

The Honours List continues to give recognition to those showing courage and leadership in their local areas, with 63% of the New Year Honours List awarded for community work. Academics and other staff associated with the University of Cambridge have featured in the 2022 New Year Honours List.

The medical chiefs leading the UK’s battle against coronavirus have been recognised in the New Year Honours list while the Queen has knighted former prime minister Tony Blair, though in the past he has declined peerage.

The longest-serving Labour Prime Minister reportedly said it was an “immense honour” to have been made a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry.

Lord Ajay Kakkar has been conferred a KBE, the second highest honour on this annual list. There has been no Asian at all conferred with a knighthood and as decorated as it stands, out of the 1,278 recipients, only 4 Indian-origin have received CBE, the third highest order on the list.

The UK has broadly appreciated its ethnic communities and their contributions. But the appreciation has often not converted into a public acknowledgement for making a considerable change. There are many doing fantastic work quietly, who may not be interested in an award or those who have neither been conferred with an award, nor they are aware of how to apply for the honours- to mark their success or dedication.

Reports recently showed how Prince Charles’s closest aide had to quit his job after allegations that he offered to secure a CBE honour for a Saudi tycoon who donated

more than a million pounds to royal charities. An investigation by The Sunday Times found that Michael Fawcett “offered to help to secure a knighthood and British citizenship” for Saudi businessman Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, who gave £1.5m to Prince Charles’s charities, The Week reported.

In 2019, damehood for the former director of public prosecutions (DPP) Alison Saunders and a knighthood for former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan sparked a backlash. Ms Saunders was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath for services to criminal justice despite quitting the post after several controversies.

Not only honours, Tony Blair, who has been awarded this year by the highest honour, has himself have been questioned by the police in the past for nominating people for peerage who donated £5mn to the Labour party. The cash for honour scandal once included David Cameron, the former Tory Prime Minister, who nominated almost 50 close aides, political allies and Conservative donors for honours as part of his resignation honours list.

Even in the early 20th century, a Lib Dem Prime Minister was embroiled in a major cash for patronage scandal, leading to his resignation in 1922. David Lloyd George enjoyed an illustrious political career, including serving as UK’s prime minister from 1916 to 1922.

From Winston Churchill to Nikesh Shukla, have declined honours and reasons have been varied. There is an urgent need to ensure proper due diligence is done before bestowing honours on recipients. Of course, public memory is short-lived, but certain scandals are not just embarrassing but dangerous. Last year Nikesh marked a decade as a published author. But in June he made headlines for turning down an MBE for his 'services to literature', because of its valorisation of the term ‘empire’.

While these honours or awards are celebratory in a way, one needs to give a hard look (and perhaps ear) to understand if they still stand justified in today’s era, especially with so much rampant corruptions, scandals and political manipulations in the UK.

India at par with China’s digital transformation The UK will officially offer relaxation of visa rules to make it easier and cheaper for Indians to come study and work in Britain, it has been widely reported. UK’s International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan is meant to make this offer when she travels to Delhi later this month to secure a free trade agreement (FTA) with India, according to The Times.

The Indian government has demanded a simpler visa system for a very long time, price wise at par with what India charges Britons for similar visas. At present, a visa for an Indian businessman costs up to 10 times more than a visa for a British businessman in India.

This is an important development for UK-India relationship. With India’s Prime Minister friendly enough, PM Boris Johnson now must be more than ready to amend the post-Brexit offerings.

On the other hand, India’s private market has been

thriving despite pandemic. Hannah Zhang in an article in the Institutional Investor said, 44 venture capital-backed start-ups have hit the crucial $1 billion-mark in India. Ecommerce, fintech, software-as-a-service, enterprise services, education technology, and food technology are the key areas of growth in India’s private market.

And private market investors are rushing to cash in on India’s growing technology sector. According to data and research firm Venture Intelligence, in 2021, venture capitalists and private equity firms across the world invested $63 billion into India, up from $40 billion in 2020.

Timothy Moe, chief Asia Pacific equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, has reportedly said that India is mirroring the digital transformation process in China, which resulted in “the best 10-year [growth] of earnings of all the markets in the region and has generated significant amounts of wealth.”

It is never too late to be what you might have been. - George Eliot

Alpesh Patel

The UK-India Relationship in 2022 The UK-India relationship moved closer in 2021, but what will 2022 bring?

Trade & Economics In May 2021, the UK and India agreed on an Enhanced Trade Partnership. The summit between Boris Johnson and Narendra Modi aims to double bilateral trade to £50bn by 2030. However, further talks are set for 2022 to discuss a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.

A UKRI report underlined the impact of a closer economic relationship between the UK and India. Co-investment of £330m in joint projects has led to a further investment of £440 from public bodies, non-profits, and other commercial entities.

Furthermore, the British High Commission in India has announced calls for bids for planning and implementing the UK-India Economic Policy Collaboration Program for 2021/22. Finance ministers laid out much of these steps at the 11th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue in September 2021.

The downstream effect of strengthening the UK and India's bonds can be felt across several areas. UK start-up, Han Airways, is planning UK to India flights, starting late 2022.

Additionally, the prestigious Chevening Scholarship programme is open for the 2022-33 academic year, supporting Indian graduates to study for a masters degree at top UK universities.

Geopolitics While some of this activity is about securing trade relations in a post-Brexit world, the geopolitical relevance of India cannot be ignored. China and Russia are a considerable threat. The UK sees India as an ally in the region.

Narendra Modi has been making several moves to strengthen relations across Asia too. For the first time since 2018, he has invited the Central Asian countries as chief guests for Republic day.

Environment & Social The Cop26 summit saw agreement between the UK and Indian over climate change action. Further to this, the UK plans to invest over £1bn in green and renewable projects in India.

Sport & Culture Of course, 2022 will bring some healthy UK-India rivalry when the postponed fifth Test series match between the nations finally happens in July of Edgbaston, July 2022.

After a difficult 2021 for the Indian people, investment and growth are a priority. But there is a lot of hope that India will remain the fastest-growing worldwide economy. Thanks to these closer ties, the UK will be all the better for it.

Certainly since I was asked to join the UK India Roundtable back in 1999 to advise both Prime Ministers on closer ties, I see more of a push from the UK than ever for closer ties. This is due not just to commerce -that push had always been there, but because of the security and defence concerns. The British naval carrier strike group visit to India was more evidence of that.

Of course many barriers, hurdles, misunderstandings remain in all areas. It is beholden on all of us to make this relationship closer.

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Mom releases last heartbreaking picture of son and daughter-in-law Meesha Afzal, 22, and Kyle Khan, 26, from Sparkhill, were passengers in a Mercedes A200, which collided into a wall in Solihull.

The married couple, who were wearing seatbelts, died from their injuries at the scene, on December 13, 2020. brave mum Kyle's Roshni Sajida Yousaf, 51, has released what is thought to be one of the last pictures of the couple embracing and

admiring the sunset from a bench at Clent Hills, in Worcestershire - just weeks before they died.

Roshni also called for car airbags to be a "compulsory" fitting in the back of vehi-

cles by manufacturers across the automotive industry after starting a campaign.

"Kyle and Meesha will never come back but the backseat airbags will save lives as seatbelts alone are not enough to protect us.

We should have the full safety of airbags in the back for us to be protected against car accidents."

A West Midlands Police investigation into the fatal crash remains ongoing.

The 1p challenge, that will end your year with great savings Financial blogger Skint Dad is encouraging everyone to take up the penny challenge.

It is a penny challenge that is designed to help you save nearly £700 in 365 days without breaking the bank.

The idea behind the challenge is that by saving a small amount each day people will be able to build on their savings without leaving themselves short for the

daily expenditure of modern life.

First created at Skint Dad in 2015/2016, the 1p saving challenge asks people

to start by putting away one penny on day one and then the equivalent amount in pennies for each day of the year. This means saving 2p on Day 2, GBP 1 on Day 100 and so on.

If you start the challenge on January 1 and you stick to the challenge all year you will have saved £667.95 by the end of the year.

The finest example of school healed with love A government inquiry in 2014 found Golden Hillock’s school leaders had failed to challenge extremist views and forced ‘an intolerant and aggressive Islamic influence’ on staff.

The Birmingham school, once at the centre of the Trojan Horse scandal has now undergone a transformation that has been made by the teaching team at Ark Boulton Academy in Sparkhill, formerly Golden Hillock School, led by its

ambitious executive principal Herminder Channa, who was awarded the OBE in 2020 for her services to education. The school has now become one of only two secondary schools in England to be awarded a Kitemark Plus for its character education.

Taking over as headteacher in 2015, Mrs Channa says she and her team healed the school ‘with love’ by changing how staff, pupils and parents communicate

with each other.

Mrs Channa, who herself has two daughters, aged 20 and 19, says it was about working with adults in the right way before we did anything with the kids.

Gun thug caught armed and with boastful messages sent to a gang Mohammed Khan, 24, of Leyton Road, Handsworth, was jailed for 10 years after pleading guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, possessing a prohibited weapon and

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Ian Ball, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court, said the windows on the vehicle, which had false number plates, were tinted and officers did not know how many people were inside when armed police swooped on a Vauxhall Astra parked in Almond Grove, Perry Barr at around 2 am on May 24 last year.

In a passing sentence, Judge Thomas Rochford said: "There were two cartridges loaded in the gun so it was ready to use at a moment's notice.I accept there was a degree of frustration on your part in that you did not feel the police were able to protect you.

But Khan had chosen a lifestyle of firearms and that the photos on his phone were an aggravating feature showing an interest in glamorising guns.”

in brief in brief

Be a part of ‘Azadi MINISTERS KEEN Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ UK ON RELAXING To celebrate the 75th year of India’s Independence, the Ministry of External IMMIGRATION RULES Affairs, Government of India, is organising FOR INDIAN CITIZENS Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Quiz (AKAM Quiz) in January 2022.

Global Indians can participate in “A quiz on everything about India” during this celebration. The quiz is open for three categories of participants – NRIs, PIOs/OCIs, and Foreign Nationals of age 16-35 years.

Registration for the Quiz is open from December 1, 2021, till January 31, 2022. The Quiz will commence on January 1, 2022, and end on January 31, 2022.

The top 3 winners from each category will receive Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals.

The subjects covered for the Quiz and the complete information on registration can be seen at the website: https://akamquiz.in/.

Here are the rules and Rules and Regulations: F All registered participants will be eligible to take part in the AKAM Quiz.

F AKAM Quiz will commence on 01 January 2022 and end on 31 January 2022.

F Questions would be based on the topics mentioned above. A participant will have to answer 60 multiple choice questions in 60 minutes.

F Each Question will have 4 answer options out of which only one is correct. To select an answer, click on one of the option buttons. A participant can shuffle between questions any time during the quiz as per convenience. Candidates are required to end the quiz by pressing SUBMIT button.

The answers that are received by the system after pressing the ‘SUBMIT’ button only be considered for evaluation.

F There is no negative marking for this Quiz. Questions for each participant may be different for the same topic.

F All winners would be sent an email informing them about their success in AKAM Quiz. Personal details shall be sought for verification of NRI/PIO/Foreign National status of participants, by Indian Embassies/High Commissions and Government of India departments. In case any information provided by the winner is found to be incorrect and/or cannot be verified, the person who obtained the next highest score in the Quiz would be declared the winner.

F Participation in this online Quiz is voluntary.

F The Ministry retains the right to make any changes to the event, its format, schedule, rules, and in any matter related to this event, at any time before or during the event.

F The Organisers are not bound to provide either an internet connection or related devices to enable participants to participate in the online Quiz rounds.

F The decision of the organizers would be final and binding in all matters pertaining to the Online Quiz.

F In case of a tie-in Quiz score, the participant who took lesser time to answer questions would get a higher ranking.

F The questions in the Online Quiz will not be limited to the material supplied in the content sets. These sets have been provided as an aid to participants, but it does not purport to constitute the ‘syllabus’ of this online Test.

F The decision of organizers on any matter related to this Quiz shall be final and no disputes, claims, etc w.r.t. the Quiz will be entertained

UK ministers are keen in easing immigration restrictions for Indian citizens who will be able to live and work in the UK as part of forthcoming trade talks. This offer will be tabled in upcoming trade talks in Delhi when the international trade secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, will travel the same, reports the Times. It is believed that foreign secretary, Liz Truss is backing Trevelyan who wants to curb China’s growing influence in the region. However, they might face strong opposition from the home secretary, Priti Patel who opposes the offer.

A Department for International Trade spokesperson said: “India is projected to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2050 and a free trade agreement will open up huge opportunities for UK businesses to trade with India’s £2.25tn economy.”

FATHER OF FOUR SLAMS INDIAN RESTAURANT FOR NOT SERVING TRADITIONAL FEAST On Christmas, a father-of-four, Rick Arpino slammed Ruposhi Indian Bar & Restaurant in Bury on serving chicken and chips instead of a traditional turkey meal. He posted scathing reviews on Facebook and TripAdvisor. In his post, he explained that he was expecting two Indian dinners for the adults and traditional Christmas dinners for the children, however, on arrival they were served chicken, chips and half a fried tomato. 'What an absolute farce of a restaurant - Christmas Dinner ruined for our children on the whim of this establishment,’ he wrote. However, social media users criticised Rick for expecting a traditional meal at a curry house. The Ruposhi Indian Restaurant’s manager, Shah Munim, said that he's written to TripAdvisor to complain about the review.

MUMTAZ LEEDS INDIAN RESTAURANT GIVES AWAY FREE MEALS

Mumtaz Leeds, an Indian restaurant gave away more than 1200 free meals on Christmas day to those who required the food. Mumtaz Leeds said that its chefs boxed up dinners and made it available ‘for anyone and everyone’ at its Leeds Dock eatery. The meal consisted of onion bhajis with raita yoghurt, pilau rice biryani and chicken jalfrezi. Asad Arif, customer and business relations manager at Mumtaz Leeds, said: "All the Christmas cancellations have not been helpful, we've lost at least 60 to 70% of our trade this month. However, to be able to do this and give back to the community always revives us and gives us strength - we know we're still privileged and should be very grateful for what we have."

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One year anniversary of UK deploying Domestic abuse victims in Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine England and Wales to be given more time to report assaults New measures targeted directly at keeping women and girls safer will be added to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, the Government has announced.

Under the changes, victims of domestic abuse will be allowed more time to report incidents of common assault or battery against them. Currently, prosecutions must commence within six months of the offence.

Instead, this requirement will be moved to six months from the date the incident is formally reported to the police – with an overall time limit of two years from the offence to bring a prosecution.

Domestic abuse is often reported late relative to other crimes; so this will ensure victims have enough time to seek justice and that perpetrators answer for their actions.

Meanwhile, taking nonconsensual photographs or video recordings of breastfeeding mothers will be made a specific offence punishable by up to two years in prison. It covers situations where the motive is

to obtain sexual gratification or to cause humiliation, distress or alarm.

Similar legislation introduced by the Government in 2019 that criminalised “upskirting” has led to more than 30 prosecutions since it became law. Ministers are changing the law to protect mums from being harassed no matter where they choose to breastfeed.

Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Dominic Raab said: “We are committed to doing everything we can to protect women, make them feel safer, and give them greater confidence in the justice system. We’re giving the victims of domestic abuse longer to report the offence to the police – so abusers don’t evade justice. And we will introduce a new offence to stop people filming or taking photos of mothers breastfeeding without their consent – because no new mum should be harassed in this way.”

Home Secretary, Priti Patel, said: “My commitment to making our homes, streets and communities safer for women and girls is

clear. Every department in government is working to address and tackle all issues relating to violence against women and girls. The Government has a focused Strategy, dedicated to providing essential support for survivors, the prevention of crimes against women and girls and bringing perpetrators to justice with the full force of the law. Our actions include the new Domestic Abuse Act, with important changes to our laws; a newly created national police lead responsible solely for violence against women and girls, and millions of pounds have been invested in direct safety measures through the Safer Streets Fund. These are all important public confidence measures and changes to ensure the safety of women and girls in public spaces.

But this Government is determined to do more, and the amendments being introduced to this Bill today put victims’ voices at the heart of our decisions – giving domestic abuse victims more time to make a report to the police, and providing better protection to mothers breastfeeding their children.”

2.5 billion doses of the atcost and UK-made vaccine have been administered across the world. Last year, on 4 January 2021, the UK became the first country in the world to administer the Oxford University / AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. Brian Pinker, 82, was the first person to receive the life-saving vaccine outside of clinical trials at Oxford University Hospital at 7.30 am. Since then, around 50 million AstraZeneca vaccines have been administered in the UK, saving countless lives, keeping people out of the hospital and reducing the pressure on the NHS. To mark the anniver-

sary, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, will visit a vaccination centre in London to thank hard-working NHS staff and volunteers delivering jabs. Health and Social Care Secretary, Sajid Javid, said: “Backed by government funding, the UKmade, Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has played an absolutely crucial role in our fight against Covid-19, saving countless lives in the UK and around the world.

I’m extremely proud of our world-leading researchers and scientists who are responsible for developing some of the most effective vaccines and treatments during the pandemic and

the NHS for the incredible rollout.

The UK’s vaccination and booster programme is world-leading but with the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, it is more important than ever that people come forward for their vaccines and booster to top up their immunity this winter and protect the progress we have made.

The government invested early in Oxford University’s team, supporting their vaccine technology since 2016 and their Covid-19 jabs since March 2020 with more than £88 million to help research, develop and manufacture the vaccine.”

NHS will move to a "war footing", says PM PM Boris Johnson held a press conference on Tuesday, where he ruled out any further measures in England and instead of saying he is going to suggest to his ministers that the country continues with Plan B measures - including the mandatory wearing of face masks in some settings, working from home where possible and having to provide a vaccine pass-

port or a negative lateral flow test to enter some venues.

The PM announced that next week, around 100,000 critical workers from industries including food supply and transport will be given lateral flow tests to do daily in a bid to curb staffing pressures.

The PM said that the NHS will move to a "war footing" in the next few

weeks but that further restrictions are not yet required as the health service is "not where it was in the [last] January peak".

Health Secretary Sajid Javid says recent changes to self-isolation rules, to allow people with two negative Covid tests to return to work after seven days instead of ten, will help the NHS to mitigate worker shortages.

Secure English Language Tests (SELTs) approved for applications to UKVI for visas, visa renewals, British Citizenship and Settlement GESE: Graded Examinations in Spoken English A speaking and listening in English test available at levels A1, A2 and B1 Provisional result received in 24 hours and certificates sent within 7 days Tests every day of the week at Trinity’s many UK SELT centres

Just launched: the Trinity GESE Study App an on-the-go study tool that helps you learn and track the progress of your English language learning

Scan the QR code or visit trinitySELT.co.uk to book your Trinity SELT test

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SHORT SIGHTED SHORTAGE Continued from page 1

NHS bosses have warned of a “health emergency” because of high levels of staff shortages. Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said that staff shortages and an increase in hospitalisations were exacerbating an estimated 100,000 staff vacancies in the health service. On Boxing Day, a staggering 24,632 personnel in acute NHS trusts were absent due to Covid. For instance, 11 per cent of the staff of Iceland tested positive and was isolated during the holiday season.

Data suggests that the NHS including nurses and doctors and other health care professionals there are about 250,000 staff vacancies, of which roughly 50% may belong to the private sector businesses.

Amid "extreme and unprecedented" staff shortages, a hospital in Lincolnshire had to declare ‘a critical incident’ and take additional steps to maintain services.

Sajid Javid has rolled out a new volunteer scheme nationwide this year under which tens of thousands of NHS “reservists” will be recruited to bolster the health service’s workforce. According to Telegraph, the expansion comes after NHS chiefs have warned of severe staff shortages, with reports that 110,000 people – nearly one in 10 of the workforce – were off on New Year’s Eve, of whom 50,000 were either sick or self-isolating with Covid.

A report by BMA in mid-2021 had revealed that the medical workforce would need 285,343 fulltime doctors for the NHS workers by 2043. Back then, there were about 201,564 full-time doctors, which meant, that there was an estimated gap of 83,779 full-time doctors.

Contradicting Brexit In the current scenario, it is doubtful whether Europeans would come to the UK for a one-year-long visa to do jobs at minuscule costs by putting in long hours to make up for the labour shortage in the country.

Many legal experts proposed to the government, asking to add care workers to the list. They knew that not just the NHS, but also care homes and nursing homes would struggle to find the staff once the world begins to go back to the new normal. It was a short-sighted decision on part of the government to assume that empty care homes would not need staff once the country re-opens when the elderly and Covid orphans would need care and shelter.

The large number of care workers that used to come from Eastern Europe or other European countries, were mostly not formally qualified health care workers.

Today, the process for qualified nurses to come to the UK and to start practising as a nurse is extremely difficult due to two main reasons: Frist, they need to first meet the English language requirement which is ‘way over ambitious’, second, they’re not paid enough as immigrants to survive and match up to the efforts they put in.

While natives would probably be paid higher wages per hour, eg: £10, experienced care staff would end up earning just 6p an hour more than those new to the role, Skills for Care has revealed.

As a solution to the problem, Mathew Philip, one of the Founding Partners at Silk Route

Mathew Philip

Legal said, “We suggested to bring in down the level of English language required for the to be a nurse and to be registered and ask them to have two years training contract or training with the nursing in care homes through nurses who are seriously considering care and health care as a profession as a career. At least those two years would help the nursing homes and care homes. I don't think the government or the home office would accept it. We tried our best last year when this was introduced, but they completely ignored it. The government is always being reactive than proactive.”

Legal experts like Mathew believe that adding care work to the skill shortage list would have solved many problems and qualified nurses from India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, others other countries could have been recruited.

Since the government doesn't give you all the information. You have to try and read between the lines. Working backwards, it seems to ask that it's a one year only visa.

If you're asking people to uproot themselves from it doesn't matter where in the world it is questionable if they going to be interested to come to the UK on a 12-month visa without knowing what happens at the end of 12 months. For example, during the renewal of visas during the worst of Covid, the Home Office would not renew people's visas.

Public vs private sector The healthcare option has been available ever since the skills shortage list was put together. But the problem is trying to get engagement from both the public sector and the private sector.

Chris Slay, Director of Skills Provision (a recruitment firm) elaborated in detail what staff shortages mean to the UK and what consequences Britain will face, as we currently see the tip of the iceberg.

He said, “The public sector being the NHS has so much bureaucracy, that you can't actually get things to move forward with them on any form of volume recruitment. They have failed to respond to various initiatives since April of 2020. And that doesn't seem as though it is changing. They act that we are an approved supplier to the NHS. But can we get a specific contract to supply the NHS? The answer is we've been unsuccessful to date, you start off the process, and then it sorts of wither on the vine,” said Chris.

“So as a commercial operation, you decide enough is enough, and it is a false investment of your time to try and work with the NHS until they are in a position to respond professionally. That leaves us with the private sector, desperate for staff, but they have no money. And I'm willing to pay the recruitment fees, the visa fees, and so on and so

forth. So, any moderation as those costs help.

“And it meant the loss of talented healthcare staff were forced to leave the UK or is unknown. And obviously, there's nervousness about anything to do with coming to the UK is not just healthcare, that's the way the UK has chosen to interact with foreign nationals generally. So, we recruit across the spectrum. We're experiencing the same situation with chefs, engineers and the rest.”

What Britain needs right now will take about correcting a generation of neglect in the care sector in the UK. This implies that young kids must opt to go into some skills-based type of education, and then through university and all the rest of it and come out the other end with qualifications required by society.

Improvise visa process The recruitment fee is a minimum of £2500 +VAT per candidate and Visa Processing and government costs at least £2500. This is based on a 2-year contract. 48 hours a week at £10.26 an hour is equal to about £1 per hour. This means that rules need to be in favour of both the employer and the employee and other middlemen involved.

It is uncomfortable for firms to recommend to anybody that they should come to the UK on a oneyear visa, without knowing what is going to happen to them at the end of the year.

Vaccines Minister hasn't got a clue on staff shortages Responding to Vaccines Minister Maggie Throup's comments - in which she could not say how NHS trusts have declared a 'critical incident', nor how many former teachers have returned to teaching - Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said, “If ever proof was needed that the Government is asleep at the wheel with this staff shortage crisis, the Vaccine Minister's non-answers this morning just about sum it up.

Our hospitals are at breaking point and schools are spread thin, yet hapless Ministers haven't got a clue about the true extent of the problems in these settings. It’s high time the Government gets a grip on this.

Families deserve reassurance that their children's education won't be disrupted and that loved ones can get the care they need when they need it."

In an official statement, Karuna Manor told Asian Voice, “Karuna Manor management is pleased with the announcement by the government on Christmas Eve that care workers and care assistants are to become eligible for Health and Care Visa. This initiative acknowledges that there is a huge shortage of care workers in the UK. This move will make it more viable and hopefully easier for social care employers to recruit eligible workers from around the world to fill vital gaps. Eligible care workers from India and Africa and other parts of the world should be encouraged to apply for care jobs in the UK by friends and family who are already in this country.”

Homeschooling could also return amid fears over teacher shortages due to Covid.

Alarming rate of vacancies in the healthcare sector Rohit Sagoo, Founder of British Sikh Nurses reacted by saying, “There is an alarming rate of vacan-

We thought they are taking it only as a temporary measure, but when the restaurant and hospitality open fully those chefs were not ready to come back as they felt those industries are much better with social hours and lesser pressure jobs even though they have to physically work more.”

Chef Jomon Kuriakose at The

Rohit Sagoo

cies in the healthcare sector with around 40,000 nursing vacancies alone. This places relentless demand on nurses and nursing teams currently in practice and this is deepened by the everchanging covid crisis. There is an urgency to fill the vacancies as soon a possible to ensure that patients and communities attain the care that they need, not forgetting to cover the many nurses who are leaving the profession. Whatsmore, while healthcare professionals battle with covid, an evergrowing backlog of treatments continues to spiral.

Combining the rise in nurse vacancies and treatments the government faces an urgent task in nurse recruitment and though overseas nurses are being drafted in, there needs to be more emphasis on developing homegrown talent from the UK. “It is well-known that pay, conditions, and workloads have been at the heart of the nursing debate with the government for many years, and for things to improve, it is vital that the government implement these changes in order to sustain a nursing workforce. The hourly rates being offered to nurses aren't justified as many nurses are sometimes working overtime for free in order to keep vital services running. The most important thing is to recognise is that our nurses are brunt out, they are consistently doing 12 hours shifts as there are staff shortages and not enough cover for patient care and services.

This gives rise to questioning the quality of care and patient safety which is of paramount importance to every nurse.”

Brexit and Covid-19 The staff shortage issue is of a combination of different aspects like Brexit and Covid-19. Listing them, Prabhu Sudharsan of Dosa

Prabhu Sudharsan

Kitchen in Newcastle said, “A lot of the staff who were working as Kitchen porters and chefs have left the UK after Brexit which we are finding it very difficult to fill in those positions. During the lockdown many chefs and waiting staff found jobs at supermarkets, Amazon and warehouses, at those times those industries were booming and they were able to pay much better, so a lot of the chefs took those jobs to keep the family going.

Jomon Kuriakose

Lalit in London said, “As hospitality professionals, we face staffing issues on both ends. One, it’s challenging to get the right candidate.

Second, it’s hard to hold the right people at work due to massive booking cancellations and a steep business.”

The World Health Organization reckon that there's a global shortage at the moment that has 6 million nurses. Therefore, everybody is competing for the same people. In a nutshell, if immigrants face pay disparity for the same or more amount of work as their native counterparts, along with stringent language requirements and no promise of renewal of their work visas, this will not just paint a miserable picture of Britain in the eyes of the world, but also look like “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.

Government will provide 100,000 critical workers in England with free lateral flow tests Updating the public on the government’s ongoing actions to tackle the pandemic, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the Government will provide 100,000 critical workers in England with free lateral flow tests to help keep essential services and supply chains running.

Critical workers will be able to take a test every working day and the provision of precautionary testing will be for an initial five weeks.

People covered by the scheme will include those who work in critical national infrastructure, national security, transport, and food distribution and processing. This includes vital roles in Border Force, Police and Fire and Rescue Services control rooms, electricity generation, test kit warehouses and test surge labs. The full range of critical workers have been identified by the relevant departments and Government will contact these organisations directly on the logistics of the scheme this week. Roll out will start from Monday 10th January.

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in brief HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH CRITICISE PRITI PATEL’S IMMIGRATION CLAMPDOWN Human Rights Watch believe that women’s rights are under threat warning of ‘an onslaught of attacks on democratic values’ both in the UK and around the world.

According to the human rights campaign, Priti Patel’s immigration clampdown is a part of a global 2022 wave of authoritarianism.

Yasmine Ahmed, UK director of Human Rights Watch, told i that one of the most concerning trends the world is seeing is the rise of oppressive regimes and right-wing populism. Ms Ahmed referred to Home Secretary Priti Patel’s policing bill and her borders bill as worrisome for a democratic society. “In the UK, there’s nothing short of an onslaught of attacks on democratic values,” she added.

NANDY QUESTIONS MICHAEL GOVE ON SPENDING £330,000 TAXPAYER’S MONEY Shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy has written to Michael Gove demanding to release the criteria under which his department supported an award of £330,000 from a government fund for a bid to fill potholes on a former Conservative peer's driveway. She has also demanded to explain the steps that were taken to safeguard Tory councillors weren't lobbied, and to prove that taxpayers' money was always protected. This came to the limelight when a report was published in the Daily Mail alleging that the 8th Viscount Gage used £330,000 of taxpayers' money to repair his driveway. As per the report, the government funds were applied for by Charleston Farmhouse, which is an independently run museum and art gallery, saying the track needed repair works following corrosion.

Ireland calls for pet Islamist bomber was blood banks like the UK acting as a Christian In the absence of a national blood bank in Ireland, like Pet Blood Bank UK, the life-saving work at hospitals has to depend on donors being brought directly to the hospital - so that patients can have a second chance at life. Currently, Pet Blood Bank UK delivers blood to vets across the UK. Dr Murtagh, an assistant professor who has practised in Lincolnshire, Liverpool and Winchester, said that British vets can call the national blood bank and have blood products couriered to them at any time as in Ireland, we don't have that system, and the blood we give our patients is completely dependent on the public

bringing their dog to us and donating.

A national Irish blood bank "would make treating our patients more efficient and other practices around the country could utilise that system as well", he said.

Baby gets the most expensive drug costing £1.8million The NHS said that babies born with severe type 1 SMA had a life expectancy of two years but that Zolgensma, manufactured by Novartis Gene Therapies, had helped babies breathe without a ventilator, sit up on their own and crawl and walk after a single infusion treatment. In England, about 65 babies are born with the condition each year.

One-year-old Edward Willis has a “new lease of life” thanks to Zolgensma, a recently developed gene therapy that costs £1.79 million

Edward's mother said he had lost his lethargy and become a normal, playful baby.

“This drug has given Edward his life back. He has got a new lease on life. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It’s going to take a long time for Edward to catch up but he is slowly getting there.” She hopes that her son could be part of a new generation of babies with SMA to reach adulthood. “I thought his time with us was numbered but now I don’t think that at all,” she added.

Model faces police charges for calling Asian nightclub bouncer 'a little 2022: A MAKE OR BREAK P** i f***' FOR BORIS JOHNSON?

According to The Sun, Prime Minister Boris Johnson must wisely tackle the rising cost of living, increase the number of crimes and migrants’ issues. The Sun reports that Boris Johnson has to look at the skyrocketing cost of living that includes a rise in bills for energy and fuel, rising inflation, mortgages and the hike in National Insurance. Boris spoke on the crime crackdown and a huge incursion of police, however, a 30th London teenager was murdered. Along with this, Tories are unable to handle illegal immigration. Boris now will have to work on gaining trust by being straight with voters, and stop over-promising, The Sun reported.

Natasha Williams, the model, 24, was caught on camera calling Asian nightclub bouncer 'a little P** i f***' accusing him of stealing her handbag. She was filmed screaming at her boyfriend outside a nightclub in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on Boxing Day.

WARMEST NEW YEAR DAY RECORDED FOR UK The Met Office said that 16.3C had been reached in St James’s Park, central London, meaning it is “likely to be confirmed” as a record maximum temperature for any New Year’s Day. St James’s Park was provisionally the warmest location in England and the UK. The New Year Day temperature of 16.3C is likely to be confirmed as a new record maximum temperature. Scotland & Wales provisionally also broke their NYD record max temps, with 15.9°C & 15.6°C respectively.

Met Office forecaster Dan Stroud urged people to “make the most of the warm weather because a change is on the way as we go into the early part of next week”. Daytime temperatures are expected to plunge to as low as 3C in Edinburgh

by Tuesday and 7C in London and Cardiff.

The model got furious when she was prevented from going back inside the club to get a handbag. Ms Williams has received widespread criticism on social media when her four-second video went viral. In her defence, her mom told MailOnline 'She didn't direct that comment at anyone. She was talking to her boyfriend, and she apologised to the doorman after saying it.'

A spokeswoman for Warwickshire Police said, “Enquiries are ongoing, and we would appeal to anyone who witnessed the incident to please come forward. Any information can be given by calling Warwickshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 209 of 27 December.”

Emad al-Swealmeen, the terrorist who blew himself up at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, had used a rented flat as a “bomb-making factory” and bought 2,000 ball bearings to pack into the explosive device with “murderous intent” During searches of Swealmeen’s home after his death both a Holy Quran and prayer mat were present and it was fairly evident that he carried out the religious duties of someone who is a follower of Islam.

He died aged 32 when his homemade explosive deto-

nated in the back of a taxi outside the hospital shortly before 11 am on Remembrance Sunday last month. At the time of the attack, there were reports that Taxi driver Perry had noticed Swealmeen acting suspiciously and had locked him in his car.

The bomb went off not far from a church service for the war dead attended by hundreds of people at Liverpool Cathedral, where Swealmeen was confirmed into the Christian faith in 2017.

Students get messages from doomsday group Sent in May 2019 by a “social project” called “UK God Blog”, Elizabeth, studying in her second year at a London university, was asked to respond to topics from her favourite colour to what she would ask God if they met for a coffee. She had become a “born-again Christian” the previous year and did not mind filling it in.

Elizabeth, who was 20 at the time and has asked for her second name not to be used, never dreamt that she was about to become involved

with a quasi-Christian organisation that has been described as a “cult”. She is thought to be among hundreds of Britons drawn to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, based on, but separate from, a doomsday group founded in South Korea by a self-proclaimed messiah, Lee ManHee. The group teaches the followers to believe that ManHee, 90, is the pastor promised in the New Testament among other things.

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Acharya Shree Jitendriyapriyadasji Swamiji Maharaj visits UK His Divine Holiness Acharya Shree Jitendriyapriya Swamiji Maharaj arrived in the UK on Saturday 20th November 2021 to commence His first overseas vicharan as Acharya of Shree Swaminarayan Gadi. It had been nearly 500 days since Acharya Swamiji Maharaj ascended to the Shree Swaminarayan Gadi throne following the return to Akshardham of His Divine Holiness Shree Purushottampriyadasji Swamishree Maharaj in July 2020. Given the global pandemic climate, this visit to the UK was the first of His tenure as leader of the global faith.

Shree Muktejeevan Swamibapa Pipe Band welcomed Acharya Swamiji Maharaj upon His arrival, along with a mandal of ten sants, at London Heathrow Airport. Of course, the disciples of Shree Swaminarayan Gadi residing in the UK were eager for His arrival, but Acharya Swamiji Maharaj had two

primary purposes for His visit. The first was to include the UK as part of the Asthi Suman Visarjan Yatra – the scattering of Acharya Shree Purushottampriyadasji Swamishree Maharaj’s divine ashes at various locations around the world.

The second was to promote the Shree Swaminarayan Gadi Suvarna Mahotsav that takes place in September 2022 to mark fifty years

Rohit Vadhwana Since then, this area has become a place of pilgrimage for Jeevanpran Swamibapa’s followers. During this

since Jeevanpran Shree Muktajeevan Swamibapa unveiled Shree Swaminarayan Gadi to the world.

During His short visit to the UK, Acharya Swamiji Maharaj resided at Shree Swaminarayan Mandirs in London and Bolton, Greater Manchester, holding dozens of scripture recitals and visiting many disciples’’ homes and businesses.

The Asthi Suman Visarjan ceremonies were performed in the presence of hundreds of disciples at Lake Windermere and in Richmond – both locations of substantial historic significance for the organisation: Earlier on the very day that the Adya Acharya of Shree Swaminarayan Gadi, Jeevanpran Swamibapa ended His time on Earth in 1979, He visited Lake Windermere in the Lake District in Northern England.

same visit to the UK, Jeevanpran Swamibapa visited Ham, a suburban district in Richmond, south-west London, and so shortly after His return to Akshardham, His disciples scattered His ashes in the River Thames by Ham. The Asthi Suman Visarjan ceremonies of scattering Ved Ratna Acharya Swamishree Maharaj’s divine ashes took place in Windermere on 27th November, and in Richmond on 4th December 2021. His Divine Holiness Acharya Shree Jitendriyapriya Swamiji Maharaj returned to India on 6th December 2021.

Foremost among the saints: Pramukhswami Maharaj The list of the 20 most influential people in the last one thousand years, released by Guinness Book of World Records included only two Indians Mahatma Gandhi and the Reverend Pramukhswami Maharaj. This unparalleled success of Pramukh Swami Maharaj, who was born on December 11 in a small hamlet of Gujarat called Chansad and studied up to the 6th standard, says a lot about him.

Swamiji, the spiritual guide of the Swaminarayan sect, has always unfurled the flag of Indian culture and the spirit of Sanatan Dharma in India and abroad.

It is not a small achievement to take charge of the BAPS (Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sanstha) organisation at the age of only 28 years. Pramukhswami Maharaj was such a saint whose words and deeds did not differ at all. The fra-

How to stick to making your resolution implementable

grance of his social endeavours that includes ‘a valuable contribution to the progress of society by stopping false rituals; providing understanding to stop evils like dowry, untouchability and feticide; the movements from education to water conservation and protests to stop addiction,’ is spreading even today.

Pramukhswami Maharaj used to always say that spiritual service cannot be separated from social service. In his leadership, the BAPS organisation prioritised a number of relief activities.

Social service was encouraged through serving humans and animals in drought-stricken Gujarat, relief and rescue work during earthquakes in Gujarat-Maharashtra, reconstruction of villages and construction of schools and hospitals.

Pramukhswami Maharaj’s calibre is reflected in creating eight grand

temples with sky-high peaks on foreign lands, making them the symbols of Sanatan Dharma. The creation of temples is not a small achievement.

The Art and architecture of the temple echo the devotional messages and the traditions of Sanatan Dharma. Each and every temple has been constructed with Pramukhswami’s personal supervision and attention, which is the reason these are not only temples but have become huge spiritual and cultural campuses.

There is special importance of the saints and teachers of Santan Dharma.

The saints become the torchbearers of knowledge. Fearless Pramukhswami Maharaj also adopted this path, which made his life an invaluable symbol of dedication and faith. Hundreds of salutations on the 100th birth anniversary of the foremost among the saints, Pramukhswami Maharaj

As we begin the New Year, the desire and struggle to make and maintain an effective resolution looms large on our minds. It is not only psychological but has also become a social need. Gone are the days when it used to be a choice.

Today there is so much peer pressure attached to it, that everyone feels the need to make an impressive resolution for the new year. If you have also made one, and have a doubt as to how to implement it, you are not alone. Here are a few suggestions on how to stick to making your resolution implementable and get the best result out of it.

1. Mention clear goals: A goal is different from the purpose of life. If you want to become a good person, it is a purpose, but if you want to help three people during the year, it is a goal. So whatever you would like to do during the year should be clearly countable. Remember these goals should be clearly SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.

2. Limit the number of goals in your resolution: Do not make a long list of all the ideal things you want to do in life.

This is only an annual resolution, not a manifesto of life.

Keep this resolution limited to 5-7 main things that you want to focus on. Select these goals based on priority. What is absolutely essential during the year 2022 that you must not delay - should find a place in this list. Something that you want to do sometime in life should not take your attention as a resolution for this year.

3. Take action on them daily: Do not delay your actions on the decided goals. If you want to lose weight, start working on it from the first day. If you want to read a book a month, read every day. If you decide to read a dozen books in a year, but do not read any in the first three months, the chances are higher that you are going to miss the target. Whatever goals you have decided, must be acted upon on a daily basis - in small quantities, so as to accumulate the result.

4. Apply 80-20 principle: Even in personal life, this principle of getting 80% results by putting 20% effort is useful. If you can achieve better results in the earlier part of the year, it will encourage you to continue with your efforts. Who knows, you may over achieve your targets. We can also understand it differently to say that start with an easy 80% part, then follow thoroughly to attain the remaining 20%.

5. Your race is with yourself: Do not compete with others. Remember, these are your resolutions and therefore, your race is with yourself only. You don't need to feel embarrassed if your goals are simple or small. But you cannot cheat yourself. Therefore, once decided, be committed to your own growth and progress. Be honest with yourself.

Now that you know how to make your resolution result-oriented, it is also important to identify the goals which are most suitable to your purpose in life. If you want to prioritise wealth, make sure you add some goals in that direction. If your purpose is skill-building, there should be a clear mention of it and you should spend time towards achieving those goals. Remember, a successful life is built on four pillars: Health, Family-Society, Career-Finance, Spirituality-Entertainment. If you can strengthen all these four pillars equally and simultaneously, a satisfactory life is guaranteed.

(Expressed opinions are personal)

Navnat Vanik Association organises grand graduation ceremony Navnat Vanik Association organised a grand graduation ceremony that is sponsored by Mrs and Mr Jayantilal Vithalji Doshi and the family on Sunday 12th December 2021.

There were 22 graduates and postgraduates that applied for this auspicious ceremony and more than 120 people joined from 3.45 pm. Participants started to arrive with their family and friends. Informal feedback from all the attendees was that it was a wonderful event and they were glad Navnat organised it.

All Presidents including affiliates, main

Donors and subcommittee members presented certificates to the awardees. Our newly formed Next Generation group along with Sangeeta Bavisha (sub-commit-

tee member) conducted an ice-breaking game and a debate. Everybody participated in the debate. Some of the topics covered were “Did you study for FUN OR FUND” ie your own happiness or just for money, Technology – enabler or disruptor.

After debate, our president Dilipbhai welcomed all and Ketan Adani gave the VOT. Mr Jayeshbhai Doshi from the sponsor family emphasised the value of education in individual life and in his belief education is extremely important so every

time his family sponsors this unique graduation ceremony celebration.

Head of Navnat Next Gen Ms Friya and Ariesha did a wonderful job of managing the ceremony and they will be ready for any future events.

Ramesh J Shah announced and requested all awardees to become members of the Navnat Vanik Association with a 50% discount.

Professional photographer Navkar Dhokia took charge of photography at the event. It was done with specially provided gowns and hats.

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in brief BROTHERS VISIT EVERY DISHOOM RESTAURANT IN THE UK IN 24 HOURS In a hilarious yet interesting turn of events, it has been reported that a pair of avid curry fans who are cousin brothers visited all eight branches of the popular restaurant chain, Dishoom in 24 hours, traversing England and Scotland. Cousins Pratik Master and Kashyap Pal (who moved to Crewe from Mumbai in 2010) continued this journey from 31 December 2021 till 1 January 2022. “We went for lunch together recently and started talking about doing it – we’re both really into our food and we’ve always had ambitions to do some sort of tour,” Mr Master, who runs Wigston Deli in Leicestershire, told i. They relished parsi omelette and two cups of chai in King’s Cross, chilli cheese toast, and several maska buns. Mr Master and Mr Pal arrived in Birmingham by lunch and munched paneer rolls, poppadoms, and sipped lemon soda. They were meeting their wives and meanwhile also ordered biryani, black dal, a keema pao, and rotis, chaat, a prawn koliwada and a couple of hot toddies.

ANTI CORRUPTION STRATEGY: HOW IS THE UK DOING? The Covid‑19 pandemic had an unprecedented effect on a global scale that affected every part of government policy.

As the pandemic continued into 2021, the full long-term effect of this on overall Strategy Commitments remains unclear.

In a document over 100 pages long, the government said, “The UK continues to measure up well against our G7 partners in many areas, particularly regarding trends seen in open data, perceived prevalence of corruption in our systems and trust in institutions. “This year’s analysis (year 3) reveals that the trend is stable again. In the global context where tackling corruption is facing unprecedented challenges, holding steady is not a disaster, but is at the lower end of the UK’s ambition to be a global leader in tackling corruption.

Six witnesses can link Prince Andrew to his sexual assault accuser, claim lawyers Lawyers of Prince Andrew's sex assault accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre have claimed that they can produce six key witnesses who are willing to say they had met. Giuffre’s lawyers have claimed that they can provide fresh evidence against Duke who is now facing fresh pressure over his friendship with Ghislaine Maxwell.

Mr Boies told The Sun that they tried to get a testimony from Ghislaine Maxwell’s youngest victim "Jane" who was groomed

when she was only 14 and informed the trial that she flew on Epstein’s private jet with Prince Andrew.

Maxwell now faces up to 65 years in jail after she was convicted of five counts of grooming girls for her ex-lover Epstein’s child sex trafficking ring.

In a 2019 interview, Ms Guiffre, 38, said that the prince was “sweating all over me” at a club alleging they had sex on the same night.

Financial changes will be introduced in the new year that will affect everyone from workers to pensioners as inflation reaches record levels. These financial changes include the state pension, how much one will earn an hour and council tax, which will be revised between January 1 and the new tax year in April.

Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst, at Hargreaves Lansdown, sees it as a change but not a good one.

"Most of the financial developments in the pipeline will leave us worse off by the time we struggle to the end of 2022. The tax rises announced around the Budget will kick in, along with higher prices for everything from energy bills to rail fares and pub prices.”

"It’s not all bad news though. Buried among the price rises are a few more positive changes, including the end of the loyalty penalty for insurance customers, lower water bills, and easing the admin burden for families of those who pass away,” she told Mirror.

A few important financial changes will be kicked off in the new year: 1. Minimum wage - In April, workers on the basic wage will receive a boost as the minimum wage will rise to £9.50 an hour.

- The minimum wage increases are set to take effect from 1 April : - National Living Wage for over-23s: from

£8.91 to £9.50 an hour National Minimum Wage for those aged 21-22: from £8.36 to £9.18 - National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20year-olds: from £6.56 to £6.83 - National Minimum Wage for under-18s: from £4.62 to £4.81 - The Apprentice rate: from £4.30 to £4.81 2. Rail fares The Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed that train fares will rise by 3.8% in March.

3. State pension The government has confirmed that this year, the earnings of retirees on the full, new state pension, will see a rise by £290.

4. National insurance rate rise From April 2022, employees, employers and the self-employed will all pay 1.25p more in National Insurance (NI) for every pound they earn. This will come under a new National Insurance tax rise that will come into effect this year and be renamed as a health and social care tax from 2023.

5. Council tax rates Some families could see their council tax bills increase by up to £400 in the next five years.

6. Pension credit will increase up to £279 Couples if qualify will be able to get up to £278.70 a week when pension credit will go up this year. It means single people will get a rise of £5.50 a week and £8.40 a week for couples.

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On Christmas Day, Jaswant Singh Chail uploaded the pre-recorded video to Snapchat at 8:06 am, 24 minutes before police arrested a man inside the grounds of Windsor Castle.

He said, 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I've done and what I will do. I will attempt to assassinate Elizabeth, Queen of the Royal Family. This is revenge for those who have

died in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. It is also revenge for those who have been killed, humiliated and discriminated against because of their race. I'm an Indian Sikh, a Sith. My name was Jaswant Singh Chail, my name is Darth Jones.'

Police confirmed a crossbow was found in the castle grounds while the Queen was in residence.

Number of visits to hate-filled “incel” forums” increased more than sixfold in nine months Web traffic analysis by The Times and the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) has shown that the number of visits to hatefilled “incel” forums, where users discuss raping women, has increased more than sixfold in nine months.

Since March, UK web traffic to three of the largest incel — meaning involuntary celibate — websites have grown from 114,420 monthly visits to 638,505 in November. The data shows that users on the sites hailed Jake Davison, who shot dead five people and himself in Plymouth last year, as a hero and called for “all women to be raped at least once”.

“The most extreme of the three sites,

PoliticsHome released a round-up of MPs that faced ongoing battles with Covid, Brexit, handling immigration and suffered some form of setback while some gained a stronger position from where they started in 2021.

Here are some Westminster winners and losers of 2021 according to the website:

Slew of financial changes to come into effect this new year

Shocking video reveals a man threatening to ‘assassinate the Queen in revenge for 1919 Amritsar massacre’, sectioned A shocking video was emerged showing a crossbow-wielding man threatening to ‘assassinate the queen in revenge for 1919 Amritsar massacre’. A 19-year-old who scaled Windsor Castle's spiked fence was sectioned under Mental Health Act on Christmas Day. The footage obtained by The Sun shows the man, holding a crossbow and using a distorted voice to make threats.

List of the Westminster Winners and Losers of 2021

incels.is, saw a spike in traffic after the Plymouth shooting in August, rising from 200,000 visits in July to 280,000 in September. Davison frequently referenced incel terminology in YouTube videos and

had ranted that “women are arrogant and entitled beyond belief” days before the mass killing. Two of the three sites are run by Alexander Ash, a shadowy figure who has previously contributed to academic papers on the topic of incels,” The Times reported.

Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the CCDH said: “Make no mistake, incel communities are bound together by an ideology which preaches hatred of women, and has inspired deadly real-world attacks. The webhosting services and other companies who are enabling incels need to stop doing business with disgusting hate groups — or regulators, law enforcement and legislators must and will step in to protect the public.”

Winners Rishi Sunak He was praised for the success of the furlough scheme, that end up saving jobs and livelihoods of tens and thousands of employees and businesses.

Nadhim Zahawi In the first three quarters of 2021, his performance as minister for Covid vaccine deployment was hailed upon by MPs across the Commons. He was credited for the success of the initial phases of the rollout of

Britain’s vaccine and is being publicised as a noteworthy future leader of the Conservative Party.

Liz Truss Her stint as Britain’s trade secretary won substantial support from her party in the first three quarters of the year.

Sajid Javid He took up the post of health secretary in the middle of the pandemic and successfully managed the UK’s vaccine rollout and two doses of vaccination of UK adults by August.

Losers Matt Hancock The former health secretary had to resign over flouting Covid rules and 100,000 Covid related deaths that took place under his watch.

Owen Paterson In November, Paterson’s 24-year-old political career ended abruptly when parliament’s sleaze watchdog found the former MP guilty of breaching Commons lobbying rules.

Boris Johnson The Prime Minister was riding high until his decision to support dissolving parliament’s standards committee in response to its recommendation to suspend Owen Paterson from the Commons caused widespread public outrage. Tory MPs personally opposed the move and were also vocal about their unhappiness with Johnson’s handling of the affair.

Allegra Stratton Her career received the first setback in April when her role as Downing Street press secretary was scrapped before it even formally began.

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Swahili Language Recognized by UN

Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill’s tweet

Swahili also spelt Kiswahili, was widely spoken in East African countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania when we were there, although not taught in schools under colonial rule except at primary stage in schools solely attended by local students.

Recently UNESCO recognized it as the official language of Africa, now widely spoken in ten countries where it is the official language and that include, besides three East African countries, Ruanda, Burundi, South Sudan, D.R. Congo, Malawi, Somalia and Mozambique.

It is also spreading fast South to Zambia, Zimbabwe and now taught in schools in South Africa. It was mainly spoken by Bantu tribal group when Arab merchants started trading with local African Chiefs.

No wonder Swahili includes many Arabic words and through Arab influence, it spread throughout East Africa, became a common, binding language for people of East, Central and South Africa who never had common African dialect, instead using English, French and Arabic to trade and rule colonies. At one time, Gujarati was more important than Swahili in Tanzania which was the commercial language, as most of the trade was dominated by Indians.

The first President of Tanzania, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere who had Master’s degree in English, contributed greatly in making Swahili popular. He translated popular works of famous English authors like Shakespeare, Chaucer, Jane Austin into Swahili, thus putting Swahili language on world map.

UN has also declared 7th of July as the Global Day to celebrate Swahili language. This day is also celebrated as Independence Day in Tanzania, popularly known as Saba Saba, (Seven Seven). It is a pity that many of us, who used to speak fluent Swahili back at home, have all but forgotten the language. Perhaps one day it may be taught in our schools as well.

As a British Hindu, I am shocked to read a recent very well publicised (now deleted) tweet by the Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill who represents Birmingham Edgbaston constituency. In this tweet, she commented without any proof or confirmation on the ‘lynching’ event in the Golden Temple, Amritsar, India and claimed that the person killed was a “ Hindu terrorist”. It seems that she moved swiftly to express her ‘Hinduphobic’ views even before the initiation of an investigation by appropriate authorities in India.

Although the MP quickly deleted her comment it was too late to prevent it from going viral and perpetuating speculative information. Through her tweet, she has created the perception that Hindus are terrorists and were responsible for this sacrilege attempt in the Golden Temple, a Sikh religious site, but revered and visited by both Sikhs and Hindus.

Preet Kaur Gill is supposed to represent ALL constituents of her Edgbaston constituency. However, her tweet shows her contempt for Hindus and an attempt to divide UK’s Sikh and Hindu communities for political expediency.

India is a major trading partner with the U.K. and in recent years, there has been significant progress in strengthening the ties with the signing of several agreements.

However, such irresponsible behaviour of a British MP is counter-productive for healthy bilateral relations with India.

I am extremely concerned about the serious implications of Preet Gill’s baseless public outbursts on relations between Sikh and Hindu communities in the UK and friendly relations with India. I would like to add that there seems to be a trend, particularly amongst the Labour MPs to make unsubstantiated allegations against peaceful and law-abiding Hindus in the UK and also against the current government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

I hope that appropriate action would be taken against Preet Kaur Gill who may be responsible for violating the Race Relations Act 1965 and her tweet could be considered as hate speech creating Hinduphobia. I am sure, you will agree that there should be no place for someone in public office who holds such contempt for British Hindus.

Bhupendra M. Gandhi

Inspiring Stories & Time Magazine Right now, Time magazine has declared Elon Musk the 'Person Of The Year 2021' for all his excellent endeavours.

CEO of both Tesla, electric car company and SpaceX, space exploration company, Musk has now been making waves across the world for his successful business efforts and nomination as 'Time Person Of The Year.'

First off, Time has long been choosing people from various categories and declaring the awards of ' Person Of The Year.' That said, such sincere efforts and interesting stories behind have been a source of inspiration for people and countries across the world.

Just interestingly enough, many people have been my source of inspiration during my student days and all through my professional life right up to date in Korkai, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Tiruchendur, Nagercoil, Marthandam, Kanyakumari, Coimbatore, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

When the world has been grappling with crisis after crisis, such inspiring stories and people will be a panacea for all ills across the board.

Still, media houses like Time and the international media should try to create a better world through beautiful reports and inspiring writing.

P. SENTHIL SARAVANA DURAI Mumbai

Bhupendra Bhai Gandhi's letter (AV 20-26 Nov issue) Bhupendra Bhai Gandhi's letter (AV 20-26 Nov issue) was an interesting and unusual take on the sleaze in politics but I think his reasoning and solution is a little flawed and illogical.

MPs get a handsome salary and allowances and their income and pensions are an envy of many hardworking people in the Public sector who have to manage their life with a much lower income, without being tempted to indulge in sleaze or corruption to increase their income. When they become MPs, they do not always give up their other interests or businesses. The answer to dealing with the sleaze of certain MPs is not to give them all even more money at taxpayer expense as suggested. That would be a bit like suggesting that if you give a thief more money they would stop stealing from others or giving free drugs to an addict so he is not tempted to engage in criminal activities! Instead, we need to have rules which prohibit MPs from indulging in paid consultancies completely. This together with robust investigation of breaches of the rules should help to root out sleaze in politics.

Most MPs say that they enter Parliament to serve the public and not to feather their own nests. If so, surely money would not be a motivator for them! The other thing that political parties can do is to select parliamentary candidates of good character who are genuinely interested in public service and are not motivated by money or greed. I know this is easier said than done.

Rashmi Jeshang

Prof Sunil Poshakwale Birmingham

Makar Sankranti I came to know years ago from some of my coworkers at TD bank WDC centre that Many Orthodox Christians annually celebrate Christmas on or near January 7 to remember Jesus Christ’s birth, described in the Christian Bible. This date works to the Julian calendar. Those coworkers parents immigrated to Canada from central and Eastern Europe hence they all follow the Julian calendar. The day is a time of reflection, inner thoughts and healing in many Eastern European countries. Many Orthodox Christians fast before January 7, usually excluding meat and dairy products. Still, I always wish them Merry Christmas on or before January 7 as they all wished us Happy Diwali.

The festival of Makar Sankranti marks the beginning of harvest season when new crops are worshipped and shared with delight. The harvest festival heralds a change in season, as from this day the Sun begins its movement from Dakshinayan - South to Uttarayan - North hemisphere.It is celebrated by Kite flying, bonfire, fairs, Surya puja in the river, feasts, arts, dance and socializing. When I was growing back in India at my home town Karamsad, Gujarat - Kite flying was one of my best festivals eagerly waiting for and doing all preparations namely buying colourful kites, Manja ( the glass powder coated kite flying and fighting string ).

And on that day I used to get up very early in the morning and go on the terrace of our house with kites and Manja and starts flying kites and sky is full of kites and everyone does the same thing - cutting kites of others is just like winning kite war with loud cheers from our family and friends. My mother cooked “ Gugari” to feed cows and used to give donations to needy people of town and food to homeless people who came to our doorstep.

Merry Christmas to Orthodox Christians and in advance wish them Happy New Year on January 14 and Happy Makar Sankranti, Lohri, Maghi to all Hindu and Sikh communities around the world.

Suresh and Bhavna Patel Markham. Canada

Congratulations!

Thank you for the GS/AV of 18th December 2021. Please convey our Heartiest congratulations to Ms Namishaben Madhvani on her appointment as High Commissioner for Uganda in the UK. As one of the Ugandan Lohana, I had an opportunity to meet her Father Late Shree Jayantbhai Madhvani who was such a friendly down to earth and a good listener and caring person. We wish Nimishaben every success and enjoyable term in office. The appointment is rightly timed at the 50th anniversary of the expulsion of Asians from Uganda in 1972 by dictator Idi Amin. Om Namah Shivay Ravindra J Nathwani Exeter

KHICHADI Kapil’s

Follow me on Twitter: @kk_OEG

New Year, but Old Challenges Remain Kapil Dudakia As the world woke up on 1st January 2022 to global celebrations of the New Year, one should also be reminded that we are in fact celebrating centuries of Christian atrocities. Think about it, is it really 2022? I mean what happened to the civilisations that existed and thrived before ‘Year Zero’? Christianity was born not out of a man called Jesus, but from the greed of men for power.

The Bible is at best the corrupted text of a period that even Jesus would reject, and at worst, it represents the moral and ethical bankruptcy of men who used an idea to enslave the masses.

In pretending to do the work of God, early Christians exhibited the very brutality that ISIS, AlQaeda, the Taliban, Boko Haram, Hamas, and others have shown recently. Their goal was very simple, destroy the culture, faith, and heritage of heathens so they could never challenge the might of the Christian Army. They succeeded in many ways by the extent of their presence globally today.

Great faith traditions such as Hinduism, with its rich history spanning more than 8000 years, have still not managed to expose this recent imposter called Christianity. And in the same vein, the even more recent interpretation of Abraham, called Islam.

It is not for me to dampen the celebrations, but it is important that occasionally someone gives a reality check to everyone. So go ahead, have a great time, enjoy the festivities, but also remember what it really represents. Every year on the 1st of January you should also remember that the atrocities of the past should never be forgotten or allowed to happen again. Of course, in the modern era, unlike Islamic terrorism and extremism, Christian extremism has found a new way to do its ‘godly’ work. For example, in India, they will pay you hard cash to convert the most vulnerable.

Christianity has never been about faith; it has always been about power. No true God would ever sanction ethnocide of the masses to force compliance with the ‘word of God’!

Don’t ever forget, people were enslaved, beaten into submission, pushed down on their knees, and some even branded with a hot iron – it was all done in the name of the ‘one God’. The irony today, the descendants of these very same enslaved people have not only absorbed the faith of the slave owners, but they willingly fall to their knees to support the decedents of the same slave owners. Their ancestors would disown these ignorant fools.

As we enter the ‘New Year’, let us not forget the challenges of old. Today under the guise of Christian benevolence and a smile, ‘project Christianity’ continues with billions of Dollars expended globally. It remains the highest priority of the Vatican as it eyes India where ‘heathens’ can be cleansed and harvested for their ‘one God’.

I am certain I will have upset a few people by exposing the truth. I am proud I come from a heritage where we celebrate the new year because good triumphed over evil. Whereas the Christian new year is the result of centuries of atrocities. I have already celebrated my new year on 5th Nov 2021, but being a Hindu, I will wish everyone a happy new year on 1st January as well. Afterall, with all things said and done, we ‘heathens’ believe in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam which ultimately rules the world.

Do remember, all ‘religions’ are man-made, and remember also Sanatan Dharma is NOT a religion. It represents the very essence of the cosmos. Now let that sink in during 2022.

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

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8 - 14 January 2022

The League of Extraordinary Indians A Prince who was way ahead of his time

Abhiroop Sengupta Abhiroop Sengupta is a Kolkata based entrepreneur, fencer, amateur historian and writer. Also a devoted Freemason and Rotarian, he spends most of his free time researching about varied subjects, especially those which he feels did not get their deserved due in the course of history.

Around the time when Queen Victoria was proclaimed the Empress of India, a young prince in India was in the middle of a storm. This issue which involved his prospective marriage was causing serious friction among some senior members of the educated society in Bengal Presidency and nearby areas. It will not be wrong to comment that this entire issue left an everlasting impact on the history of Cooch Behar and the Brahmo movement. This young prince was then known as Raja Nripendra Narayan Bhup of Koch Behar, whom we later know as Colonel His Highness Maharaja Sir Nripendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur of Cooch Behar, GCIE, CB, ADC. In his average spanned life for his time, he earned both his share of accolades as well as setbacks but above all, he left behind an everlasting legacy in his native beloved principality of Cooch Behar.

The mentioned storm was a short-lived one but was one with serious consequences. This started with his prospective marriage to the beautiful Suniti Devi, the daughter of the respected Brahmo leader Baboo Keshub Chunder Sen. In those days’ followers of Brahmoism preached against the marriage of a girl below fourteen years of age, but the very initiative of Baboo Keshub Chunder Sen to consent to such a union, when Suniti Devi was yet to reach the required age, was seen as blasphemy to many of his Brahmo contemporaries.

While there were many attempts to delay the marriage, but if the words of Suniti Devi's memoir, "Autobiography of an Indian Princess" are taken into account then it was none but the young Raja, who took the final call and persisted on an immediate marriage.

The greatest privileges Cooch Behar, which was known as Koch Behar prior to April 1896 was a comparatively small princely state located at the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas with an area of about 1,307 square miles (3,385 square km). What the principality lacked in size was compensated to a great deal by the stature of its illustrious ruler, Colonel Maharaja Sir Nripendra Narayan whose educated background and anglicised manners made him a darling of the English society in the late Victorian years where he was a member of quite a few institutions and clubs including the Hurlingham Club and the Marylebone Cricket Club. Born on the 4th of October 1862, he succeeded while being just about ten months old after the sudden demise of his father, the educated and progressive Maharaja Narendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur. The state then being administered by a British commissioner who closely supervised his education, the young Raja went on to grow into a very anglicised, confident and ambitious young man. Having spent time as a student in England under the able tutelage of Sir Benjamin Simpson and Mr Kneller in the late 1870s and then having graduated from

the prestigious Presidency College in Bengal, he started his rise among princes since his early years. This started with the small principality being granted a permanent salute of thirteen guns in 1867 and then the Raja being granted the personal title of Maharaja Bahadur like his father before him, the title being made hereditary as Maharaja Bhup Bahadur soon after. This followed with him getting an honorary commission in the British Indian army, first as a Major and then being promoted to the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel in 1887.

It did not end there as he received an appointment as an ADC to the Prince of Wales in 1887 along with the Knight Grand Commander of the order of the Indian Empire in 1888. One of the greatest privileges too came his way around the same time with the birth of his third son Victor Nitendra Narayan during his visit to England with his wife to attend Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee celebrations, and for whom Queen-Empress Victoria herself stood sponsor. Thus with the QueenEmpress as the God Mother to his third son and the close admiration and friendship of the future King Edward VII, he was almost an indirect extension of the British Royal family and quite an achiever among princes by the time he was just twenty-five years old.

Role in the infrastructural development Maharaja Sir Nripendra Narayan played a major role in the infrastructural development of his state with the founding of schools, colleges like the Victoria college, libraries, roads, administrative buildings, and other infrastructural developments which last to the present times and still serve the people of Cooch Behar. He also modernised the Cooch Behar State Services, the courts, police and army with the help of among others his advisors including his Dewan Rai Calica Dass Dutt Bahadur, CIE with whom he often had his share of differences. Some of the Maharaja's cousins too served him well including Kumar Gajendra Narayan Snr, who was among the earliest from a royal family to qualify as a barrister and who was married to Maharani Suniti Devi's younger sister Sabitri Devi. Another such cousin was Kumar Gajendra Narayan Jnr, who was an alumnus of the Royal Agriculture College in Gloucestershire and who among other roles served as the Superintendent of Police of Cooch Behar. Above all the Maharaja's 'Lincoln' moment came with the Maharaja ensuring the abolition of the last existence of slavery in his small principality. He went on to serve in several military campaigns of which the Tirah Campaign of 1897-1898 is a noteworthy mention for which he received the prestigious Companion of the Order of the Bath and was mentioned in dispatches. Though his desire to serve in the Second Boer War was turned down he was eventually promoted to the rank of a Colonel in 1902. A noted athlete he was a keen Cricketer, Patron of Polo and a respected player of racket-based sports. In the memoirs of his wife Maharani Suniti Devi, CI we also find mention of him being a good wrestler and a great shot, whose big game hunting capabilities made him write a book titled "37 years of Big Game Shooting" which the author Maharaja Nripendra Narayan dedicated to his old friend King-Emperor Edward VII. Modern education Education was always a priority for the Maharaja as his family had received modern education since the time of his great grandfather Maharaj Harendra Narayan and thus, he ensured that his children received the best of it. All four of his sons attended Eton, post which his elder son and heir Maharaja Raj Rajendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur attended the University of Oxford, where he also earned a place in the

Colonel His Highness Maharaja Sir Nripendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur of Cooch Behar, GCIE, CB, ADC

Polo team and later received an appointment as a Lieutenant in the British army with the Westminster Dragoons. His second son Maharaja Sir Jitendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, KCSI who succeeded his elder brother as Maharaja attended the University of Edinburgh and played a single first-class cricket match. The third son, Prince Victor Nitendra Narayan, played first-class cricket as well and went on to study Agriculture at Cornell University in New York and further trained in Cuba.

Prince Victor was a gifted individual and a traveller who had served as a Bodyguard of the King-Emperor and in the course of his life, he even edited quite a few books. The youngest son, Prince Hitendra Narayan

attended the University of Cambridge and later served in the Great War where he was injured on the Western Front. As a cricketer, he had a brief stint with Somerset, where he failed to live up to expectation for his First-Class performance, but for the amateur Somerset Stragglers team he scored a century in both innings of a drawn match and reached the nineties in both the innings in another match. Other than the famous 'Cooch Behar Boys', Maharaja Sir Nripendra Narayan was also father to Princess Sukriti Devi, Princess Prativa Devi and Princess Sudhira Devi.

Maharaja Sir Nripendra's was also a very experienced and respected Freemason who held the ranks of the Deputy District Grand Master of the District Grand Lodge of Bengal and the rank of Past Senior Grand Warden of the United Grand Lodge of England, being probably the first Indian or even first Asian to hold such senior Masonic ranks. There were some negative sides to his personality as well which often hurt his finances and that of his state.

A penchant for flamboyance, horse races, frequent foreign travels, extravagant expenditure and motor car purchases did leave him in debt for a time but on the brighter side, it was to the limit that it could be eventually managed and repaid, unlike some other princes whose expenses bankrupted their states to a great extent.

The beloved monarch breathed his last in Bexhill-on-Sea on the 18th of September, 1911 after a phase of illness.

He was honoured with a military funeral in England where his procession was led by his four beloved sons in their respective uniforms of Westminster Dragoons and Imperial Cadet Corps. A perfect send off to a man in a country which he probably loved most after his native land and thus ended the adventurous life of a prince who was way ahead of his time.

12 WOMEN'S VOICE

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8 - 14 January 2022

OnlyFans gets a female boss

No British Sign Language interpreter at health services appointments Shefali Saxena Sahera Khan (she/her) is a Muslim, Deaf and BSL (British Sign Language) user, Writer, Creator, Artist, Actress, Filmmaker & YouTuber. She works with creative industries and charity organisations.

She is an artist and is featured on SPOTLIGHT. She performs as a poet, performer, actor and participates in short films, videos, indoor/outdoor shows and creates her own solo shows, videos and live performances. Sahera is a filmmaker and produces short films. Her short film ‘FAITH’ has received awards from international film festivals. She is also a writer of poems, videos and stories and has published nine Kindle books.

In an interview with Asian Voice, Sahera Khan shared details about her work and approach as a freelancer and her thoughts on the support that the community needs to extend in order to help the disabled.

- Please tell us a bit about your family and background.

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I was born here in the United Kingdom and I grew up in East London. My parents were born in South Asia; India and Pakistan. I have two brothers. I am the only one who is Deaf in my family. I am married, my husband is Deaf, and I have two children.

- As a freelancer, and as an artist who dons several hats, how have you nurtured your skills and interests using sign language?

I nurtured my skills through learning by myself but I also learned from various courses, workshops and other artists and people from the creative industries. This was how I developed skills in writing, acting and filmmaking.

This journey and experience led me to where I am today.

- With reference to my previous question, what kind of support have you had so far and what improvements would you like to see?

When creating my own work without support. I find it quite a struggle with English grammar and with communication barriers with other people. Eventually, when I became a freelancer, I applied for Access to Work funding.

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I received support from Sahera Khan them to fund BSL communication support workers and interpreters. It is a massive help in building my career.

I hope to continue using Access to Work funding for my support needs.

- What are the biggest takeaways and lessons that we can learn from the pandemic when it comes to strengthening infrastructure and social support for speciallyabled and disabled people?

I lost a few jobs due to Covid-19 but I was grateful for the creative industries offering me some work opportunities e.g. Zoom and online performances.

I did experience some barriers e.g. no BSL interpreter at health services appointments.

But I learned the issues Deaf and disabled people have faced during the pandemic; cuts to benefits, cuts in support, increase in mental illness, no support from health services, lack of accessibility (for example, no access or BSL information provided about vaccinations, Covid-19 etc).

- As a woman from an ethnic minority background, what has kept you going and how do you think more people, families and community members can come forward to strengthen their support for disabled women?

I am a trustee of the Deaf Ethnic Women’s Association (DEWA) and work with the deaf trustees to support Deaf ethnic women in the United Kingdom. It is positive that people are supporting Deaf and disabled ethnic women but improvements are slow. It is important to have a role model to look up to.

- If you were to explain the key issues and concerns of disabled people in the current climate, what would they be?

- Accessibility e.g. interpreters - Receiving support from health services e.g. mental health, counselling - Continuing access to benefits - Continuing access to care support - Providing interpreters for deaf people for vaccinations and other health appointments.

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5 postgraduate scholarships for women studying in the UK Economics students: Women in Economics Scholarship Every year, the European Central Bank offers five women who are pursuing — or about to pursue — their masters in economics a grant of €10,000 (approximately £8430).

These awards are given to women studying or about to study at a university or business school in Europe (including the UK) and who have excellent grades in their undergraduate degrees.

To qualify, you must be a citizen of an EU Member State. At the moment, this still includes the UK, so you’d still be eligible if you’re a British national.

You also need to prove that you are facing a funding gap that’s preventing you from pursuing your studies.

PhD or research students: the British Federation of Women Graduates Scholarships To qualify, you should be in the midst of your doctoral studies and registered at a university in England, Wales or Scotland. Amounts range upwards from £1000, with women typically being awarded around £3000. In the 2020/21 year, scholarships were awarded for research into music, climate change, the disability rights movement, and more.

Non-tuition expenditure: Funds for Women Graduates Typically, FfWG offers grants to women postgraduate students in their

final year of PhD study or an equivalent degree. These include the Foundation Grants (up to £6000) for living expenses and Emergency Grants for women facing an unforeseen financial crisis whilst studying or researching at a UK university (up to £2500). For women graduates researching History or English Literature, the Theodora Bosanquet Bursary offers temporary summer accommodation in London.

To qualify, you need to already be registered as a PhD or equivalent student at a UK university and show that you have the means to pay your tuition.

Outside of that, FfWG is flexible — it awards grants to students of any nationality in any field of research.

Health and Life Science Students: The Eira Francis Davies Scholarship at Swansea University To qualify, students must be from an eligible developing country listed by the World Bank Country and Lending Groups classification as being ‘low income’ or ‘lower-middle income’.

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British Sikh Army officer becomes first woman of colour to reach South Pole Preet has just made history becoming the first woman of colour to complete a solo expedition in Antarctica.

She completed the 700 miles in only 40 days.

She said, “Hello everyone, checking in from day 40. I made it to the South Pole where it's snowing. Feeling so many emotions right now. I knew nothing about the polar world three years ago and it feels so surreal to finally be here. It was tough getting here and I want to thank everybody for their support.

This expedition was always about so much more than me. I want to encourage people to push their boundaries and to believe in

Preet Chandi

themselves, and I want you to be able to do it without being labelled a rebel. I have been told no on many occasions and told to “just do the normal thing”, but we create our own normal.

You are capable of anything you want. No matter where you are from or where your start line is, everybody starts somewhere. I don’t want to just break the glass ceiling, I want to smash it into a million pieces.”

Vision for the Women’s Health Strategy for England On 8 March 2021, the government launched a Call for Evidence to inform the development of England’s first Women’s Health Strategy. Our rationale was twofold. First, to improve the way in which the health and care system listens to women, and to reset our approach to women’s health by placing women’s voices at the centre of this work.

Second, to improve women’s health outcomes.

Whilst women in the UK on average live longer than men, women spend a greater proportion of their lives in ill health and disability when compared with men, and there are growing geographic differences in women’s life expectancy. We also know that there are disparities between different groups of women in terms of access to services, experiences of healthcare, and health outcomes. We want to investigate the ways in which the healthcare system’s structure adversely affects women’s health. Central to the Women’s Health Strategy will be a focus on women’s health across the life course.

Unlike a disease-orientated approach, which focuses on interventions for a single condition often at a single life stage, a life course approach focuses on understanding the changing

health and care needs of women and girls across their lives. It aims to identify the critical stages, transitions, and settings where there are opportunities to promote good health, prevent negative health outcomes or restore health and wellbeing.

Key considerations include the ways in which specific life events or stages of life can influence future health. For example, we know that women who have high blood pressure or preeclampsia during pregnancy are at greater risk of heart attack and stroke in the future.

This approach has already been adopted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) in their report Better for Women. The main benefit of this approach is that it allows us to intervene earlier in order to prevent nega-

tive outcomes and to improve intergenerational health outcomes, as well as to improve the overall quality of life.

This Vision provides a new strategic framework for women’s health, based around a life course approach and the five key themes which connect different aspects of women and girls’ health, as well as different conditions and issues which arise at different points during life course. The actions set out in this Vision are just the first step in delivering our ambition to improve experiences of healthcare services and health outcomes for women and girls, and to reduce disparities in women’s health.

The government will publish a strategy that will set out more detailed delivery plans against each theme and against specific health needs and conditions, aligned with this Vision.

In the Strategy, we will set out concrete proposals both on issues that only affect women and girls, and on issues that affect everyone but where there are sex-based differences in prevalence, experience, or outcomes. This Strategy will be published in Spring 2022.

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in brief FULL LIST OF PLACES AIMING TO BECOME JUBILEE CITIES REVEALED The full list of 39 places that have applied for city status as part of the 2022 Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours Competition has been announced. 39 places across the UK and British Overseas Territories have applied to win city status as part of a competition being run in honour of the 2022 Platinum Jubilee.

Winning city status can provide a boost to local communities and open up new opportunities for people who live there, as is the case with previous winners Perth and Preston where the local economies benefited from their improved national and global standing. For the first time ever, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies were eligible to apply for the title as part of the competition. Stanley in the Falkland Islands, almost 8,000 miles away, is one of the places to apply, and there have also been entries from Gibraltar and the Cayman Islands.

NEW LEGISLATION TO CRACK DOWN ON CRUEL ILLEGAL HARE COURSING The government is set to introduce tougher sentencing and improved police powers to tackle the cruel practice of chasing hares with dogs. Plans to strengthen the powers and penalties available to tackle the barbaric practice of hare coursing were set out by the Government. Brown hares are widespread across the UK but numbers are declining.

They face a range of threats, including poaching and habitat loss. Hare coursing is an illegal activity - where dogs are used to chase, catch and kill hares - and is a serious problem in some rural areas. In amendments tabled to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, the Government has set out measures to strengthen law enforcement for hare coursing by increasing penalties, introducing new criminal offences and creating new powers for the courts to disqualify convicted offenders from owning or keeping dogs – this includes an order to reimburse the costs incurred when dogs are seized in kennels.

NEW LAWS TO STRENGTHEN NATIONAL SECURITY COME INTO EFFECT The National Security and Investment (NSI) Act – the biggest shake-up of the UK’s national security regime for 20 years – has fully commenced. The government will be able to scrutinise and intervene in certain acquisitions made by anyone, including businesses and investors, that could harm the UK’s national security, better reflecting the threats we face today. The government will also be able to impose certain conditions on an acquisition or, if necessary, unwind or block it – although it is expected this will happen rarely and the vast majority of deals will require no intervention and be able to proceed without delay. The NSI Act will give investors additional certainty and clarity and cement the UK’s world-leading reputation as a global champion of free trade and investment as well as an attractive place to invest, with more transparency and more simple, efficient clearance processes for relevant acquisitions.

Rotherhithe resident receives an appreciation letter from the Queen amid chances of deportation A petition on Change.org started by Rotherhithe Residents is titled, ‘Help Stop Vimal From Being Unjustly Deported’ is doing rounds of social media.

The petition reads as follows: “For over eleven years, Vimal has been a hardworking,

helpful and truly kind presence in Rotherhithe Street. During the pandemic, Vimal shopped for the vulnerable. He helped so many people by supplying food and essential supplies to local vulnerable residents that they were unable to access in any other way “It is because of this unwavering and outstanding community spirit that Vimal received a personal letter of thanks from Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE, LordLieutenant of Greater London, a representative of the Her Majesty The Queen, for all the support that he has given to his community.

But now the Home Office is threatening to deport him “Nothing was too much trouble for this lovely man. He has proven again and again that he will go the extra mile for his local community. So let's not fail him when he needs our help.

Please add your name to this

Vimal Pandya

petition to stop the Home Office deporting our friend Vimal.”

Noticeably, Southwark news that Vimal, a reported Rotherhithe shopkeeper was in ‘tears for three’ hours after receiving a letter on behalf of the Queen for his ‘exceptional contribution to life’ in London.

According to the news website, Vimal Pandya, who works at Halai General Stores on Gwent Court, selflessly helped 55 families with free deliveries and emotional support on the phone. It was reported that word of Vimal’s outstanding community service quickly spread and he received a letter from Sir Kenneth Olisa, the Queen’s personal representative in Greater London.

The letter read: “It has come to my attention that you are one of those people who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to help others during the Covid-19 pandemic. I am therefore writing to personally thank you for all of your efforts and to encourage you to continue making a positive difference to Londoners.”

Remembering the moment it arrived on his doorstep, Vimal said: “I was in tears for three hours. I thought OMG what is happening here. I was so overwhelmed. I really really want to thank Mr Olisa, the people who come to our shop, and my girlfriend who is always there by my side. This is something that is going to be with me for the rest of my life.”

2,000 people a year use bogus passports As per a media report, prosecutions have dropped from 1,200 in 2013 to just over 300 last year for false passports.

Alp Mehmet, of think-tank Migration Watch UK, which collated the data, said: “Presenting false and fraudulent documents is nothing new.

"What is new - and not lost on traffickers and fixers - is that the absence of genuine docu-

ments, and even lying to an official, makes little difference to whether an illegal entrant is allowed to stay.”

A spokesperson at Home Office said, “We will be implementing an Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme - similar to the USA ESTA programme - to block the entry of those who present a threat to the UK.”

The Prime Minister’s ratings are falling According to the latest survey conducted by YouGov - released on December 20 - Mr Johnson has an overall approval rating of 23 per cent.

In comparison, 71 per cent of the participants said that they disapprove of the job that the PM is currently doing, while five per cent said that they were unsure.

The current score is the lowest the measure has been with the market researcher since Mr Johnson assumed office in July 2019.

At its peak, he had an approval rating of 66 per cent as of April 2020. In addition, the latest findings demonstrate that Mr Johnson’s popularity with the public has dropped by six per cent compared with his November rating.

For full clarity, YouGov asked all of the people who took part in their survey: “Do you think that Boris Johnson is doing well or badly as Prime Minister?”.

They conduct this research once a month and ask between 1,623 and 3,326 UK residents each time.

Consequently, this score represents a rise of four percentage points contrasted with how he was scored by the UK public the month before, The Express reported.

Britain got it wrong on Covid “There was a distinctive moment, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, that neatly encapsulated the mistakes and confusion of Britain’s early efforts to tackle the disease, says Mark Woolhouse, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the Usher Institute in the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

In his upcoming book, he describes that the government was morally wrong and highly damaging. The book is titled The Year the World Went Mad: A Scientific Memoir.

He said, “We did serious harm to our children and young adults who were robbed of their education, jobs and normal existence, as well as suffering damage to their future prospects, while they were left to inherit a record-breaking mountain of public debt. All this is to protect the NHS from a disease that is a far, far greater threat to the elderly, frail and infirm than to the young and healthy. We were mesmerised by the once-in-a-century scale of the emergency and succeeded only in making a crisis even worse. In short, we panicked.

This was an epidemic crying out for a precision public health approach and it got the opposite.”

Michael Gove told the country that the virus didn’t discriminate but he was wrong, according to a leading epidemiologist.

Woolhouse told Guardian that, “You can see from the UK data that people were reducing their contacts with each other as cases rose and before the lockdown was imposed. That,

Mark Woolhouse

coupled with Covid-safe measures, such as masks and testing, would have been sufficient to control spread. But it was a lazy solution to a novel coronavirus epidemic, as well as a hugely damaging one.

“This would have led to an epidemic far larger than the one we eventually experienced in 2020. It also lacked a convincing plan for adequately protecting the more vulnerable members of society, the elderly and those who are immuno-compromised,” he added.

He further added, “Much more should have been spent on providing protection for care homes. By contrast, we spent almost nothing on protecting the vulnerable in the community. We should and could have invested in both suppression and protection. We effectively chose just one.

“Lockdowns aren’t a public health policy. They signify a failure of public health policy.”

“We should agree on a sliding scale of interventions and trigger points for implementing them. With omicron, it all feels a bit chaotic. We need better planning and preparation for when the next variant arrives, as it surely will,” Woolhouse went on record.

Better rail journeys sooner for Leeds, as £161 million upgrade delivered Upgrade will provide more seats, services and significantly faster journey times, improving rail connections across the North and Midlands. Rail Minister Wendy Morton has today (4 January 2022) hailed the completed Leeds Station upgrades as a major milestone in delivering a modern, fully

connected transport hub fit for the future.

Visiting Leeds Station to see the competition of £161 million of upgrade works, the Minister will meet with former apprentices and senior staff of Network Rail responsible for delivering key upgrades to the Transpennine Route.

The visit follows the publication of the Integrated Rail Plan, a £96 billion programme of investment targeted at transforming rail connections across the North and Midlands.

This includes full electrification to York, and of the Calder Valley line between Bradford and Leeds, cutting

journey times to as little as 12 minutes. Our plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail will see services reaching Manchester from Leeds in 33 minutes, a saving of 22 minutes compared to today, and passengers will reach Birmingham 29 minutes faster than at present.

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NEW YEAR HONOURS LIST 2022 Over 50 British Indians receive New Year Honours 15.1% of recipients come from an ethnic minority background, 8.4% of recipients are Asian, in the fourth most ethnically diverse honours list to date.

Continued from page 1

Recognising their leadership battling Covid-19, Knighthoods have been awarded to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for England Professor Chris Whitty, CMO for Scotland Gregor Smith and CMO for Wales Frank Atherton. Chief Government Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and Deputy Medical Officers for England Dr Jenny Harries and Professor Jonathan VanTam have also been recognised. For her work on the vaccine rollout, Emily Lawson received a Damehood. Others honoured for their response to the pandemic include Alice Jackson, Nicola Perfect and Bridget Stratford who receive BEMs for their community responses to Covid-19.

Emma Radacanu has received an MBE following her incredible US Open win.

Sheila Parker, the first captain of the England Women Football Team, is given an MBE for services to football and charity.

The second-highest honour in the UK, Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) has been conferred upon British Indian academician and House of Lords peer Ajay Kumar Kakkar for his services to healthcare and public service.

Commanders of the Order of the British Empire or CBE has been awarded to Shalini Khemka for services to entrepreneurship and to the economy; Kamlesh Khunti, Professor of Primary Care Diabetes and Vascular Medicine, University of Leicester, and a General Practitioner in

Anita Choudhrie MBE

Leicester, for services to health; Professor Ravi Prakash Mahajan, President, Royal College of Anaesthetists, for services to anaesthesia; and Professor Iqbal Singh OBE, Chair of the Centre of Excellence in Safety for Older People, for services to equality and inclusion in healthcare.

The Order of the British Empire was awarded to Professor Mahendra Gulabbhai Patel for services to pharmacy.

“Pharmacists and community pharmacy have for decades played a significant role in providing care to patients in a range of settings. During the Covid pandemic pharmacists have been under significant stress and yet have tirelessly battled through gallantly to keep communities healthy and safe.

Being recognised with an OBE in the New Year's Honours list for my services to pharmacy is extra special and beyond any dreams. I would like to think this honour is as much for pharmacy as it is for me,” Prof Mahendra Patel told Asian Voice. Rizwan Patel has also been awarded an OBE for

Nitin Ganatra OBE

services to the disadvantaged communities in the UK and abroad, particularly during the pandemic.

Officers of the Order of the British Empire were also conferred upon people of Indian origin: Dr Hindpal Singh Bhui for services to custody facilities during Covid-19; Dr Japinder Dhesi for public service; Davinder Singh Dhillon for services to the commemoration of Indian forces’ contribution in the First World War; Jagtar Singh Gill for services to the British Sikh and interfaith communities; Sharath Kumar Jeevan for services to education and Amritpal Singh Maan for services to the Sikh community.

Member of the British Empire was Dr Subramaniam awarded to Balachandran for services to the NHS during Covid-19, Anita Choudhrie for services to disability sports, Bina Mehta for services to trade and investments in the UK and female entrepreneurs.

Senior Environment Officer, Charan Sekhon has

Shalini Khemka OBE

been awarded an MBE. Charan is UK’s first Senior BAME officer from an Indian Sikh background working for the Environment Agency and for the UNISON to receive this honour.

The honours list also recognised many members of the Sikh community, awarding medals to Hardip Singh Atwal for charitable service, Sulakhan Singh Dard for services to healthcare in the Sikh community, Rabinder Singh Dhami for services to fire and rescue. The members of the Muslim community have also been greatly recognised in this year’s honours list.

James Bond star Daniel Craig was also recognized, receiving a Companion in The Order of St Michael and St George (CMG), the same title possessed by his character, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film. Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, will be appointed a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter -- the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry.

LIST OF ASIAN WINNERS Order of the British Empire Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Sara KHAN Lately Lead Commissioner, Commission for Countering Extremism.

For services to Human Rights and CounterExtremism (Watford, Hertfordshire) Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Right Honourable Professor Ajay Kumar LORD KAKKAR, for services to Healthcare and Public Service (London, Greater London) Knights Bachelor Knighthoods Professor Shakeel Ahmed QURESHI, Professor of Paediatric Cardiology, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals Foundation Trust. For services to Paediatric Cardiology and Charity (London, Greater London) Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Tanweer IKRAM, Deputy Senior District Judge, Magistrates' Court. For services to Judicial Diversity (Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire) Shalini KHEMKA, For services to Entrepreneurship and to the Economy (London, Greater London) Professor Kamlesh KHUNTI, Professor of Primary Care Diabetes and Vascular Medicine, the University of Leicester and General Practitioner, Hockley Farm Medical Practice, Leicester. For services to Health (Leicester, Leicestershire) Professor Ravi Prakash MAHAJAN, Lately President, Royal College of Anaesthetists. For services to Anaesthesia (Alfreton, Derbyshire) Professor Iqbal SINGH OBE Chair,

Centre of Excellence in Safety for Older People. For services to Equality and Inclusion in Healthcare (Blackburn, Lancashire) Officers of the Order of the British Empire Dr Hindpal Singh BHUI, Inspection Team Leader, HM Inspectorate of Prisons.

For services to Custody Facilities during Covid-19 (London, Greater London) Syed Viqar AHMED, Founder and Chair, Community Energy London. For services to Community Energy, Decarbonisation and Community Benefit in London (London, Greater London) Dr Syed AHMED, Clinical Director, Health Protection Scotland. For services to the Covid-19 Vaccination Programme (Glasgow, City of Glasgow) Amir ALI, Lately Chair, Civil Court Users Association. For services to Court Users and the Law (Walsall, West Midlands) Mohammed Asif AZIZ Director, Healthcare Services, Boots UK Ltd. For services to Pharmacy, especially Testing for Covid-19 (London, Greater London) Alpesh CHAUHAN, Music Director, Birmingham Opera Company. For services to the Arts (Coventry, West Midlands) Karime HASSAN, Chief Executive and Growth Director, Exeter City Council. For services to Local Government (Honiton, Devon) Dr Japinder DHESI, Lately Team Leader, Cabinet Office. For Public Service (London, Greater London) Davinder Singh DHILLON, Chair, The Chattri Memorial Group. For services to the Commemoration of Indian Forces' Contribution in the First World War (Hove, East Sussex) Mohammed Shabir FAZAL, Headteacher, Eden Boys' Leadership

Academy, Manchester. For services to Education (Accrington, Lancashire) Nitin GANATRA, Actor. For services to Drama (London, Greater London) Sajdah Perveen GHAFOOR, For services to Cultural Awareness and Integration in Cumbria (Carlisle, Cumbria) Jagtar Singh GILL, For services to the British Sikh and Interfaith Communities (Kenilworth, Warwickshire) Professor Ali Sadiq Mohammad JAWAD, Professor of Rheumatology, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Consultant Rheumatologist, Barts Health NHS Trust.

For services to Healthcare (London, Greater London) Sharath Kumar JEEVAN, Lately Chief Executive Officer, STiR Education. For services to Education (London, Greater London) Hanif Mohamed KARA, Design Director and Co-Founder, AKT II and Professor in Practice of Architectural Technology, Harvard Graduate School of Design. For services to Architecture, to Engineering and to Education (London, Greater London) Amritpal Singh MAAN, Philanthropist.

For services to the Sikh Community and to Charity (London, Greater London) Professor Mahendra Gulabbhai PATEL, Pharmacist. For services to Pharmacy (Wakefield, West Yorkshire) Rizwan PATEL, Founder, Lint Group.

For services to the Disadvantaged Communities in the UK and abroad, particularly during Covid-19 (London, Greater London) Arti PRASHAR, Artist, Director and Consultant. For charitable services to People Living with Dementia (London, Greater London) Imran Faisal SHAFI, For Public Service

(London, Greater London) Rohini SHARMA JOSHI, Lately Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Trust Housing Association, Edinburgh. For services to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Bonnyrigg, Midlothian) Dr Malur SUDHANVA, Consultant Virologist, South London Specialist Virology Centre, King's College Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust. For services to Healthcare Science particularly during Covid-19 (London, Greater London) Rekha THAWRANI, Global Head, NEC Contracts, Thomas Telford Ltd. For services to Infrastructure and British Exports (London, Greater London) Sanjiv VEDI, Assistant Director, Head, Office of the Chief Social Care Officer for Wales. For Public, Charitable and Voluntary Service (Cardiff, South Glamorgan) Members of the Order of the British Empire Professor Nalin Chandra WICKRAMASINGHE For services to Science, Astronomy and Astrobiology (Cardiff, South Glamorgan) Kamini Harshadbhai MEHTA, (Bina Mehta) Chair, KPMG UK. For services to Trade and Investments in the UK and Female Entrepreneurs (London, Greater London) Dr Seema Safia ARIF, For services to Health Care amongst the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Community (Cardiff, South Glamorgan) Pravesh KUMAR, For services to Theatre (Slough, Berkshire) Syima ASLAM, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Director, Bradford Literature Festival. For services to Literature (Bradford, West Yorkshire) *This list is not exhaustive Continued on page 15

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NEW YEAR HONOURS LIST 2022 LIST OF ASIAN WINNERS Continued from page 14

Sanjay LOBO, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, OnHand. For services to Older People, particularly during Covid-19 (London, Greater London) Dr Subramaniam BALACHANDRAN, Doctor and Lead, Cross Infection, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. For services to the NHS during Covid-19 (Cardiff, South Glamorgan) Sushma BHANOT, For services to Wellbeing and the community in Chigwell, Essex, particularly during Covid-19 (Chigwell, Essex) Ayaz Mazeed BHUTA, For services to Wheelchair Rugby (Bolton, Greater Manchester) Anita CHOUDHRIE, Founder, Path to Success. For services to Disability Sports (London, Greater London) Dr Baljinder Singh DHANDA, CoChair, UK Cyber Security Council Formation Project. For services to Cyber Security (Amersham, Buckinghamshire) Narinderjit DHANDWAR, Business Relationship Manager, Barclays. For services to the Business and Financial Sectors in the West Midlands during Covid-19 (Walsall, West Midlands) Tara Chand GARLO, Paralegal Assistant, Crown Prosecution Service. For Public Service (London, Greater London) Professor Nazira KARODIA Lately Professor of Science Education, University of Wolverhampton. For services to the Chemical Sciences (Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh) Dr Amar Nath RUGHANI, General Practitioner and Provost, Royal College of General Practitioners, South Yorkshire and North Trent. For services to General Practice (Sheffield, South Yorkshire) Simon Naresh NAYYAR, For Political Service (London, Greater London) Virinder Kuljit Kaur RAI, Business Manager, Against Violence and Abuse Charity. For services to the Charity Sector and to the communities in the London Borough of Redbridge and Derbyshire (London, Greater London) Dr Iram SATTAR, General Practitioner and Trustee, Muslim Women's Network UK and The Passage. For services to the Health and Wellbeing of Vulnerable People (London, Greater London) Dr Abdul Karim SESAY, Genomics Facility Lead, Medical Research Council Unit, The Gambia. For services to Charity and Medical Research (Living Abroad) Mitesh Puspakkant SHETH, Chief Executive Officer, Redington. For services to Diversity and Inclusion in the Financial Services Sector (Loughton, Essex) Mamta Rani SINGHAL, Volunteer, Institution of Engineering and Technology. For services to Engineering (Langley, Berkshire) Bharatkumar Jagatsingh SISODIA, For services to the Culture, to Heritage and to the community in Greater Manchester (Oldham, Greater Manchester) Dr Bnar TALABANI, Kidney and Transplant Medical Specialist, University of Wales and Immunology Scientist. For services to the NHS and to the Ethnic Minority Communities in Wales, particularly during Covid-19 (Cardiff, South Glamorgan) Mandip Kaur SAHOTA, Founder, Strategies and Stories. For Charitable and Public Service (Bradford, West Yorkshire)

Yasmin BATLIWALA, Chief Executive, Advocates for International Development.

For services to Human Rights, the Rule of Law and to International Development Manohar Narindas MELWANI, Tailor, Hong Kong. For services to Businesses and Charity in Hong Kong Arjmund Jabeen BUTT, For services to HM Revenue and Customs and the BAME Community (Bradford, West Yorkshire) Hardip Parkesh Singh LAWANA Senior Officer, Border Force, Home Office.

For services to Border Security and to Workplace Wellbeing (London, Greater London) Senior Environment Officer, Charan Sekhon, for an outstanding achievement or service to the community which has had a long-term, significant impact.

OVERSEAS AND INTERNATIONAL LIST OBE Dr Saleemul HUQ, Director, International Centre for Climate Change and Development. For services to combatting International Climate Change Dr Asyia KAZMI, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. For services to Education, particularly Girls’ Education Dr Catherine Lucy MORRIS, Paediatrician, Love the One charity, India.

For services to Healthcare and Child Welfare in India Dr Dipti PATEL, Chief Medical Officer, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office. For services to Government officials and their families and to British nationals overseas BEM Meena HANSPAL - Charity Volunteer, Guru Nanak's Mission and Vegetarian Rasoi. For services to the Sikh community in Nottingham (Nottingham, Nottinghamshire) MEDALIST Mukesh MALHOTRA, For services to the community in the London Borough of Hounslow, particularly during Covid-19 (London, Greater London) Ranjeet KHARE, For services to the community in Woodford, London Borough of Redbridge during Covid-19 (London, Greater London) Sulakhan Singh DARD, Ambassador, British Heart Foundation. For services to Healthcare in the Sikh Community (Leicester, Leicestershire) Hardip Singh ATWAL, For charitable service in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway (Annan, Dumfries) Rabinder Singh DHAMI, Prevention Manager, Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service. For services to Fire and Rescue (Telford, Shropshire) Gita NATARAJAN, For services to the community in Rugby, Warwickshire (Rugby, Warwickshire) Vinodkumar Mashri Jeram PANKHANIA, For services to the community in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire (Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire) Ragini PATEL, For services to the community in Northolt, London Borough of Ealing, particularly during Covid-19 (London, Greater London) Bansari Nilesh RUPARELIA, For services to the Hindu Community in Leicestershire (Leicester, Leicestershire Savraj Kaur SINGH, For services to the community in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, particularly during Covid-19 (London, Greater London)

Lord Kakkar becomes Knight Commander of The Order of The British Empire Professor Ajay Kumar Kakkar

Professor Ajay Kumar Kakkar, The Right Honourable The Lord Kakkar has distinguished himself in public and voluntary service through his membership and chairmanship of a range of public and charitable bodies, as well as

through his services to the medical field.

He was appointed as an independent crossbench peer in 2010 and from 201318, he served as Chair of the House of Lords Appointments Commission, taking charge of the recommendation of new crossbench life peers. He was appointed Chair of the

Judicial Appointments Commission in 2016, leading a group of 14 other lay and judicial commissioners.

An outstanding and valuable advocate for public health and clinical research, he has served on the Science and Technology Select Committee and an ad hoc Committee on the future of the NHS.

Professor Shakeelahmed Qureshi awarded Knights Bachelor Shakeel Qureshi is a globally respected paediatric cardiologist. He has established 4 Peace of Mind, a charity to provide emergency relief after natural disasters throughout the world and also works pro bono for the charity Chain of Hope, UK, operating on sick children both in the UK and abroad, and training teams of doctors in less developed countries.

Due to its success, they

Shakeel Qureshi

began designing smaller catheters to treat smaller and smaller babies and chil-

dren. Nearly 100,000 similar paediatric balloon catheters are now manufactured every year and used worldwide. In 2013, he came up with the paravalvular leak device and lately has been at the forefront of using and evaluating new valves, which allow specialist doctors to treat leaky valves. He is also heavily committed to organising teaching and educational conferences for the speciality worldwide.

PM Independent Adviser wins Dame Commander of The Order Of The British Empire Sara Khan has dedicated her personal and professional life to challenging extremism in Britain.

Championing human rights and defending democratic values, she has shown exceptional integrity and courage despite threats to her life. She was recently made the Prime Minister's Independent Adviser on Social Cohesion and Resilience to work against the impact of extremism in communities.

Sara Khan

She has spent the last 15 years leading a nationwide

dialogue to build an understanding of extremism in all its forms, driving forward change from within communities and institutions at the highest levels of policymaking. In 2018 she became the first Lead Commissioner for Countering Extremism, building an innovative commission that engages widely across the UK and providing HMG with independent advice and cuttingedge policy solutions.

Prof Kamlesh Khunti wins Commander of the Order of the British Empire Kamlesh Khunti is a Professor of Primary Care Diabetes and Vascular Medicine at the University of Leicester, UK. He is CoDirector of the Leicester Diabetes Centre and leads a research group that is currently working on the early identification of, and interventions with, people who have a cardiometabolic disease or are at increased risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases. His work has influenced national and inter-

Kamlesh Khunti

national guidelines on the screening and management of people with diabetes.

He has led a programme

of work during the Covid19 pandemic and is a member of the UK Governments Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and Chair of the SAGE Ethnicity Sub-panel.

Professor Khunti is also Director of the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in Applied Research Collaborations (ARC) East Midlands, Director of Centre for Ethnic Health Research and Director of The Real World Evidence Unit.

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NEW YEAR HONOURS LIST 2022 British Asian mum's fight to promote female mental and physical wellbeing receives MBE Sushma Bhanot

With 1 in 4 people experiencing a mental health condition each year, British Asian mum, Sushma Bhanot has spent the past 15 years supporting thousands of women in Essex, London and across the country who have been subjected to poor mental, physical, and financial health take immediate action.

On one occasion during the pandemic, Sushma worked discretely and quickly to assist a woman who was thinking of killing herself.

Sushma provided counselling guidance and helped

the woman obtain professional support. Another example included Sushma working for many hours in providing mock interviews for women who were facing job interviews for the first time in a bid to get them into work and financially independent.

Sushma's efforts were recognised in the Queen's New Year’s Honours 2022 when she received an MBE for services to the community and wellbeing.

Sushma Bhanot said, "It's a privilege to receive this honour. However, as the pandemic continues, there is plenty more work to be done

and this recognition only further motivates me to work hard and empower the thousands more women across our country who are suppressed mentally, physically and financially. This is just the beginning and there is plenty more work to be done. I would also pay tribute to all the NHS staff and key workers who have been instrumental in helping the country through the pandemic".

Her free booklet on Women’s Health during Covid and Beyond - A Self Help Guide has been distributed to around 4000 women.

Professor Mahendra G Patel receives an OBE for services to Pharmacy Professor Mahendra G Patel

Professor Mahendra G Patel, PhD FRPharmS FHEA Alumni Fellow NICE FIPA (India) is a leading pharmacist and academic with a national and international standing having professorial roles at a number of universities including Sussex, Bradford, Birmingham City, Wilkes USA and Universiti Sains Malaysia.

As Pharmacy and ethnic minority communities Research Lead in the world’s largest clinical trial investi-

gating treatment options for Covid-19 in the community, the Principle trial, University of Oxford, Mahendra has helped trial recruitment to be favourably inclusive and diverse as reported in The Lancet and showcased as an exemplar by the NIHR. He is also now a national lead on the UK government’s priority trial, the PANORAMIC trial at the University of Oxford, for the treatment of Covid-19 in the community using new antiviral agents.

“Pharmacists and community pharmacy have for

decades played a significant role in providing care to patients in a range of settings. During the Covid pandemic pharmacists have been under significant stress and yet have tirelessly battled through gallantly to keep communities healthy and safe. Being recognised with an OBE in the New Year's Honours list for my services to pharmacy is extra special and beyond any dreams. I would like to think this honour is as much for pharmacy as it is for me,” Prof Mahendra Patel told Asian Voice.

Bharatkumar Sisodia of Greater Manchester receives MBE Bharatkumar Sisodia

Chairman of Board of Trustees of Indian Association Oldham (UK), Mr Bharatkumar Sisodia, of Greater Manchester, has been awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in Her Majesty the Queen's New Years Honours list 2022, in recognition of his lifelong voluntary services for the community. He has dedicated over 50 years of service in helping to preserve cultural heritage, community cohesion and support for the community through a wide range of organisations.

Upon receiving this very prestigious Award Bharatkumar said, “It’s a great honour and a joy. I am

very much touched and humbled by this award. It is wonderful to see such recognition from the Head of State for those who have done their best for the county. Serving those who are in need is itself a great honour that brings immense satisfaction. I am very grateful for both having had the opportunities to serve and in receiving this prestigious award”.

Over the years Mr Sisodia has also engaged in many fundraising projects that have proved immensely beneficial for the community which include raising over £50,000 for the first MRI Scanner for the Royal Oldham Hospital.

With regards to engaging in voluntary work, he said “Volunteers do amazing work that is filled with love,

compassion and care. The world desperately needs such volunteers. Life is all about cultivating love through rendering selfless service. Opportunities to engage in charitable work that suits every individual are all around us. We just need to open our eyes, see and get engaged in helping wherever there is a need.

Even during this Coronavirus lockdown, there are many opportunities to assist those in need. I and a team of volunteers joined a project called “Phone Your Friend” run by Sri Sathya Sai Baba Organisation in India to teach English to school teachers in remote parts of India. We take a lesson once a week teaching English from the comfort of our own homes.”

UK’s first Senior Sikh Officer of the Environment Agency among New Year Honours Charan Kanwal Singh Sekhon, a Senior Environment Officer for the Environment Agency (UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs – DEFRA) is named in the Honours list to receive an MBE. Charan is the Founder Chairman of the charity SEVA Trust UK, Equalities and Welfare Coordinator for UNISON East Anglia Branch, a local Councilor and a former executive committee member of Bedford Race Equality Council and Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara (Sikh Temple) in Bedford.

Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, an MBE, is a national honour awarded for an outstanding achievement or service to the community which has had a long-term, significant impact.

Charan becomes the UK’s first British Sikh officer of Indian origin serving for the Environment Agency to receive this honour. As per

Charan Kanwal Singh Sekhon

details released by the UK Government Cabinet Office, Charan received this recognition for his services and contributions in four key areas; Charity, Diversity, the Environment and the Covid-19 support work.

Charan said, “I am very surprised and feel incredibly humbled to hear this news. I am honoured to receive this recognition. It is also a reflection on the collective team effort and enormous support and guidance I received from my colleagues

at the Environment Agency, UNISON and our fantastic team of volunteers who work with us that makes SEVA Trust UK, a community charity we launched six years ago.”

“During the Covid19 challenging times, we managed to help a lot of vulnerable work colleagues and diverse communities who faced hardships. It has been a true partnership and collaborative work with all those who want to help and uplift others and I would like to thank everyone for their amazing support. I must thank my entire family. Words cannot express my sincere appreciation for their great support and love and above all the guidance by my parents, who taught me a true meaning of life,” said Charan.

Charan is currently serving as a local councillor in Sharnbrook (Bedfordshire) and previously he served as Kempston Town Councillor giving 20 years’ service as an elected local councillor.

Rifco Theatre Company’s founder and artistic director receives MBE Pravesh Kumar, founder and artistic director of Rifco Theatre Company, the UK’s most successful British South Asian touring company, has been recognised in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list and will receive an MBE for his contribution to British theatre.

Pravesh, a writer and director, comes from a working-class background and grew up in a large Asian community in Slough. He set up Rifco Theatre Company in 2000 to tell the stories and experiences of British Asians in a way that was both accessible and appealing to the community. Over the past two decades, he has attracted truly diverse audiences in their thousands to theatres in the

Pravesh Kumar

regions with his hugely popular plays, comedies and musicals, and has helped launch the careers of countless well-known performers and actors.

Pravesh said: “I grew up looking at Windsor Castle in the distance from the bedroom in Slough, this feels like a dream. I am

delighted to be recognised for my work and be in such an esteemed company on the 2022 Honours List. I have been making British Asian focused theatre for 21 years now and I feel blessed to have worked with such amazing creatives and actors.

“Our community rarely wants to talk about the serious issues and I realised that the only way to connect was through making the conversation accessible through entertainment and really open the doors to theatreland for a whole new audience.

We’ve come so far as a community in this country and I think it’s important to continue to hold up a mirror to society and tell those untold stories.

Nitin Ganatra awarded OBE for services to drama Nitin Ganatra

Nitin Ganatra has been awarded an OBE for services to drama, in the New Year

Honours list for 2022.

He is a brand ambassador of the British Asian Trust.

Nitin Chandra Ganatra is a Kenyan-born British actor. He is known

for portraying Masood Ahmed in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. He has been an integral part of the Asian Achievers Awards for the past many years.

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NEW YEAR HONOURS LIST 2022 Sikhs and people of Sikh heritage honoured by Her Majesty the Queen Sikhs and people of Sikh heritage are amongst the many being honoured by Her Majesty the Queen in the New Year Honours List of 2022.

Amongst the notable individuals is Bimmy (Virinder) Kaur Rai, who has been a tireless advocate and supporter of the charitable sector for over 30 years. After losing both her parents at the age of 13, she abandoned dreams of going to university so that she could care for her younger siblings and elderly grandfather in Derby. That traumatic experience transformed her outlook on the world, and she considered it her lifelong duty to give back wherever she could. As a direct result, she has volunteered for the last three decades, helping to bring about positive change for several different communities. She receives an MBE. When asked about her honour, Bimmy said, “It is my life’s honour to have been of service to others, a journey of over 35 years of passionately working hard and facing adversity in order to make a positive impact to the lives of others. It is with Waheguru Ji’s (God’s) grace that I dedicate this to my beloved parents and to those who have supported me on this journey of struggle and success, who believed in me and opened up the door of opportunities to allow me to serve”.

Another recipient is Amrit Mann. He is a pioneering philanthropist within the Sikh community, supporting charities and the voluntary sector, the Armed Forces, and arts and heritage organisations. He has sponsored £1.2m worth of meals to the British public and fed over 250,000 individuals, sponsoring landmark community events, exhibitions and talks. He is the Managing

From left to right: Bimmy Kaur Rai MBE, Amrit Singh Mann OBE, Jagtar Singh Gill OBE, and Charan Singh Sekhon MBE

Director of Punjab Covent Garden, which was established by his great-grandfather as the UK’s first ever Punjabi restaurant and which remains an iconic institution within the British Sikh community. He receives an OBE. On hearing the news, Amrit said, “I'm really surprised and humbled to have received this honour for services to charity and community. Seva, selfless service for the community has been the ethos of our family business since it was founded in 1946, and I accept this honour not just for me, but on behalf of the generations that came before me who made huge sacrifices, took chances, and shared their spirit with me.”

Charan Singh Sekhon went above and beyond during the Covid-19 pandemic in helping and supporting the elderly, vulnerable, homeless, rough-sleepers and overseas students in the Bedfordshire area. As chairman of SEVA Trust UK, he launched an emergency Covid-19 community support project in March 2020 to help local communities and international students who faced

hardships due to the sudden UK-wide lockdown. He receives an MBE. Charan said “I am incredibly humbled to hear this news and honoured to receive this recognition. It is also a reflection on the collective team effort and enormous support and guidance I received from my colleagues at the Environment Agency, UNISON and our fantastic team of volunteers who work with us that makes SEVA Trust UK, a community charity that we launched six years ago. I must thank my entire family, and the guidance of my parents, who taught me a true meaning of life. There is no better reward than serving the country and the people in line with the concept of Seva gifted by Guru Nanak Dev Ji”.

Jagtar Singh Gill has been active in Sikh and interfaith communities at a local and national level for the last two decades. He helped deliver the £11 million new build Leamington Spa & Warwick Gurdwara and was its General Secretary from 2009 to 2011.

He was Secretary-General of Sikh Council UK from 2018 to 2019, and since 2019, he has

Financial services leader Mitesh Sheth awarded MBE for services to diversity and inclusion Mitesh Sheth, the outgoing CEO of have been doing over the past leading independent investment few years. It has been a big colconsultant Redington, has been laborative effort and it needs awarded an MBE in the Queen’s to be as there is still a very long New Year Honours lists for services way to go.” to diversity and inclusion within “The pandemic has further the financial services sector. increased the inequalities in our society - we need less talk Mitesh, who stepped back from and more action. If we keep his role as Redington CEO at the doing what we’ve always done, end of 2021 following eight years at we’ll continue to get the the firm, has long been an influenMitesh Sheth results that we have always tial force championing inclusion got. As leaders, we have a responsibility and and diversity across financial services. During opportunity to change ourselves, our teams, his five years as CEO, Redington experienced a our organisations and over time the world. We level of growth that saw employee numbers go must begin with empathy and compassion for from less than 80 to over 200, all unified by a our fellow human beings, create a safe space to company-wide mission to help make 100 miltalk and learn openly, be agile in failing fast lion people become financially secure – for the and share lessons to build bridges for all those benefit of people and the planet. that are being left behind. I am inspired every This sense of purpose has flowed authentiday by the many incredible people, past and cally into the firm’s efforts to create a more present, who are creating a more sustainable trusted, sustainable and equitable industry.

Mitesh Sheth said, “I feel blessed to have and equitable industry and the world for our children.” been recognised for this important work we

been working with Sikh Assembly. He is a key participant on the West Midlands Mayor’s Faith Roundtable, and he is a philanthropist supporting with funding for new Gurdwara projects and Sikh organisations. He receives an OBE. Jagtar said, “I am humbled that my sewa over the years locally and nationally including at Leamington & Warwick Gurdwara and with the interfaith community has been recognised with this honour. I want to thank all those who have supported me and made this possible. The last year has been a difficult time for everyone and so many people from across our faiths have stepped up to support some of the most vulnerable in society. As a British Sikh, I am proud our honours system is recognising the diversity of the UK. Often diverse representation is lacking in UK civic society and I would thank all those working to ensure better diversity and representation at all levels.”

Jasvir Singh OBE, Chair of City Sikhs, said “It’s incredible to see so many hard working volunteers from all communities and backgrounds being recognised for their dedication to serving others. For Sikhs in particular, voluntary service or sewa is a fundamental part of our identity, and with a significant number getting honours this year, it is a real testament to the level of respect with which wider British society regards the achievements of the Sikh community. Congratulations to everyone on the list.”

Notable interfaith allies of City Sikhs who have received honours from the Queen include children’s author Onjali Rauf who receives an MBE for services to Literature and Women's Rights.

Lint Group’s Founder recognised in the Queens Honours Lint Group’s Managing Director Rizwan Patel has been awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queens New Year 2022 Honours list for services to the disadvantaged communities in the UK and Abroad.

Since the inception of Rizwan Patel Lint Group’s earliest company Letting International in 1992, Rizwan has instilled and cultivated a culture of compassion within his teams. This has led to Lint Group supporting many charitable causes, from working in Africa to Asia and across the UK raising money and awareness for worthy causes. The list is endless, recently the Lint Group team successfully ran a campaign to support Abdullah Aid’s Indonesia Tsunami

Appeal, where 300 families were sent provisions and new homes were also built for a community which we all saw losing everything.

Rizwan Patel OBE said, “I am honoured and humbled for the recognition. I have enjoyed working with the communities, charities, organisations over the years here and abroad. If we have been blessed, then it is a duty that we give something back, being a Muslim one knows that charity is an integral part of our lives. It has always been a pleasure, and I have loved supporting people where needed. There are big plans for the future and I look forward to carrying on doing more”

Shalini Khemka made CBE for supporting 23,000 entrepreneurs Shalini Khemka is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Board Director of E2Exchange (E2E), which champions and connects entrepreneurs, creates communities, invests equity capital and recruits non-executive directors for SMEs. Shalini’s background is in financial services, with a specialism in banking. In previous executive roles, Shalini co-founded the world’s first online ‘bank to bank’ trade finance company, after which she served as an Investment Director at LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group.

Shalini also brings extensive advisory experience to UK Export Finance (UKEF), having previously served on the Advisory Board of the Centre for Entrepreneurs (CFE)

and the Development Board of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Currently, she is a fellow of Burton & South Derbyshire College, and a member of both the Mayor of London’s Business Advisory Board and the Advisory Committee of the Shalini Khemka Commonwealth Entrepreneurs.

Speaking to Asian Voice, Shalini Khemka said, “I feel totally humbled, overwhelmed and very proud. I feel properly recognised, to be honest, after a lot of hard work. So, it’s really humbling and very fulfilling. Also, I feel strongly that this is a recognition, not just of me but for and on behalf of the

thousands of entrepreneurs whom I've been able to work with over the last 10 years and a recognition of the tireless work that they do drive economic prosperity.

“It means a huge amount, I think partly because it shows that hard work in the UK is properly recognised, and this country is a meritocracy. There’s been a lot of selfsacrifice in my personal life, in order to build my company, and to make the contribution that we are making, not just me, but all of our members.”

She added: “So many of us from our

backgrounds, we’ve run our own companies, and we are the lifeblood of the economy. We create employment, we create wealth, jobs; we drive the GDP of this country. So, if it encourages others to follow their passion, I feel very humbled to be able to have that opportunity to encourage and inspire them.

I could not have launched and built E2E without the huge support of many but in particular my Chairman; Darryl Eales and my investors and Board Directors who include and have included Peter Roberts, Chandni Vora, Dimitrios Hatzis, Meera Santora, Robert Kilgour, Jason Wouhra OBE, Judy Naake MBE, Lord Bilimoria CBE, Duncan Bannatyne OBE and many others, whom I think whole-heartedly”

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The Stock Market for 2022: What's the Chatter?

After an eventful 2021, it's time to look towards 2022.

Alpesh Patel What are some of the talking heads, banks, hedge funds, and Dear Financial analysts expecting in 2022 for the stock market?

Voice Reader, IPOs 2021 was an excellent year for IPOs. Not since the dotcom boom has the number of IPOs and capital raised hit these levels. However, market disruption may slow down these record gains.

SPAC listings also enjoyed an excellent 2021; however, inflation, Omnicron, tightening monetary policy, and supply chain disruption are all causing some hesitancy in the market.

Some attractive IPOs and SPACs for 2022 are Reddit, eToro, Brewdog, TikTok, and Instacart.

Equities Despite a few pullbacks here and there, the S&P 500 had an excellent year. However, some analysts suggest the bull run could come to an end in 2022. Morgan Stanley's Andrew Sheets feels the index could drop by 5% but recommends Japanese and European stocks as areas with 12% and 8% growth potential, respectively.

Jeffrey Kleintop at Charles Schwab also predicts modest gains and heightened volatility in the S&P 500. Lauren Goodwin of New York Life Investments echoes this sentiment, noting that as fiscal stimulus drops, market gains will too.

Several other areas will affect the equities markets in 2020. According to FT Money, climate change, troubles in China and Ukraine, alongside monetary policy and Covid19, are some of the prominent factors to consider.

Despite this, most major US banks are bullish about the S&P 500. BMO, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, RBC, and Jp Morgan all forecast the index to finish 2022 above 5,000 points.

Tom Yeung, the author of the popular newsletter Moonshot Investor, has three big predictions for the new year. Firstly, favorable legislation could lead marijuana stocks to rise. Secondly, he likes Crypto.com and POSaBIT as fintech companies. Finally, he believes 2022 will be a big year for various healthcare stocks, although he stopped short of revealing which specifically.

Stock Picking Modest overall gains in the S&P 500 mean that the art of stock picking will become necessary. Nigel Bolton at BlackRock suggests that better-prepared companies with a diverse supply chain will thrive even with broader supply chain issues. Additionally, he adds that larger Oil companies have strong potential in 2022.

Growth Stocks Nicholas Rossolillo at Motley Fool is high on growth stocks in 2022. He believes that after a first-quarter correction, they are set to outperform other sectors.

Savita Subramanian, at Bank of America, has characterized tech stocks as being like a "long-duration bond," where investors are paying a big price today for expected returns in the future. Of course, this characteristic makes them just as vulnerable to rising interest rates as bonds.

World Economies Vanguard's 2022 Economic and Market Outlook, the investment advisor expects slow growth for world economies.

They suggest the US and Europe will grow at a pace of 4%, with the UK at around 5.5% and China dropping to about 5%.

The Fed Fears of an upcoming Fed interest rate hike could hit Tech stocks hard. Micheal Hartnet of Bank of America suggests that the "speculative forth" bubble of the FAANGs and other Tech stock could be set to burst and recommends investors rotate out of these high-performing equities.

COVID-19 Variants Covid-19 recovery was a key theme of 2021, and that should continue. However, new variants could put a spanner in the works. Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel warns that current vaccines will struggle to contain Omicron.

However, Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank cited a poll that suggests that only 10% of investors see new variants as the biggest market risk factor in 2022.

Inflation There's not much consensus on inflation; however, many analysts expect it to slow down by mid-2022. Michelle Meyer of Bank of America expects it to remain above target, forcing the Fed into action. Mayer expects three interest rate hikes throughout 2022. Investing.com's Brad McMillian agrees, noting that tightened economic policy will hit anything that requires borrowing hard. However, he notes that this will help growth in the long term and won't slow economic recovery as much as it will stall equities.

Summary Forecasts for 2022 are all over the map. Market predictions have to contend with expected value and the arbitrary nature of a calendar when making calls on the future of the S&P 500. As a result, different models vary widely. Morgan Stanley predicts the S&P 500 to be as low as 4,400 next year, with BMO far more bullish at 5,300.

To learn more see my campaignforamillion.com

Growing up in poverty Analysis of Department for Work and Pensions figures shows that when the Conservatives entered in Government in 2010-11, there were just over 200,000 children from Black households living in poverty. By 2019-20 that figure had risen to over 410,000 – a whopping 101% increase over the decade.

It means that today more than half (53%) of all Black children are now growing up in poverty – one in ten of all children across the country and more than double the rate for white children. It comes as Anneliese Dodds MP, Labour’s Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary, reiterates Labour’s calls for a new Race Equality Act to

tackle structural racial inequality at source. Her call follows Labour’s publication last year of a report by Baroness Doreen Lawrence calling for a raft of immediate and long-term measures to protect Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities from the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2010-11 Pakistani children in poverty were 172,721 out of 348,675 total children from the diaspora. In 2019-

20, it has increased to 348,675 children in poverty out of 586,314. A rise by 88%. The Bangladeshi community, in 2010-11 had 82,971 children in poverty out of 137,089.

Currently it is 145,511, out of 238,164 children. A rise by 75%.

Anneliese Dodds MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, said: “The Conservatives should be ashamed that more than half of Black children are growing up in poverty this Christmas – more than double the number when they took office.

“There is little wonder

that child poverty has skyrocketed over the last decade when Conservative ministers have done so little to tackle the structural inequalities driving it.

“More than a year since Labour’s Lawrence Review into the disproportionate impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Black, Asian and minority ethnic people, it’s also unacceptable that they have still not implemented its 20 recommendations.

“Conservative incompetence and denialism about the existence of structural racism are driving Black children into poverty.

Labour has a plan to lift them out of it, with a new Race Equality Act to tackle structural racial inequality at source.”

FCA announces ban on insurance price walking UK's financial watchdog has announced that from January 1, 2022, onwards, insurance firms will no longer quote customers a higher price for renewing their home or motor insurance than they would pay if they were a new customer.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) believes this will save consumers £4.2bn ($5.6bn) over the next ten years.

Executive director, consumers and competition at the FCA, Sheldon Mills, said, "Our interventions

will make the insurance market fairer and make it work better. Insurers can no longer penalise consumers who stay with them." He said consumers can still shop around and negotiate a better deal, however, they won't have to switch to avoid being charged a loyalty premium.

The new rules come after the FCA found that many insurers were increasing prices for renewing customers yearly.

The practice is known as "price walking". It not only

means higher prices for loyal customers, according to the FCA distorts the way the insurance market works. Finance analysts believe the new regulation is good news for those who like to stick with one provider.

FCA said firms unable to implement the technical changes required to comply with the new rules before January 17 will need to ensure consumers do not lose. The new set of

rules also includes rules to give consumers more accessible methods of cancelling their policy's automatic renewal and require insurance firms to demonstrate that their products deliver fair value to customers.

UK house prices rise at the fastest pace in 15 years UK house prices grew at the fastest rate in 15 years in 2021, reaching a record high as low-interest rates and a pandemic-induced race for more space boosted demand, and housing stock remained low.

According to data from the Nationwide Building Society, prices rose at an annual rate of 10.4 percent in December, making the calendar year performance the strongest since 2006.

The average increase from early 2020, before the pandemic, was 16 per cent.

The price of a typical UK home rose to a record high of £254,822, up £23,902 over the year, the largest rise recorded in a single year in cash terms since Nationwide began collecting the data in 1991.

Nationwide's chief

economist Robert Gardner said, "Demand has remained strong in recent months, despite the end of the stamp duty holiday at the end of September. At the same time, the stock of homes on the market has remained extremely low throughout the year, which has contributed to the robust pace of price growth."

Chief Executive of Garrington Property

FTA to be greenlit this month?

The formal launch of negotiations between India and the UK over the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is on the calendar for the second week of January 2022.

"The idea is to launch the negotiations and the first round of talks this month," an official told ET. While a delegation comprising representatives of the UK's trade ministry and businesses is to visit India to launch the negotiations, the two sides may consider doing a virtual launch, a source was quoted saying.

The intention is to put the agreement (an interim one) in place by March 2022 which will eventually be followed by a formal comprehensive agreement.

This will impact early tariff or market concessions around high priority products. This will com-

prise whisky, cars, vaccines, basmati rice, wool, yarn, instant coffee, and tea premix from India’s top industries, in return for which India wants enhanced mobility for its professionals.

India's exports to the UK in FY21 were $8.15 billion ($60,700 crores) and imports were $4.95 billion ($36,850 crores). Last year, the two countries had agreed on an enhanced trade partnership with the goal to double bilateral trade to £50 billion, or about Rs 5 lakh crore, by 2030.

Finders, Jonathan Hopper said, "Despite maintaining a blistering pace for most of the year, and in the face of the Omicron variant, price growth still managed a sprint finish." Nationwide calculated that in London the average deposit is now £88,000, corresponding to 183 per cent of the average annual gross income in the capital, strongly up from a decade ago. As a result, "another year of doubledigit price rises seems unlikely", said Hopper.

'Year of the Squeeze' for millions in the UK, says think tank A think tank has warned that millions of families are facing a "year of the squeeze" in 2022. The Resolution Foundation predicts higher energy bills, stagnant wages and tax rises could leave households with a £1,200 a year hit to their incomes. It said millions of families are facing a "cost-of-living catastrophe" next year. It says a 1.25 per cent increase in National Insurance contributions will cost the average household £600 a year while the higher energy bills cap is expected to add an additional £500 to spending. Both will come into force in April.

Meanwhile, the cost of living in the UK surged by 5.1 per cent in the 12 months to November, the highest increase in 10 years, according to data revealed by the Office for National Statistics.

Inflation is set to six per cent in the spring, according to the Bank of England, and the Resolution Foundation warned that real wage growth, which was flat in October, "almost certainly started falling last month and is unlikely to start growing again until the final quarter of 2022."

Resolution Foundation chief executive Torsten Bell, said, "The overall picture is likely to be one of the prices surging and pay packets stagnating."

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Government of India proposes Apple to manufacture goods worth $50b in India Top government officials had a high-level meeting with senior executives from Apple. The government has asked, in the meeting, to develop India as a global sourcing base which would be used to export fully-built products across the world, similar to what is being done in China right now.

As a push to the Make in India program, India’s central government has proposed the Tim Cook led American giant to generate annual production output

worth $50 billion in India over the next 5-6 years. The government has also asked

Apple to expand its locally made product kitty beyond iPhones to include

Macbooks, iPods, air pods and Apple watch.

Apple’s manufacturing partners have currently applied for and won the PLI contracts extended for smartphone manufacturin g, but not in any other category. It is expected that with a more comprehensive incentive policy for notebooks and a sche me for hearables and wearables, the company may look at making new products (beyond iPhones) inside India.

Chennai trader to invest INR 150 billion to manufacture waste-to-energy devices

Companies promoting pyramid schemes prohibited in India

Ram Charan's, the little-known Chennai-based chemicals trader is focused on developing end-of-life chemicals converting unsegregated waste into energy and manufacturing new-generation energy storage devices.

Ram Charan’s company is now investing INR 150 billion to set up two such manufacturing plants in Tamilnadu and Gujarat. While the Tamil Nadu unit will come up in the Rameshwaram district on a 70-acre land which will be acquired by the end of the month, the Gujarat plant will come on a similar sized plot in the Kutch district and the land for the same should be acquired by the end of the month or early next month. Its waste-to-energy products and services are delivered under the brand name 'Entity One' and does not leave any residual waste Ram Charan had announced a USD 4.14-billion investment from the New York-based impact fund TFCC International for an equity consideration of 46 per cent, valuing the company at around USD 9 billion and making it among the largest private equity investments in the country.

To protect consumers, India's Central Government banned direct selling companies from promoting pyramid or money circulation schemes, as it notified new rules for the industry to be complied with within 90 days.

Currently, companies like Tupperware, Amway and Oriflame are among the key players in the India's direct selling industry.

As per the new rules, state governments will have to set up a mechanism to monitor or supervise the activities of direct sellers and direct selling entities.

These rules will apply to all goods and services bought or sold through direct selling, all models of direct selling and all direct selling entities to consumers in India. These rules apply to those direct selling entities also that are not established in India but offer goods or services to consumers here.

These companies will now also be liable for the grievances arising out of the sale of goods or services by its direct sellers.

India’s conglomerate Reliance to raised $3b through overseas bonds

First woman CMD will now call shots at ONGC

India’s oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited has been increasing focus on non-conventional business expansions.

The company now plans to raise up to $3 billion via overseas bond sales, which would be the largest offshore raising by an Indian borrower in one go, people familiar with the matter told ET. The bond sale is expected to be launched in the next two weeks.

The move, which is debt neutral, will help the company either to save funding cost as much as by 50 basis points or elongate maturities.

The proceeds from the bonds would be used to refinance existing loans and bonds raised from international investors earlier. While international bonds issued 8-10 years ago are maturing early this year, a bundle of loans are coming up for maturities in the next three-four months.

Investors across the globe including from the US can invest in those bonds, which is known as 144A in market parlance. Bonds will be of investment grade.

Tata group to setup luxury hotel near Statue of Unity The Tata Group has proposed an investment of INR 1.5 billion to set up a 300-bed luxury hotel near India's icoic 'Statue of Unity' located in Gujarat state's Kevadia in Narmada district.

According to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Tata Group and The Government of Gujarat at Gandhinagar, the group has made their plans clear.

In the last four weeks, a total of 96 MoUs for a variety of upcoming projects have been signed in Gujarat ahead of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit to be held this month. This is the 10th edition of the summit.

Tata Group has also promised to start a special training center at SoU to train the tribal youths.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is an Indian government-owned crude oil and natural gas corporation.

ONGC’s Director of Human Resources Alka Mittal on Monday took over additional charge of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the company, Alka Mittal becoming the first woman to hold the post at this India's Maharatna company. Mittal replaces Subhash Kumar who superannuated on December 31.

The Public Enterprises Selection Board had in June interviewed nine candidates, including two serving IAS officers, for the top post but didn’t select any one opting instead to announce that it would set up a search committee to find a new CMD for ONGC. Mittal took over as Director—HR of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in December 2018 and was also the first woman to hold the post of a full-time director on the board of ONGC.

A Deal, Back from the Future

Suresh Vagjiani, Sow & Reap Properties Ltd

Recently we completed on a deal in the South East of London. The purpose of this investment is as a long term buy and hold.

The client didn’t have the deposit to close the deal by himself, and so he paired up with a family member to club together the deposit. They set up a company and purchased the property within the company, after taking advice from an accountant.

The aim was to ensure a savings pot was brewing for their children into the future.

When you’re taking a long term view, getting a discount at the point of purchase is not necessarily the defining factor of a deal.

For example, if you get a 20% discount on a property, this may seem attractive at the time of purchase, but if the property is stagnant for the next decade then crudely speaking you have the equivalent of a 2% growth per annum. Which is not really attractive.

Therefore, when buying to hold, the question that needs to be asked is where is this area going to be in the next 5-10 years and why?

What drove this investment was the location; the first principle of property investment, not discount.

We have been focusing on this particular location in South East London for many years now, and our in house research points to a long term sustained growth in this location.

This spot we believe will be one of, if not the, fastest growth spots in London.

This is the main factor which drove the clients to invest. However, we were able to ensure two further components to this deal, to sweeten it even further.

One was a discount going in, and the other is the property will be producing a positive cash flow every month.

Ideally, every investment should have the above three elements; with the location being the primary driving force.

The property was originally bought by the seller as a residential. They refurbished the property to that end.

This is an important point, generally in this situation most people furnish the properties with emotion, therefore they tend to over spend. Their plans then changed and it turned into a Buy to Let, later again their circumstances changed and they had to sell.

We sourced this property for our client and managed to get a £35K discount on it. They ended up purchasing it for £265,500.

The mortgage product we sourced for them was a fixed rate at 3.09%, fixed for 5 years. This equates to a payment of £517 per month. Against a rental income of £1,200 this leaves an income of about £685 per month.

So, £8,200 roughly per year.

This alone beats what the money would have earned sitting in the bank, without taking into consideration the discount or the future growth rate.

Once the dust has settled on this investment they will be looking to replicate this formula again and again.

The way to consider this deal, or any long term investment, is to try and see what it would be like in ten years' time, and change your perspective to looking backwards on to it. Most probably the discount and the monthly income would pale into insignificance, and the amount its grown by would override everything.

Crypto wallets and December marks highest exchanges raided in India export revenue for India Crypto wallet and exchange are platforms where merchants and consumers can transact with digital assets like bitcoin, ethereum, ripple, etc. They are providing facilitation intermediary services for buying and selling of crypto coins. In fact, these services attract a GST rate of duty of 18 per cent, but all of them have been evading the taxes.

Around half a dozen offices of Cryptocurrency Service providers have been searched and massive Goods

and Service Tax (GST) evasion has been detected

by DGGI. According to sources, around 70 crore worth of tax evasion has been detected during the crackdown. As per the claim made by one such exchange, CoinDCX, their crypto app allows buying of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies instantly in India and has more than 7.5 million users and more than one crore downloads with $7 billion cryptos purchased.

India’s Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has assured that the country is on track to achieve an export target of $400 billion, adding that the top 10 major commodity groups constituting 80 per cent of exports have grown by 41 per cent over last December.

In fact, India has achieved its highest-ever monthly exports of USD 37 billion in December 2021.

He has also said that

Uttar Pradesh is one of the best performing states in terms of the 'One District, One Product' scheme. UP exports are expected to rise to 2 lakh crores in the current financial year. The ODOP scheme by the UP government focuses on boosting the economy of the state by encouraging indigenous and specialised products of the various districts. The minister was addressing a press conference in Delhi.

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Major fire in South African Parliament The fire, which began in South African Parliament, shortly after 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT) on Sunday January 2, the day after Archbishop Desmond Tutu's state funeral at St George's Cathedral, near parliament.

There has been significant damage to the New Assembly Wing of the building, which includes the National Assembly chamber where lawmakers sit. It also said some offices had been severely gutted.

Fire and rescue service officials earlier said it would take hours to put the fire out completely because of the carpets and wooden floors in the building. However, since the parlia-

ment is not currently in session because of the holidays, no injuries were reported.

A police spokesperson said a man has been arrested for the

fire. He was already facing charges of arson, housebreaking and theft. The 49-year-old man is charged with "housebreaking, arson" and damaging state prop-

erty. The fire led to the "complete burning down" of the chamber of the National Assembly. No casualties have been reported in the fire, but the damage to the nation's parliament has shocked the country.

The fire that began in the early hours on Sunday and devastated much of the parliament complex before it was declared under control on Monday morning. But strong winds reignited the blaze late in the afternoon.

Firefighters had to be sent back to the Parliament precinct in the center of Cape Town after flames re-appeared on the roof of the main Parliament building in the late afternoon. About 34 firefighters were working on it.

US Colorado wildfire life threatening Hundreds of homes are feared lost in fast-moving wildfires in the US state of Colorado, officials said Thursday, as flames tore through areas desiccated by a historic drought.

While approximately 370 homes in the Sagamore subdivision have been lost reportedly, there's a potential of 210 homes lost in Old Town Superior. In addition to this, the Target shopping complex in Superior is on fire; the Element Hotel in Superior is fully engulfed and due to the magnitude and intensity of this fire and its presence in such a heavily populated area, there may be injuries or fatalities.

Thousands of people have

been told to flee the fast-moving fire, which is thought to have begun when power lines were toppled by gusting winds.

Although fires are a natural part of the climate cycle, and help to clear dead brush and reduce disease in vegetation, their scale and intensity is increasing.

The Investigators are now looking into the cause of the wildfire and are focusing on a property owned by a Christian fundamentalist sect, after witnesses reported seeing a structure on fire there moments before the blaze spread with astonishing speed across drought-stricken suburbs.

Theranos founder convicted of fraud for claiming to revolutionise healthcare Theranos, at one point valued at $9bn (£6.5bn), was once the darling of biotech and Silicon Valley. Founder Eizabeth Holmes was able to raise more than $900m from billionaires such as media magnate Rupert Murdoch Elizabeth Holmes and tech mogul Larry technology but being instructEllison. ed to downplay their concerns.

The firm promised it would At the same time, Holmes told revolutionise the healthcare investors the technology was industry with a test that could operating as planned while her detect conditions such as cancompany secretly relied on cer and diabetes with only a commercially available few drops of blood. However, machines to run the tests. these claims began to unravel While jurors found in 2015 after a Wall Street Holmes guilty of conspiracy to Journal investigation reported commit fraud against investors that its core blood-testing techand three charges of wire fraud, nology did not work. she has denied the charges, At trial, multiple lab direcwhich carry a maximum prison tors testified to telling Holmes term of 20 years each. about the flaws in Theranos'

Twelve Tribes originated from a youth Bible study group in the 1970s in Chattanooga, Tenn. Since then, it has grown into an international network of self-governing communities scattered across North and South America, Europe and Australia.

The settlement in Boulder is one of two in Colorado.

Authorities are still searching for two people missing in the blaze, which figured among the most destructive in Colorado history. A severe multiyear drought nurtured the

brittle-dry conditions that allowed the fire to sweep through residential areas.

The efforts to determine what caused the fire are adding to the challenges that authorities are facing in Colorado, after heavy snowfall over the weekend.

NASA enlisting help of Theologians to prepare us for contact with aliens Search for alien life has been a matter of fascination for humankind for centuries. As tools of modern science became more and more available, scientists have cast an informed gaze at the universe in search of alien life.

Amusingly, NASA is enlisting the help of 24 theologians as part of its efforts to determine how different religions around the world would react to contact with aliens. In fact, Rev Dr Andrew Davison, a British priest and theologist at Cambridge University with a degree in Biochemistry, is already working with NASA.

Humanity has now also got a fresh tool ready to look in the sky. The James Webb space telescope was launched on December 26. This will be humanity's main space telescope over the aging Hubble space telescope. We will soon be able to see corners of the universe that were unobservable to us before this.

New Covid variant IHU detected in France Scientists have identified a new strain of the Covid-19 causing virus. This virus called ‘IHU’ has been found in South France.

Even as the world grapples with the highly mutated ‘Omicron’ variant, researchers at institute IHU Mediterranee have reported infection of this B.1640.2 variant to at least 12 people.

The new variant has been linked to travel to African

country Cameroon.

The study of the variant posted on the preprint repository revealed that IHU has 46 mutations and 37 deletions resulting in 30 amino acid substitutions and 12 deletions.

Amino acids are molecules that combine to form proteins and both are building blocks of life.

The new variant has not been identified in any other country so far or has not been labeled a variant under investi-

gation by the World Health Organisation.

Researchers say that the first case of the new IHU variant of SARS-CoV-2 was diagnosed positive by RTPCR performed in a laboratory on a nasopharyngeal sample collected in mid-November.

However, they have noted that it is too speculate on how this variant behaves as far as infection and protection from vaccines is concerned.

in brief AMERICAN GIRL'S LATEST DOLL WINS "GIRL OF THE YEAR" "Girl of the Year" dolls, which were introduced in 2001, differ from other American Girl dolls by being based on modern characters with contemporary stories, rather than characters linked to different periods of American history. The popular doll manufacturer has unveiled Corinne Tan, a Chinese American skier, as its 2022 Girl of the Year.

"We created Corinne to be a positive role model our fans can look up to and learn from as we all work toward a world where everyone is treated fairly and with respect," said Jamie Cygielman, general manager of American Girl, in a statement.

The Corinne doll, plus a book, retails for $110, with other accessories also available for purchase.

MOSQUE SHUT DOWN FOR DEFENDING JIHADIS IN FRANCE The French authorities have been conducting checks on all Islamic places suspected to have some links to extremism.

A mosque in Beauvais has been shutdown by the French authorities for six months over 'radical sermons' that allegedly 'defended jihad'. The imam of the mosque, located in the northern region of France, reportedly referred to jihadist fighters as "heroes" and incited violence. It is said that the man who was presented as an occasional speaker but who, in reality, acts as a regular imam had defended a religious practice of Islam and its superiority to the laws of the Republic.

Earlier, the interior minister of France, Gerald Darmanin had initiated the process of closing the mosque of Beauvais claiming the radical sermons targetted Christians, homosexuals and Jews.

ISRAEL RECORDED THE FIRST CASE OF "FLORONA" Israel has reported a continuous rise in COVID-19 cases. Just as Israel's national health providers began administering fourth vaccine shots against COVID-19 on Friday to individuals with compromised immune systems, the country recorded the first case of "florona" disease, a double infection of COVID-19 and influenza.

The Health Ministry's Director-General Nachman Ash today okayed the boosters for immuno-suppressed people due to the Omicron infection wave, so long as at least four months have passed since their third shot. Ash also approved vaccines for elderly patients at geriatric facilities. The ministry said this was done "due to concerns of outbreaks at such facilities, and the risk to the health and lives of residents.

NORTH KOREAN LEADER NOW TALKS ABOUT FOOD INSTEAD OF NUKES North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said in a speech that the country’s main goals for 2022 will be jump-starting economic development and improving people’s lives as it faces a great life and death struggle.

He capped off his 10th year in power with a speech that made more mention of tractor factories and school uniforms than nuclear weapons or the US. Previous speeches of the North Korean leader made policy announcements, including significant diplomatic engagements with South Korea and the US. However, summaries of his speech made no specific mention of the US and just a passing reference to South Korea.

However, the highlight of the speech was the pledge by Kim, to increase agricultural production and completely solve the food problem.

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in brief TESLA TO RECALL ALMOST 200,000 CARS IN CHINA After China's State Administration for Market Regulation said the defects in Tesla cars could affect the vehicles' backup cameras or cause the hoods to open suddenly while driving, Tesla is recalling almost 200,000 vehicles. The trunk and front hood is expected to raise the risk of collisions. The decision was taken hours after a similar recall was announced in the United States.

The order is the latest blow to the American self-driving car pioneer, which is hugely popular in China although the firm's reputation has taken a hit this year following a spate of crashes, scandals and data security concerns.

In June also the electric car giant recalled more than 285,000 cars in China over issues with its assisted driving software that could cause accidents.

TAIWAN TO CHINA: MILITARY CONFLICT IS NOT THE ANSWER China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has increased military and diplomatic pressure in the past two years to assert its sovereignty claims. Taiwan, however, says it is an independent country and has repeatedly vowed to defend its freedom and democracy.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen says that to ease tension in the region, both Taipei and Beijing must “work hard to take care of people’s livelihoods and calm the hearts of the people” in order to find peaceful solutions to problems together. Military conflict is not the answer. In Chinese President Xi Jinping’s New Year address the day before, he said the complete unification of “the motherland” was an aspiration shared by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

PAKISTAN-CHINA AGREE TO USE FULL POTENTIAL OF GWADAR PORT CPEC is a flagship project of China's $60billion Belt & Road initiative and it links China's Xinjiang province with Pakistan's strategic Gwadar port, which provides an opening to the Communist country into the Arabian sea. The sixth session of the Joint Working Group on Gwadar reviewed the progress made and vowed to redouble efforts to tap the full potential of the Gwadar port. The CPEC is a collection of infrastructure and other projects under construction throughout Pakistan since 2013.

Originally valued at $46billion, the projects were worth $62billion as of 2017. India has protested to China over the CPEC as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

IN BACKDROP OF VIENNA NEGOTIATIONS, IRAN LAUNCHES A ROCKET Iran aired the footage of the blastoff against the backdrop of negotiations in Vienna to restore Tehran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers. The Iran authorities announced the launching of the rocket with a satellite carrier bearing three devices into space, without making it clear when the launch happened or what devices the carrier brought with it.

While previous launches have drawn rebukes from the US, the US military has still not responded or commented on Iran's announcement. Iran's civilian space program has suffered a series of setbacks, in recent years including fatal fires and a launched rocket explosion that drew the attention of former president Trump.

Taliban issues notices of victory over US Like soldiers throughout history, US troops regularly daubed their names on the walls of bases and fixed positions they occupied. However now the towering block is on public display -being used to bolster the Taliban's narrative of toppling US-led forces after 20 years of fighting.

While, the governor's compound of Afghanistan's Ghazni province, a new historical exhibit is unveiled before a rapt audience of Taliban fighters -- sections of blast walls from a former US military base, one concrete slab is inscribed with the names and regiments of US

troops who served in the province during America's longest war.

Hezbollah Secretary-General accuses Saudi of terrorism In a televised speech Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah addressed Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdul Aziz.

In the speech he has accused Saudi Arabia of exporting ISIL (ISIS) ideology and transporting cars rigged with explosives for suicide attacks to Iraq. Nasrallah slammed the kingdom for its close ties with the United States and for the military campaign it is leading in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman in a speech last week called on Lebanon to stop “the hegemony of terrorist Hezbollah over the Lebanese state”. Hezbollah has recently come under scrutiny from key allies the Free Patriotic Movement, one of Lebanon’s

Hassan Nasrallah

most important Christian political parties, founded by President Michel Aoun.

With Iran’s support, Hezbollah transformed into a regional paramilitary force that played a crucial role in supporting the Assad government in Syria and Iran-backed militias in Iraq. It is also a major political party with parliamentarians and ministers within the Lebanese government.

Online pyramid scheme of Taiwanese couple under investigation An investigation was launched by Shijiazhuang authorities in June into Shanghai Dowell Trading Co, a skincare business owned by Taiwanese actor Lin Ruiyang and his wife Zhang Ting, a former actress, for allegations that it has profited from an online pyramid scheme and transferred and hidden related funds via financial institutions. As much as CNY600 million (US$94 million) worth of assets was frozen.

The high-profile couple has built a business empire in China with a total value estimated at over NT$150 billion (US$5.4 billion). A 17-person task force was set up to dig into the case of the alleged pyramid scheme reportedly started in 2013 and has entangled "many individuals" and a considerable amount of money.

Citizens trade for food in Xi’an during lockdown Xi'an is at the epicenter of China's current Covid outbreak, and local authorities have enacted drastic measures which have attracted significant criticism online.

About 13 million have been confined to their homes in China’s Xi’an city since 23 December, and presently cannot leave to buy food. Authorities have been providing free food to households, but some have said their supplies are running low or that they have yet to receive aid.

With food shortage, people are seen in Videos and photos on social media exchanging cigarettes for cabbage, dishwashing liquid for apples, and sanitary pads for a small pile of vegetables. On social media users have described it as helpless citizens arriving at the era of bartering – exchanging potatoes for cotton swabs.

The strict measures come ahead of the Lunar New Year and the Winter Olympics due to be held in Beijing next month.

In the governor's compound of Afghanistan's Ghazni province, a new historical exhib-

it is unveiled before a rapt audience of Taliban fighters -- sections of blast walls from a former US military base. One concrete slab is inscribed with the names and regiments of US troops who served in the province during America's longest war.

Standing at the blast walls, Mullah Habibullah Mujahid boasted that the 20 or so names inscribed included "important commanders and generals" killed in combat. The ranks listed were all juniors reportedly -and none of the names feature on databases of Americans killed in the war.

Woman isolated in Plane toilet after testeing positive mid-air Michigan teacher Marisa Fotieo, took two PCR tests and about five rapid tests, all of which came back negative. But about an hour and a half into the flight she felt her throat began to hurt halfway through the trip, so she went to the bathroom to perform a rapid Covid test which confirmed she was infected.

The flight attendant tried to rearrange seats so Ms Fotieo could be seated in a spot alone, but the flight was full. When she came back and told Fotieo that she couldn't find enough seating, Fotieo opted to stay in the bathroom because she did not want

to be around others on the flight.

A note was then put on the bathroom door saying it was out of service, and that was Ms Fotieo's new seat for the remainder of the flight.

Once the plane touched down in Iceland, Ms Fotieo and her family were the last ones off the flight. Since her brother and father didn't have any symptoms, they were free to take their connecting flight to Switzerland. Ms Fotieo was given both a rapid and PCR test at the airport, both of which were positive. She was then shuttled to a hotel where she began her 10 days of quarantine.

TRIBUTE

Courage was the hallmark of Archbishop Desmond Tutu The Most Rev Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town and anti-apartheid campaigner, was born on October 7, 1931. He died on December 26, 2021, aged 90 Courage, both moral and physical, was the hallmark of the man who became the first black leader of the Anglican church in South Africa.

For 15 years, while Nelson Mandela and other leaders of the African National Congress were in prison, Tutu was his country’s most prominent opponent of apartheid, leading the black liberation struggle at home and abroad.

This first black Archbishop of Cape Town also risked the hostility of his country’s angry and radicalised black population by preaching moderation. Though Tutu did not explicitly condemn the armed struggle for black emancipation, he abhorred violence and sometimes said prayers at public meetings for South Africa’s white oppressors.

Tutu was a small,

Archbishop Desmond Tutu (7 October 1931 – 26 December 2021) ebullient man with a keen sense of mischief and a great cackle of a laugh. He would weep in public, dance down aisles or across stages, and use wit to disguise the most trenchant criticism.

He

believed in humour, humility and humanity.

He was sustained by his great faith, by several hours of daily prayer and Bible study, and the rocksolid support of his wife, Leah.

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Trump’s children deny testifying in fraud inquiry of family business New York Attorney General Letitia James opened a civil inquiry in 2019 into claims that - before he took office - Mr Trump had inflated the value of his assets to banks when seeking loans. Donald Jr, 44, and Ivanka, 40, were ordered to give evidence. However, they have refused to testify to the fraud inquiry in their family business.

Mr Trump's lawyers are trying to stop Ms James from questioning the former US president and his children.

They have asked a judge to

quash the "unprecedented and unconstitutional" bid for their

testimony.

Donald Jr and Eric had

taken over control of the company along with Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer, when their father took office in January 2017. Ivanka also worked at the Trump Organization, before becoming a senior White House adviser.

Mr Trump's lawyers are trying to stop Ms James from questioning the former US president and his children and have asked a judge to quash the "unprecedented and unconstitutional" bid for their testimony.

in brief 4.5M AMERICANS QUIT JOBS IN NOVEMBER In a sign of confidence and more evidence that the US job market is bouncing back strongly from last year’s coronavirus recession, a record 4.5 million people have uit their jobs in America in the month of November’21. US Employers also increase hiring in November. The number of people hired was 6.7 million in November as compared to 6.5 million in October.

The figures indicate that the job market has bounced back from last year’s brief but intense coronavirus recession. When covid hits, government orders lockdown, consumers stayed home and any businesses closed or cut hours. Employers slashed more than 22 million jobs in March and April 2020 and the unemployment rate rocketed to 14.8%. The unemployment rate has now fallen to 4.2% close to what economists consider full employment.

Indian-origin man becomes Miscreants hung raw beef bag on the doors of Hindu Temples US MAN KILLS DAUGHTER the first employee to be

BY MISTAKEN SHOOTING in Bangladesh on New Year hired by Tesla Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk recently tweeted that Tesla is looking for hardcore Artificial Intelligence (AI) engineers who care about solving problems that directly affect people’s lives in a major way. The job application was simple with interested Ashok Elluswamy candidates were asked to fill fields like name, in Electronics and email, exceptional work done in Communication Engineering software, hardware or AI and from the College of drop their resume in the PDF Engineering Guindy, Chennai format. and a Master's degree in Musk has also disclosed that Robotics System Development Indian-origin Ashok Elluswamy from Carnegie Mellon was the first employee to be University. Mr. Musk is the hired for his electric vehicle wealthiest person in the world, company’s Autopilot according to Forbes, with a net team. Ashok is currently the worth of around $ 282 billion, head of Autopilot engineering. most of it in Tesla stock.

Ashok holds a bachelor's degree

Bangladesh: Raw beef in polythene bags were found hanging over the doors of Gendukuri Camp Para Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir, Gendukuri Kuthipara Kali Mandir, Gendukuri Battala Kali Mandir and Monindranath Barman’s house on New Year in a border district of Bangladesh adjacent to northern part of West Bengal.

After locals saw them, they informed the matter to the police.

Four complaints were filed with Hatibandha Police Station later that night over the matter. They also protested against the act of desecration at the Sri Sri Radha Govinda temple. The distressed Hindus vowed to continue their protests until the culprits are arrested. Police then visited the spot and assured that the culprits Dilip Kumar Singh, president of Hatibandha Upazila Puja Udjapan Parishad suspected the incident could be linked to the local union parishad polls held on December 26.

Chile: Beekeepers protest in front of presidential palace

200 killed in fresh clashes near the Yemen’s Marib

A prolonged drought has been ravaging beekeeping in Chile, affecting bees' food sources such as flowers and crops.

To highlight their cause, the beekeepers set up some 60 hives containing around 10,000 bees in front of the presidential palace and prevented the police from dispersing the demonstration with a demand of reform to improve honey prices or provide subsidies to honey producers.

Shockingly seven police officers who tried to remove beehives placed by the protesters to block a main thoroughfare, were stung.

The protest also resulted in some of the bees flying around in the air, causing concerns to passers-by. Especially posing danger to people who are allergic, because it can cause death.

It is to be noted that Bee populations around the world have been rapidly declining in recent years due to habitat loss, pollution and the use of pesticides, among other factors.

Newborn abandoned in plane's toilet The Air Mauritius plane, which arrived from Madagascar, landed at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport on 1 January.

When the plane was screened for a routine customs check Airport staff in Mauritius have found a newborn baby boy abandoned in the rubbish bin of a plane's toilet.

The 20-year woman from Madagascar suspected of being the child's mother, who initially

denied the boy was hers, was made to undergo a medical examination which confirmed that she had just given birth.

The woman, who arrived in Mauritius on a two-year work permit, will be questioned after her release from the hospital and charged with abandoning a newborn.

The baby was rushed to a public hospital for treatment.

Both mother and the baby are said to be doing well.

The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting for nearly seven years in support of Yemen's government against the Houthis, in a conflict that has displaced millions and created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations. As hostilities escalated, the rebels said they had seized a military ship flying a United Arab Emirates flag. The coalition insisted it was carrying medical supplies.

About 200 fighters have been killed in fresh clashes near the

strategic Yemeni city of Marib as the seven-year war witnesses a surge in violence. This includes more than 125 Houthi rebels killed in air strikes by the Saudiled coalition and clashes with pro-government forces in Shabwa and Al-Bayda provinces, bordering Marib.Recent weeks have seen another spike with Saudi air strikes on rebel territory multiplying, while the Houthis have ramped up missile and drone assaults on the kingdom.

Germany report sporadic violence at pandemic rally Tens of thousands of people in total took to the streets in scores of German towns and cities for weekly marches that organisers have labeled “strolls” in an attempt to bypass restrictions on public gatherings. Though most of the rallies passed peacefully, many broke rules on social distancing, prompting officers to intervene.

According to Police in the eastern state of Saxony, the incident late Monday in Lichtenstein, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Chemnitz, occurred when officers tried to pull about 60 rowdy people out of a march to check their identities. Several of the protesters attacked police and sprayed them with chemical irritants.

The protests took place before a meeting Tuesday of Germany’s pandemic expert panel, which is expected to submit new recommendations to the government for how to respond to the outbreak.

Ohio man shot dead his own 16-year-old daughter, Janae Hairston, after mistaking her for an intruder breaking into the family home. The girl's mother called emergency services at 4:30 am, when both parents could be heard frantically begging their daughter to wake up, to report that her daughter was lying on the floor of their garage, after being shot by her father who mistook her for an intruder.Emergency responders arrived a few minutes later and transported Hairston to the local hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 5:42 am. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, gun violence has risen sharply in the US. According to the site Gun Violence Archive, more than 44,000 people have been killed by guns in the United States this year, including suicides, of which 1,517 were minors.

SWEDEN’S KING AND QUEEN INFECTED WITH COVID Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia who are fully vaccinated with three injections, have mild symptoms and are feeling well, given the circumstances after testing positive for COVID-19.

The news came as Sweden set a new daily record for COVID-19 cases amid a surge caused by the highly-infectious Omicron variant. The palace issued a statement that the King, 75, and the Queen, 78, were selfisolating and that work to trace those that they had been in contact with was underway. The country’s healthcare is under renewed pressure as a fourth wave of the virus piles up daily cases in Sweden.

3000 LITERS ALCOHOL POURED IN CANAL IN AFGHANISTAN Selling and consuming alcohol was banned even under the previous Western-backed regime, but the Taliban, known for their austere brand of Islam, are stricter in their opposition to it and the frequency of raids, including on drug addicts, has increased across the country since the Islamists seized power on August 15. Video footage released by the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) shows a team of Afghan intelligence agents pouring around 3,000 liters of liquor into a canal in Kabul. A statement issued by the agency said three dealers were arrested during the operation. "Muslims have to seriously abstain from making and delivering alcohol," an intelligence official said in the video footage. The Taliban's Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has also issued several guidelines restricting women's rights.

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2 accused held for auctioning Muslim women on ‘Bulli Bai’ app The New Year began on a controversial note when photographs of more than 100 Muslim women, including prominent actor Shabana Azami, wife of a sitting judge of Delhi High Court, multiple journalists, activists and politicians, were uploaded for auction on an app. The discovery has prompted outrage, with the Indian government promising it will take action.

Vishal Kumar, the 21-year-old engineering student was arrested by the Mumbai cyber police in connection with its probe into two apps where images of Muslim women were posted in an attempt to “auction” them, police said. The Mumbai police have also detained a woman in Uttarakhand in con-

nection with the case. Police officers, however, refused to divulge details about the woman.Kumar was running one of the Twitter handles used to upload the content from the app, an officer from the Mumbai cyber crime cell said.

The Delhi and Mumbai Police

had registered separate cases. In Delhi, a journalist lodged a complaint with the cyber cell, alleging her pictures had been uploaded on the app. She took to Twitter informing that her complaint had been registered and a case under Sections 153A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion etc), 153B (imputations prejudicial to national integration), 354A & 509 (sexual harassment) had been filed. An official said Mumbai Cyber police has also registered an FIR against developers of 'Bulli Bai' app and Twitter handles that pro-

Over 12,000 Indian NGOs lose foreign funding licence New Delhi: Licenses under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010, required to receive foreign funding, of more than 6,003 nonprofit organisations (NGOs) have been ceased, the Union home ministry showed in its updated list.

The dashboard also listed 12,580 organisations who cease to have their FCRA registration as on January 1. But officials indicated this was a cumulative list and includes organisations which lost their FCRA registration under similar conditions in previous years. The removal of 6,003 organisations has brought down the list of FCRA registered organisations in the country from 22,832 to 16,829, according to the home ministry’s dashboard of organisations considered “alive or active”.

Ministry officials also said that reminders had been sent to make the application before the deadline but many had not done so. The applications of 179 others, including Mother Teresa's charity, have been rejected, and scrutiny of the other applications is ongoing, the Home Ministry said.

The list of entities whose FCRA licenses are deemed to have been seized includes Medical Council of India, Oxfam India, Common Cause, Emmanuel Hospital Association, and Tuberculosis Association Of India, Asha Kiran Rural Educational Development Society, Chaitanya Rural Development Society, among others.

Hamdard Education Society, Delhi

School Of Social Work Society, Jamia Milia Islamia, DAV College Trust and Management Society, Kolkata-based Satajit Ray Film and Television Institute, India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC), Nuclear Science Centre in JNU, India Habitat Centre, Lady Shri Ram College for Women are also on the list.

Mother Teresa's charity confirmed their renewal had been rejected, and that "we have asked our centres not to operate any of the FC (foreign contributions) accounts until the matter is resolved". Controversy erupted after it emerged that accounts belonging to the Kolkata-headquartered charitable group, including those with the State Bank of India, had been frozen.

Opposition leaders, including Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, ripped into the government, particularly for 'freezing' the accounts on Christmas Day. Father Dominic Gomes, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Calcutta, also hit out at what he said was a "dastardly attack on the Christian community".

Refusing FCRA clearance has been listed by critics of the government as its way of suppressing organisations whose work or officials are not considered supportive enough of the centre. The validity of FCRA registration of some NGOs that were expiring between September 29, 2020, and September 30, 2021, was extended till March 31, 2022.

moted this application.

Earlier, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had tweeted that GitHub, the coding platform on which the said app was hosted, had blocked the user, and Cert-In and police were “co-coordinating further action”.Minister for Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said, the hosting platform has confirmed blocking the operator of the app called “Bulli Bai”.

Politicians, netizens and women's rights groups demanded strict action against the makers of the app and many blamed it on right-wing elements. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called upon people to raise their voice against "'insult of women" and communal

hatred.

It has happened for the second time in less than a year. The app appeared to be a clone of Sulli Deals which triggered a similar row last year. “Sulli” and “Bulli” are slang words used derogatorily for Muslim women. GitHub was the host for both apps. The app encouraged people to participate in the “auction”.

Last year, the Union Government had cited offending content against women as one of the reasons for framing the new digital rules that called for intermediaries for identifying the user hosting the offensive content within 24 hours. Two FIRs were filed by the Delhi and UT Police in the “Sulli Deals” incident last year.

Third wave on, 75% cases in metros are Omicron: Covid task force head A large chunk of Omicron cases in India as the country faces a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic have been reported from big cities, the head of the country's vaccine task force said, adding the third wave of the pandemic is very much here.

India recorded nearly 1.3 lakh fresh cases during December 27-January 2, a 12-week high, as compared with the previous week's tally of 46,073, which ironically was the lowest since the middle of May 2020. This was by far the sharpest weekly surge in infections since the beginning of the pandemic in the country. The previous highest increase was 71% recorded during the second wave in April 5-11, 2021.

On Sunday, 33,703 fresh cases of the coronavirus were detected across the country (with two states yet to report), another 21% rise from the previous day's count of 27,747. Sunday's tally was five times the number of cases recorded in the country last Sunday (6,542). Such a steep increase is consistent with reports of Omicron's spread in other countries, although the percentage of people being infected with the new variant is yet to be properly estimated.

"Look at whatever the variants have been genome sequenced... We got our first virus right in the first week of December.

So, last week, nationally overall, 12 percent of the variants identified were Omicron and the week gone by in the previous week, it has increased to 28 per cent. So, it

is rapidly increasing as a proportion of all the Covid infections in the country. Now, having said that, I must also say something more important and that is that around the major metro cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and particularly Delhi, it is over 75 per cent of all the isolates now," said Dr Arora, who is Chairman of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, or NTAGI. India has so far reported 1,700 Omicron cases, with Maharashtra reporting the most number of infections at 510.

The country also saw a 22 per cent jump in new COVID-19 cases, government data showed.

Dr Arora said the third wave of the pandemic is very much here. "India is clearly in the third wave of COVID-19.

And the whole wave seems to be driven by a new variant and today it is Omicron," Dr NK Arora said, adding this is supported by evidence from the last four-five days that saw "galloping increase in the number of cases".

This Indian billionaire works full time for the upliftment of Gujarat’s farmers Nischal Sanghavi Bharat Parsana, 54, who lives in western India's city of Rajkot belongs to a well known industrialist family of the region.

For the last 50 years his family has been into a well established engineering business exporting its products to 12 countries worldwide. The group turnover exceeds INR 5 billion. Being from a Patel community, the family had their own farm which was inherited from ancestors. The family also owns 20 cows passed on to them over 300 years and 10 generations.

Bharat started experimenting with total organic farming in his farm near Rajkot from his early years. At the age of 39, he went on the mission to teach cow based simple farming techniques to farmers that can increase their profits by 50%.

According to Bharat, "I have been traveling far and wide of in Gujarat especially to small villages in order to teach them simple organic farming techniques. I guarantee a 25% increase in productivity with these techniques. The organic vegetables grown with these techniques without use of any chemicals are of superior quality and farmers can sell them at 25% higher price than regular vegetables. For the last 15 years I have set out to different villages everyday. I conduct farmer meetings at these villages and also go to different farms to teach them. My farm is open for free training to anyone who desires. There have been instances of Bus-full of farmers coming for farming."

Bharat has developed simple farming techniques like spraying pure cow milk mixed with jaggery

Bharat Parsana

in specific proportion on plants once every 10 days and using basic manure made of castor seeds and cow dung. He also uses ingredients like cow urine, sour buttermilk, asafoetida in a custom process for making plant medicines.

He takes deep interest in training farmers his techniques free of cost and then also follows up with them to find out whether they are

getting results or not.

A c c o r d i n g to Bharat, milk has carbohydrate protein minerals and vitamins, while jaggery has a heavy proportion of carbohydrates.

When this mixture is sprayed on plants, it acts as a booster dose for the plants to fight against germs. The pure organic vegetables that grow at Bharat’s farm near Rajkot are of such wonderful quality that most urban dwellers would have not seen or tasted such vegetables during their lifetime. People who come to the farm cannot stop eating raw vegetables directly plucked from the plant and experience their sweetness.

Suresh Bhadresiya of Gujarat

state's Botad district took into farming after completing his graduation. According to Suresh, he has used techniques of organic farming guided by Bharatbhai. He is getting 25% more productivity than his other farm, where he uses regular farming techniques. The organic vegetable sells at higher cost, but requires finding a clientele that understands the value of organic produce.

Bharat has so far guided over 5000 farmers in Gujarat. All the activities by him are not meant for profit. He is thankful to his brothers and family who accept his little contribution to the family business and let him invest time and support to the mission of organic farming instead. Besides cows, his farm also has horses, dogs and several peacocks.

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Mastermind of Ludhiana court explosion arrested in Germany NEW DELHI: Germany has arrested prominent Khalistani terror plotter Jaswinder Singh Multani in what marks a breakthrough for India's counter-terror effort to foil plans of Pakistan's Inter State Intelligence to engineer terror attacks in Punjab and other parts, including Mumbai.

The arrest of Multani, an activist of the ISI backed Khalistani outfit, Sikh for Justice (SFJ), who is considered to be the mastermind of the recent blast in a Ludhiana court, happened on the basis of precise intelligence provided by Indian agencies.

The arrested terrorist had drawn plan to carry out a big terror strike in Mumbai. He is currently in German custody and will be questioned by Indian investigators. A close aide of SFJ

leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannu who led the Referendum 2020 campaign for Khalistan, Multani has also been accused of plotting an assassination attempt on Balbir Singh Rajewal, a prominent farm leader who formed the vanguard of protests against the now-scrapped agricultu- ral reforms laws, as part of a larger

conspiracy to destabilise Punjab by provoking Sikhs.

Rajewal has been projected as the chief ministerial candidate of the 22 farm unions from Punjab which have decided to contest together all the 117 seats in the assembly polls due early next year. The Indian government worked over the weekend to ensure Germany

understood the gravity of the situation, particularly since a big terror attack seemed likely in Mumbai, with the intelligence agencies getting tipped off about the arrival of a cache of arms and explosives as well as efforts to gather a team to carry out the attack.

In fact, bilateral relations were tested as India laid diplomatic pressure on its strategic partner in Europe to nab Multani on the basis of the specific inputs provided byIndian agencies. During investigations into the Ludhiana blast, police came across clues about the involvement of two suspects— Babbar Khalsa terrorist Harvinder Singh Sandhu who is being sheltered by ISI in Pakistan, and Multani in Germany.

SOUTH INDIA

Kerala best State on health parameters, UP at the bottom NEW DELHI: For the fourth consecutive round, Kerala has topped a ranking of States on overall health indicators; Uttar Pradesh has come in at the bottom. The ‘Health Index’ is part of a report commissioned by the NITI Aayog, World Bank and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana emerged among the best three performers in terms of overall performance according to the Niti Aayog’s health index while Uttar Pradesh topped the table on incremental performance despite being at the bottom. Among the smaller states, Mizoram emerged as the best performer in overall performance as well as incremental outcome. Among Union territories (UTs), Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir ranked at

the bottom in terms of overall performance but emerged as the leading performer in terms of incremental performance.

Health outcomes, for instance, includes parameters such as neonatal mortality rate, under-5 mortality rate, sex ratio at birth. Governance includes parameters such as institutional deliveries, average occupancy of senior officers in key posts earmarked for health. And the ‘key inputs’ domain consists of proportion of shortfall in health care providers to what is recommended, functional medical facilities, birth and death registration and tuberculosis treatment success rate.

Several States are significantly better in one domain suggesting that there was scope to improve their

performance in the other domains with specific targeted interventions. For instance, 47% of States showed the highest performance in health outcomes and governance and information domains and only one State showed the highest performance in the key inputs and processes domain. The better performing States such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra performed comparatively better on the health outcomes domain, but performed badly on key inputs and processes, the report notes.

Ten States including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar

Pradesh retained their rank while four States improved their rankings from the base year-toreference year. Telangana improved its position from fourth to third, Gujarat from seventh to sixth, and Punjab from ninth to eighth. The most significant progress was observed in Assam as it improved its ranking by three positions, from 15 to 12.

However, five States recorded a decline in their ranking . Odisha had the steepest decline of two positions, while the ranking of Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttarakhand declined by one position each.

in brief UDUPI COLLEGE DENIES ENTRY TO GIRLS WEARING HIJAB A government college in Karnataka's Udupi allegedly prevented some students from entering the classroom wearing hijab, according to district authorities. "Those of us who were wearing hijabs were prevented from entering the classroom," said a student of the college. Later, a delegation including some students of the college along with some members of the Islamic Organization of India approached District Collector Kurma Rao regarding the incident. Five girls who were stopped from entering the classroom were part of the delegation. The collector said he spoke to the principal of the college regarding the issue. "We were told to bring our parents to college but when they arrived, school authorities made them wait for some three to four hours," said a student.

TN WOMAN PERFORMS BABY SHOWER OF HER PET CATS A pet parent performed a baby shower ritual for her pregnant cats in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore. Pet parent, said, "We have performed this to shower blessings on our pregnant cats. We are giving them special cat food, snacks. People conduct baby showers for humans so we did the same for our cats as they are members of our family. We came to the clinic and organized the baby shower along with the doctors." A veterinary doctor who attended the baby shower said, "This kind of ceremony for pregnant cats is a first of its kind and it will make the pregnant cats happier."

BUSINESSMAN BUYS HORSE TO STAY FIT AND CUT FUEL BILL With the massive rise in fuel prices, people are finding new ways to cut on fuel. In an interesting development, a businessman in Karnataka has purchased a horse to stay fit and cut on the fuel bill. The businessman identified as 49-year-old Babulal Chavan from Vijayapura got a four legged-transport, a steed of the Marwari breed from Gujarat to keep himself active and fit, and do his bit for a cleaner planet.Chavan said that the horse would not only help him stay fit but also cut on the massive fuel bill. Chavan is a fitness freak and spends Rs 4,000 every month on his gym fees. "I calculated the amount I spent on fuel and gym and felt that buying a horse was more economical. It helps me keep fit and reduces pollution and also keep the environment clean," the report quoted Chavan as saying. The businessman's family has a car and four bikes.

Educational Society named Telangana BJP chief arrested after Kamala Harris’s on charges of assaulting cops BENGAL SUSPENDS LANDING HYDERABAD: Telangana which are in force, mother opens in Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party the MP and others OF DIRECT FLIGHTS FROM UK state president Bandi went ahead with HYDERABAD: The Shyamala Educational Society, named after Indian American U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris's mother Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, was inaugurated in Telangana on December 30.

The Society, founded by N. Suresh Reddy, aims to contribute to the field of education, health, environmental sustainability, and social service. "The society, particularly in the education sector, aspires to make a name by offering education of international standards and disseminating it to the greatest possible segment of the Indian population. Our effort is ready to give quality education with the assistance of highly respected members of the Advisory Board," an official statement from the society read.

Born in 1938, Shyamala Gopalan pursued her doctorate in nutrition and endocrinology at UC Berkeley. She left India at the age of 19. Shyamala was a leading cancer researcher and activist.

Harris's maternal grandfather was born in Thulasenthirapuram in the Tiruvarur district, located about 320 km south of the city of Chennai. Shyamala was the daughter of PV Gopalan, a civil servant.

A new campus near Hyderabad will be fully functional for the 2023-2024 school year. As per an official statement, Suresh Reddy said that the society is intended to contribute to the field of education in India.

Acknowledging the contributions of Shyamala Gopalan to the global community, Reddy intended to bring a remarkable transformation in the educational scenario of the country by providing high-quality opportunities to the students.

Sanjay Kumar was their programme arrested by Karimnagar violating rules and police on January 2 then resorted to during a protest, Bandi Sanjay Kumar rioting and informed local police.The attacked police MP and four others have been sent personnel performing their duty,” in 14 days judicial remand to said a senior police official.

Karimnagar district jail.

"The arrest of Telangana BJP Sanjay organised a Jagaran chief Bandi Sanjay is highly condemnable and amounts to the Deeksha in his camp office at Karimanagar town, where party murder of democracy. He was peacefully staging a protest cadres and leaders from across the following all COVID protocols in state trooped in for the overnight protest. The 10-hour-long protest his office. Police forcibly entered his office & manhandled him," said was planned to demand the state BJP National President JP Nadda. government to amend an order At least 70 people were relating to transfer of government arrested and were released after employees and teachers. Police had refused permission for the protest issuing notices to them. Several policemen including an Assistant citing the orders in force banning meetings, rallies and other public Commissioner of Police (ACP) and gatherings. a Circle Inspector were injured in “Despite repeated requests to the attack, informed a police abide by the Covid-19 guidelines official.

India's state of West Bengal has the third highest active caseload in the country after Maharashtra and Kerala. The state government has now banned all direct flights arriving from the United Kingdom from 3 January. This announcement was made along with other Covid curbs which include closing of all educational institutions, gyms, swimming pools, and beauty salons.

Other passengers coming from non-at-risk countries by international flights to the state have to mandatorily undergo a Covid test upon arrival at their cost. The airlines will randomly select 10% of the passengers for Covid RT-PCR testing and the remaining 90% of the passengers of a flight will take Rapid Antigen Test on arrival.

West Bengal Chief Minister has urged the central government to impose restrictions on flights from countries where omicron cases are high. It is to be noted that the flights from Mumbai and Delhi will also be allowed to land only twice a week. Right now the restrictions have been declared till January 15.

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New Year rush sparks stampede at Vaishno Devi, killing at least 12 pilgrims JAMMU: In an unprecedented first of its kind tragedy, 12 devotees were crushed to death and 16 were injured in a stampede near the Vaishno Devi shrine. The disaster happened around 3 am on New Year’s Day while it was still dark on the route to the Vaishno Devi shrine, one of the area’s most revered Hindu sites.

The Shrine Board, chaired by the Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor, who also nominates its members, has put the blame on “a scuffle between two groups of pilgrims”.

It has also countered charges of overcrowding by saying that as against the National Green capacity” at 50,000 people per day, only 35,000 were allowed to proceed on

31st and 1st, as a Covid precaution.

In this version, the board, the local administration, police and CRPF

all did their job well. But widely available visuals and witness accounts tell quite a different tale.

Forget social distancing, queues entering and exiting the shrine were swelling into each other, out of control, and the shrine was also filled beyond the brim.

The J&K government has set up a high-level probe. Officials said authorities responded quickly, order within the crowd was restored and the pilgrimage resumed after nearly four hours of the early morning tragedy.

One of the witnesses, Ravinder said the crush happened at a point where huge crowds of people coming down from the shrine meet those going up. He estimated that there were at least 100,000 people.

“No one was checking registration slips of the devotees. I have been there many times but never seen

such a rush of people,” he said. “It was only when some of us managed to lift a dead body up with our hands and made space for moving the bodies out,” he said.

And while people, especially young people, flocking to the cave shrine to celebrate New Year is a new trend, Vaishno Devi is actually quite accustomed to crowds growing big on special occasions like Navratri and schools’ summer holidays. But if accountability is not fixed, it’s like saying to the dead that it was just their fate. It must instead be pinpointed exactly how crowd management failed.

So that in the future crowds’ flow paths stay smooth – and bottlenecks get cleared before lives are lost.

Gujarat, Delhi lead in Good Governance ED detaches Nirav Modi’s assets over $135 mn, Rhythm Index 2020-21 Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa have emerged as the top three states in the Good Governance Index 2020-21 issued by the Centre while Delhi topped the list of Union Territories (UTs). The Good Governance Index helps assess the status of governance in states and Union Territories. The GGI 2021 framework covered 10 sectors and 58 indicators.

Gujarat registered an over 12% increase and Goa registered a nearly 25% increase over the indicators recorded by these states in the last index issued in 2019. A big surprise was Uttar Pradesh which has shown incremental growth of nearly 9% over its 2019 performance and in fact secured the top position in the commerce and industry sector, which was one of the 10 sectors of good governance that were covered by the index.

Uttar Pradesh has also shown improvement in social welfare and development and judiciary and public safety sectors, as per

the latest index, as well as in citizen-centric governance parameters.

Gujarat has performed strongly in five of the 10 sectors, including in economic governance, human resource development, public infrastructure and utilities, social welfare and development, and judiciary and public safety, as per the GGI. Maharashtra performed strongly in agriculture and allied sector, human resource development, public infrastructure and utilities, and social welfare and development. Goa has

performed strongly in agriculture & allied sector, commerce and industry, public infrastructure and utilities, economic governance, social welfare and development, and environment.

Overall, 20 states have improved their composite ‘Good Governance Index’ (GGI) scores this time. J&K also recorded a 3.7% improvement in GGI indicators and performed strongly in the commerce and industry sector.

Praising the PM's governance, Shah mentioned at the event that the Modi Government took decisions for the betterment of the society irrespective of the fact that it would sound harsh to the public at first but it has never disappointed the nation and always maintained transparency with its people. According to him, Modi brought the faith of democracy in people with his ideologies and strategies.

House in auction list MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate has de-attached assets worth over $135 mn, including the building that once housed Rhythm House music store at Kala Ghoda, a Nepeansea Road flat, an office building in Kurla and jewellery, of diamantaire Nirav Modi on court order for auction to recover the Punjab National Bank dues.

Nirav Modi and his wife Ami, who is an American citizen, fled the country in the first week of January 2018, shortly before the massive fraud at the public sector bank came to light. On January 31, 2018, the Central Bureau of Investigation registered an offence under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code against Modi and several others, including two officers of the PNB.

According to the complaint lodged by the PNB, b e t w e e n February and May 2017, Nirav Modi and his firms namely, M/s Diamond R US, M/s Solar Exports and M/s Stellar Diamond got fraudulently issued 150 Letters of Undertaking (LOUs) from Brady House branch of PNB and duped the public sector bank to the tune of around USD 1015.35 million.

Modi is currently lodged in a jail at Wandsworth Prison in South-west London ever since he was arrested by the British police in March 2019 on charges of extradition warrants issued against him, whereas Choksi is reportedly acquired citizenship of Antigua and is presently residing in the Caribbean island nation.

China renames 15 places in Arunachal 66 people aboard Cordelia Cruise Ship Pradesh; India rejects ‘invented’ names docked in Goa test Covid positive India reacted strongly to China renaming15 places inside Arunachal Pradesh.

China's Ministry of Civil Affairs announced that it had standardized in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet the names of 15 places in Zangnan, the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh.

Acknowledging that the ministry of external affairs (MEA) had seen reports to this effect, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “This is not the first time China has attempted such renaming of places in Arunachal. It had also sought to assign such names in 2017.”

“Arunachal Pradesh,” he said, “has always been, will always be an integral part of India. Assigning invented names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not alter this fact. ” Among the official names of the 15 places,

which were given precise coordinates, eight are residential areas, four are mountains, two are rivers, and one is a mountain pass.

The eight residential places in the second batch are Sêngkêzong and Daglungzong in Cona County of Shannan Prefecture, Mani'gang, Duding and Migpain in Medog County of Nyingchi, Goling, Damba in Zayu County of Nyingchi, and Mêjag in Lhunze County of Shannan Prefecture.

The four mountains are Wamo Ri, Dêu Ri, Lhünzhub Ri and Kunmingxingzê Feng. The

two rivers are Xênyogmo He and Dulain He, and the mountain pass is named Sê La, in Cona County.

China’s ministry of civil affairs issued a statement saying they have “standardised” names for 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh, to be used on Chinese maps. This is the second time China has renamed the names of the places of Arunachal Pradesh.

On October 23, the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislative body, passed a new law citing “protection and exploitation of the country’s land border areas”. The committee had stated that the new law will come into effect from January 1. The law is not meant specifically for the border with India. China shares its 22,457 km land boundary with 14 countries, including India.

Panaji: As many as 66 people of the over 2,000 people aboard the Cordelia Cruise ship, tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. As the testing continued, the ship has been docked in Goa after departure from Mumbai.

The ship is docked near the Mormugao Port cruise terminal.

Sixty-six passengers in a cruise ship that sailed from Mumbai to Goa have tested positive for COVID-19. In a tweet, Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said some 2,000 samples were tested on board the cruise ship, Cordelia. "Out of 2,000 samples tested from the Cordelia cruise ship, 66 passengers tested positive for COVID-19... The authorities will decide whether to allow disembarking of passengers from the ship," Rane tweeted. The cruise ship was carrying a large crowd of passengers who came to celebrate the New Year amid the

Omicron threat. A medical team in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) boarded the ship to conduct RT-PCR tests on passengers and crew members. According to officials, passengers were directed not to disembark from the ship until the results of the RT-PCR tests were announced. The passengers were tested after one of the crew members was found infected with the COVID-19 on January 2.

The Cordelia cruise ship had made headlines in the month of October over a drug raid case involving Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant,

Munmun Dhamecha, and several others.

According to official data, Goa recorded 388 new COVID-19 cases as of January 2, taking the total number of infections in the state to 1,81,570. Meanwhile, with one more death, the fatalities reached 3,523 in the state. Beaches in the coastal state popular with tourists teemed with a sea of people during the New Year, leading to concerns that it would lead to a massive spike in COVID-19 cases. Already, COVID-19 cases have been rising in neighbouring Maharashtra and other states like Delhi.

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Gujarat sees record-high drug hauls in 2021 This year, Gujarat not only emerged as a major route for drug peddling, but also appeared to have become a destination for its consumption.

Central and state agencies seized the highest ever drug hauls, including 3,000kg heroin by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and 146kg of heroin seized by the Gujarat AntiTerrorism Squad.

On September 13, the DRI’s seizure of two containers of semi-processed talc stones at Mundra port revealed it had Rs 21 billion heroin which had come from Kandahar in Afghanistan via the Bandar Abbas Port of Iran. The case is being probed by the National Investigation Agency. On September 18, the ATS and Coast Guard nabbed seven Iranians from a boat off the Gujarat coast. They were carrying 50kg heroin to Sri Lanka. On November 15, ATS raided a cleric’s house in Jinjuvada village of Morbi and seized 120kg heroin. Probe revealed the contraband had been bought from Pakistani drug mafia.

In August, the NCB nabbed NRI Derrick Pillay from Johannesburg in South Africa, with 4 kg of cocaine worth Rs 1 crore at the SVPI airport, the biggest seizure of cocaine in the recent past. Recently, Ahmedabad police arrested Satellite resident Vandit Patel, 27, who ran a salon in Bopal and sold drugs to people from elite class in the western part of the city.

“There’s an increasing trend where

drugs, especially synthetic ones like methamphetamine and mephedrone, are meant for consumption in Gujarat and neighbouring states like Maharashtra,” said cops. Seizure of drugs from Devbhoomi-Dwarka district shows sale and consumption of drugs in rural areas, too.

HM directs deployment of container scanners Home minister Amit Shah directed the deployment of container scanners and other related equipment for scanning incoming and outgoing containers at all ports, whether government-controlled or private.

Chairing the third meeting of the apex level committee NCORD, Shah directed that illegal cultivation of drugs in the country be curbed by using drones, satellite and other technology.

He said all states should form dedicated anti-narcotics task forces (ANTF) under their DGPs, which will work as state National Coordination (NCORD) secretariats, even as a Central NCORD

unit is formed under Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) at the Central level.

Stating the Narendra Modi government had adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards narcotics, Shah said there was a need for better coordination between all drug law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies, not only at the national level but also between the Centre and the states.

The NCORD meeting also decided that a national narcotics control call center ‘MANAS’ to be launched and an integrated NCORD portal at the central level set up to act as an effective mechanism for information exchange between various institutions/agencies.

An effective system was sought to be put in place to stop the increasing use of the darknet and cryptocurrency in the illegal drugs trade.

Shah directed that all personnel, Central police forces and state police should participate in the Modi government’s oath campaign of drugfree India and ensure that all their personnel become a part of this oath campaign This campaign should be completed by January 12, 2022, Swami Vivekananda Jayanti, which we celebrate as National Youth Day, he said.

Opinion poll predicts comfortable win for BJP in UP elections The BJP is set to comfortably win the assembly election in Uttar Pradesh making Yogi Adityanath the first chief minister to serve two consecutive terms since 1985, an opinion poll conducted

by VETO has projected.

According the survey, the BJP might end up bagging 230-249 seats in the 403-member House while the Samajwadi Party is likely to bag 137-152 seats. The BSP, which bagged 19 seats in the 2017 assembly polls, is projected to win anywhere between 9-14 seats. On the other hand, the Congress is expected to face another poll debacle with the survey predicting just 4-7 seats for the party.

For the BJP, while the Adityanathled government’s claim of revamping the law and order situation and the

Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Aam Aadmi Party – have announced to go it alone in the polls scheduled to be held in February-March this year. The parties have rather focused on roping in smaller caste-based parties.

However, experts are of the view that a splintered opposition will only end up benefiting the BJP with the division of the votes against it.

Yogi Adityanath While the Samajwadi Party has development works done in Kashi, joined hands with Om Prakash Mathura and Varanasi seem to have Rajbhar’s SBSP, the BJP has formed worked in its favour, the issues of alliance with seven smaller caste-based Lakhimpur Kheri violence, second parties. The BJP has downplayed the COVID-19 wave and the farmers’ SP’s alliances with smaller parties, and protest might cause substantial dent to has said that its alliance Apna Dal and its image.

Nishad Party will be much more All the opposition parties – impactful in the elections.

'India approves 2 more vaccines, 1 pill Modi flags off 23 key projects in Uttarakhand to fight against Covid-19 India has approved two more vaccines under emergency use authorization and an antiviral drug, Molnupiravir, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on Twitter. Currently, India uses Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V in its vaccination programme.

Corbevax to be made by Hyderabad-based Biological-E is a protein sub-unit vaccine and Covovax, to be manufactured by Serum Institute of India, Pune, is a nanoparticle-based vaccine.

Corbevax is co-developed by Biological E, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, United States, and American company Dynavax Technologies.

Covovax is produced by the Serum Institute of India under licence from Novavax, a U.S.-based biotechnology company. Covovax has been approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) under its Emergency Use Listing and, therefore, will also be available globally as part of the COVAX initiative to ensure that at least 40% of world is vaccinated on priority.

Molnupiravir, that was approved this month by the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (U.S. FDA), on the heels of Paxlovid by Pfizer Inc, is said

to be a promising drug for those with mild and moderate disease and also easily administered as a pill. Thirteen companies in India are set to manufacture this drug. It has been approved under emergency use authorisation for treating adults with Covid-19 “who have high risk of progression to disease”.

The U.S. FDA in a recent statement said that because Molnupiravir works by introducing genetic errors into the virus, it ought to be prescribed with caution and was not recommended as a preventive and only in “certain adults” in whom alternative Covid-19 treatment options authorised by the FDA were not accessible or clinically appropriate. Paxlovid is yet to be approved in India.

There are no studies so far to show how effective the new vaccines will be in giving protection against symptomatic infection when employed as a third dose though the WHO's general observation is that same or mixed vaccine regimens “improve immunological response” are better protective against disease and death.

HALDWANI : Prime minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for twenty three developmental projects worth $23.5bn in Haldwani, Uttarakhand. The move comes ahead of the crucial assembly elections to be held in Uttarakhand this year.

The Prime minister's office (PMO) released a statement where it mentioned that these projects include road, housing, irrigation, health infrastructure, industry, sanitation, and drinking water supply. The PM also inaugurated six projects which include numerous road widening projects, a hydropower project in Pithoragarh and Nainital sewage improvement projects. The prime minister said, “no previous govt has spent as much money on Uttarakhand projects as this doubleengine govt."

The Prime Minister during the

Narendra Modi

public rally held after the inauguration event said, "We have focussed on various development projects for Uttarakhand to make this decade the decade of Uttarakhand. When I say this is the decade of Uttarakhand, there are reasons behind it. I believe that the capability of the people here will make this decade the decade of Uttarakhand.

Modern infrastructure projects like the Char Dham project, new rail routes will help achieve this."

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A media report quoted doctor Dr. Mumbai Shreedhar Archik as saying, “Excessive consumption of vitamin D (10,000 IU) supplements daily can lead to risks like vitamin D toxicity, leading to abnormally high levels of calcium in the blood. Symptoms may

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and bone building and is found in fortified milk, fortified juice, fish, egg yolks, red meat and cereal. Dr. Archik says, “The main distinction that determines the threat of overdosing is whether a vitamin is at or water-soluble. Water-soluble vitamins are less likely to cause health risks as they dissolve easily and are not usually absorbed in anybody tissues for a long period of time.”

Vitamin D is fat-soluble, which means the body can keep them stored within fat deposits for a longer period of time.

3 health tips to follow in 2022: Rujuta Diwekar We have officially entered Year 3 of the global pandemic. If anything, the past two years have taught us the importance of holistic health and about returning to simple things of life to stay healthy and happy.

Celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar has a few tips to share with us in the new year. In an Instagram post, she reminds people to not make certain health mistakes, and follow “common sense” when it comes to diet and fitness. #1 Don’t fall for fad diets In her latest video on the photo-blogging website, Diwekar urges people to not fall for diets that focus on the addition or removal of a single nutrient. She says the diet trends keep changing with time, but

there are certain universal truths about nutrition that never change and that’s what is capable of keeping you healthy in long run. She says, “Earlier people did not add ghee to their diet, now people add ghee to even their coffees. Earlier ghee on roti was not allowed, now roti itself is not allowed.”

The author of bestseller ‘Indian Superfoods’, Diwekar asks fans to “eat traditional foods in time tested combinations like Bajra-Makhan, ghee-roti, and rice-dal.” #2 Don’t make exercise a punishment “Exercise is an integral part of our life. It has to become part of your life and not a punishment for people who are fat,” Diwekar

says. She says not to reduce exercise to a maths equation and keep counting calories and making workouts dependent on that, reminding us that exercise has a bigger purpose than losing weight.

Rujuta Diwekar “One of the find time for fitness due to most undervalued aspects multiple responsibilities of exercise is that it works like children, career, family, as an antidepressant and social pressure, while it is also reduces your cravings,” easier for men to get time she says. #3 Support women in their for exercise and leisure fitness journey activities. “If you are male and you are able to find Women develop health time to exercise and leisure troubles after getting maractivities but your wife ried including hair loss, doesn’t then see what you PCOS, weak knees, back can do to change things in pain, irregular period, to your family so that she too insomnia. Diwekar says a can enjoy life and stay fit.” lot of women are not able to

Doctors warn Covid swab shortage could lead to “devastating” impact Leading British doctors have warned the government that the country’s shortage of Covid swabs could have a “devastating” impact on patient care in hospitals.

With the growing number of Omicron cases, thousands of people are struggling to access lateral flow tests.

Meanwhile, supply issues are expected to last yet another fortnight.

The British Medical Association’s chairman, Dr. Chaand Naipaul warned the current system for ensuring doctors and medics to receive the vital kits was “not working”. He warned thousands of medics were unable to turn up for shifts because they could not get tested "at a time of acute workforce shortages and winter pressures”. He called on ministers to prioritise NHS employees for access to swabs.

Dr. Nagpaul said, “Being unable to get the tests means staff may not be legally

allowed to work and at a time of acute workforce shortages and winter pressures this could be devastating for the care that can be given right across the NHS. For example, if a key worker is isolating and needs to have a negative PCR or lateral flow test on day six and seven, and cannot get access to them, they will not be able to return to work.” He added, “The rapid spread of the Omicron variant has no doubt had a massive impact on demand for lateral flow test kits and PCR tests, however, it is vital that the promised new supply of kits are offered to key workers such as health and social care staff as a priority.”

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Sajid David warned in a letter to MPs that supplies would likely be “constrained” for another fortnight because of the “huge demand” for tests. He hinted that vulnerable patients, such as care home residents and

staff, would be prioritised for deliveries of lateral flow tests.

It is feared that Covid swab shortages will exacer-

27

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kidney include stones, nausea, recurrent vomiting, constipation, excessive thirst, excessive urination, confusion and weight loss.

It’s been also seen the one who takes high doses of the supplement is in risk of cancer, heart problems, and an increased risk of bone fractures.”

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What isn’t talked about more often is the effects of excess vitamin D in your body.

It can cause vitamin toxicity or hypervitaminosis which can lead to kidney stones, nausea, constipation and increase your risk of bone fractures, heart

8 - 14 January 2022

bate the problem and lead to many needlessly having to spend time away from their frontline roles.

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2021 Lessons on relationships Psychologist Mamta Saha For many, the holidays conjure images of family happily gathered around a home-cooked meal or relaxing in front of a warm fire. But for others, the family scenes they envision are of unending conflict and tension. In this article, I am sharing with you a few insightful learnings and reflections that I have gained about relationships in 2021.

1. Your true friends will always talk things through no matter how difficult Everyone needs a support network. Relationships and friendships are the bedrock of our social support systems. Friendships require tending. Your true friends will talk about the things going on in their lives: successes, failures, and everything in between. Even in healthy relationships, you’ll have occasional disagreements and feel frustrated or angry with each other from time to time.

That’s completely normal. It doesn’t mean your relationship is unhealthy. What matters is how you address conflict. If you can talk about your differences politely, honestly, and with respect, you’re on the right track.

2. Nurturing relationships is a two-way street, notice consistency Strong relationships are marked by natural reciprocity. It is not about being around, or available all the time.

Consistency is checking in on each other regularly, being there when you need them, and having a sense of commitment to the process of a relationship.

A lack of consistency in a relationship could lead to emotional disturbance and no human being deserves that. Consistency and stability in a relationship are necessary for it to be healthy. All in all, consistency in a relationship is trust and dependability but it is also an honest desire to have a healthy working relationship.

3. It is not ok for someone to inflict harmful words on you, respect is fundamental in all relationships Respect in a relationship is reflected in how you treat each other daily. It’s not healthy if they constantly criticise or say intentionally hurtful things, especially about personal choices. Criticism that makes you feel ashamed or bad about yourself is generally unproductive.

Respect is essential in all relationships: romantic, platonic, or familial. Mutual respect is essential, as respecting someone who doesn’t respect you will only negatively impact your self-esteem and mental health.

At the end of the day, relationships are an important part of a healthy life. Psychologists have consistently shown that social connections are critical for both mental and physical health. If you’re worried about your relationships or friendships are not as strong as they used to be, trust your instincts, and explore what these feelings mean. If you need more guidance or insight, email me at Mamta@mamtasaha.com and follow me on Instagram (@ Saha_mamta) for daily reflections. Stay in touch and I look forward to hearing from you! Good luck dearest readers.

Women in their 50s prefer new painless smear test: Study Research shows a brand new type of painless smear test has doubled the attendance of older women at appointments. Cervical cancer kills around 850 women a year, half of whom are among those aged 65 and over.

Women are known to avoid smear tests due to pain, embarrassment, and lack of time. However, the tests play an important role in preventing pain.

The study looked specifically at women who had previously not responded to invitations to go for screening and offered them two choices: They could test themselves at home, or have a doctor take a swab for them in a clinic if they feared doing the test wrong-

ly. Given both choices, 31 per cent out of 393 women attended a cervical screening in the following year.

This was more than double the uptake of 14 per cent among 391 older women in the normal screening programme.

Dr Anita Wey Lim, who led the study from King’s College London, said, “In cervical screening, the speculum can be a real source of fear and embar-

rassment for women.

This is a real concern because under-screened women are at the highest risk of getting cervical cancer.

“Self-sampling has been hailed as a gamechanger for cervical screening, but the solution isn’t just about screening at home – having a doctor or nurse take a sample without a speculum gives women even more choice to feel comfortable about getting checked.” Around 25 per cent of UK women aged 50 to 64 are believed to ignore

invitations to smear tests.

That is despite around 600 cases of cervical cancer a year in women aged 65 and over. Cervical screening using a speculum becomes more painful as women get older, and particularly after menopause.

The study, published in the British Journal of General Practice, found almost two-thirds of those who tested themselves at home said they were not confident in the accuracy of their result, although studies show the method is accurate.

To Our Readers

We are publishing these reports in good faith. Before you try any of these remedies, please consult the doctor. We are not responsible for any adverse effects.- Editor

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The man behind ‘The Big Fat Indian Wedding Photography’ Shefali Saxena

care how big you are or which venture capitalists you are. I really don't care about any of that. I Joseph Radhik, Founder, ‘Stories’ has do care about how you are as a person who revolutionised the grammar of wedding you care about in that group of 100 or 50 photography in India and abroad by odd people. Why do you care about them? adding a human touch to post-modern What are your stories with them?” candid photography.

He tries to have at least one What started with a simple Google conversation with the bride and groom to search by Joseph, when he searched understand their expectations, emotions ‘wedding photography’ during his sister’s and also note down the names of people wedding, inspired the IIM grad to quit his who are most likely to shed a tear, burst into Joseph Radhik full-time corporate job and start telling laughter and break the dance floor. stories of the most intimate moments of peoples lives.

As a rule, team Stories is introduced to clients by He uploaded one picture on Flickr which led him to his name, which makes them feel like a part of the first wedding photography assignment. The rest, as they celebration and doesn’t rob them of their identity as a say, is a newfound pop-culture element of photography photographer. When asked if they’re treated, that has swept people off their feet. Wedding accommodated and respected at these high profile weddings, Radhik quite proudly mentioned that no one treats his team badly. People, whose weddings are covered by Radhik’s core team, often bump into them at other weddings and come to hug and say hi, which of course is heartwarming in a task that can turn out to be a thankless profession.

The math Radhik said, “I only shoot 10 weddings a year 10 couples a year actually. Among the five of us we even today we only do 30 weddings, which is very small for a team of this size. We believe that love exists photography is now, the number one priority for and know that everything else is immaterial for us couples and wedding planners. because then you go in there with that belief. We get to “My dad is an engineer. My mother is an HR see the happy moments that you see in all of our specialist. We are farthest away from the creative photos.” industry,” he chuckled. One of his first big clients was In one of the viral videos during actor Varun Telugu megastar Allu Arjun.

Dhawan and Natasha Dalal’s wedding last year, Shivali Today, his team is the army behind the viral and from Stories was being hounded by the paparazzi while gorgeous photographs of celebrity weddings like she was just doing her job. The internet took note of Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Joans, Virat Kohli and that. Taking that in the right spirit, Radhik said, “Shivali Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif and Vicky Kaushal, has been with us for nine years. Noel (another Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal and Rajkummar Rao photographer from the team) has been with us for 10 and Patralekha along with the Ambani weddings to years. I know families that come back and say that if name a few top names. you're not available, it's fine. But if Shivali is available, An average Indian who follows Radhik’s work has a it'll be great. And that to us is a winning formula.” dream to have stunningly memorable wedding When asked how does his team create the iconic photographs. Ceremonies like Haldi, Mehendi, Sangeet shots that later become viral on social media, he said, “If which were more small scale and intimate for many you see one great photo, from the wedding of Katrina households, are now the prime events that the bride and and Vicky, or from Priyanka Chopra Jonas’, you are groom look forward to, primarily because of the seeing you think one of probably 50 great moments we gorgeously colourful photographs that emerge from have made during that wedding. It's just that the couple them. has decided to share that one moment in their mind.

“In the first 10 months, I had to quit my job and take That photo is relevant and one photo encapsulates this up full-time, because I was booked for 14 weddings. everything they want to say about the wedding. I am not Starting 2010 to mid-2011 my life wasn't even in my the controller for that.” control,” Joseph Radhik told Asian Voice.

A person is designated to process the photos right “It was the first time I saw Shankar Ehsaan Loy after the wedding and a first lot is shared with the perform on stage or a Falguni Pathak or Rolls Royce couple so that they can enjoy the spirit of the wedding being gifted,” Radhik told us, as he explained the kind of before the celebration fades. highlights he has seen over the years at weddings.

Team Stories doesn’t work the next day after The method behind the madness finishing one assignment. They sit back and re-energise Indians and punctuality are still not married to each themselves for the next one. That’s how their calendars other. So the engineer’s mind and IIM graduate Joseph are set.

Radhik and his brother Joshua (CEO of Stories) have During a wedding ceremony at the Ambani house, capped their labour of capturing people’s life-changing Nick Jonas spotted Joseph and walked up to him, giving moments at $10,000 per day. Radhik brothers have a him a hug, remembering the beautiful photographs that plan B which is also their Plan A. Stories had put together from his wedding with Their core team of photographers work in shifts at Priyanka Chopra Jonas. Moments like these are truly weddings and functions where a ceremony scheduled heartwarming for Radhik and his team, especially when for noon may get pushed to evening, and a cocktail people remember the art not the artist in this specific party may go on till wee hours of the morning. Since case. families are paranoid about not losing the important Today, Stories has covered weddings across Spanish moments of their lives from being captured on camera, Steps, Lake Como, London, Birmingham, Bali and all of Radhik doesn’t disappoint.

India. Due to the pandemic, some destination weddings ‘Stories’ is led by 5 directors of photography for have been pushed to mid-2022, but they are not weddings. Among them, they have a collective cancelled. experience of 40+ years of documenting weddings. Noel Interestingly, Joseph told the newsweekly, that in David, Shivali Chopra, Anupa Rao, Mohamed Jameer, most cases, for the biggest of weddings, he gets a call and Joseph Radhik together have photographed more and is in the knowhow of the wedding plans than 400 weddings in 29 countries around the world. approximately six months in advance. So much like how “Today, I think that nine out of 10 times the bride brides say that ‘they know’ when they want to marry are the ones who get in touch with us,” Radhik said and someone, Joseph Radhik and his team at Stories, ‘know’ he added, “I don't care what movies you've done. I don't the reality behind rumours.

Emergency funding available for arts, culture and heritage doubled to £60 million Emergency funding from Culture Recovery Fund increased by £30 million to help more organisations through the winter. An additional £30 million in emergency funding has been made available through the Culture Recovery Fund to support museums, cinemas, theatres and heritage organisations with the impact of the Omicron variant this winter.

Announced as part of the Chancellor’s £1 billion support package, this funding recognises how important the festive period is for the arts, heritage and creative sectors and will provide vital emergency grants, doubling the amount that was previously available in the latest round of the Culture Recovery Fund.

Now open for applications, emergency grants will safeguard local museums and heritage, independent cinemas and regional theatres so that they can continue to support jobs, contribute to the economy, and make sure everyone has access to culture and heritage on their doorstep. The government is also extending the application window by a week until January 18, to give more organisations a chance to apply to the fund and help protect even more jobs.

Government funding via Arts Council England will also provide an immediate £1.5 million to support freelancers affected by the pandemic, alongside a further £1.35 million contribution from the theatre sector. This will provide grants of £650,000 each directly to the Theatre Artists Fund, Help Musicians, and £200,000 to a-n, the Artists Information Company, a charity for visual artists which will distribute cash to freelancers over the coming weeks.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said: “Our arts, culture and heritage sectors bring joy and enrichment to our dayto-day lives, and rarely more so than at Christmas. So we understand how devastating the uncertainty caused by Omicron has been. This new funding, alongside the new grants of up to £6,000 we announced earlier this week, will support the sector as we together face this difficult time. We’ve supported the cultural sector throughout the pandemic, and we’ll continue to do so.”

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said, “From pantos to carol singing to festive film releases, Christmas is a very important time of year for so many of our brilliant arts and culture organisations who have now found themselves impacted by the Omicron variant. It is absolutely right that we support them through this challenging time which is why we’ve doubled the emergency funding available from the Culture Recovery Fund and allowed more time for organisations to come forward. The best thing we can all do to help protect ourselves and to get back to the culture we love is to Get Boosted Now.”

Exceptional 18th-century portrait of Prince William at risk of leaving UK A temporary export bar has been placed on a portrait of the future King William IV worth over £300,000.

Valued at £314,880, Portrait of Prince William

by Benjamin West is at risk of leaving the country unless a UK buyer can be found.

This rare portrait of the young Prince William, the third son of George III, who was destined to become the ‘sailor king’ William IV, shows him wearing his midshipman’s uniform on the quarterdeck of Prince George during the American Revolutionary War. American painter, Benjamin West, who created the portrait, was appointed historical painter to George III in 1772, and this is among the most original of his works.

Commissioned by his father, the Portrait of Prince William is one of the very few accurately to depict an eighteenth-century midshipman. It also shows how the royal family used portraiture during the American Revolutionary War as propaganda, aiming to present the Prince as an ordinary midshipman, working his way up the ranks without “parade” or “marks of distinction”. The aim was to reinforce King George’s simple, moralistic public image and show the royal family living a respectable family life.

The decision on the export licence application for the painting will be deferred until 16 March 2022. At the end of the first deferral period owners will have a considerable period of 15 Business Days to consider any offer(s) to purchase the painting at the recommended price of £314,880 (Inclusive of VAT). The second deferral period will commence following the signing of an Option Agreement and will last for three months.

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Alia reveals beau Ranbir’s superpower

A

ctors Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor made an appearance on the finale of Big Boss Telugu’s season 5 finale, which was held earlier this month. A video shared by a fan club revealed a conversation on the stage when Alia spoke about Ranbir’s calm nature.

Alia said, “He is calm in the storm. That is his superpower.” The two were on the show to promote their upcoming film ‘Brahmastra’.

Also present was director SS Rajamouli, who was directed Alia-starrer ‘RRR’. Praising Ranbir’s acting skills, Rajamouli said, “Whatever he wants to convey to the audiences through performance, he doesn’t

Mrunal Thakur tests positive for Covid-19 Kajal Aggarwal expecting first child, confirms husband

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ctress Kajal Aggarwal is expecting her first child with her husband Gautam Kitchlu, who confirmed the news on social media. Taking to his Instagram handle over the weekend, Gautam shared a picture of Kajal with the caption, “Here’s looking at you 2022.” However, what got the fans’ attention was the emoji of a pregnant woman following the caption.

Kajal had earlier posted a picture with Gautam on New Year’s Eve. She had captioned it, “So, I close my eyes to old ends. Open my eyes to new beginnings! Happy new year fam Immensely grateful for 2021 Look forward to entering 22 with wisdom, kindness and love in our hearts.”

Both Gautam and Kajal had recently celebrated their first anniversary and shared pictures of the two of them. Gautam had written in his post, “Happy 1st Anniversary my love. I don’t know how this year has flown by, but it’s been the most amazing new chapter of my life. Life’s easier when your BFF, 4 AM friend, workout buddy and travel partner in ONE. Super excited for what lies ahead.”

try too hard. Probably he works very hard for that performance. But when you see his performance, he delivers the emotions subtly yet effectively at the same time. That’s what I liked about him.”

Alia and Ranbir started dating back in 2017 after they met on the sets of the ‘Brahmastra’. Alia only recently went Instagram-official, while Ranbir had long back revealed he wants to get married soon.

A three-part series in the making for years, ‘Brahmastra’ has been delayed several times, and is now set to release on September 9, 2022.

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ctor Mrunal Thakur has tested positive for Covid-19, a day after the release of her upcoming film ‘Jersey’ was postponed. She made the announcement on her social media on Saturday, adding that she had isolated herself as per protocol. She shared a note on her Instagram story where she informed her followers that she had tested positive.

Mrunal wrote, “I have tested positive for Covid-19. As of today, I have mild symptoms, but I’m feeling ok and have isolated myself. I am following the protocol given by my doctor and health professionals.”

The actor also advised those who have been in contact with her recently to get themselves tested. Thakur said, “If you have been in contact with me, request you to please get tested immediately. Stay safe everyone.”

Mrunal will be seen opposite Shahid Kapoor in the sports drama ‘Jersey’ which was to release on December 31. However, days before the film’s release, the makers decided to postpone it given the rise of Covid cases nationwide as well as restrictions on theatres and night curfews in various parts of the country.

The makers said, “In view of the current circumstances and new Covid-19 guidelines we have decided to postpone the theatrical release of our film Jersey.” Directed by Gowtam Tinnauri, the movie is a remake of Nani-starrer Telugu film of the same name.

A new release date for the film hasn’t been announced yet, however, any rumours that the film would instead get a direct OTT release have been dismissed.

Kangana Ranaut prays for “mercy of beloved enemies” in the new year K

angana Ranaut visited Tirupati Balaji and another temple in its vicinity to seek blessings of God in the New Year.

The actor shared pictures of herself worshipping at the temples, along with a note detailing what she prayed for.

She shared a picture of herself in a red saree and heavy gold jewellery and wrote on Instagram, “Happy New year to everyone … Starting this year with blessings from Tirupati Bali … Hope this one is a memorable one.”

She also shared a different set of pictures in a beige saree, as she worshipped at another temple and also fed a cow.

Kangana Ranaut wrote, “There is only one Rahu Ketu temple in the world…. It’s very close to Tirupati Bali ….performed some rituals there …. Out of five elemental Lingas, Vayo (air element) Linda is also situated here …. Quite a remarkable place …. I went there to have the mercy of my beloved enemies, in this year I want less Police complaints / FIR’s and more love letters…. Jai Rahu Ketu ji ki.”

On the work front, Kangana is currently shooting for her next production venture ‘Tiku Weds Sheru’. The movie also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Avneet Kaur. She also has ‘Tejas’ and ‘Dhaakad’.

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Ranveer Singh praises wife Deepika, calls himself “so lucky” O

ne of the leading actors in the Indian film industry, Ranveer Singh is known for much more than his acting prowess. His quirky fashion and infectious energy make him a powerhouse. In a recent interview, after a brisk discussion about the success of his recent movie ’83’, in which, he played the role of Kapil Dev, the conversation steered towards his wife, actor Deepika Padukone.

The ace actress has not only co-produced the recent hit but also played Romi Dev, Kapil Dev’s wife. Effusive in his praise, Ranveer explained how she “balances his life and grounds him.” He also opened up about how he feels is his duty to entertain people because otherwise “life is just an agonizing journey.”

Citing a recent example, he said, “We were at the premiere of ’83’ and we had an after-party where my beautiful wife was there and I was on entertainer duty.

I was making people once and ensuring everybody is having a good time. I kept feeling like I am still an entertainer and I am still on duty. And then I went back to my wife who was relaxing with a bunch of friends and she was like, ‘Come, come, have you finished your duty? Now, come and sit with me. Is everybody happy now?’”

He went on to say that she told him it's not his “responsibility to entertain people.” Calling Deepika his “toughest critic”, Ranveer said, “It is my background and the journey that I have been on for the past decade that helps me stay grounded. I am very fortunate to have Deepika as my life partner because she comes from a very simple background. She is very protective about that simplicity and she infects me with that as well. She is a very simple and grounded girl.

Her family is too, so that helps as well. And then me and my family, we never lose sight of the times when things were different.”

Bollywood celebs who welcomed 2022 with style and glamour

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uch like a lot of us, Bollywood too rang in the new year with much glamour and pomp. With Covid restrictions dampening the holiday spirits, most of them chose to celebrate NYE with just close friends and family.

Ranveer Singh - Deepika Padukone The reigning couple of B-Town, DeepVeer is always on the lookout to paint the town red. The two spent New Year’s eve with a private dinner and posted proof on Instagram.

Priyanka Chopra-Nick Jonas

Pri and singer husband Nick Jonas’ new year celebration was an intimate affair and they sealed 2021 with a romantic kiss. Pri posted a picture of the two locking lips, with a caption that read, “My forever New Years kiss.”

Virat Kohli-Anushka Sharma The star couple welcomed 2022 in South Africa, where the Indian cricket team is playing against the host nation in the test series.

Sharing a glimpse of their celebration, Anushka wrote, “The year that got us the greatest happiness is I’ve known. So, deepest gratitude 2021, thank you!”

Saif Ali Khan Kareena Kapoor Khan The royal couple had a small, cozy family dinner.

Saif’s brother-in-law and actor Kunal Kemmu shared a picture of himself along with his wife Soha Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, and other members of the family having a quality time.

Sonam Kapoor - Anand Ahuja Bollywood fashionista Sonam Kapoor celebrated new year with husband Anand Ahuja, and shared pictures of their celebration. She wrote, “Happy new year to the love of my life. He is not just #everydayphenomenal, he is everyyearphenomenal and the person I want to spend every new year with. Wishing all of you good health, happiness and fulfilment in 2022.”

I don’t have a fake attitude: Nawazuddin Siddiqui N

awazuddin Siddiqui is an integral part of Bollywood. A revered actor who has proved his mettle, he is, however, rarely seen socializing or attending parties thrown by the who’s who of tinsel town. In a recent interview, the ‘Sacred Games’ actor said he tries to avoid such events because he sees through the “fakeness”.

A regular feature in hits these days, Nawaz prefers to maintain a low profile. “The kind of films I do, I am the same in real life too. My characters have been very realistic. They say that the more local a person is, the more global he is. If you stick to your roots, then every person in the world will like you.” Nawaz also revealed that he abhors fake attitude, which is why he keeps away from Bollywood parties.

“Neither do I work in fake films nor do I have a fake attitude.

The reason for being aloof is that I don’t like the stardom and glamour world. I like to live more among ordinary people than attending events or parties in the film industry. I see a lot of fairness there, which I don’t like.”

On the work front, Nawaz will be seen in five films, including ‘Jogira Sara Ra Ra’, ‘Tiku Weds Sheru’, ‘Adhbut’, ‘Sangeen’, and ‘Heropanti 2’.

Mohit Raina ties the knot in a gorgeous, intimate ceremony A

ctor Mohit Raina left his fans in shock with the announcement of his wedding ceremony.

The actor took to Instagram on New Year's day to announce that he tied the knot in a private affair with only close friends and family in attendance. Sharing pictures, he wrote, “Love recognizes no barriers, it jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination, full of hope. With that hope and the blessings of our parents, we are no longer two but one. Need all your love and blessing in this new journey.”

He signed off the caption as “Mohit and Aditi”. It appears like the actor had a traditional Hindu wedding. The couple looked beautiful; the bride in a red-gold lehenga, and the groom in an off-white sherwani.

His wedding post came just hours after he wished his fans on New Year. He shared a cou-

ple of photos and spoke about how his 2021 went by.

He wrote, “Dear 2021, You were full of surprises filled with losses and gains.

You made me realise the value of life . Having faced severe covid I would request everyone to not be complacent. You don’t know the view from the other side. I am grateful for all the love that came my way during that time, that kept me pushing.

Professionally I thank everyone who loved Mumbai diaries and shiddat. I will keep entertaining you till I can. Stay safe n stay indoors and spread love.

Love is what will keep us alive. I wish you all a very happy new year. Keep it Real keep it simple.”

On the work front, the actor was last seen in ‘Shiddat’ in which he shared the screen space with Sunny Kaushal, Radhika Madan and Diana Penty.

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Shruti Haasan responds to question asking number of break-ups A

ctor Shruti Haasan has responded to an Instagram user asking her about the number of break-ups she has been through. Answering questions in an ‘Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on the social media platform, Shruti was asked “How many break-ups you have?” To which she responded, “How many girlfriends have you had? I am guessing zero or maybe half.”

Currently, in a relationship with Shantanu Hazarika, Shruti spoke about her love life last month while talking to Mandira Bedi on her talk show ‘The Love Laugh Live Show’.

When asked if she wanted to hide her relationship with Shantanu, Shruti had said, “I hid a lot in the past. I have been

very particular. I have been like, ‘Oh my God, I am totally single’ for the longest time. Because people were like ‘you have to appear that way, you have to appear desirable, available.’”

She added, “And one day I was like, ‘For whom? For what?’

I also felt like it was disrespectful to my partner-- to hide it. It may or may not work out, we don't know but I think it's important to respect your environment and the people in it.”

Shruti was in a relationship with Michael Corsale earlier but parted ways in 2019. On the work front, the actress was last seen in the Tamil movie ‘Laabam’.

Rashmika Mandanna completes five years in the film industry

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ctor Rashmka Mandanna has completed five years in the Kannada film industry. Last week, she opened a note listing all the things she has realised while working as an actor.

Expressing her excitement on completing the milestone, she wrote, “It’s been 5 years of me in the film industry.. like woahhhh how did that happen..guys..couple of things I’ve learnt all these years-1time is flying by too fast make memories each day..2- how to be truly genuinely happy from the bottom of the heart .. I am happy.. 3- I’ve realised nothing in life is easy .. got to always always keep fighting for what you want.. be alert be on your toes be grounded be grateful but always keep fighting .”

She said she also learnt that one should be open to learning new things in life, and believes patience is one of the important traits.

Rashmika added, “4- but also be patient.. wait be patient.. things will take its place.. it’s might

be hard and taxing but be patient and calm also. 5other people always have something to teach you.. so always be open to learn.. you should be able to unlearn and learn many things..”

In her note, Rashmika further wrote, “6- don’t carry emotional baggages physical baggages mental baggages.. Let go! Learn to let go. 7- give time for things in life you want to work out.. example if it’s career – give time to that..if it’s lovegive time to that..if it’s family- give time to that..if it’s you- give time to yourself..your time is yours.. so you choose but remember time and flights will never wait for you. 8- eats cleaner, sleep better, workout harder, smile bigger, love more openly. ” On the work front, Rashmika made her debut in the Tamil film industry this year, with ‘Sulthan’. Her films ‘Pogaru’ and ‘Pushpa: The Rise’ were also released this year.

‘RRR’ release delayed yet again

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S Rajamouli’s magnum opus ‘RRR’ has once again been delayed. Slated for a January release, with promotions in full swing, makers of the movie said they were “left with no choice” after several states imposed new restrictions to tackle the rising number of Covid cases. The announcement came days after Shahid Kapoor’s ‘Jersey’ was postponed following a ‘Yellow Alert’ in Delhi.

A statement released by makers of ‘RRR’ said, “Inspire of our relentless efforts, some situations are beyond our control. As many Indian states are closing

theatres, we are left with no choice but to ask you to hold on to your excitement. We promised to bring back The Glory of Indian Cinema, and at the right time, WE WILL.” The star-studded movie features Ram Charan and Jr NTR as freedom fighters Alluri Sitaraman Raju and Komaram Bheem, respectively. It also features Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn in cameos.

Riding on a massive budget of 400 Cr, ‘RRR’ was expected to release in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada.

Tovino Thomas praises Salman Khan, Calls him “super sweet”

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alayalam star Tovino Thomas opened up about meeting actor Salman Khan last month, adding that the superstar was “super sweet”.

Tovino said that despite his stardom and popularity, Salman was “very humble”.

Speaking in an interview, Tovino revealed that he was inspired to start working out when he watched shirtless Salman dancing in ‘O O Jaane Jaana’ and wanted a body like his. He said, “I had this thought of working out when I was in school, seeing this song O O Jaane Jaana, seeing him shirtless with a guitar and blue jeans.

‘This guy looks good, I should also work out and make a body like him.’

But then I was in school. Once I completed my 10th standard, I went and joined the gym. Years later, the

one who inspired me to work out, I met him at his office.”

Thomas said, “He is very senior, he is a huge star but he was very humble, he was super sweet.” When Salman found out Tovino was using the gym at his hotel, he asked him to use the gym downstairs.

“I got a chance to speak with him for 10 minutes. Most of the time, we get to know about huge stars only from the media. From the media, I got a different picture of Mr. Salman Khan but now, I have got a very different picture of him. The way he behaved with me, he was so humble, regardless of him being a superstar. That’s something I am inspired by - being humble, no matter how much growth, stardom or popularity you achieve,” Tovino said.

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India eyeing the second test after first historic win at Centurion India became the first Asian team to win a Test match at Centurion after a crushing 113run victory over South Africa in the first test match.

The only other teams to beat South Africa in Centurion are England (2000) and Australia (2014).

In the memorable Indian win, there has been special praise for the captain Virat Kohli. The great cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is especially all praise for the captain.

India's fiery pace unit, including the world-class Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, picked up 18 wickets to make the

country the first Asian team to win a Test match at the SuperSport Park.

President of the Board of Cricket Control of India, Sourav Ganguly has said that it was

a Great victory for Team India and he was not surprised by the result at all. He has said that India will be a hard team to beat in this series.

The Indian Cricket Team is all charged up to win the second test match and lift the trophy.

The five-day match started on January 3 at Johannesburg for the Three Test Freedom Trophy Series in South Africa.

Unfortunately for India the star player and captain, Virat Kohli, has been ruled out of the second test because of a spack on his upper back. Stand-in skipper K. L. Rahul would be leading India in his absence.

Christiana Ronaldo's statue in Goa sparks debates Unveiled in Goa, the statue of the Portuguese soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo that was commissioned to inspire young people's love of football, according to a state minister, is getting people talking.

Goa on India's western coast is the country's smallest state and was indelibly shaped by 450 years of Portuguese rule.

However, the state was freed from that rule in 1961.

While a teacher tweeted "Erecting a statue of a Portuguese hero is a bit insensitive," another user questioned why Indian football stars Sunil Chhetri and

Bhaichung Bhutia were not commemorated instead.

However, there are also many others who have praised the decision.

India's national team was invited by FIFA to play in the 1950 World Cup but in the end failed to make it to Brazil.

Ronaldo has scored 115 international goals, putting him six clear of Iran's Ali Daei.

Talking about Indian football players, Former national team captain Bhutia became the first Indian player to sign a professional contract in Europe upon signing for English club Bury in 1999. Chhetri, still

playing in the Indian Super League at the age of 37, trails only Ronaldo in the all-time

men's leading international scoring charts among active players, with 80 goals.

in brief MANCHESTER CITY'S CANCELO ASSAULTED

BY BURGLAR AT HOME João Cancelo, 27, was assaulted during a burglary at his family home which left the Portuguese international with visible facial injuries. Cancelo was signed by City from Juventus for $71 million in 2019 and has since become an integral member of Pep Guardiola's team. In a picture posted by him on his Instagram account he is seen having a cut above and bruising around his right eye.

Manchester City said they were "shocked and appalled" to learn of Thursday's incident. After the burglar managed to take all jewellery and leave him with his face in this state, Cancelo said "The most important thing for me is my family and luckily they are all OK".

CONFIDENTIAL REPORT ON DRUG USAGE LEAKED FROM CRICKET AUSTRALIA A confidential report on alleged drug use by a well-known player was leaked to the media.

Nick Hockley, Chief Executive, Cricket Australia said they have got the police involved after the report was leaked.

The report is about a recording of a phone call between, who described herself as a high-class escort and Sean Carroll, former integrity chief of Cricket Australia. In the call she alleges that a player was using cocaine and dancing naked on the balcony with numerous women.

Hockley, however, has dubbed the allegations surrounding the former player as unsubstantiated and historical. The leak comes just over a month after Tim Paine resigned after it came to light that he was investigated for a sexting incident with a colleague in 2017.

China bans football players Djokovic withdraws from GUJARAT’S PRIYANK from getting tattoos Australia's ATP Cup PANCHAL FINALLY MAKES A growing number of high-profile Chinese players have been sporting tattoos. This also includes international defender Zhang Linpeng, who has previously been told to cover up the tattoo while appearing for both the national team and club side Guangzhou FC. The statement of General Administration of Sport of China (GAS) instructed that the national team and the U23 national team athletes are strictly prohibited from having new tattoos, and those who already have tattoos are advised to remove them themselves. It also said that for teams at Under 20 level and below the recruitment of players with

Zhang Linpeng

tattoos was "strictly prohibited".

China's national football team have failed to qualify for the World Cup finals since making their debut appearance in 2002 and look set to miss out on Qatar 2022.

The Chinese authorities ask footballers to set a "good example for society" by not getting tattoos. Those who have already inked them should remove or cover them up.

The ATP Cup begins on January 1 in Sydney. The Australian Open men’s entry list announced in early December had the 34-year-old Djokovic at No. 1 in what was seen as a further indication that he’ll be playing at Melbourne Park beginning Jan. 17 despite Australia’s tight regulations.

However, organisers have notified that Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the ATP Cup in Australia ahead of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.

No reason was given but the top-ranked Serb has declined to comment on his

IT TO TEAM INDIA

vaccination status in recent months and Australia’s strict regulations require all players, officials and fans to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Dusan Lajovic will replace Djokovic for Serbia. Fifthranked Andrey Rublev of Russia also pulled out, as did teammates Aslan Karatsev and Evgeny Donskoy.

Cricketer Harbhajan blames BCCI officials for his ouster For a long period of time Indian Cricketer Harbhajan Singh reigned supreme as India’s premier spinner before eventually falling out. Harbhajan recently announced his retirement in December at the age of 41 years.

However, the legendary spinner has now dropped a bombshell by opening up about the treatment he received from some BCCI officials. He claimed that these officials were responsible for his ouster from the

national team.

He also pointed out the unmatched support Dhoni enjoyed at the behest of BCCI, saying Dhoni might have supported the decision to oust him. Harbhajan also expressed his desire for a biopic to be made on his life in the form of a movie or a web series, so that people can know his part of the story. However, he said he cannot say who would be the villain in the biopic. Actually, he said there would be many.

Harbhajan Singh

Skipper of the Gujarat Cricket team Priyank Panchal who had also been leading India A team, finally gets selected for the Indian National Cricket Team.

Priyank was not part of the playing team for the first test match of India with South Africa, however, Priyank says I am satisfied with the year 2021 went for him. He is also very optimistically looking forward to the year 2022.

According to Priyank 2021 was about facing unprecedented challenges, not just as a cricketer but also as a human being. He says he has learnt to tackle situations instead of taking them for granted, to never give up hope and that your dreams will eventually come true if you are sincere enough.

SA WICKET-KEEPER RETIRES TO SPEND TIME WITH FAMILY The SA wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock has announced a sudden retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect. de Kock was due to miss the second and third Tests against India on paternity leave but has decided to step away from the longest format entirely, to spend more time with his growing family. He remains available to play white-ball cricket for South Africa. de Kock, 29, began 2021 as South Africa's temporary Test captain and ended it by retiring from the format. He led South Africa in four Tests, against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, with a 50% win record.

South Africa beat Sri Lanka 2-0 at home but lost in Pakistan by the same margin.

He had expressed concerns with the restrictions of bubble life in the Covid-19 pandemic and was rested from South Africa's ODIs in Sri Lanka and against Netherlands.