AV 08th October 2022

D I S A B L I N G P E O P L E W I T H R I S I N G C O S T S

Shefali Saxena

The cost of living crisis is two

i m e s h a r d e r f o r d i s a b l e d

o u s e h o

PM

to

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UK PM Liz Truss

V I JAY K U M A R H I NGU

Vijay was born and brought up in India, where his family and friends still live He has always worked hard to build a better future for his family He married Vanitabai Velgi in 2015 and they have two beauti ful children

In 2018 he decided to move to UK and fortunate for Vijay, his wife’s family were already settled in Leicester, so it was not completely strange and lonely when they moved here At f irst, he found it diff icult adjusting to the British way of life and the language barrier, but with the support of his wife and children, he felt he could accomplish anything he set his mind to It was a diff icult decision for him to take but one he does not regret as in the short space of 4 years of being in Leicester, Vijay has become the proud owner of “Vitaz Jewellery” and Director of “The Jungle Club”

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

I was born and brought up in Diu city, where I lived my childhood and near my family My f irst love and home

However since 2018, I realised what a home was When I built it from scratch Now Leicester is my home where I have learnt the value of what a home is and how hard it has been to make it

2) What are your proudest achievements?

My proudest moment in my life has been providing a safe and comfortable life for my children It has been a hard journey and along the way I have become a solid busi nessman

3) What inspires you?

My children are my inspiration they have adapted to this new life and always give me the strength and encouragement I need, alongside my wife

4) What has been biggest obstacle in your career?

The biggest obstacle I have found in my career has been the language barrier As I am fluent in Gujarti my English is broken and at times I f ind my conf idence in understanding becomes an obstacle Luckily I have means to learn English around me and being in Leicester the Gujarti community is large and this has been a blessing

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

The biggest influence in my life as well as my children and wife has been my parents They worked hard everyday to provide me and my siblings the best life They always made sure we had food on the table even if they couldn’t eat I look at my father and I want to be him but better

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

Best aspect about my current role is I am constantly learning I am learning the life and culture of being in Leicester and UK Along the journey I am meeting so many new people who have guided me and taught

me new skills Everyday is something differ ent and it has broadened my understanding and knowledge of the world and also being a businessman

7) And the worst?

Worst part in my role this I have yet to f ind ! Everyday is a learning journey and with any hard moments there are learning moments

8) What are your long term goals?

My long term goals are to develop as a businessman and bring The Jungle Club to its best potential To allow the community to have not only a place to socialise but a place of comfort and support for people who like me are new to the area, culture and even lan guage

I wanted to develop the center to becom ing a community hub

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

If I was Prime Minister, I would ensure language speaking hubs were set up around the country to help people with learning and understanding English This would be free and accessible to anyone Just like the NHS is I would make the criteria for benef its more fair to ensure those who genuinely need help get it This itself is a mammoth task! I would help work towards reducing NHS wait time and ensure that NHS staff and those frontline works have a fairer pay They work the hours and reap no income rewards

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

Mahatma Gandhi is my Ideal hero He contributed a lot to the society His thoughts are relevant to the whole world not just to the India He was the man of ethics Gandhi fought without f ists but with courage, heart, empathy, and, most importantly, with love love for self, love for others, and love for his country He always take stand for truth I know I'm not that perfect but I'm trying to follow Gandhi's ethics as much as possible

New Met Police commissioner vows to be ‘ruthless’

T h e new Met ro p ol it an Pol ice Commissioner h as p l edg ed th at rac ist s and misogynists will be rooted o u t r ut h less ly fr om t h e force's ranks

Sir Mark Rowley did not make a comment on if Britain's largest force was institutionally racist but admitted that it has a “real problem with race ”

Speaking to journalists at New Scotland Yard, he said he was “not interested in using labels that have been kicked around by dif ferent people to mean dif ferent things”

“Racism is a systemic issue that we have been too weak in tackling, it’s got too much of a hold in cor ners of the organisation,” Sir Mark added “I’m going to be ruthless about root ing out racism and the other bad behaviours, I’m going to confront the sys temic issues that have allowed it to prosper in a way it shouldn’t have done ”

He was speaking days after an unarmed Black man, Chris Kaba was shot dead earlier this month by a Metropolitan Police Off icer following a car chase

Home secretary says police force ‘playing identity politics’

The home secretary Suella Br aver man ha s a cc us ed a police force of “playing iden tity politic s and deny ing biology” after it said “hateful comments” about a trans gender criminal would not be tolerated

After being convicted of 30 indecent assaults, Sally Ann Dixon, of Swanmore Avenue, Havant, Hampshire, was jailed for 20 years at Lewes Crown Court on 8 September, Sussex Police said

The crime against f ive girls and two boys took place between 1989 to 1996, before Dixon who was known as John Stephen Dixon transitioned to female in 2004, the force

said

Some people took to Twitter objecting the force referring to Dixon in its press release as a convicted woman as her crimes took place before she transi tioned

Sussex Police tweeted that it does not “tolerate any hateful comments towards their gender identity regard less of crimes committed”

“This is irrelevant to the crime that has been com mitted and investigated,” it

added

The force responded to one Twitter user who said she was exercising her gen der critical views, the for mer directed her to its web site to learn what is regarded as hate, adding: “If you have gender critical views you wish to express this can be done on other platforms or your own page, not targeted at an individual ”

In response, Ms Braverman tweeted: “Sussex police have done well to put a dangerous criminal behind bars

“But they’ve got it wrong by playing identity politics and denying biology Focus on catching criminals, not of policing pronouns "

Royal Mail workers to stage 19 further strikes

In a long running dispute over pay and conditions, Royal Mail workers have called for a further 19 days of strike action in the run up to Christmas

In response to Royal Mail's ‘threat to push ahead with vicious cuts to workers terms and condi tions and completely side line the union’, members

of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) announced the move

The nationwide action in October and November will have a ‘dramatic’ impact on peak mail peri ods including Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the Christmas build up, unless an agreement is reached

CWU general secretary Dave Ward stressed that the announcement match es ‘the level of anger ’ mem bers feel at the way Royal Mail has treated them

'These are the same people that have kept the countr y connected and returned Royal Mail Group to record prof it,’ he said

Starmer promises 1. 5 million more households

Sir Keir Starmer has pledged that he will make owning a home a reality for another 1 5 million households, branding Labour “the party of home ownership in Britain today”

In his speech to the Labour party conference, the Labour leader said he wanted to see 70% of households own their own homes and appeared to back more house building

After years of rising home ownership, he warned that “under the Tories, the dream of owning your own

home is slipping away for too many ”

Sir Keir said: “My mes sage is this: if you ’ re grafting every hour to buy your own home, Labour is on your side Labour is the party of home ownership in Britain today ”

Although he did not detail specif ic policies, he suggested Labour would look to reform the planning sys tem to increase housebuild ing, saying: “If you keep inflating demand without increasing supply, house prices will only rise ”

He said: “We will set a new target 70% home own ership and we will meet it with a new set of political choices, a Labour set of polit ical choices

“No more buy to let landlords or second home owners getting in f irst We will back working people’s aspiration, help f irst time buyers onto the ladder with a new mortgage guarantee scheme, reform planning so speculators can’t stop com munities getting shovels in the ground ”

Met to crackdown on wanted criminals

I n t he nex t 100 days, as part of new measures to boost c on f iden ce i n Bri tai n's l arges t poli ce force, hun dreds o f wa nted criminals including sex offenders, bur gla rs and ro bber s will be put behind the bars

As a result of the metropolitan Police crackdown, courts in London have been warned to expect a surge in cases

It is one of f ive areas that the force will focus on along with neighbourhood polic ing, drug gangs operating within London, fraud, and violent offenders

Commander Alexis Boon

said there is a group of peo ple who commit the most crime who will be targeted

He said: “We’re focusing particularly on offenders who commit violence against women and girls

“So those that are want ed for rape, those that want ed for breach of orders,

those that are out there for stalking, sex offenders

“And then f inally, in that wanted cohort of offenders we ’ re going to go after the burglars, the robbers, the peo ple with weapons You will see hun dreds of arrests over this 100 days of wanted subjects, people that we ’ re going to bring to justice ”

Now onwards, a police off icer will attend ever y reported burglary in London pledged Sir Mark He is also aiming to bring down the annual number of homicides below 100

with Keith Vaz

United and cannot be divided forever

Britons have yet again proved that the spirit of unity cannot be tampered with may how much ever one tries to stir trouble The UK’s Asian community, despite differences in faiths and nation alities, are bound by the history of Commonwealth and fate and life of immigrants trying to make an honest living in the UK

In a recent play on the Partition of India, based on a book by Kavita Puri, one could see the pain that both side of the nations suffered A man who lived in Punjab, India suffered the same fate as the man in Lahore The Sindhis left everything in the newly formed Pakistan, travelled all the way to Delhi where many found jobs, shelter, love and children But it is also a fact that those refugee camps existed even in 1997, 50 years after India was partitioned The British divided India listening to the voices of leaders who were drunk with political ambitions Mahatma Gandhi whose birth anniversary was celebrated recently (see p16) begged for an undivided India, but the rest is history

The same people who struggled through poverty moved to Britain to build up the bankrupt nation from rock bottom Their children co exist today as businesses, professionals,

artists and even politicians

The last 10 days Britain has celebrated Navratri with much pomp and gaiety London itself has witnessed more than 30 Durga pujas The High Commissioner of India, the Bangladeshi High Commissioner have made trips to UK’s festivities

Leicestershire police told local newspapers that officers have witnessed calm and peace, without any disorder through out the festivals

Though 55 arrests have been made so far, the city’s peace and unity have been restored without further provocation

Hundreds and thousands of men and women have dressed in traditional and colourful clothes, worshipped Goddess Durga, praying for strength and success as they danced in circles around the deity Temples have made special offerings to Gods and Goddesses whereas UK’s Bengali and other Hindu communities have absolutely been thrilled to deck up and go from one Durga puja to another, eating prashad (bhog), offering pushpanjali and enjoying the cultural activities and the excitement of wearing new clothes to mark the occasion (see p16)

India, a superpower that cannot be ignored anymore

With India’s Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar visiting the UK, Britain is getting ready for completing last leg of FTA Mr Kumar chaired the India UK Defence Consultative Group meeting in London with his counterpart Mr David Williams, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Defence They reviewed the progress of various service level bilateral groups and other defence cooperation mechanism

Rumours suggest India’s Prime Minister and the much beloved ‘Modibhai’ of UK’s Indian community, may be visiting the UK around Diwali (see p1), or just before, to give a finishing touch to the FTA negotiations that started since the time of Boris Johnson’s Prime Ministerial tenure At that point Foreign Secretary Liz Truss made a few visits to India to tie up the loose ends and initiate successful FTA negotiations Today Ms Truss is the Prime Minister of the UK, though more than 400,000 signatures have been collected to oust her as the PM after the recent tax cut debacle by her Cabinet that led to pound plummeting and Bank of England’s emergency act of rescue

FTA is not the only deal where PM Modi is needed On Tuesday, as we went to press, Reuters reported that Mr Modi has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that his country is ready to contribute to peace efforts in the ongoing conflict with Russia that has raged for seven months

The Indian prime minister's office said in a statement after a telephone conversation between Modi and Zelenskiy "He expressed his firm conviction that there can be no military solution to the conflict and conveyed India's readiness to con tribute to any peace efforts Prime Minister emphasised the importance India attaches to the safety and security of nuclear installations, including in Ukraine ”

However, India has been criticised for its soft approach towards Russia and special relationship with President Vladimir Putin While in a confrontation with the West over

the war on Ukraine, Mr Putin has repeatedly said that Russia is not alone because it can look east for help to major Asian powers such as China and India

On Friday, China and India continued to abstain from vot ing on a UN resolution condemning Russia for claiming it had occupied parts of Ukraine Mr Putin earlier on Friday signed decrees claiming 4 regions in Ukraine were now a part of Russia, a move that was widely banned by the West as an ille gal invasion

The UN's 15 member Security Council held a vote on a res olution declaring Mr Putin's actions were illegal as well as invalid and recognising the regions were still part of Ukraine, the Business Insider reported

The resolution reportedly passed in a 10 1 vote, with Russia being the sole veto vote China, India, Brazil, and Gabon abstained Though India has again been criticised for its absence, it remains to be seen if nations could ‘ignore’ India as the catalyst in tipping the world power

Mr Putin who was in India recently, was told directly by the Indian Prime Minister “ now is not the era of war ” despite India’s absence towards making her stand official against Russia’s attitude towards Ukraine In reply to Mr Modi, Mr Putin had assured him that he understood the Indian leader had concerns about Ukraine, but Moscow was doing “ every thing it could to end the conflict”

The seeds of India’s recent success as a superpower may have been sowed before the BJP came to rule, but interestingly there’s no denial that India’s strategical influence has come to realisation under the current leadership of Narendra Modi

From US to UK to Japan to Australia to most major European nations, everybody is trying to forge a better associ ation now with India not only for its political power, but also for its geographical advantage as well strategical role the coun try plays in keeping the region’s peaceful status quo

Deserve to be heard on World Mental Health Day

World Mental Health Day is on Monday 10 of October Each year, a theme is reportedly decided on to encourage a positive direction and raise awareness for mental health issues and this year the theme is to “make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority”

With the cost of living and the energy crisis affecting Brits across the country, credit management company Lowell has conducted research into the different difficulties faced because of finances

The research revealed that over one in five (22%) Brits said that their financial difficulties have had a direct impact on their mental health, and that they’ve struggled with stress, anxiety or depression due to money worries (see p1 for a relat ed story)

Over the past 90 days, in the UK search terms for ‘I can’t afford my bills’ (+400%) and ‘I am worried about money all the time’ (+300%) have increased a shocking amount These statis tics show that finances are having a huge impact on mental health across the country

Lowell’s study revealed that over a quarter (27%) of Brits struggle to save money due to their financial situation Over one in five Brits said that their financial difficulties have had a direct impact on their mental health, and that they’ve strug gled with stress, anxiety, or depression due to money worries This is extremely concerning in today’s climate, especially with the cost of living crisis

The research also revealed that Brits are losing sleep due to finance related stress (21%) and almost one in five (18%) have struggled to pay their bills

Women’s Aid has also called on government to ensure train ing and sustainable funding for specialist mental health support for survivors of abuse on this World Mental Health Day Mental health services are not fit for purpose to support domestic abuse survivors, according to a report published recently as part of Women’s Aid’s national campaign Deserve to Be Heard call

ing on the government to recognise domestic abuse as a funda mental cause of women ’ s mental ill health and ensure that spe cialist services are sufficiently resourced to provide the mental health support that women need to heal (see p14)

Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women’s Aid said that women and particularly those marginalised due to their race, sexuality, disability and other factors face huge barriers to accessing mental health support They are met with long wait ing times, victim blaming responses and mental health ser vices that repeatedly re traumatise them

In England, 60 70% of women accessing mental health services have experienced domestic abuse, yet healthcare pro fessionals too often lack the expertise needed to effectively support them Time and again, health professionals will ask ‘what’s wrong with you?’, rather than ‘what happened to you?’ Survivors are routinely offered short term cognitive behavioural therapy or anti depressants, rather than long term therapeutic support or a referral to a well resourced spe cialist domestic abuse service

It is crucial that the government listens to the voices of survivors and follows the recommendations laid out in the report It’s the only way to ensure that all women can access the mental health support they need to heal

The charity also shared the research with decision makers at the Conservative Party Conference urging the govern ment to commit to ensuring mandatory specialist domestic abuse training for all healthcare professionals, and sustainable multi year funding for domestic abuse services to deliver holistic mental health and wellbeing support, as part of the upcoming ten year Mental Health Plan

A survivor of domestic abuse, who participated in the research, said, the most important thing is to be heard and for those professionals to really understand the dynamics and impact domestic abuse has on survivors not just whilst in the relationship but for a lifetime

Political Sketchbook

Alpesh

Why India can’t be dragged into the gutter by neighbours

W he t he r t he n e ig hb o ur s ar e i n B i r mi n gh a m, Leicest er or India, try as they might, they cannot dr ag India into t he gutter G andhiji ensur es it

As President of the India League (www theindi aleague org) est 1928, it is my duty and privilege to speak at the Gandhiji memorial statue at the invita tion of the High Commission of India These were my remarks:

As my people say, Jai Shree Ram Also Salam Alaikum, Deputy Mayor, and Sat Sri Akal

"Generations to come will scarcely believe that one such as this of flesh and blood ever walked this earth " Those were the words of Albert Einstein

Consider then that the greatest mind in Western civilization held in awe and wonderment the great est that my civilization had ever produced, in abso lute awe and wonderment

And let us not also forget, whilst we commemo rate Gandhiji and nonviolence, it was thanks to him that British Indian soldiers were released to fight in the Second World War for British independence

Long before India got her independence, Indian soldiers fought for British independence against German dominance He had that vision as well

At this most dangerous time in the world, we have a man whose values transcended countries, reli gions At his funeral, it was said that whilst he pos sessed no great title, he was not a king, he was not an emperor He did not have any scientific achievement to his name, could not play a musical instrument, had created no great intellectual property, died in poverty Yet the entire world, from the leader of the USSR to the President of the United States, Kings, Queens, paid tribute to this little brown man in a loin cloth

Imagine those values transcending every religion, every country, and how we need that now

That is why we're here to ensure that from the face of this earth, those values shall never be forgot ten That Einstein's challenge will indeed be met That the world will not be allowed to forget that the principles of nonviolence, the ability to enjoin differ ent communities, that which has become the miracle of India, a country where the head of government can be from a minority faith, which represents just 2% of the population, which can have time and again, heads of state who again come from minority faith

The West will proclaim its credentials for equali ty, but it is India, which delivers time and time again, the miracle of the country It remains probably the last best hope for humanity because it proves through nonviolence you can integrate religions, nationalities, beliefs under one roof

We will not ever allow to forget the values that Mahatma Gandhi embodies, because if they go from this earth, then generations to come will look back in absolute astonishment that those with the most to lose, did the least to protect those values

In the long journey that man has had from the swamp to the stars, never have we been more in dan ger from the scourge of violence that could annihi late our entire civilization, and it will fall from this man of Indian civilization and the values that is bestowed upon all of us to ensure that does not hap pen

People of Indian heritage have the most to lose It is our values They are global values, and we must ensure they are never, ever forgotten from this earth Thank you all Jai Hind

208,

Business Centre,

We

Henry

Monarch to miss Cop27 event

A t the request of L iz T ru s s, K i ng C harles III aban d o ned p l an s t o g iv e a speech at the Cop27 climate ch ange summit, it h as been report ed

The King, who has campaigned on environmental issues for more than 50 years, was scheduled to speak at the meeting in Egypt in November

The Telegraph has con firmed that he would no longer travel to the summit of world leaders in Sharm el

Sheikh in September

Initially it was unclear of his changed plans, but in a report by the Sunday Times the monarch is said to have acted on the advice of the prime minister who advised him to stay away "It is no mystery that the King was invited to go there He had to think very care fully about what steps to take for his first overseas tour, and he is not going to be attending Cop,” a senior royal source said

Drug use among 16 to 25 year olds rose by half

S ince the end of Cov id 19 restrictions, drug u se among young peo ple h as risen by 50 p er cent, research show s

According to the data from the youth charity The Mix, one in three 16 to 25 year olds used an illegal drug in the past year, which equates to about 2 6 million people

Compared with the 22 per cent of young people recorded last year, this is a 50 per cent increase

Within the last 13 months, a total of 17 per cent in the age group used a Class A drug, which is an estimated 1 3 million people

Last year the figure was 11 per cent

gurdwara

Leader in Diversity up for an Award

Alpa, pictured, was born in the Ugandan capital Kampala and came to British shores as a child refugee following the expul sion of Asians from the ‘Pearl of Africa’ in 1972 Her family had lived there for three generations Her ancestral roots lie in Gujarat in India, but the majority of her family members are now settled in the UK, Europe and the USA

Alpa, who has worked in the specialist field of EDI for over 25 years, believes that her experiences in early childhood laid the founda

tions of her values and ded ication to addressing issues of inequality and social jus tice Speaking of the project she’s involved with, she said: “We have the opportu nity to make a real differ ence here and I believe that this project is committed to doing so This is a very spe cial project and I am proud to be a part of it ”

Alpa is one of four final ists in her category Winners across the 18 award categories will be announced at a prestigious ceremony in London on 8 November 2022

#GurdwaraforSurrey campaign launched

rrey

On Sunday 2 October, dozens of special guests, including Lords and Ladies, mayors, councillors, faith leaders

well as residents in Surrey,

together to celebrate the launch of the #gurdwaraforsurrey cam paign

The launch event was held at Camberley Theatre and was attended by Lord and Lady Indarjit Singh, Mayor of Surrey Heath Helen Whitcroft, CEO of Surrey Heath Borough Council Damien Roberts and other distinguished guests

Other attendees from the community included Reverend of High Cross Church Mike Thomason, Jewish Faith Leader Ray Wicksman, Imam of the first mosque in UK Imam Hashmi, Manjit Khalsi from the Surrey Minority Ethnic Forum and Major Dal Virdee, representing the armed forces

The campaign received special support from Surrey Heath MP Michael Gove, who said: “I back 100% Camberley Sikh Association’s gurdwara for Surrey campaign It is abso lutely vital that we do every thing in order to ensure there is a permanent home in which we can take pride for all of the Sikh population in Surrey and beyond so I’m right behind you 100% ”

The presentation high lighted how Camberley Sikh Association was formed and explained why there is a vital need for a gurdwara in Surrey Sevadars Sunny Singh, Bindi Kaur, Mandeep Kaur, Sandeep Kaur and Deepak Singh all shared their views on the impor tance of this campaign and directly called upon guests to fully support it

The evening ended with a powerful speech by Lord Singh, who said: “This gurd wara is not only for Sikhs, it is for community cohesion ”

He explained: “I would like to see leaders of the gur dwara taking the initiative by inviting people of differ ent faiths, of different ori gins, to come to the gurd

wara, not only to share lan gar but to learn about the cohesive teachings of Sikhism It is so important and so necessary

“I hope this gurdwara does prosper and in every way, it is established soon but that it really acts as a hub where people from dif ferent communities can recognise that the common alities between us all are far, far greater than the smaller area of difference ”

Guests were treated to tranquil background music by young pianists and musi cians Manjit Singh Maan on Sitar and Dilawar Singh on tabla, before sharing Guru Ka Langar with each other after the presentation

Trustee Gurdeep Singh Sarl said: "We are over whelmed and overjoyed with the response to our launch We have seen an increase in the population moving to this area and our Sangat numbers have increased as a result

"The time is right to have a local Guru Ghar so we have a base from where, in line with our Sikh teach ings and values, we can

reach out to the community and also to embed our precious Sikh values to the next genera tion "

The goal of the #gurd waraforsurrey campaign is to raise a £750,000 deposit

over the next three years through a mixture of dona tions and events Thanks to the kindness of the commu nity already, we have cur rently raised £120,000 from monthly gatherings and monthly direct debits alone

Two men charged for alleged assault on Prince Andrew heckler

been arrested and charged in

Edinburg

On 12 September, a 22 year old man, who had already been charged with breach of the peace, shouted at the Duke of York on the Royal Mile

The two men, both aged 34, are accused of dragging the heckler to the ground

A Scotland Yard spokesperson said: Two men, both aged 34, have

with assault, following an incident on the Royal Mile around 2 50pm on Monday, 12 S

"A report will be sent for the consideration of the Procurator Fiscal "

The Queen died on Thursday 8 September at her Balmoral estate

On 19 September, Britain's longest serving monarch was laid to rest at Windsor Castle following a state funeral

Imam Hashmi the Imam of the first mosque in the UK (right) with Camberley Sikh Association committee member

Camberley Sikh Association committee

Team serving delicious food

Plan for the temple

Lord Singh addressing the audience

King Charles III

Prince Andrew

Rise in divorces

After no fa ul t legislation wa s i n t r o du ce d o n Ap r i l 6 in Engl and and Wal es, a surge of 22 per cent has b een wit n e sse d in d iv or ce a ppl i ca t ions, ma king it the highest l evel in a decade

According to the data from the Ministry of Justice, between April and June,

there were 33,566 divorce applications, most under the new legislation and from sole applicants

Experts believe the rise in divorces was likely to be the result of people who were already planning to divorce but were holding off until the new law took effect

Indian tech firm to create 1,000 jobs

An In dian te chn ology com pan y will be crea ting 1,00 0 ne w jobs in Le eds with sup po rt fr om We st Yor k shi re May or Tra cy Bra bin

She said she secured a multi million pound invest ment with Mphasis to triple its presence in the region"

So far, the global firm already has a 500 strong workforce in the city, has set up offices for its insurance clients last year

Mphasis said the deal would "drive economic growth in West Yorkshire"

Last week during her trade mission visit to India, Ms Brabin met senior repre sentatives at the company's headquarters in Bangalore which led to the idea of a job boost

"I'm delighted that Mphasis has chosen to invest millions of pounds here in West Yorkshire, and proud to have them as part of our business community

and partners in driving the region forward," she said

"These 1,000 new jobs will have a transformative impact on our economy and create exciting career oppor tunities for the people of West Yorkshire

"I look forward to sup porting their growth in the region and seeing the posi tive impact on our commu nities," she added

Anurag Bhatia, senior vice president and head of Europe at Mphasis, thrilled of the association said that they are proud to invest in West Yorkshire, and to build on the launch of Mphasis' first insurance domain onshore centre in the UK in Leeds last year

She said the investment would "actively address the UK's digital skills shortage and support the next wave of talent in the local busi ness community and beyond

African and Asian infected blood victims feel let down, inquiry told

So me A fr i ca n a n d As ia n pa tients who were given con t a mi n a t e d b l o od t r a n sfu sions in the 1970s and 80s fee l t ha t they are tre ated dif fer entl y compar ed to people who wer e b orn in the UK, an in quir y ha s heard They feel l e t do wn , a n in q u i r y h a s he ard

Three witnesses from Kenya and Pakistan while producing evidence were told that they probably con tracted hepatitis C outside the UK

One felt they had been "treated differently to other communities"

During the 70s and 80s an estimated 26,800 NHS patients who were in need of blood transfusions after surgery, childbirth or miscar riages were infected with hepatitis C

This has been described as the worst treatment disas ter in the NHS and is accord ing to findings published by the public inquiry into the scandal

Waqar Ahmad who came to the UK as a teenager from Pakistan in the 1970s found out in the late 1990s that he had hepatitis C He was given a blood transfusion in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1988 after having a bladder stone removed, he told the inquiry

When Mr Ahmad applied for financial support from the infected blood support scheme, the Skipton Fund, he was told there was not enough evidence that he had

been given a blood transfu sion in the UK and told him that his infection occurred before he came to the UK

"It is very annoying when they try to blame someone else, he said

"We've been treated dif ferently to other communi ties We've been let down "

Since 2019, the public inquiry into the infected blood scandal has been tak ing evidence and is expected to publish its final report early next year

Students forced to bunk in common rooms of University

Amid a national sh ortage o f acco mmodatio n, University stu de nts h a ve bee n giv en bu n k b e ds i n co mm o n ro o m s an d o f fe re d th o u sands of p ounds for their places in h alls of residence

In a desperate attempt to help students who didn't find any place to live, Edinburgh University has converted common rooms in student halls into emer gency housing with bunk beds for the same

As there is a dearth of bed spaces in the city, stu dents in Manchester have been sent to live in Liverpool and Huddersfield, while the University of the West of England, in Bristol, has even set up housing in

Newport, across the border in Wales

In Glasgow, students have been advised to find housing before enrolling themselves

During the pandemic, many student accommoda tion developments were paused or delayed in the pandemic

The overall renting situ ation has worsened in England with a national shortage of rental stock and stricter licensing require ments for landlords renting “houses in multiple occupa tions” Genevieve Stevens, a fourth year student, after failing to find accommoda tion before the start of the year, has been living in a

bunk bed in a common room at Edinburgh’s stu dent halls

"I would say my mental health has been at an all time low,” she said

Students studying at

Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Manchester (UoM) have been offered housing and travel costs in Liverpool, Huddersfield or Preston

More than 4700 men took their own lives

T he A l l P a r t y P a r li a m e n t a r y G r o u p (APPG ) on Issues Affecting Men a nd Boys has conclud ed the cur ren t political and public p olicy ap proa ch t o t he bigg e st k ille r of me n unde r 50 is “not w or kin g ”

The report makes a total of 16 key recommen dations to the Government,

including the creation of a new Government role of Minister for Male Health and Wellbeing to hold the Government accountable for its targets More than 4,700 men in England, Wales and Scotland took their own lives in 2021, and male suicide claims on aver age 13 lives a day in the UK

Disabling people with rising costs

Asian Voice reported a few weeks ago that Type 1 diabetes patients were struggling to pur chase basic testing equipment due to the rise in the cost of liv ing Furthering the fear and increasing challenges for Britons, the latest research con ducted by disability equality charity Scope found that 91% of respondents to their survey said they are worried about their energy bills, and 45% stated that they are not planning on using heating, even when it gets cold

A disabled woman from Bilborough in Nottingham has developed an eating disorder as she rations meals to save money Her energy bills have already tripled this year and she doesn't yet know what she'll be paying when the energy prices rise

A Northern Ireland based disabled man is practically ‘ on death row ’ as energy bills soar He relies on an oxygen machine, a nebuliser, and a spe cially adapted electric bed and toilet His mother fears that she will keep him alive this winter Reportedly, many people in the UK are switching off fridges to save cash People with disabili ties and chronic illnesses have been forced to go without vital medication One in 20 disabled people has stopped buying medicines or paying for health treatments they need

A retail worker Nadiya Amirat, 22, told a publication that she has been suffering from relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS), and spends £35 to £50 on prescriptions each month but is worried she will have to go without medication because of the cost of living

Reportedly with rising infla tion, the government may not increase benefits in line for dis abled people This happened despite former Chancellor Rishi Sunak promising that benefits would be uprated in April 2023 to match the inflation rate for September 2021 Hence, the support for disabled people faces a £1bn shortfall Charities including Scope, Mencap and Disability Rights UK have urgently called on the govern ment to immediately increase benefits in line with inflation

A report released this month by abrdn Financial Fairness Trust drives home the dispro portionate impact of the energy crisis on disabled people Using polling from YouGov, it shows that already, nearly half of dis abled households (48 per cent) have struggled to keep their homes warm this year, com pared with 30 per cent of non disabled households With domestic energy prices due to rise by as much as 50% in April, and further increases expected in October when the energy price cap is raised again, this year could present a triple threat for people with cancer, who are already struggling with the financial impact of their diagnosis and the repercussions of the Covid

pandemic

Asian Voice that the charity is working with a coalition, Disability Poverty Campaign Group, to highlight the dispro portionate impact the cost of living crisis is having on Disabled people and to ask Government and Ofgem to take urgent action The charity elab orated that disabled people have higher energy costs, some of which are linked to medical and health equipment, the need for increased laundry and bathing and the need temperature con trol The Government’s energy package does not adequately respond to the poorest Disabled people with the highest energy costs Disabled people are also experiencing higher food costs, as some of us need to shop at local stores and some of us need pre prepared food Benefit levels are extremely low and are not keeping up with inflation

Disabled people using care ser vices are also being asked to make ever increasing contribu tions towards the cost of care

Dan White DR UK policy and Campaigns officer and one of the leads at the Disability Poverty Campaign Group said: “This announcement is breath taking and will do nothing to alleviate the entrenched suffer ing that Disabled people and carers are spiralling deeper into For humanity's sake, this must be readdressed, and the Government have to realise that they are condemning millions of families and individuals to unnecessary destitution ”

Disabled people are much less likely to be in employment UK based learning disability charity Mencap stated that dis abled people are much less like ly to be in employment as of 2020, 23 per cent of UK work ing age adults with a learning disability had a paid job, com pared to 53 per cent of working age adults with any disability and 76 per cent of the general population £1 2million to struggling cancer patients in London

People with cancer are fac ing ‘triple threat’ due to the cost of living crisis, Covid 19, and the financial fallout of their diagnosis As many cancer patients on low incomes strug gle with the financial fallout of a diagnosis, compounded by the current cost of living crisis and Covid 19, Macmillan is urging anyone in need to seek their support Macmillan Grants helped 3,372 Londoners pay for essentials such as heating bills and hospital transport costs after they were diagnosed with cancer or underwent cancer treatment

A cancer diagnosis often brings increased and unexpect ed living costs, such as requiring wigs or post surgery clothing, a new bed for someone who can no longer climb the stairs to their bedroom, or fresh bedding for those experiencing inconti nence and other treatment side effects Research by Macmillan found that across the UK, 83% of people diagnosed with cancer suffered a financial impact

However, one of the biggest

expenses facing people with cancer is higher energy bills

Many people undergoing cancer treatment need to have the heating on for longer periods due to the side effects of radio therapy and chemotherapy

In recognition of the extraordinary challenges facing cancer patients in 2022, Macmillan has made an extra £3 5 million of emergency funds available to help pay escalating fuel bills In the first six weeks of 2022, Macmillan has given out over £1 6 million in grants to support vulnerable patients across the UK an increase of 33% on the same time last year Vast majority aged over sixty plus sign an Age UK letter to the Prime Minister

Ahead of the Government’s fiscal event, almost 35,000 the vast majority aged over sixty plus have signed an Age UK letter to the Prime Minister, warning that the rapid rise in the cost of living is endangering older people’s lives Leading charity for old aged people, Age UK told Asian Voice, “In terms of support locally, there are local Age UKs across the UK who are there to support older people throughout the winter Each area does different things but we can offer the national advice line as a national point of reference if you wanted to flag where people can go for help and advice ”

Food Bank

Speaking to Asian Voice, Abdul l ah Reh man o f Bah u Trust said, “In the UK, tradi tionally food hampers have been given out to the elderly and vulnerable members of communities at Harvest festi vals and at Christmas but all year round hunger has been a prominent issue since 2007 and has dramatically increased since 2011 From our local research, we found that many people were suffering from crises such as debt due to various reasons, the main factor so far has been delays to individual’s benefits, this being the major cause of people suffering from a crisis situation and visiting us for help

As a result of our findings, we successfully launched our Foodbank in 2019 which opens every Friday from 10 am 1pm as part of our drive to increase our engagement with the local community by reaching out beyond the four walls ”

He explained that The Foodbank has been designed to be a place of welcome where clients are greeted with respect, and met with a sympathetic ear by one of our volunteers Food Bank has helped 3,300 neigh bours to date with the majority asking for further support or signposting to organisations that can offer relevant support along with debt crises, housing issues, safeguarding concerns and individuals with mental health issues

The story of Rukhsana* really stands out as someone who needed support to get around however after 6 months of using our service she has now ditched her Zimmer frame and

is able to walk without it Rukhsana a resident of a nurs ing home in Balsall Heath can now dress, and feed herself and is independent in getting ready for daily life One of the things she expressed was how she is now independent, and this change in her life was down to the support surgery which offered her the care and listen ing ear needed to give her the confidence to know she is not alone

Ibrahim* was another case study where he was suffering from depression and did not feel happy with his life We lis tened and fast established he was struggling to pay his energy bills and for the first time in his life, he had fallen into debt The pensioner has no other family members who are supporting him and all his children have moved out *(Names have been changed to protect identity)

Community Surgery

In addition to the food bank, the trust has developed a Community Support Surgery which is based next to the Mosque offering support and advice to people who are strug gling with issues that impact their lives often causing extreme poverty The support surgery offers a strictly confi dential service and runs every Friday with future ambitions for it to become a daily fixture Throughout the Pandemic the surgery was used by Birmingham City Council to test volunteers before they went out to door knock and hand out LFT Covid Testing Kits “Many families have reluctantly turned to our foodbank which is help ing them to leave the heating on slightly longer, but often times some of the elderly service users have said they no longer put the heating on at all and just layer up so they do not get cold, it is a choice for many between “Eating or Heating”, this is heartbreaking,” Rehman told the newsweekly

He further added that many young married Asian couples are leaving home unlike the tra ditional staying with the in laws, so we have many more vulnerable elderly Asians living alone who in the past would have had family support around them Now a small but worrying percentage are unable to make ends meet with their pensions as food, and energy bills become unaffordable The future could see more and more break up of those traditional Asian family units, replaced by, elderly and disabled parents living alone, leaving them vulnerable, espe cially with the current cost of living crisis

“We are finding more and more people staying longer in the Mosque just so they can stay warm and the pressure on pen sioners is really showing Over the past year, we have been dis tributing the Household Support Fund to families and pensioners, this has helped go towards food and energy costs, but ultimately it is just a stick ing plaster for the pain which is yet to come, ” Rehman said

in brief

NHS HEROES WITH LONG COVID HAVE SICK PAY SLASHED

Around 60,000 NHS healthcare and social care staff are still suffering crippling long Covid symptoms, according to the Office for National Statistics Now, they have had their sick pay cut in half NHS staff with long Covid had their sick pay cut in half Until last month, NHS heroes suffering from long Covid were getting full salary regardless of how long they were off, however, from September, the Government ruled those ill more than six months will be on half pay According to the Office for National Statistics around 60 000 NHS healthcare and social care staff are still suffering crippling long Covid symptoms This decision has not gone down well with the British Medical Association who has slammed the decision which puts NHS Covid sufferers back on the pre pandemic sick pay terms in their contract Professor Philip Banfield, chair of the BMA council, warned: The removal of Covid sick pay provisions means many staff still ill with long Covid will feel pressured back to work before they have fully recovered “For those whose symptoms mean they can’t go back, many are fearful about how they will pay mortgage or feed families especially now in a worsening cost of living crisis “Putting healthcare workers in these situations is unacceptable We need long term support for staff and a compensation scheme for those who need it ” He also added that Health Secretary Therese Coffey “must reinstate Covid sick pay but also recommend to Parliament that long Covid should be made an occupational disease "To not do so is a slap in the face to staff who gave their all during the pandemic

Entrepreneur, Disability Specialist and Speaker Shani Dhanda was interviewed in the Good Morning Britain studio by Martin Lewis and Susanna Reid She shared a detailed thread on Twitter, summarising the impetus of rising costs and their impact on disabled peo ple Dhanda spoke about the distinct lack of awareness of the extra costs dis abled people face either for extra wash ing, electric wheelchair charging, pow ering oxygen machines and sensory mats to alert parents of night time seizures the list of constant power use is ever growing Only six million dis abled people are due to receive this support, yet there are 14 6 million dis abled people in the UK “ For disabled people who can work, we are twice as likely to be unemployed and have to apply for 60% more jobs We face a dis ability pay gap so wide we work effec tively two months of the year for free; the gap is wider if you're a woman and/or person of colour More disabled people are falling into poverty and do not have a way to get out of it Your capacity to get out of poverty is primar ily based on your capability to work Even before the energy crisis 4 in 10 families who rely on disability benefits were living in poverty This is a human itarian crisis that is avoidable if the gov ernment provides urgent targeted sup port and values the lives of disabled people ” she tweeted

Increase in flights from India to UK

Air India has announced that it would be able to provide over 5,000 additional seats every week to customers with five additional flights a week to Birmingham; nine to London; and six to San Francisco, US

The number of weekly flights from Air India to the UK would increase to 48 with these additions In July this year, MP for Birmingham Edgbaston Preet Kaur Gill wrote to the chief executive officer of Birmingham Airport, Nick Barton and sought a review of regular and direct flights from Birmingham to Amritsar Reacting to the news, Gill said, “I’m delighted to say that after organising joint let ters from 12 MPs across the West Midlands to Air India and meeting with Birmingham Airport’s CEO, flights from Birmingham to India have increased from one a week to six This is confirmed between October and December ”

The additional flights are part of Air India’s plan to increase connectivity to the US and the UK by operating 20 more flights to the two countries These flights will be intro duced in a phased manner from October to December this year

These will include five additional flights a week to Birmingham, nine additional flights to London and six additional flights to San Francisco

Under this, the airline will increase con nectivity to Birmingham from Amritsar with two additional flights and the Delhi Birmingham route will also be connected by three additional flights per week

London will receive nine additional week ly flights, of which, five are from Mumbai, three from Delhi and one from Ahmedabad

This will take Air India’s current schedule of 34 flights every week to the UK to 48 flights Flights from India to the US will increase from 34 flights to 40 flights per week

More than 40,000 people ran together through the streets of the c a pit al on 2 nd Oc tobe r, enjoying perfect conditions for their 26 2 mile journey to the Finish Line of the 2022 TCS London Marathon

Celebrating the 42nd edi tion’s theme of #WeRunTogether, some 38,156 people had passed beneath the new digital finish gantry on The

London Marathon 2022

while assisted wheelchair entrants were on the course for the first time, and the marathon championed its new non binary entry policy

Skipping Sikh Rajendra Singh MBE was also a part of the marathon He posted a tweet: "And I did it completed the @LondonMarathon in 6 hours 29 minutes Really enjoyed the atmosphere and such lovely weather Thank you to @age uk for allowing me to be a part of raising awareness on the work you ’ re doing for people like us Well done to

Mall by 5 pm after 40,927 start ed the event in the morning Thousands more joined the head bobbing party by complet ing their marathon challenge virtually over a 24 hour win dow, confirming the event’s sta tus as the most popular marathon on the planet

One of those initiatives was Rainbow Row, which encour aged the LGBTQIA+ communi ty “to bring colour to the event”,

to atchange rxchangeex ed ovvedour impr Check out ov India om an agentounts fracc

everyone #LondonMarathon "

The Marathon was a week end to remember and it proved so, as the elite races delivered stunning performances from two of the sport’s up and com ing stars, and the world’s best wheelchair racers produced a pair of course records fit for the occasion

There were thousands of other heartwarming stories among the day’s finishers, not

least that of Anoosheh Ashoori, who finished his gruelling jour ney in less than five and a half hours, just six months after being released from prison in Iran, where he shared a cell with cockroaches and rats

The class of 2022 at the TCS Mini London Marathon graduated in style on Saturday (Oct 1) Racing 24 hours before the main marathon gets under way, around 7000 youngsters relished the occasion as they

charged down The Mall cheered on by friends, family and world marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge

The youngsters competing are not the only ones with ambition either After moving the Mini Marathon from Sunday to Saturday, the organ isers intend to grow the partic ipation figures so they reach 50,000 in time for the London Marathon’s 50th anniversary in eight years ’ time

A jubilant runner on completion of the Marathon on Sunday

Proud participant displaying his Smedal kipping Sikh MBE at the London Marathon

A participant at finishing line of TCS London Marathon 2022

Man in court on attempted murder charge after car hit pedestrians

A man appeared in court ch ar ged w ith a tte mp te d murder after four men were hit by a car in west London

In relation to the inci dent, Choudry Qamar Azad Razaq is also accused of driving whilst disqualified It took place in the early hours of Sunday in Kingsley

Road, Hounslow

Two of the four victims, in their early 20s, are report ed to be critical, while the other two were treated for injuries that were assessed as not life threatening, Scotland Yard said

On Tuesday, the 24 year old suspect, of

Amol Rajan wants BBC to end dominance of ‘posh’ newsreaders

The BBC will be including more diverse and “working class” voices on air after one of its star presenters claimed that 70 per cent of news readers speak with a “posh” R ec eive d Pronun cia tion (RP) accent

Amol Rajan, the Today programme presenter and new University Challenge host, challenged Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, to correct an on air “accent bias ”

Research initiated by the BBC News department found that “ 70 per cent of

news readers across the four main broadcasters (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky) speak with RP, the poshest accent, compared with 10 per cent of the population” who speak with that voice, said Rajan

RP, often referred as the Queen’s English, was adopt ed as the BBC standard in 1922 Rajan is believed to be working on a BBC series on social mobility in which he will present the results of the accent survey in full

Woman killed by herbal remedies

A north London woman lost her life to liver failure when she was given herbal reme d ie s t o t ry t o t rea t her a rthr itis, an in ques t h as found

Seema Pravin Haribhai, 37, ignored conventional medication to favour alter native therapies when she was struggling with increas ingly debilitating skin inflammation and joint pains

She was given “ an array of herbal based remedies” by a practitioner in Ayurveda, but when the treatment began to cause liver failure, the practitioner failed to realise her prescribed reme dies were the cause

Neither she asked Ms Haribhai to stop taking the herbal remedies nor she raised the alarm for urgent medical attention

Eventually, Ms Haribhai sought the help of a GP, who failed to realise her life

was in danger causing a ten day delay before she was finally admitted to hospital

After the inquest at St Pancras coroner ’ s court, Coroner Mary Hassell laid out in a report how Ms Haribhai died as a direct result of the alternative remedies

The coroner ruled that Ms Haribhai “died as a con sequence of the administra tion of Ayurvedic medicines intended to treat psoriatic arthritis”, recording the causes of death as sepsis, recurrent intestinal ischaemia, and idiosyncratic Ayurvedic drug induced liver injury

The coroner ’ s report has been sent to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the Ayurvedic Professionals Association, the Department of Health and Social Care, and her GP cen tre in Belmont, Harrow

Westmacott Drive in Feltham, appeared in cus tody at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court charged with four counts of attempted murder, said the Met

He was arrested at Heathrow Airport on Sunday evening

As a part of the investi gation, the Met arrested two other men who were then given bail and released under investigation

Police said the investiga tion is underway of the col lision and added that they are not treating the incident as terrorism related

Labour MP Apsana Begum accuses party of ‘harassment’

Labour MP Apsana Begum has alleged that the party has been targeting h er as a “socialist, Muslim, working clas s wo man ” , sayi ng s he received no support from the party when subject to a vote on h er des electi on w hi le signed off sick from work

While speaking at the World Transformed festival at the Labour conference in Liverpool, she said she had experienced “factionalism and racism” in the party “I have never been given a fair chance,” the Poplar and Limehouse MP said “The level of inhumanity towards me has been chilling ”

Recently, Begum announced that she was gradually returning to work after a period of sick leave caused by what she said was “ misogynistic abuse and harassment” linked to efforts to deselect her from her seat

In her return to work statement earlier this month, she said: “I have faced a relentless and sus tained campaign of abuse and harassment, which has even included vexatious liti gation seeking to send me to jail,” she said

“As the chair of the APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group) on domestic abuse and violence, I believe that the Labour party has shown a lack of understanding regarding tackling domestic abuse, including post separation harassment ”

Labour pledges free breakfasts to rebuild childcare

To ease the pressure on par ents fro m the “ e nd o f parental leave right through to the end of pri mary school”, Labour will rebuild a new chi ldc are sys tem, shadow education secretary Bri dget Phil li ps o n sai d, starting wi th a pledge on free breakfast clubs

In England, every prima ry school's fully funded breakfast would be funded by the revenues raised by restoring the top rate of income tax to 45p, if Labour were elected, Phillipson said

“The cost of living crisis

has particularly exposed the really difficult choices that parents are facing right now It is usually women, sadly, who end up giving up work because the childcare that they need isn’t avail able, and that has to change ”

As per the new data from Labour, at least 800,000 children don't have access to early morning pro vision and those that do often face hurdles because of costs or limits on the numbers able to access the breakfast clubs

How do you express yourself?

Using

aggressive body language is a sign of an inability to find appro priate words to express your feel ings You might be angry and would like to convey it, but can it be done without raising your voice or being aggressive?

Can the displeasure be expressed in a mild voice? Yes, if one has good command over language, it is possible to convey, with the use of appropriate words, any emotions

But the point is whether the person to whom it is directed will get the message There are both extremes people who shout unnecessarily to show their temper and people who don't understand displeasure unless conveyed in strong words If soft language is used with a person with less sensitivity towards others' feelings, it won't work Similarly, if a person uses harsh language to a very sensitive person, it may have serious results This means both sides have scope to mildly down to become milder by the angry people and to become more sensitive to the thick skinned people Unless there is a match, it is impossible to commu nicate displeasure properly

What happens when you take a very strict approach with extra sensitive people? If you yell at them, they might break down, become nervous and be afraid of you On the contrary, if you use a very mild tone with non sensitive people, they won't even bother about your irritation There you have to raise your voice, redden your eyes and be strict as well as clear But overdoing any of them, either being too loud or being too subtle, may result in failure of communi cation

While at the receiving end, it is also important to be bal anced in handling the fury If the person is expressing themselves in a very strong way, you need to filter it your self and not be affected adversely by the blatant language If someone is rather more polite and subtle, you need to pay more attention to each word and take them seriously, rather than compelling her/him to take the strong approach Not paying enough attention to your language while you are annoyed, and not being attentive to the lan guage of other people when s/he is enraged, will result in a serious failure of communication

So, observe how you express your anger next time

(Expressed opinions are personal)

One in ten pictures in medical textbooks show dark skinned patients

It seems that British doctors are not prepared for diag nosing conditions on darker skin tones as only one in ten pic tur es in med ic al te xt book s f ea ture image s of dark s kinne d pa tients , an analysis has revealed

More than 1,100 images were analysed by The Times that depicted dermatologi cal conditions from the NHS website and the latest editions of five leading med ical textbooks About 89 per cent of images were of lighter skinned patients

Dr Shaarna Shanmugavadivel, an emer gency paediatrician involved

with the Skin Deep project, said there is an “ongoing gap of inequality in the UK”

“This could potentially be life limiting or life threatening”, she added Shanmugavadivel and the team carried out a peer reviewed study for the British Society for Paediatric Dermatology, which found that out of 600 clinicians, only five per cent were capa ble of diagnosing conditions “ across a range of skin tones ”

Over 400 of the medics surveyed said their formal training was done with images of “only white skin ”

Keir Starmer to support points based immigration system

Keir Starmer has vowed to stick with a points based immigration s ystem after Brexit

In 2020 Labour s leader said he would "defend free movement" and create “ an immigration system based on compassion and digni ty” But in his speech to the party conference in Liverpool, he promised to "control immigration using a points based system"

After Brexit, Tory min isters brought in a points based system for EU

migrants, with entrants needing a minimum salary and skills

A spokesman for Keir Starmer said that Labour had already applied a points system to migrants from outside Europe

"We've been in favour of a points based system

for some time now, it was Labour that introduced a points based system in gov ernment in 2008," he said

He added that Labour disagrees with plans of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda

However, he confirmed a reformed points based system will be Labour's approach to immigration, from both inside and out side the EU "You do a points based system based on the needs of the country at the time,” he said

Rohit Vadhwana

Suella Braverman’s stand on illegal migrants is music to the ears of voters

The new Home Secretary's tough talk and stand on ille g al m ig ran ts and woke policing might make voters happy and pleased

S u e l l a B r a v e r m a n h a s made it crystal clear that she will be remorseless in her war on criminality

D u r i n g h e r t e n u r e a s

Attorney General, she didn’t shirk controversial decisions and now she must take on t h e l i b e r a l e s t a b l i s h m e n t that favours the rights of thugs over ordinary citizens

Considering the record numbers of illegal migrants

reaching the shores, Suella Braverman must close gap ing loopholes in the Modern Slavery Act on a priority, which far from preventing e x p l o i t a t i o n , i s t o o o f t e n milked by those seeking to come here illegally

In order to achieve this,

she must task lawyers who cynically stop these foreign criminals from being booted o u t , o f t e n a t t h e l a s t moment and at vast cost to the taxpayer

P e o p l e a r e a p p l a u d i n g Ms Braverman’s warning to t h e p o l i c e t o h a l t w o k e virtue signalling for “ com mon sense ” policing as too many crimes go uninvesti gated while ludicrous diver sity targets are chased

It is believed that the H o m e S e c r e t a r y w i l l f a c e inevitable shrieks of outrage from the Left

Britain has ‘too many’ low-skilled migrants, says Suella Braverman

Ho me Sec retar y Su el la Braverman says Britain has to o man y l ow sk il led migrant workers and very hi gh numb ers of in terna tional students

In an interview ahead of the Conservative Party con ference, Ms Braverman told the Sun that the government aims to stick to a 2019 elec t i o n p l e d g e t o l o w e r n e t migration

As part of an attempt to b o o s t g r o w t h , C h a n c e l l o r K w a s i K w a r t e n g s a i d t h a t the government was looking to review immigration poli

English universities might face fines over dropout rates

If not enough students pro cu re gradu ate leve l j o bs withi n 15 mo nths, Universities will face sanc tions, England’s higher edu ca tio n re gul ato r has warned

The Office for Students h a s b r o u g h t o u t i t s n e w tests of “low quality” sub jects that could see large f i n e s o r d e r e g i s t r a t i o n i m p o s e d o n u n i v e r s i t i e s where fewer than 60% of g r a d u a t e s a f t e r f i n i s h i n g their course in a university’s subject area find work, set up their own business or go

on to further study, with allowances made for those with caring responsibilities or travelling

Also, in universities in England where more than one in five full time under g r a d u a t e s d r o p o u t , o r where more than one in four of those who complete the course ultimately fail to gain a degree, the OfS can a p p l y s a n c t i o n s f o r t h e same

Subjects at colleges and universities that failed to m e e t a n y o f t h e t h r e e t h r e s h o l d s , w h i c h c a m e

into force next week and examine the reasons for the results, will be investigated b y t h e O f S S u s a n Lapworth, the OfS’s chief r e g u l a t o r , s a i d t h e n e w thresholds would not affect the majority of students but would be “ a clear incentive for universities and colleges to take credible action to improve the outcomes of c o u r s e s w h i c h m a y b e a cause for concern ”

“ T o o m a n y s t u d e n t s , often from disadvantaged backgrounds, are recruited o n t o c o u r s e s w i t h w e a k

Man who sexually assaulted woman jailed

In Maidenhead, a man who sexually assault ed a woman, and stole her phone to prevent her from calling for help has been jailed

Muhammad Hesham, aged 32, of Russell Rise, Luton, has been sentenced to nine years of jail for attempted rape and sexual assault

On 17 September 2021, the woman got into a car thinking it was a taxi, but it was Hesham’s car and was being driven by him

After taking her to an industrial area in Holyport, he sexually assaulted the her and attempted to rape her

He then stole her mobile phone to pre vent her from calling for help

Investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Mo Rashid, based at Maidenhead police sta tion, said: “I am pleased that Hesham has been convicted of these terrible offences he committed against his victim

"The victim has been extremely brave in standing up to her attacker and giving evi dence in court and I hope that Hesham's con viction will help her to recover from this ter rible ordeal that he put her through

"Thames Valley Police is committed to protecting the public and to bring those to justice who commit offences of a predatory nature "

Nottingham's new top judge was told to apply to 'Woolworths'

Nottingham has got a new top judge N irm al Sha n t K C, fro m Nottinghamshire, will be taking up the new role of Recorder of Nottingham, followed by the departure of J udge Gregory Dickinson who stood down in July

Soon, she will be sworn in as the new Recorder of Nottingham the highest appointed legal officer of the Crown within Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire county

In the Midlands, she was one of the f i r s t A s i a n R e c o r d e r s ( a p a r t t i m e judge), and one of the first women QCs

She attended a comprehensive in Long Eaton, and recalls speaking to a

lawyer and she said 'well, you do know that Woolworths are recruiting' I said they may be but you know I have to say that wasn't very encouraging and I have met people since who have been very encouraging

"Certainly at school; I went to a comprehensive school, and I think the impression was you wouldn't go very f a r w r o n g i f y o u w e n t t o w o r k a t Woolworths, not that there's anything wrong with working for Woolworths!

But that wasn't my ambition It was the f a c t t h e y w e r e n o t p r e p a r e d t o acknowledge that you might have a dif ferent path for yourself"

She had an early interest in law and was an avid viewer of a programme called Crown Court

o u t c o m e s w h i c h d o n o t improve their life chances W e c a n n o w i n t e r v e n e w h e r e o u t c o m e s f o r s t u dents are low, and where u n i v e r s i t i e s a n d c o l l e g e s c a n n o t c r e d i b l y e x p l a i n why,” Lapworth said

“We recognise that stu dents choose higher educa tion for a variety of reasons M a n y a r e f o c u s e d o n i m p r o v i n g t h e i r c a r e e r prospects and it is right that w e ’ r e p r e p a r e d t o t a c k l e courses with low numbers of students going into pro fessional work ”

c y , f o l l o w i n g c o m p l a i n t s from business groups that post Brexit rules were too r e s t r i c t i v e , e s p e c i a l l y f o r low paid jobs

However, Ms Braverman said reducing migration was an aim collectively shared by all of the prime minister’s senior ministers

“What we ’ ve got is too m a n y l o w s k i l l e d w o r k e r s coming into this country,” she said “We’ve also got a v e r y h i g h n u m b e r o f s t u dents coming into this coun try and we ’ ve got a really h i g h n u m b e r o f d e p e n dents ”

“Those people are com

ing here, they’re not neces s a r i l y w o r k i n g o r t h e y ’ r e working in low skilled jobs, and they’re not contributing to growing our economy, ” she added According to the most r e c e n t f i g u r e s f r o m t h e

O f f i c e f o r N a t i o n a l

Statistics, net migration to Britain totalled 239,000 in the year to June 2021, B r a v e r m a n a l s o a d d e d s h e w a n t s t o p r e v e n t migrants to challenge depor tation on the basis that they had been subjected to forced labour or human trafficking, known in Britain as “modern slavery”

Rising borrowing costs pile pressure on small businesses

Lending to small businesses an d a s urge in borro wing costs will result in constraints due to market turmoil and higher interest rates, experts have warned

W i t h h i g h e r i n t e r e s t rates about half of the small and medium sized business b o r r o w e r s a r e o n v a r i a b l e rate loans that rise in price in line, adding to the pressure on companies with inflation at a four decade high and the UK economy poised to sink into a recession

The Federation of Small

Businesses has raised a con cern that a rise in interest rate could “pile financial pressure on thousands of small busi n e s s e s w h o a r e m i r e d i n debt”

K a t r i n H e r r l i n g , c h i e f e x e c u t i v e o f F u n d i n g Xchange, a leading technolo gy provider and SME loan marketplace, said: “Economic uncertainty leads lenders to p u l l b a c k f r o m l e n d i n g a s shocks are more difficult to absorb by SMEs, who often have low profit margins and limited reserves ”

Could we become the first victim of Putin’s nuclear lunacy?

It is difficult to judge what war game Russia’s strong man Vladimir Putin is playing It seems he is getting more than he bargained for when he attacked Ukraine, believing that the war will be over in a few days not realizing that a corned nation will fight like a tiger; to the end His kidology failed miserably, making him a pariah on the international stage!

When such dictators are cornered, Hitler is a prime example when he attacked Russia, opening a second front, against the advice of his Generals; they become irrational and are more dangerous, capable of taking irrational steps that one could not expect!

President Putin has openly stated that if it comes to all out war with the West, NATO, his first target will be NOT Germany or France, not even the US but us, Britain, as we are busybodies, involving ourselves in any ongoing conflict, to the detriment of our wellbeing on the home front!

No wonder our economy is in a mess, our currency, British Pound is in free fall and inflation will reach double figure, the interest rate will be 6% or even higher, bankrupt ing small businesses and many households may lose their homes, unable to pay their mortgages which may double in a short time! The Conservative government is once seen as financially responsible, politically stable and progressive, is now a laughing stock Hardly anyone has confidence in PM or Chancellor No one will be surprised if there is a change, a new PM in near future I hope if it comes to this, they will elect a responsible and experienced MP and party leader, rather than leaving it to the whim of party members who may have no knowledge of the person they may be voting for So often it is a personal, family choice, not the best, linchpin MP!

No one would have thought, not even in their dreams, that Labour will have an unbelievable 33% lead over Tories If the election is held now, the Conservative party will be annihilated, and many Conservative MPs losing their seats! It could be the worse outcome in the party’s history! Bhupendra M Gandhi

Time for a mental wellbeing self-check

Life can be challenging With so much going on, it’s easy to get caught up in everyday tasks and have little time to self check our emotional well being World Mental Health Day on 10 October reminds us to pause and think about our mental health, and what we can do to protect it

Poor mental health can be prevented if we are support ed to live well While we need government action to fix many of the root causes of mental health problems, such as poverty, poor housing and job insecurity, there are things we can do individually to help ourselves and the people we care about to have good mental health

The Mental Health Foundation has produced a new guide, ‘Our Best Mental Health Tips’, giving information on the things we can do to help protect our mental health It’s available for free on our website mentalhealth org uk

This World Mental Health Day people can show their support by wearing the green ribbon #PinItFor Mental Health

Richard Grange, Associate Director Mental Health Foundation

Trouble and strife

Tories must be kicking themselves for voting in the wrong candidate to take over as their party leader and prime min ister Liz Truss’s chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, now finds himself engaged in an ugly tug of war with the Bank of England Also opposing Kwarteng’s tax cutting policy in the face of rising inflation is the International Monetary Fund

Remember Rishi Sunak was the favourite among Conservative MPs to win the leadership contest because he stressed his top priority was to tackle inflation and bring it under control before turning to other priorities However, when the vote went to the 180,000 Tory Party members they fell for Liz Truss’s delicious “jam today” promises and catapulted her into Downing Street They are no doubt lick ing their wounds as the Labour Party is soaring in the opin ion polls and stands every chance of winning the next General Election

Rudy Otter

Amar Chitra Katha comics

Amar Chitra Katha is the best comic magazine in India Started in 1967 by the late Anant Pai with ‘Krishna’ as the first title, the comic till today has sold over 90 million copies worldwide Anant Pai (or Uncle Pai as he was fondly called by children), was the man behind the ACK (or Amar Chitra Katha) comics His death on February 24, 2011, is a loss to the nation Till today, ACK has published over 700 titles, not just in English, but in regional as well as foreign languages Anant Pai reintroduced India to young Indians and taught them about their roots and culture in a fun, non preachy way that became an essential part of their growing up years

Jubel D Cruz, Mumbai, India

BBC set to lay off hundreds of journalists at World Service

Promptin g war ning s of dama ge to its gl oba l reput ation, the B BC has dec ided to c ut about 380 jobs at the World Service and close some channels

Insisting that it would “continue to bring the best journalism” to listeners, clarifying the decision the corporation said the overhaul was designed to “ accelerate its digital offering and increase impact with audiences around the globe”

World Service English will continue to operate as 24 hour radio, with new scheduling, programmes and podcasts to be announced

Radio output in ten languages will cease, including Arabic, Hindi and Indonesian and the Arabic and Persian stations will close, meaning nearly half of its 41 language services will be digital only

Liliane Landor, director of the World Service, said: “The BBC is trusted by hundreds of millions of people for fair and impartial news, especially in countries

where this is in short supply

We help people in times of crisis We will continue to bring the best journalism to audiences in English and more than 40 languages, as well as increasing the impact and influence of our journalism by making our stories go further ”

The BBC has said after the licence fee was frozen at £159 for two years, it faces plugging a £1 4 billion hole in its finances The licence fee and grants from the Foreign Office fund the World Service, a soft power tool that draws an estimated weekly audience of 364 million people

Over the past two years, the BBC has spent £125 million on payoffs to staff, more than it spent on severance deals for the four previous years in total

Hospitals set up food banks for nurses

As the cost of living crisis causes an “exodus” of NHS staff to better paid jobs in supe rmar ke ts an d hospita lity , one in f our hospitals has set up food banks for nurses

Two in three hospital bosses have reported a “ significant or severe ” impact as staff are calling it quits for better pay in pubs, restaurants and shops

The new survey of 150 hospital chief executives carried out by NHS Providers, it revealed that 27 per cent have set up food banks to support staff, many of whom are preparing for strike action this winter

The report has warned that the cost of the living crisis was aggravating a shortage of 132,000 NHS staff in England as many could no longer afford to work in the service

One NHS chief executive described an “exodus” in staff due to low pay, adding: “Amazon pay a £1,000 signing on bonus, which is attractive when your energy bills have doubled in a year ”

Others said that staff, particularly community nurses who drive to and from patients’ homes, were calling in sick because they could not afford fuel

Proposal launched for new Queen Elizabeth II memorial gardens

Plans are underway to reno vate a strip of Buckingham Palace Gardens which are some 39 acres into a pub lic garden It was first con ceived by journalist Stefan Sim anowitz a s a way to mark H er Majes ty ’ s 90 th birthday

As per the proposal, the garden’s wall will remain intact, but will involve knocking arches through it so the public can access the area; a new fence would then be constructed to ensure the privacy and safe ty of the Palace grounds

“We had hoped this part of the Palace Gardens would be bequeathed to the nation

by the Queen herself, but now to mark her passing the proposal is now to create a new Royal Park as a living legacy to our longest serving Monarch,” said Simanowitz, founder of the Buckingham Palace Park Project

"As this period of official national mourning comes to an end, our thoughts turn to how we will mark Her Majesty’s memory, we are hopeful that this project might act as both a fitting tribute to the Queen and as well a welcome new green space in a congested corner of London,” Simanowitz added

Starmer, the White Knight?

The conference season has started for our political parties Of course, one can understand why the gath ering of the faithful, and the lonely, might be a good idea for the Tories and Labour Though I still not understood what parties like the Liberal Democrats get out of it, apart from bigger debts

Last week the Labour Party had one of their best conferences I guess for some 15 years It seems most competing groups within Labour finally understood that a public showing of disunity and discord just does not work For the sake of their own preservation, they must bite the bullet and accept the dictate from their leader Keir and look happy doing it They even became British and nationalist when the conference opened uncharacteristically with the national Anthem What people will do for power!

By all standards Labour managed to keep most of the controversial stuff out of their agenda They made sure most of the extremists within the party were kept in check, and when they did get a chance to vent their frustrations, the party machinery came through to divert attention of the media Starmer even made one of his best speeches to conference To be honest, the lay of the land is such that he could not stop hitting a four or a six On this occasion he did show some grit and took advantage of the situation My friends, that is what politics is all about, you don’t have to be right, or moral, or have any sustainable policies you just need to take advantage of any opportunity that arises The reward, the nation gave him a very sizeable lead in the polls

People do tend to get carried away with mid term polls though I don’t doubt Labour are clearly ahead, but I do doubt the extent of that lead Especially when it comes to the run up to the next election in Spring 2024 A week is a long time in politics, we have 18 months to go

Whilst Starmer was making hay, what were the Tories doing? Well, they got rid of their natural vote winning asset, PM Boris Johnson He kept making silly errors, but that is Boris Could someone have advised him better, yes of course In the end he’s gone, and the Tories had their battle for the top position Whoever won was going to have to pick up the poison chalice The world is going through testing times Nations are crumbling under pressure from energy prices Inflation is high globally, not just the UK National debts are rising everywhere, not just in the UK To square this impossible circle, no incoming leader was ever going to succeed immediately Truss and Kwarteng made one fatal error, the cutting of the top rate of income tax from 45% to 40% This became gold dust to the opposition It was too easy to ridicule the whole budget because of this one fatal error The nar rative of the budget became money for the rich, when in reality huge sums were also allocated for the rest of the nation A U Turn on it was inevitable One hopes lessons have been learnt and such silly errors are avoided

The Tory Party Conference has just started, given the background, there is very little it can achieve but to put a brake on the downward spiral Conservatives need to unite, focus on the bread and butter issues, and stabilise economic indicators within its power It has the whole of 2023 in which it can claw back the lost yardage to Labour However, the work starts now, and they need a better handle on the pulse of the nation

As they say, ‘there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip’ If Labour loses the election, that would be the final nail and one must wonder if it’s fit for purpose Can Starmer the white knight save Labour?

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you are new, then write to Shefali

Chalo Kashi, Eternal Kashi: The City of Light

Ruchi Ghanashyam

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

Visiting Varanasi as a child, I remem ber a boat road on the Ganga in a small wooden boat On a recent visit, we took the evening cruise that gave us a good view of the ‘Ghats’ or riverfront steps leading to the banks of the River Ganges Varanasi has 88 ghats, most of them for bathing and puja ceremonies, while two of the ghats, Manikarnika and Harishchandra, are used exclusively as cremation sites Most of the ghats were rebuilt in the 18th century under Maratha patronage: Shindes, Holkars, Bhonsles, Peshwas, and the Maharajas of Benares A morning boat ride on the Ganges along the ghats is a popular visi tor attraction, as is the evening cruise,which culminates in the Ganga Arti

East Midlands inventor sets out to address NHS dental crisis

A N ottingham based inven tor is tacklin g the prob lem o f lo n g wa i t i n g li s t s f o r NHS dentists in the Eas t Mi dlands

Jeevan Boyal made headlines five years ago when he launched the EZ Teether the world's first ever teething device for adults

on a single tooth extrac tion to thousands of pounds on a major proce dure such as full implants

Of the 8,533 UK dental practices that hold NHS contracts, 91% aren ’t accepting new adult patients, rising to 97% in the East Midlands, leaving new patients with little chance of being seen by an NHS dentist

Kashi,

also known as Varanasi or B anaras, is one of t he world’s old est continuously inhabited cit ies, b el ieved t o go back to the anc ient king dom of Kashi 2500 years ago The king dom covered much of today’s east ern Utt ar Pradesh and part s of Bihar It is al so referred to in the Rigveda, deriving from t he Sanskrit verbal root of kaś, meaning "t o shine" It is t hus t he lumi n ous city of learn in g, or the city of light

Located on the holy river Ganges about 690 km east of Delhi, Varanasi occupies a prime position in the life of Hindus, be it pilgrimage or death Even during the Upnayan or Janeu (sacred thread) ceremony, considered a rite of passage almost like a spiritual rebirth, one of the rituals involves the saying of “I am leaving for Kashi for studying”

Excavations carried out in 2014, and subsequently at Akhtar and Ramnagar near Varanasi, give it an even older antiquity Artefacts dating back to 800 BCE in the former and to 1800 BCE in the latter, suggest that this area was inhabited as long ago as that Much of the ancient relics or sites are no longer traceable as a series of attacks destroyed them over the years

Many of the traditions have also either disappeared or since modernised, but the significance of Kashi in the minds of Hindus remains eternal, per haps because it is known as Lord Shiva’s city, having been founded by him, where even the Pandavas went to seek Shiva after the Kurukshetra war

A visit to the holy city of Kashi is incomplete without a visit to Kashi Vishwanath Temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva On the western bank of the river Ganga, it is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas (the holiest of Shiva tem ples) dedicated to the Lord of the Universe, and is a central part of wor ship in the Shaivite culture The temple was demolished several times, most recently by Aurangzeb who constructed the Gyanvapi Mosque on its site, thus leading to a controversy that still remains alive A temple was built on an adjacent site by the Maratha ruler, Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore in the year 1780 A project of creating Shri Kashi Vishwanath Corridor linking the temple with important ‘Ghats’ nearby, was undertaken at the behest of PM Narendra Modi, who represents Varanasi as its Member of Parliament

The significance of Varanasi is not restricted to Hindus alone Sarnath, located 10 km northeast of Varanasi, near the confluence of Ganges and Varuna rivers is revered by Buddhists The Deer Park in Sarnath is where Gautama Buddha first taught the ‘Dharma’, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence Renowned as the place where Buddha gave his first sermon after attaining enlightenment, in which he explained the four noble truths and the teachings associated with them, Sarnath is one of the four fore most places of pilgrimage for Buddhists

Approximately a km from the site is the birthplace of the Eleventh Tirthankara of Jainism A temple dedi cated to him is an important pilgrimage site for Jains

Kashi is also home to the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), which was established in 1916 jointly by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, the Maharaja of Darbhanga Rameshwar Singh, Maharaja of Banaras Prabhu Narayan Singh, Sunder Lal and British Theosophist and Home Rule League founder Annie Besant With over 30,000 students, 18,000 of whom reside in the 80 hostels on campus, BHU is the largest residential university in Asia Its multitude of institutions, departments and faculties, teach from the ancient to the most modern The university's engi neering institute was designated as an Indian Institute of Technology in June 2012, and is the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) My visit to Varanasi was brought about by a speaking engagement for my husband, sponsored by the Ministry of External Affairs, at one of the faculties of the prestigious university

Varanasi has long been an educa tional and musical centre, with many prominent Indian philosophers, poets, writers, and musicians having lived or living in the city It was the place where the Benares gharana form of Hindustani classical music was developed Arts and crafts have flourished in Banaras; the Banarasi silk sari is a valued part of a bride’s trousseau If Tulsidas wrote the Awadhi language holy epic of Ramayan in Varanasi, Kabir and Ravidas illumi nated the city through their enlightened wisdom and devotion In the more recent past, Prem Chand and Bismillah Khan brought literature and music to the fore in Banaras

A quote from author Mark Twain from 1897 on Varanasi, that I found on the net, seems appropriate to conclude this column: Benares is older than histo ry, older than tradition, older even than legend

The teether was aimed at teenagers and young adults struggling with painful wisdom teeth an idea Jeevan came up with while suffering his own wisdom teeth problems while studying dentistry at Sheffield University

Now a fully qualified dentist with surgeries in Derby and Nottingham he has come up with a new idea to help cut waiting times and at the same time make private dental care much more affordable

Jeevan has launched a web app, AP Care, (Affordable Private) which allows anyone to save 20% on the cost of private den tal treatment as well as reducing the need to wait for much needed proce dures

With nearly half of dentists severing their ties with the NHS and focusing

on private patients only and three quarters plan ning to reduce their NHS services, millions are strug gling to access care

It is unclear when the problems facing patients seeking NHS dental treat ment will be resolved and if left unchecked, millions more patients will be left without options

Since the first lock down began in March 2020 around 3,000 den tists have moved away from NHS work meaning there aren’t enough NHS dentists to see patients

The new AP Care, web app allows anyone to book private dental care for both cosmetic and essential procedures with potential savings ranging from £50

Dentist Jeevan Boyal, Director of AP Care, said "The lack of NHS dentists has led to a huge rise in desperate patients strug gling to access affordable dental care

"AP stands for afford able private, and by mak ing private dental care more affordable we are hoping to ease some of the pressure on the NHS and make private dentistry accessible and convenient for a greater number of people

“Having lost my moth er as a teenager I want to ensure that no one is at the mercy of long waiting lists for any form of healthcare

“Starting with den tistry, AP Care aims to improve access to afford able private dental care ” https://ap care/

@RuchiGhanashyam

SCRUTATOR’S

Taj Mahal is the most popular tourist destination for Indians

The Taj Mahal, a UNESCO world heritage site, was the most popular centrally protected ticketed monument for domestic visitors in 2021 22, according to a new report released by the Union Ministry of Tourism. While the Mughal era mausoleum ranked first, the Red Fort and the Qutub Minar both UNESCO r e c o g n i s e d s i t e s i n D e l h i w e r e t h e s e c o n d a n d t h i r d m o s t v i s i t e d s i t e s , respectively, for the period. The over 280 page report titled 'India Tourism Statistics 2022' was released by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on World Tourism Day at an event The report said due to restrictions related to Covid 19 "the number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India during 2021 decreased to 1 52 million as compared to 2 74 million in 2020, registering a negative growth of 44 5 per cent" According to data shared by the report, the Taj Mahal witnessed 3. 29 million visitors or 12. 65 per cent of the total footfall in 2021 22 for domestic visitors, followed by Red Fort (1 32 million) (Agency)

1st govt job in 75 years, Bihar village erupts in joy

when the girl, after feeling a bit humiliated, threatened not to vote for the government in the next elections “You don’t need to vote It’s the height of stupidity,” Bamhrah responded Ironically, Bamhrah had in her address at the event advised girls to be “self dependent to break the gender barriers” adding “various schemes of the state government are aimed at the elimination of gender disparity” Repeated calls and text messages to Bamhrah went unanswered (Agency)

three exams at a stretch Shashank Tamboli, who cleared CA and CS last year, passed the CMA finals, the results of which were announced recently “My parents could not study due to financial constraints, but they provided me with an opportunity to study I look forward to becoming an IAS officer now, ” Shashank said (The Times of India)

Snake enters ground, stops cricket match

games The photos of the event were posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter (Agency)

71 year old completes 4,000 km trail, inspires internet

Sohagpur, a small village tucked away in Katra block of Bihar’s Muzaffarpur’s district, was in a celebratory mood last week The cheering and dancing was to celebrate the achievement of Rakesh Kumar, 25, who has become the first in the village to land a government job since Independence

Rakesh was on cloud nine when he was asked to join a local primary school as a teacher “None from my village was able to get a government job in the past 75 years I wanted to break this dubious record and change the image of my village Thank God, I have done this, finally,” said a beaming Rakesh The villagers learnt about his appointment when he reached home after completing the joining formalities Breaking into a wild celebration, they distributed sweets, smeared gulal on one another’s faces and greeted the youth, who had broken the jinx of government jobs being out of bounds for residents of Sohagpur, which is home to about 2,000 people (Agency)

Woman IAS officer humiliates poor schoolgirl

A senior woman IAS officer in Bihar has kicked up a major controversy by publicly mocking a poor schoolgirl who asked if the government could provide sanitary napkins at lower prices, saying there was no end to such demands and asking if they would want “condoms too” “Can the government give us sanitary napkins at Rs20 30?” the schoolgirl asked IAS Harjot Kaur Bamhrah at a workshop titled “Sashakt Beti Samridh Bihar (Strong daughters, Prosperous Bihar) “Is there any end to such demand? Tomorrow you can ask for jeans, then beautiful shoes and finally when it comes to family planning, you can say the government should give condoms, too,” Bamhrah snapped at the girl The workshop was organised by the Women and Child Development Corporation (WCDC) which Bamhrah heads in partnership with international NGOs The IAS officer’s outburst came

Actors groped in Kerala mall, cops start probe

Kerala police launched an investigation into two actors being allegedly groped after a promotional event for their movie at a mall in Kozhikode the previous evening Both revealed the shocking experience on social media One of the actors reacted instantly by slapping the man who misbehaved with her, while the other said on a Facebook post that she froze “Are people around us this frustrated?

The film team had gone to several places as part of promotion What happened today was a despicable incident, which I had not experienced in any of the places where we had gone for the film promotions,” she said Police acted after the film’s producer lodged a complaint in Kozhikode A special investigation team was constituted and it will record the duo’s statements One of the actors has left for Kannur and the other is in Ernakulam, sources said Police will examine CCTV footage from the mall to identify and catch the culprits (Agency)

Success story of an auto driver’s CA son

The second Twenty20 International between India and South Africa was strangely interrupted by a snake on Sunday, October 2, at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati A serpent heading towards the middle of the ground joined the cricketers when they were changing the field placement of the fielders at the end of the Indian innings' seven overs When the cricket players saw the snake creeping across the field, they immediately alerted the field officials The ground crew hurried over and quickly took the reptile out The ground crew's readiness demonstrated that they were aware that a situation like this may occur There have been a number of instances where dogs, birds, cats, and occasionally running nude humans have disrupted games in the past, but with this unusual incident, Guwahati Ground is going down in history The video of the incident was uploaded on social media and rapidly became viral, as is the case with all strange incidents in today's digital world

(Agency)

1,000 drones creating a giant dragon in the night sky

While most of us feel tired by just thinking of our next workout session, a 71 year old is winning the internet by completing a gruelling 4000 km Pacific Crest Trail in the United States Instagram user Auti and Chris met the 71 year old during their journey through the same trail The couple shared the story and a video of the man on the social media platform "Pa'at reaching the northern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail after having walked every single step of the 2,653 mile trail Not many people can say they've accomplished such an incredible feat especially not at 71!" the caption of the post read Further, in the caption, Auti and Chris said that the 71 year old is one of those people you instantly feel like you've known a lifetime "He has a heart of gold, the kindest soul, and unmatched optimism and fortitude Thank you for being such an inspiration to us, Pa'at!" the post read The 71 year old's inspirational journey is winning hearts on the Internet Several users praised the man for achieving his goal (Agency)

Adorable pet dogs waiting for school bus

You must have come across plenty of

Life has been anything but a smooth ride for Shyamlal Tamboli who navigates his autorickshaw through Bhilwara's traffic to earn about Rs 8,000 a month

But the son of this Rajasthan man of humble means is set to wheel in riches when he charts a glittering career in finance and accounting in the Diamond City At 20, Shashank Tamboli has cleared chartered accountant (CA), company secretary (CS) and cost and management accountancy (CMA) exams with his academic brilliance getting nurtured in Surat His tutor Ravi Chhavchharia, who coaches CA/CS aspirants from poor families for free, said Shashank is the youngest in the country to clear all the

A spectacular video showing thousands of drones coming together and forming a terrifying dragon is going viral on social media The short clip was shared by Geoscan Drone Show, and since then it has surfaced on several social media platforms and garnered millions of views The video shows a giant dragon flying through the air with its mouth open The location for the drone show was not shared by Geoscan But the YouTube post revealed that the terrifying creature was composed using 1,000 drones The spectacular sight left internet users amazed "This is insane," wrote one user, while another jokingly commented, "Game of Drones" Recently, over a hundred drones created a fantastic show in Ahmedabad as well The drone show was designed and produced by Botlab Dynamics and it drew the national flag, portrait of Sardar Patel and logo of the

dog videos on the internet, people love their cute antics and the loyalty they do possess for human beings Many pet dogs are being sent for training by their owners One such video is doing rounds on the internet shows a group of adorable pet dogs waiting for their school bus in their house's corridor

Shared by a user named Buitengebieden, the caption reads, “Waiting for the dog school bus ” The video has been credited to a user named victoriadw619 The video begins with a bunch of dogs of different breeds sitting on a carpet in the house s corridor They are all seen ready, with their bags on their shoulders and the essential clothing A yellow bandana has been tied to all the dogs around their necks They can be seen carrying different designs of bags while waiting for their dog school bus The video has amassed over 2 2 million views and more than 71,000 likes in just one day and still counting More than 6,500 users have retweeted the post and numerous have swamped the comment area with their heartwarming remarks (Agency)

‘False narratives are tearing our city apart’

Hersh Thaker I w as born and g rew up in Leicester, and m y family have liv ed here for over 3 0 years Wh en my parents first arriv ed in th is co untry, L eicester w as a sanctu ary It was a place th ey cou ld cele brate and be p roud of wh o they w ere w hilst also integrating into the country they had decided to call home We hav e liv ed along side p eop le from all faith groups in the comm unity for d ecades, and it is this m ulti ethnic div ersity with shared respect that makes has made the city so g reat P arts of this com munity are now liv ing in fear and being blamed for creating hate th ey them selv es are v ictim s o f

The recent troubles in Leicester result ed from a breakdown in law and order and were amplified by politically motivated groups from inside and outside Leicester, using social media to stir up hatred These troubles have nothing to do with Hindutva, the RSS or Indian politics Blaming Modi or India for these incidents on the streets of Leicester is not only lazy but feeds into a dangerous trope and malicious narrative to create a division that would otherwise not exist As Charlotte Littlewood, a former counter extremism coordinator for the UK government and current research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, quoted in a Times Now interview, "This particular instance is an attack on a young group of Hindu males that have nothing to do with Hindu national extremism or terrorism "

There are, of course, problems we need to address On the one hand, like many other cities, we have local, sometimes terri torial tensions and ongoing anti social behaviour But on the other, and altogether different, we have external forces mali ciously using our city as a backdrop for their manipulation By projecting a divisive narrative, they victimise one community and stir up hatred against the other Ultimately, this has pitted one community over another Breakdo wn in lo cal co mmunity cohesion

There are certainly some tensions in pockets of the city caused by the arrival of new communities They have settled into areas where they have not been welcomed, and this has caused some issues between the settled communities and recent arrivals from India Those that have arrived in the city are culturally different to those migrants of my parent's generations who had more in common with other Muslim Gujaratis and Pakistanis Over the years, this has caused clashes in culture and brew ing tensions that ultimately led to a break down in law and order

The group of young men who walked down Green Lane Road did not do so out of any sense of Hindu nationalism The BJP has been in power in India for over eight years Why would these young men choose a random backstreet in the middle of September in Leicester to “ rise up ”? Although I don’t condone it and under stand its provocative nature, they felt they had no other option but to stand up for their families and friends who they saw being driven out of the area There are doc umented reports of Hindu families being attacked over several nights leading up to the troubles They had their front doors kicked in, vehicles damaged, and family members attacked When you hear about

recent waves of immigration that are exporting “Hindu Nationalism” from India, it is these communities they’re referring to They are not extremists They are some of the victims, and most of them wouldn’t know who or what the “RSS” is In fact, many do not even identify as Hindu For example, Amos Noronha, one of the young men charged, was wrongfully identified by 5Pillars, a Muslim focused media platform, as Hindu when in fact is Roman Catholic

So the original issue here is not a com munal conflict between Hindus and Muslims By painting a broad brush Hinduphobic narrative for troubles in Leicester, you ’ re appeasing a divisive agen da and ignoring the root cause, which is to maintain law and order and dialogue between the local communities to respect each other's way of life

Dangerous forces attempting to further their ag enda of d ivision th roug h Leicester

It's been disappointing to see mass media allowing an agenda driven narrative to spread, which lays the blame on a single community All of a sudden, Hindus feel that they have a target on their back and anyone that shows any reverence towards India or their own religion is a ‘Hindutva’ follower, thereby a target This incorrect, irresponsible, and incredibly dangerous trope has validated extremists in spreading hate, fake news and inciting violence

The young Muslim men that have aggressively taken to the streets are victims too They are victims of a misinformation campaign that is using them as cannon fod der to confront a threat of “Hindutva”, something that they can’t describe or have ever experienced but are being convinced on social media is real One of the young men charged so far told the magistrates that he had been “influenced by social media” about events near where he lived, which “upset” him Impressionable young men are being whipped into a frenzy under a false pretence of protecting their commu nity How else do you explain the attacks on places of worship in Leicester and Birmingham?

These toxic and coordinated narratives are dangerous, and we should be concerned about how quickly and coordinated the fake news about supposed attacks on Muslim communities was deliberately spread on social media The more we allow this false narrative to spread without a crit ical lens, the greater the danger of radicali sation of people that feel under attack and unprotected

Ultimately, the victims here are the families that are scared to live in their homes, visit their temples or continue their daily lives in Leicester and the young angry men who are in danger of throwing their lives away over a false narrative that is con vincing them they are under attack from a threat that doesn’t exist This is where we must now turn our attention, and I expect the independent investigation announced by the City Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, will corroborate

Leicester has been and will continue to be a beacon of multiculturalism, but if this incident has taught us anything, it is that community cohesion is something we need to continue to work on actively, and we need to be more conscious of outside forces that try and divide us and spread hateful narratives

Navin Shah CBE

The UK is a beacon of unity with a strong bond between c om m un i t i es of di f f e re n t f a i th s , b ac k g ro un ds a n d h er i t ag e S o, to s ee t he clashes in Birmingham and E ast Leic es ter is sickening

We must collectively do everything within our means to diffuse the ten sion and maintain the spirit of harmony and respect for all faiths and communities United we are stronger In a statement, Navin Shah CBE, Former Chair of London Assembly; Former Elected Member of London Assembly & Harrow Council Community Activist said, “I’m gutted by the reports of disorder and communal clashes in areas of East Leicester and Birmingham (Smethwick) and extremely worrying are the reports about people coming from outside the county (Leicester) to stir up trouble and violence This has heightened concerns locally and in wider com munities I find a video cir culating showing a man pulling off a flag outside the

Zero tolerance against communal clashes in Leicester-Birmingham

temple on Melton Road, Leicester disgusting There can never be any reason or excuse for such hatred and I totally condemn it

“This is the time to reflect and not retaliate because flaming the fires will do no good It’s time for reassurance, calming the raw emotions and diffusing the situation It’s time for diplomacy and multiagency work to restore order and the sense of oneness I see this as a collective respon sibility and therefore”

1.Urge the Home Secretary to do every thing in her power to immediately restore order and peace in the areas affected and provide ade quate resources to stop such communal clashes and bring about community cohesion

2.Ask local Executive Mayors / Local Authorities and Police to take control of their locali ties and ensure that their own communities and faith groups are reassured and protected from disorder

3.Ask local residents and stakeholders to write to their local MPs to put pres

sure on Home Secretary and public bodies for appropriate measures to restore peace for now and for the future

4.Ask community and faith groups to work in the spirit of solidarity and not allow the external agents/bodies, divisive influences from individuals and extremist agencies to damage our unity that is so vital for peace and progress

5.Ask Faith Groups, Trustees of places of worship to be vigilant and seek and even demand sup port from authorities for the safety of premises and congregation at all times

“We do not have the luxury of time With Navratri celebrations underway and Diwali on the horizon, immediate measures are vital I have written to Home Secretary to act now to protect our multi cultural multi faith communities I will contin ue my work to help main tain community cohesion for which we have spent decades as we cannot risk that being affected in any shape or form

Initially the story was reported under the headline

Queen Elizabeth

A statement was issued from Khan’s office saying he was happy to support the royals in what they wished, which “includes using the fourth plinth if that is the royal family’s preference”

There has been no indication that the royals have asked that the plinth be used for a statue

Square’s fourth plinth, rules Sadiq Khan”, was printed despite a statement saying this was not the case

statue

Though the headline was later amended, the idea of Khan supposedly blocking the statue was picked up by a series of news out lets, and it trended on social media

Sadiq Khan subjected to social media hatred over “false” statement

Roopa Pai talks about 'The Gita for Children'

Shefali Saxena

Roopa Pai is a computer engi neer who always knew she was going to write for children In addition to Taranauts, India’s first fantasy adventure series for children, she has several other published books to her credit, in cl uding The Ved as a nd U pan is had s for Child ren To make a living, she brings togeth er three other loves history, working with young people and her home town in Bangalore in her day job as a guide with Bangalore Walks, a history and heritage walks & tours company

Why do you think The Gita is still relevant to the community?

The Gita is the account of a conversation that happens in a battlefield, between a great warrior overcome by despair about the killing he is about to wreak, and his best friend, who is also his chario teer This scene seems diffi cult to transpose to a more modern age, but when you realise that the Gita’s battle field is only a metaphor for the battlefield of our minds, and that the warrior and his wise friend are only symbols of our confused lower self and clear thinking higher self, the conversation becomes not only deeply significant but also universally relevant What part of The Gita according to you is the most important and why?

As I see it, the Gita is a self help book, one of the oldest in the world and perhaps the most pragmatic The crux of its teaching Do your duty with no expectations as to the result is remarkable because it is so entirely at odds with the prevailing wisdom of our time, which celebrates goal setting and goal achievement According to the Gita, the key to liberation is to be so absorbed in the joy of the work that the out come matters not a whit That idea instantly kills all the pressure that a relentlessly com

petitive world dumps on chil dren To my mind, therefore, this is the most important teaching Why do you think children must read the book?

When you take the frills away, the Gita is really a conver sation between two best friends

There is love there, but also tough love, as when Krishna chal lenges Arjuna’s decision to walk away from his duty Although Krishna offers a patient ear and good advice, he never presumes to tell Arjuna what he must do; instead, he urges him to trust himself and make his own choices There is so much here that children can learn about healthy relationships! On another note, when children engage with an ancient text and find that the problems it is addressing are problems they themselves are grappling with, a sense of con nection with all humanity is established; they feel less alone

How did you condense a classic manuscript into a book? What are the challenges?

Fortunately, the Gita’s lessons are very relatable, so I did not have too much trouble bringing them to children

The real challenge was to con vert the traditional verse by verse exposition, which can sometimes feel disconnected, into a ‘story’ that could engage children I was also very keen that young readers never lost sight of the fact that they were reading an ancient, revered text, so my language when I was retelling it had to be suitably classic, without becoming inaccessible To bring in lightness, I used a conversational tone and contempo rary language in the ‘Lessons from the Gita’ sections that I interspersed with the main sections

The Gita for Children is published by Swift Press on Diwali (24th October) To pre order your copy, follow this link and click on ‘buy’: https://swiftpress com/book/the gita for children/

Leading women in tech urge schoolgirls to take on the UK's flagship cyber security contest

Some of the country’s leading women in the tech industry today urged schoolgirls to put their skills to the test in the UK’s flagship cyber security competition

The call came on the day registration opened for the CyberFirst Girls Competition 2023, where they will be able to try their hand at cracking codes, decrypting messages and solving coding puzzles

The annual competition is run by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) a part of GCHQ and aims to introduce girls aged 12 and 13 to cyber security, with the ulti mate goal of increasing diversity in the industry

With women making up just 16% of the UK’s cyber security workforce, a number of female leaders in tech urged the next gener ation to enter the competition and see where it leads them

In their teams the girls tackle fun and challenging puzzles, covering topics from cryptography to AI to logic, in a bid to see off rivals and develop cyber skills The highest scoring teams will go through to one of 13 finals held across the UK as part of a coun try wide celebration of the next generation of cyber talent

Special individual and team prizes are also up for grabs and considered eligibility rules aim to rally more schools to register even if they have little cyber experience

The qualifying round opens at noon on Monday 21st November and runs until Wednesday 30th November The top teams will then compete at finals held simultane ously on Saturday 4th February in 13 loca tions, with one held in each of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and in English regions

Girls in Year 8 in England and Wales, S2 in Scotland, and Year 9 in Northern Ireland are encouraged to enter the contest in teams of up to four A teacher at their school or a school guardian must act as their mentor and register them via the NCSC website

Independent schools are also required to provide details of two non selective state schools that they have encouraged to regis ter, to help the contest reach more girls from more diverse backgrounds Following the introduction of this initiative last year, state schools that had never entered the contest before made up more than 25% of the total number taking part in the 2022 competition: an increase on the 2021 competition

Tips to help you sleep during the menopause

W om en s tr uggl in g to s le ep durin g the menopause are being offered tips to help get a better quality of sleep October is menopause awareness month and the furniture experts at Online Bedrooms co uk have researched tips to help women experiencing menopause get a better night's sleep

Insomnia is a common symptom of menopause and many women going through this period of life experience disrupted sleep due to symp toms like hot flashes

Women's Aid releases new research on how UK public attitudes 'tolerate' domestic abuse

More than a third of UK adults believe domestic abuse is not a reflection of wider society, and instead a case of perpetrators being just ‘bad peo ple’, according to research published by Women’s Aid

Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women’s Aid, said: “This research shows many people are aware of domestic abuse and the harm it causes, but also illustrates how societal sexism and victim blaming enables and excuses domestic abuse Shockingly, however, many adults do not view societal views as harmful in this way

“To challenge this, individuals, communities and more must come together to raise awareness and increase understanding of the societal norms underpinning abuse This must start with educa tion about healthy relationships and include train ing of professionals who may come into contact with domestic abuse survivors We must all chal lenge the everyday sexism and misogyny in society, which is the root of all violence against women Women’s Aid is calling on everyone to play their part until domestic abuse is entirely intolerable ”

In July 2022, the charity launched its Come Together to End Domestic Abuse campaign ahead of their 50th birthday in 2024 The campaign emphasises that everyone has a role to play to end domestic abuse and make it intolerable in society

As part of the campaign, Women’s Aid issued a

Wearing lighter clothing and exercising regularly are a couple of things that can help make the night feel more comfort able and less overwhelm ing Nic Shacklock from Online Bedrooms said: “Menopausal and peri menopausal symptoms can be debilitating for women

survey to determine UK adults’ attitudes to domes tic abuse and to better understand where and why domestic abuse is ‘tolerated’ in our society

UK adults were more likely to report that the man ’ s behaviour is extremely wrong and that it caused the wife a great deal of harm in a scenario of physical abuse (71%) compared to a scenario of sex ual abuse (60%)

The majority (59%) of UK adults believe that a man checking his wife’s bank statements and not allowing her to check his is extremely wrong While less than half (46%) of UK adults believe that the husband checking his wife’s clothes before she goes to the gym is extremely wrong

A much greater proportion of the population believe that a man sharing explicit images of a part ner is extremely wrong (84%) compared to a sce nario where a husband repeatedly criticises his wife (49%)

When responding to a scenario of marital rape, 67% of respondents said the husband’s behaviour was extremely wrong This dropped to 55%, howev er, when the scenario changed to one where the wife had initiated the sexual contact before chang ing her mind The research shows the impact or harm of particular types of abuse, notably sexual abuse and control, are downplayed It is also appar ent that the impact of men ’ s actions, for some peo ple, is used to excuse abusive behaviour

“Getting a good night's sleep is essential for general health and wellbeing but during menopause, sleep can become disrupted We’ve put together a few tips which may help including establishing a sleep schedule, avoiding spicy food and keeping the room cool ”

Tips to help you sl ee p during the menopause:

1 Try to follow a regular sleeping schedule It won’t fix all of your problems, but going to bed and waking up at the same time each day will give your body a bit more of a routine which will hopefully regulate your sleeping pattern

2 W ear loos er an d l ighte r cl othing t o bed

A lot of women experi

encing the menopause have hot flashes which can make it extremely difficult to sleep Wearing looser and lighter cloth ing can help make hot flashes experi enced at night feel a little less over

whelming

3 Try to avoid spicy foods

If you do find yourself experiencing hot flashes then you may want to lay off spicy foods These can be a trigger for sweating and could be a contributing factor to extreme hot flashes

4 Exercise Exercise is known for helping improve people's sleep Past studies have even shown that regular exercise has helped insomnia patients achieve a better quali ty of sleep so it’s worth fitting into your schedule if you can, this can be as little as a 30 minute walk

5 Avoid any kind of caffeine well before bed

Try to avoid having cups of tea, coffee and hot chocolate in the evenings, these could be keeping you awake It’s actually believed that caffeine can take up to eight hours to leave your body These are also known to trigger hot flashes which is another reason to stay away from them

6 Keep your bedroom cool One way to try and ease the feeling of hot flashes is to set up a cool environ ment Open the windows before bed time and get some air flowing through your room If you ’ re really serious about keeping your room cool you could even invest in a small portable air condition ing unit

7 Talk to a doctor

If a lack of sleep is affecting your day to day life then consider talking to a doctor who will be able to provide you with some medical help

Roopai Pai with her pet dog Chetana

UK Hindu Community conducts a mega ‘Bhajan’ event in Wembley

Rajja Rajagopalan

A lthoug h u nd esirable skirm ishes of vandal ism at the Hindu shrines across the U K do h app en som etimes, thanks to the fairness and equality prevailing in ou r country, th e U K Hindu comm unity is unfailing in bring ing joy to all thro ugh colou rful festivities and ev ents, show ing unity, w ithou t any bias o r prejud ice

world towards harmony

Bhagavathars are those who dedicate their lives to promoting such traditional singing of the divine names of God (“Pracheena Sampradaya Bhajan”) They are among the pillars of promoting the univer sality of Santayana Dharma SRMKM UK is blessed with the associa tion of the stalwart among the contempo rary Bhagavathars in India, namely Udaiyalur Dr Kalyanaraman and his team of great reputation Udaiyalur Dr Kalyanaraman and team are widely known

British pianist Rekesh Chauhan appointed as Future Talent's latest Amabassador

F u tu re T al ent, co f o un d ed in 200 4 by HRH The Duchess of Kent and Nicholas Robinson, h as appointed British pianist Rekesh C h a u h an a s th e ir l ate s t A mbassador

The charity identifies and supports the best young talent in music from low income back grounds across the UK, provid ing them with financial support and unique workshops, mentor ing and performance opportuni ties

Chauhan, will join Sting, Sheku Kanneh Mason MBE and Dame Judi Dench amongst their string of ambassadors to support the work of the charity

Chauhan says: “By empower ing young musicians we can unleash their potential and enable them to become catalysts to pass on the gift of music to future generations I am delight ed to be joining hands with Future Talent and their vision ary Trustees, as Ambassador, to advocate this crucial vision ”

Future Talent Chairman, Nick Robinson, said: " we are very excited to welcome Rekesh as a new Ambassador for Future Talent He is a brilliant role model for aspiring young musicians, and we look forward to the posi tive impact and contribution he will make to our mission "

Sh ri Radh a Madh av a Kalyana M ah otsav ( SRM KM U K), a registered charity in the UK is doing exactly that, year after year, bringing a large Diaspora of the Indian community across UK, generating a great buzz and inter est among them and festive cheers

The recent mega event S h ri R ad h a M ad hav Kalyana M aho tsav 2022 conducted at “Sattavis Patidar Centre, Wembley” on 17th and 18th September 2022 bears the tes

across the world for their dedication and stewardship In the UK, they have been the conductors of the program year on a year working closely with the SRMKUK trustees, the many volunteers of the community and the sponsors who make generous support Interestingly, prior to the two days of the main event, the charity SRMKMUK usually plans and executes a number of pre events across England in order to promote and involve many from the community This year, SRMKM UK has included several places like Oxford, Birmingham, Manchester, Milton Keynes and London for such pre events during the first two weeks of September 2022

timony to this, bringing the infectious zeal and commitment from more than 1500 partici pants, coming across various parts of UK, USA and India, both young and old, totally losing themselves in joy of music, dance and sumptuous feast, even served on traditional banana leaf, the hallmark of the ecologically savvy South Indian tradition

The event was streamed live on YouTube, reaching many thousands of peo ple across the world Outside India, it is the UK that is demonstrating year after year the making of such a mega event of this sort, bringing the age old tradition of India with the modernity of our times

With the UK inaugural event in the year 2018, and the follow up which was an even more grandeur event in the year 2019, the UK has set the trend and created expecta tions from the UK Hindu Community Although the Covid 19 pandemic forced a pause for the last two years, it has fueled far greater interest for the third mega event in 2022 and the resolve to continue year on year

Shri Radha Madhav Kalyana Mahotsav is the enactment of the divine matrimony of Radha, the yearning devotee to her beseech ing bliss of divinity Lord Krishna The divine love between them and their mutual longing to get together have been the subject of var ious great Seers and Poets, notably of Sri Jayadeva By orchestrating hundreds of such beautiful verses in many languages of India, composed by many Seers, the Bhagavatars conduct divine matrimony, inviting all participants to assume the role of Radha and to seek the divine experience of union with God The symbolic wedding is just that, to convey that the perpetual pur suit of each soul, the individual conscious ness or ‘Jivatama’ is to attain fulfilment by becoming one with the universal conscious ness, the ‘Paramatma’ This core truth of Veda, the scriptures of Hinduism, is the basis on which many popular dictums like “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (The World is one Family) and ‘Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah”, (May all be happy) are taught to steer the

As the schedule of this year's SRMKM event coincided with the mourning of Her Majesty, the Queen, who has reached the divine abode of the Lord, leav ing behind a legacy of a dignified and honourable life, SRMKM UK organizers and all partici pants at the start of the events dutifully paid respects and trib utes to Her Majesty the Queen May Her soul rest in peace! May our country prosper and continue to be the beacon of democracy, fairness, and harmony among all communities

South Asian women are one of the least likely groups to self-check for breast cancers

Research carried out for The Estée L aud er

C ompanies UK & Ireland’ s Breast C ancer C amp aig n has rev ealed South Asian wom en are one of th e top th ree d em ograph ic g rou ps to no t check for signs of breast cancer, with 63% of Sou th A sian wo men not checking reg ularly 1

This October marks the 30th anniversary of The Estée Lauder Companies’ (ELC) Breast Cancer Campaign Whilst great strides have been made in breast cancer awareness over the last three decades, the research demonstrates more needs to be done to increase self checking rates

The study of women (aged 18 80) in the UK reveals over a fifth (21%) of South Asian women said they fear their community or family would judge them if they found out they were regularly checking their breasts As well as this 12% don’t self check because they feel there is a stigma around acknowl edging or speaking of the subject, and 10% are too embarrassed to self check

Mint unveils King Charles III's coins

M e a n w h i l e , currency featur ing King Charles and the Queen will be used for many years as the Royal Mint will not take exist ing coins out of circulation Coins typically last 20 years, with about 27bn in cir culation

ELC UK and Ireland’s Breast Cancer Campaign has appoint ed new Ambassadors to help spread awareness amongst under repre sented communities of the importance of reg ular self checking, this includes Breast Cancer Warrior Kreena Dhiman

surprise me that 63% of South Asians are not self checking regularly enough and that a fifth are not regularly self checking due to lack of education from older female rela tives Breast cancer knowledge is not passed

In the next few months, the coins will enter circulation and will feature two new por traits of Queen Elizabeth II on the reverse to commemorate her reign

The King has personally approved the portrait with his image facing left, unlike that of his mother, which faced right

"It is a privilege to sculpt the first official effigy of His Majesty and to receive his per sonal approval for the design, said Martin Jennings," Designer of the King's coin portrait

For more than 1,100 years, the Royal Mint has made coins for the royal family, with each monarch featured since Alfred the Great

Dr Kevin Clancy, Director of the Royal Mint Museum, said: "Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has graced more coins than any other British monarch in a reign that lasted for 70 years As we move from the Elizabethan to the Carolean era it represents the biggest change to Britain's coinage in decades, and the first time that many people will have seen a differ ent effigy

Kreena Dhiman, breast cancer warrior and UK & Ireland Ambassador for The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign, commented: “As South Asians, we find it uncomfortable to have conversations around breast cancer aware ness because we rarely share our fears and vul nerabilities Many of our families are immi grants who have seen real hardship in life Despite that, as a com munity many South Asians have huge suc cess stories and there's a perception that a can cer diagnosis could dis turb that It doesn’t

down in the family Typically, we are a com munity that doesn t share our fears, strug gles or concerns We need to change that behaviour so that everybody feels confident to own their breast health ”

To better understand the barriers these women face, ELC UK & Ireland’s Breast Cancer Campaign worked with their new Ambassadors, including Kreena, to conduct a series of focus groups 2 The insights and corresponding research suggest cultural stig ma is a key reason as to why self checking rates are low in some communities

The research uncovered that representa tion is a key factor as to why women think breast cancer won’t affect them, with more than a quarter (27%) saying they never see anyone who looks like them in awareness campaigns In addition, 26% would like to see a year round focus on the importance of breast cancer, and 22% would like to be reminded to check throughout the year

The research also found over a quarter (27%) of women think men should be clued up and know the different signs of breast cancer so they can help spot it What’s more, 30% agree that teaching young adults about the importance of self checking should be compulsory within schools and universities

The ELC UK & Ireland’s Breast Cancer Campaign has partnered with Breast Cancer Now to create a self check leaflet that illus trates the signs and symptoms to look out for when checking your breasts

The Campaign’s mission to help create a breast cancer free world for all has remained steadfast since its launch 30 years ago Together, The Campaign and The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation (ELCCF) have funded more than $108 mil lion (approx £100 million) globally for life saving research, education and medical ser vices and more than $86 million (approx £80 million) towards funding medical research grants through the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) Founded in 1993 by Evelyn H Lauder, BCRF is dedicated to advancing the world’s most promising medi cal research

Indian community comes together to celebrate Navratri and Durga Puja in the UK

H un dr e ds of In d ian s ha v e b e e n ga t h e r i n g e v e r y da y a cross the UK t o cele brat e N av r at ri , on e of t he mo st sacred and popul ar fest iv als in the Hindu ca lenda r Navratri celebrates Ma Durga and her manifesta tions for 9 days in a huge car nival, where mostly the West and North Indian communi ties are seen dancing in cir cles around a murti (idol) or photo of the Goddess to observe this festival Some people also fast and maintain a special diet

Gujaratis from the Kutch region of Gujarat were seen celebrating Navratri in London, where even the police joined them to dance to the beat of Garba

Nearly 5000 cele brating Navratri organ ised by Shree Kutch Leva Patel Community (UK) saw leaders including the High Commissioner of India to the UK, HE Vikram Doraiswami with wife join ing the community spirit

Rejoicing the spirit of the celebration, Pravin Arjan, a committee member for Navratri Festival Association Manchester reportedly told the ITV News, "For me, it's about togetherness and har mony in the community

"Some of these people you don't see all year, and then when you meet them on the first day of Navratri it s always hugs and hand shakes

"It's such a wonderful period to see all the people

Durga p uja p arikrama London never falls short of the biggest Bengali celebration of Durga puja, with an increasing diaspora every passing year Today, in London alone we have more than 30 such Pujas in every nook and corner Bengali association Indian Bengalis in UK (IBUK) organised a ‘Puja Parikrama’, helping people to visit different pujas in chartered buses, in the essence of Kolkata’s

from all different back grounds all blending in and as one

People are from the Northwest, so Manchester, Bolton and the surrounding areas But then you get peo ple coming far as Bradford, Leeds

"We've got one lady this

year who's come from Portugal She's especially come for the festival from Portugal "

Similarly hundreds of people gathered at Leicester’s Platinum Suite on Friday evening (October 1), to take part in the colourful festivities put on by Music Arts

“It’s been nice to see a lot of familiar faces as well,” organiser Meera Majithia told the Leicester Times

“Due to the pandemic, it was the first time the event had been held in two years, making it extra special

“We have been organis ing the event for 27 years, so actually that break was a pretty big deal for us, so it’s extra special because it’s the first year we ’ re back ”

Other celebrations for Navratri are taking place at community centres and tem ples in and around Leicester, including those at the Peepul Centre and Scraptoft Lodge Farm

A ‘Disco Dandia’ event on Saturday night (October 9), will be complete with lights, a disco ball and lots of Bollywood music

Gandhi @ 153: High Commissioner leads the day

and a value that remains univer sal,” HC Doraiswami said The ceremony concluded with a Buddhist prayer for peace, con ducted by monks at the foot of the bronze statue of

famous ‘ pandal hopping’ practice

IBUK arranged 3 buses for West London which ran on 1 October, one for East London and another for the Midlands (Birmingham) which ran on 2 October, a

total of 5 buses to accom modate the outpour of enthusiasm among the community for this one of a kind venture

IBUK is a non profit organisa tion founded in 2015, trying to provide Bengalis with a flavour of home, far away from home

The West London buses, led by Dalia, Rhea, Anwesha and Shrabanti covered Pujas from Hounslow in London to Reading in Berkshire, further west out of London

The eastern avatar led by Dalia and Tanumoy started

from Stratford, via Orpington, Swanley and ran until Ilford before calling it a day for the super enthusi astic crowd

The Birmingham bus led by Saikat covered all 5 pujas that happen in that city Sandeep from Leicester remotely helped with the smooth execution of the Birmingham parikrama Lunch and dinner were pro vided by the Puja organis ers

Every year IBUK also publishes a Durga Puja map https://www indianbengal isinuk net/durga puja map which helps thousands of NRIs find their nearest puja in the UK and plan accord ingly

historic statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Tavistock Square in London

“His life was one that was lived in simplicity, in strife and in an effort to bring out from each of us the best that we could be the more we engage with it, the more we realise that his message contained wisdom

F irst ever ‘ Nabapatrika Snan’ in the U K Bengal Heritage Foundation celebrated one of the biggest Durga Puja in Europe London Sharad Utsav (LSU) with more than 12,000 people joining over 4 days Set at the his toric Ealing Town Hall, the Puja brought together a unique milieu of tradition and trend, ensuring adher ence to ceremonial rituals while creating an atmo sphere of celebration of art, music, food, and fun

Mahatma Gandhi, famously seated in prayer and medi tation India League president Alpesh Patel said, “Generations to come will scarcely believe that one such as this of flesh and blood ever walked this earth: those were the words of Albert Einstein Consider

that the greatest mind in the western civilisation held in awe and wonder ment the greatest that my civilisation had ever pro duced Consider also the values he represents at this most dangerous time in the world We have a man whose values transcended countries and religions ”

The puja’s theme this year was ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’, keeping up with spirit of India’s 75th year of Independence and it also reflected on the decor of Ealing Townhall having touch of tricolour in various places and in the cultural programmes

This year, London Sharad Utsav also intro duced a unique “Nabapatrika Snan” on the banks of the river Thames, done first time in the UK

Nabapatrika is formed by bundling nine different plants

After that it is given a ceremonial bath mostly in a river, wrapped with a red or orange coloured cloth and then installed on a wood en seat on the right side of Goddess Durga

However, the most his toric moment for LSU's puja this year was the first ever visit by the High Commissioner of India, Vikram Doraiswami and High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Saida Muna Tasneem They came together on same stage together, inaugurating London Sharad Utsav s Durga Puja

Vikram Doraiswami, High Commissioner of India in UK said, “Bengal

Heritage Foundation had both the HCs from India and Bangladesh together reminding the world of the friendship between India and Bangladesh Durga puja is an occasion of shared joy "

“Durga Puja has always been a special festival for me

since childhood and I have such fond memories It has been a pleasure spending sometime here with the BHF organisers and hearing from them about their expe riences in organising this festival beautifully,” said

Saida Muna Tasneem, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh

I

on the 153rd birth

HE Vikram Doraiswami the new High Commissioner of India to the UK MPs Peers Councillors Indian commu nity leaders and members paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at his statue in Tavistock Square Mahatma’s favourite hymns and bhajans were sung and his life, which was his message, remembered afresh

Navratri by Shree Kutch Leva Patel Community (UK)

Vikram Doraiswami High Commissioner of India to the UK with wife at SKLPC Navratri

IBUK Puja Parikrama in Birmingham

High Commissioner of India to the UK with wife at SKLPC Navratri Durga Puja by Adda Slough

Durga Puja by Royal Berkshire Bengali Association in Slough

Vikram Doraiswami the Indian High Commissioner to the UK with wife, lighting a ceremonial lamp at LSU's Durga Puja in Ealing Town Hall alongside Saida Muna Tasneem, the Bangladeshi High Commissioner to the UK

LSU Durga Puja in Ealing Town Hall

Durga Puja in Orpington by Utsab

Leader's Voice

Meet Navita Yadav, Managing Director and Global Head of Capital Markets for Vistra Group

One needs to stay on top of developments and respond with speed and effectiveness to be a market leader. Whilst one needs to evolve you also need to balance this with core values of your business.

Q: What can young aspirants learn from you?

A: London as a market is a great place for young people. Two things they have to do: learn to communicate well and get a mentor. Getting a mentor is one of the best ways of learning from the experiences of someone you trust. Also, there are no shortcuts to success, it does involve hard work and grit. But if you are in the right direction, you will get there sooner or later. Try and gain as much exposure to different business lines in your company and different markets. Enjoy the journey.

Q: What can Londoners learn from you?

I learn everyday from this great city and its people . I think it’s not about Londoners, New Yorkers or Mumbaikers, it’s about who and what brings out the best in you. One should choose the environment accordingly. To be a well rounded personality, one must have exposure to different cultures, talent and markets.

Londoners must preserve their diversity- diversity not just of people but also of thought. Londoners must encourage more talent wherever it comes from.

Mayor of Newbury Gary Norman said, “I found it immensely enjoyable, there were great speakers, the stories were really poignant.” “The neat narrative told by the Asians from Uganda makes everyone feel good, but what about those untold stories?” said Journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. She talked about- We were not refugees.

their home. Our goal is to highlight not just the plight of the Asians but also of those left behind, those kind souls who volunteered in the UK to help the new arrivals settle into a new way of life, and those that were sent to Uganda to help the Asians leave safely and also the British people working in Uganda as Teachers etc who too were expelled with very little. We need to give them a voice too.

Beth Flintoff and Pragna Hay.

Uprooted 50 years ago Exhibition is at Greenham Control Tower, Bury’s Bank Road. Newbury. Berks RG19 8BZ and will be open till 18 December 2022. In spring 2023 the exhibition will be held in Yeovil, Somerset at the site of another resettlement camp.

She has been active in

Services space for 24 years and her specialities include Corporate Banking and Infrastructure finance, Development of Financial products for Public Debt markets, Private Equity and Private Debt asset classes, Structured Finance and Corporate Issuance for Infrastructure and Financial Services, Commercial Banking, Risk Management and Tech platforms, Regulatory frameworks and Policy interface for banking and financial sector. Vistra under her leadership in India grew to become one of the largest debt market intermediaries.

Q: London has the largest number of migrants among all regions of the UK. So how do you define the survival of the fittest theory for a leader in this scenario?

For an international leadership team, London is very often the centre of the world. The criteria for choosing your base includes proximity to markets, teams and stakeholders. It is important to be able to feel the pulse of the market and create solutions that solve the pain points of customers and the society at large. Survival of the fittest in the professional world is not about migrating, it’s about your mindset and the value you create. There are no shortcuts wherever in the world you might be.

Q: How do you define a leader?

Leadership is about creating more leaders. Leaders are about integrity, positive attitude, passion, vision, confidence, accountability, progressive mindset, stewardship, communication and empowerment. We are about what we consistently do. Leaders consistently display these qualities which is a powerful way of influencing both new leaders and followers. Leadership is not about authority, you could have zero authority but you can be a big influence in your Business or on your colleagues, even your immediate society and your environment.

Q: Is an expansion plan necessary in business?

For any leader and company, it is important to look at new markets, new products, technologies and newer solutions for clients. Everyday a business must think how they can better the lives of the customers they serve and the markets they inhabit. In financial services one can speak about a highly complex and dynamic environment, where speed is of essence.

Q: Why is the financial service industry attracting more youth?

Youth and opportunities go together. Financial services has always attracted youth due to its size and growth. A structured and safe work environment and growth opportunities across the world.

Nowadays, I see, Legal and finance are an excellent combination and attract some of the best in space. Not only youth, now the financial industry is attracting retirees and mothers at home. So, many more talented sections of the population are coming into mainstream productivity.

Q: How is the finance industry more appealing to Women?

The finance industry is the most regulated industry and was among the first to provide a safe environment for women. But the sad part is that we don’t see women at the top for a variety of reasons. Women stay at junior to mid-levels and then either disappear or trickle up. We don’t see much diversity of women in boards and executive committees even in the finance industry.

There are several reasons. One of them is, women don’t feel as confident and do not ask, so they are generally not on the shortlist. I just want to tell women that, believe in yourselves, be courageous and never give up.

Q: Lifestyle in India is far easier than in London so why did you give it up and move here?

Giving up the comforts of Mumbai, was not an easy decision; but, I like to constantly challenge myself. I chose London more because of the Central Time Zone and its access to markets. London to me, is an East meets West scenario, a melting pot of people, cultures and businesses. The world seems to be integrated here. As a Global Indian, it is a great time to celebrate India’s progress and to project India on the Global map. I don’t like to define myself as belonging to a city, but I do feel at home in London as much as I feel in Mumbai.

Q: What are the social upsides and downsides of living in London?

London is a very welcoming city. You won’t find this kind of diversity anywhere else in the world. The weather is quite neutral. The infrastructure is great. You get to meet a variety of people and can do a lot with your spare time. So, it’s great to experience life here.

The downside, I am yet to experience, I hope not!

Organiser Pragna Hay said: “August 2022 marked 50 years since plane loads of Ugandan Asians arrived in the UK after being expelled on a whim by Idi Amin. Tearing apart the lives of some 80,000 Asians who had made Uganda

The Once Upon a Time 50 Years Ago (OUT50) team is planning many more exciting events over the coming months. Current projects include a radio drama produced by RABBLE Theatre, with BBC Berkshire. Written by

An audio play “The Newcomers” will be released on BBC Berkshire on 17th October and BBC Sounds thereafter.

A total of 50 projects in Uganda during this 50th year will be done - eye clinics, schools, water wells, healthcare and Orphanage support - just to name a few.

PM Modi to visit London this Diwali?

India and the UK are confident about concluding the FTA before Diwali, and it is expected the agreement will be signed by the trade ministers in the presence of the Indian and British PMs, an official aware of developments told Hindustan Times. A final decision on the visit and logistics is expected by the first week of October, the official added, requesting anonymity.

It was further reported that Modi’s planned visit is expected to include a business roundtable with leading businesspeople. In addition to economic issues, the two sides are also expected to unveil a new arrangement for closer cooperation in defence and security, which forms one of the five pillars of the India-UK 2030 Roadmap finalised in 2021.

Commerce secretary BVR Subrahmanyam said on September 3 that the India-UK FTA is “very much on track”. He added, “Our fingers are touching…The Diwali deadline is not going to be missed. Mark my words.”

In the past, UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has made three official visits

to India as the Foreign Secretary of UK, the one in March 2022 awkwardly coincided with the presence of her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. During her India visit in March-end, Minister of External Affairs of India, S Jaishankar and Truss discussed the divergences between India and the UK on the issue of sanctions on Russia.

The British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis said, “Liz Truss will further strengthen the UK-India comprehensive strategic partnership. She knows India well and has visited 3 times in the last 18 months. She rekickstarted our trade negotiations which are now in full swing”.

Earlier this year, the UK government announced that on 29 July

2022, the Republic of India and the United Kingdom concluded the fifth round of talks for an India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Negotiation officials undertook these technical talks in a hybrid fashion – with some of the teams meeting in New Delhi, India, and the majority of officials joining virtually.

For this round of negotiations, technical experts from both sides came together for detailed draft treaty text discussions in 85 separate sessions covering 15 policy areas. Indian and UK officials will continue to work intensively throughout the summer towards our target to conclude the majority of talks on a comprehensive and balanced Free Trade Agreement by the end of October 2022.

(Photo Creadit: Raj D Bakrania)

Truss and Jaishankar in India on 31st March 2022

My friend Param Singh, co founder of the City Sikhs Network and on my City Hindus Advisory Board, was on the BBC2 Ranganation show

They asked him what he found ‘ick’ on a date ‘Ick’ means something someone does which instantly puts you off, for instance, slurping their soup, drinking tea from a saucer, burping, wiping their mouth with their sleeve, you get the idea

He joked with a straight face that for him it is some one who is financially illiterate He went on to give the example as everyone else kept laughing at his deadpan humour, ‘what would you do with £100k? Would you spend it on a depreciating asset or invest it in an income generating asset as part of a well diversified portfolio?’

His delivery was hilarious But whilst he meant it in jest, it is actually an important part of any relationship If partners diverge on their views on money then it will cause problems It’s fine if you ’ re both spenders or both savers But it’s when you ’ re divergent or selfish

So it is a very good dating question Of course on dates everyone is on best behaviour I am sure I have a friend who is going through a messy divorce with her banker ex husband who is turning out to be a total psy chopath I mention this because there is much literature on the subject that the best traders are psychos

Mental health and money worries are common place, especially with the current cost of living crisis Rows over money, especially when money is short, and if you have kids will raise stress to another level and there are spikes in domestic abuse during recessions

All financial literacy goes out of the window when a child looks up at you and asks for a toy all the other chil dren have

Of course it is important to teach children about money, prepare them for the fact mummy and daddy do not have endless supplies But it is important to prepare ourselves to understand what is an ISA or a high interest account I find places like the Money Saving Expert a good, fair place to start (I am not connected to them )

My friend, she happens to be my wife’s friend actually, asked me exactly what she should do with a lump sum in maintenance from her husband And I showed her that site for higher interest paying accounts What is surpris ing is that she is an accountant

But even those in finance do not always know all the financial products and services out there, let alone trust the person talking about them

Another good source is the resources on the Bank’s websites Such as Lloyds, Barlcays etc I saw a brilliant article from Barclays on a website about the best credit cards for accumulating airmiles I do hope they will write advertorials for a paper like this too Trusted sources of financial know how are few and far

I’ve highlighted more on my www campaignforamil lion com to educate a million people on improving their financial knowhow

Thank’s Param and Ranganation who would have thought a comedy show would bring up financial educa tion!

More rental and resale options on cards by John Lewis

John Lewis has pledged to have “buy back or take back” schemes operating in every product category by 2025 and to develop more rental and resale options as it steps up efforts to be a more sustainable business

The group, which runs Waitrose supermarkets as well as a string of department stores, will also invest £2m over the next five years to restore and protect nature in Norfolk, a key source of meat, cereal and vegetable products, and in India’s Noyyal and Bhavani river basins, where it sources cotton, under a partnership with the wildlife charity WWF

The company will encourage regeneration of species such as water vole, grey partridge and lapwing at its own farm, Leckford in Hampshire, where it will also aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural process es to net zero by 2024 That effort is part of an aim to be net zero from all the UK farms in its supply base by 2035 The ini tiatives are part of a series of new pledges for the group, which says it wants to be “bolder in protecting and restoring nature”

Marija Rompani, the director of ethics and sustainability at John Lewis, said: “Delaying action is simply not an option John Lewis has already experimented with renting out furni ture in partnership with the third party Fat Llama as well as renting out or buying back clothing and giving discounts to those who bring back beauty packaging

The latest commitments are more bold, including zero deforestation in the sourcing of key commodities

It also now wants all timber, cotton, soya, palm oil, cocoa and cashmere key raw materials to come from more sus tainable sources by 2025, and polyester, leather and human made cellulose by 2028

Talks of fresh crisis expected when BoE’s emergency bond-buying ends

The watchdogs responsible for the £1 5tn corner of the pensions sector that came cl o se to imp lo ding are h ol ding dail y tal ks wit h asset managers to stave off a fr esh cr isi s wh en t he Bank of England’s emer gency bond buying ends

The £65bn plan, which ends on October 14, was launched to safeguard the pensions sector after this week’s market turmoil sparked by chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s plans for unfunded tax cuts

Regulators have called emergency meetings under their Authorities’ Response Framework, which is trig gered by financial stability threats, people familiar with the matter said

They are concerned that when the BoE with

draws its support a bond sell off will resume, caus ing yields to rise and putting more pressure on defined benefit pension funds, which dumped gilts this week as they sought emergency collateral In the rush to raise cash, pen sion schemes have ditched stocks and bonds, with some seeking bailouts from their corporate back

Britons scammed with lifetime savings after being sold a dream

Th e gl ossy br ochu re s showed villas ove rlooking perfect white sand beaches and turquoise seas with a private airline taking own ers to their homes in exclu sive Caribbean resorts

The luxury develop ments were backed by Liverpool Football Club, international sporting stars including Gary Player and Pat Cash and the television property guru Phil Spencer For more than 8,000 British buyers, many of them elderly people who invested their pension pots, the dream of owning a piece of paradise became a

nightmare

David Ames, master mind of the Harlequin property scam, began a 12 year jail sentence yesterday after being convicted of defrauding investors who ploughed £398 million into his schemes The total value of the planned devel opments was £1 4 billion The judge said that Ames operated a “ giant Ponzi scheme” that could only be maintained by con tinuing to recruit new vic tims He sentenced Ames to consecutive jail sentences of nine years and three years

ers even after the BoE’s intervention

Daniela Russell, head of UK rates strategy at HSBC, said the BoE bond purchases were a “sticking plaster” that buys time for pension schemes “With a possible cliff edge when this is due to end the bank may consider offer ing more support,” she said Salman Ahmed, glob

al head of macro and strategic asset allocation at Fidelity International, said the BoE would have to “stay in the market longer” unless there was a change in fiscal policy

The sharp fall in the price of 30 year govern ment bonds, triggered by the recent tax cut announcement, led to unprecedented margin calls demands that they stump up more cash for defined benefit schemes

The Financial Conduct Authority, the Pensions Regulator and the Treasury declined to com ment The BoE said in a statement that the “scale and speed” of the ructions in the bond market this week far exceeded histori cal movies

Sharp jump in interest charges force some to consider selling

Soaring interest rates are piling pressure on mort gaged buy to let landlords, forcing some to consider selling properties or seek ing higher yielding homes outsid e the expen si ve region s of southe rn England Like most banks and building societies in the residen ti al mortgage market, lenders to land lord investors have with drawn hundreds of fixed rate loans in the days fol lowing last Friday’s “mini”

Budget

Nearly 40 lenders have pulled their fixed rate buy to let products since the

chancellor’s speech, according to buy to let mortgage broker Property Master Angus Stewart, chief executive, said land lords’ dwindling choices in the mortgage market “ would have a further impact on the rising cost of mortgages”

As these products return, they are expected to come with much higher interest rates to reflect rises in wholesale borrow ing costs for lenders and market expectations of future increases in the Bank of England’s main interest rate

Car dealers refuse to repay support even after huge profits

Britain’s top five car dealers

wh ich to ok, but h av e r efused to r ep ay, near l y £250 million of taxpayer funded fu rl ou gh bailo ut s dur ing t he p andemi c made pr o fit s of almo st £700 million last year

The family owned Arnold Clark, the country’s biggest car dealer, made profits of £263 million in 2021, a 68 per cent rise on the previous year, with its margins doubled from pre pandemic levels It paid the

Clark family headed by Lady Clark, 75, widow of Sir Arnold Clark, its founder £61 million in dividends The highest paid director, believed to

be Eddie Hawthorne, its chief executive, was paid £6 4 million during the year, up from £3 million in 2020, the first year of the Covid 19 pan demic when car showrooms were closed for weeks at a time Separate filings at Companies House show that Sytner, the second largest dealership group, enjoyed a 78 per cent rise in profits to £178 million in

2021 It is owned by Penske Automotive, the American group, to which it paid £82 million in dividends On top of payments Sytner made in the first year of Covid, Penske has taken £132 million in two years from its UK division

Unlike the vast majori ty of retailers, the car deal ers have refused to repay the support they received during 2020, even though they laid thousands of workers

Hedge fund launches dove to lowest level

New hedge fund launches dove in the second quarter to the lowest level since the 2008 global financial crisis, whil e fun d l iq uidat ion s spike d ac c ording t o an in dus try dat a prov id er

There were 80 hedge fund launches between April and June, down 57% from the first quarter and the lowest number of new funds since the fourth quarter of 2008, when 5 6 f und s we re launched

Another 156 hedge funds

closed their doors between April and June, 24% more liquidations than the previ ous quarter Overall, the

number of hedge funds fell to 9,237 in the second quar ter from 9,313 "Risk off senti ment drove investor risk aver sion, with investors maintaining expo sures to established funds through the current volatile market paradigm of unprecedented geopolitical and macroeconomic uncer tainty," said Kenneth J

Heinz, president of HFR, the industry data provider

The data underscores the challenges faced by the hedge fund industry in 2022 amid market turmoil, with $7 7 billion in net outflows in the first half of the year Still, hedge funds on average have outperformed the S&P 500 The HFRI fund weight ed composite index is down 4% this year through August, while the S&P plunged 17% in the same period

Modi govt working on mega $1.2 trillion plan

In I ndia, hal f of al l infrastructure projects are delayed, and one in four run over their estimated budget Prime Minis ter n are ndr a Modi believes technology is the s olution t o th es e pere nn ia l an d notor ious bottlenecks under a 100,000 trillion rupee ($1 2 trillion) mega project called PM gati Shakti Hindi for strength of speed Modi’s administration is creating a digital platform that combines 16 ministries The portal will offer investors and companies a one stop solution for design of projects, seamless approvals and easier estimation of costs

“The mission is to

implement projects without time overrun and cost overrun, ” amrit lal Meena, special secretary of logistics in the ministry of commerce and industry, said in an interview “global companies choosing India as their manufacturing center is the objective ”

Fast tracking projects will give India an advantage, especially with China still largely closed to the outside world and companies increasingly adopting a China plus one policy finding other countries to expand in or source from to diversify their businesses and supply chains asia’s third largest economy not only offers cheap labor, but also a talent pool of largely

e n g l i s h s p e a k i n g workers, even though rickety infrastructure keeps many investors away

Indeed, data on the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s website paints a picture of delayed, over budget projects, which are hurting the nation’s economic recovery in a post pandemic world In May, India had a total of 1,568 projects, out of which 721 were delayed, while 423 ran over their original cost of implementation Since coming to power in 2014, Modi has been increasing spending on infrastructure to create new jobs and bolster an economy that

was hit by an aggressive wave of Covid 19 infections He has had some early success

apple Inc now plans to begin manufacturing the iPhone 14 in India about two months after the product’s initial release out of China, while Samsung electronics Co opened the world’s largest mobile phone factory in the country in 2018 Home grown Ola electric Mobility Pvt has pledged to build the world’s biggest electric scooter factory locally

Adani Group will invest more than $100bn over next decade

a HM e Da B a D : Por ts t o powe r conglomerate, adani group will invest more than $100 billion in the next decade, according to group chairman, g auta m adani The world’s second richest person addressed the Forbes global CeO Conference in Singapore

“We will invest over $100 billion capital in the next decade as a group Of this, 70% will be in the energy transition segment We are already the world’s largest solar player and we intend to do far more, ” adani said

With interests spanning seaports, airports, green energy, cement and data centres, the combined market capitalisation of the group's listed companies is $260 billion

The group has already committed an investment of $70 billion in an integrated hydrogen based value chain The ports to energy conglomerate will add 45 gigawatt (gW) hybrid renewable power generation capacity

“This will be spread over 1 lakh

Zerodha, Ola founders richest under 40: Hurun

hectare This will lead to commercialisation of 3 million metric tonne (MT) of green hydrogen This multi fold business will see us build 3 giga factories in India We are in the process of building a10 gW silicon based photovoltaic value chain that will be backward integrated from raw silicon to solar panels, a 10 gW integrated windturbine manufacturing facil ity, and a 5 gW Hydrogen electrolyser factory,” said the 60year old business tycoon according to adani, the digital transformation seeks to benefit from energy transition adjacency He reiterated plans to build green data centres which he said will be‘a game changing differentiator’ “The Indian Data Center market is witnessing explosive growth This sector consumes more energy than any other industry in the world,” he said adani group plans to interconnect green data centers through terrestrial and globally linked undersea cables drawn at its ports and build consumer based superapps that will bring hundreds of millions of adani’s B2C consumers on a common digital platform

“We just finished building the world’s largest sustaina bility cloud that already has a hundred of our solar and wind sites running on it all off a single giant command and control center that will soon be augmented by a global aI lab These are just a few of the adjacencies that are being mainstreamed at our digital businesses at adani,” the group chairman added Calling China once a champion of globalization, the billionaire industrialist said, “I anticipate that China that was seen as the foremost champion of globalization will feel increasingly isolated Increasing nation alism, Supply Chain risk mitigation, and Technology restrictions will have an impact ” “China’s Belt and road initiative was expected to be a demonstration of its global ambitions, but the resistance now makes it challenging Its housing and credit risks are drawing comparisons with what happened to the Japanese economy during the ‘lost decade’ of the 1990s While I expect all these economies will readjust over time and bounce back the friction to the bounce back looks far harder this time,” adaniadded

E-com businesses reach new peak in India

Passing The Buck

Interesting times in the financing world Many lenders pulled their fixed rates overnight, leaving purchasers with only the option of a variable rate The reason for choosing fixed rates is to insulate the borrower from future price rises Therefore, this situation they were left in was not ideal

Many of the lenders who pulled the rates will be coming back on the market with a loaded rate, which will attempt to take into account future anticipated rises

What’s interesting is there are other lenders who did not follow suit, and used this vacuum created in the market to increase their share by filling the space It appears to be a smart move

One client we are arranging some funding for, who happens to be the owner of an estate agency, had a seasoned and mature outlook rather than panicking He knows the Central london market is especially resilient; especially, around the £1M and below mark, which is not a lot of money in this location The lender we had sourced for him increased their rates by a few decimals, he was simply going to pass this on to the seller and ask for a discount which would cover the loss over the five years and he was confident of making this happen

He also mentioned to me a deal he is selling to a hedge fund manager for £8M, based in the States, who is very happy, as he has just got a discount of about 30% due to the weakened pound

This is the interesting aspect of the london market, a weakening in one segment, brings opportunity in another This is because the foundations of the property market are strong; it has a long history and there is transparency Foreigners love the idea of owning a piece of prime london, a large part of this is due to the British empire previously owning a large chunk of the world a softening pound rekindles their interest again The borrowing interest rates don’t bother them as they tend to be mostly cash buyers another manager of a large agency in Baker Street told me if you compare the prices from 2014, there is a 48% discount compared to today’s value for an overseas dollar buyer These types of purchases are not for the faint hearted; as the cost of holding them is not cheap and requires a deep pocket

What will be interesting in the coming year will be when investors and homeowners come to remortgage They will be forced to take rates which will be 4 5 times higher than what they have been used to paying according to statistics, 40% of property owners will be looking to remortgage and will be faced with some hard decisions to make The issue is a long honeymoon period of low interest rates has made borrowers too relaxed and naïve Double digit interest rates look like a real possibility, we are just under this on non prime cases

These are interesting times There will be blood shed; but also opportunity in the times ahead

wealth of

11,100

which has now increased to rs 17,500

aggarwal, who stood second, has a wealth of rs 11,700 crore The youngest entrepreneur in the list, Hurun said, was Zepto’s Kaivalya Vohra at 19 years of age The 40 entrepreneurs in the list added rs 185,000 crore of wealth, a 12% increase over last year

e commerce sales in India jumped 35% year on year (y o y) during the first week of the festive season sales led by growth in the personal care and el ec tro ni cs segm ent, wh ich rep orted g rowth o f ov er 6 0% from the same period last year analysts had earlier predicted the gross merchandise value (gMV) of e commerce companies to touch $5 9 billion Of this, 60% had already been achieved between September 22 25, highlighting that the festive season was even “better than anticipated” on the back of robust demand Overall, the gMV of the companies this festive season, which is usually a series of sales between September and October, was expected to jump 28% jump y o y to $11 8 billion Of that, smartphones accounted for

roughly 45% of the sales during September 22 25, thanks to the expected rollout of 5g services in the country Categories like fashion, too, drove sales higher

Tier 2 and 3 cities drove a bulk of the sales and were forecast to broadly continue at the same pace “Together, Tier 2 and Tier 3 constitute almost 60% of the market share showing immense growth potential,” unicommerce said Meesho, a player dominant in the space, said it ended its sale with about 33 4 million orders, witnessing a 68% growth y o y Meesho

typically has an average order value (aOV) of around rs 300 underscoring the magnitude of the festive sale, Flipkart announced it added more than four million first time customers and saw one billion customer visits during its sale which ran from September 22 30 This festive sale was a bumper for direct to consumer companies as well lavanya Pachisia, chief operating officer, Zivame, a lingerie startup, said in an interview with Fe that the company sold about 250 products every minute through its own platform, which was 5x more than its business as usual sales, with a “ considerable” amount coming from Tier 2 and beyond cities as people begin to increasingly step out She said the company ’ s ticket size ranges between 1,500 and4,000

ne W Del HI : Tata Motors on Wednesday drove in India’s most affordable electric car Tiago mini eV at an entry price of rs 8 5 lakh (ex showroom) The company said sales of green cars will more than double this fiscal to over 50,000 cars against 19,000 units last year In states such as gujarat and Maharashtra, which offer subsidies on electrics, starting price will dip to rs 7 5 lakh, with sweeteners such as zero road tax

Tata Motors currently dominates the domestic passenger vehicles eV market with an 88% share through green variants of models such as nexon SuV and the Tigor sedan The addition of the Tiago is likely to give a big boost to its electric sales Shailesh Chandra, MD of Tata Motors’ passenger vehicles division (including electrics), said the company will be launching at least one two electric cars every year as it ramps up its green car portfolio in line with focus on sustainable mobility The Tiago eV comes strapped with two batteries that offer varying range per charge While the entry one comes with a battery pack of 19 2kWh that offers 250km, top variants (priced between rs 10 lakh and rs 11 8 lakh) carry 24kWh battery that promises a range of 315km

Suresh Vagjiani, Sow

Reap

Tata Motors offers India's most affordable EV

Narendra Modi

Gautam Adani

Move to celebrate Hindu heritage month in Canada

The Ca nad ia n H ouse of Commons has passed a unani mous resolution moved by an In do Can adian MP to ha ve November proclaimed as the Hindu H erita ge Mont h The motion is still to be debated, and pas s ed by the Se nat e, bef ore t he H indu H erita ge Month b ec omes a re al it y Sim il ar herita ge m onths a re already dedicated in Canada April is Sikh Heritage Month, May is observed as Canadian Je wish H er it age M onth a nd October as Canadian I slamic History Month

The motion was initiated in May by Chandra Arya, an MP from the ruling Liberal Party representing Nepean in the Ottawa area It also had 14 joint seconders, cutting across party lines The motion calls upon the Canadian government to “ recognise the contributions that Hindu Canadians have made to the socio economic development of Canada, and their services to the Canadian society, the richness of Hindu Heritage and its vast contribu tion to the world of arts and sci ence, from astronomy to

medicine, its culture and traditions and the importance of educat ing and reflecting upon it for the future generations in Canada by declaring November, every year, as the Hindu Heritage Month ”

Though the motion predat ed the diplomatic spat between Canada and India, it was passed a day after the Canadian Foreign Office had issued an advisory asking its citizens to avoid travelling to Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan Arya has been vocal about instances of

hate crimes and has strongly criticised instances of vandal ism at the Hindu temples in Toronto as well as the desecra tion of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi

In his closing statement, Arya hoped that the develop ment will motivate the Hindu Canadians to reach higher lev els in all spheres of society and economy

Food delivery man of Indian-origin stabbed in New York

An Indian American Uber Eats delivery person has been stabbed several times in an attack in the US by a career criminal with more than 100 arrests on his rap sheet

Bharatbhai Patel was stabbed on the Lower East Side, New York by the ex con described by police as a "super perp" The Uber Eats delivery man said that the man stabbed him without saying a word and

bystanders did nothing “Nobody helped,” Patel said “He killed me here, here, here and here,” Patel said, referring to the suspect and pointing to his wounds He speculated that the people may have been drunk Patel, 36, the married father of a 6 year old son who lives in Queens, was on Allen Street near Rivington Street when deranged suspect Sean Cooper who has 103 previous busts

'Critical' ballistic missile fired over Japan by North Korea

As speculation grows that North Korea is getting ready to test its f irs t nuc le ar we apon in f iv e years, it launched a ballistic mis sile over Japan, the fifth launch in 10 days

Japanese coast guard and South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff detected the missile and gave a prompt warning siren in northern Japan with residents advised to take shelter Train services in the northeastern Hokkaido and Aomori regions were suspended temporarily

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned what he called a “barbaric” act

According to a statement from the presidential office, South Korean President Yoon Suk yeol, warned a resolute response following the launch It was the first North Korean missile to fly over or past Japan since 2017

Both the leaders arranged emer gency meetings with their respective national security council due to missile launches by North Korea

Singapore to hire 180 junior medical professionals from India

SI N G A P O R E: Sin gap ore is pla nning to hire 180 doctors f r om In dia dur ing the ne x t three years They plan to hire 60 m e dical of f icer s a nn ual ly between 2022 and 2024, accord ing to a tender that is due to close on October 10, with the p rospe ct of e xt en din g it til l 2025

According to MOH Holdings (MOHH), a corpora tion of Singapore's public healthcare institutions,

Singapore has been hiring doc tors from outside to help with the "high workload" here and to fill its healthcare capacity requirements

By confirming the tender, the firm said it was not only recruiting doctors from India but also from Australia and Britain They are majorly look ing for candidates who graduat ed from medical schools listed that are listed under Medical Registration Act

UAE plans to establish a Metaverse office

T he Unite d Ar a b E mira te s already owns the utmost tower in the world and has undertak en a heroic Mars mission

It was stated that the UAE's economy ministry was opening a shop inside the colossal virtu al world that is presently taking shape in a project that was dis closed inside Dubai's dazzling

Museum of the Future Officials stated that anyone using virtual reality goggles or another device will see the UAE's economy ministry there It will be available for com merce with corporations and prepared to negotiate agree ments with foreign govern ments in virtual form

under his belt grabbed his e bike, the man and cops were quoted as saying by the report Patel clung to the bike and was stabbed multiple times, with the attacker then fleeing Patel was treated at Bellevue Hospital for non life threaten ing injuries Cops later arrested Cooper and charged him with assault in the brutal attack Patel said he was “surprised” by the attack, and recalled feeling pain

Law enforcement sources said Cooper, whose nickname is “Big Coop,” is so well known to police that he’s earned the moniker of “ super perp, ” the report said

Copper was most recently arrested on September 18 on grand larceny and was ordered held on USD 10,000 bail, with the judge citing, in part, his open warrants and past felony convic tions

Indian origin family of four abducted by a man armed with weapons

Los Angeles: An Indian origin family of four, including an 8 month old child, has been taken hostage from Merced County, Ca lif or nia , p olice con f ir me d and notified that the suspect is armed and considered danger ous

The police identified the victims as 8 month old Aroohi Dheri, her 27 year old mother Jasleen Kaur, her 36 year old

father Jasdeep Singh, and her 39 year old uncle Amandeep Singh

The officials released two images of a person they believe to be the abductor, describing him as having a shaved head and wearing a hoodie According to a statement from the sheriff's office, they have advised the public not to approach the vic tim or the suspect right now

Indian American wins Lifetime Achievement award

In dian origin Dr Viv ek Lall is hon our ed b y a lifet ime ac hieve men t a ward from US president Joe Biden with the cita tion of “W it h Gr ate ful Re cog nition” The award is personally signed by the pre sident of US Dr La ll works as a chief executive at General Atomics

The company is a global leader in the specialised fields of nuclear technology and has developed state of the art Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) like the Predator, Reaper and Guardian drones A son of

an Indian diplomat was one of the hand fuls of individuals with Indian origins to have been invited to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his past year Washington visit Remarkably, before his position in General Atomics, he worked at other leading organisations like Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and NASA He is serving as a US Technical Team Member to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Science and Technology (STO) with the Pentagon

in brief

KING CHARLES TO WELCOME SA PRESIDENT DURING HIS FIRST STATE VISIT

King Charles III will host South Africa s president Cyril Ramaphosa and First Lady Tshepo Motsepe in Buckingham Palace for the first state visit of his reign from 22nd to 24th November 2022 Prior to the Queen's passing in September, it is believed that the visit was only beginning to be arranged Full details will be made public in the upcoming weeks, but it will essentially involve the King and Queen Consort playing host and involves a sumptuous state luncheon

46 GIRLS AMONG 53 WERE KILLED KABUL SUICIDE ATTACK

At least 46 girls and young women were killed in a blast at the education center on last Friday The UN mission in Afghanistan informed that the death toll from bombing in Hazara neighbourhood of the Afghan capital has risen to 53 In Kabul's historically persecuted Shiite Muslim Hazara Community neighbourhood, a suicide bomber detonated himself next to female students in a gender segregated study hall A practise test for a university entrance exam was being taken by hundreds of students when the bomber exploded

80 KILLED IN US HURRICANE

Certain government officials come under fire after 80 people were killed in Hurricane Ian in the Southeast United States As floodwaters receded and search crews ventured further into initially cut off areas, it is anticipated that the dead toll would continue to rise Hundreds of people have been saved as rescuers combed through homes and structures that have been entirely washed away or submerged in water On the Gulf Coast in Lee County, which encompasses Fort Myers and Cape Coral officials have been questioned over whether they ordered evacuations in time Cecil Pendergrass chairman of the county's board of commissioners stated that when the county was predicted to be in the cone or the likely trajectory of the hurricane s centre evacuation orders were provided Pendergrass claimed that even at that point, some families decided to wait out the storm

FAKE BOMB THREAT ON FLIGHT FROM IRAN JOSTLES INDIAN JETS

The Indian Air Force (IAF) sent out fighter jets to intercept and escort an Iranian Mahan Airlines flight that was passing through Indian airspace after receiving word from the Lahore air traffic control (ATC) about a potential bomb on board the airliners After hovering for around 40 minutes, Mahan Air Flight W581 was eventually precede on its intended course to Guangzhou in China after Iranian authorities instructed their Indian counterparts to disregard the bomb alarm which was false according to officials Two Sukhoi 30 MKI fighters followed the Iranian aircraft which landed in Guangzhou and the IAF closely monitored it with radar till it exited Indian airspace

POLAND ASKS GERMANY TO PAY WARTIME DAMAGES

Poland s foreign minister Zbigniew Rau formally signed a note to Germany to pay $1 3 trillion in reparations for the harm done by Nazi German invaders during World War II The note, according to Rau, stated his opinion that the two parties should act "immediately" to deal with the consequences of Germany's 1939 1945 occupation in a "lasting and complicated contractually enforceable as well as material way " Poland's government released a thorough assessment on the war's damages on September 1 the 83rd anniversary of the World War II and put the cost at USD 1 3 trillion

Dr Vivek Lall

in brief

TOP DIPLOMATS HOLD A PEACE TALKS

Foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia have held peace talks in Geneva according to the officials of Baku and Yerevan the recent clashes between arch enemies Last month at least 286 people were killed on the both sides before the US brokered truce ended It is one of the worst clashes since 2020 war of the Caucasus neighbours In the 2020 and 1990s, Baku and Yerevan engaged in conflicts over the disputed Nagorno Karabakh area, an enclave of Azerbaijan that is home to a significant Armenian population Jeyhun Bayramov of Azerbaijan and foreign minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan met on Sunday in Geneva to "start preparing the text of the peace treaty," according to the foreign ministry in Baku

INDIA CONDEMNS

VANDALISM AT BHAGVAD GITA PARK

India condemned the hate crime against the Hindu community at the park in Canada that was named after Hindu holy book Bhagvad Gita The Indian High Commission in Canada released a statement condemning the alleged vandalism of a signboard at the Brampton Park Later Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown clarified in a tweet by saying the reports of vandalism of recently unveiled Shri Bhagvad Gita Park; they took swift action to investigate further They discovered that the allegedly empty sign was really a temporary stand in until the permanent Shri Bhagavad Gita Park sign could be set up

SWEDISH SCIENTIST WINS NOBEL PRIZE IN MEDICINE

Sweden’s Svante Paabo wins 2022 Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology for the discovery that concerns about the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution Son of the Nobel Prize winner biochemist Sune Bergström, Paabo has been recognized for transforming the study of human origins after developing approaches to allow for the examination of DNA series from paleontological and archaeological remnants His most notable accomplishments include sequencing the whole genome of a Neanderthal to show the connection between extinct people and present humans From a 40,000 year old finger bone fragment found in Siberia, he also revealed the existence of a previously undiscovered human race known as the Denisovans

KIM K SUED FOR $1 26 MN FINE

Reality Star of “Keeping up with Kardashians”, Kim Kardashian is reportedly agreed to pay the fine of $1 26 mn for advertising EthereumMax on her Instagram page Kardashian, boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr, basketball player Paul Pierce and EthereumMax s creators were sued by investors in January The official action alleged they had worked together to deceptively sell and promote the cryptocurrency in a "Pump and Dump" scheme planned to inflate the price before selling to investors The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stated reality TV star had received $250,000 for advertising the cryptocurrency, without revealing she had been paid to do so She agreed not to endorse crypto asset securities for three years Kim K’s lawyer stated that "Ms Kardashian is pleased to have resolved this matter with the SEC ” They also said that from the beginning Kardashian fully complied with the SEC's requests, and she has expressed a continued willingness to help the SEC in this matter in any way possible

India, US tighten embrace despite differences on Russia

W A S H I N G T O N : A m er ic an disquiet over New Delh i’s con ti nu ed arm s an d en erg y ti es w ith Rus sia and I nd ia’ s co n cerns o ver Wash ington’s F 1 6 s us ta i nm e nt p r o g ram w it h Pakistan will not hold back the tw o countries fro m furth er ele vating th eir bilateral ties and bringing “clo se ties ev en closer,” top officials from the two sid es said at the conclusion o f bilater al talks on Tuesd ay US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar chose to embrace the larger picture and struck an upbeat note on bilateral ties despite the airing of differences, some of which, notably on Ukraine, appeared to have nar rowed Blinken repeatedly praised

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s counsel to President Putin that “ now is not the era of war ” while welcoming India’s commitment to the UN charter, an implicit condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Jaishankar on his part indi cated that India is playing a quiet, behind the scenes role in helping defuse the crisis, partic ularlywith regards to disruption in supply of food, fuel, and fer tilizer partly at the request of Ukraine and the UN Secretary General which was majorly impacting the global south Jaishankar however pushed back sharply at questions about New Delhi’s continued defense and energy purchases from Russia, saying “ we exercise a choice we believe is in our national interest ” Rejecting the

largely western projection that India is facing problems with Russian equipment, he said New Delhi now has a tradition of multi sourcing ”In the last 15 years, we have procured a lot from US C 19s, P8s, Apaches, Chinooks, Howitzers etc for us it is a question of how to get an optimum deal from competi tors,” he said Blinken on his part rejected criticism from Indian quarters, including gibes from Jaishankar from other platforms, over the latest F 16 transaction with Pakistan, explaining that it was a sustain ment program for jets Washington had already sup plied to Pakistan and was meant for counterterrorism opera tions

“These are not new planes we have a responsibility and

obligations to maintain and sustain planes already supplied It will bolster Pakistan’s coun terterrorism capability which can benefit all of us ” he main tained, while not responding to the specific Indian criticism that the f 16s had no role in counterterrorism and were meant for use against India

In fact, in remarks at a sepa rate forum on Monday, Jaishankar had virtually chided Washington for its arms supply to Pakistan, saying it neither helped Pakistan nor the US Incidentally, Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is also in Washington DC and held talks with Blinken on Monday where Pakistan was reportedly advised by the US delegation to stabilize ties with India

Kenyans criticise State House plan for monthly prayers

Na

On Sunday, dozens of church leaders met and prayed at State House

The first couple are evan gelical Christians and President William Ruto has attributed his faith as having played a key role in his election victory

Mrs Ruto told the religious

leaders that they would always be welcome at State House

The doors of State House are open and know that you have Mama Rachel here that will always open the doors for

you when the president is busy,” she said

Local newspaper the Daily Nation shared twit ted remarks of the first lady's remarks:

Some Kenyans howev er say the regular prayer meetings should not hap pen as Kenya is a secular state and no religion should be given preference "If a Muslim president did what the Christians are doing in State House right now, there would be countrywide protests

Man kills Chinese national, injures 2 others in Karachi

I S L A M A BA D : A n u nid enti fied a ssai lant masquerading as a p atient shot and killed a Chinese national and wounded two others in their seventies inside a d entist’s clinic in the southern Pakistan port city of Karach i on Wed n es d ay, f i v e m o nt h s a fte r a s u i ci d e attack there left th ree C hinese d ead

The killer sat with other patients and waited for his turn to be called to the den tist's table before training hisweapon on 25 year old clinic assistant Ronald Raymond Chow and septuagenarians Margaret and Dr Richard Hu, police said He fled the scene after the shooting

While Ronald was fatally shot, the elder ly Chinese couple remained in a critical con

dition at Karachi’s Post Graduate Medical Centre until late in the evening, police sur geon Summaiya Syed said Dr Hu is among a clutch of Chinese den tists practising in Karachi for decades In April, the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) had claimed responsibility for the sui cide bombing outside the Confucius Institute in Karachi that killed three Chinese The bomber was a woman Over a dozen Baloch separatist groups, including BLA, oppose Chinese investment in Pakistan, saying locals do not benefit from it China is involved in large infrastructure pro jects across Pakistan, including in resource rich Balochistan province

We are a secular state; no religion comes before any another," a Kenyan said on Twitter

"The involvement of the church in this current govern ment will be interesting to watch for the next five years in Kenya," another Twitter user said

Others have a positive view "We all need prayers and so does every institution What's wrong with offering prayers in the State House?" this Kenyan asks

Indian doctor parted from his pet Jaguar during Ukraine war

A n Ind ian origin doctor who spent m onths barricaded in the basement o f his ho me in the conflict torn U kraine w ith his pet large cats claim s h e is no w separated from them

After the war began earlier this year, Gidikumar Patil, 42 and a Ukrainian citizen, had pledged he would not leave his home without his pets He lived and worked as an orthopaedic doctor in a clinic in Svavtove However, two weeks ago, he ran out of money and crossed over into Poland to earn a living so he could feed his cats The hospi tal where he worked was shut early in the war and now been destroyed in a bomb attack, as Ukrainian forces have gained ground quickly and taken back land in the area that Russia has occupied

Presently, he is searching for a way to make a living while worrying about the fate of his cats He stated that the internet in Svavtove stopped working two weeks ago, and he is checking on his cats daily by calling up a local farmer who is taking care of them

Despite his repeated attempts to contact the Indian embassy in Kyiv He claimed that they informed him that they did not deal with wild animals He even visited a zoo to seek help to evacuate animals from the war zone

His current concern is about saving his cats from the war

Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan unveiled the first ever Mahatma Gandhi statue in Oman inside the premises of the Indian Embassy in Oman He said, " Mahatma's message of courage, truth & brotherhood is more rele vant than ever today The statue will honour his abiding legacy for the world

PM Modi gives a push to Gujarat development

Pr ime M in ist er Nar end ra

Modi embarked on a two day journey to Gujarat on September 29th and 30th, b ef ore el ec tions H e attended several events and in augura ted a f ew developmental projects PM M odi vis ited Sura t, B hav nag ar, Ahmed ab ad, a nd Amba ji Apart from that, he participated in the fes tivities of Navratri He w as ac c ompan ie d b y the Chief Minister Bhupendra Pa te l an d othe r s ta te ministers

PM Modi had a warm welcome at Surat during his visit for a roadshow from a temporary helipad, where he landed from Surat airport, to the public event venue in Limbayat Modi laid the foundation stone and dedicated various projects worth more than £340 million in Surat that included the inauguration of Phase I of road infrastructure works and entrance of Diamond Research and Mercantile (DREAM) City, laid foundation of Phase II of the similar project, Biodiversity Park with a built up area of over 87 hectares from Dr Hedgewar Bridge to Bhimrad Bamrolli Bridge He also inaugurated the Khoj Museum at the Science Centre in Surat He also dedicated city bus and BRTS infrastructure, electric bus infrastructure, heritage restoration, public infrastructure, and joint development projects between the federal and

state governments

The Prime Minister remarked that the pace pf development will only

increase in the upcoming years “The trust that people have in the double engine government today is a result of this evolution Sabka Prayas (everyones efforts) accelerates the nation's speed of growth which expands both trust and effort ” the Prime Minister added

He also participated in a roadshow from Mahila College Circle to Rupani Circle in Bhavnagar People welcomed the PM Modi by showering rose petals, waving tricolour flags, and chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jay and Vande Mataram

20 acres and has been built at the cost of around £10 million He laid the cornerstone of the world’s

PM Modi launches 5G services in India

P rime Minister Narendr a M odi o n O cto ber 1 launched the 5G telephonic services, ushering in an era of ultra high speed internet on mobile phones

After inaugurating the exhibition at Delhi’s Pragati Maidan, he went around pavilions set up by different telecom operators and technology providers to get a first hand experience of what 5G can do

Mukesh Ambani says Reliance Jio's 5G services will be available pan India by December 2023 India may have started late, but

will finish first will have the best quality and most affordable 5G services " Sunil Mittal says Bharti Airtel will begin to roll out today and offer pan India 5G services by March 2024

Mittal also praised Ambani, saying "Mukesh gave speed to 4G and we also had to run ” The cumulative economic impact of 5G on India is estimated to reach $450 billion by 2035

only lead to economic benefits, in terms of cost

Later he visited the Manchester of India (Ahmedabad), where he flagged off the 36th

Phase I of Ahmedabad Metro project at a public function at the Ahmedabad Education Society

Following that, he attended the Navaratri celebration at GMDC ground, where he performed maha aarti for Maa Ambe alongside Gujarat's CM, Governor and millions of devotees

He laid the cornerstone and dedicated various projects worth over £720 million in Ambaji

Thousands of people swarmed the event to cheer

saving by handling the cargo, but it can also generate employment in the region ”

National Games at the Narendra Modi Stadium

The grand opening ceremony was witnessed by over 100,000 spectators

He addressed athletes from across different states who were to participate in the games He also inaugurated the "Swarnim Gujarat Sports University" in Desar

The landmark project is expected to transform the sports education landscape in the country

He also flagged off the G a n d h i n a g a r M u m b a i Vande Bharat Express along with the Ahmedabad Metro Rail He also inaugurated

PM Modi as he digitally pressed the launch

He laid the foundation stone of over 45,000 houses built under the PM Awas Yojana, also for Taranga Hill Ambaji Abu Road New Broad Gauge Line and development of pilgrimage facilities at Ambaji temple

The new rail line is expected to benefit millions of devotees visiting Ambaji which is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas

He performed darshan and pooja at Ambaji Temple and later attended Maha Aarti at Gabbar Tirtha

In dia' s e xte rn al a ff airs minister S Jaishankar was in Gujara t’s c ul tura l c apita l Va doda ra City on l as t Sunda y with at l ea st 5 0 fore ign am bas s ador s an d High Commis s ion er s to part ake in t he Na vra tri festival

They shared their excitement after participating in the celebrations by seeing thousands of people perform Garba, a popular dance form held during Navratri The well run performance improved India's reputation as a world power through the

Indore is the cleanest city of India; Surat comes second

I ndore was adjudged as India’s cleanest city for the sixth time in a row with Surat and Navi Mumbai following in the Centre’s latest annual cleanliness survey

Madhya Pradesh secured the first position, followed by Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra in the category of best performing states in ‘Swachh Survekshan Awards 2022 ’ While Indore and Surat retained their top positions in the big cities category, Vijaywada lost its spot to Navi Mumbai

Among the states having fewer than 100 urban local bodies, Tripura bagged the top rank,

dislodging Jharkhand, which had won in the last two consecutive years Jharkhand and Uttarakhand received the second and third spots respectively President Droupadi Murmu gave away the awards in the presence of Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri The President urged all, especially the youth, to participate in this campaign and increase awareness about cleanliness in society

In the category of cities having population less than 100,000, Maharashtra’s Panchgani ranked number one, followed by

Chhattisgarh’s Patan (NP) and Maharashtra’s Karhad Haridwar was adjudged the cleanest Ganga town in the category of more than 100,000 population, followed by Varanasi and Rishikesh Bijnor ranked first among Ganga towns with less than 100,000 population, followed by Kannauj and Garhmukhteshwar

Maharashtra’s Deolali was adjudged the country’s cleanest Cantonment Board Tirupati received the best city award in Safai Mitra Suraksha while Shivamogga in Karnataka received the fast mover city award

participation of international delegates Afghan envoy Farid Mamundzay thanked the Gujaratis for their hospitality He stated that "he is feeling proud after coming to Gujarat and meeting people from the state " Tanzanian High Commissioner, Anisa K

Mbega said that India and Tanzania have a very special connection due to the fact that most Indians living in Tanzania came from Gujarat, which makes it a special moment for her Russian envoy Denis Alipov expressed how he played Garba for the first time and enjoyed it He loved this beautiful festival of Gujarat and India "

Later, Jaishankar also visited the 18th century architectural marvel "Lakshmi Villas Palace" (LVP) with delegates in Vadodara

SC grants rights of abortion to unmarried women

India’s Supreme Court has ruled that a woman ’ s lack of marital status cannot deny her the choice to abort a pregnancy at any time up to 24 weeks, a decision hailed by women ’ s rights activists The right to abortion has proved contentious globally after the United States Supreme Court overturned in June its landmark decision in Roe v Wade that had legalised the procedure in the US

“Even an unmarried woman can undergo abortion up to 24 weeks on par with married women, ” Justice D Y Chandrachud of India’s Supreme Court said, holding that a lack of marital status could not deprive a woman of the right A law dating from 1971, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, had limited the procedure to married women, divorcees, widows, minors, “disabled and mentally ill women ” and survivors of sexual assault or rape The top court added that sexual assault by husbands can be classified as “marital rape ” under the MTP law Indian law does not consider marital rape an offence, though efforts are being made to change this The court said forceful pregnancy of a married woman can be treated as marital rape for the purposes of abortion The ruling is a milestone for the rights of Indian women, activists said “A huge step forward,” Indian parliamentarian Mahua Moitra posted on Twitter

He inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of projects worth over £520 million in Bhavnagar that

included Regional Science Centre which is spread over

first CNG terminal and of Brownfield port at Bhavnagar The PM stated that, “The port will not

Navratri festival impresses foreign envoys

Gehlot backs Kharge for Congress top job

Rajasthan Chief Minister

As ho k G ehlo t rec entl y said veteran party leader Mall ik arj u n K harge has the e xperi enc e to strengthen the Congress and would emerge as a clear winner in the party presidential poll, while his rival in the race Shashi Tharo or belo ngs to the elite class

“Kharge has a long political experience He has a clean heart, he comes from the Dalit community and (Kharge contesting election) is being welcomed every where,” he told reporters after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the secretariat in Jaipur Gehlot, one of the pro

posers of Kharge, said Tharoor is also a good man and has good thoughts but he is from the elite class "Tharoor is a class apart; he is from elite class but the kind of experience which is need ed to strengthen the party at booth, block and dis trict levels, that is with Kharge and cannot be

compared to Shashi Tharoor," he said "Therefore, it will natural ly be a one sided contest for Kharge,” he said Kharge and Tharoor are in a direct contest for the Congress president's post

A Dalit leader from Karnataka, Kharge has emerged as the clear favourite for the Congress

president' post Kharge has also resigned as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Kharge's res ignation, which the 80 year old leader sent to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, is in line with the party's declared 'One per son, One post' principle that was announced at the Udaipur 'Chintan Shivir' in May

The polling, if needed, will be held on October 17 The counting of votes will be taken up on October 19 and the results will be declared the same day More than 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) dele gates will vote in the elec tion

President Murmu launches ‘herStart’ – a start-up platform for women

P re sid en t Dr au pad i Murmu has said, “If the sta tes move f orwar d b y l e ar nin g a nd ad opt ing e a ch ot he r' s succe ssf ul m ode ls, the n Ind ia w ill definitely ensure its place a s a d ev el ope d cou nt ry during the Amrit Kal ”

The president was addressing a public gathering in Ahmedabad after launching 'herStart' a start up platform of Gujarat University for women entrepreneurs The President also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for various projects related to education and tribal development at Gujarat University on the occasion The projects include the virtual

inauguration of five high schools for tribals, laying the foundation stone for a boy's hostel in the Narmada district, and launching of five infrastructure projects of the education department

The president said the school education lays the foundation for improving India's position in the

IAF introduces Light Combat Helicopter 'Prachand'

field of science, research, and innovation Murmu said India's position in the global innovation index 2022, has improved from earlier 81 to 14th place in recent times

The president said, besides encouraging the entrepreneurial endeavours of women, the 'HerStart' initiative will also link the women entrepreneurs

with various private and government platforms

She also highlighted the work of the government of Gujarat in the field of education and tribal development Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, and education Minister Jeetubhai Vaghani were present on the occasion

Avalanche strikes group of trainee mountaineers in Uttarakhand

Uttar akhand: On Tuesday, officials reported that group of trainee mountaineers from Nehru Institute of Mountaineering was struck by an avalanche in the northern state of Uttarakhand (India) The authorities at State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said that the snout of the glacier is located at an altitude of around 3700m while the avalanche was reported near the Draupadi ka Danda at around 5300 metre altitude The officials stated that search and rescue operations have been launched to evacuate others who are still stranded in the crevasses

India’s Mangalyaan mission ends after 8 years

India's first interplanetary mi ssio n, "M angal yaan," may have come to an end when its Mars Orbiter ran out of fuel and its battery died Th e Rs 4 5 bil lio n Mars Orbiter Mission was launched on November 5, 2013, using the PSLV C25 r o cket, and th e MOM spacecraft was successfully sent into orbit around Mars for the fir st ti me o n Sep t ember 24 , 2014

"Right now, there is no fuel left The satellite battery has drained," sources in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said "The link has been lost" However, there was no official announcement from ISRO, the space agency of India Fueled up, ISRO had already been manoeuvring the MOM spacecraft into a new orbit to escape an approaching eclipse

"But recently there were back to back eclipses including one that lasted seven and half hours," officials said on condi tion of anonymity, noting that all the propellant on board the ageing satellite had been con sumed As the satellite battery is designed to handle eclipse

duration of only about one hour and 40 minutes, a longer eclipse would drain the battery beyond the safe limit," another official said

ISRO officials said the Mars orbiter worked for over eight years, which is far longer than its six month mission duration ISRO officials have said that "MOM is attributed with numerous laurels including cost effectiveness, a short time of realisation, affordable mass budget and miniaturisation of five heterogeneous research payloads " K Sivan, ISRO's for mer director general in 2021, has claimed that India's next mission, Mangalyaan 2, would be launched after Chandrayaan 3, despite an offi cial denial from ISRO The sec ond trip to Mars has yet to be planned

Venkataramani appointed as India's new attorney general

In dia’s ce ntr al gov ern men t has appoint ed s enior a dvoc ate R Venkataramani to the post of the attorney general of the country The tenure of the post will be of three years

Earlier, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi was offered by the govern ment to return as the attorney general However, Rohatgi declined the offer without citing any specific reason

Venkataramani is one of India’s top lawyers with 42 years of expe rience in practicing at the Supreme Court of India He has experience of dealing in constitutional law, environmental law, taxation, tribal rights and child and women ’ s rights

He was the co opted member of the expert group constituted by the ministry of minority affairs to examine and determine the struc ture and functions of an equal opportunity commission

Over Rs 700 million of paintings sold at an auction

I coni c m od erni st p ainter T yeb M eh ta’s artwork recently w ent under the hammer for AstaGuru’s ‘Mo dern T reasu res ’ aucti on and emerged as the highest value sale at over Rs 250 290 million

The oil on canvas painting from Mehta’s famed ‘Diagonal series’ was created in 1973 when the artist had become familiar with the motif and its usage, making it central to his ideation process The 6 foot tall art work was estimated to fetch between Rs 210 260 million

MF Husain, Akbar Padamsee, Jogen Chowdhury, Ganesh Pyne, KK Hebbar, and Badri Narayan Dhurandhar’s work based on Vyasa’s Mahabharata was sold for nearly Rs 48 million The 100 year old painting depicts one of the most crucial scenes from the Mahabharata the Draupadi Vastraharan

The I nd ia n Air For ce introduced the first batch of a bor ig in al d eve loped Light Combat Helicopter (L CH) c all ed ‘Pra ch and ’ into the IAF inventory at a c eremony in Rajas than's Jodh pur The induc tion c er emon y was l ed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who played a vital role in progressing cases for buying original plat forms for forces

He said, "The induc tion of indigenously developed Light Combat Helicopters (LCH) will enhance our capability and will boost defence

production There could not have been a better timing for LCH induction than Navratri and in the land of warriors, Rajasthan" Officials stat ed that Singh was present in the Cabinet Committee on Security which cleared the purchase of 15 of these LCHs for the air force and the army It can land and take off from an altitude of 5,000 metres with weapons and fuel Now, the IAF is sending female pilots on frequent supply flights to the northern and eastern borders in Chinook chopper aircraft

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed their grief over the loss of lives due to avalanche

The auction, held on September 25 26, saw artworks by eminent Indian artists including MV Dhurandhar, Ram Kumar, SH Raza,

“This moment, immortalised in vivid colour by Dhurandhar and his expertise in combining western aca demic realism with traditional Indian ethos, would go on to become the genesis of the epic bat tle,” the auction house said in a statement

Big fat Indian weddings are back after Covid vacations

In seemingly good news for India’s hospi tality industry, the big fat weddings are back with a bang Despite no 'auspicious' dates in October, hotels are expecting to be 'booked out' as Indians get ready to cel ebrate weddings on the pre Covid scale

For instance, the Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur will likely be booked out from October end till February next year, as the hotel is almost sold out The rates for the hotel have gone up by 35 per cent from the pre Covid period Generally, April, May and June have a lot of dates which are considered auspicious for weddings in

India But, the demand this year remained subdued due to Omicron spread and the subsequent restrictions in the country

In January 2022, several hotels wit nessed mass cancellations due to the Omicron variant of Covid 19 According to the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI), in late 2021, booking cancellations for Christmas and New Year celebrations including wed dings and planned events due to the surge in Covid cases had caused a loss of Rs 200 crore to the hospitality industry Wyndham has already clocked 100

per cent bookings on wedding dates in various Indian cities, like Chandigarh, Kochi, Dehradun, Mussoorie, Kasauli, Jalandhar, Lucknow, Udaipur and Jaipur And Royal Orchid and Regenta Hotels present in Goa, Mussoorie, Ranthambore, and Hampi too admitted to improved demand for hotels in the wedding season Hoteliers across India are looking at the wedding season with great hope as the demand is expected to surpass pre Covid levels in the wedding season spanning from October end till

Mallikarjun Kharge & Ashok Gehlot

Kerala Chief Minister on Europe tour with delegation

K erala C hief Minister Pinarayi V ij ayan left fo r Europe in an

e arl y m o rni n g f li g h t fr o m K ochi

The CM was scheduled to fly out of Kerala three days before However, the trip was postponed after the health condition of former CPM state secretary, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, worsened just hours before his flight Kodiyeri, 68, with whom Pinarayi maintained a cordial relationship, passed away hours later His cremation was held at Kannur on Monday with Pinarayi in attendance

The Kerala delegation headed by the CM will begin its tour with Norway Earlier, it was scheduled to start with a visit to Finland Ministers P Rajeev and V Abdurahiman will accompany the CM The delegation will next visit the United Kingdom Health Minister Veena George is expected to join them in the UK leg of the tour

With the state reeling under an acute financial crisis, the European tour had triggered a political row The opposition Congress and BJP asked the government to stop splurging money on foreign jaunts

and practise financial prudence “At a time when the State is exploring avenues to borrow, the Chief Minister and other ministers are in queue to visit foreign countries Splurging and extravaganza during the lean period have yet again exposed the Communist ideology,” said state Congress president K Sudhakaran after the Government announced the European tour But Finance Minister KN Balagopal justified the visit saying that it was 'important to gain knowledge ' "Kerala is not that impoverished The CM's foreign visit will not impact the state's overall expenditure," Balagopal had said "Kerala has a domestic revenue of Rs10 lakh crore," the Finance Minister added

Minor boy stripped in Karnataka under false context

in brief

STUDENT CRITICAL AFTER CONSUMING SPIKED DRINK

A

m inor boy in India’s Karnataka state was stripped naked and filmed perform ing a ritual by labourers after he was co nv inced th at the act would clear his father's d ebt, said po lice A v id eo of h im w as also sh ared on so cial media by the accused, they said

Three people have been arrested in connection with the incident that occurred in Koppal district, about 350 km of Bengaluru The 15 year old victim and the labourers belonged to Hasgal village in the district, said police

The victim, along with other construction labourers from his village, had left for Hubballi two months ago for work One of the labourers, Sharanappa, convinced the boy's father that it would help pay off his loans if he sends his son with them, said a relative of the boy

The boy, meanwhile, was made to believe that he must participate in the naked act to help his father clear his debt, he said The accused then filmed the act and shared it online for "fun", said police The boy had returned to his village from Hubbali within 20 days, but the incident came to the notice of his parents only after his video went viral A case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act after his parents lodged a complaint with Hasgal police

AAP wins confidence motion in Punjab assembly

T h e P u n j a b a s s e m b l y h a s " u n a n i mo u s l y " p a s s e d th e conf iden ce moti on moved by C h i e f M i n i s t e r Bh a g w a n t Man n on September 27, e ven as C on g r e s s me m b e r s s t a g e d a w alkout

The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) members have already announced to boycott the assembly session After a lengthy discussion on the confidence motion, Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan put it to vote He asked MLAs to raise hands who were in support, and then asked those who were against the motion of confidence Announcing the results, Sandhwan said 91 AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) MLAs supported the motion He also said one of the three SAD MLAs who was present in the

House and a lone BSP MLA did not oppose the motion

No Congress, BJP or lone Independent MLA was present in the House at the time of voting AAP has 92 MLAs, including the Speaker, in the House "So, 93 MLAs have supported the motion and none is against it Thus, the motion is

unanimously passed," the Speaker said In the 117 member Punjab Assembly, the AAP has 92 members, Congress 18, SAD 3, BJP 2, BSP 1 while 1 is an Independent The assembly had taken up discussion on the confidence motion, with AAP MLAs hitting out at the BJP over "Operation Lotus",

Pandal inspired by Tagore’s poetry

the

R P Nag, a former IRS officer on behalf of the puja committee said that the main focus is to make the children aware about various things that are gradually wiping out like the cart "Even the concept of haat is no more clear among the children of the urban areas with more and more shopping malls coming up even in

suburbs " Nag said that they had created the cart and the haat and according to the poet had set up sellers selling various items ranging from vegetables to woolens He said that with changing society children have no idea how the haats used to operate The pandal also shows the items produced by potters and how they had to toil hard to make such productions

For which in the pandal all such things are on display

It is being liked by the pandal hoppers and people are coming to watch the models of potters or the vendors in the haat

He said that Tagore had written the poem that the

haat used to operate on the bank of river Padma at Bakshiganj on Fridays, but now following partition the Padma is in Bangladesh and such Friday haats are things of the past

"We wanted to show our new generations how the people lived earlier and their lifestyle a few decades ago even when there was no online food aggregator or online cab service or internet So that they can understand the difference with which the people had to survive " He added that only some weekly haats exist now in the Indo Bangladesh border to facilitate the border people, who do not have easy access to markets

Another incident of poisoning of a student of Maya Krishna Swamy Vidyalaya in Tamil Nadu has come to light weeks after a topper was poisoned to death by the mother of his classmate In the latest incident, a Class 6 student was allegedly offered a spiked drink by another student Ashwin, a native of Kanyakumari is undergoing treatment at a private hospital at Neyyattinkara Both his kidneys are not functioning and his internal organs have sustained burns The medical examination found traces of acid in the body The 11 year old boy is the son of Sunil and Sophiya natives of Kaliyakkavilai in the Kanyakumari district Based on the complaint filed by the relatives, the Kaliyakkavilai police have filed a case and started an investigation The offence can attract rigorous imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine

ISI BACKED NARCO TERRORISM MODULE BUSTED IN INDIA

alleging a bid to topple the six month old government

The AAP had earlier claimed that at least 10 of its MLAs were approached by the BJP with an offer of £2 5 million to each of them in a bid to topple the Mann government under its "Operation Lotus" However, as the discussion began, Congress MLAs staged a walkout, as they were demanding that the Speaker should allot them time to speak and raise issues during the Zero Hour The two BJP MLAs Ashwani Sharma and Jangi Lal Mahajan have been boycotting the session as they accused the AAP government of violating the Constitution by bringing the confidence motion in the assembly

Punjab police on 4 October claimed to have busted an ISI backed narco terrorism module and arrested its main operative and recovering arms and explosives from his possession The accused has been identified as a resident of Rajoke village in Tarn Taran district and named as Yograj Singh alias Yog The module was being jointly operated by Canada based Lakhbir Singh alias Landa, Pakistan based Harvinder Singh Rinda and Italy based Harpreet Singh alias Happy the police said Police claim the group was backed by Pakistan spy agency Inter Services Intelligence Amid an intensified vigil by the Punjab Police against anti social elements ahead of the festival season, Amritsar Rural Police smashed the module, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav Also the police have also identified five more accomplices who were part of the group and were carrying out illegal activities across Punjab and adjoining states The police have launched a manhunt to nab them said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amritsar Rural Swapan Sharma, adding that the unearthing of the "Landa Rinda terror module" was a major success for the state police The police have recovered an RDX loaded tiffin box fabricated into an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) or tiffin bomb, two sophisticated AK 56 assault rifles along with two magazines and 30 live cartridges one 30 bore pistol along with six live cartridges and 2 kg heroin from the accused", DGP said in a statement

Bombs hurled at RMC leader in West Bengal

A Tr ina mool Con gr ess (TMC) le ad er was a t t a c k e d wi t h b o mb s i n t h e N or t h 2 4

Parga nas district of West B engal r ecentl y

According to the police, miscreants hurled several bombs at the gate of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sharbari Chowdhury’s house in Jagaddal, North 24 Parganas It is also alleged that miscreants pelted bricks at the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and four people, including Sharbari Chowdhury’s brother, were beaten up Two people have been arrested over their alleged involvement in this incident

However, the main topic is still absconding There was no casualty in this incident

Bricks were also pelted at the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and her family members The entire incident has created tension in the area TMC MP Arjun Singh went to the spot after getting the news According to reports, locals and outsiders gather at a field in the area every night and get drunk They also create a ruckus in the area, harass women and indulge

in other illegal activities Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sharbari Chowdhury had protested against these anti social activities Although the main accused in this bombing incident has not yet been traced, the police are hopeful that he will be caught after interrogating the arrested accused However, TMC MP Arjun Singh believes that people linked to the local Babua gang are involved in this incident

“The area has become a den of anti social elements The incident that happened is not desirable It is normal for people in the area to panic The anti social elements have increased in the area Even though the police have taken action against 80 percent of the anti social elements, there are still 20 percent who continue such activities,” Arjun Singh told the media “I will urge the police to take action against them as soon as possible The bombing may have been caused by the involvement of the Babua gang, a notorious criminal in the area The police have started investigating the whole incident,” he added

Pinarayi Vijayan

Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad railway stations to get makeover

The government approved £ 1 b ill ion f or re dev elop ment of three major railway s ta tions Ne w De lhi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai’s C hhatr apa ti Shiva ji Terminus by awarding con tracts based on government f und in g, ab an doning the earlier plan to modernise through the public private pa rtn er ship (PPP) rout e The revamp of the stations in Mumbai and Delhi have been on the government’s radar since Lalu Prasad was railway minister with the M odi gov ern men t al so floating bids for private sec tor participation Following the Cabinet decision, the m odern isa tion projec t, w hic h will ex ten d to Ahmedabad too, is targeted to be completed in 2026 Ashwini Vaishnaw, rail way minister said that “The railways cater to the middle income, lower income and middle class We are creat ing the best facility with government investment The best designs and con

struction techniques are being used to ensure that every passenger and our common citizen get world class facilities created with investment from the Indian government so that there is no extra burden on passen gers ”

He also said that it is a conscious decision to rede velop all these stations in the EPC (engineering, plan ning and construction) mode and the investment will be made from the gov ernment budget This is the second privatisation plan to have been dropped by the railways after it cancelled

the tender to allow private players to run trains on select routes

Giving details of the proposed revamp, Vaishnaw said that the designs for all stations include creation of spacious “roof plazas” above the plat forms and tracks with all passenger amenities at one place along with spaces for retail, cafeterias, recre ational facilities and play areas for kids He added these will be new “urban space ” at the heart of the cities The minister said this will be the norm for future revamp of railway stations

PFI and its associates banned in India

The Indian government has banned the Popular Front of I nd ia ( PFI) for fi ve y e a rs under the stringent antiterror la w UAP A, accus ing the I slami c outfit of hav in g " lin k s" with g lob al te r r or groups such as the ISIS and tr ying to spread communal hatred in the country

The PFI's eight associates Rehab India Foundation, Campus Front of India, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation, National Women's Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala were also placed in the list of the organisations outlawed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), according to a gazette notifi cation PTI

The ban for alleged terror activities comes after the National Investigating Agency (NIA), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and various state police forces carried out raids in a massive pan India crackdown on the PFI twice in the recent days A total of 106 leaders and activists of the PFI were

arrested in 15 states on September 22 for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country On September 27, more than 170 people allegedly linked with the PFI were detained or arrested in raids across seven states

Following the ban, authorities initiated the pro cess of sealing the offices of the PFI and freezing their bank accounts in 17 states where the organisation was functioning The Centre will also set up a tribunal within 30 days to adjudicate whether or not there is sufficient cause for declaring the PFI “unlawful association” The PFI can also defend its case against the ban

Officials in the know of developments alleged that the outfit had been indulging in "disturbing" communal and secular fabric of the country and was "posing a grave threat" to the national security by advancing its rad ical ideology and calling for establishment of political Islam in India besides allegedly carrying out target ed killings of Hindu activists

The BJP hailed the ban as "strong and timely" and

India enters top 40 countries at global innovation index

India, for the first time, made it to the top 40 countries at the Global Innovation Index (GII), led by improvement in infor matio n and co mmunicatio n techno logies (ICT) servi ces exports, venture capital recipients’ value, and finance for star tups

India’s six notch jump to the 40th spot in the 132 nation GII in 2022 from 46th rank in 2021 made it to the top most innovative lower middle income economy in the world, over taking Vietnam, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said The GII reveals the most innova tive economies in the world, ranking the innovation perfor mance of 132 economies “Türkiye and India enter the top 40 for the first time, placed 37th and 40th, respectively India overtakes Vietnam (48th) as the top lower middle income economy for innovation,” WIPO said

accused the Congress of standing with anti India forces, even as several opposi tion leaders called for similar action against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)

Lt Gen Anil Chauhan appointed as India’s new CDS

Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (61), a known China expert who retired as the Eastern Army Command chief in May last year, has been appointed as India's next chief of defence staff (CDS) He is currently the m il itar y advis or to national security advisor Ajit D oval and the Na tiona l Security Council Secretariat

He will have to spearhead the entire process to build an in teg rat ed war fight ing machinery within budgetary constraints through the cre ation of theatre commands and other structures

Several officers who have served with Chauhan said that he is "the most suitable candidate" for the CDS post from the "selec tion pool currently avail able" to the country’s politi cal leadership A top military officer said that Lt Gen

Chauhan’s key quality is that he thinks through a problem before offering a solution after great in depth evaluation of all options He does not behave in a know it all manner, nor does he act in a knee jerk fashion

In a boost to its ‘shock and awe ’ capabilities along the borders with Pakistan and China, the Army has kicked off the acquisition process for 12 sets of armed drone swarms They have

proved their utility and lethality in recent con flicts ranging from Armenia Azerbaijan to Russia Ukraine

This is the first time a retired three star officer will return to active service as a four star officer like the Army, Navy and IAF chiefs Lt Gen Chauhan will, of course, be the clear “first among the equals” as the permanent chairman of the chiefs of staff committee Chauhan, who was commissioned in the 11 Gorkha Rifles in 1981 will also serve as the secre tary of the department of military affairs in the defence ministry He will also act as the military advis er to the Nuclear Command Authority chaired by the Prime Minister

Modi visits Gandhi Smriti

In a first, Mahatma Gandhi made a special appearance at the United Nations, sharing his message on education at the world organisation as it commemorated the International Day of Non Violence on the occasion of the Indian leader’s birth anniversary India's PM Narendra Modi attended a prayer meeting at Gandhi Smriti on the occasion of Gandhi

Jayanti Paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his 153rd birth anniver sary, PM Modi tweeted, "This Gandhi Jayanti is, even more, special because India marks Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Maybe always live up to Bapu's ideals I also urge you to purchase Khadi and handi crafts products to tribute Gandhi Ji "

Anil Chauhan

‘India's Forgotten People’

Shefali Saxena

UK born entrepreneur, former Miss India UK and filmmaker Deana Uppal releases her di re cto ri al deb ut i n the do c ume ntary s ecto r, ' Indi a's F orgo tten Peo ple' on Netflix (UK & Europe)

From respected forgers of armour and weaponry for H in du ki ngs i n the 16t h c ent ury to no madi c b lac ks mi ths who bar ely s u rvi ve, the hi sto ry o f India's proud but forgotten Gadia Lohar community is told for the first time in Deana Uppal's documentary India's Forgotten People

The film provides a voice for a community that went from being highly respected to one of the country’s most poverty stricken, selling handmade items from metal scraps and living on the margins of Indian society

Uppal witnessed the lifestyle of the nomadic communities whilst living in India and explores the Gadia Lohars, who rarely mix with others outside of their community She spoke to Asian Voice about it How did you conceive the idea of ‘India's Forgotten People’? When I was living in India, I would visit areas in Rajasthan regularly Seeing different kinds of tribes and communities always intrigued me One day I noticed a tribal community travelling on the road on a bullet cart, dressed uniquely in colourful clothes I asked my local friends about them and I was told that they are from a Gypsie community and live nomadically From there I researched the community more and then thought it would be an excellent subject to make a documentary around As myself and my small team went deeper into research, we learnt that this community has a strong history which has now been overlooked and that they are almost forgotten by the government and unknown to many now hence the title India's Forgotten People

While working on the documenta ry , w hat did y ou lea rn about the nomadic co mmu nitie s? What is their general perception of them and how is it different from their actual reality?Before spending time with the nomadic communities, I asked locals in the city for their advice on meeting the Gaddia Lohars I was told by a number of people that they were dangerous and I should keep away from them as they are heavily into crime I quickly realised that the truth was far from what I was told The community was initially weary of me, but once trust was developed, they welcomed me and I felt completely safe I visited the local police station, and the head of police

confirmed to me that the gaddia lohars are actually one of the most peaceful communities, even when they set up a new base to camp, they make sure not to upset anyone around them in that area Ho w do es a community’s inability to fit int o mod er n d ay socie t y affect them? What can be done to fix that? Because India is now developing so fast, especially the cities, it is having a huge effect on the nomadic communities It feels like they are stuck in time almost Because they are uneducated they are even unaware of simple technologies such as the internet

The gaddia lohars especially like to have huge families, sometimes 8 10 kids per mother I feel the government has to step up and make more of an effort to teach these communities how to integrate in normal society for the sake of their future generations Education is key to breaking the path that they are currently living in of poverty and exclusion Wha t g oe s int o making a film that shows brutal realities like the divide between the rich and the poor? Firstly a lot of research to make sure the facts will be presented honestly and correctly Also, I learnt it needed to be filmed in a sensitive way Showing the harsh facts of poverty has to be done in a way so it is educating the audience and educating on facts people are mostly unaware of without looking like their poverty is being used to create media attention When I started the shooting, I never intended for the documentary to be about poverty, it was supposed to be based on showing the unique ways nomadic people live However, as I got deeper into shooting the film I realised that poverty has such a huge impact on their lives that I had to touch on it more I then decided to visit ministers and politicians to talk about this subject to get a deeper understanding of why this community is so severely poverty struck in India's developing state As a filmmaker, what is your perspective on the impact of a documentary like yours? Can it bring about a mu ch ne ed e d ch ang e? I feel a documentary like mine can bring awareness to a wider audience about subjects they would not be aware of Only by awareness and educating people, change can happen Since the release of India's forgotten people, the minister of water has installed 100 plus new water pumps in remote villages I've received messages from around the world asking how they can contribute and help the gaddia lohars, this was very touching to know the film has inspired people to help

India Bazaar returns

One of the UK’s biggest celebrations of Indian culture returns to London this Oc to ber aft er a Co vi d 19 i ndu ced hiatus of 3 years promising a colourful extravaganza of cultural performances, fashion show, Antakshari competition and other traditional entertainment from the Indian sub continent as well as dozens of stalls selling a wide array o f go ods fro m I ndi a pr omo ted specifically by first generation migrant women entrepreneurs in the UK

The event is taking place at the Camden School for Girls on the 8th October 2022 and will start at 11am until 6pm

India Bazaar was launched in 2016 by Indian Ladies in UK the UK’s largest community group for first generation migrant Indian women as a way of encouraging entrepreneurship and a sense of sisterhood amongst its members, many of whom often arrive in the UK as “dependent spouses ”

The event offers women a chance to create their own niche and develop their entrepreneurial skills as well as showcase the range of talents they offer

As in previous years, there will be stalls selling a range of goods from traditional Indian handicrafts from the four corners of the subcontinent through to jewellery and ethnic wear In addition, of course, there will be a range of options to tempt your palette authentic and mouth watering treats for the foodie in you, freshly prepared by our members from Kerala to Kashmir India’s cultural heritage in all its colourful glory will also be on display with traditional dancing and singing

performances and an Antakshari competition which has, in previous years, turned out extremely competitive

This year ’ s bazaar will have added poignancy, seeing as it follows the long global winter of the pandemic Countless members have lost loved ones both in the UK and in India and in many heart breaking instances were unable to either be by the side of loved ones in India or perform last rites owing to the worldwide travel restrictions A special remembrance area will be set aside to pay tribute and remember those that we have lost over the past two years and a special prayer will be offered in their memory

All proceeds from the event go towards the work that Indian Ladies in UK have been doing since 2015 assisting first generation migrant women who fall victim to domestic abuse and abandonment ILUK remains a volunteer led Not for Profit organisation that has, since its inception in 2015, helped countless victims find shelter often in the homes of ILUK members and a range of assistance, from legal advice to support with visas

Mayor announces capital’s Diwali on the Square celebrations

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced that Diwali on the Square will take place on Sunday 9 October with a host of entertainment on offer suitable for all ages

The capital’s celebration of the Festival of Lights will see Londoners and people from around the world come together at Trafalgar Square to enjoy a fantastic array of dance, music, activities and food

The Mayor of London’s free annual event is family friendly and delivered in partnership with the Diwali in London committee It will open with 200 colourfully

Meet the Young Associate: British Gujarati girl Vidya Patel

In November 2021, the second cohort of the Sadler’s Wells Young Associates introduced their refreshing voices at sell out performances in the Lilian Baylis Studio The next step of their journey sees John William Watson, Magnus Westwell, Olive Hardy and Vidya Patel take to the Sadler’s Wells stage with the World Premiere of To Start With on Wednesday 26 October Under the artistic guidance of Ben Duke, Co Founder and Artistic Director of Lost Dog, the young choreographers will be presenting an ambitious evening of new works

Ben Duke is an experienced choreographer and creative He has created work for many acclaimed dance companies including Candoco, Rambert, Scottish Dance Theatre, Dance Umbrella, Phoenix

Dance Theatre and Barely Methodical Troupe

Throughout the creation process, Ben has encouraged the Young Associates to communicate with each other and share their experiences They have collaborated with a team of young creatives from a range of art forms, giving a platform to a new generation of artistic voices

Each Young Associate brings a unique voice to the work

John William Watson is a dance theatre maker from Leeds Drawing influence from Surrealism, John’s work focuses on the tragi comedic, their work explores narratives that deal with the relationship between existentialism, the comedy of the mundane, nostalgia and time

Magnus Westwell is a Scottish Artist who works with choreography and music composition

dressed dancers in the main square followed by an exciting mix of performances from artists drawn from London’s Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities

From 1 7pm, there will be a host of activities to enjoy including Neasden Temple’s Diwali Festival Experience, dance workshops, yoga and meditation, Glimpse of Goddesses, sari and turban tying, the Diwali Culture Zone, the Unity Marquee, Soho Theatre Comedy and a Children’s marquee, plus henna and face painting

An array of South Asian food stalls will be serving up delicious traditional and fusion, vegan and vegetarian cuisine

Their creations can be raw, romantic and haunting, often looking at the extremes of ecstasy and emptiness

Olive Hardy was born in London and raised in Bristol She graduated from London Contemporary Dance School in 2019 Olive’s approach focuses on a collective agency with her collaborators; through improvisation, they find a movement language innate to the performers

Born, raised and living in Birmingham as the first generation of an immigrant British Gujarati household, Vidya Patel began training in Indian classical dance from a young age Vidya’s work focuses on autobiographical narratives by drawing on themes of identity, belonging and empowerment In 2015, Vidya represented the South Asian Category in the Grand Finals of the inaugural BBC Young Dancer 2015 at Sadler’s Wells

The Young Associates programme supports talented 18 24 year olds and 18 30 for d/Deaf and disabled choreographers, providing a crucial first step into their career as choreographers

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Diwali on the Square is always special as Londoners and visitors of all ages come together to celebrate the Festival of Lights, with a glorious blend of music, culture, food, and art

“Thanks to the generosity of the Hindu and Sikh neighbours I grew up alongside, I have been lucky enough to experience, on many occasions, the joy and unity that Diwali brings and I know Londoners across our city will be joining together with their families and friends to celebrate

“I want to take this opportunity to wish all those celebrating a very happy Diwali ”

A study conducted on older pe opl e ha s f oun d a l ink b

inin g e xe rcise s an d a l owe r chance of death, with the ex ception of cancer The report suggested that stick ing to a weekly workout schedule that includes both weights and cardio activity has an additional benefit The findings of the study were published onl ine in the British Journal of Sports Medicine

Physical activity guide lines recommend that all adults incorporate activities that work all of the major muscle groups While aero bic exercise is consistently related to a lower risk of death, it is unclear if weight training has the same impact Researchers set out to fill this knowledge vacu um and examined the pos sible influence of weight

training and aerobic exer cises on the risk of death in older persons separately and together

They drew from the Prostart, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO)

The study began in 1993 and comprises 154,897 men and women between the ages of 55 and 74 from ten different cancer centres in the United States

Moderate intensity was defined as “ exercise that produced a light sweat or raised your breathing and

heart rate to mod erately high levels,” while severe activi ty was defined as “activity that pro duced a heavy per spiration or elevat ed your breathing and heart rate to very high levels ”

Based on total weekly minutes of MVPA, four activity groups were formed: (1) inactive, 0 min utes; (2) insufficient aerobic MVPA, 1 149 minutes; (3) sufficient, 150+ minutes of moderate, or equivalently vigorous, activity; and (4) highly active, 301 or more minutes of moderate, or equivalently vigorous, activity

Working out with weights was related to a nine to 22 per cent lower risk of death in the absence of MVPA, depending on the

amount: for example, using weights once or twice a week was connected with a 14 per cent lower risk Similarly, among those who did not exercise with weights, aerobic MVPA was linked to a 24 to 34 per cent decreased risk of death from any cause, compared to those who reported nei ther MVPA nor weight training

Scientists wrote, “Our finding that individuals who participated in both types of exercise tended to have the lowest mortality risk provides strong sup port for current recom mendations to engage in both aerobic and muscle strengthening exercises Older adults would certain ly benefit from adding weightlifting activities to their physical activity pro grammes ”

Cardiovascular health appears to be deteriorating with each passing day as the number of heart attacks in young people increases When it comes to maintaining a healthy heart, one needs to set certain ground rules and steer clear of toxic habits and addic tions Acc ording to the World Health Organization (WHO), heart diseases and stroke are usually caused by an unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and harmful use of alcohol Also, people who have high blood pressure, raised blood glucose, raised blood lipids and are overweight and obese are more at risk of heart attacks and other diseases

Celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar shared simple dos and don’ts in a recent video that could go a long way in improving one ’ s heart health Here are five tips she shares for better heart health

1 Good fat comes from home cooked food

The good fat that you want to include in your diet must come from the food cooked at home using traditional prac tices Diwekar says that Omega 3 capsules and other such supplements do not have a monopoly on good fat and it should instead come from good cooking practices or tradi tional cooking practices Ghee, nuts, pulses, grains, vegeta bles, and fruits all these things in combination are good food practices

2 Air frying is not better than deep frying

"If you think air frying is making your mathri, samosa, poori healthier they are not We may end up eating more portions or quantities of these foods as we do not feel satiat ed If you eat deep fried food, you will reach high satiety and end up eating much less and take in fewer calories," says Diwekar Instead, she advises cooking in ghee or cold pressed oil of your region

One of the most irritating prem enstru al s yndro me (PMS) symptoms is bloat ing, which may continue thro u gh yo u r mens tru al cycle too Women suffering from period bloating may e xperi ence a swo llen a bdo men o r o the r bo dy parts It may also lead to reduced appetite and stom ach ache Period bloating is o ften acc om panied by o ther sym pto m s like c ramps, m oo d s wings , acne, headache, and back ache, among others

In her recent social media post, nutritionist

Lovneet Batra said, “Bloating is a common early symptom of menstru ation that many women experience It happens due to changes in progesterone and estrogen levels causing the body to retain more water and salt The body’s cells become swollen with water, causing the feeling of bloating ” Batra su ggests these five fo o ds to redu ce perio d bloating: Ginger Ginger is one of the best foods for period bloat ing Ginger has anti

inflammatory effects, which can soothe achy muscles

Ajwain

Thymol, a compound in ajwain, helps in secret ing gastric juices and help ing to alleviate gas, bloat ing and cramps

Fennel Seeds

Fennel is a saviour for your digestive tract, as it contains a compound that relaxes passages in your gastrointestinal tract, allowing gas to pass and for bloating to subdue Jaggery

Jaggery might help

reduce bloating because of the presence of high potas sium and low sodium con tent in it This helps to maintain the acid balance in the body cells, thereby pro viding relief from bloating Banana

Bananas are rich in B6 and in potassium, which prevents water retention and bloating and relieves cramping When con sumed, potassium aids in helping the kidneys flush out sodium, and this results in lowering blood pressure and decreasing bloating

Weight training helps lower risk of death: Study 5 wonderful foods to get rid of period bloating Lonely people are twice at risk of developing diabetes: Study

The findings of a new study

sug ge st t ha t f e el in gs of loneliness are linked to a significantly higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes ( T2D) Pub lishe d in Diabetologia, the research was conducted by Associate P rof e ssor R og er E He n rik se n an d his col leagues at Western Norway U n iver sity of A ppl ied Sciences As well as examin ing the association between loneliness and the risk of developing T2D, it looked at w he the r d ep re ssion an d insomnia play a role

While the exact mecha nisms are not fully under stood, a growing body of research has pointed to a link between psychological stress and an individual’s risk of developing T2D Loneliness created a chron ic and sometimes long last ing state of distress which

may activate the body’s physiological stress response This response is believed to play a central role in the development of T2D through mechanisms such as temporary insulin resistance brought on by elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol

This process also involves changes in the regu lation of eating behaviour by the brain, causing an increased appetite for carbo hydrates and subsequently elevated blood sugar levels Previous studies have found an association between loneliness and unhealthy eating including higher con sumption of sugary drinks and foods rich in sugars and fats

The researchers used data from the HUNT study, a collaboration between the HUNT Research Centre

(Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology [NTNU]), Trondelag County Council, the Central Norway Regional Health Authority and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health Although their study did not examine the exact mechanisms involved, the researchers note that social support, influence and engagement may have positive effects on h e a l t h p r o m o t i n g behaviours

The scientists advise that loneliness should be includ ed in clinical guidelines relating to T2D They said, “It is important that health care providers are open to dialogue about an individu al’s concerns during clinical consultations, including with regard to loneliness and social interaction ”

Scientists have discovered a protein that is responsible for controlling cell growth in yeasts Since humans and yeasts have remarkably sim il a r c el lu la r me cha nisms, p la y ing a lo ng th e d iffer ences presents drug devel opers with new targets for treatments Their findings, p ublis he d in th e jo ur nal eLife, not only have impli cations for drug develop ment, but they also provide important insight into the e v ol utio n of an a ncient g ro wt h co ntr ol pa th wa y found in all multicellular organisms

University of Arizona scientists have identified subtle differences between the two cell types that could help spur the development of anti fungal drugs that are able to attack disease causing yeasts in the body while sparing the immune

3 Exercise is the best drug for your health

Many people wait for heart attack or their heart health to worsen before starting exercise It is as important as a healthy diet 150 minutes per week is recommended Apart from just walking, stretching and resistance training is also important It will also control cholesterol, blood pressure and other such issues,” she says in the video

4 Smoking/alcohol harms your heart

They are simply bad for your health All kinds of cigarettes and alcohol are bad for your heart, brain, body and bones

5 Avoid these three P’s packaged food, pollution and bad city planning

Our body may be adversely affected by constantly breathing polluted air Our heart, lung, kidney, brain, liver, and bones everything gets affected when we keep breathing in air which has a high level of polluted matter Also, the more you eat ultra processed packaged foods, the more they affect the heart

system

While it is well known in the scientific community that a conglomerate of pro teins called TORC1 controls the growth of cells in every thing from humans to yeasts, researchers have now identified and named the protein that triggers this process in yeasts It is a nutrient sensor and TORC1 regulator they named Ait1 When working normally, Ait1 shuts down TORC1 in yeasts when cells are starved for nutrients, block ing cell growth

Study co author Andrew Capaldi, an asso ciate professor in the UArizona Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and BIO5 Institute member, said, “Ait1 is kind of like a hand holding TORC1 in place, with a finger that reaches over the top and flicks TORC1 on and off depending on how many nutrients a cell has ” The Capaldi Lab is interested in determining how cells sense stress and starvation and then decide how fast to grow

"If TORC1 is too active, it can give rise to cancer or epilepsy If it's underactive, then it can cause depres sion," Capaldi said "We call this Goldilocks regulation ”

Rujuta Diwekar’s 5 simple dos and don’ts to boost heart health Protein could be used to produce life-saving anti-fungals

Saif Ali Khan is “recession-proof” amid economic crisis

Actor Saif Ali Khan is confident that economic recessions won’t affect him as he already charges a very nominal fee for his work. Saif will be completing three decades of his acting career next year. The actor recently shared that he was told by his manager that he doesn’t charge too much for his work

He said, “I don’t think anything has changed for me post pandemic, even the pandemic wasn’t like an eye opener for me, but I came across two types of people, some people who are okay with themselves, their lives and homes and books and music and locking down and all, then there were people who weren’t, may be who lived more exterior lives I don’t know, but it wasn’t an eye opener in a sense that oh this is what life is all about, spending time with family and all, I don’t know it was all the same for me ”

He added, “The first one was lovely, the second one was really scare as then there was an economic crisis I don’t know if the films have changed, or it is my choice that has When it comes to fees, my manager says that we ’ re recession proof because we don’t really charge too much anyway ”

On the work front, Saif’s latest film ‘Vikram Vedha’ was released in theatres on September 30 with a modest opening It stars him as Vikram, a cop, alongside Hrithik Roshan’s gangster Vedha

Malaika Arora has a better equation with Arbaaz Khan post-divorce

Malaika

Arora recently revealed that her relationship with her ex husband Arbaaz Khan has only gotten better since they decided to end their marriage. The two tied the knot in December 1998 and finalised their divorced in May 2017 after 18 years of marriage. She is since dating actor Arjun Kapoor while Arbaaz is in a relationship with Giorgia Andriani. The two continue to co parent their son Arhaan, 19

In a recent interview, Malaika said she has a much better equation with her ex husband since they decided to call it quits When asked if she continues to be friends with Arbaaz, she said, “We have a better equation now We are far more mature We’re just happier, calmer people He’s a wonderful man, I only wish him the best in life Sometimes, people are wonderful but they just aren’t great together That’s just how it is I would always wish him well ”

She added about her decision to end the marriage, "I think I made my choice and I put myself first And I think by doing that, I am a much better person today I have a better relationship with my son; he sees that I am much happier I have a much better relationship with my ex husband I’m happy I made these decisions and I stood up for myself So, for women out there, don’t be scared Don’t be afraid to follow your heart Yes, you will ruffle feathers but life is not easy You can’t make everyone happy ”

On the work front, Malaika was last seen on TV as one of the judges on ‘India's Best Dancer’ Arbaaz will be next seen in Sony LIV's show ‘Tanaav’, an adaptation of the Israeli show ‘Fauda’ He stars alongside Satyadeep Mishra, Manav Vij, Arslan Goni, Rajat Kapoor, Zarina Wahab, Shashank Arora, and Ekta Kaul among others in the tense political drama

Filmmaker

Karan Johar has shared his review of Pushkar Gayathri’s new release, ‘Vikram Vedha’ He showered Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan with praise as the two play arch rivals in the Neo noir action thriller It was released in theatres on Friday Calling Hrithik the “ultimate leading man”, KJo wrote on Twitter, “Hrithik Roshan is a force of nature from his sinister smile to his solid swag he is the ultimate leading man of the mainstream movies His VEDHA is a lion, tiger and a panther all rolled into one!!! Wow!!”

Praising Saif Ali Khan, Karan tweeted, “Saif Ali Khan pitches his performance brilliantly! The perfect balance of nuance and playing to the gallery! He plays VIKRAM with all the layers that the character commands with the ease of a veteran! Solid!!!!!”

Karan calls H “ultimat ma mains mov

He urged his fans to watch the movie with another tweet that read, “Watch two solid actors own their characters with aplomb! Watch them display their immense expertise with panache!!! Go Watch #VikramVedha!!”

‘Vikram Vedha’ is the Hindi remake of Pushkar Gayathri's 2017 Tamil hit of the same name Hrithik essays the role of gangster Vedha, originally played by National Award winner Vijay Sethupathi and Saif plays Vikram, originally essayed by R Madhavan The action crime thriller is inspired by the Indian folktale Vikram Betaal and follows a tough police officer Vikram (Saif), who sets out to track down and arrest the tenacious gangster Vedha

All my desires are now fulfilled, Asha Parekh on Dadasaheb Phalke Award

Veteran

actor Asha Parekh has been bestowed the highest recognition in Indian cinema the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award She was presented the award by President Droupadi Murmu during the 68th National Film Awards ceremony in Delhi Parekh said she was grateful to receive the award a day before her 80th birthday

Speaking in an interview after receiving the honour, Asha said, “The time when this award has come it feels great It feels as if all my desires are now fulfilled Initially when they (the government) told me I will be receiving this award, I cold not believe that I am getting it Today it feels that I have actually received the award ” She also thanked her fans and said in Gujarati, “I want to thank you all for this award Thanks for supporting me ”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Asha Parekh on being conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award He lauded her as an outstanding film

personality PM Modi tweeted on Friday, “Asha Parekh Ji is an outstanding film personality In her long career, she has shown what versatility is I congratulate her on being conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award ”

Parekh started her acting career at the age of 10 with the 1952 film ‘Aasmaan' and went on to star in Bimal Roy's ‘Baap Beti’ two years later Asha made her debut as a leading lady in Nasir Hussain's 1959 movie 'Dil Deke Dekho’, opposite Shammi Kapoor In a career spanning over five decades, she starred in over 95 films, such as ‘Dil Deke Dekho’, ‘Kati Patang’, ‘Teesri Manzil’, ‘Baharon Ke Sapne’, ‘Pyar Ka Mausam’, and ‘Caravan’

A director and producer as well, Asha had helmed the acclaimed TV serial ‘Kora Kagaz’ that aired in the late 1990s She was also the first female chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) She served from 1998 2001 Asha was also honoured with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of the country, in 1992

Chitrangda Singh says a fan named her the owner of his home, sent deed to her house

Tiger Shroff reveals he auditioned for

‘Spider-Man’

In a major surprise for his fans, actor Tiger Shroff revealed he was almost a Marvel superhero. In his own words, the actor says he came “quite close” to playing the popular superhero. Speaking in an interview with ConnectFM Canada, Tiger revealed that he had once auditioned for the movie, even sending his tapes to the producers

Varun Dhawan reveals Salman is the only actor he doesn’t want to see on OTT

He said, “I had auditioned for Spider Man I had sent them my tapes also, my showreel They were quite impressed with what I could do My pitch to them was ‘I’d save you a lot of money on VFX because I can do most of what Spider Man can do ” While the actor did not clarify the year, the only time the character has been cast since T i g e r ’ s d e b u t w a s i n 2 0 1 5 w h e n T o m Holland was brought on board as the third actor to play the role on screen

He debuted as MCU’s Spider Man in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ the following y e a r T o m h a s s i n c e p o r t r a y e d t h e character in three solos, apart from two ‘ A v e n g e r s ’ m

r e v e a

T

Actor Varun Dhawan is filming his upcoming horror comedy ‘Bhediya’ alongside Kriti Sanon. In a recent interview, Dhawan was asked about the actors, who should “never come on OTT”, and two actors who should make their OTT debut The actor said he always felt Sidharth Malhotra and Shahid Kapoor should make their OTT debut, adding that Salman should not take up an OTT project

H e s a i d , “ I t h i n k t w o s t a r s , w h o should make (their OTT debut) are Sidharth (Malhotra), I always felt should, and he has (with a) massive show with Rohit (Shetty) sir, and Shahid Kapoor Again these are two people, who are a l r e a d y o n t h e p l a t f o r m , a n d t h e y announced it So, I’d say Mr Amitabh Bachchan, because he is such a brilliant a c t o r , h e c a n d o a n y t h i n g , e l e v a t e a n y t h i n g H e ’ l l b e p h e n o m e n a l i n a limited series or a film I would just subscribe (then and) there ”

T

Actress Chitrangda Singh recently recalled a crazy and scary encounter with a fan In her 17 years in the industry, she said although she has not had many crazy fan encounters, there was one that left her scared. Chitrangda said that a fan once gifted his house to her, but what scared her more was that he even knew the address to her house

Recalling the incident, she said, “There was one scary one Someone had sent me legal papers of his land where h e h a d t r a n s f e r r e d t h e ownership of it to me He also knew my address so it came d i r e c t l y t o m y h o u s e i n Mumbai It was very scary ” S i n g h a l s o s p o k e a b o u t n o t h a v i n g d o n e e n o u g h work She said, “I think every actor would feel that he/she has not been utilised to their fullest potential till the end I a l s o f e e l t h e s a m e I d o n ’ t t h i n k I h a v e d o n e e n o u g h work The number of films I h a v e d o n e h a s n o t b e e n e n o u g h f o r m e t o e x p l o r e what I am capable of, and forget other people I would love to be pushed and put into uncomfortable places to bring out my best as an actor ”

Chitrangda was last seen alongside Abhishek Bachchan i n t h e c r i m e t h r i l l e r ‘ B o b Biswas’, which was released o n Z E E 5 i n D e c e m b e r l a s t year She will be next seen in ‘ G a

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Film Heritage Foundation Announces

Amitabh Bachchan Film Festival

Mumbai’s

only

He added, “Salman sir should not I don’t want to see Salman bhai (on OTT) I am happy jab mein Eid pe unko dekhta hoon (I am happy to watch him on the s c r e e n o n E i d ) , o n t h e b i g h o l i d a y s Actually, he’s the only one (I don’t want to see on OTT) ”

his

a fan asked Tiger, "Heropanti 2 karke aapko kaisa laga (how did you feel after doing Heropanti 2), he replied, “Release hone se pehle bada mazaa aya release k bad l lag gaye (it was a lot of fun before the film's release, but not after the

V a r u n , w h o l a s t a p p e a r e d i n t h e family drama ‘JugJugg Jeeyo’, and will be s o o n s e e n i n t h e r o m a n t i c c o m e d y ‘Bawaal’ with Janhvi Kapoor, opened up about which actors would be great on OTT He also spoke about Sidharth’s web series ‘Indian Police Force’, and Shahid Kapoor’s OTT debut, Raj and DK's ‘Farzi’

The

Suriya, Jyothika receive prestigious National Awards

Power couple Suriya and Jyothika received the National Awards last week. The awards ceremony was organised at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Friday, where President Droupadi Murmu presented awards to multiple film actors, filmmakers and others involved with filmmaking Suriya received the Best Actor award for ‘Soorarai Pottru’ and his actor wife Jyothika received the Best Feature Film award for the same film

Suriya attended the event in a traditional lungi, while Jyothika wore a lavender saree for the award ceremony

Photos from the ceremony showed them clicking each others’ pictures from the audience as the other accepted their award ‘Soorarai Pottru’ is a semi biographical drama, which won in three of the four major award cat egories at the 68th National Film Awards

The film was released on Amazon Prime Video on November 12, 2020 Directed by Sudha Kongara, the Tamil film is partially inspired by the events of the life of Simplify Deccan founder GR Gopinath It featured Suriya as Maara, a former Air Force officer with a dream of starting a low cost airline in India The movie was praised by fans and critics Besides Suriya, it also starred Aparna Balamurali and Paresh Rawal

The Hindi adaptation of ‘Soorarai Pottru’ will feature Akshay stepping into Suriya’s shoes It will also star Radhika Madan with Paresh Rawal reprising his role in the Tamil film Sudha Kongara is also returning to don the director’s hat for the film While the film shoot began in April this year, earlier Suriya shared a picture with Akshay from the sets He will be appearing in the Hindi remake in a cameo role

TV Listing

10:00 DESHI BEATS

16:30 -

17:00 Bhakt Gora Kumbhar

17:30 RASOI SHOW (O)

18:00 RASOI SHOW (O)

18:30 SURI (O)

19:00 JODE REJO RAAJ (O)

19:30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU (O)

Canada theatres receive threats ahead of ‘Ponniyin Selvan 1’ release

MON 10 OCT FRI 14 OCT 2022

6:00 Gujarati Wedding in Goa

9:00 SHUBH PRABHAT

9:30 SUR PRABHAT

10:00 DESHI BEATS

16:30 Geeta 17:00 Geeta

17:30 RASOI SHOW (O)

18:00 RASOI SHOW (O)

18:30 SURI (O)

19:00 MARI LADKI RE (O)

19:30 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM (CURTAIN RAISER RUMZUM NORTA)

20:00 RUMZHUM NORTA 2022

20:30 RUMZHUM NORTA 2022

21:00 RUMZHUM NORTA 2022

21:30 RUMZHUM NORTA 2022

22:00 RUMZHUM NORTA 2022

SATURDAY 15 OCT 2022

6:00 DHOLO MARA MALAK NO

9:00 SHUBH PRABHAT

9:30 SUR PRABHAT

20:00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI (O)

20:30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU (O)

21:00 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM (O)

21:30 GEETA (O)

22:00 MARI LADKI RE (O)

SUNDAY 16 OCT 2022

7:00 GEETA ®

9:00 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU ®

10:30 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM ®

12:00 MAHISAGAR NA MOTI

16:30 MARI LADKI RE ®

17:00 RASOI SHOW ®

17:30 RASOI SHOW ®

18:00 RASOI SHOW ®

18:30 RASOI SHOW ®

19:00 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU ®

19:30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU ®

20:00 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU ®

20:30 RASHI RIKSHAWALI ®

21:00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI ®

21:30 RASHI RIKSHAWALI ®

22:00 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU ®

21:30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 2

22:00 NAAGIN SEASON 1

SATURDAY 15 OCT 2022

16:30 RASOI SHOW DESI FLAVOURS

DANCE DEEWANE JUNIORS

DESI BEAT RESET

BHAGYA KA LIKHA

MON 10 OCT FRI 14 OCT 2022

16:30 RASOI SHOW DESI FLAVOURS

17:30 CHHUTA CHHEDA

18:00 SASURAL SIMAR KA

18:30 SHAKTI

19:00 DESI BEATS

19:30 BHAGYA KA LIKHA

20:00 SWARAN GHAR

20:30 KAWACH MAMTA KA

21:00 AJNABI BANE HUMSAFAR

COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL

SASURAL SIMAR KA 2

VISH YA AMRIT SITAARA

16 OCT 2022

RASOI SHOW DESI FLAVOURS

17:30 DANCE DEEWANE JUNIORS

19:00 THE ANUPAM KHER SHOW

COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL

VISH YA AMRIT SITAARA

Theatre owners in Canadian cities like Hamilton, Kitchener, and London are gearing up for the release of Mani Ratnam’s ‘Ponniyin Selvan 1’, and many have now received threats against the film screening The alleged threat came via e mail and claimed to cause a ruckus in the theatres upon the release of the movie

The overseas distributor of the movie, KW Talkies took to Twitter and shared the a l l e g e d t h r e a t m a i l T h e y s a i d , “ I h a v e u p d a t e s f r o m H a m i l t o n , K i t c h e n e r , a n d London All the theatre owners have been threatened with attacks if they play PS1 Tamil or any movie from KW Talkies Let’s see how other places fare ” The mail men tioned that if theatre owners play movies that are distributed by KW Talkies including ‘Ponniyin Selvan 1 ’ , they will tear up the screen and release 'toxic' in the area They said they’ll target any movie distributed by KW Talkies

This is not the first time a South Indian film has met with threats from unidentified

e o p l e L a s t

o v e m b e r , D u l q u e r

a l m a a n s t a r r e r

a l a y a l a

Canada Movie screens

Cineplex locations in R

H

Oakville that screened the film In total, four screens were dam aged

Meanwhile, the Mani Ratnam directorial was released worldwide last week Produced b

Vikram, Karthi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, Sobhita Dhulipala and Aishwarya Lekshmi among others It marks Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s comeback to Tamil cinema after a decade Aishwarya will be seen play ing dual roles Nandini and her mute moth er Mandakini Devi

The film will release in two parts and both have been shot on a budget of Rs 150 crore Mani Ratnam recently revealed that the second part of the movie will be released in six to nine months based on the comple tion of VFX work and post production

Rashmika Mandanna is still friends with her exes

Actress

Rashmika Mandanna r shared that she is on good te with her former boyfriends, and even meets with their current partners She said that while she was not sure if their friendship is healthy, she does share a very good relationship with them Mandanna made the revelation a she played a game inspired by he upcoming Bollywood movie ‘Goodbye In a recent interview, the actor was given situations and asked if she should say ‘hi’ or ‘goodbye’ to them When asked what would be her response if she runs into the current partners of her exes at a party, she replied with a ‘hi’ She added, “With my exes also, I am still friends I sort of like meet their fam ilies, their present, current, future, past, everything ” While agreeing that this is not a very good trait, she added, “But I have a very

hmika was previously engaged tor Rakshit Shetty She started ting the actor when she worked i t h h i m o n h e r d e b u t f i l m Kirik Party’, and the two got engaged in July 2017 However, h e t w o m u t u a l l y b r o k e o f f heir engagement in September 18, citing compatibility issues h m i k a h a s b e e n r e p e a t e d l y to Vijay Deverakonda since then, her co star from ‘Geetha Govindam’ (2018) and ‘Dear Comrade’ (2019) However, the two have always denied the reports Rashmika will star alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Neena Gupta, Suneel Grover, and Pavail Gulati in ‘Goodbye’ The family drama i s s c h e d u l e d t o r e l e a s e i n t h e a t r e s o n October 7 She has two more Hindi films in the pipeline ‘Animal’ with Ranbir Kapoor, a n d ‘ M i s s i o n M a j n u ’ w i t h S i d h a r t h Malhotra She will also be reprising her role of Srivalli in Allu Arjun starrer ‘Pushpa: The Rule’

Alia Bhatt makes it to The Guardian’s list of greatest performances

Deepika joins Kylie Jenner, Jared Leto at Paris event

Bollywood star Alia Bhatt has joined the likes of Lupita Nyong’o and Marilyn Monroe on an international publication’s list of greatest performances

The Guardian released a fresh list of the greatest and worst movie performances of all time selected by their writers The publication’s writer Mike McCahill mentioned Alia’s performance in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ in the piece.

He wrote, “One of 2022 ’ s greatest performances

As the real life figure of Ganga Harjivandas, the self improving sex slave who became queen of Mumbai’s 1960s red light district, Bhatt makes complete emotional sense of a rollercoaster character arc Her extraordinarily expressive dancing in a drum number Dholida tells its own story: veering from communal celebration to personal desolation, it’s a walling three minute tabulation of everything this woman has

gained and lost ”

An elated Alia reposted the article with grinning face emojis Released earlier this year, ’Gangubai Kathiawadi’ gained much praise worldwide The movie went on to become the number one non English film on Netflix globally within a week of release The film is based on S Hussain Zaidi’s book Mafia Queens of Mumbai and follows the journey of Gangu, who was sold into a brothel in Mumbai’s Kamathipura

On the work front, Alia was last seen in ‘Brahmastra’ with husband Ranbir Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan Her upcoming releases include Hollywood debut ‘Heart of Stone’ with Gal Gadot, and ‘Jee Le Zaraa’ with Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra

She also has ‘Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani’ with Ranveer Singh

Priyanka says she can’t vote in the US but one day her daughter will

Actor Priyanka Chopra was recently in Washington DC and interacted with US Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Committee (DMC) Women’s Leadership Forum. Later, she took to Instagram to pen a long note in which she talked about voting rights in the US. She said that while she doesn’t “vote in this country my husband can and one day, my daughter will.”

experienced some of the biggest challenges that we will see in our lifetime We are faced with an urgent need for stability and progress, and for America that starts at the polls on November 8th Everyone has a role to play towards that to be part of the civic process and to exercise the right to vote, especially women because we need to be actively involved in ensuring our rights are being taken care of ”

In the post, Priyanka spoke about how in India, women have held “highest elected offices” from Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister to current President Droupadi Murmu She added that in the US, people have not yet seen that “final glass ceiling shattered ” For the event, Priyanka wore a long yellow dress and white heels

Priyanka captioned the post, "To quote Ruth Bader Ginsburg 'Women belong in all places where decisions are being made It shouldn't be that women are the exception ' Since the very beginning, the world has undermined the power of women We’ve been shunned and silenced, but thanks to the scarifies and tenacity of so many selfless women, we are in a place today where we can come together and work collectively to right the wrongs This was a key takeaway from the conversation I had the honour to moderate with @vp, Kamala Harris at the Women’s Leadership Forum conference in Washington DC last night

She added, "Over the last two years, humanity has

"While I don’t vote in this country my husband can and one day, my daughter will My conversation with VP Harris centred around the most pressing issues, that, in order to be addressed, need to have a clear vision and plan Thank you to the WLF and Secretary Hillary Clinton, a founding force in establishing this organization, and for including me in these important conversations, among an incredible collection of accomplished women, she concluded her post

Priyanka is married to singer Nick Jonas and they have a daughter, Malti Marie Chopra Jonas On the work front, she has several projects in the pipeline like ‘Ending Things’ and ‘It’s All Coming Back To Me’ She also has the Prime Video series ‘Citadel’, produced by Russo Brothers, alongside Richard Madden, and Farhan Akhtar s ‘Jee Le Zaraa’ along with Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif

Deepika Padukone attended The Business of Fashion event held in Paris alongside Kylie Jenner, Natasha Poonawalla, Charli XCX, and Ellie Goulding among others Several fan accounts shared pictures of the guests, including Jaden Smith, Jared Leto, Paloma Elsesser, and Karlie Kloss who attended the event

Actor

Deepika flaunted a golden top under a jacket and pants, pairing them with a set of black heels and a bag The actress also posed with several celebrities on the red carpet The event also saw FKA Twigs, social media personality Khaby Lame, Ashley Graham, Coco Rocha, Hai Nef, Jasmine Tookes, Jordan Barrett, Georgia May Jagger, and Jourdan Dunn

At the event, Deepika responded to a question about “raising the profile of Indian actors, and actresses ” She said, “I have always set out to do what I do with purpose and always trying to do things differently in the way that they have always been done I’ve always questioned why there has not been enough representation, why casting has always been a certain way, and why we are not seeing enough I don’t think I’ve been bitter about it ”

She added, “I have always believed whatever little I can do in my journey, if I can bring about change, my purpose would be served through my craft and through what I do I wake up every morning with purpose and want to make a difference in the lives of millions of girls like me It feels good when you get the opportunity to represent your country at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the jury or whether you are the first Indian to be a part of the Bof 500 cover, I feel grateful ”

Deepika’s trip comes just days after several reports of her hospitalisation She flew out from Mumbai earlier last week along with her mother Ujjala Padukone A media has recently reported that she was admitted to Mumbai’s Breach Candy hospital where she underwent several tests as she complained about feeling uneasy

On the work front, Deepika will be seen in the upcoming action thriller ‘Pathaan’ Helmed by Siddharth Anand, the movie also stars Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham in the lead roles and is slated to hit the theatres on January 25, 2023 She also has ‘Fighter’ alongside Hrithik Roshan, and ‘Project K’ along with Prabhas

Maitrey Ramakrishnan set to join Netflix’s ‘My Little Pony’

Actress Maitrey Ramakrishnan is all set to star in the voice cast of Netflix’s new animated children’s series ‘My Little Pony: Make Your Mark The Canadian actor, 20, will play the next gen character of Pegasus pony Zipp, short for Princess Zephyrina

Storm

Calling the role a chance to fulfill “those childhood kinds of dreams” She said, “If I told my younger, child self, ‘Hey, you ’ re going to be a Little Pony’, the obvious answer would be ‘No way ’ ” She added, “It’s really great because it’s showing kids that there’s a place for everyone All of the main characters are very different and unique personalities and have different interests and like hope kids just take away that they can be themselves and people will love them for that ”

Born to Tamil parents who emigrated from Sri Lanka, Maitreyi rose to fame with Mindy

Kaling’s ‘Never Have I Ever’ When asked recently how viewers responded to a lead Southeast Asian character, she said, “With the ‘Never Have I Ever’ and the ‘Squid Games’ of the world, it’s like, ‘Oh, we made a step in the right direction ’ And then very quickly, those steps can be forgotten because we tend to not give them enough credit, and it’s really hard to keep that momentum going But you have to do the work It gets frustrating at times because you can wonder if you ’ re on top of the world and you ’ re like, ‘Yeah, I made it I’m being respected ”

She added, “But hang on, I’m still being treated like I’m just this little tokenized brown girl ’ And that sucks ut because I love acting so much, I’m not going to give it up And I know that if I continue to pave this way, as Mindy Kaling did for girls like me, I’ll make it a little bit easier for the next, and then it will keep going ”

in briefIndia beat SA in two T20s

A f ter th e run d elu g e b y th e batters in th e Australian series, it w as time for the bo wlers to call the sh ots in the first T20I of the three match series between I nd i a an d S ou th A f ric a T h e G re enf i el d st ad i u m i n T hiruv ananthapuram lived up t

ng a g ree

s h w i c ket th a t a i d ed p lenty of swing for the seamers

The ‘English like’ conditions saw South Africa losing half the side even before the team total had reached double figures The visitors couldn’t recover from that abysmal start and ended up with 106 for eight in 20 overs

The Indian batsmen didn’t have it easy in their chase either as long as Kagiso Rabada was in operation He dismissed skipper Rohit Sharma for a duck as he troubled the batters

with his pace and movement When Anrich Nortje accounted for Virat Kohli, some jitters were felt However, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav took their time to wear out the South African bowlers and chipped away at the paltry target with an unbroken partnership of 93 to take India home

In the second T20 match, India beat South Africa by 16 runs to take an unassailable 2 0 lead in the three match series on Sunday Sent in to bat, India posted a massive 237 for three, riding on a solid batting display by the top four and then returned to restrict the visitors to 221 for 3 in the stipulated 20 overs Quinton de Kock (69 not

out) and David Miller (106 not out) did the bulk of the scoring for the visitors

KL Rahul (57) and Rohit Sharma (43) put on a 96 run opening stand to set the foundation for India at the Barsapara cricket stadium Suryakumar Yadav (61) then took centre stage as he smashed five boundaries and as many sixes en route to his 102 run standoff just 40 balls with Virat Kohli (49 not out) Dinesh Karthik then made some lusty blows in his seven ball 17 not out

Keshav Maharaj (2/23) was the most successful bowler for South Africa but it turned out to be a disastrous day for the rest of his bowling colleagues For India, Arshdeep Singh (2/62) and Axar Patel (1/53) were the wicket takers

Indian TT player Sreeja shines at international level

In one of Sreeja A kula's daily p hone calls from Ch engd u to h er c oach S omnath Gho sh in I n d i a, a p ar ti cu l ar st ate m en t from her reflected her cu rrent s tate o f m ind as w el l as h er g row ing statu re in the Indian team "She told m e, 'I am p laying the tough m atches'," Ghosh said

Turning up for India's opening match in their group game against Egypt Manika Batra took the first shot in the previous two group ties in the World Team Table Tennis Championships on Monday, Sreeja swept past teen sensation and 42nd ranked Hana Goda 3 0 (11 6, 11 4, 11 1) A more experienced Egyptian awaited her with India up 2 1, but the 24 year old Indian stood equally

tall against world No 29 Dina Meshref in a 3 1 (11 8, 11 8, 9 11, 11 6) victory With Manika edging past Dina 3 2 (8 11, 11 6, 11 7, 2 11, 11 8) in the second rubber, the women ’ s team sealed a spot in the Round of 16 as the second best team in Group 5 behind Germany, the only team that India went down to

The 77th ranked Sreeja has won four of her five matches

Shoaib Akthar criticises Pakistan cricket team

S h o a i b A kt h ar h as s ai d th a t Babar Azam and other Pakistani b at sm en li ke M o h a m m a d Rizwan, Iftiqhar Ah med and co w ill all be targeted w ith short balls, bouncers, in the T20 wo rld cup in Australia He m imicked a w eak pull shot and add ed , “ aap y ahan par (i nd ic ates a ch est h igh pull) kitna kar lo ge? (What w ill yo u do here?)

The former Pakistan pacer Akhtar has said it before and says it again now “As I have said before, I fear that this Pakistan team can go out of the world cup in the first round itself ”

“Everyone knows when Pakistan lands for the world cup what other teams are going to do Babar Azam: Idhar (here)” and Shoaib gestures at a bouncer and mimics Babar fending it off He then says the same for Rizwan Short ball, idhar! Then Shoaib repeats the bouncer and fends off a gesture for Iftiqhar Ahmed also; in addition he calls Iftikhar “Misbah part 2!”

He added, “Don’t think in Australia they won’t be hurling bouncers at you They will only

do that What can you do?” His main theme remains the middle order trouble he has been talking about for a while now “Shaan Masood is a great player but not an impact player na? His fifties are of no use I am not saying the boys aren’t good but there are some capacities inside a player which comes out on field Akthar had also criticised the chief selector, former pacer Mohammad Wasim and his former team mate Saqlain Musthaq, who is Pakistan’s coach

“Jab chief selector average hoga unke decision bhi average honge (When the chief selector is average then only average decisions would be taken),” Akthar said about Mohammad Wasim

He then said that Saqlain doesn’t have any idea about T20

across the three group ties

Three of those four wins have come against top 50 players German No 14 Nina Mittelham, Hana and Dina and the sole defeat against 8th ranked Ying Han of Germany This, in the Hyderabad woman ’ s first appearance at the prestigious world team event

"I've been playing well and feeling really confident about my game," the soft spoken Sreeja said in an on court interview after her win over Dina That confidence has been Sreeja’s companion of late The senior national singles title this year and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games (CWG) where she won the mixed

doubles gold with Sharath Kamal and lost two tight matches on the cusp of a singles medal have been the major contributing factors

The world event has presented different kinds of challenges for Sreeja: from the menacing forehand of Nina to the defensive brilliance of Ying against Germany, from the in form youngest African continental title winner in Hana to the left handed examination of Dina against Egypt Sreeja has aced most of them with aplomb so far Ghosh believes her sharper, more effective forehand play has stood out in that Her long pimpled backhand rubber, much like Manika's, already has the touch of uniqueness

Stampede kills 125 in Indonesia football stadium

At least 125 p eop le died at an I nd o nes i an f o o tba ll stadium w hen thousand s of ang ry fans invaded the p i tc h an d p o l ic e responded with tear gas th a t tr ig g er ed a s tam p ed e , au th o r it ie s said The trag ed y in the city of M alang, which also le ft 3 2 3 i nj u re d a cc o rd in g to police, was one of th e w orld's d e ad l ie st s p o rt in g s ta d i u m disasters

Arema FC supporters at the Kanjuruhan stadium marched onto the pitch after their team lost 3 2 to the visiting team and bitter rivals, Persebaya Surabaya Police, who described the unrest as riots , said they tried to force fans to return to the stands and fired tear gas after two officers were killed Many of the victims were trampled or choked to death, according to police

Many of the victims were trampled or choked to death, according to police Survivors described panicking spectators in a packed crowd as tear gas rained down on them President Joko Widodo ordered an

investigation into the tragedy, a safety review into all football matches and directed the country's football association to suspend all matches until "security improvements" were completed Video footage circulating on social media showed people shouting obscenities at police, who were holding riot shields and wielding batons Torched vehicles, including a police truck, littered the streets outside the stadium on Sunday morning

The stadium holds 42,000 people and authorities said it was a sell out Police said 3,000 people came onto the pitch Fan violence is an enduring problem in Indonesia, where deep rivalries have previously turned into deadly confrontations

BUMRAH RULED OUT OF INDIAN TEAM DUE TO INJURY

India’s star cricketer Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup due to injury The BCCI medical team took the decision following a "detailed assessment and in consultation with the specialists" It is far from unexpected news with the 28 year old fast bowler having been sent for specialist consultations in Bengaluru following his withdrawal from the ongoing series against South Africa but it is a decision the India camp was hoping to avoid Bumrah s absence is another huge blow to India who also lost all rounder Ravindra Jadeja to a knee injury that required surgery last month Following Bumrah s withdrawal, the BCCI said it will name a replacement for the bowler in the squad for the tournament soon Bumrah's place could go to Mohammed Shami, who was named as a reserve to the 15 man squad alongside fellow seamer Deepak Chahar, but Mohammed Siraj is also likely to come into the conversation after being called up as cover for the last two games against the Proteas Bumrah has been an important part of India s bowling attack, with his express pace and yorkers proving difficult for batters to handle especially during the death overs in T20 cricket

INDIA BEATS UAE IN WOMEN’S ASIA CUP CRICKET

India s Women Cricket Team defeated UAE Women Cricket Team by 104 runs in the Women s Asia Cup match between the sides on 4 th October India themselves had got off to a horror start with the bat as they lost three early wickets, but a 128 runpartnership between Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma took them to a strong total of 178 for 5 against UAE in the Asia Cup match Rodrigues finished unbeaten on 75 off 45 deliveries, while Deepti made 64 off 49 Pooja Vastrakar and KP Navgire also struck some meaty blows at the death to help India post a strong total Earlier, India opted to bat and experimented with their batting line up, with stand in captain Smriti Mandhana not coming out to the middle at all Richa Ghosh was sent to open alongside Sabbhineni Meghana in the absence of Shafali Verma who was rested along with regular captain Harmanpreet Kaur but she fell for a golden duck Meghana who scored a half century against Malaysia also fell cheaply before Dayalan Hemalatha's run out left India three down early However Jemimah and Deepti batted brilliantly to ensure the early collapse did not stop India from posting a strong total UAE women team were finally beaten by India after scoring 74/4 against the Indian total of 178/5 This was the third consecutive win for India

33 PROBABLES FOR INDIAN HOCKEY TEAM NAMED

Hockey India has named 33 probable players for the FIH Pro League season opening matches The group includes captain Manpreet Singh and veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh The league begins on 28th October The players will report to SAI centre in Bengaluru for a national camp ahead of the league matches against New Zealand and Spain in Bhubaneshwar’s Kalinga stadium Chief coach Graham Reid has said that the FIH Pro League 2022 23 will give us insights into the areas that require work ahead of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men s World Cup 2023 at Bhubaneswar Rourkela India played against New Zealand on October 28 and November 4 They will face Germany on October 30 and November 6

Sreeja Akula

Shoaib Akthar