AV 12th March 2022

FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

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12 - 18 MARCH 2022

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

04 UK business leaders welcome Free Trade Agreement with India

05 “Best Indian you’ll takeaway”- man searches for a wife on TfL ads

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VOL 50 - ISSUE 44

22 Exit polls predict BJP win in UP, AAP in Punjab

HAS BRITAIN FAILED ITS WOMEN?

23 India to resume international flights from March 27

Indian medical students from Ukraine face uncertain future as war unfolds People at Warsaw crossing over from Ukraine

One year since Sarah Everard’s brutal murder and after five years of MeToo, the Mayor of London, Met Police and members of the Asian community admit that women are still unsafe.

Shefali Saxena

It’s been a year since Sarah Everard lost her after being raped and strangulated to death by a Met Police officer, who burned her body and disposed it off in a pond. In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan admitted that “Women and girls tell me they do not always feel safe in our city.” The Met Police has told the newsweekly that their work to “build trust is ongoing and gathering pace”.

Continued on page 06

Nischal Sanghavi On 24 February, Russian President Vladmir Putin launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. Like any war, this one on Ukraine’s soil has not only affected the Ukrainian citizens but also its immigrants, especially the foreign students.

Thousands of Indian students are currently studying medicine in Ukraine. A compelling reason for Indians to study medicine abroad is driven by the fierce competition to get admission in India’s government medical colleges. Private colleges, though offer an alternative option, they charge astronomical fees, that most middle-class people can’t afford. Still a medical degree remains most sought-after in India, with around 1.5 million students applying for only 80,000 seats. Over the years Ukraine has become an attractive affordable destination for Indian students who failed to get a seat in India for various reasons.

Continued on page 25

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AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

12 - 18 March 2022

with Keith Vaz

Teenager arrested on counterterrorism charges

SONAL DAVE Toastmaster/Public Speaking Expert Sonal was born in Uganda, diagnosed with Congenital Hip Dysplasia and lives with a disability and chronic pain, but this has not stopped Sonal from leading an exciting and eclectic career.

Sonal was a child performer with the English National Opera & Sadlers Wells. She also worked over 20 years as a Civil Servant.

At the age of 50, Sonal launched her own business and is one of two Asian Female Toastmasters and a Public Speaking Expert. She has received many awards and is featured in publications. Sonal has been a serving Magistrate since 2004 and is a published author in two collaboration books. She is a great supporter of charities including Shishukunj, SKSN and Saving Dreams. She is married to Dhani and they have two dogs.

Sonal’s motto is “Dare To Dream - Dare to be Different. The World is your Stage”

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

I do love India, but I feel most at home in the UK. It is the country where my parents brought me up, I was educated here, and my best friends are nearby.

It is a land of opportunity if you are prepared to work hard to follow your dreams.

2) What are your proudest achievements?

Child performer at the English National Opera and performed at The Royal Albert Hall. Appointed as a Magistrate in my 30s. Getting married in my 40s and starting my own business in my 50’s. Working with children and adults building better relationships and confidence. Giving couples their ceremony of choice.

3) What inspires you?

I am inspired by individuals who do not follow what is expected of them.

They follow their own dreams and passions by challenging, breaking down barriers and supporting others. I am inspired by those who live with disability and chronic pain yet get up each day and smile. Much like myself.

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

Working with managers with no people skills, the lack of understanding of racism, cultural differences, and disability. The unconscious bias that was prevalent but never spoken about. In fact, it was often just brushed under the carpet in the hope that no one would notice or say anything.

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

My parents. From a young age, I knew that I was different and did not want to follow what everyone else was doing, but I also knew that with a disability this would not always be possible.

My parents showed me that hard work, persistence, and resilience was the key.

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

As an Independent Celebrant & Toastmaster, I get to help create unique

ceremonies where I can bring in my Asian knowledge and experience. As a Public Speaking Expert, I am helping children and adults learn life skills that will help them succeed through life’s journey and cope with their Mental Health.

7) And the worst?

The pressure that families put on an individual for their wedding ceremony, education, and life. They do not listen to what the individual really wants to do. Also, the parents that stress their children out as they feel qualifications are the only way forward to a successful life.

8) What are your long-term goals?

That more people understand the role and value of an Independent Celebrant & Toastmaster. That Independent Celebrants become licensed to deliver legal ceremonies giving couples choice. That Public Speaking and Life Skills are in the curriculum and employment L&D activities. That disability and chronic pain is further understood and managed effectively.

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

I hope its ok to choose two. An enhanced education, learning and development curriculum where the focus is to teach Life Skills, including Storytelling, Communication and Confidence and a real genuine understanding of Diversity, Inclusion, Disability, Difference and Racism for those who are in positions of power.

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

Mother Teresa, I love everything about her selfless work putting religion aside and helping those in need. Also, she met Mahatma Gandhi, another historical figure I admire. They both believed in harmony, devotion to human welfare and compassion which is how we should all strive to live.

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Counter-terrosim officers in North London have arrested a 19-year old boy on suspicion of engaging in Islamist-related terror activities.

The Metropolitan Police informed that he was arrest-

ed as part of an investigation that was led by the force’s Counter Terrorism Command. He is in custody at a London police station.

He was detained under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Police said that there

DWP accused of 'culture of secrecy' After failing to release data on sanctions imposed on benefits claimants, the Department for Work and Pensions has been accused of a “culture of secrecy”.

It is believed that the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) halted the study of the University of Glasgow that was examining whether benefit sanctions

are linked to ill health, including mental illness and suicide citing that the researchers must resubmit their application for access

to the data. “This emerging pattern of obstruction suggests that a culture of secrecy is entrenched in DWP. It must wake up to the harm that it is doing and commit to a new spirit of openness,” said Stephen Timms, chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.

Two new oligarchs added to UK sanctions list The UK government has added two new names to the list of oligarchs that are being sanctioned. Billionaire Everton Football Club sponsor Alisher Usmanov and Russian politician Igor Shuvalov have been added to the list. Downing Street clarified that the government is not being held back from imposing sanctions on oligarchs due to legal difficulties, which is otherwise being reported.

According to media reports, the Foreign Office and National Crime Agency is trying hard to prove “reasonable grounds” for legally sanctioning individuals who are allegedly linked to Putin, including the owner of Chelsea Football Club,

Roman Abramovich.

“We've introduced the largest ever package of economic sanctions ever placed on a G20 country (and) we've gone further and faster than we ever had before. We do have laws that we need to abide by when it comes to how we apply these sanctions and we are following them,” a spokesperson for No.10 said.

Boris Jonson has been branded as a ‘poodle on roubles’ for not taking strict actions and imposing tougher sanctions on Russian oligarchs, firms or cronies of Vladimir Putin.

So far, the UK has targeted 15 individual Russians including Putin and his foreign minister. Meanwhile,

the EU has imposed sanctions and travel bans on 702 people includes all the members of the Russian parliament and more than 50 organisations that are linked with Putin.

German authorities seized a £448m million luxury yacht owned by Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov the tycoon with close ties to the English Premier League following with the sanctioning.

Considering the pressure, ministers are now promising to extend the sanctions regime and are drawing up plans to allow the seizure of oligarchs’ UK mansions.

Shopkeeper tried swindling £130,000 jackpot A shopkeeper, Narendra Gill, tried swindling £130,000 from a partially deaf OAP after pretending his EuroMillions ticket was a loser. Gill swiped the lucky dip ticket — which had five winning numbers and a

Lucky Star — from retired deliveryman Frank Gowland after checking it. However, the 81-year-old had no clue that he had scooped a big Lotto prize until weeks later when police called him.

When Gill, 52, called

Labour’s Paulette Hamilton becomes Birmingham’s first black MP Labour’s Paulette Hamilton will be the first black MP who will represent a Birmingham constituency. A former nurse and a mother of five, Paulette Hamilton, 59, won with a majority of 3,266 but the by-election failed to inspire voters, with a turnout of just 27 per cent.

Conservative candidate Robert Alden who secured votes was defeated by Hamilton who got ahead

is no immediate threat to the public. Anyone with information about the suspected terrorist activity can report it to police at gov.uk/ACT or the anti-terrorist hotline on 0800 789 321.

with 9,413 votes.

Ms Hamilton thanked her fellow Labour colleagues for their support, who lost her father when

her campaign was underway.

"I'd also like to say a special thank you to Kier Starmer for his endless support - even when my dad died, they were there, they wrapped me in cotton wool, and they supported me, and my dad isn't even buried yet but they were there when I was crying," she said.

EuroMillions at Camelot, staff became suspicious as they heard her serving customers.

She admitted that she worked at the GT News shop at the White Rose Shopping Centre in Leeds but said that someone gifted her the ticket and she doesn't know where it was bought.

Camelot alerted police, following which, shop manager Gill, admitted theft and fraud and was jailed at Leeds crown court for 28 months.

AsianVoiceNews

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12 - 18 March 2022

Thought for the week

Have we found the world without bias?

On this International Women’s Day (IWD), a genius Twitter account reportedly held businesses accountable as they used social media to celebrate women who worked for them.

Women’s Day is both a celebration of women’s accomplishments and an occasion to highlight persistent issues, such as safety (see page 1), equal pay, gender equality, inclusion etc. This year, the theme is all about imagining a gender-equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination.

The Independent wrote about how companies across the UK have been taking to Twitter to raise their own profiles by highlighting the achievements of the women who work for them and how they have been supporting them. But interestingly, any attempts of performative activism have been spoilt by the Gender Pay Gap Bot, an account dedicated to highlighting pay disparities between men and women. Every time an organisation tweets about their IWD initiatives, the account is responding by publishing the company’s pay gap!

Many companies and organisations are hosting events, competitions, doing special features (see page 13-17) and panel discussions to celebrate women breaking boundaries.

Asian Voice in association with the Royal Air Force has organised a panel discussion on 18 March 2022, at the Courthouse Hotel in Shoreditch (see p16-17 for more details).

Baroness Stedman-Scott, UK's Minister for Women, launched two new initiatives to level up employment opportunities this IWD, for women, as the country recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The new initiative will seek to improve pay transparency in the job application process and help businesses who want to go even further in attracting women to their positions.

Evidence shows listing a salary range on a job advert and not asking applicants to disclose salary history provides a firm footing for women to negotiate pay on a fairer basis. This could have a significant impact in closing salary gaps and tackling pay inequality.

The government is therefore leading the way with a pilot scheme, where participating employers list salary details on job adverts and stop asking about salary history during recruitment.

Alongside this, the Government will launch a new returners programme to help women back into STEM (science, technology, engineering & maths) careers.

Reality shows it will take 30 years to reach gender parity at senior levels of the financial services industry if nothing is done to improve the “frustratingly slow” current rate, the Treasury’s champion, Aviva boss Amanda Blanc, on the issue has warned. Women account for 85% of sole carers for children and 65% of sole carers for older adults. More people from ethnic minority backgrounds (42%) have caring responsibilities than from white backgrounds.

Women’s Aid has been shining a spotlight on domestic abuse and mental health – to raise awareness of the severe and long-lasting impacts it has on survivors and their children. Bringing together key decision-makers and campaigners, the Westminster event highlighted the huge barriers that women face in accessing services – from long waiting times to communication barriers, victim-blaming attitudes, and a lack of trauma-informed responses and services.

However, Suzanne Moore in a beautiful article in The daily Telegraph wrote, “If IWD means anything, it means facing up to what is happening to women everywhere. We have gone backwards, not forwards. The pandemic is part of this, but not the only factor. The UN estimates that women are doing more caring and household chores than ever.

Women the world over do this unpaid work in the name of “family”…The new religion of gender identity has meant a fundamental denial of women’s experience: menstruation, birth, breastfeeding, menopause. These are not feelings in ladies’ heads, but things that happen to real bodies. As does rape, objectification, FGM, as well as all the societal expectations women deal with daily.”

While so many campaigns are running parallelly, trying to focus on every hurdle a woman faces, questions remain how far have we come? What have we actually attained?

How have we progressed from before? While some women are treated as more deserving than others, why does this disparity exist at all? One should not strive for a world where there is a need to celebrate a day dedicated to women for their contributions or evolution. We must strive for a world where women are actually considered equal to men.

The West has failed, despite promises, hopes and resilience It is a tragedy that with all the moral policing across nations, refugees coming from different conflicting nations are treated differently. Asian and Black students that crossed borders from Ukraine to different countries like Poland, Romania, Bulgaria faced horrors, often asked for bribe to be allowed to save their own lives in bombed cities (see p1 story).

The Financial Times talked about how the UN’s high commissioner for refugees has warned that the flood of people escaping Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion has become the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since the second world war. UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi said on Sunday that “more than 1.5mn” refugees had fled Ukraine in the past 10 days, and officials in neighbouring countries said they expected the number to rise rapidly.

Poland, which has close linguistic and cultural affinities with Ukraine, and is already home to more than 1mn of its citizens, has been the initial destination for more than half of those fleeing.

However, comedian Trevor Noah in an eight-minute video on The Daily Show’s Twitter has rightly slammed the double-standard between how non-white refugees are treated when fleeing to Europe in comparison to Ukrainians who are currently displaced due to Russian invasion.

While The Daily Show host said seeing refugees being welcomed and people in need receiving help gives him "a glimmer of hope," Noah reportedly couldn't help but note how "interesting" it is that Eastern Europe has been "so willing and able to accept a million people coming into their countries in just a few days when just recently they didn't seem to have any space for a different group of refugees."

The video has been watched million times.

Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya – the conflicts in the Middle East has had US-UK interference. But recently as US left Afghanistan, what followed was one of the greatest tragedies. Poland, Hungary, Greece all refused refugees from Libya and Syria, with the Hungarian President saying, “Please don’t come here”. Bulgarian Prime Minister came out calling Ukrainians as intelligent being welcomed in their country. It is stunning how he deduced nonEuropeans to ape like, non-educated entities- without vetting the actual credibility and eligibility.

How is one vulnerable life more valuable than another?

Politicians and leaders have referred to “integration” as a matter of concern- but anyone walking through human history would know people in despair, desperate for their children’s safe future, worried for wellbeing of their own lives and loved ones, have integrated without prompting. Think of the Ugandan Asians arriving in the UK in 1970s. With all

the hostility and racism, they integrated, becoming one of the richest communities of the UK. Refuge cannot be based on fears of probabilities. It is a risk and chance a nation and its leader must take for the sake of humanity or a greater goal. There is no point in sanctioning and criticising a country waging war when others discriminate based on skin colours as people lie dying in freezing oceans. How can a hard-working immigrant, filling in the gap citizens leave behind, be any time less important than a native who has never left the cocoon and comfort of their warm homes?

The Encyclopaedia Britannica wrote: The decision to invade Vietnam was made by French ruler Napoleon III in July 1857. It was the result not only of missionary propaganda but also, after 1850, of the upsurge of French capitalism, which generated the need for overseas markets and the desire for a larger French share of the Asian territories conquered by the West. Vietnamese resistance prevented the French from advancing beyond Saigon, and it took French troops, under new command, until 1861 to occupy the three adjacent provinces. Of course, the history of Vietnam changed over the years, but resilience from the Vietnamese people kept the French at bay. Similarly, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his people have shown incredible resilience. He gave an unprecedented address to UK MPs in the House of Commons on Tuesday, as we went to press. It deserved a standing ovation. Speaking by video link, he welcomed sanctions on Russia but repeated an appeal for a no-fly zone over Ukraine. He then referenced to Winston Churchill, saying "we will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.”

The BBC reported that UK also announced it would phase out Russian oil imports by the end of 2022. US President Joe Biden has confirmed a complete US ban on Russian oil, gas and coal imports in a move designed to deal a "powerful blow" to Putin. The EU has also made moves towards reducing the continent’s reliance on Russian gas.

UK is trying its usual slow methods of accommodating refugees, but why is Priti Patel under fire now, when she was never questioned when the country took similar approach towards displaced Afghans or Syrians or when Boris Johnson saved animals over humans left in the clasps of Talibans? It was not just about being an animal lover!

Today Ukrainians are being welcomed with open arms and hearts- which is how it should be. No one deserves to lose their lands, homes and families, let alone legacies. But it is regretful that human values have been deduced to their skin colours and roots over the eligibility of a lost home and livelihood. No wonder even a pandemic could not stop a war of this scale. Humans have a lot to be ashamed of.

There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself. - Hannah Gadsby

Operation Ganga- Modi govt's biggest evacuation drive The Modi government has undertaken one of its biggest evacuation drives in recent past- Operation Ganga - to bring the Indians stranded in Ukraine back to their homeland. As tensions mount between Ukraine and Russia, major cities have been left under siege. Countries, near and far, increased their efforts to evacuate their citizens stuck in a war-torn country. Under the operation, India has brought back 17,000 Indians back home and all Indians stranded there have been shifted to safety in neighbouring countries. India has operated 46 evacuation flights till March 8 to bring back its citizens, who have managed to make it to the neighbouring countries of Ukraine. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, India undertook 29 flights from Bucharest, 10 from Budapest, six from Rzeszow, and one from Kosice.

According to the ministry around 20,000 Indians were stuck in Ukraine. About 4,000 were able to come to India before the invasion. The evacuation flights were operated mainly via the neighbouring countries of Poland, Hungary, Romania and the Slovak Republic.

Besides the Indian Air Force and Air India, other airlines which operated rescue flights were SpiceJet, IndiGo and Air India Express. Prime Minister Narendra Modi dispatched four ministers - Hardeep Puri, Kiren Rijiju, Jyotiradtiya Scindia and V K Singh - to Poland and Romania as Special Envoys of the Indian Government to coordinate the evacuation process. The external affairs ministry has also set up a dedicated Twitter account to share emergency contact and emails for the evacuation process.

In the past, India has carried out several other operations that too had similar names evoking a sense of nationalism. In 2021, Under Operation Devi Shakti, India carried out the evacuation of hundreds of Indians from Afghanistan with the aid of the Indian Armed Forces. Operation Vande Bharat was launched on May 7, 2020, when the Indian government brought back Indians stranded in different countries after pandemic-hit the world. Operation Samudra Setu was a naval operation launched in 2021 to bring back Indians stranded overseas during Covid-19. Operation Raahat was launched in 2015 when hundreds of Indians were left stranded in Yemen after a conflict raged between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels. Operation Maitri was launched in 2015 as a joint relief and rescue operation by the Indian government and the Indian Armed Forces in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake. Operation Safe Homecoming was launched in 2011 when a civil war broke out in the Northern African state of Libya.

Operation Sukoon was launched in 2006 as Israel and Lebanon broke into a military conflict in July 2006. After Vande Bharat, Kuwait Airlift in 1990 remains the second-largest rescue operation by the Indian government.

Prime Minister Modi has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold direct talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war. During the conversation, which is the second between Modi and Putin since Feb 24, the President briefed the Prime Minister on the status of negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian teams. PM Modi also spoke to Zelensky and expressed deep concern about the ongoing conflict and resultant humanitarian crisis. The Prime Minister reiterated his call for immediate cessation of violence and noted that India has always stood for peaceful resolution of issues and direct dialogue between the two parties. The Israeli PM also talked to Putin and advised him to leave the path of war. Though Israel is a small country, it has a significant importance in international affairs. The Russian government thought that it would easily defeat Ukraine and implement its agendas there. Not only the Russian government, but some other big countries think that they can easily defeat the small neighbour. But history has enough examples that however small the neighbour is, it is not easy to defeat them. Americans learnt a bitter lesson during the Vietnam war between 1955-1975.

They flee the country in defeat. China thinks that Taiwan can be annexed easily, but all their strategies proved futile. In 1948 Pakistan thought that Gandhiji's India won't be able to fight its forces and can easily annex Kashmir. But its plan did not succeed.

In 1965 Pakistan fought another war with India and suffered a humiliating defeat. The Bangladesh liberation war is also another example where the big daddy has to suffer defeat. War cannot solve any problem, instead it will complicate the issue. The best way to solve the problem is to adopt the Gandhian way and hold talks which can achieve peace. The war will bring misery not only to the warring parties and to its neighbours. Let us hope that Russia will stop its aggression and restore peace in the world.

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12 - 18 March 2022

UK business leaders welcome Free Trade Agreement with India New report highlights the contribution of Indian diaspora in the UK as FTA negotiations resume As the next phase of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the UK begin, research from leading business and financial adviser Grant Thornton UK LLP finds that UK business leaders welcome the idea of building deeper trade connections with India.

According to findings from Grant Thornton’s Business Outlook Tracker*, around a third (32%) of UK business leaders plan to invest more in growing in international markets over the next six months, with 65% agreeing that an FTA with India would encourage their business to explore more opportunities in this market.

Launched on 7th March in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI), the second edition of ‘India in the UK: the diaspora effect’ report celebrates the prominence of the Indian diaspora in the UK and highlights a new generation of British Indians in the fields of

ties with India, the diaspora is perfectly positioned to bolster the strength of the connection between the two countries and continue to contribute to the economic development in both countries. Current generations have been described as Britain’s best ambassadors in India and have a key role to play in attracting Indian investment into the UK and UK investment into India.”

The Rt Hon. the Baroness Prashar CBE, Chair of the

business, arts, science, sports, and politics.

It features a series of interviews with leading diaspora entrepreneurs, both those running established businesses and others breaking new ground. The report also highlights the changing dynamics and challenges such as the complexity of succession planning and L-R: Rohit Vadhwana (IFS), Sujit Ghosh - Deputy High Commissioner of India, Gayatri Issar Kumarinclusion & diversity Indian High Commissioner, FICCI Chairperson Baroness Usha Prashar CBE, Grant Thornton UK LLPA Partner and South Asia Group Head, Anuj Chande, FICCI (UK) - Director Param Shah, Chandru Iyerfaced by Indian diaspoGrant Thornton UK LLP's South Asia Group Business Development Head ra businesses' as they FICCI, said: “Indian diaspora transition from first to the secthe “Living Bridge” by the ond generation.

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India connects India to the world. It is Anuj Chande, Partner and Shri Narendra Modi. Estimated heart-warming how the memHead of South Asia Group, to be over 1.5 million strong bers of our large diaspora have Grant Thornton UK LLP, said: today, this community is valued well integrated into the coun“India is already an important for its outstanding contribution tries and societies where they partner for the UK, so an FTA is in every sphere of activity acalive and work. Over decades, a natural next step to further demics, literature, arts, relations between India and the strengthen the relationship. As medicines, science, sports, UK have evolved against the India becomes an increasingly industry, business, and politics, changing contours of political important force globally, and among others, which has been and economic affairs. Today, the UK voices its desire to widely acknowledged with the Indian diaspora is one of the strengthen its long-standing appreciation.” largest migrant communities in

Putin must be held to account, says Boris Johnson Recently, US Senator Lindsay Graham tweeted that Russians should assassinate their own president Vladimir Putin.

“The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country - and the world - a great service,” Graham tweeted.

On asking his opinion on the statement, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he does not support the statement.

Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson said: “No. We stand with the Ukrainian people in demanding the immediate end to the Russian invasion. We’ve said before that Putin must be

BBC 'temporarily suspends' work of journalists in Russia In the wake of war in Ukraine, the BBC is temporarily suspending the work of all its journalists in Russia.

After the Russian parliament approved a law that can prosecute a media person for spreading fake or false news about the war in Ukraine, the BBC took a move.

BBC director-general Tim Davie said, “Our BBC News service in Russian will continue to operate from outside Russia. The safety of our staff is paramount and we are not prepared to expose them

the UK. Indian Diaspora Youth plays an indispensable role in Innovation and New Technologies, at the global level. We need to motivate them to devise innovative solutions to local problems in India.”

Gaitri Issar Kumar, High Commissioner for India in the United Kingdom, said: “One of the key pillars of the strong relationship between India and the United Kingdom is the Indian diaspora - described as

to the risk of criminal prosecution simply for doing their jobs. I'd like to pay tribute to all of them, for their bravery, determination and professionalism. We remain committed to making accurate, independent information available to audiences around the world, including the millions of Russians who use our news services.”

It comes after the Kremlin accused the BBC of playing a "determined role in undermining Russian stability and security".

held to account in front of an international court for the horrific act he’s committed. We want to see Putin and the Russian government held to account in front of an international court.”

However, Johnson is concerned for the safety of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In recent weeks, he has regularly spoken to Zelensky after Putin’s forces began amassing on his country’s border.

Windrush Report is shameful Responding to Parliament’s debate on the Home Affairs Committee Report on the Windrush Compensation scheme, Claudia Webbe MP, Member of Parliament for Leicester East, has said that the mishandling of the Windrush Compensation Scheme has rubbed salt into the wounds, heaping insult upon injustice. 15,000 people were initially estimated to be entitled to apply, yet so far only 3,300 have submitted an application and only 1,000 received payment.

Tragically, at least 23 people have died waiting for justice which is shameful.

Priti Patel expands Ukrainian Refugee Scheme Amidst the increasing pressure from MPs with regard to the refugee scheme, Home Secretary Priti Patel has announced an expansion of the Ukrainian refugee scheme.

Patel said adult parents, grandparents, children over 18, and siblings of Ukrainians that are already settled in the UK will be allowed entry. The government is estimating 200,000 Ukrainians will be eligible to seek refuge in the UK under these measures.

Patel told the House of Commons, the scheme will be free and will allow those joining relatives in the UK an initial period of leave lasting 12 months, during which they will be able to work and access public funds.

Patel added that the government is also planning to set up a "humanitarian sponsorship pathway" that will allow individuals, businesses, charities and community groups in the UK to sponsor individual Ukrainians, which in turn will provide them with a route to the country.

in brief DOWNING STREET CHANGES VISA RULES FOR UKRAINIAN REFUGEES After a minister was criticised for suggesting that Ukrainian refugees could apply to come and pick fruit and vegetables, the Boris Johnson-led government has changed visa rules for the same. On 27 February, the UK Home Office announced that Ukrainian that are related to British nationals can come to the country, however, these measures will be temporary.

Home secretary Priti Patel said that the extended visa rules will apply to “immediate family members”, which will allow Ukrainians to “seek sanctuary” in the UK. Labour is criticising the UK government for not doing enough for Ukrainian refugees. Meanwhile, the UK’s Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper called the relaxations “shameful”.

“Updated guidance just published by the Home Office shows even this first step does NOT apply to the wider family,” she wrote on Twitter.

UNION DENIES GOVERNMENT CLAIMS OF MEETING 50,000 NURSES PLEDGE Boris Johnson’s government has claimed that it is on the right track of fulfilling its pledge of recruiting an extra 50,000 nurses into the NHS by 2024.

According to a progress report that was published, it shows that more than 27,000 nurses are working in the health service as compared to September 2019, bringing the tally to 327,907. “It’s fantastic to see the progress we have made towards our manifesto commitment of delivering 50,000 more nurses by 2024. There are now over 27,000 more nurses providing exceptional care and treatment for patients across the country every day.

Nurses are the absolute backbone of our NHS, without whom we would have been lost throughout the pandemic and who will be vital in helping the NHS tackle the Covid backlogs,” Boris Johnson said.

However, the Royal College of Nursing claims otherwise, casting doubt on the figures. Pat Cullen, the union’s general secretary and chief executive, said: “The number of unfilled nurse jobs has risen in the last year, not fallen. This workforce crisis — tens of thousands of vacant posts — is hitting patient care and adds to waiting lists and treatment delays.

Without transparent publication of workforce data, the nursing staff will question these claims. They do not match their day-to-day experience trying to provide safe and effective care with a significantly depleted workforce.”

Refugee support organisations confront Tories’ racist bill Around 500 people took out a march on streets opposing the nationality and borders bill that is going through its last stages in parliament.

Refugee support organisations, anti-racists, Sikh and Muslim organisations have backed the demo. It marched from the Home Office to a rally in

Parliament Square.

Protester Randeep, a lorry driver, said that they need to stand up and rise together.

The bill would make it a criminal offence to arrive in Britain “without a valid entry clearance”.

Protester Sarah ClarkMenzies said, “This clause potentially affects the citi-

zenship rights of almost half of all Asian British people and two in five black Britons. Up to six million people are left living in fear that if they get into any sort of trouble, whether they are guilty or not, they could be arrested, judged in secret and deported. It is specific, racist legislation.”

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Government launches pay transparency pilot to break down barriers for women Minister for Women, Baroness Stedman-Scott, launched two new initiatives to level up employment opportunities for women as the country recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Announced on International Women’s Day, a new initiative will seek to improve pay transparency in the job application process and help businesses who want to go even further in attracting women to their positions. Evidence shows listing a salary range on a job

advert and not asking applicants to disclose salary history provides a firm footing for women to negotiate pay on a fairer basis. This could have a significant impact in closing salary gaps and tackling pay inequality.

The government is therefore leading the way with a pilot scheme, where participating employers list salary details on job adverts and stop asking about salary history during recruitment.

Alongside this, the Government will launch a new returners programme

to help women back into STEM (science, technology, engineering & maths) careers. Research and employee feedback shows that returning to STEM roles after taking time out to care for loved ones can present significant challenges.

This new programme will help organisations to recruit and retain talented staff who are often overlooked because of a gap on their CV, by providing training, development and employment support to those who have taken time out for caring.

Government to bring the second bill against Russian oligarchs On Monday evening, MPs passed the Economic Crime Bill- which will now be scrutinised by the House of Lords- to bring a crackdown on illegal money that is held

by Russian oligarchs, home secretary Priti Patel revealed that there would be a second “follow-on” Economic Crime Bill in the next parliament session ministers

“cannot get all the measures in right now”.

Despite Labour claiming that the six-month time limit would give Russian oligarchs a “get out of London free” card, the government has decided to stick to their said limit.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party has urged the government to bring the time limit down

to just 28 days.

Ms Patel said the second bill will “prevent the abuse of limited partnerships” and will give the government “new powers to seize crypto assets from criminals”.

“We’re already drafting that legislation, and it will be brought forward as soon as we’re able to and can get time in the House,” she said.

Queen Elizabeth may never live in Buckingham palace It has been reported that Queen Elizabeth who has been based at Windsor Castle, which is located about 20 miles outside of London, since the start of the Covid pandemic, will never return to Buckingham palace, famous among most of her homes.

A spokesman at Buckingham Palace did not comment on the report.

However, the 95-year-old monarch is continuing to carry out a variety of engagements and official duties. Meanwhile, a royal

source said that Buckingham Palace will remain the central base of the monarchy.

In 2016, a $460 million decade-long refurbishment project for Buckingham

Palace was announced. It was reported that the Queen would remain in the palace but Covid changed the scenario.

Even when she is fighting Covid, she continues to hold her video conferences and is in touch with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, via phone.

On March 14, on the occasion of Commonwealth Day, the Queen is expected in London at Westminster Abbey. She is also expected to attend a service of thanksgiving for Prince Philip's life on March 29.

Husband jailed for beating up his ex-mistress 31-year-old Arfan Hussein was jailed for eight years for punching, kicking and stamping his 39-year-old exmistress.

He was found guilty by a Leicester Crown Court jury of inflicting grievous bodily harm, with intent, upon the woman, whose injuries included a fractured eye socket, two broken ribs and knife wounds to her head, ear and hand. Fearing for her life, the victim escaped out of a window and hid on the rooftop above her then home in Cavendish Road,

Aylestone, Leicester, on July 14. Later, she was rescued by the fire service.

Hussein denied the offence claiming his ex-mistress was framing him and blaming him for her injuries.

The jury rejected his account by convicting him unanimously.

During the trial, the prosecutor, Paul Prior said: "The defendant had a relationship with the complainant whilst married to another woman and she told his wife about the affair. He went to her flat and attacked her."

The victim underwent an operation where a titanium plate was inserted into her broken eye socket and may require further treatment. She told the jury: "I'm stronger now. I'll never allow a man to treat me like that again, never.”

“Best Indian you’ll takeaway” - man searches for a wife on TfL ads 31-year-old bachelor, Jeevan Bhachu is looking for a wife in two huge ads of himself that he has put up on the platforms at the Central and Bakerloo lines of Oxford Circus for two weeks as part of a campaign to ‘Find Jeevan a wife’.

Jeevan has shelled out £2,000 in an attempt to search for a life partner through these ads. He has advertised himself as the “Best Indian you’ll takeaway”.

Initially got him into hot water with TfL - as they allegedly told him it broke their rules against advertising junk food, it was reported.

“I’ve been in relationships before, but I’m not

getting any younger,” he said. “I just thought it would be a good way of standing out.

“I didn’t do it on billboards because I thought TfL would be more effective. You’re waiting on a train every five minutes, and everyone’s on their phones so they can use it to look up my website”.

His website findjeevanawife.com says, “I'm a 31-

year-old British Sikh guy living in London. Originally from Indian/African background. Passion in growing businesses and music means I love what I do in life and therefore always in a state of happiness and gratitude. I'm also spiritual, into fitness and love travelling. **Disclaimer** My favourite colour is not pink!

I just happen to have worn pink.”

No university should use unconditional offers A new fair admissions code published by Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, says that no university should use unconditional offers that will force students to make it their firm choice.

The code will effec-

tively prohibit the use of “conditional-unconditional” offers. These offers are often made to sixth-formers before they take their A-levels, and guarantee teenagers a place at the university irrespective of the grades they achieve as long as they commit to

making it their top choice.

Such offers have been criticised that demotivates candidates to do well in their A-levels.

The new code, which is voluntary, says admissions practices must be fair, transparent and in the best interests.

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Has Britain failed its women?

Continued from page 1 However, the UK continues to witness many gruesome stories of rape, murder and kidnapping. The Met Police has been heavily scrutinised for its work culture and conduct, which also led to the resignation of the Commissioner. In her email to officers to stamp out criminal and bad behaviour in scandal-hit police, former Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick had categorically urged such officers to leave the force and demanded more officers should come forward to report any toxic, unhealthy team bullies.

Liz Truss’s cuts to international aid disproportionately affected women and girls despite her flagship policy to lift them out of poverty, leaked Foreign Office documents have revealed. Responding to a leak of the Government’s equalities assessment indicating that the Government was aware that women and girls, and others with protected characteristics, were more likely to be harmed by its far-reaching aid cuts, Preet Kaur Gill MP, Labour's Shadow Cabinet Minister for International Development, said, "This document is a damning indictment of the decision to cut the aid budget in the middle of a pandemic, made even worse by the fact it has had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the light.”

A Met Police spokesperson told Asian Voice that their work to build trust is very much ongoing and gathering pace. “In October we announced an independent review of the Met’s culture and standards Baroness Louise Casey began this review at the beginning of February. A review of all current investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct and domestic abuse against our officers and staff is ongoing.”

The Met Police said that they have not waited for a final plan before improving their response to violence against women and girls. Since last November they have arrested over 2,500 suspects, of which over half of the cases were related to domestic abuse.

Sanam Arora, Chairperson of National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK (NISAU UK) is appreciative of the Met Police and believes that students do feel safe.

Speaking to the newsweekly, Sanam said, Sanam Arora “The UK and London is one of the safest destinations for Indian students and the wider diaspora who chooses to live and work in the UK. I congratulate all the men and women across the Met and all other related agencies who help ensure that women like me feel safe and empowered to go about our business as we want.”

Left shaken by a cab driver Communications Consultant Perveen Akhtar has had a terrible experience with a black cab driver before Christmas. “I hailed the cab on my local high street and gave him my address.

He said he’d put it in his satellite navigation. I Perveen Akhtar should have had alarm bells because black cab drivers don’t use sat navs. We dropped a friend off enroute and then he went off in a completely wrong direction. When I challenged him, he ordered me to get out of the cab and abandoned me late at night on a grass verge along with the A4 and I had to walk home along unlit roads. I reported the incident to TfL and a few weeks later I just got a standard response saying there was nothing they could do as no identifiers were given. The onus was also on me to try and investigate if there was any CCTV of the road I was dumped on. The incident left me really shaken,” Akhtar told Asian Voice.

Akhtar thinks that not much has changed over the past year. “I don’t think

much has changed unfortunately over the past year. Those words from the former Met Police Commissioner feel weak and hollow.

The Met’s treatment of women at the vigil for Sarah Everard under Dame Dick’s leadership was shocking and Dame Cressida Dick’s advice to women to hail down a bus if they are approached by a lone male officer was just ridiculous. I know she later said it was taken out of context, but whatever the context, the comment was just ludicrous and illthought,” she added.

Expecting change is naive LibDem Cllr Rabina Khan says that any management consultant knows that the most difficult aspect of an organisation to change is its culture. No matter the sector or industry, culture is ingrained and so allencompassing it is invisiRabina Khan ble. She said, “A police force, be that the Metropolitan Police or any other is no different. In fact, in many respects, it may be even harder to change the culture than in other similar-sized organisations. By virtue of its daily tasks, a police force will tend to be inward-looking and set itself apart from the rest of society. To expect any change in the police's attitude towards women and their safety in the year since the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer is unrealistic at best, naive at worst. But change must happen.

“Until we see the government leading the way by taking on the recommendations by women, we should not expect this change. I doubt if any women of my acquaintance feel any safer on the streets of London (I certainly do not) but this must be one of the primary goals of better, more open-minded police forces across the UK. One email from the Commissioner is not going to make a huge difference, but at least it is a start.”

Covid-19 lockdowns have exposed a crisis being faced by women and girls Sukhvinder Kaur, CoWhile Founder/Chair Sikh Women’s Aid welcomes the move by the Home Office to make preventing violence against women a priority

alongside terrorism, she feels “this is not enough” and much legislation has been passed but without the right enforcement.

She said, “It will change nothing.”

Kaur said, “As a Sukhvinder Kaur Women’s organisation that supports victims of abuse, we desperately need the police to do their job well and sadly that is not the case right now. Covid19 lockdowns have exposed a crisis being faced by women and girls and no community, faith or socio-economic group is exempt, the Sikh and Panjabi community included.”

Commenting on how we can prevent more Sarahs and Sabinas from falling prey to tragedies due to lack of safety for women, Kaur said, “The toxic mentality that is witnessed by the public on a daily basis, needs to be challenged, investigated and firm sanctions enforced.”

I want every woman and girl to be safe, and to feel safe – whatever time of day, whatever they are wearing and wherever they are in the capital.

- Sadiq Khan Kaur feels that safe working, travelling, partying beyond the evening requires a huge amount of surveillance. “It is the opinion of

Sikh Women’s Aid that women are much more fearful of their safety. In some cases, money-saving exercises by local councils like switching off street lighting at night are adding to the fear and risk to women,” she added.

Women have come to SWA in crisis. often when they have been failed by the police and asking for us to step up and speak to the police on their behalf. Kaur explained that women from the Sikh & Panjabi Community who, after being abused, are waiting weeks for a statement to be taken or when statements are taken, they hear remarks such as “but ain’t that stuff like, normal in your religion love?”

“So based on real-life cases studies, the trust between victims and the Police in our community is at its lowest,” the SWA chair answered.

According to her, we are living in a time where we are going backwards in securing convictions of domestic and sexual abuse offences. “There is so much focus on women making their surroundings safe, downloading apps, being asked to keep panic alarms and car keys in their hands, and not enough work being done to challenge toxic masculinity and patriarchal belief systems. This now must change otherwise women will continue to die in this way,” Kaur told Asian Voice.

Five years since #MeToo, we need action, not just words Seconding the sentiment of the women, Cllr Krupesh Hirani AM, London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow said, “The culture of violence against women and girls must end.

Everyone should be able to walk on our streets or go Krupesh Hirani online without fear of harm or harassment. We’re approaching five years since the #metoo campaign reignited the discussion around how sexism and abuse are endemic.

“Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa, Nicole Smallman, Bibaa Henry and Julia James are just some of the women recently killed by men as they went about their everyday lives – there are at least 125 in the past year alone.”

Sadiq Khan: Women and girls tell me they do not always feel safe in our city In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan answered some questions for our readers as we mark one year of Sarah Everard’s death. Below are some excerpts: s the Commissioner’s call for bad officers to go enough? Can women trust the police?

Mayor: We must also urgently restore the trust and confidence of Londoners in our police. In addition to the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah by a serving police officer, we have seen a series of high-profile incidents that have shattered public trust even further. Therefore, I have been very clear with the Met that an urgent plan is needed to root out the serious cultural issues with misogyny, racism and homophobia within the Met, and to restore public confidence.

Baroness Casey has been appointed to conduct an independent review into the Met’s culture and standards, which will address the issues of misogyny, sexism, racism and homophobia, and scrutinise police processes and standards of behaviour amongst officers and staff. In the meantime, the Met has set out the immediate action it is taking to rebuild public trust and confidence, and I want to reassure Londoners that I will continue to hold the Met to account on delivering

I

these commitments so that we see the changes we need right now to rebuild trust in the police and to make our city safer for women and girls. ow can we prevent more Sarahs and Sabinas from falling prey to tragedies due to lack of safety for women?

Mayor: I want every woman and girl to be safe, and to feel safe – whatever time of day, whatever they are wearing and wherever they are in the capital.

That’s why from City Hall we are continuing to invest record funding in programmes that change the behaviour of perpetrators of abuse, provide specialist support to victims, and deliver a relentless focus on tackling the misogynistic attitudes that allow certain crimes to continue.

I am clear, we must not simply respond to male violence against women and girls – we must prevent it. That means focusing on holding the perpetrator of abuse accountable for their actions and for change. s London safe for working / travelling / partying beyond the evening?

Mayor: Women and girls tell me they do not always feel safe in our city – which is why I’m determined to do more to make London safer and welcoming for everyone. Now restrictions have eased and Londoners and visitors to the city are

H

I

making the most of the capital’s bars and nightlife, I want women, girls and everyone out in London to be safe, and to feel safe – whatever time of day and wherever they are in the capital.

We are working closely with night venues, London Councils, the Police, businesses, Transport for London, gyms and a host of partners to do everything we possibly can to make London safer for women and girls.

It is simply not right that women and girls across our country feel unsafe going about their daily lives. I am clear that it’s not women who should have to change the way they live their lives - it's men that need to change. That is why I am launching a new campaign later this month to help tackle the appalling attitudes and behaviours that lead to violence. The campaign will speak directly to men, it will bring together partners from across the sporting world, high-profile male influencers, and include videos online and posters around the city that will remind men of their responsibility to challenge unacceptable attitudes and behaviour amongst their peers. It will urge and inspire men to make themselves responsible for effecting the change that is needed to root out sexism and misogyny from our society.

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Male NHS consultant sacked for sexually assaulting junior doctor Senior NHS consultant Edwin Chandraharan was sacked from St George's hospital, south London in February 2020 for sexually harassing a junior doctor.

However, Chabdraharan denied all allegations and claimed that he is being framed by senior doctors who are jealous of his success.

An employment tribunal

heard that he referred to himself and the young doc-

tor, known as WX, 'Commander and Comandee' while they were away on a conference. He ordered her to get naked in front of him in a hotel room as a punishment and told her she 'needed to have a scar'.

He also told her that he can give her a 'special mes-

Pill that could arrest the progression of Parkinson’s Disease A pill that can slow down or even arrest the progression of Parkinson’s Disease could be available within five years following a trial that indicated a naturally occurring vitamin will be able to reduce inflammation and help to control symptoms.

Participants who took part in a trial found that taking nicotinamide riboside (NR), a form of vitamin B3, reduced inflammation in the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord, the brain’s boosted metabolism, and produced a “mild but significant” improvement in their symp-

toms.

This finding has raised hopes that the vitamin, which is found in fruit, vegetables, meat and milk, could become the basis of the first drugs that will successfully slow the development of Parkinson’s.

In order to validate the findings, the researchers have begun a Phase II trial that involves 400 patients, which is due to finish by the end of the next year.

“We hope that this treatment may achieve the ultimate goal in the field of Parkinson’s Disease – and neurodegeneration in general: to go beyond mere

symptom control and delay or arrest the progression of the disease. Ultimately, whether this will lead to an established therapy for Parkinson’s depends on the results of the ongoing phase II trial. If that is positive, we could be looking at a new drug within the next five years,” Professor Tzoulis, of the University of Bergen, told i.

Researchers are hopeful that their findings could lead to an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s further down the line The study is published in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Serial litigant faces £750,000 bill for filing unmeritorious lawsuits Dr Ronald Heal has been told by an employment tribunal in central London to pay £550,000, which is expected to rise to £750,000 for launching vexatious lawsuits against 35 institutions in Britain including the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, King’s College London, the University of Warwick, the University of Bath and the University of Southampton.

He also tried suing NHS trusts on baseless allegations

despite never working for them.

In his defence at the hearing, Heal pleaded that he should not be forced to pay the costs as he is unemployed and works as a parttime carer to an elderly relative. He added that he was divorced and received only £229 a month in universal credit.

The employment Judge Andrew James said: “Dr Heal has persisted, for a number of years, in pursuing unmer-

itorious claims, causing significant costs for all of the [organisations] involved. It is estimated that the true cost, for all of the organisations involved in this litigation, including claims not previously taken into account . . . is likely to be in the region of £1 million. Dr Heal’s unreasonable conduct throughout this litigation persuades the tribunal that this is an appropriate case to decide not to take his means into account.”

sage' and can give her orgasm by only touching her back.

Meanwhile, Chandraharan tried to sue the Trust, claiming that he was unfairly dismissed and was discriminated against for being British Asian.

He also threatened to sue WX for defamation and asked for £2 million in damages.

A tribunal report said:

'He asked her about her personal life. He referred to himself and WX as 'Commander and Commandee' and said that he was offering her 'special training'.

'He told WX that she was the 17th special trainee and that he still kept in touch with previous trainees. He told WX not to say anything to anyone as no

one would understand.'

Apart from WX there was another victim who came forward and filed a against complaint Chandraharan. Both the victims and other women formed a WhatsApp group and brought formal allegations against the doctor.

Result of which, in February 2020, he was sacked for gross misconduct.

Whitechapel fire: Residents claim they heard no alarms A large fire broke out on the 17th floor at the high-rise in Whitechapel High, of a block of flats in east London, now contained.

Some of the residents said they did not hear any fire alarms while some said before the building management alerted them, they got to know about the fire on social media.

When the fire broke out, the capital's fire service sent 15 engines and 125 firefighters.

Station Commander Chris Jenner said "professionalism, hard work and quick actions of control officers and firefighters" limited the damage to the block and prevented serious injuries.

Three commercial units underneath the railway

arches also caught fire, as well as four cars and a telephone box. Crews rescued a woman who was trapped on the 17th floor.

Sharon Atwal who lives on the 16th floor said: "We didn't know until basically people were banging on the doors and telling us 'Get out! Get out!'. Then by the time I've opened the door,

our hallway is filled with smoke. And we literally just had to leave our flats immediately. I didn't even know where the exits were, it was terrifying".

Fire crews from Old Kent Road, Lambeth, Soho, Whitechapel, and surrounding fire stations were sent to the scene. The cause is not yet known.

In same family ownership for over 50 years

UNBROKEN FREEHOLD OF 12 FLATS FOR SALE BY AUCTION

Survivor of Taliban school massacre to lead as president of Oxford Union Survivor of Taliban school massacre, 21-year-old Ahmad Nawaz, who lost his brother in a terrorist attack, has now been voted as a president of Oxford Union.

Nawaz came to the UK when he was 14 and he aims to make the union more inclusive and attractive to marginalised groups and those from disadvantaged and disabled backgrounds.

He expressed that the first person he rang was his mother and cried with joy.

“It’s been the most emotional ride I’ve had in a long, long time,” he said.”

In 2014, a Taliban gunman shot Nawaz in the arm and killed almost 150 children and teachers, including his younger brother Haris.

Nawaz survived by pretending to be dead. Later, he

spent weeks in the hospital in Peshawar before he was taken to Birmingham for emergency surgery to save his arm.

He stayed in Britain and won a place at Oxford. He started his degree in 2020

and spoke at UN events, educating pupils in this country about the dangers of extremism.

After Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister who was assassinated in 2007, Nawaz will become the second Pakistani president of the union. Nawaz studies at Lady Margaret Hall, the same college that was attended by Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel peace prize winner.

New body armour for women in UK Armed Forces Announced on International Women’s Day, the body armour will be available to British military personnel from April 2022 and has been improved as part of Defence’s drive to modernise and better recognise the diverse needs of all personnel serving within ranks. The armour, known as the Virtus Scalable Tactical Vest (STV), has been adapted following extensive trials with serving female soldiers ensuring personnel.

Holmbush Court, Green Lane, Hendon, London NW4 2NS Comprising 12 Self-Contained Flats (6 × 3 Bed and 6 × 2 Bed) let on 9 ASTs, 1 Regulated and 2 Vacant plus Planning for 4 × 2 Bed Flats.

Guide: £5,000,000 (£445 psf Freehold + Planning for 4 Flats) Freehold for Sale by Online Auction at 12pm on Thursday 7th April 2022 Auctioneers:

Joint Auctioneers: Ref: Steven Grossman sgrossman@barnettross.co.uk 020 8492 9449 www.barnettross.co.uk

Ref: Anna Eckert anna@eckert.co.uk 020 8883 3232

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SCRUTATOR’S Businessman donates 60 kg of gold to UP temple A businessman from south India has donated 60 kg of gold to Uttar Pradesh’s Kashi Vishwanath Temple, of which 37 kg has been used to decorate the inner walls of the sanctum sanctorum (garbh-grih). While the the identity of the businessman remains unknown, the gold plating on the inner walls was first seen by the public when Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the temple during his recent visit to his Lok Sabha constituency last week. “The yellow metal used in the gold plating of garbh-griha is equal to the weight of Modi’s mother Heeraben, who recently completed 100 years of age,” a source said. Divisional commissioner, Varanasi, Deepak Agrawal, said that the remaining 23 kg will be used for covering the lower portion of the golden dome of the main temple structure. Earlier, Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab had donated one tonne of gold, which was used to cover the two domes of the temple after Indore’s Holkar queen reconstructed the Shiv temple, which was lying in ruins after being demolished on Aurangzeb’s orders. The temple’s renovation after BJP came to power in 2017 marked the second major work on the temple since the 18th century. Known as Kashi Vishwanath Dham corridor, the project was completed at a cost of £ 90 million. Over 300 nearby buildings were purchased and the temple area was expanded from 2,700 sq ft to 500,000 sq feet linking the temple complex to the holy Ganga through the Jalasen, Manikarnika and Lalita Ghats. (Agency) This roadside vendor walks 20 km every day There is something special and unique to the experience of eating street food from roadside vendors which people love. There are numerous mouthwatering options to choose from and Bhel Puri is among one of the favourites. The snack is usually available anywhere you go and it is sold by people who have a small stall that they keep on roaming on the street. A recent video shows a man who has been selling Bhel Puri for the last 25 years. The video also got a comment from Punjabi actor Sonam Bajwa. In the video, it is claimed that he has been selling Bhel Puri for the last 25 years. He carries the stall, which he claims to weigh 50 kg on his head and walks 20 km every day across South Delhi.

He and his wife are working hard to earn a living, says the video. In the video, the man shows his neatly arranged containers piled on top of his head. “Look at the way he has arranged all those dabbas…so organised,” commented an Instagram user along with heart emojis. “I can’t even imagine the efforts he put in his work to earn hats off sir,” said another. “We need this kind of humbleness in human beings,” said a third.

(Agency) Driver stops train to collect 'kachoris'

A loco pilot brings the train to a halt at a railway crossing. On either side, commuters wait patiently as one man approaches the train. He hands over a packet of Alwar's famous khasta kachori to someone in the engine compartment and walks away. After this, the loco pilot blows the horn and the train starts moving again.

This bizarre scene is repeated almost every morning at Alwar's Daudpur crossing, according to report and would likely have continued if the loco pilot's reckless behaviour had not been documented and shared online. According to the report, the crossing gates are lowered every day at around 8 am so the snack can be delivered

to the train driver. It is the railway personnel posted at the crossing who buy the kachori from a nearby shop and deliver it to the driver. Meanwhile, hundreds of commuters are inconvenienced every morning for the sake of the driver's snack.

The video has drawn widespread condemnation from railway officials and the general public. After it went viral, authorities launched an investigation into the incident. The Divisional Railway Manager of Jaipur, Narendra Kumar, has now suspended five people - two locopilots, two gatemen and an instructor over the incident. (Agency) 250 cops join hands in search of missing toddler About 250 police personnel joined hands in Pandesara near Surat to search for a missing two-year-old girl. In a matter of 15 hours the police personnel knocked on 700 doors till they reached the right one from where they rescued the girl.

According to the police, the minor is a daughter of a 27-year-old daily wager who lives in Shastri Nagar in Pandesara with his wife and their minor girls aged five and two years respectively. While the parents were making dinner, the two children were playing outside. The mother went out to call them for dinner when she discovered the younger daughter missing and raised an alarm. Despite searching in the neighbourhood when the parents could not locate the girl, they approached the police. The entire police personnel of Sachin and Sachin GIDC police station along with Pandesara police fanned out in 15 teams in search of the missing child.

While scanning the CCTV footage, the cops saw the minor walking to the main road by herself before a couple took her with them. Cops immediately began the identification process and also started approaching houses in the area. Police knocked on 700 doors while one team reached the house where they found the couple with the girl. The couple took the child to their home while waiting for her parents to contact them. (The Times of India) Artist ‘creates’ Lord Shiva with 23,000 rudraksha beads

Renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has created a unique sand sculpture of Lord Shiva with installation of 23,436 rudrakhsa beads at Puri beach in

Odisha. He has created a 9ft high and 18ft wide installation sand sculpture of Lord Shiva with the message “We pray for Peace” (as war is going on in between Russia and Ukraine). Pattnaik used about 12 tonnes of sand and took six hours to do this sculpture.“Nowadays war is going on.

So, we pray to Lord Shiva for global peace,” said the sand artist. (Agency) Baby shower held for Halari donkeys in Upleta

In an attempt to send across a message that there is an urgent need to conserve the threatened species of Halari donkeys, donkey pastoralists in Upleta town of Rajkot district organized a baby shower for 15 pregnant donkeys. The event was organized with the help of voluntary organization, Sahjeevan, which works for the conservation of this breed of donkeys.

According to pastoralists, the event was an attempt to draw the attention of community members as well as the state government to the fact that this threatened livestock breed in its native tract be saved. These donkeys are found in Jamnagar and Devbhumi Dwarka districts, the region which is is known as Halar. But in Upleta, migratory Halari donkeys are seen. In the coming days, Sahjeevan plans to organize such an event in Jamnagar district on a bigger scale. According to the NGO, the population of Halari donkeys is continuously declining. While last year the population was 662, now it is only 439.

The National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) at Karnal in Haryana has declared Halari donkeys as endangered species. NBAGR is an institute under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). At the event, 35 pregnant Halari donkeys in their 8th month of gestation and 150 Halari donkey breeders participated. Women Maldharis who usually are the caretakers of Halari donkeys began the event with traditional ‘Godh Bharai’ song. (The Times of India) 3 cats, a dog among evacuees Three cats and a dog were among the evacuees from war-hit Ukraine besides stranded Indians who returned home last week. The evacuees came on board four C17 Globemaster aircraft of the Indian Air Force that landed at the Hindon air base in Ghaziabad, adjoining Delhi in western Uttar Pradesh. Besides stranded people,

there was a dog and a cat on one flight and two other cats in another flight,” a source said. (Agency) Unique ways to smuggle in gold Hyderabad Customs has filed a case of gold smuggling against a passenger who concealed the precious metal as beads stitched onto burqas. The male passenger arrived from Dubai carrying with him 350 grams of gold worth around Rs 18,18,000.

The gold was concealed in hundreds of beads that were stitched onto burqas, which were in turn carried as checked-in baggage on the Flydubai flight. A video shared by Hyderabad Customs shows a person removing the gold beads from a burqa. Many such unique attempts at smuggling gold have been busted by the customs department at Hyderabad Airport.

In January, officials found gold paste worth Rs 47,00,000 concealed under a passenger's bandages. Before that, gold valued at Rs 58,00,000 was seized from a woman Sudanese passenger who had concealed it in her underwear and hand baggage. (Agency) At 40, mother of 2 clears CS with rank A 40-year-old homemaker and mother of two passed the tough company secretaries (CS) exam with flying colours.

Suman Sourabh of South Gujarat bagged the all India rank (AIR) 4 in the professional programme (old syllabus) exams. Her achievement is commendable since she has to fulfill the challenge of balancing the demanding company secretaries studies and unavoidable household duties. A total of three students from South Gujarat are in the list of top 10 across the country. The two other students from South Gujarat scored AIR 3 in professional programme (new syllabus) and AIR 9 in executive programme (new syllabus). Suman, who scored 453/ 900 marks said that she is very happy with her achievement. Her family members including husband who works with the GST department, son who is studying electrical and electronics engineering in Bangalore and daughter studying in class XI supported her throughout the challenge. “My advice to the next generation of CS students is that once the syllabus is completed, the revision is most important and has to be selective study only,” Suman added. (The Times of India)

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£20m partnership to educate girls in developing countries Prime Minister Boris Johnson is launching a new £20m business partnership as the UK continues to lead global efforts to improve girls’ access to education in developing countries.

Even before the Covid pandemic, millions of children did not have any access to school - and girls from disadvantaged families are particularly vulnerable to missing out on education, whether through poverty or prejudice. The pandemic has created even more barriers to education, with a peak of 1.6 billion children around the world have faced school closures.

In the UK’s first education partnership of its kind, the UK Government is joining forces with the private sector to boost girls’ access to education in developing countries. Partners include Unilever, Pearson, PwC, Microsoft, Accenture, Standard Chartered, United Bank for Africa, Coursera, Vodafone, BP and Cognizant.

The UK Government will be working in

partnership with UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited (GenU) to help deliver the programme, with key partners funding GenU being Accenture, Standard Chartered, Unilever, Microsoft, and United Bank of Africa. Last night [7 March], a reception was held in No10 to mark the announcement and International Women’s Day, which was attended by partners, including Jill Huntley, Global Managing Director, Corporate Citizenship at Accenture; Dr Betty Vandenbosch, Chief Content Officer at Coursera and Marissa Thomas, Chief Operating Officer at PwC. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “The United Kingdom has long been a proud and mighty champion of this fundamental cause and today we take one leap further through our first Global Partnership of its kind - opening the opportunity for one million girls across the developing world to have access to high-quality skills training.

“Ensuring every girl and young woman across the globe receives 12 years of quality education is the greatest tool in our armoury to end the world’s great injustices.

“Delivering on this mission will be one of the best defences against ignorance, ensure the greatest protection from prejudice and put a rocket booster behind our hopes and dreams for global development in the years to come.”

Promote more girls in STEM Businesses, charities, schools and colleges will shortly be able to bid for funds from the programme. The partnership wants to support projects that will improve access to education for girls, with a focus on providing the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills needed to find work in key sectors such as technology and manufacturing.

This could include funding new skills training programmes, improving teaching or redesigning training to make it more rele-

vant to business needs. Initially, bids will be encouraged for projects in Nigeria and Bangladesh, two countries where significant barriers to girls’ education remain.

Help expand GenU’s `Passport to Earning’ Funding from the programme will also help expand GenU’s `Passport to Earning’ (P2E) platform. This digital skills platform will provide girls with free, certified education and skills training which they can then use to support future employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. UNICEF’s precursor to P2E was listed among Time Magazine’s 100 Best Inventions of 2021.

Some of the businesses involved will be contributing a range of resources including books, computers and other technology, mentors, advice and access to their networks, skills and training programmes. The private sector involvement will help ensure that education and learning opportunities provide girls with the skills for the future that employers need.

Lord Dholakia speaks about supporting democracy in Taiwan Lord Navnit Dholakia is taking part in a debate on supporting democracy in Taiwan emphasised its importance, "particularly in these difficult times, when democracy in some parts of the world is challenged by military force".

Noting the existing "stable and sound relationship", the UK has with Taiwan, Lord Dholakia underlined, "It is in our interest to ensure the preservation of peace and stability across the strait," that lies between Taiwan and China, whilst he simultaneously called on China to "end(.) its coercion against Taiwan".

Aware of unease in the region regarding the proposed building by China of a civilian airport on land reclaimed from the sea, 100 miles from Taiwan's capital, Taipei, Lord

Dholakia stated, "All democratic nations and those countries in and near the South China Sea must be concerned about the building of the base". Worryingly, he pointed out, if it goes ahead it "could affect peace and stability", in the region, "particular[ly] the navigational facilities there". Pointing out "frequent excursions (...) invading the Taiwanese airspace", these are, he said vehemently, "unacceptable". Making clear the threats posed in the area, Lord Dholakia described visiting the "coastal region and been shocked to see missiles pointing towards Taiwan".

Extolling the beauty of the Taiwanese island and its "fully functioning democracy" Lord Dholakia highlighted the close ties between the Liberal Democrats and their counterparts in Taiwan as he said, he was,

Sands campaigning success on preventing Asian baby deaths in the UK As a result of massive campaigning, there will now be a confidential enquiry into Asian baby deaths in the UK. During Baby Loss Awareness Week in October 2021, Sands (Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity) called on the Government to fund an additional enquiry into Asian baby deaths in the UK. Following huge support from Sands campaigners and many MPs, this enquiry, led by MBRRACE-UK, is going ahead.

As per Sands, crucially, it is running alongside the enquiry into Black baby deaths that is already underway and will report at the same time in 2023, meaning that real headway can be made in ensuring that all lessons are learnt, and preventable deaths avoided.

Every day in the UK around 13 babies die before, during or soon after birth. Sands estimates that had a stillbirth and neonatal death rates for Black and Asian babies been the same as for White babies, 432 fewer babies would have died in 2019 in England and Wales.

The charity has mentioned that previous confidential enquiries have been crucial in driving down maternal and perinatal death rates in some groups. These in-depth reviews of all case notes conclude within a set time period and with solid recommendations.

Clea Harmer, Chief Executive at Sands, "It’s really important that this confidential enquiry is underway. It will help us learn about which changes to care are needed to help save babies' lives. It will be vital that the Government and NHS act on recommenda-

tions from this enquiry and the enquiry into Black and Black British baby deaths when they are both published in 2023 if inequalities in baby deaths are to be reduced."

Awareness of the changes that are needed to make care safer have been transformed

by similar confidential enquiries, for example into term stillbirths and deaths in labour, and have contributed significantly to reducing deaths in those groups.

Shetal Ksavi Joshi, Sands ambassador said, “As a bereaved parent having lost my baby boy Shivai, I am passionate about doing everything possible to ensure this devastating loss does not happen to another parent.

The fact that this vital enquiry is at long last going ahead means a lot to all bereaved Asian parents in the UK, many of whom haven't had the answers they need for far too long as to why their babies died.

“The findings from this report, together with the Black confidential enquiry, will help the entire baby loss community to understand better as to why our babies died, and what steps we can recommend stopping this from continuing to happen. Thank you to everyone who has played a part in helping to get this confidential enquiry to happen.”

"impressed with the way its Parliament functions" having met with the present and previous Presidents.

Giving gravitas to the importance of a robust and sound democracy, Lord Dholakia had a request for Lord Ahmed, the Minister for South Asia at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

As he declared an interest as a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Abolition of the Death Penalty, Lord Dholakia noted "it was clear that Taiwan was working towards the abolition of the death penalty". Describing his visits to Taiwan both during the previous president, President Ma's incumbency, and more recently, during that of President Tsai, he said, "I want to ensure that Taiwan is now at

a very advanced stage on this".

With the "majority of [the Taiwanese legislators wanting] to see the death penalty abolished", Lord Dholakia stressed the significance of not making such a move due to, "The risk of wrongful convictions, the abuse of human rights and a recognition that the death penalty had no unique deterrent effect" as he requested Lord Ahmad give his support to the initiative and commence discussions with his counterparts in Taiwan to further bolster the aims, and give momentum to, abolishing it.

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Situation in Ukraine and Russian property ownership

“Go for indigenous production of defence equipment: PM Modi”

I stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukrainians here in London and all over the world.

We cannot sit by and watch the tragedy unfold. The relentless Russian onslaught is fast turning the conflict into a humanitarian crisis.

Lighting up buildings blue and yellow isn’t enough.

We cannot publicly say we're doing everything to help Ukraine as we turn our backs on those desperately in need of help.

The Government must ensure those fleeing indiscriminate Russian aggression are given sanctuary in our capital and across the country.

We need a more simplified process in place for enabling Ukrainian refugees to seek safety in the UK. We also need to see the toughest sanctions possible imposed on Putin and his cronies - who have used London’s property market to stash their cash for far too long.

An estimated £1.1bn of London property is owned by Russians accused of corruption or who have links to the Kremlin.

I fully support the Mayor’s calls to seize all property belonging to Putin’s allies, to raise property taxes on non-resident buyers and have a transparent register of property ownership.

Additional taxes would raise up to £370 million a year to invest in building at least 2,500 new council and other affordable homes.

London can no longer be used and abused as a money-laundering playground by oligarchs linked to the Putin regime. The Government must act decisively.

“Go for indigenous production of defence equipment: PM Modi” in AV dated 5-11March 2022 is more relevant today than ever when we look at the present geopolitical situation keeping in mind Russia – Ukraine conflict.

Most of the western countries will support India and other nations to serve their own interest in the long term.

Interdependence is important but in strategic defence equipment and parts, self-reliance on the domestic industries is a must wherever possible. In the past, we did not have the technology to develop but India is a different country now with capabilities in most of the advanced technology due to the hard work of visionary scientists like Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam just to name a few.

We should only buy equipment from those companies and countries which help India in building its own products or transfer know-how. We have dedicated scientists, engineers and experts who are capable of making things provided the right infrastructure and less red tape is there. Combining our IT skills with defence with definitely provide a competitive edge over other countries.

Hitesh Hingu London

Cllr Krupesh Hirani AM London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow

Capitalism with devil’s face When Capitalism triumphed over Communism, the elated West was in seventh heaven, portraying Capitalism with a human face as the future of our prosperity, peace and fulfilling our long-awaited dreams.

However the dream was short-lived; in fact, it has turned into a nightmare, Capitalism with Devil’s face has taken over our lives. My recent experience is a prime example of how multinational companies cheat and rob innocent people, especially elderly, sick and disabled people who could not fight back.

My Central Heating boiler was due for service.

Although the boiler was old in perfect working order, regularly serviced, never needed call-out. Moreover, the company had recently checked it before giving me a maintenance contract.

The engineer was late and in a foul mood. After an hour or so, he called me and showed me big hole in the exhaust pipe, calling it dangerous to health, as it would leak carbon monoxide. I was flabbergasted, as I had checked it the night before, certainly there was no hole and working perfectly only that morning. The gas was turned off and sealed.

Moreover, we had a carbon monoxide detector just outside the cupboard which should have gone off, indeed we all should have been dead if it was leaking carbon monoxide. Being caught out, he changed his story, stating that the pipe was rusted and while checking or rather banging it with a hammer, it was damaged, another lie, as the pipe was made of material that would not rust; galvanized iron.

I rang the Company straight away while the engineer was on the premises, requesting them to send a senior engineer but the point-blank refused. I was forced to install a new boiler, they paid for the boiler but the labour cost I had to pay, was £3235, an unnecessary expense I could ill-afford. Moreover, it was some £1000 more than quoted by the private installer which means the cost of the boiler was reclaimed indirectly.

I complained but to no effect. However, they provided me with details of “Financial Ombudsman” (FO) and another similar body ADR Group where this company is a founder member. The point-blank declined to participate in either of the arbitration. Reluctantly FO advised me it was out of their hand, they cannot compel the company to participate; the only alternative is going to court, not possible for elderly people like us!What is the purpose of having all these independent arbitrators if they are toothless; perhaps financed by businesses rather than paid from the public purse! This is capitalism with devil’s face, time for the government to put it right but would they!

Manav Mathur (name changed on request)

Real-life stories spearhead national campaign for more minority ethnic community organ donors The ORGANise initiative has been launched to raise awareness of the need for more donors from the Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups with the number of donors falling as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The three short films, produced by Total Insight Theatre and funded by NHS Blood and Transplant Community Investment Scheme, tell three real-life stories to emphasise the need for more donors, the impact of organ donation and how to join the donor register.

Data from the NHS Blood and Transplant service shows that transplant patients from an ethnic background have longer wait times than white transplant patients, while donors from members of the same ethnic background are more likely to be a match.

The latest statistics are taken from NHS Blood and Transplant’s annual report into organ donation and transplantation in Black, Asian, Mixed Race and minority ethnic communities, show there were just 146 organ donors from a Black, Asian, Mixed Race and minority ethnic background in 2020/21 (84 deceased, and 62 living). This is a 25% reduction in deceased donors and a 61% reduction in living donors compared to 2019/20 figures.

Waiting times for transplants for all ethnicities had improved, but black patients are waiting almost a year longer for a kidney transplant compared to white patients, the report said. It also noted that over the course of the year, 39.5% of Black, Asian, mixed heritage or minority ethnic families agreed to support donation going ahead, compared to 69% of white families.

Shri Vrajrajkumarji blesses Anand & Sajni on their engagement

Anand Dhamecha, Grandson of Khodidasbhai and Lalitaben and son of Veenaben and Pradipbhai Dhamecha of Dhamecha Group, got engaged to Sajni, daughter of Nutanben and Sanjaybhai Thakrar on Saturday, 5th March.

On this auspicious occasion, Vallabhacharya Pujya Goswami 108 Shri Vrajrajkumarji Mahoday Shri (pioneer-guide of Vallabh Youth Organization) from Vadodara was specially present on this occasion to bless the couple.

•

Kapil Dudakia

Kapil’s KHICHADI

Ukraine, NATO’s Trojan Horse?

If you were to believe the western media, or politicians, or indeed academia, then no doubt most people would blindly jump on the bandwagon of thrashing Russia.

Fortunately, I am a rogue columnist who refuses to fall in line, or to accept the fake narrative of the west, or indeed even that of the east.

Remember, only two weeks ago almost every western nation was in bed with Russia. They have never had any issue in getting Russian oil, gas, or other commodities.

There was a precondition to this love-in though.

Namely, NATO would not do anything to threaten the security of Russia. And in typical western style, they broke the agreement and we saw NATO expand from 12 nations in 1949, to 30 nations in 2022. In this game of chess, NATO wanted to use Ukraine as their Trojan Horse. Bordering with Russia, it was close enough to poke the Russian bear where it would hurt it the most.

But this bear was not willing to be poked any more.

Let me make something clear, I don’t support Russia, nor do I support the madness of the west when it comes to such geopolitical games. It is important to remember that in a world of duplicitous morality, and bigotry being the cornerstone of modern geopolitics, that we as citizens screen out the fake news.

Do you remember the USA when it attempted to invade Vietnam in 1955? That war lasted 20 years with 100’s of thousands dead. And the invasion of Iraq in 2003 resulting in 100’s of thousands dead, again. Mass murder under the pretext of non-existent weapons of mass destruction, namely, to hide their true aim of regime change! Now let’s consider how many sanctions had been imposed on the USA, or the EU or even the UK for all their transgressions over the past 50 years. I believe the answer might be none.

Yet when Russia crosses the line to sort out or take over Ukraine, most of the western world jumped up and demanded sanctions against Russia. And whilst they preach the gospel of lies, they all lined up to take part in the Olympics in China (better known as the genocide games). China is currently committing cultural genocide on a million Uighur Muslims, and the world remains silent. It is destroying the culture and heritage of Tibet, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and still the west remains silent.

India seems to be the only sane nation with any moral strength to stand up to both the west, and to Russia. Of course, it has experience of suffering western bigotry when they support the Pakistani terrorist state.

If the people of China, and the people of Russia can find their Dharmic soul again, then they will realise that a working partnership with India will ensure that the bigotry of the imperial Christian west is checked. In the absence of such a partnership, the west is free to call the shots. They own the UN, the financial infrastructure, the Internet infrastructure, and they also control global media.

There is only one possible end to this conflict.

Russia will have to be given a way out which means it will control parts of Ukraine. Assuming of course no one wants WWIII. The west also wants to put on trial Putin at the International Criminal Court (ICC), but what about Bush, Clinton, Blair, and Obama? Together, they are responsible for the death of millions.

For India, it needs PM Modi back in power in 2024.

Russia needs to understand who its true friends are, and the Chinese people need to have a revolution to save themselves and to free the nations it has enslaved.

NATO’s trojan horse is over. If the world does not want to repeat the errors of the 20th Century, then in the 21st Century it will need to embrace a more dharmic mindset to aid international relations.

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

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Community members continue to support Ukraine Bhaktivedanta Manor – Launches campaign to help those in need in Ukraine ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Manor's charity wing, The Lotus Trust has launched efforts through its network of temples and affiliate organisations to support humanitarian aid to those impacted by the conflict in Ukraine.

Funds have already begun to support food distribution centres on the borders of Ukraine. Devotees of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) based in countries bordering Ukraine are providing free food and other assistance to people crossing the borders.

The funds raised are going directly to those affected by the war. Dr Sanjeev Agarwal, Chair of the Lotus Trust said: “The first stage of our support is to help the

refugees coming out of Ukraine. We are partnering up with the ISKCON centres in Hungary and Romania especially to provide hot meals. We are helping them to scale up to at least 10,000 meals a day. "The second stage will be to support people within Ukraine itself, as soon as we are allowed access. Finally, we want to help rehabilitate individuals and families back into their home country. We are working with a multitude of charities local to the directly affected areas and we are requesting the public to generously donate.”

The temple president of Bhaktivedanta Manor Her Grace Visakha Dasi said “Our whole community and beyond has reacted with compassion and generosity to get help to where it is needed most, prayers are being held daily for the conflict to be resolved.”

To donate or help more information can be found on the Lotus Trust Website: thelotustrust.org

Bridge India’s local team in Warsaw helps in crisis Bridge India’s local team in Warsaw has been able to get warehouse space for 200 people close to the border and coordinate with others locally. We are providing shelter, long-shelf-life food, baby food, personal care products, sanitary pads, first aid, diapers, wipes, blankets and more. Help us support Ukraine in this moment of crisis. We track how funds are used on the ground. Larger donations will help us get cheaper, bulk supplies. The team are in camps taking the next set of food and medical kits. A spokesperson told Asian Voice, “We are working on a needs-based list with the camp to be able to offer specific items, apart from the general food and milk supply. We will also get a list of specialised items like non-lactose or plant milk, vegan food items, Portable lights, portable heaters etc as there seem to be a lack of these from general donations. We will get our list of supplies and quantities today, that we intend to purchase and deliver over next week to the Camp helping 120 people near the border. A donation page has been set up on the Bridge India site. There will be an independent third party to help review and oversee the fund utilisation to ensure transparency for the donors. The link is below, for anyone who might wish to contribute. We will be sharing details of supply from these donations with the donors via an email as regular updates starting next week. https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/19929 Kanwar Singh, a seasoned unprofessional Aid Worker tweeted, “I’m at the Ukraine/Poland border transporting refugees to airports and trains stations for their onward travel. Me and the Mrs are also supplying much needed medical aid that’s going straight to the hospital in Kyiv organised by Polska Akcja Humanitarna.”

Amarjit crowned Entrepreneur of the Year Dhiren Katwa

class joinery products. Its customer base includes The Shard, BBC TV Amarjit Binji, Chief Executive Centre, Centre point and Battersea Officer of AJB Woodworking Power Station, as well as famous Group, a British woodworking celebrities. firm, has been crowned 2022 The visionary entrepreneur and Entrepreneur of the Year. proud dad-of-two, who was one of six Amarjit beat off stiff compefinalists in his category, said: “I was tition to win this prestigious title Amarjit Centre with sons totally shocked to win this award but at the Midlands Business Awards Aaron left and Jai right also delighted. It is no easy feat to (MBAs). Winners across 11 catenavigate a business and achieve congories were announced at a gala black-tie tinuing growth whilst advocating for innovaevent held in Leicester on Friday (March 4). tion and change in our specialist sector but it The MBAs were established in 2006 to give is worth it to have tributes like this and see the highly valued recognition to exceptional growhard work paying off. I am incredibly proud of ing businesses across East and West Midlands. my dream team who all have a part to play in AJB Group is a manufacturer of worldour collective success.”

High street pharmacies help people stub out smoking To mark National No Smoking Day, NHS help to kick the habit will be available in every local pharmacy which signs up to offer the service.

The radical action is part of the NHS Long Term Plan to offer tobacco treatment services to all hospital inpatients by 2023/24.

Pilots of the service in Oldham, Greater Manchester have successfully supported smokers to stub out the habit after they left the hospital - three in five people successfully quit, including 60-year-old Bilal Sarwar who quit after almost 50 years of smoking.

The latest NHS figures show that more than half a million hospital admissions a year are attributable to smoking.

There will be at least three opportunities for people to arrange a convenient face-to-

face or remote appointment with the pharmacist for up to 12 weeks and ongoing supplies of the medicine they need to help them quit will be supplied free of charge.

60-year-old Mr Sarwar finally quit smoking after almost 50 years with the help and support of the pharmacy team. A smoker since he was 11, Mr Sarwar didn’t believe cigarettes were causing him harm so carried on smoking even after suffering a heart attack.

However, after discovering he needed an operation and following advice from his hospital cardiology team, Mr Sarwar was persuaded to give up and given a prescription of nicotine patches and spray to relieve his nicotine cravings. Mr Sarwar was referred to Lees Road Pharmacy in March 2021 and 12 weeks later he had successfully quit.

Camden marks 50th anniversary of Bangladesh's independence Camden will mark the 50th anniversary of the independence of Bangladesh with an event in partnership with the Bangladesh High Commission.

The Independence Day of Bangladesh, which is on 26 March, commemorates the country's declaration of independence in 1971.

The event, which took place last week at the British Museum, celebrated the 50th year of Bangladesh’s independence and will include speeches from the Mayor of London, community leaders, cross-party elected officials, delegates, and members of the British Bangladeshi communities in Camden and across London.

Dance performances, musical recitals and artwork produced by the Bangladeshi community took place, as well as an exhibition to celebrate the history and contributions of the Bangladeshi community in the UK. H.E. Saida Muna Tasneem, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to the UK, said: “It is a great privilege for Bangladesh High Commission London to be partnering the ‘Bangladesh 50’ commemorative event at the iconic British Museum with London’s most diverse and culturally vibrant Camden Council to mark the Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence coinciding with the birth centenary of our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“We take pride in the achievements and

contributions of our enterprising British Bangladeshi community in Camden. We look forward to showcasing at the British Museum the history of our independence and our progressive, secular, and inclusive Bengali culture and heritage that defines today’s prosperous and resilient Bangladesh at 50.”

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “I am delighted that we are honouring and celebrating the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence in the spectacular surroundings of the British Museum.

Over the last half-century, Bangladeshi Londoners have made – and continue to make – a hugely positive contribution to our society, economy and culture. I can only see that beneficial impact on our city increasing over the next 50 years as the ties between our two countries strengthen further.”

The golden jubilee of the Independence Day of Bangladesh was in March 2021, however, due to the pandemic, the event was rescheduled to take place this year.

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Southhall retailer caught with fake Apple and Samsung products A Southhall trader was caught in possession of counterfeit mobile phone accessories following an inspection from Ealing’s Trading Standards in December 2020.

During a visit, thousands of fakes were seized

from Phone World Mobile

Cancer rates differ between ethnic groups, study As per the analysis of NHS Digital cancer registration data by Cancer Research UK, black people are twice as likely to get prostate cancer while white people have double the chance of getting skin and lung cancers.

The study showcases stark disparities in cancer rates between different ethnic groups. The results are published in the British Journal of Cancer.

According to the research, white people in England are likely to get some types of cancer, including melanoma skin

cancer, oesophageal, bladder and lung cancers compared with people from black, Asian or mixed ethnic backgrounds.

Cancer Research UK believes genetics are thought to play a pivotal role in some of the findings.

For example, white people are more likely to get skin cancer because they tend to burn more easily in the sun.

£2,200 pay rise for MPs Despite protestations from Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) that sets MPs’ pay has recommended a 2.7 per cent wage increase.

In April, when household bills are expected to soar, MPs will receive a pay rise of more than £2,200.

According to Ipsa, the base salary for MPs will rise from £81,932 to £84,144 to

match last year’s average public sector pay increases.

The change will come into effect on April 1, a day when household bills across the country will rise dramatically.

Meanwhile, families will take a hit with a national insurance rise of 1.25 percentage points. The average energy bill will also surge to almost £2,000 after Ofgem, the industry regulator, raised the price cap by 54 per cent.

Podcast accused of reigniting Islamophobia In 2014, an anonymous letter received by the council claimed that senior teaching staff at Park View school had been infiltrated by hardline Muslim fundamentalists in an alleged Trojan horse plot. This followed a series of government inquiries that led to five schools being put into separate measures and teachers were banned from the classroom.

A government inquiry found that some schools came under the leadership of those “who espouse, sympathise with or fail to challenge extremist views”.

However, a new podcast series, The Trojan Horse Affair, run by The New York Times, which began this month and is one of the most downloaded podcasts in the US, claims that the so-called Trojan horse plot was a conceit of Islamophobes.

The show is facing accusations of reigniting a row of Islamophobia and its journalistic integrity is being questioned.

“It feels as if it has reopened old wounds.

What makes it worse is that the podcast gets so much wrong,” a senior teacher at the school said.

More than 7,000 shrubs planted Over 2,000 metres of hedgerow has been planted in Seawick and Leewick near Clacton to help store carbon.

The hedges consist of more than 7,000 individual shrubs and have been

planted at 3 separate locations. North and south of Beach Road in Seawick, north from Leewick Sewage Works and alongside the southern side of Leewick Depot.

Accessories Ltd which is based at Charles House, Bridge Road. Upon visiting the premises, the officers found a stockpile of suspected counterfeit mobile phone accessories such as batteries, charging cables, cases

and adaptors, as well as Apple Airpods and Samsung, branded Buds. Two representatives from Apple and Samsung confirmed that the goods were fake. Under the Trade Marks Act, more than 5,500 suspected items were seized and taken away.

Government can help 150,000 to breathe easier The study by Imperial College London believes if the government delivers on their promise of improving air quality, by 2030, respiratory diseases would fall by 150,000 a year.

The report has given a strong reason to ministers to set a new target for fine particle pollution, in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended interim limit of ten micrograms.

The Imperial College London

calculated the health benefits based on the premise that the government implements proposed policies by 2030, which includes phasing out London’s diesel buses, tighter limits on burning coal and wood, reducing gas boiler emissions and stricter limits on emissions from industry.

The policies also include recommendations by the Climate Change Committee for switching to zero-emission vehicles.

Cyclist and lawyer Shatha Ali killed at busy junction Shatha Ali, who worked as a corporate lawyer at the City firm Latham Watkins, was struck by a heavy goods vehicle when she was cycling near the Holborn gyratory. She died at the scene about 10 am. Traffic was busier than usual due to the Tube strike.

Ali was born and brought up in the capital and graduated from King’s College London with a law degree in 2003. Her friend Dr Ala’a al Shehabi, a lecturer at University College London, said she was “absolutely devastated” by Ali’s death. She demanded action

from Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, to make the junction safer.

“Why haven’t you done anything to protect cyclists there?. Shatha should not have died in this horrific way,” she wrote on Twitter.

Ali, who specialised in derivatives and Islamic finance, is the first person to die cycling in London this year.

‘I regret giving her birth’, says mother of British jihadi bride The mother of Tania Joya, who was nicknamed ‘the first lady of ISIS’ and who had an affair with a US congressman, said she regrets giving birth to Tania.

Jahanara Choudhury, 65, added that she disowned her daughter almost 20 years ago when she left the UK for the US after marrying her first husband John Georgelas who became a top recruiter for the extremist Islamic State group.

Tania, a mother-of-four who grew up in Harrow, Middlesex, now lives in Plano, Texas with her second husband. She was in a relationship with Representative Van Taylor after meeting him through her work as an ex-jihadist helping to de-radicalise extremists.

Ms Choudhury, 65 said: 'I have nothing to do with her and neither does the rest of the family. We cut off

On this women's day, what does a man have to say?

all communication when she married this man. I don't consider her my daughter anymore. She is not a part of this family and hasn't been for a long time.

I'm sorry I even gave birth to her. She married against our wishes and we cut her off. I can't remember the last time I spoke or saw her, but it was many years ago.'

Ms Choudhry added that she was unaware of her daughter’s affair and was not interested in hearing about them.

Earlier this week, Mr Van Taylor apologised for having a nine-month affair with Ms Joya and dropped his bid for re-election to Congress.

Rohit Vadhwana The newspapers, magazines, television and social media are full of congratulatory messages, lauding the contribution of women in society. Thanks to the trendy hashtags that our attention is drawn to the achievements of women. The plight of gender is also highlighted to raise awareness through various campaigns.

Society has always kept us divided - not only in gender but also through various other differences. A logical question would be: Why do we even need to consider this difference of gender? If we need to really differentiate each and every difference, each man is different from another, each dog is different from the other, and so on. Women are different from men. It has been highlighted and exploited for centuries. The vulnerability of women has been the product of a desire to dominate. This desire, wherever stronger in society, has created an uneven system. This needs to be discouraged. The weaker section needs to be empowered. But the concept of empowerment by the powerful is not equitable. It does not involve the respect of equality, evenness in society. Therefore, we have noticed that the demand for such empowerment mostly comes from those who are subjected to deprivation.

On Women's Day, when we celebrate their special role, we respect their contribution in all walks of our lives, as men can simply understand that everything is different and therefore we just need to start treating them equally. Giving equal treatment to what is unequal, for the reason of equity, is perhaps a concept we need to imbibe in our culture and society. Without such understanding, the grand celebration of particular days on social media would not suffice to change us.

Only when we surrender our right to be powerful and privileged, can we actually bring equality? This is not an easy task, especially after we are used to this status for centuries. This difficult call has to be taken mentally.

Happy Women's Day to all men.

(Expressed opinions are personal)

Essex Indians Golden Jubilee virtual concert pays tribute to Lata Mangeshkar Essex Indians Registered Charity 1186579 spearheaded virtual concerts to maintain bonding and mental well being during the difficult times of the pandemic.

In the last two years, they celebrated 50 quality virtual global concerts with the golden jubilee on Bharat Ratna nightingale of India Lata Mangeshkar tribute.

The concert lasted for four and half hours last Sunday unfolding the plethora of Latadidi songs and dances over a period of 70 years anchored by Anirban, Arpita, Ujjwal and Sulagna. The concert started with Essex Indians Choir paying tribute with chorus ‘ Ek Pyar ka Nagma’ - the name of the concert.

Bengali numbers were also presented by Ankhi ( akash pradwip jwole), Rai ( O mor moina go), Sutapa ( Nijhum sandhyay),

Basabdutta ( Ami chalte chalte theme gechi) and Marathi number by Koushani ( Nao go ma phool). UK eminent artists included Nabarupa ( Rahe na rahe hum), Molly ( Ab to hai tumse), Ujjwal ( Ye kahan aa gaye hum ) Moumita ( Tere bina zindagi), Satadipa(Piya tose naina ), Sutapa Mukherjee ( Tere liye palko ki jhalar banu) and Anirban ( Aao tumhe chaand).

Transatlantic duet was presented by Dipa and Anirban ( Tum aa gaye ho). USA artists comprised of Sahana ( Ruke ruke si kadam), Dipa with Ronit ( Jane keya baat hai) and Radha ( Na jeo na l Aaj noi gungun).

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Break The Bias It will take 30 years to reach gender parity at senior levels of the financial services industry if nothing is done to improve the “frustratingly slow” current rate, the Treasury’s champion, Aviva boss Amanda Blanc, on the issue has warned.

While just over a third of all adults, and 44% of working adults, have caring responsibilities, the research found that they are not spread equally.

Women account for 85% of sole carers for children and 65% of sole carers for older adults. More people from ethnic minority backgrounds (42%) have caring responsibilities than from white backgrounds.

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On International Women’s Day 8th March, Asian Voice brings you stories of inspiring women from different walks of life - Magistrate Huma Ahmed, entrepreneur Jyoti Patel, Padmashree Ramilaben Gamit - who fought to build more toilets for women, perspective on IWD debates by Bina Mehta (UK Chair of KPMG), Rupa Popat (Entrepreneur, Board Advisor, Angel Investor and NED) and more.

This year, the theme is all about imagining a gender-equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women's equality. Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.

Breaking the glass ceiling T

he annual Parliamentary International Women’s Day debate was held last week under the theme “Break the Bias”.

The debate hosted by Lord and Lady Popat is now in its fifth year and aims to give nonParliamentarians an exclusive platform to have their voices heard on gender equality. The debate usually held in Parliament was held virtually due to pending restrictions. Over 1000 people logged on to the debate from across the world.

The debate featured 12 outstanding speakers including Bina Mehta (UK Chair of KPMG), Nathan Bostock (CEO of Santander), Baroness Hale of Richmond DBE (former President of the Supreme Court), Simi Lindgren (Founder & CEO, Yuty), Amanda Blanc (Group CEO, Aviva), Soma Sara (Founder, Everyone’s Invited), Harini PN Rana (Indian Broadcast Journalist), Dr Shahzadi Harper (Menopause & Perimenopause Doctor, The Harper Clinic), Anjula Acharia (CEO, A-Series Management & Investment), Alice Hendy (CEO & Founder R;pple Suicide Prevention), Angela Ghayour (Founder, Herat School) and Olena Malynska (Ukrainian Political Leader).

Opening the debate, Lord Popat mentioned the disproportionate impact that the pandemic had on women, “Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic, like all emergencies, has affected women and girls disproportionately. Women have faced pressures in balancing work with homeschooling and childcare. Domestic abuse cases have spiralled—up by 83%. Women have also suffered adversely from job losses. The Taliban’s take over in Afghanistan has also been a devasting blow to gender equality in the region.”

This year’s debate also included a Ukrainian speaker who spoke of her first-hand experiences of the recent conflict. Olena Malynska is a CEO at Women Political Leaders, a global network of women politicians whose mission is to increase the number and influence of women in political leadership positions.

Olena remarked, “Both the OSCE and NATO have clear evidence that peace negotiations, which include women at the table, get better longlasting results. Peace negotiations with women at the table achieve agreements that are better accepted. And still, only 6% of peace negotiators are women. Isn’t it shocking?”

Speakers also included Bina Mehta, UK Chair of KPMG. Bina spoke of her experiences of breaking the glass ceiling, “Biases are so ingrained in our society, that too often they’re not even questioned. I almost didn’t get the chance to go to India to help establish our KPMG office, as my manager at the time thought that as an unmarried

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Currently, 56% of all magistrates are women by: Shefali Saxena

Huma Ahmed

Huma Ahmed, from Bingley, West Yorkshire, is a science teacher of Pakistani heritage. She has been a magistrate for 21 years and was inspired to contribute and make a difference to the local community by her father, one of the UK’s first Asian police officers.

In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, Huma Ahmed spoke about her experience as a magistrate, why more women must join the justice system and what it means to be a woman of Asian origin in a leadership role.

Here are a few excerpts from the interview: n your experience as a magistrate over 21 years, how far do you think the law has come in Britain when it comes to delivering justice?

I do believe the law and delivery of justice have made substantial progress over the last 21 years. This is mainly due to the advancement of technology and an increased awareness and transparency of the Law. Laws have been adapted and reformed to meet the needs of our ever-evolving society. The magistracy has also diversified to better represent the community it serves but there is still work to be done. hat are the challenges of being a woman in power as a magistrate?

I

W

Bina Mehta

Rupa Popat

Asian woman, my family wouldn’t let me go. He didn’t even ask me! Anyone joining our firm today, 30 years on, will see that over one in four of our partners are female. And if they look broader – they’ll see that 38% of FTSE board positions are held by women. But there are only 18 female CEOs. While this is progress, the pace of change isn’t good enough.”

One of the most moving highlights of the debate featured Alice Hendy, Founder of Ripple Suicide Prevention who spoke of her experiences following her brother who committed suicide, “There were 5,224 suicides in England and Wales in 2020, three-quarters of which were men. When talking about the online environment, Semrush reported that searches for suicide methods have increased by 50% in the last two years. But, these aren’t just statistics. They are not just charts or numbers; each one is a person with a name, a story and a devastated family attached.”

The debate included a wide range of topics including climate change, educational bias, menopause, investment in female founders and sexual violence.

The debate even featured an Afghan activist who bravely spoke out publicly for the first time on the devasting impact of the Taliban takeover last summer. Angela Ghayour said, “I’ve seen the dismay of Afghan young girls in hundreds of messages I have received from them, telling me how they feel betrayed, by everyone: their politicians, the international community, their own society.

Everyone failed them.”

After the debate, the organisers of the debate Rupal Sachdev Kantaria and Rupa Popat were congratulated for curating the discussion and securing a wide range of speakers.

Speaker after, Rupa and Rupal said, “We deliberately included a diverse set of voices this year from grassroots changemakers to established business leaders speaking across a range of topics; finance, menopause, sexual violence, education in Afghanistan, the war in Ukraine artificial intelligence, career bias, gender bias in investment, and suicide prevention.”

I would never describe being a magistrate as having personal power, it can be defined as a privilege and a responsibility of exercising the power of the law, we are guided by strict sentencing guidelines and parameters and legal advice to inform our decision making. Decisions are made collectively by three magistrates and each magistrate has an equal voice, it’s about working collaboratively and as part of a team. I personally feel a great sense of responsibility when looking at the evidence presented and then making a decision that will impact not only the life of the individual but also their family and working situation. Being a female magistrate allows me to bring my own experiences and expertise to the magistracy and every magistrate is treated with fairness and respect no matter their gender, faith, ethnicity or social background. You just need the confidence and assertiveness to express your opinion and discuss the issues presented and then come to a collective decision. ould you recommend more women to join the judicial services? If yes, why?

I would strongly recommend women of all ages and backgrounds join the magistracy and wider judicial services. Currently, 56% of all magistrates are women it is important that women from all backgrounds and experiences consider applying and are represented, if you want to serve your community and give something back and to make a difference to the society and community of which we are all a part, this could be for you. It can involve multitasking, managing a full-time career, family life and other commitments, in my personal experience I have found it very rewarding, informative and it has enhanced me as a person. hat does it mean for you to be a woman of Asian origin, delivering justice in the UK? How does your family look at your achievements?

I am extremely proud of my Asian heritage and background and it is a part of who I am. Born and brought up in the UK, I am British and am passionate about being an active member of the our rich, diverse and multicultural society and strive for the equality of opportunity for everyone.

Approximately 13% of magistrates consider themselves as BAME. Being a magistrate is a voluntary role and people of all backgrounds are encouraged to consider applying. I feel strongly that magistracy needs to represent the society and communities it serves. My family are very proud of me and the contribution I make, my true inspiration was my late father Rashid Awan MBE, who himself a pioneer, becoming one of the first Asian police officers in the UK. He always encouraged me to step up and to try and make a positive difference and be an active member of society. lease give a message to our readers and tell them why more people from ethnic minorities must diversify the bench.

I strongly encourage individuals from all ethnic backgrounds to find out more about the role of a magistrate, no formal qualifications are required.

Anyone can apply as long as you: • are between 18-70 years old • are aware of social issues • are mature, understand people and have a sense of fairness • are reliable and committed to serving the community • have not been convicted of any serious criminal offence The magistracy strives to be inclusive and represent the community it serves, we have made progress and are on an upward trajectory, there is still work to be done.

You can make that difference.

W

W

P

Approximately 13% of magistrates consider themselves as BAME.

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Meet Ramilaben, the woman who urged “Women need not Gujarat government to create toilets choose between following their passion and having children” Nischal Sanghvi

Jyoti Patel

On a mission to help break down the boundaries of cooking different cuisines and trialling new ingredients, FeastBox and Red Rickshaw Founder and CEO Jyoti Patel, speaks to us on this International Women’s Day. Growing up in a large Indian family, life naturally revolved around the kitchen but the mother of two, now, through her innovative business, is ensuring women can have the best of both worlds- career, passion and family.

More than just a recipe box, her brand FeastBox is making a promise to its customers – to always bring something new.

From unique and authentic ingredients (sourced by the brand’s sister company Red Rickshaw) to a constantly refreshed recipe repertoire; home chefs are guaranteed to impress themselves with new skills to create restaurant quality meals from the comfort of their own kitchen.

During the pandemic, many started delivering Indian groceries like you do through Red Rickshaw. What makes Red Rickshaw different from the newbies?

During lockdown, when many communities were cut-off from their source of ingredients, we expanded our global offering to include ingredients for African, Thai and Chinese cuisines, and are continuing to build out more.

What sets Red Rickshaw aside from other competitors is that we source authentic and breath-taking in-season ingredients for a wide range of cuisines. By bringing the world's best seasonal produce to the people of the UK and beyond, we want to help the food industry and foodies embrace the world’s biodiversity and balance the world’s diet, so that it isn’t so weighted towards unsustainable animal farming and high-yield, low-nutrition cash crops.

Most importantly, we look after our customers. Buying online, especially fresh fruit and vegetables can sometimes be a daunting experience. However, we take every care to ensure we only send the very best quality produce, as we know too well the quality of the ingredients matters.

Red Rickshaw also takes the time to answer any consumer questions about how they might implement worldly ingredients, like banana flower or amchoor powder, into exciting new dishes.

How did you think of the FeastBox idea?

Once Red Rickshaw had flourished into a hugely successful online retailer for world ingredients, I launched FeastBox, the world food recipe box, to educate and guide customers on how to authentically use these exciting ingredients within everyday cooking.

After growing up using many flavoursome ingredients when cooking with my grandmother, I wanted to inspire home cooks to bring flavoursome ingredients, adventure, and discovery back to their cooking.

Through the recipe boxes, I hoped to help people connect to the places they dream of visiting, the experiences they love to reminisce about, and embrace different cultures through food.

Each recipe box is delivered directly to homes with the exact amount of ingredients required, alongside weeknight-friendly, stepby-step recipe cards ensuring a quality home dining experience full of flavour. We aim to break down the challenges our customer’s face when cooking with unique, global ingredients by teaching expert cooking methods within the carefully crafted recipes.

The Sharing Boxes allow customers to create the ultimate at home dining experience with their families and friends. With recipes from Korea, Mexico, India, Japan, and more, these sharing boxes feed between 4 and 6 people and are a great way for our customers to come together and connect with their loved ones through the joy of food.”

Do you plan to do a vegetarian or vegan only FeastBox for clients?

We have a varied selection of vegan and vegetarian recipe options to choose from every week, with a guarantee of four vegan recipes at minimum. We also have vegetarian and vegan sharing boxes available.

We are always looking to increase the number of vegan and vegetarian options on FeastBox during any given week, but we like to cater to all customers’ needs and wants and therefore we wouldn’t look to exclude certain food groups for an extended period.

We’re passionate about plant-based eating, and we apply the same standards of authenticity and full flavour to our vegan meals as we do to all our others. As a world food recipe box, part of our mission is to show our customers that veganism isn’t a flash-in-the-pan trend, it’s an ethos that has been followed in many forms all over the world for centuries.

Our recipes show off the versatility of plant-based ingredients like tofu, jackfruit, and lentils, which deserve to be enjoyed, not just as ‘meat substitutes’.

What’s next for you as a business and woman entrepreneur?

As we look forward, we’re excited to explore new avenues for the business in line with growing consumer demands. I’m particularly excited about FeastBox’s recent venture into the ready-meal market, as I believe our ability to add a sense of convenience to high-end, quality dining will bring a new, exciting dimension to the business.

We’ve also recently rebranded FeastBox, to create a joyful brand personality, full of colour, that builds excitement early so consumers can see how great we are before they even try our food.

What’s more, Red Rickshaw’s move from predominantly Indian produce and flavours to a new, wider focus on hard-to-find ingredients from across the world is something that also excites me, and it’s our aim to widen our global offering even further over the coming years.

I really hope through FeastBox and Red Rickshaw that I’ve bought joy and adventure back to household cooking, and that I’ve shown women around the world they don’t have to choose between following their passion (which in my case was an insatiable curiosity with trying new foods and developing a career around that) and having children.

Gamit Ramilaben Raysingbhai, the tribal social worker from Gujarat’s Tapi district, has been recently recognised by the Modi led Indian government for grassroots level work for improvement in sanitation facilities and awarded with Padmashree, which is the fourth highest civilian award in India.

She is credited with transforming nine villages into open-defecation-free ones.

Today these villages, which had only 2 toilets in 2014 have over 700 home toilets. She is in the process of creating another 19 public toilets and 57 home toilets.

Open defecation, which means going to the toilet in open in lieu of any personal or public toilet facilities and other behavioural issues, has been a major problem for developing and under developed countries.

Open defecation has significant adverse public health outcomes. It releases faecal germs into the environment where they can contaminate children’s water and food, reach their hands and feet, and be spread by flies. The contaminated food or water can then cause diseases like diarrhoea – which is the leading cause of malnutrition and the second major cause of death among children. Incidents of diarrhoea and other diseases linked to open defecation can also have long-term impacts such as malnutrition and stunting – where the height of a child is significantly lower than the standards for her age. The diseases also reduce the capacity of the intestines to absorb nutrients from food.

In 2014, Ramilaben Gamit, a woman who lived in Gujarat’s small hamlet Taparwada with a population of 3000 people, caught up with the idea of creating toilets for people and thereby benefiting her village and citizens. His village had only two residences with toilets at that time.

Ramilaben lives in an area populated by people from aboriginal ethnic tribe ‘Adivasi’, who are among the least educationally developed in the country. Taking

Padmashree Ramilaben Gamit

the mission to create toilets in her hand, Ramilaben set out on a long and difficult journey.

According to Ramilaben, now aged 57, “The first major issue was convincing people to change their centuries old habit.

People were not convinced of the fact that they would have to go to the toilet within their homes. Thanks to Indian PM Modi’s policies a government grant was available to create toilets. The Indian government helps with INR 15,000 (GBP150) to create a home toilet and INR 350,000 (£3500) to create a public toilet. However, since people are uneducated, they do not know how to claim the grants. I had to not only convince them to create a toilet, but also process the grant for them by collecting documents, filing applications etc. Infact, creating a toilet was more expensive than the grant provided. So I teamed up with some like-minded people. All of us started working as masons, laborers and created the toilet for the beneficiary, so that the cost of labour is saved.”

According to Gamit, life has definitely changed after the announcement of the award. People look at her with more respect and she is able to convince them easily. Her immediate family members and in-laws have been very happy with the award.

Ramilaben has not earned anything so far from the activity of creating toilets, in fact, she herself lives a very modest life in a small residence where she and her family of four live on a reasonable salary of her husband, who works as a Government postman. If she would have done an earning activity all this time, she would have been able to build a good house for her family, but she consciously chooses to serve people instead of working to earn. At 57 years of age, Ramilaben is also a sportswoman and takes part in ‘Tug of War’ tournaments organized by the state government.

Women in self-employment on the rise in Greater Manchester Thousands more women are choosing selfemployment in Greater Manchester in comparison to surrounding regions, new analysis from GC Business Growth Hub has revealed ahead of International Women’s Day. The latest data from the Office for National Statistics also shows that the conurbation’s percentage of women in selfemployment has risen above the North West figure for the first time in 17 years.

In September 2021, 53,100 workers or 5.6 per cent of economically active women were in self-employment*.

In comparison, 3.9 per cent (20,700 women) were self-employed in Liverpool, and in Lancashire, 4.8 per cent (24,400 females) were in self-employment**.

The North West percentage stood at 5.5 per cent and it is the first time since 2004 – which is when data is available from - that Greater Manchester has ever risen above the North West.

Figures show that while the number of women in self-employment dipped in the

first half of the pandemic, last June the figure started to increase again.

The latest Rose Review also found that more women than ever were starting new businesses.

Hilary Centeleghe is Head of Startup and Growth at the Hub, which is part of The Growth Company and part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund. She has worked in business support for more than 30 years and has seen first-hand how the landscape has changed.

Hilary said, “Female business founders are the bedrock of our economy and have an in-built entrepreneurial attitude. Covid was a challenge for most people, but we know from the women on our programmes that it was also a turning point. It made them realise something had to change and look for other avenues such as self-employment. At the Hub, we have seen more women embracing our support, particularly programmes like EnterprisingYou which really appeals to them due to its nurturing

approach. There is still progress to be made to help more women realise their business goals. Having the right support is key and we are here to help.”

Two-thirds of the people on the EnterprisingYou scheme from February 2020 to February 2022 were women, with 268 of the 1,192 over the age of 50.

The vital free programme supports selfemployed business owners across Greater Manchester.

Another EnterprisingYou graduate Dina Mistry, aged 37, is the founder of Stockportbased Asian greeting card and gift company The Playful Indian.

She started the company full time in 2019 and accessed support from the course during the pandemic.

Dina said, “EnterprisingYou really helps people, especially women, achieve their dreams of running their own business. It gave me the support I needed to push forward and having a mentor really helped to process my thoughts.”

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Women need to shout louder

Sangeeta Waldron

We know that the Covid-19 global pandemic has impacted women the most, who have been juggling roles during various stages of lockdown – becoming teachers, carers on top of their careers. A new international study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington reveals that the pandemic threatens to reverse decades of progress made towards gender equality, and that women have been hit much harder socially and economically than men.

We are at a pivotal moment where investment in the empowerment of women is needed to ensure that progress towards gender equality does not stall or reversed because of this pandemic. It is why, this forthcoming Women in Conversation event supported by Asian Voice newspaper and the Royal Airforce is not just critical but timely, and part of the wider conversations marking International Women’s Day on 8 of March.

Back with greater energy and purpose, the Women in Conversation is bringing together an extraordinary panel of women, who will be bravely sharing their personal stories of breaking stereotypes and the challenges they have faced in their careers to be where they are today. For the last two years, the voices of women have become whispers, and is why we need events like this to ensure that our voices are heard.

The pandemic threatens to reverse decades of progress made towards gender equality

Sahera Chohan

O

ver the last 28 years, Sahera Chohan has worked globally with individuals and teams across a wide range of private and public sector organisations delivering high-profile transformation programmes.

After University, she started her career in media in TV and also presented some shows for BBC World Service Radio, including doing a show from Delhi University, called 'Youth Debate' in 1997 to commemorate the Bicentenary of India's Independence. Sahera was the first British Asian Presenter on BBC1's Flagship Rural Affairs programme, 'Countryfile' from 1995-1997. She also presented the popular Asian Family Quiz for 3 years, 'QAsia' on BBC2 in the late 90s also.

Sahera was a broadcaster for BBC TV and radio, including being the first Asian presenter on BBC’s Countryfile. She has also run her own production company, OneVision Productions, producing programmes for BBC Television.

Her mother was a Muslim, born in Lucknow (Muslim) and her father was a Punjab born Hindu. They met and married in London. Sahera was born in Canada, raised in the UK. She studied BA Hons Social Anthropology and Religious Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Chohan married novelist Nigel Watts in the year 1991 and was widowed in 1999.

Sahera is now working as a Leadership Coach and Facilitator, and she says that she’s always in a minority (sometimes of one) amongst my caucasian counterparts.

Speaking to Asian Voice ahead of International Women’s Day, Sahera touched upon the fundamental differences between men and women, the challenges that occur in a woman’s life, and she also shared her real-life experiences of how she navigates situations as a woman.

wouldn't have felt the same way. So we're triggered, it's almost like a primitive thing, but that's what we need to question.”

Asking for equal pay “As a mindset coach, I say that because that's what I do - I work with people's mindsets. We as women have a part to play as well, in terms of what we are willing to tolerate, and not tolerate. It is difficult for women to say that ‘this is my baseline, this is how much I charge period’,” she added.

Imposter syndrome Sahera admits that she has had the same mindset, which is - ‘I don't deserve it because I'm a woman, I am on some level, slightly less worthy than my male counterpart.’

“So therein lies our work as women to go, and say to ourselves that we refuse to believe that less worthy than others. We must know that we have a certain amount of experience and are constantly committed. On some level, I think as women, we need to slightly shout louder, not just because of what we face in society, but because of our own mindset that we've taken on board that we've internalised the inequality that is in society, and reframe our thinking on that.

I think it's all very well to tell a woman “it's okay to be who you are”, but it might not make a difference if she doesn't believe that. It does start with us and it comes through after we fight our battles.

Sahera’s work is to help people with their attitude. She told us, “If I experience any insecurities, they are drowned by my purpose, my commitment, my passion for my work. I know that's easier said than done. And I know that not all women can necessarily feel that on certain days.”

Being the only woman in the room

On women supporting women

Sharing one of her own experiences, Sahera said, “Recently, I was working with a senior team and my two colleagues who were male, and I felt nervous for the first 15 minutes or so because I was a woman faced with all these men. I thought they're gonna relate more to my male colleagues who were leading the event than to me. I got over that quickly, because I remembered who I was, and remembered what I bring. And then it was fine. But I had the initial fear. Now, if that team had been predominantly women, and I was co-facilitating with a woman, I

Speaking about the dearth of opportunities that may sometimes lead to insecurities among women, Sahera said, “I think a lot of women in senior leadership roles become role models and mentors for other women because, on some levels, they've reached where they want to reach. So it's more comfortable for them. However, there's still competition at their level.

“I think there is a sort of an innate kind of almost primitive drive in us - the Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest at some level, we operate out of that.

When we're under stress, trying to achieve, and we're competing, we may step on other people's toes. This is an unfortunate fact.

“It's about awareness of what we're doing when we're doing that. I always say to the people I coach, you can't necessarily stop yourself from reacting to the sort of triggers on the outside - it takes a lot to manage your reaction, but at the same time, the more you challenge the way you react, the more your behaviour around tastefully stepping on other people's toes without disrespecting people will help you.

We also need to remember that there's enough for everyone. You know, it's a big world.”

Fight the demons of self-doubt When asked to give advice to young women who may be gathering the courage to start working post the pandemic in the new normal, Sahera listed three imperative points, “I think, first of all, believe in yourself. Don't ask, don't wait for other people to believe in you.

“Second - talk to the influencers. So figure out who those people are, get to know them and build rapport with them.

“Thirdly, just don't give up. Keep going even when you fail every time you fail, just keep getting up and keep going. Have a support structure around you - people who are not part of your job, but your friends, your family, somebody who is like a kind of support on the sidelines to just keep helping to encourage you to keep going.

Because it can get kind of lonely trying to forge a career and fight the demons of self-doubt.”

Don't ask, don't wait for other people to believe in you

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science. An artist has to have the acumen to marry art and science to create a product, contrary to the popular belief that artists do not need to apply science. “I taught myself how to fold in much finer detail and polish while working with different kinds of metal,” Sam told us.

She further added, “We did more fashion jewellery, so it wasn't fine jewellery at all. It started off in copper and brass and I worked with recycled material so I would go to a plumbing shop and buy offcuts of copper pipes. And again it was a very maledominated industry.”

She’d use the material and go back again leaving those men astonished that she was in fact creating interesting pieces of art that were becoming popular.

However, Sam had to fight racism.

“There was a lot of laughter and ‘here's this woman that kind of comments’. They said that ‘you're an Indian woman!’”

There were instances when a client in a UK shop would perhaps like her samples, place an order but after noticing she was Asian, they’d not go ahead with it. But that didn’t deter her from pursuing her passion.

Eventually, Sam started doing fashion week shows in London, Paris, New York, and Shanghai. She was the only person of colour that was exhibiting at the time.

Sam Ubhi When anyone asked who made that bunch ward-winning designer Sam Ubhi is of jewellery, she’d proudly say, “me!” famous for creating unique and eyeSam gives due credit to her catching accessories that parents saying that they supelevate jewellery to ported her despite the stereomodern art status & sets typical belief of Asian communiher work apart, giving ties for their children to pursue her a global following. careers in medicine and engiHer designs are sort after neering. In fact, while bringing amongst the fashion up three children in Kenya, elite, retailers, stylists, Sam’s mother took up a partjournalists & celebrities time embroidery course to nuraround the world. ture her passion.

Unlike the popular Sam added, “My mother notion of award-winwould always come to London ning artists, Sam Ubhi Fashion Week. She'd come and broke stereotypes right often come around because we'd from the beginning. already set up very traditional Satpal Kaur Ubh aka Balwant Kaur Ubhi, Punjabi while people looked at Sam Ubhi is not a Sam's mother me because it was unusual for trained designer, rather an Asian woman to be at - a self-taught person. Sam combined her London Fashion Week. But she loved it.” creativity with science and married the two to create her jewellery brand. Textile was her medium and by using leftover beads and pieces of jewellery, she started creating her own products.

The first sale Sam ever received was from Barneys of New York for £3000.

Speaking to Asian Voice, Sam said, “That was a lot of money in those days. It was 1986. This is what prompted me to start a jewellery business.”

When she made her first set of jewellery sitting with her mother by the kitchen sink. Little did she know that the client would come back and ask to repeat another order. “I was sitting at home, watching TV and making a whole bunch of jewellery,” she chuckled, while she explained how a simple effort was helping her make money and reputation.

Gradually, Sam learnt about beating metals, sculpting and more jewellery making techniques. With that, Sam’s work is also a reminder of how art is not aloof of

How a self-taught award-winning designer broke stereotypes

A

"I taught myself how to fold in much finer detail and polish while working with different kinds of metal"

Have a backup plan

Rumer Credit Alan Messer

R

umer is a British singer-songwriter. Her 2010 platinum-selling debut album, Seasons Of My Soul reached No.3 in the UK charts, earning her a MOJO Award for Best Breakthrough Act. In 2011 she was nominated for two Brit Awards.

She has appeared as Sir Elton John’s special guest at his BBC Electric Proms concert and performed at the White House for the Obamas. Her 5th album, Nashville Tears released in August 2020. Rumer goes on a UK tour in May 2022.

Heavily influenced by Burt Bacharach and blessed with effortless, velvety smooth vocals, Anglo-Pakistani singer/songwriter Rumer harks back to the early-'70s easy listening sounds of Karen Carpenter and Carole King. Born in 1979 to British parents living in Islamabad, Rumer (real name Sarah Joyce) was the youngest of seven children and spent her early years living in an ex-pat community.

In an interview with Asian Voice, Rumer spoke about her roots, her work and being a woman in arts during a pandemic.

“I'm half Pakistani, but I don't have a great deal of the influence of Pakistani parents,” Rumer told Asian Voice. She grew up in Pakistan until age four, and then she came to England.

Music is in her blood. “I come from a big family of musicians and my family lived in different areas of Pakistan and South Africa, and they travelled their whole life as a family. We were quite old fashioned in that we didn't really have a television so everybody would play an instrument and it was very cool. We came from a very musical family. I have seven brothers and sisters and everybody played music,” Rumer said.

She continues to honour the relationship between her parents and the extended family by financially supporting her half brother and his children back in Pakistan.

Over the years, she decided to make the most of it and hone her craft.

Having moved to London to pursue her dreams of a solo career, she adopted a stage name inspired by the author Rumer Godden and began performing in various clubs. At an open-mike night, she caught the eye of TV music composer Steve Brown, the house bandleader in Alan Partridge's Knowing Me, Knowing You, and the pair began work on her debut album. In

2010, she signed to Atlantic Records and was personally invited by Burt Bacharach to sing for him at his California home.

In 2012, Rumer released her sophomore effort, the covers album Boys Don't Cry. Much like the '60s soft rock vibe of Seasons of My Soul, Boys Don't Cry featured Rumer's unique take on tunes by such artists as Isaac Hayes, Clifford T. Ward, Todd Rundgren, Townes Van Zandt, and others. In 2014, she returned with her third studio album, Into Colour, which featured production from Rob Shirakbari, a longtime associate of Burt Bacharach. Rumer has gone on to forge an acclaimed career both as a highly regarded songwriter, penning global hits such as “Slow” and “Aretha,” and also a peerless interpreter of the work of others, as evidenced on her follow-up album Boys Don’t Cry – plus Rumer Sings Bacharach at Christmas and This Girl's in Love: A Bacharach and David Songbook.

Her latest album, Nashville Tears collects fifteen of Prestwood’s finest songs, many never recorded until now, revealing truths of the heart, both intimate and universal, realistic and romantic. Jon O'Brien, Rovi.

Addressing the challenges of women in the art and music industry, Rumer said, “I think this pandemic was very challenging for me because I have a young son who needed my attention, and it was very difficult to get time to work. And you do lose heart and start to wonder if what you do matters, if people appreciate what you do, or if you've made a mistake by choosing an artist’s life.”

Rumer feels that everyone must have a backup plan, especially in times of crisis, so that it doesn't leave you more vulnerable.

Rumer regrets not completing her education. “I could have done with a degree, especially in times like the pandemic. It's a marathon in the music business - you have to just keep going, keep putting out good work, be consistent, do the best you can keep focused, and stay in the business,” she told the newsweekly.

She’s thrown in good money to start live streams during the pandemic to keep going but it's cost her thousands. “But then we decided to put the record out as a live album, and balance it out that way. It wasn’t easy to think of new ways to just keep our checks and balances and put out new content for fans without going completely broke, you know. So that was very challenging, but we tried to do as much content quality content as possible,” Rumer explained.

"You do lose heart and start to wonder if what you do matters"

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Tax authority drops winding up pleas against 4 Liberty Steel firms The UK tax authority has withdrawn petitions to close down four Liberty Steel companies, giving breathing space to the GFG Alliance metals empire presided over by Sanjeev Gupta. Gupta’s group of metals companies, including steel, aluminium and energy plants, has been struggling for finance for a year since the collapse of its main lender, Greensill Capital. The companies are said to employ as many as 35,000 people around the world.

The UK winding-up petitions, revealed last month, threatened the jobs of 3,000 workers across five plants, mostly in the north of England, including relatively large mills that make speciality steel in Rotherham and Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire.

That threat appears to have receded with the HMRC deal, although GFG also announced that workers at Liberty Pressing Solutions in Coventry had

Sanjeev Gupta

been invited into consultations about a possible closure of the plant. The factory had 580 employees, according to its latest accounts, for 2019, but it is thought that there are now only about 200 workers who could be made redundant.

As well as the financial problems, GFG has a threat of criminal investigations from the UK’s Serious Fraud Office and French prosecutors hanging over it.

GFG said it had made a “further significant injection of shareholder capital” into Liberty Steel UK, but did not specify how much or which companies within the loose group of companies had been the recipients.

JLR halts delivery of vehicles into Russia Jaguar Land Rover has halted the delivery of its car sales into Russia amid the conflict in the Ukraine. It has cited 'trading challenges' as the reason for the suspension.

The luxury car maker, which has sites including Solihull, Castle Bromwich, Coventry and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, sold almost 7,000 vehicles to Russia in 2021. Range Rover, Velar and Discovery Sport are all on sale in the country.

It is understood that sanctions imposed by the UK, the EU and the US are "making it difficult for JLR to sell cars into the market." JLR said it continues to closely monitor the situation.

It comes as the conflict continues to escalate in Ukraine after Russian troops invaded the country last week. It also comes after global corporations, including car makers, ceased doing business with Russia in recent days.

A JLR spokesperson said: "Jaguar Land Rover’s first priority is the well-being of our entire workforce and their families, as well as those within our extended network. The current global context also presents us with trading challenges."So we are pausing the delivery of vehicles into the Russian market and continually monitoring the situation on behalf of our global customer base." The manufacturer, part of Indian company Tata Motors, has a European manufacturing facility based in Slovakia. JLR does not have any manufacturing sites in Russia or Ukraine.

Lebanon's bank closes over 30 UK national accounts Lebanon's Bank Audi has closed more than 30 accounts belonging to UK nationals or their close relatives since a London court ordered it to transfer funds stuck in the crisis-hit banking sector to a British client.

More than $100 billion remains stuck in a banking system paralysed since 2019, when the economy collapsed due to decades of unsustainable state spending, corruption and waste.

In the absence of formal capital controls, banks have largely blocked dollar withdrawals and transfers

abroad, sparking numerous legal challenges, with mixed results. Since the UK order, Bank Audi, one of Lebanon's biggest, has told dozens of clients their accounts had been closed and a cheque issued for the balance at a notary public, lawyer Dina Abou Zour of the Depositors Union said.

Bank Audi says the UK order will lead to unequal treatment among depositors, with wealthy savers who are UK residents able to get all their funds at the expense of others who cannot bring such cases.

Hero FinCorp becomes first Indian company to raise SOFR loan The non-bank finance company promoted by Hero MotoCorp, has become the first Indian company to raise a secured overnight financing rate (SOFR)linked syndicated loan, raising $350 million at 168 basis points above SOFR, a new international benchmark that has come into existence to replace the London Interbank Offered Rate or LIBOR from January 1.

A syndicated loan differs from a regular loan because it is underwritten by a few

banks and then marketed to other banks which bid for portions of the loan. The Hero FinCorp loan has been marketed to 200 international banks. Such loans are believed to provide greater validation of a borrower's credentials in the global banking system.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority declared on March 5 last year that LIBOR would not be considered a representative rate from December 31.

The Reserve Bank of India

had instructed banks, through a circular issued on July 8 last year, to stop writing contracts in the LIBOR from December 31, in line with the global phaseout of that benchmark rate.

Hero FinCorp, which started off as an arm of Hero Honda to finance its dealers three decades ago, has evolved into an independent non-bank finance

company. Hero MotoCorp and members of its promoter family, the Delhi-based Munjals, continue to be the dominant shareholder with a 70-75% stake in Hero FinCorp.

Sunak urges G7 for 'faster and further' support to Ukraine

Chancellor Rishi Sunak presses Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors from the Group of Seven (G7) to go “faster and further” in support of Ukraine and for a coordinated approach on sanctions implementation as the UK and its allies reduce their

economic dependence on Russia.

Speaking during a virtual meeting under the German G7 Presidency, Chancellor Sunak emphasised the importance of G7 unity as the UK continues to work with its allies to monitor the economic impact of the con-

UK’s post-Brexit banking deregulation watched by EU Financial services was not part of the December 2020 EU-UK trade deal, but both sides signed a memorandum of understanding last year, pledging cooperation.

But Brussels has paused any progress in the area as a wider dispute over Northern Ireland drags on.

European Commission financial services chief Mairead McGuinness said the bloc is “watching the UK’s plans for its financial services sector with interest.

Deregulation of financial services has no place in a financial system which is already too opaque. The global financial system is

under scrutiny as we witness the efforts to freeze the bottomless wealth of Russian oligarchs and their efforts to protect that wealth. Dirty money has no place in any financial system–neither the UK’s or the EU’s.” Recently the City of London’s Irish-born lord mayor, Vincent Keaveny, called for a promised EUUK financial regulatory forum to be set up, a kind of talking shop for both sides to discuss planned laws.

The EU meets twice yearly with the US in a similar set-up, and also has joint forums with Japan, Switzerland and Canada.

flict and stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

The Chancellor also reiterated the support provided so far by the UK Government, including a total of £220m of humanitarian support for Ukraine and a guarantee of up to $500m of Multilateral Development Banks lending for Ukraine, and stressed that the UK stands ready to go further if needed.

This includes our authorities and agencies working closely together through a newly established multilateral taskforce to

UK to remove Chinese company from a £20bn nuclear project The British government is reportedly looking for financial advisers to help them raise billions of pounds for the proposed Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk, as it seeks to remove the involvement of China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), a Chinese state-backed energy group, from the project.

CGN was supposed to develop the £20 billion Sizewell C plant in Suffolk.

The existing joint venture between EDF, a French multinational energy com-

pany, and CGN will be replaced by a new entity.

The object is still in the planning and development phase. Under the current structure, EDF has 80% stakes in the company, with the Chinese group owning the remaining 20%.

The existing nuclear facilities in the UK are owned by EDF along with Centrica, a British energy company. The company had to shut downmany plants ahead of schedule. As a result, there has been an increasing push to build more nuclear power plants in recent years.

The remaining six Food stocks may also gain as Ukraine and active power stations Russia account for more than a quarter of the account for roughly global trade in wheat and a fifth of corn sales. 16% of the UK’s total Potential supply disruptions mean emerging generating capacity. market food suppliers will see increased However, when demand, said Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, the head Hinkley Point B in of consumer equity research at Tellimer in Somerset closes in July, Singapore. Shares of companies that count this will reduce much Russia and Ukraine as their end markets have more, with four of the plunged. Russia-based United Co Rusal remaining five facilities International’s shares slumped 22% in Hong expected to close by Kong this week. The company gets about a March 2028. fourth of its annual revenue from Russia.

EDF and the UK Ukraine’s status as a major producer of neon government are hoping gas - used in semiconductor manufacturing - to lure private investors and the UK’s ban on hi-tech exports to Russia to Sizewell C by using a have made chip makers vulnerable at a time “regulated asset base” when pandemic-induced disruptions were concept that has already weighing on the supply chain. Bank already been utilized to stocks are also on the traders’ radar amid stiff- fund other infrastrucening Russia sanctions given some of the ture projects such as gas lenders’ exposure to the country. networks and airports.

Ukraine crisis to affect Asian stocks Asia’s shipping stocks and commodities are emerging as safer bets so far, as Russia is a major exporter. A rotation of commodity-heavy Australia and overweight on the energy sector is recommended.

Companies like Japan Tobacco that get a chunk of their revenue from Russia are at risk of lower profits. In Asia, energy and oil producers continued a rally that started last year given economies reopening following the pandemic.

Australia’s Woodside Petroleum Ltd. and Santos Ltd., for example, outperformed the broader MSCI Asia Pacific benchmark, which slid about 4% this week. In Malaysia, Dialog Group Bhd was up 1.8%. Asian shipbuilders and shipping firms are also poised to rally further as European countries may seek seaborne sources of natural gas as tensions escalate. That may mean more business for Korean shipbuilders including Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co and Hyundai Heavy Industries Co which were up at least 10% this week.

ensure our financial sanctions have maximum effect, including doing more to ensure full and effective targeting of Kremlin-connected elites, their families, and their enablers.

G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors also reiterated their commitment to supporting Ukraine financially, building on the $48 billion provided by international partners in financial support to Ukraine between 2014 and 2021. This will continue in 2022 as the G7 stands united by Ukraine’s side.

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Voda Idea to raise £1.45 bn before 5G sale Months after handing out the majority ownership to the government in lieu of statutory interest payments, beleaguered Vodafone Idea announced a fund-raise running up to £1.45 billion, possibly to finance network and business expansion.

The mop-up, approved by the company’s board, includes fund infusion by its private promoters British telecom company Vodafone Plc and India’s

Aditya Birla Group - who would chip in with a total of £450 million as they purchase 3.38 billion equity shares (of face value of Rs 10 each) at an issue price of Rs 13. 30 per share.

The fresh promoter shares will be issued to Euro Pacific Securities and Prime Metals (Vodafone Group entities), and Oriana Investments (Aditya Birla Group entity) on a preferential basis. For the

Foresighted not short-sighted

Suresh Vagjiani, Sow & Reap Properties Ltd

remaining £1 billion, the board approved issuance of equity shares or securities convertible into equity shares, among other instruments.

The fund-raise comes amid plans to improve financial strength, especially as it carries a debt of £19.7 billion. While the company was the biggest of the beneficiary

government bailout announced in September, it desperately needs fresh fund infusion to strengthen its network, while preparing for 5G auctions.

In the third quarter, the company had reported widening of its consolidated loss to £723.1 million. Against this, it had posted a loss £453.2 million in year-ago period.

Sanjiv Kapoor to pilot Reliance buys majority grounded Jet Airways now stake in US electronics co Travel industry veteran Sanjiv Kapoor has been appointed as the new chief executive of Jet Airways by the Kalrock-Jalan consortium, the grounded airlines’ new promoters, as the budget airline gears up to fly once again this summer. Sanjiv Kapoor’s appointment comes days after Jet Airways appointed former SriLankan Airlines’ CEO, Vipula Gunatilleka as its new Chief Financial Officer. Jet is on its path to revival, and has started the hiring process for new crew and pilots after being grounded for nearly three years now.

Kapoor, who is at present the president of Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, has worked for rival airlines such as Tata-owned Vistara, and SpiceJet in leadership roles.

Following his appointment, Murari Lal Jalan, Lead Partner of the Jalan-Kalrock Consortium, said, “I am certain he (Sanjiv Kapoor) will be able to lead Jet Airways and make it become the most preferred fullservice carrier of India.” Jet Airways will reclaim its lost

Sanjiv Kapoor

glory and surpass everyone’s expectation, he added. Jalan took over the low cost carrier last year from Naresh Goyal and Etihad Airways, after the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) approved its plan. Kapoor, who has been the President of Oberoi Hotels since June last year, will rejoin the aviation sector after a gap of about three years. He has worked as the Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer of Vistara Airlines for three years, and Chief Operating Officer of SpiceJet for two years.

“Even though Jet Airways has been out of operation for three years, it still has a large fan base of loyal customers who miss it every day and can’t wait for it to take to the skies again,” Jalan said. Jet Airways was grounded in 2019 after failing to repay its dues.

Reliance Industries has agreed to acquire 50.1% stake in Sanmina SCI India for £167 million, strengthening its play in electronics manufacturing. The remaining 49.9% will continue to be held by the US-listed Sanmina.

Reliance, through its Reliance Strategic Business Ventures, will subscribe to new shares issued by Sanmina SCI to gain an ownership in the company, which has a 100-acre hitech manufacturing campus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Reliance already has a manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur that makes the JioPhone and components for it. Likewise, it has a facility in the adjoining state of Andhra Pradesh (Tirupati).

While Reliance and Sanmina will initially focus on Chennai campus, both will look at new manufacturing sites in the country over time, based on business needs. The day-to-

day business will continue to be managed by the existing team of Sanmina SCI, which raked in a revenue of £123 million in fiscal 2021, the two companies said.

In recent years, Reliance has moved away from traditional oil business by building new industries such as retail and telecom. It is currently switching to clean energy by investing across solar, batteries and hydrogen.

Its M&A, expected to be completed by September, comes as India pushes for more investment in manufacturing to establish itself as an electronics production hub. Sanmina SCI will make hardware for 5G communications, cloud infra, medsystems, defence, aerospace and clean tech.

The current rise in the consumer price inflation is at 5.5%.

This is very high. The bank base rate is currently 0.5% raised recently from its all-time low of 0.25%. Petrol prices have increased from £1.23 per litre to currently £1.55 (at the time of writing); and expected to rise to even £1.75; whilst your money in the bank is earning only 0.8%. In comparison the fuel rate has increased by 26% and is likely to increase by 42%.

Does this mean you’re better off taking your money out of the bank, filling up as many Jerry Cans as you can with fuel and keeping them in your back garden?

This is the stark reality of when inflation starts to erode your savings. At some point one would expect bank rates to rise, otherwise people would do just that. OK, well perhaps not exactly, but there would be a move out of banks and into real goods.

In short, if one does nothing and stands still, the money in the bank is likely to erode in value. Purchasing a real asset will serve to mitigate the effect of future inflation and perhaps even allow people to thrive from it.

An interesting point of note is a company called Palantir recently purchased $50 Million of 100 ounce gold bars, and had them stored in a facility. Note this is not simply taking a speculative position in gold; this is the actual physical bars which would have a high cost associated with storage. Yet this is exactly what this company did. It is not a gold trading company. This is highly unusual for a company not associated with gold trading to make a move such as this.

The insight of why can be perhaps gleaned from its name. The company's name is derived from The Lord of the Rings, where the magical palantíri were "seeingstones," described as indestructible balls of crystal used for communication and to see events in other parts of the world.

Clearly it has seen something which is due to happen which the masses have not.

This rise in rates too will trickle down into mortgage rates, especially the fixed ones, if there is an expectation of future rate rises.

Currently the mortgage rates for BTL investments are still historically very low, there are products on the market for 1.44% fixed for 5 years on a BTL basis, and ten year fixed rates at 2.45%.

There are still places in London where the yield will be in the region of 4-5%, meaning even if you borrowed the whole amount the investment would give you a positive monthly cash flow; all the while hopefully the underlying asset will be increasing in value as well.

Unfortunately, inflation is not the only concern; more sinisterly death rates have taken a sharp increase. Aegon life assurance company have recently reported a hike of over 358%. This too will trickle down to the life assurance premiums.

CBI arrests former NSE chief after questioning Warring parties vying to capture A dayChitra after her anticipatory bail application was rejected by Future retail ready to hold talks

In a surprise development, Amazon, Biyani Group and Reliance Retail, have engaged in a multi-forum litigation for control of Future’s retail empire, agreed to attempt a settlement after the Supreme Court warned that a judicial verdict could hurt one of the parties.

A bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli adopted a carrot-and-stick policy to attempt bringing the warring sides to the negotiation table. It asked both sides to attempt within 10 days a dialogue for settlement and sought a report on the progress by March 15, the next date of hearing.

Amazon is endeavouring to control Future Retail (of Biyani Group) through an investment of £ 143.1 million in its sister concern Future Coupons and stalling Reliance Retail’s push to acquire Future’s retail assets for £2.5 billion. With both parties laying the blame for the protracted litigation at the other’s door, the CJI said, “If you can find an amicable solution to the ongoing multi-forum litigation, it would not hurt anyone and would help increase your business.”

Amazon’s counsel Gopal Subramaniam was the first to bite the amicable settlement bait. “Throughout, we are always willing to have a dialogue and conversation for resolution of the problem, which are not intractable. They (Reliance) have taken over the (Future Retail) shops within 48 hours and we cannot allow the spinners wheel to continue rolling. Let us put our heads together to find a solution. ”

the court, the CBI on Sunday arrested Chitra Ramkrishna, the former MD and CEO of National Stock Exchange, in the colocation scam.

Over five years after she was ousted, Chitra has been accused of abusing her position to facilitate exploitation of the exchange’s server architecture to provide preferential access to a stock broker. Earlier, the CBI had arrested Anand Subramanian, the former group operating officer of the NSE in the case, whose appointment at Chitra’s behest was done in violation of norms. She has been indicted by Sebi along with Subramanian, her former boss Ravi Narain and some other former colleagues.

Chitra was arrested in Delhi after questioning during which she allegedly remained evasive. The agency had questioned her thrice earlier and found her responses evasive after which senior psychologist from CBI's central forensic science laboratory examined her as well and observed that she had not been answering truthfully. Her anticipatory bail was rejected by a Delhi court, which stressed that the veracity of her claim of non-involvement in the “co-location” scam could not be established and expressed the suspicion that she may have concocted the story of a Siddha Yogi guiding her to conceal her involvement. “At this stage it couldn't be said prima facie that the role of the present accused was not under scanner. It further appears prima facie that the applicant had introduced an non existing person to misled the investigating agency, which may also prima facie show her connivance in the matter,” special judge Sanjeev Aggarwal had said.

India-born appointed as global president of Ford Strengthening the hold of India-origin professionals across corporate America, Ford Motors announced the appointment of Punjab-born Kumar Galhotra as its global president of non-electric automobile business, which clocks annual revenues in excess of over $100 billion.

Galhotra grew up in India before moving to the US where he completed bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan. He has served Ford for nearly 34 years.

Galhotra will be president of Ford Blue, and

will be reporting to Ford’s president and CEO Jim Farley. Ford Blue will encompass the company’s internal combustion engine (ICE) products, or those running on petrol and diesel. This would give him charge of products across the various car brands that Ford runs, and in all geographies. Prior to this role, Galhotra - who joined Ford in 1988 - was president, Americas & international markets group. He has previously worked as Ford’s president for North America, and group VP for the Lincoln brand.

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Suicide bombing kills 60 at Pak mosque ISLAMABAD: At least 60 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded after a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a mosque in a Shia neighbourhood in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar. The blast ripped through Kucha Risaldar mosque in Peshawar’s old city area of Qissa Khwani when people from minority Shia community gathered for the Friday prayers.

An eyewitness said the suicide bomber dressed in black shalwar kameez entered the mosque and started firing, killing a man who tried to stop him. Immediately after, the witness said, the assailant blew himself up inside the prayer hall

in front of the pulpit. “After the blast, there was smoke, dust, bodies and wounded people everywhere.”

According to the bomb disposal squad, 5kg of explosives and ball bearings were used.

City police chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan said two armed

attackers came to the mosque on a motorcycle and fired at cops when they were stopped for a search.

“A policeman and an attacker were killed in the gunfight.

Another policeman was wounded. The second attacker entered the mosque and blew himself up,” Khan said.

The death count could rise as Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) spokesperson Mohammad Asim said around 35 people were gravely wounded. He confirmed that about 60 bodies and 200 wounded men were

brought to the hospital, nearest to the site, but the rescue effort was slowed down by the locality’s congested narrow streets.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Pakistan’s Shia community was frequently targeted in the past

by Sunni Islamist terrorist groups, including the Islamic State and the Tehreek-eTaliban Pakistan (TTP).

Pakistan saw a spike in violence in recent months, especially after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Dozens of military personnel have been killed in attacks on army outposts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces along the border with Afghanistan.

Pak signs trade deal with Russia amid war ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has become the first country to officially sign a trade deal with Russia at a time when Moscow has come under severe criticism for invading Ukraine. As part of the agreement, Pakistan will import two million tonnes of wheat and natural gas from Russia.

Will this impact Pakistan's assistance from the IMF? Not only have the US and European Union thrashed out stringent sanctions against Russia, the World Bank and the IMF, too, have issued a joint statement condemning Moscow while promising to provide assistance to Ukraine and other countries that have

opened their doors to Ukrainian refugees.

Notably, Pakistan is now seeking a bailout package from the IMF, which approved disbursement of $1 billion under its $6 billion loan programme.

However, the Imran Khan government is desperately seeking a larger portion of loan from the IMF to support its sagging economy.

Pakistan's dependence on IMF assistance has risen in the last few years with the growing external debt. This year, Islamabad's gross external financing requirement is estimated at around $30 billion.

In a joint statement, the IMF and World Bank called

for coordinated international action to mitigate risks and navigate the treacherous period ahead as the RussiaUkraine crisis intensified.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to Russia on the eve of the Ukraine attack has already come under scrutiny. Khan met Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 to discuss ways to expand bilateral relations.

"This visit could not possibly have created a good image of Pakistan in the international community. Pakistan is, after all, heavily dependent on the financial aid of Western countries and their monetary institutions like the IMF and

the World Bank," the News International said in a report.

While Russia has 2.59 per cent of the total votes at the IMF, the US has 16.40 per cent. The UK has 4.03 per cent and Germany 5.31 per cent.

China has 6.08 per cent.

Notably, China, an ally of Russia has also opted to remain cautious while maintaining neutrality.

Immediately after the KhanPutin meeting, a Rs 9.69 billion fine was slapped on National Bank of Pakistan's New York branch by the US regulatory authorities for charges relating to non-compliance and anti-money laundering.

Tanzania frees detained Hindu mother and her pregnant daughter killed in opposition leader Mbowe Bangladesh DHAKA: A man hacked a pregnant woman and her mother to death at their home in Narayanganj city’s Dalpotti area. The victims are Ruma Chakraborty, 46, and her pregnant daughter Ritu Chakraborty, 22. “It is heartwrenching that a stranger shattered our dreams and ruined our family in a few minutes,” said Ritu’s father Ram Prashad.

“My daughter was sevenmonth pregnant. Our grandchild could not even see the light of a day,” he lamented. “I was supposed to take care of my daughter but now I am conducting her funeral. I cannot express my mental condition,” he said. Asked, he said he did not know the motive behind the murders.

Shah Zaman, officer-incharge of Narayanganj Sadar Model Police Station, said the person behind the murders was Zobayer. Zobayer first knocked a flat’s door. As none opened, he knocked the door of the victims’ house. He started hacking Ruma indiscriminately as she opened it. When Ritu approached nearer, he started hacking her too.

The duo died on the spot, he further said, adding that the criminal chased another female member of the family but she somehow managed to escape and started screaming, he said.

Hearing her scream, locals rushed to the spot and locked the building’s main gate and informed the police. Police then went there, arrested Zobayer and recovered the bodies.

During primary interrogation, Zobayer admitted that he killed the duo and said he intended to loot money and gold ornaments.

Sankar Saha, general secretary of Nitaiganj Business Owners Association, asked, “There are multiple wealthy businessmen who reside in the area whereas the victims belonged to a middle-class family. If the killer wanted to loot only, then why did he attack the middle-class family instead of the rich ones?”

Dar es Salaam: Tanzanian opposition leader Freeman Mbowe was released after prosecutors dropped terrorism charges against him, ending a case that his supporters had branded a government bid to crush dissent. Mbowe, who is the chairman of the Chadema party, was detained Freeman Mbowe last July in the lakeside town of Mwanza where he was due to attend a conference on proposals for a new constitution.

He was charged in court on July 26, in spite of protests from his party members who said the charges were politically motivated. "The director of prosecutions has dropped charges of economic crimes and terrorism," Chadema said on its Twitter feed. Three co-accused were also freed, the party said.

Mbowe's supporters, who had gathered into court to follow the trial, cheered after the decision to drop the charges was announced.

His detention and trial had raised questions about President Samia Suluhu Hassan's commitment to greater tolerance for political dissent.

Hassan, who took over after the death of her predecessor John Magufuli in March last year, lifted a ban on four newspapers and met the exiled top opposition leader in Brussels last month, stirring hopes of greater tolerance for political dissent.

Exiled author sues Ugandan govt for torture KAMPALA: Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, the exiled Ugandan novelist, who was accused of insulting President Yoweri Museveni, has filed a lawsuit against the Ugandan government, alleging that soldiers tortured him. Kakwenza was detained in December after allegedly disrespecting President Museveni and his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba in a series of tweets. He, however, refuted the allegations.

He wants the East African

Court of Justice to rule that his detention, torture, and arrest were all unlawful. After being granted bail by a judge, the award-winning author left the East African country last month. He fled to Rwanda, then travelled to a third country, where he was assisted by the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, in his journey to Germany.

His trial is scheduled to begin on March 23. In 2021, Kakwenza was awarded the Pen

Pinter Prize for being a brave worldwide writer. On April 13, 2020, security officials apprehended Kakwenza at his house in Iganga for publishing his debut book, 'The Greedy Barbarian', which they felt was about President Museveni.

He was arrested for the second time on September 18, 2020, after writing a novel about his ordeal at the hands of his captors. 'Banana Republic: Where Writing is Treasonous' is the title of the book.

in brief HINDU TEMPLE VANDALIZED IN BANGLADESH Unidentified persons vandalized the idol of Hindu god Mahadev at a temple on the premises of Diknogor resident Govinda Saha’s house in Faridpur, Bangladesh. “I came out of the home after hearing noises coming out of the temple and saw some people vandalizing the idol. They fled as soon as I went there,” said Saha before adding that he could not identify the perpetrators. The incident was reported to the police immediately, he added.

OC MA Jalil of the Faridpur Kotwali police station said that raids were being conducted to nab the perpetrators. Sanjeev Das, a member of the district puja celebration council, said it was an abhorrent act and demanded the perpetrators be brought to justice.

PORTUGAL BEGINS TO RATION WATER Several cities across Portugal, more than 95% of whose territory is in “severe or extreme drought”, have begun measures to ration water use. The water crisis is particularly serious in the southern region, where the Algarve Intermunicipal Community announced “joint measures” to face the drought, reports Xinhua. Those measures include reducing irrigation of green spaces, using wastewater for non-drinking purposes, as well as campaigns to promote rational use of water.

President of the Portuguese Water Distribution and Drainage Association Rui Godinho defended the urgent implementation of structural measures to reduce water losses.

It is necessary to “attack the problem” with specific measures and a national program for efficient use of water, he was quoted by the local media as saying. Late last month, the government had announced that it would allocate 5 mn Euros to fight the severe drought across the country.

BOMBING TARGETS POLICE VAN IN PAK KILLS 3 A bomb exploded near a police van in southwestern Pakistan, killing an officer and two other people and wounding 27, mostly passers-by, police said. The attack took place in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, on the Fatima Jinnah Road that runs through a market, according to Fida Hussain, a senior police officer. He identified the slain officer as Ajmal Sadozai. Several shops at the market caught fire after the bombing. Hussain said the police van appears to have been the target of the attack. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing but previous such attacks have been blamed on the Pakistani Taliban and various militant and insurgent groups. Balochistan has been the scene of a long-running insurgency by Baloch secessionist groups that for decades have staged bombings and shooting attacks on civilians and security forces to press their demands for independence.

14 WORKERS FOUND DEAD IN CHINA COAL MINE COLLAPSE Fourteen workers who were trapped when a coal mine in southwest China collapsed 10 days ago had died, media reported. A rescue operation finished noon after the bodies of the miners were retrieved, state-owned Xinhua News Agency said. The workers were trapped after the roof of a shaft at Sanhe Shunxun coal mine in Guizhou province collapsed on Feb. 25. The rescue operation was challenging because the roof caved in about 3 km from the entrance of the mine, and the collapsed area was considerably large, media reported. Further investigation into the cause of the accident was underway.

China’s coal mines are among the world’s deadliest, regularly suffering explosions and gas leaks despite repeated safety crackdowns.

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in brief SIX DEAD AS TORNADO ROARS THROUGH IOWA Six people were killed on Saturday when a tornado swept through central Iowa, damaging buildings and knocking down trees and power lines, authorities said.

Emergency management officials in Madison County said four were injured in addition to those killed when the tornado touched down in the area southwest of Des Moines. Among those killed were children and adults

UAE SAYS UKRAINIANS ELIGIBLE FOR VISASON-ARRIVAL The UAE said that Ukraine nationals are eligible for visas on arrival in the Gulf Arab state, in an apparent reversal of a decision to suspend visa waivers to Ukrainians as thousands flee war in their country. Kyiv’s embassy in UAE had said Emirati authorities had temporarily suspended the waivers.

“Concerning reports on the issuance of advance visas to Ukrainians, the ministry of foreign affairs, has announced that Ukrainians continue to be eligible for visa on arrival,” the foreign ministry said.

FRANCE UPHOLDS HIJAB BAN IN COURTROOMS France’s highest court upheld a ban on barristers wearing the hijab and other religious symbols in courtrooms in the north, a ruling that may set a precedent for the country. The court’s decision may stir a nationwide debate ahead of April’s presidential election. The case was brought

by Sarah Asmeta, a 30-year-old FrenchSyrian lawyer, who challenged a rule set by the Bar Council of Lille that bans religious markers in its courtrooms on the grounds that it was discriminatory. In its ruling, the court said the ban was “necessary. . . to preserve the independence of the lawyer and. . . to guarantee the right to a fair trial”.

Banning the wearing of religious symbols “does not constitute discrimination”, it added.

VULGAR COMMENTS ON UKRAINE WOMEN IN CHINA CYBERSPACE China’s government censors are desperately trying to stop a flood of vulgar and abusive comments on Chinese social media about Ukrainian women refugees. Some social media users have gone beyond making jokes and are asking Russian soldiers to “have fun” with them. The adverse postings have resulted in a sharp reaction in Ukraine, where some Chinese students are stuck fearing for their safety. The Chinese embassy initially asked its citizen to clearly identify their nationality while travelling in Ukraine. It later changed the order to say that they should not identify their nationality and stay indoors. Social media in China has seen an outpouring of support for Russians, which is in sharp contrast to the situation in neighbouring countries like Singapore and Japan where there has been overwhelming support for Ukraine.

FLORIDA LIKELY TO PASS 15-WEEK ABORTION BAN Florida’s Republican-led Senate is expected to pass a bill to ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, putting the state one step closer to adopting a gestational limit currently under review by the US Supreme Court. Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to sign it after Senate approval. The state currently permits abortions up to 24 weeks without a mandatory waiting period. The measure, which would take effect on July 1, makes exceptions to the rule only in cases when the mom is at risk of death or “irreversible physical impairment”, or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality.

Canada MP commits to change ‘Swastika’ to ‘hooked cross’ Ottawa: The Canadian MP who sponsored a bill on banning Nazi symbols in the country, has committed to amending the language of the bill to differentiate the sacred swastika from the Hakenkreuz, or the hooked cross, recognised by its use by the Nazi Party and its supporters, after outrage from the Indo- Canadian community.

“I commit to amend Bill C229 by replacing the word ‘swastika’ with ‘hooked cross’ after the word ‘Nazi’”, said New Democratic Party (NDP) MP Peter Julian in an email to the Hindu Federation, which had protested the proposed bill, cur-

rently before Canada’s House of Commons.

The private members’ bill, which has the support of NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, sparked anger in the community after it sought to “prevent the display or sale of symbols or emblems such as the Nazi swastika and

India expresses concern over human rights violation in Ukraine New Delhi: Expressing concern over the “steadily worsening humanitarian situation” in Ukraine, India called for respect and protection of human rights of people in Ukraine and also safe humanitarian access to conflict zones. In line with its position so far on Ukraine, the Indian government didn’t condemn Russia’s actions even as it said no solution can ever be found at the cost of human lives.

Participating in an urgent debate on the Ukraine situation in the UN Human Rights Council, the government reiterated its call for immediate cessation of violence and an end to hostilities while underlining India’s concerns about the safety and security of Indian students stranded in the country.

Following the debate, the human rights council will vote for adopting a resolution seeking a commission of inquiry into alleged human rights violations

by Russia.

India is likely to abstain, as it has so far, on all Ukraine-related resolutions in the UN. India was among the 13 countries who abstained from voting earlier

this week on the proposal for an urgent debate on Ukraine in the rights council. Twenty-nine member-states in the 47-member body had voted in favour.

The resolution is likely to be adopted as it requires only more affirmative votes and not a majority.

India has traditionally too abstained from voting on any “intrusive mandate’’ in the human rights council. The government last year abstained from voting on a similar resolution seeking a commission of inquiry into alleged violations in Gaza and West Bank. It abstained on another resolution on Sri Lanka’s rights record early last year. While China has abstained from voting on resolutions against Russia in the UNSC and General Assembly, it is expected to fully back Russia in the human rights council.

Most Indians feel ‘wife must always obey husband’: Pew report WASHINGTON: According to a recnt study by an American think tank, a majority of Indians agree with the notion that “a wife must always obey her husband” and support traditional gender roles but at the same time favour women having the same rights as men.

The new report by Pew Research Center looks into how Indians view gender roles at home and in society more generally. The report is based on a face-to-face survey of 29,999 Indian adults.

Nearly 80% agree with the idea that “when there are few jobs, men should have more rights to a job than women.”

Nearly nine-in-ten Indians (87% ) completely or mostly agree with the notion that “a wife must always obey her husband.” This includes a majority of Indians (64%) who completely agree with this sentiment. "Women are only modestly less likely than men to say that wives should obey their husbands in all situations, and most Indian women express total agreement with this sentiment (61% vs.

67% among men)," it said.

However, referring to key female political figures in Indian politics, including former prime minister Indira Gandhi, former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, the report said that Indians broadly accept women as political leaders.

the Ku Klux Klan’s insignia, flags such as the standards of Germany between the years 1933 to 1945 and those of the Confederate States of America between the years 1861 to 1865 and uniforms, including the German and Confederate States of America military dress of those periods, as well as the hoods and robes of the Ku Klux Klan”.

The bill was introduced in response to the display of such symbols during a heavily criticised truckers’ protest against

Covid restrictions, and in particular cross-border vaccine mandates, in the capital Ottawa last month.

The Indo-Canadian community was further infuriated by what they said was the demonisation of a sacred religious symbol. In his email, Julian said he understood the symbol of the swastika was “revered in important religions including Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism,” adding that the bill, “does not in any way ban or otherwise limit the use of swastikas for religious, educational and/or historical purposes”.

US pulls cable slamming India, UAE WASHINGTON: The US State Department reportedly pulled a cable advising its diplomats to torch India and the UAE, both seen as US partners, for abstaining from UN votes to condemn the Russian invasion, saying their “position of neutrality” on Ukraine put them “in Russia's camp”. While the UAE changed tack and voted for the General Assembly resolution excoriating Russia after two abstentions during Security Council votes, India abstained from the third vote too, as did China.

The State Department said the cable was withdrawn because it included “inaccurate language and was released in error,” but US officials acknowledged “pitched battles” within the administration on India’s abstentions, ostensibly between hardliners who want to hold its feet to the fire, and those more inclined to accept New Delhi’s explanations for its vote: the fact that it needs the help of both Russia and Ukraine to extricate its 20,000 citizens, mostly students, from Ukraine; and its long-standing (but diminishing) legacy dependence on Russian arms supply, considered crucial particularly in view of tensions with China.

In fact, New Delhi has pushed back against the impression in some quarters that its abstaining constitutes being in Russian camp, pointing out that it has stood up for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countries involved - an implicit criticism of Moscow crossing the red line.

The State Department acknowledges that. “India has expressed its deep concern over the situation in Ukraine and has reiterated its call for immediate cessation of violence and an end to hostilities. As India has stated, ‘all member states of the United Nations are not only obliged to follow the UN Charter but to respect international law and territorial integrity and sovereignty of states’,” it said in a readout.

Russia junks Western flags on rocket, lets tricolour stay NEW DELHI: The impact of the RussiaUkraine war has been felt in space too. After Russia said the sanctions imposed by the US and European nations on it can result in a crash of the International Space Station in the Indian Ocean, Moscow has now removed from its rocket all flags of countries, except for India’s tricolour, that are participating in a space programme, OneWeb, which is being launched soon.

Russian space agency Roscosmos also said it will not launch three dozen internet satellites of OneWeb, which is backed by Bharti Airtel and the UK, as planned unless the company meets its new demands, including removing the UK from the project.

With OneWeb rejecting Russia’s demands, the launch of the rocket looks uncertain.

Posting a video, Russian space

agency Roscosmos chief Dimitry Rogozin stated in Russian, “The launchers at Baikonur decided that without the flags of some countries, our rocket would look more beautiful. ” In the video, the space agency officials at the Baikonur launchpad were seen pasting white vinyl on the flags on the Soyuz rocket, covering them completely. The Soyuz rocket is carrying 36 satellites from various countries.

The project aims to launch 648 satellites into orbit. Bharti Airtel group (with 39% stake) and the UK government are the owners of the project.

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Exit polls predict BJP win in UP, AAP in Punjab Exit polls on Monday predict that BJP is set to again form the government in UP, while AAP is storming into office in Punjab. They also gave BJP the edge in Uttarakhand and Manipur, and projected a neck-and-neck race in Goa that could end in a hung assembly.

While agreeing BJP and its allies would win UP, the polls varied in terms of the extent of the victory, with some giving the ruling alliance just 225 seats in the 403-member house and others suggesting it could even repeat its impressive tally from five years ago, winning up to 326 seats.

The least decisive of this range of verdicts was projected by the Times Now-Veto poll

which gave BJP and allies 225 seats, but that was still well clear of the SP alliance’s 151. At the other end of the spectrum, the India TodayAxis poll gave NDA between 288 and 326 seats, and the SP alliance at best 101 seats.

In Punjab, the projected seats for AAP ranged from as low as 51 to a near complete sweep of 111 in the 117-member

58% turnout in UP phase 7 voting Two Naxal-hit constituencies of Uttar Pradesh which had been given two hours less polling time, recorded a jump in voting percentage as 54 seats of nine districts recorded over 57.5% turnout in the seventh and last phase on Monday. Chakia (SC) in Chandauli recorded 65. 55% turnout against 64.13% in 2017. Similarly, Dudhit (ST) of Sonbhadra had 64.9% polling, a rise from 63.76% in 2017. The polling in these two and Robertsganj (ST) ended at 4 pm unlike 51 other seats in the phase where voting continued till 6 pm. Robertsganj seat which shares its border with Bihar and Jharkhand registered 59.98% turnout.

As per Election Commission data, 57.53% polling in the final leg was much below the 2017 turnout of 59. 91%. The final data would be released on Friday. As many as 613 candidates were in the fray in this round, which was held in Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra and Bhadohi. None of these districts saw a jump in the polling percentage.

Polling was peaceful, barring reports of violent confrontation in Azamgarh. As per reports, immediately after the end of polling hours in Azamgarh Sadar, a violent clash took place between the supporters of former minister and Samajwadi Party candidate Durga Yadav and BJP's Akhilesh Kumar Mishra near Sarfuddinpur polling booth in Azamgarh. SP Azamgarh Anurrag Arya said, “At Saifuddinpur booth, the supporters of two candidates engaged in confrontation. Police team has been deployed, and the situation is under control. Legal action will be taken.” Nearly 80 EVMs and VVPATs were found malfunctioned which were replaced within time.

In Ghazipur, the supporters of SP candidate Virendra Yadav clashed with police by alleging that they had replaced EVMs. On noticing that EVMs were being loaded in a private car, the supporters of Yadav started their protest. When police tried to control them they clashed with cops after which police used mild force to disperse them.

house. But all the polls suggested the Arvind Kejriwal-led party would finish well clear of Congress in second spot, with the AkaliBSP alliance finishing third and the BJP-led alliance, which includes Captain Amrinder Singh’s fledgling outfit, a distant fourth.

In Uttarakhand, BJP is projected by most polls to win a majority if only just, but the ABP NewsCVoter poll gave Congress the edge and a possibility of reaching the halfway mark in the 70-member house.

Goa promises to be the closest contest, if the exit polls are right, with no one giving either BJP or Congress a

majority in the 40-member house. Three of the four polls analysed here gave Congress a slight advantage, but the ABP News-CVoter poll suggested BJP had a marginal lead.

In Manipur, the BJP was seen as being in the driver’s seat. The India Today-Axis poll gave the party 33 to 43 seats in the 60-member house, enough for a majority even at the lower end. The ABP NewsCVoter poll on the other hand gave the saffron party at best 27 seats. But with Congress projected to win no more than 16 seats even in that poll, and NDA-constituent NPP estimated to win 10-14 seats, that would still mean BJP remaining in office in the northeastern state.

14 killed in blast at Bihar's illegal firecracker unit At least 14 people were killed and 16 others injured in an explosion at Kazwali Chak, in Bihar’s Bhagalpur town.

DIG (Bhagalpur) Sujit Kumar said a large amount of explosives stored in a house for the manufacture of illegal firecrackers caused the blast. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar asked chief secretary Amir Subhani and DGP SK Singhal to take action against the guilty after investigating the incident.

The explosion was so powerful that the house in which the blast took place was reduced to rubble and three other adjacent houses also crumbled to the ground. The sound of the explosion was heard up to 10 km from the spot. As per eyewitnesseses, the blast sent splinters flying as far as half a kilometer. People living in adjoining localities said the smell of burning gunpowder spread across several kms.

People living in the neighbourhood alleged that the

illegal activity had been going on for a long time and that there had been explosions there in the past but the local administration remained a mute spectator.

Power supply lines were snapped due to the blast’s intensity and the rubble was hampering rescue operations. An earthmover was used to clear the rubble.

The SHO in charge of Tatarpur police station has been suspended as the firecrackers were being manufactured without any licence. He said a huge quantity of ammonium nitrate and sulphur, used in the manufacture of firecrackers, besides wrappers and plastic, were found at the spot.

Bhagalpur SSP Babu Ram said most of the dead belonged to four families that used to live in the houses which collapsed in the blast. “Out of the four families, two were engaged in the illegal firecracker manufacturing business,” he said.

in brief SC ORDERS REMOVAL OF SP UNIVERSITY VC The Supreme Court has quashed the appointment of Sardar Patel University vice-chancellor Shirish Kulkarni after he was found to have inadequate teaching experience to hold the crucial post. While ordering the removal of the vice chancellor, the apex court bench of Justice M R Shah and B V Nagarathna castigated the Gujarat government for continuing with the SP University Act and state legislation that are not in consonance with University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations and for not amending its law for such appointments despite being told to by the UGC, the state’s governor in 2014 and the Gujarat high court in 2018. The SC observed that the state government and its universities have continued to make appointment of VCs in violation of UGC regulations, which prescribe minimum teaching experience for the post, but the government and search committees, formed to nominate VCs, continue to compromise with quality.

BJP MP'S SON JOINS SP On the final day of campaigning for the seventh and final phase of 2022 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Mayank Joshi, the son of BJP MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi, formally joined SP at a rally in Azamgarh’s Gopalpur where Akhilesh welcomed him into the party fold from the stage. Retired IAS officer Kunwar Fateh Bahadur Singh - one of the most trusted bureaucrats of Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati during her stint as the UP CM - also formally joined SP at the same rally.

Interestingly, Mayank had called on SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on February 22 as well but the meeting then was described as a courtesy call by SP. Speculations over Mayank siding with the SP had gained momentum ever since his mother Rita Bahuguna Joshi – sitting BJP MP from Allahabad – had publicly expressed the desire to see her son contest the 2022 assembly polls from Lucknow Cantonment seat on a BJP ticket but her wish was ignored by the saffron party.

Dentist who left practice for farming yields 14,000 kg of dry dates Nischal Sanghavi Organic farming has opened new doors for farmers. Some farmers are experimenting with new techniques and reaping fantastic yields at negligible cost, inspiring others. As people start preferring chemical free products, they show readiness to pay extra bucks for organic products. In India traditionally farming was an activity carried out mostly by less educated farmers.

However, as the country progresses, more and more people who are highly educated and qualified are taking to organic farming as a full time profession or hobby, bringing a substantial change in net agriculture earnings scenario. An Indian dentist not only left practice for full-time farming, but also achieved big success with his new technique and created new opportunities for traditional farmers.

Dr Ramesh Pipariya, a resident of Rajkot in Gujarat is a qualified dentist. After completing education he started practicing as a consulting dentist, but his heart was for farming. So in 2014 he finally decided to quit medical practice and start organic farming at his farm on the outskirts of Rajkot city.

According to Pipariya, "some of the main reasons for taking up farming was his

yield. Pipariya started getting yield in 2018.

However, last season he got a bumper yield of crops. In the last season Pipariya's farm has generated 14,000 kg of dry dates. The yield gave a profit of over Rs 1 million (£10,000) from dates only. Dates from a single tree generates Rs 5,0007,000 (£50-70) with a yield of 50-60 kg, as per rates prevailing in India.

According to Pipariya, date Dr Ramesh Pipariya trees are grown at a distance hobby of farming and increased of 25 feet. In between these trees other trees competitiveness in dentistry. After studying like mango could be planted, which would on the internet I zeroed in on growing dry give additional profits. dates (Kharek) as it required minimum In growing dates, the main cost is the efforts, water and farming cost. I used a cost of saplings which is available at Rs tissue culture technique in which the 1,400 (£14) after using the government's mother plant of all the saplings in the farm subsidy. Irrigation water is a challenge in is the same. This maintained uniformity in India, if there is a drought. Hence, the yield taste, flavour, and look of the fruit same depends largely on rainfall. Date crop's across the farm." advantage is that it also gets yield in a Very few people are aware that unlike drought year as it requires no water for 8 other plants, dry dates are special trees months. Similarly heavy rains also destroy where powder made from male trees have farmers' crops. As dry date farming is not to be sprayed on female trees to get the much affected by weather there are more

chances of getting good crops even in times of drought, heavy rainfall etc.

Pipariya says that dry date farming is most suitable for small farmers whose earnings would be enhanced and more predictable. Unlike most other farmers, Pipariya has adopted a farm-to-table model where instead of selling produce to a wholesaler, Pipariya's word of mouth has made clients directly visit the farm and buy products. This generates better margins on sales.

This year the dentist farmer is geared up to take his organic farm and earnings to the next level. In addition to growing dates, he has also experimented with growing dense mangoes and avocados. He is confident that this year as Covid has slowed down, his products will command better prices.

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in brief POLLS FOR 13 RS SEATS ON MARCH 31 Elections for 13 Rajya Sabha seats, which are going to be vacant in April, will be held on March 31 with the fate of five from Punjab depending on the outcome of the state assembly polls on March 10. Among the remaining eight seats, three are from Kerala, two are from Assam and one each from HP, Tripura and Nagaland. Congress leaders A K Antony from Kerala and Anand Sharma from Himachal Pradesh and SAD leaders Naresh Gujral and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa are among those who will retire in April. The last date of nominations for polls to the 13 seats is March 21. The biennial polls for these 13 seats is going to be the first in a series of several others this year with as many as 75 seats from different states falling vacant in the Upper House, besides seven nominated ones.

INDIA’S PALESTINE REPRESENTATIVE FOUND DEAD India’s representative in Palestine Mukul Arya was found dead on his office premises in Ramallah on Sunday. There was no information from authorities both here and in Palestine about the cause of the death of Arya, an IFS officer of 2008 batch. “Deeply shocked to learn about the passing away of India’s representative at Ramallah. He was a bright and talented officer with so much before him,” tweeted foreign minister S Jaishankar. A career diplomat at MEA, he had served in Delhi, in addition to serving at the permanent delegation of India to Unesco in Paris and at embassies of India in Kabul and Moscow. He was raised and educated in Delhi before joining Indian Foreign Service in 2008.

No new taxes or sops in Gujarat budget The Gujarat government did not impose any additional tax burden on citizens in a poll year as it presented the £24.39 billion budget in the State Assembly. It also did not provide any new sops as well.

Finance Minister Kanu Desai, who presented his first budget, called it a progressive one. Desai told the assembly that Gujarat was poised to register a 13% Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growth despite the pandemic.

He also said that the state’s per capita income has jumped from Rs 19,823 to Rs 2,14,809 in the last 20 years.

Social sector focus Desai’s budget has ear-

Kanu Desai

marked £497.6 million for women and child development, a 42% rise in allocation for the sector. Fund allocation was increased for various schemes related to nutrition, education and Anganwadi services. A provision of £81.1 million was made for the Suposhit Mata Swashth

Over 30 million adolescents, accounting for around 41% of youngsters in the 15-17 year age group, are now fully vaccinated with two doses of Covaxin, while almost 75% have taken at least one anti-Covid jab.

India has achieved this milestone in nearly two months since the rollout of the immunisation drive for 15-17 year olds from January 3. Around 74 million adolescents are estimated to be in this age category.

“What a great feat by our young warriors! Over 30 million youngsters between 15-18 age group are now fully vaccinated against #COVID19. Young India is taking the world’s largest vaccination drive to the next level! #SabkoVaccineMuftVaccine,” health minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted.

With increasing coverage of Covid jabs

of £900,000 has not been remitted to India as yet, as some clearances are awaited on foreign contributions.

Thus, £125,000 from this amount will now be used to help those impacted by war.

As a means to facilitate the work, devotees Lord Dolar Popat and his son Mr Paavan Popat will be directing this amount of £125,000 to various organisations that are actively working across Poland, Slovakia and Romania to evacuate Ukrainian war victims, providing them with the shelter and food, and medical facilities etc.

In the spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the amount is being used for Indian victims, and also for other needy irrespective of religion, caste or nationality.

Bapu had indicated that helping those in need and giving shelter to the homeless was akin to constructing a home for God. Pujya Morari Bapu prayed for those who have lost their lives during the conflict and hopes that war between Russia and Ukraine comes to an end soon.

India to resume international flights from March 27 International scheduled commercial flights to and from India will resume from March 27 onward after a 25-month ban, an order from the Ministry of Civil Aviation said.

The move will allow airlines across the world, which were only operating international flights to India under air bubble arrangement, to operate capacity as per the original bilateral agreements, and could bring down fares on foreign routes ahead of the summer travel season. “After having recognized the

sion paid to beneficiaries in the 60 to 80 age group under the Niradhar Vrudh Pension Yojana has been increased to Rs 1,000 from the existing Rs 750.

The monthly pension paid to beneficiaries above 80 years of age will be increased from Rs1,000 to Rs1,250.

Professional tax exemption The government has exempted those earning up to Rs 12,000 per month from professional tax. This has been the only relief in terms of tax in the budget. This will benefit around 15,00,000 people and provide relief of £19.8 million to them. The largesse will result in a loss of £10.8 million to the state exchequer.

41% of 15-17 year olds fully vaccinated now

Morari Bapu extends a helping hand to war victims in Ukraine with £125,000 The Russia-Ukraine war has left the whole world in a state of shock. While expressing his deep concern for those affected by the battle and conveying condolences to bereaved families, Pujya Morari Bapu has taken the initiative of donating £125,000 as a means to extend help. Bapu Morari Bapu made the statement during his Ram Katha in Lonavala, where he expressed his intent to make a constructive contribution.

While lauding government’s effective rescue operation, Pujya Morari Bapu said, “Under Mission Ganga’, Shri Narendrabhai Modi and the government are doing excellent work in rescuing students stuck in wartorn Ukraine.”

The donation stems from Bapu’s recent worldwide appeal for a generous contribution to construct Shri Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, which his trust had received a staggering amount of £1.9 million, of which £900,000 was donated by the foreign devotees and philanthropists. Due to changes in recent Government guidelines, this amount

Bal Yojana which provides one kg tur dal, 2 kg gram and a litre of edible oil for free for 1,000 days to pregnant and lactating mothers.

The budget has allocated £3.48 billion for the education sector of which £118.8 million has been allocated under Mission Schools of Excellence to provide infrastructural facilities in schools and bring changes in the education system. It also envisages building 10,000 classrooms in the next year at a cost of £93.7 million.

The government has also proposed a 10% increase in budgetary allocation for the social justice and empowerment department. The monthly pen-

increased vaccination coverage across the globe and in consultation with the stakeholders, the Government of India has decided to resume scheduled commercial international passenger services to/from India from 27.03.2022, i.e. start of Summer Schedule 2022,” an official statement said.

An earlier plan of resuming international scheduled commercial flights from December 15, 2021 was shelved by the government following the emergence of the Omicron variant.

among 15-17 year olds, the government is now also expected to lower the age to 12 years as more vaccines are also getting approved for those above 12 years. Sources said the government is likely to take a call on expanding vaccination coverage to 1215 year olds by end of this month.

Apart from Covaxin - which is currently the only vaccine being administered to 15-17 years, the drug regulator has also given emergency authorisation to Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D and Biological E’s Corbevax for use in youngster of 12-17 years. Besides, Serum Institute of India’s

Covovax has also been recommended for emergency use authorisation for those in 12-17 years age bracket by the regulator expert committee.

OBITUARY Dr Natubhai Shah

MBBS, PhD, MBE (1932-2022) We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Shri Dr Natubhai Shah in London on the 6th March 2022. Shri Natubhai was the Chair/CEO of the Jain Network and is best known for his tireless and visionary leadership over several decades to promote Jain values around the world. He brought focus and unity to Jain communities, established strong relationships with other faiths, promoted academic discourse to disseminate Jain values, engaged with local and national leaders, and drove projects that have had long-lasting impact. Foremost among these is his establishment of the Jain Centre in Leicester in 1988, a marvel of splendid architecture in the midst of a traditional English city and a cornerstone for community worship and activities to this day.

A retired medical practitioner, Shri Natubhai was a genuine scholar. He obtained a PhD in Jain religion after his retirement, wrote extensively – including the book “Jainism: The World of Conquerors” – and drove the establishment of “Jain Studies” departments in several top international universities.

He established the Jain Academy as a forum for the dissemination of such scholarly activities. He held a Visiting Professorship in Jain Studies at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). Ahimsa for Quality of Life was an international welfare charity that he established to alleviate poverty and promote self-sufficiency.

He was a pioneer of inter-faith activities in the UK working alongside the leaders of other religions such as Christianity, Judaism and others and was regularly invited to key national events as a representative of the UK Jain community.

Shri Natubhai’s most recent and perhaps most ambitious project, the establishment of a Jain Centre in Colindale, London is now nearing completion and scheduled for its Pratistha in 2023. This will be a unique three storied Jain Centre including 108 Parshwanath Jinalay, a place of worship and study for all Jain traditions, and a multifaith centre – positioned in London as an ideal hub from where to disseminate Jainism and Jain Values globally.

Shri Natubhai was born in Mahemadpur and was the first in his family to go to university and qualify as a doctor. He and his wife, the late Bhanumati, moved to Leicester (UK) in 1968.

He was a very successful general practitioner before turning to his religious, academic, social and charitable work, unstintingly supported by Bhanumati. He was an exceptional bridge player. They moved from Leicester to London in 1997 but “retirement” for Shri Natubhai was still a full-time job, just not medicine! He received countless honours amongst which notable ones included the award of ‘Jain Ratna’ by the Prime Minister of India in 2001, an ‘MBE’ by the Her Majesty the Queen in 2012, ‘Man of the Year’ by the American Biographic Institute, and a Civic award by the London Borough of Barnet. He was listed in Who’s Who International and the American Biographical International Book of Honor, 5000 Personalities of the World.

Shri Natubhai led his life with great energy, single-mindedness, determination, and dedication. He had a unique ability to be charming and tough at the same time, often needed to accomplish complex projects. He always sought to engage the younger generation in these activities. Remarkably, he remained fully independent and active until his 90th year, virtually to the end.

Shri Natubhai is survived by his daughter Leena, son Samir, son-in-law Ajay, daughterin-law Nita, and 4 adult grandchildren Ravi, Jasmine, Alyssa and Rajiv. His remarkable life’s work in the service of society ensures that he will long remain in our collective memories.

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SOUTH INDIA

in brief

Telangana budget All DMK mayoral candidates session begins without win in Tamil Nadu Governor's address

CHENNAI: All the 20 mayoral candidates of the ruling DMK and its ally Congress' nominee, an autorickshaw driver, were elected in indirect polls to the top posts in civic bodies in Tamil Nadu and they took charge. Indirect polls to elect chairpersons of municipalities and town panchayats, however, witnessed tussles and high drama in several regions while DMK ward members, violating the party's diktat, defeated nominees of alliance parties in a string of local bodies.

It includes posts allotted by the DMK in civic bodies for elected representatives of allies including the CPI(M) and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK). After angered ruling party's partners cried foul, DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin expressed profound regret to allies and instructed his party ward members who defeated nominees of alliance parties to immediately resign from their posts. Stalin warned them that if they did not quit, they would be

expelled from the party's primary membership.

The DMK chief asked his party people to resign from such posts, earmarked for allies. He instructed M K Stalin district secretaries and those in-charge to take quick action in this regard. Stalin chided such party men for besmirching DMK's fair name by taking away seats allotted to allies.

After Stalin's action, allies thanked him profusely and said it was a historic step that would further increase their faith on him and promote goodwill. Following the party chief's stern message, the DMK apparatus swung into action and suspended its Poonamallee town secretary M Ravikumar for violating party discipline. It also relieved N Suresh Rajan, a DMK veteran from his post of secretary of Kanyakumari east party district. He was replaced

by R Mahesh, who was elected as mayor of Nagercoil Corporation, following a closely contested fight between the DMK and BJP.

HYDERABAD: The budget session of Telangana Assembly began on Monday without the customary Governor's address.

The opposition BJP and Congress have hit out against the ruling party for not scheduling the Governor’s address. According to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party, the Governor's address was not required, as the budget session is a continuation of the previous session, which was not prorogued.

However, the governor’s office said that if the Assembly session occurs after five months, it will be considered as a new session.

The Opposition BJP and Congress have strongly condemned the decision and alleged that the TRS government was showing a ‘disrespectful attitude’ towards the constitutional guardian of the state. State BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar attacked Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for allegedly doing away with the Governor's address. Referring to KCR's recent comments favouring a new Constitution in the country, Kumar had tweeted: "KCR is already giving a sense of what he wants in a re-written Constitution. No rules, no traditions - only whims.

I strongly condemn his decision to do away with Governor's speech..." Congress MLC T Jeevan Reddy asked as to why the last session which ended in October 2021 was not prorogued.

Nowhere it is mentioned that Governor's address is not required because the House was not prorogued, he said.

Former MLC K Nageshwar said the Constitution does not mention that the budget session should commence with the Governor's address. Citing Article 176(1), he said the Constitutional mandate is that the first session in a year should begin with the Governor's address.

PUNJAB

Post poll alliance between SC shocked at 'unprecedented' HC Akalis and BJP gaining ground order protecting former DGP Saini CHANDIGARH: Amid a studied silence maintained by the political parties in Punjab ahead of the March 10 counting of votes, a buzz about Shiromani Akali Dal joining hands with former ally BJP as part of post-poll alliance is growing stronger.

Most of the buzz is creation of the Akali leaders and comes amid indication that the panthic party and its poll ally Bahujan Samaj Party may not reach the magic figure of 59 to form the next government in Punjab.

A feedback gathered by the party from its cadres after the February 20 Assembly polls, suggests that the Akali Dal was “likely to win minimum 15 and maximum 20 seats” in Malwa region, which has maximum 69 Vidhan Sabha seats of the total 117 in Punjab. The party is now pinning hope on Majha and Doaba regions, which account for 25 and 23 seats, respectively.

While it is said that the road to Punjab Vidhan Sabha passes

through Malwa, at times, Majha has emerged as king maker especially when the other two regions returned mixed verdict.

In 2017, the Akali Dal had won only two seats out of 25 in Majha – Bikram Singh Majithia winning from Majitha and Lakhbir Singh Lodhinangal from Batala. The party had won five seats out of 23 it contested in Doaba in alliance with the BJP. A senior Akali leader said party hoped to get “at least 10 seats each in Majha and Doaba, and at least 15 seats in Malwa”.

The leader said party’s former ally BJP was likely to get “two to three seats each” in Majha and Doaba as he underlined the probability of a post-poll alliance with the saffron party. BJP national president JP Nadda made it very clear that “Our priority is national interests, and to grow in the state…So I don’t see much scope in compromising with them (Akalis). But, I must add, our Parliamentary Board will take a decision post-election”.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court expressed “shock” over an “unprecedented” order passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court giving a blanket protection from arrest to former Punjab Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini in all pending and future criminal cases against him till April 20.

“This is an unprecedented order. How can Sumedh Saini future course of action be stayed? It’s shocking and three of us (on the bench) feel it’s unprecedented. This will require hearing,” a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said. “We will request the HC to dispose of the petition… by another judge and not the same judge within two weeks. We request the Chief Justice (of Punjab and Haryana HC) to take it up himself or by any other judge… we will keep this matter pending (in SC),” CJI Ramana said, posting it for hearing after four weeks. Assailing the HC order, Punjab Advocate General DS Patwalia said, “There’s blanket stay… protection against everything.”

On behalf of Saini, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi sought to defend the HC order, saying, “The state has not followed a single order. He (Saini) has survived an assassination attempt. Whatever it may be, you can’t pass an order saying in future cases also he can’t be arrested…

What is this?” the CJI asked Rohatgi.

Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan had earlier ordered that Saini should not be arrested till April 20 in pending and future cases against him, except the Balwant Singh Multani murder case pending before the top court. Justice Sangwan, who had earlier noted Saini’s involvement in multiple cases could be a “political ploy in the wake of the coming state Assembly elections”, said the order was being passed considering the exceptional circumstances and hardships being caused to Saini by the state of Punjab on political grounds.

WEST BENGAL

TMC records landslide victory in Bengal civic election KOLKATA: The ruling Trinamool Congress has recorded a landslide victory in the West Bengal municipal elections winning 102 of the 108 municipalities. Out of the 102 civic bodies won by the TMC, there is no opposition in 31 municipalities. TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee congratulated all the winning candidates of the party and expressed gratitude over the “overwhelming mandate”.

The Left Front secured its victory in Taherpur Municipality

in the Nadia district. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had emerged as the main Opposition party in West Bengal after winning 77 seats in the Assembly polls last year, failed to open its account. The Congress too failed to win a single seat.

Surprisingly, the newlyformed Humro Party won the Darjeeling Municipality.

The civic body polls recorded a 77 per cent turnout, marred with violence.

Reports of intimidation allegedly by the TMC workers, electoral malpractices and attack on journalists emerged from various parts of the state during the polling day. The BJP, meanwhile, had demanded a repoll. On Monday, the party had called for a 12-hour strike in the state against the civic poll

violence and alleged electoral malpractices - a charge denied by the ruling TMC. State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar alleged that the ruling TMC had resorted to intimidation, violence and false voting in the election to 107 municipalities and rendered the result meaningless. "The result does not reflect the people's feelings. The election was a farce, we do not accept the results," he told reporters after the declaration of the poll result of 107 municipalities where election was held on February 27.

HC REJECTS ANDHRA PLAN FOR 3 CAPITAL CITIES The Andhra Pradesh high court ruled that the state government does not have legislative competence to pass any resolution or law for change of capital or bifurcating or trifurcating the capital city.

The YSRC government headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy had dropped the plan to develop Amaravati as the capital city after coming to office in 2019 and decided to have three capitals - maravati, Visakhapatnam, and Kurnool. The court, however, directed the state government and the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) to complete town planning schemes according to the Amaravati capital city master plan within six months. The judges held that only Parliament had the powers to enact legislation on a state capital. Interestingly, the Centre has notified Amaravati as the capital of Andhra Pradesh and represented it as such in the latest map by the Survey of India.

KARNATAKA COLLEGE GOES SOFT ON HIJAB ISSUE The controversy in Karnataka over hijabs in classrooms risked chiselling a new fault line with a college in Bengaluru requesting a Sikh girl to remove her turban and eventually allowing her - as well as Muslim students with headscarves - after her family refused to comply. In a temporary order pending the consideration of all petitions related to the hijab row, the Karnataka High Court had restrained all students in the state from wearing saffron shawls, scarves, hijab and any religious flag within the classroom earlier this month. Authorities at the Mount Carmel PU College said they informed students about the court order when the educational institution reopened on February 16.

BSF SHOOTS DOWN PAK DRONE IN FEROZEPUR A Pakistani drone was shot down by the Border Security Force in the Ferozepur area on Monday. BSF men heard humming sounds of a suspicious flying object coming from the Pakistani side. The troops were alerted immediately and the ‘flying object’ was shot down. Para bombs were also fired to illuminate the area. According to sources, the drone recovered is a DJI’s Matrice 300 RTK. The security forces also recovered a small green-coloured bag attached to the drone, containing four yellow packets and a small black one. Gross weight of the contraband items was 4.17 kg. The black packet weighed about 250 gm, the BSF spokesperson said.

MAMATA ALLEGES ATTACK BY BJP WORKERS IN VARANASI West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that she was attacked by BJP workers on her visit to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and said that such actions indicated their “imminent” defeat in the ongoing assembly elections. She arrived in the city to campaign for Samajwadi Party.

Voting for the seventh and final round was held on March 7 for Varanasi and its eight adjoining districts. Describing the incident that took place while she was moving towards the Dashashwamedh Ghat to attend the ‘Ganga Aarti, Mamata said, “I was coming from the airport and going to the ghat. Midway, some BJP workers stopped my vehicle. They hit my car, pushed me and told me to go back.”

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PM Modi urges Putin to hold direct talks with Zelensky In a phone call that lasted for about 50 minutes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold direct talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky amid the ongoing Moscow-Kiev war, according to sources.

During the conversation, which is the second between Modi and Putin since Russia began its war on Feb.24, the President briefed the Prime Minister on the status of negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian teams.

Modi also appreciated the Russian military’s announcement earlier in the day to hold fire and open humanitarian corridors in the four Ukrainian cities of Kiev, Kharkov, Sumy and Mariupol.

The Prime Minister further stressed on the importance of the safe evacuation of Indian citizens from

Volodymyr Zelensky, Minister Narendra & Vladimir Putin

Sumy at the earliest, to which Putin assured of all possible cooperation. PM Modi also spoke to Zelensky and expressed deep concern about the ongoing conflict and resultant humanitarian crisis, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office. “(The) Prime Minister reiterated his call for immediate cessation of violence and noted that India has always stood for peaceful resolution of issues and direct dialogue between the two parties,” it said.

According to the statement, Modi “thanked Ukrainian authorities for their facilitation in evacuating more than 20,000 Indian citizens from Ukraine”, but also expressed deep concern for the safety and security of Indian students still remaining in the war-torn nation and emphasised the need for their quick and safe evacuation.

The first time Modi and Zelensky spoke was on Feb. 26, just two days after Russia launched its military invasion of Ukraine.

All 694 Indian students stuck in Ukraine's Sumy moved out All 694 Indian students stuck in Ukraine's Sumy moved out. Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri told reporters that all 694 Indian students, who were stranded in Sumy, have left for Poltava in buses. "Last night, I checked with the control room, 694 Indian students were remaining in Sumy. Today, they have all left in buses for Poltava," Puri told reporters.

A medical student at the Sumy university, who did not wish to be identified, confirmed that buses have arrived and students have started boarding the buses. "We have been told that we will go to Poltava. I am praying that we reach a safe zone and this misery is over," he was quoted as saying The foreign ministry tweeted that from Poltova, they will board trains to western Ukraine. The students were shifted as part of evacuation of civilians from Sumy and the town of Irpin near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv through a green corridor to Poltova, a city in central Ukraine. The foreign ministry of Ukraine tweeted a video of the evacuation of Sumy citizens, saying "We call on Russia to agree on other humanitarian corridors in Ukraine".

We have already started the evacuation of civilians from Sumy to Poltava, including foreign students. Sumy, located near the Russian border and around 350 km east of Ukrainian capital Kyiv, has seen heavy fighting since the invasion. Today, at least nine

people, including two children, died in an air strike in the city.

The students have been waiting for evacuation for days. On Saturday, unable to cope any longer with the bitter cold, depleting food and water supplies, the students shared videos saying they have decided to begin the risky journey to the Russian border 50 km away. But they were dissuaded by the government, which contacted them and asked that they "avoid unnecessary risks". A plan to evacuate them on Monday fell through as Ukraine rejected a Russian plan for a humanitarian corridor to Russia and Belarus.

Soon after, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on ways to begin the stalled evacuation process of the Indian students from Sumy.

First evacuation bid aborted Tears of joy turned into despair in a matter of minutes for 700 Indian students in Sumy as many of them had to go back to their shelters from the buses deployed to carry them out of Ukraine during a shortlived ceasefire on Monday. “The girls were asked to board first. Then they were told to get down. Our local coordinators told us firing had started again in the routes through which students would be evacuated,” Assam student Arif Mahfuz Siddiqui said.

Indian medical students from Ukraine face uncertain future as war unfolds Continued from page 1

Situation of Indian students amid war situations Pintu Jalandhara is the son of a diamond polishing worker in India’s Bhavnagar district of Gujarat. Pintu's father's modest income was not enough to pay fees for medical seat either in India’s private colleges or in Ukraine. However, studying in Ukraine meant he had less loan to pay. So, he researched and found that Chernivtsi's Medical University has good standards, and therefore took admission there. After paying £5000 in advance, Pintu reached Ukraine in November 2021. Pintu who has just returned to India due to the war, says that he is depressed that if it persists, he might not be able to go back, losing his money and the hope of a medical degree.

Aditi Soni of Bhopal who is studying medicine at Kharkiv, now back in India, resonated the same fear.

She told the newsweekly, “I am really worried whether I will get my medical degree or not.”

Siddhant Sahay who is a 4th year medical student at Kharkiv National Medical University hails from Vadodara in Gujarat.

His father is now retired from his private job. In 2018, Siddhant finished school in India. He was not able to get admission in a government medical college. The MBBS seat he was able to secure, required him to spend at least £80,000 just as course fee which was unaffordable for him and his family. So Siddhant decided he could still fulfill his dream of become a doctor, if they can spend £35,000 spread over next six years, by taking admission in Ukraine. So, he took an admission there, by paying from his retired father's precious savings.

Siddhant who has now returned to India, fears that there is a risk of losing £20,000 of his fees and wasting the years he has spent studying in Ukraine. Speaking to Asian Voice, he said, “Even if education resumes after the war, as India’s policies sort of

empty hotels or houses to accommodate the needy.

He also tied up with a local restaurant called Tulsi, providing free meals to people.

He thinks he has helped over 100 people, 30 people with accommodation as well.

Gruhang who belongs to Gujarat’s Anand

favours Russia, there is a risk that we might have to bear the hatred of locals.”

When he was trying to reach India, he felt hurt by the racist treatments he met with, at the railway station, while trying to board a train to Lviv and crossing over to Poland.

Chandni Patel (name changed on request) says Kharkiv was getting bombed when she and her flatmates decided to leave for India. A group of 15 students started walking to the railway station at 5 in the morning. The road passed through the city center, and they met Ukrainian and Russian soldiers at separate points, who checked their papers and let them go. After walking for two hours, they reached the railway station only to find that it was so over-crowded, there was absolutely no place even to stand.

While they were waiting outside the station, the place started to get bombed. They tried but were unable to board the train they wanted, as Ukrainian police gave priority to their own citizens.

Some of them even asked for USD 100 per foreign student to let them in. With great difficulty they were able to board a train at 3 in the afternoon, where there was no place to sit, even on the floor for the 14-hour journey.

Diaspora in Poland helping people from all countries In between deep crises, there are some people who have made humanity proud. A 28Gruhang year-old Patel who is in food delivery services was deeply moved by the problems of people who crossed the border from Ukraine. Gruhang who lives in Warsaw, Poland inspired by Guru Pramukhswami Maharaj and Guru Mahantswami Maharaj decided to provide free food and accommodation to all those who had come from the war-torn country.

He took help from his friends to arrange

district does not limit his services to people from one country or religion. He has already helped Pakistani, Israeli and Ukranian people with food and accommodation and is touched by the love he has shown by the people, many of whom have invited him to visit their homes.

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Migration Museum receives £25,000 donation from Indian entrepreneur The Migration Museum has received a bumper donation from prominent Indian entrepreneur Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia, who has also called for more of the UK’s Indian diaspora to back the Museum.

The Migration Museum is Britain’s first museum dedicated to exploring how the movement of people to and from the UK shaped the country across the ages. Since the start of 2020, the Museum has been based in the heart of Lewisham Shopping Centre in south-east London, where it stages exhibitions, events, and educational sessions throughout the year.

The gift will be used to support the Museum’s ongoing work and help fund unmet overhead costs for exhibitions for the coming year. The local attraction has temporarily closed to visitors while they install their new exhibition, Taking Care of Business. The exhibit launches on 6 April 2022 and will highlight the role that entrepreneurs have played in shaping Britain through personal stories, art installations, and a concept shop that features migrant-led businesses.

The Museum reopened in May 2021 following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, allowing visitors to enjoy their most popular attractions once more. These included Humanæ, a photography project about skin colour and race, and Between here and there, an art exhibition that told the stories of migrant people in transit. The Museum was

also home to WALL, an art installation by contemporary artists STIK and Thierry Noir painted on two rare surviving sections of the Berlin Wall.

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia is a leading London-based Indian entrepreneur.

Ahluwalia arrived in the UK as a refugee in 1972 after his family was forced to flee the brutal regime of Idi Amin in Uganda. He subsequently found success in the UK, first as the founder of Euro Car Parts, Europe’s largest car parts distributor, before going on to found UK property developer Dominvs Group. Ahluwalia is currently in the process of returning to India.

Alongside the gift, Ahluwalia has been appointed as the Museum's Patron of India and has called on more members of the Indian diaspora in the UK to support the efforts of the Museum, especially in its goal of finding a permanent long-term home. He has also been

Jaipur Literature Festival 2022 set to begin in hybrid mode Hailed as the ‘greatest literary show on Earth’, the Jaipur Literature Festival 2022 opened last week in a hybrid avatar ensuring both its onground magnificence as well as its nifty virtual presence. Featuring eminent speakers, the Festival will showcase a lineup of exclusively curated sessions on its virtual platform from 5th – 14th March 2022.

The iconic festival will host its onground show from 10th – 14th March at the Clarks Amer.

The magnitude of the programming remains as astonishing as every year with over 400 speakers and performers representing around 15 Indian and 20 international languages and over 20 nationalities as well as all the major literary awards ranging from the Nobel, the Booker, the Pulitzer, the Sahitya Akademi, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, the JCB Prize for Literature etc.

The 15th edition of the Festival begins on Saturday, March 5th, with inaugural addresses by Festival Co-directors Namita Gokhale & William Dalrymple, Festival Producer Sanjoy K. Roy, Managing Director, Teamwork Arts, the producer of the iconic festival.

Namita Gokhale, author and Festival Co-director, said, “We are delighted to be returning in a hybrid format, on-ground and digitally, for an immersive and experiential celebration of heart, mind and intellect. Some of the greatest and most current writers and thinkers will join us, including Nobel Laureates Abdulrazak Gurnah, Daniel Kahneman, Giorgio Parisi and Abhijeet Banerjee. We have award-winning authors from around the world, as well intriguing new voices waiting to be heard, in a programme that reflects the rich diversity

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia said: “The Migration Museum and the team play a hugely important role in the UK. Britain’s migration history is at the heart of our national story, and the Museum is doing important work to tell this story in a positive way.

“As I start to think about the next phase of my life in India, I have been struck by the importance of migrants telling their own stories in their own words. It is essential that these stories have a permanent longterm home. I would urge more members of the Indian diaspora to back this important project.”

Sophie Henderson, Director of the Migration Museum, added: “We are grateful to Sukhpal for his generous donation, which will support our future exhibitions, events and education work and our ongoing efforts to create a permanent landmark museum that explores how migration has made us who we are – as individuals, as communities, and as nations.

We are also thrilled to feature Sukhpal’s story alongside other inspiring stories from entrepreneurs with migrant heritage in our next exhibition, Taking Care of Business, opening in April. If you, like us, believe that migration belongs at the heart of our national story and cultural landscape, come and visit us, explore more stories like Sukhpal’s and share yours, and help us to realise our vision for a permanent Migration Museum for Britain.”

Highway Nights wins 1st Runner-Up Award at Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival

in brief UNBOXED: CREATIVITY IN THE UK LAUNCHES IN SCOTLAND

The UK’s most ambitious celebration of creativity opens with About Us - a thrilling ride through 13.8 billion years of history.

About Us is the first of ten groundbreaking creative projects commissioned as part of UNBOXED, a once-in-a-lifetime celebration of creativity. Audiences will experience an awe-inspiring multimedia event that uses cutting-edge projection mapping, animation, music, poetry and live performance to celebrate our place in the universe and the connections between us.

The show has been created by 59 Productions, the award-winning video artists behind the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony; Stemettes, the social enterprise supporting young women and non-binary people into STEM careers; and The Poetry Society. It also boasts award-winning composer and musician Nitin Sawhney CBE who has composed the original score, which will be performed as part of the live shows by local choirs in each location. In Paisley, the show features the Paisley Philharmonic Choir, The City of Glasgow Chorus and Strathclyde University Chamber Choir.

CHAIR AND TRUSTEES APPOINTED TO THE BOARD OF THE THEATRES TRUST

Highway Nights starring Prakash Jha and Mazel Vyas and directed by Shubham Singh won the 1st runner up prize for the Best Short Film at the Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards.

of India and the splendours of world literature.”

William Dalrymple, author and Festival Co-director, said, "The pandemic has been a hard time for everyone, but literary festivals have faced existential challenges to their survival. Now we are back, and are thrilled to bring our beloved Festival back to the hallowed soil of Jaipur.”

Sanjoy K Roy, Managing director, Teamwork Arts, the producer of the Jaipur Literature Festival, said, “Jaipur Literature Festival was built on the philosophy of inclusivity, providing a space for all kinds of thoughts and ideas.

While the world is still facing uncertainties, embroiled in war and reeling from a pandemic, we at Teamwork Arts are determined to continue the free flow of knowledge and information. With Nobel laureates, Booker winners and Sahitya Akademi recipients, this year, the Festival will create another milestone with the hybrid version and we welcome all book-lovers to join us in our endeavour.”

Highway Nights is a heart-warming story that talk talks about women’s abuse.

The film is about an aging, overworked lorry driver who gives a lift to a young, chatty sex worker one night and how they develop a bond over a small journey of few hours.

“I’m immensely grateful that the Jury and team at DPIFF liked our film. Am not able to control my emotions for all this. Am extremely happy that now the message will reach to maximum audiences,”said the film’s director Shubham Singh, upon receiving the award.

Prior to this award, Highway Nights was awarded the grand jury prize at the Best of India Short Film Festival 2021 where it will have a theatrical release in LA and qualify it for the prestigious 2023 Oscars consideration.

“It is my first short film and to receive such acclaim is heartening. I am thankful to Prakash ji to have agreed to act in our film.

It's a moving story that people all over the world can relate to,” the director-producer added.

The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has appointed Dave Moutrey as Chair and James Dacre, Suba Das, Stephanie Hall and Lucy Osborne as Trustees of the Theatres Trust, for threeyear terms from 21 February 2022 until 20 February 2025. Suba Das is an awardwinning director, producer and dramaturg, brought up in the North East of England before reading English at Cambridge. He is Creative Director Designate of the iconic Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres, taking up post from April 2022.

He is currently Artistic Director and Chief Executive of HighTide, one of the UK’s leading new writing theatre companies.

Prior to HighTide, Suba was Associate Director at Leicester Curve, overseeing all Artist Development and Community Engagement; and Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio and English Touring Theatre. Suba’s other directing credits include the world premiere production of Ravi Shankar’s only opera Sukanya for the Royal Opera House and London Philharmonic Orchestra; and for the Young Vic, The Roundhouse, Northern Stage, Nottingham Playhouse and Bolton Octagon. Suba is passionate about access to theatre buildings and cultural activities for audiences of all backgrounds across the UK and he is also a trustee of the North Music Trust (Sage Gateshead); and the Coram Shakespeare Schools Festival.

ay or d re as It or ey i-

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CALCIUM + Magnesium + Vit. D3

SKIN, HAIR, NAILS

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up at the same time each day creates a rhythm for your body. Only use your bed for sleep or romance. Don’t keep a television in your bedroom: Studies show artificial, bright light can disrupt brain activity and alter sleep hormones like melatonin. Your bedroom should be a quiet, peaceful haven.

Get natural sunlight - Aim for at least 20 minutes of sunshine every day, preferably in the morning, which triggers your brain to release chemicals that regulate sleep cycles. Avoid computers, smartphones, tablets and television one or two hours before bed. You might also try low blue light exposure for about three hours before bed. Low blue spectrum light helps your brain reset for sleep and increases melatonin.

Use an acupressure mat This helps stimulate your parasympathetic nervous

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system and create deep relaxation. Lay on it for about 30 or more minutes before bed.

Get grounded - At times, electromagnetic frequencies can impair sleep. I recommend turning off WiFi and keeping all of your electronic devices away from your bed. Create a common area charging station in your home and encourage all your family members to “check-in” their devices before bed.

Clear your mind - Everyone

knows how something resonating in your mind can hinder sleep. Turning your mind off can become a challenge. Keep a journal or notebook by your bed and write down your to-do list or ruminations before you go to sleep so you can close your eyes and make it less likely for your mind to spin.

Perform light stretching or yoga before bed - This relaxes your mind and body.

Research shows daily yoga can improve sleep significantly.

Deaths linked to extreme temperatures to increase

A new study conducted by a team from UCL and the University of Reading warns that deaths linked to extreme temperatures will increase by up to 42 per cent in England and Wales if temperatures rise by just 2°C. Dr. Katty Huang, lead author of the study said, “The increase in mortality

risk under current warming levels is mainly notable during heatwaves, but with further warming, we would see risk rise on average summer days in addition to escalating risks during heatwaves.”

The team looked at the impact of climate change on temperature-related deaths in England and

Wales. They analysed the 2018 UK Climate Projections (UKCP18) with data on temperature-related deaths today to help predict future temperaturerelated death rates relative to degrees of global warming.

At current global warming levels of around 1.21°C, we see a slight decrease in temperature-related deaths in winter, and a minimal net effect in summer. This means that overall, at this level of warming, we actually see a slight decrease in

Ketogenic diet may reduce disability, improve quality of life A recent study suggests a ketogenic diet might just be safe for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) by improving their quality of life. A ketogenic diet consists of foods like meat, fish, eggs, heavy cream, butter, oils, and non-starchy vegetables like pea pods, carrots, broccoli, and peppers.

Study author J Nicholas Brenton, MD and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, said, “A ketogenic diet, which is high in fats, adequate in protein, and low in carbohydrates, allows the body to utilise fat as its primary source of energy instead of sugars, thus mimicking a fasting state.”

“A ketogenic diet helps lower blood sugar levels in people with type II diabetes and improve seizure control in people with epilepsy. However, it has not been wellstudied in people with MS. Diet changes can be an inexpensive way to improve overall health, so our study explored whether eating a ketogenic diet is safe, tolerable and beneficial for people living with MS,” he further added.

The team studied 65 people diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS. They consumed a ketogenic diet for six months and were instructed to consume two or three

12 - 18 March 2022

MOST TRUSTED VITAMINS

Simple tips to improve quality of sleep Just as important as the right diet, and a regular intake of water is for one’s body, a good night’s sleep is just as essential in more ways than one. It affects our energy levels, mood, concentration, productivity, and even eating patterns, among other things.

Physician and New York Times bestselling author Mark Hyman recently shared one of the many impacts of poor sleep on our eating patterns.

In a post on his Instagram, he asked, “Ever noticed you’re hungrier for something sweet after a terrible night’s sleep? Studies show the lack of sleep can increase your cravings for sugary foods.” Elaborating on the topic, Hyman shares a few ways one can effectively improve their quality of sleep.

Get on a regular schedule Going to sleep and waking

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ketogenic meals per day consisting of one to two servings of low-carbohydrate proteins such as eggs, fish or meat alongside two to four tablespoons of fat, such as butter, oil, avocado, ghee or heavy cream, and one to two cups of non-starchy vegetables such as cucumbers, leafy greens or cauliflower.

A total of 83 per cent of participants adhered to the diet for the full study period.

Participants completed tests and surveys prior to the start of the diet and again at three and six months while on the diet to measure the level of disability and quality of life. Researchers found that not only did participants have less body fat after six months, they also had a decline in fatigue and depression scores.

Participants had an average physical health score of 67 at the start of the study compared to an average score of 79 at the end. Participants had an average mental health score of 71 at the start of the study compared to an average score of 82 at the end. Researchers also took blood samples and found participants had improvements in the levels of inflammatory markers in the blood.

temperature-related deaths.

However, with 2°C of warming, the death rate related to extreme temperatures surges by 42 per cent.

Dr. Huang added, “What this means is that we shouldn’t expect past trends of impact per degree of warming to apply in the future. One degree of global warming beyond 2°C would have a much severe impact on health in England and Wales than one-degree warming from pre-industrial levels, with implications for how the NHS can cope.”

HEALTH & VITALITY Tablets

A glass of wine, a pint a night can age your brain by two years

A study claims that drinking just a glass of wine or a pint of beer each night in middle-age may age your brain by two years. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania analysed MRI scans of 36,000 adults to calculate their brain size and then compared the alcohol intake of the volunteers. The results suggested that a 50-year-old who drank one unit a day would have a brain six months older than if they kept off the booze. The scientists found that the link grew even stronger the more people drank.

Data derived from the study implied that middle-aged adults who consumed two units a day, one medium-sized glass of red or white wine, had a brain two-and-a-half years older. Increasing the number of units to four per day resulted in extra 10 years of aging as compared to maintaining abstinence. One of the researchers, Prof Remi Daviet said, “Cutting back on the final drink of the night might have a big effect in terms of brain aging.”

Lead author Professor Gideon Nave, a neuroscientist said, “Having this dataset is like having a microscope or a telescope with a more powerful lens. You get a better resolution and start seeing patterns and associations you couldn’t before. The fact we have such a large sample size allows us to find subtle patterns, even between drinking the equivalent of half a beer and one beer a day.”

The team checked MRI scan records of patients aged between 40 and 69 to see how much white and grey matter they had in the brain. One scan was used for each individual. Grey matter is referred to the main part of the brain that processes information, whereas white matter acts as the line of communication. They asked participants how much they drank, from nothing to four units a day. The team controlled other factors that may affect the results, including age, height, sex, smoking status, income, and genetic ancestry.

Less exercise could deactivate vital protein causing further inactivity A recent research funded by the British Heart Foundation has suggested that doing less exercise could deactivate a vital protein in the body, causing further inactivity and making exercise more difficult. A paper titled ‘Endothelial Piezo sustains muscle capillary density and contributes to physical activity’ was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

University of Leeds scientists discovered that deactivating the Piezo protein reduces the density of capillaries carrying blood to the muscles.

The restricted blood flow meant that activity becomes more difficult and can lead to a reduction in how much exercise is possible. The team said that the results helped in explaining why exercise becomes harder over time of inactivity.

Lead author Fiona Bartoli, a Postdoctoral Researcher in the University of Leeds’ School of Medicine said, “Exercise protects against cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression and cancer. Unfortunately, many people fail to exercise enough, for reasons such as injury and computer usage.

This puts people at more risk of disease. The less people exercise, the less fit they become, often leading to a downward spiral.”

He added, “Although many responses to exercise

are known, how the benefits of exercise are initially triggered at a molecular level is mysterious. Our study highlights the crucial link between physical activity and physical performance made at this level by Piezo1.

Keeping our Piezo1s active by exercising may be crucial in our physical performance and health.”

During the experiment, scientists compared two groups of mice - a control group and a group whose Piezo levels had been disrupted for 10 weeks.

Walking, climbing and running wheel activity was observed, with the Piezo1 mice showing a striking reduction in activity levels.

This suggested an important role for Piezo1 in sustaining normal physical activity.

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12 - 18 March 2022

Bipasha Basu is set to return to the big screen this year

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ipasha Basu Karan Singh Grover is expected to make a comeback to the big screen this year. The actress, who hasn’t acted in a film since 2015, last starred in the web series ‘Dangerous’ that aired two years ago.

With followers getting more curious as to why she hasn’t taken on any work, Bipasha claims she has simply been “lazy”. The 43-year-old said, “I have actually been lazy and not open to work in the last few years. But the plan is to return to work in 2022 and do something interesting. I hope I can make announcements very soon.”

Bipasha said the pandemic has put a lot of things on hold for her as it did for everyone else. She admits the onset of the virus terrified her. She said, “All I wanted was to be very careful for my entire family, to the point that I would call myself paranoid in the first year. Anyway, I am not so much of a person who likes to go out and party a lot. I have a small group of friends and I like to meet my family.”

“I didn’t know where the world was heading, because the virus forced everyone to stay at home.

Everything was so unpredictable at that point, something none of us had ever experienced. I went through a lot of emotions and then started living day by day, enjoying the simple things and every minute with my partner (husband, actor Karan Singh Grover). Year 2021 brought hope, things changed,” Bipasha feels.

This prompted her to finally be more active in showbiz again. “I am completely gung-ho about doing a lot of work. I have started taking up events, otherwise, I was quite closed down to doing any kind of shooting,” Bipasha said.

Kiara Advani is a dutiful bridesmaid at sister Ishita’s wedding

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ctress Kiara Advani shared pictures of herself performing bridesmaid’s duties as her sister Ishita Advani prepared to tie the knot to Karma Vivan over the weekend. Kiara took to her Instagram Stories to share a series of photographs that showed her and the bride-tobe all dressed up for the wedding.

Kiara is seen marking her neck sister’s with kohl to ward off evil eyes.

She captioned the picture, “Nazar na lage”. For the wedding, Ishita was dressed in a red Sabyasachi lehenga for her wedding, which she paired with dark green jewellery, gajar, and bridal chooda.

Meanwhile, Kiara glowed in an orange and golden lehenga, with her hair tied up in a high bun that was accessorised with yellow roses.

e Ranve

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The ‘Kabir Singh’ actress shared videos of her dancing at one of the prewedding festivities and was joined by a number of friends and family members.

If the pictures are any proof, the girls had a lot of fun at Ishita’s bachelorette

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kshaye Widhani has been named the CEO of Yash Raj Films (YRF). He was until now serving as the Senior VP Finance and Business Affairs and the Head of Operations, YRF Studios. Widhani joined YRF at the age of 22 and has been working with the production house for 17 years. He has been responsible for setting up and running several business verticals for YRF.

party too.

On the work front, the actor will be seen next in ‘Jug Jugg Jeeyo’ alongside Varun Dhawan. The movie is scheduled to release on June 24. It also stars Anil Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor, Maniesh Paul, and Prajakta Koli.

da r o J i a h b h s e y s ‘Ja e c n u r anno

ctor Ranveer Singh shared a video announcing the release date of his upcoming film ‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’. The movie is set to release on May 13 this year. Ranveer, in the video, elaborates on the different kinds of heroes produced by Bollywood and Hollywood and promises that his hero would be entirely different.

Ranveer says, “I know you’ve seen all kinds of heroes, like a rich hero, snake-hero, fake hero, a hero who dances with girls, a cop hero, a thug hero, a hero on horseback, outer space hero, superman hero, bat hero. You’ve seen all kinds of heroes, but you haven’t seen a different hero - named Jayeshbhai, and what he does is Jordaar (impressive).”

Directed by debutante filmmaker Divyang, the film marks a reunion for Ranveer and director-producer Mannish Sharma, who gave the actor his debut film ‘Band Baaja Baaraat’. Ranveer had announced the wrap of the film in 2020, with a post that read, “It’s a wrap!!! #JayeshbhaiJordaar Mannish Sir… from ‘Band Baaja Baaraat’ to ‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’, it’s been an incredible 10 years under your guidance.

Divyang… You are a ball of love and positive energy. Thank you for making me your Jayesh.”

Produced by Yash Raj Films, ‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’ will mark the Bollywood debut of ‘Arjun Reddy’ actor Shalini Pandey.

The film also features Boman Irani and Ratna Pathak Shah.

Akshaye Widhani named CEO of Yash Raj Films

e t a d e s a ar’ rel e A f t e r launching his career at YRF as a studio manager in 2005, he has gradually taken up leadership roles in corporate finance, strategy and operations. A graduate from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University with a dual major in Finance and Entrepreneurship, he is also a philanthropist and has been spearheading the recent initiatives for The Yash Chopra Foundation.

About his promotion, Akshaye said, “I am incredibly honored and humbled to assume the role of CEO of Yash Raj Films, a company in which I have spent the last 17 years of my life learning. I’m happy that I had a front-row seat as a member of the leadership team at YRF under Yashji and Aditya Chopra during the course of this time.”

He added, “I share their passion and commitment towards innovation, creative excellence, future expansion plans and also giving back to the industry that has supported and made us who we are today. I have been entrusted to collaborate and lead the hugely sharp think-tank at YRF which I believe to be the best that the industry has to offer. I’m looking forward to assuming this responsibility and taking the company to greater heights with the YRF family in the years to come.”

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Kareena, Kajol share warm reunion Shah Rukh resumes ‘Pathaan’ shoot; fans thrilled

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hah Rukh Khan is all set to resume the shoot of Siddharth Anand’s ‘Pathaan’. He has reportedly flown to Spain to shoot for a schedule of the film and was spotted at the Mumbai airport over the weekend.

Several videos and photos of the actor have surfaced on the internet.

He was seen in a pair of black denim and a black T-shirt, which he paired with a blue hoodie as he arrived at the airport. He fashioned a headband and tied his hair in a ponytail. Shah tugged many heartstrings as he hugged his driver and walked away, and greeted the CISF personnel stationed at the airport entrance.

Elated with his long-awaited return to the big screen, fans showered the paparazzi pictures with love. A fan commented, “So good to see him back out and about again.” Another added, “Wowwww bade dino bad.”

Shah Rukh had shared the first

ctors Kareena Kapoor Khan and Kajol bump into each other at Mehboob Studio in Mumbai and share a warm reunion captured on camera by a paparazzo. In a video shared on Instagram, the actors are seen greeting each other and catching up on each other’s lives. Bebo and Kajol discuss baby Jeh and Ajay Devgn’s smoking habit.

Kareena says, “What’s happening!”, to which Kajol replies, “How’s your new baby?” Kareena says she can’t believe “it’s already been a year” since Jeh’s birth and asks Kajol about her Covid-19 experience. Kajol replies, “I’m Covid returned…” Bebo then inquires about Kajol’s husband Ajay Devgn, who has so far remained immune to the virus. She jokes that he’s avoided it “because he’s a smoker”. Both the actors laugh, embrace, and then go on their separate ways.

Fans took to the comment section of the video to appreciate their regular conversation. One person wrote, “Norml log h ye bhi yr (They are normal people)”. Someone else wrote, “It looks like local ladies talking and gossiping!! Bas expensive cars hai inke sath. (They just have expensive cars)” Both the actors have worked together on ‘Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham’, and ‘We Are Family’. Kajol had also made an appearance on Kareena’s chat show ‘What Women Want’.

Varun Dhawan to perform at IIFA 2022 in Abu Dhabi T

teaser of ‘Pathaan’ earlier last week. The film features him alongside Deepika Padukone and John Abraham. The movie is expected to hit the theatres in January 2023. Deepika was also spotted at the airport leaving for Spain.

On the work front, Shah Rukah will be seen in Atlee’s upcoming and is also set to collaborate for the first time with filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani.

he grandest celebration of Indian Cinema, the International Indian Film Academy Awards, is set to thrill fans with its 22nd edition in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi on May 20th and 21st, 2022. An announcement was made for ticket sales for IIFA 2022. Hosted by Bollywood megastar Salman Khan and Riteish Deshmukh, the highly anticipated event promises to be a mélange of glitz and glamour with stunning performances from Bollywood’s superstars including Varun Dhawan among others.

As the ticket sales are all set to go live - Varun Dhawan said, “Performing at IIFA is always a sheer delight. We all missed IIFA during the pandemic, and now it's back with a bang and I'm extremely happy to be a part of it. I am excited for this incredible industry reunion at the 22nd edition of the IIFA Awards.”

With excitement increasing all over the world, people can now get an opportunity to buy tickets to the biggest celebration of Indian Cinema. The event will take place at the Middle East’s largest stateof-the-art indoor entertainment venue, Etihad Arena, part of Yas Bay Waterfront on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), and Miral, Abu Dhabi’s leading creator of destinations and magnetic experiences.

SLB asked to choose between Deepika and Alia

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ilmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali was asked by a fan about the differences between actors Alia Bhatt and Deepika Padukone. While Alia collaborated for the first time with the director in the recently released ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’, Deepika has been his muse for the longest time. The duo has collaborated on three films already, ‘Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela’, ‘Bajirao Mastani’, and ‘Padmaavat’.

When asked how either of the actresses are different from a filmmaker’s perspective, Bhansali said, “They are different people.

They have different approaches, they have different heights. They have different voices, they have different body language. They have different approach to cinema. All that put together… Deepika is a beautiful girl, wonderful actor. For me, Alia is a very beautiful girl, again a wonderful actor.”

SLB added, “But if I have to do

Bajirao Mastani then I will have to have Deepika, and if I’m doing Gangubai, I will have to have Alia play it. So, each one has their own power that they exude when they find a role that suits them, and you cannot give the wrong role to the wrong actor. Not that in the same breath I can say that Alia could not have played Mastani or Deepika could not have played Gangu. But I feel what casting I’ve done, keeping their essence, is the right casting. So, what Alia did for this role, only Alia could have done. And what Deepika did in those roles only Deepika could have done.”

Growing at the box office every day, ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ has already crossed the £10 million mark worldwide. The film tells the story of a brothel madam who works to bring reforms in the lives of sex workers. The film was released theatrically to enthusiastic reviews praising Alia’s acting prowess and Bhansali’s direction.

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Kamal Haasan, Vijay Sethupathi and Fahadh Faasil wrap up ‘Vikram’

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ctors Kamal Haasan, Fahadh Faasil and Vijay Sethupathi wrapped up the shoot for their upcoming Tamil actionthriller ‘Vikram’ after 110 days. Filmmaker Lokesh Kanagaraj took to Twitter to announce the end of the shoot with a video clip in which Fahadh Faasil can be seen mouthing his own dialogue from Allu Arjun’s ‘Pushpa’.

Lokesh wrote, “After 110 days of shoot, it’s a WRAP. Thanx to the entire cast and crew for the EXTRAORDINARY effort (sic).” In the clip, Lokesh can be heard asking Fahadh to get ready for the shot. As he says action, Fahadh gunfires a few times and as the camera zooms back on his face, he asks Lokesh, “party ledha” (a dialogue from Pushpa).

‘Vikram’ marks the maiden collaboration between all three actors. Tipped to be a high-octane action-thriller, the movie also stars Kalidas Jayaram, Antony Varghese and Arjun Das among others.

The project was initially supposed to be wrapped up last November. The shoot had to be postponed after Kamal tested positive for Covid-19.

Makers of the film eventually decided to shoot the entire schedule indoors in a specially built set for the sake of Kamal’s health. A set with more than 50 damaged cars was shifted to Binny Mills, Chennai, for the final schedule where a major action sequence was shot.

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Nayanthara to romance Jayam Ravi once again!

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ayam Ravi is all set to start his shooting with directed Rajesh M for his next film. Now we hear that he will collaborate with Ahmed once again who is also the director of his muchdelayed project 'Jana Gana Mana.'

In a recent interview, he also shared that Lady Superstar Nayanthara might be a part of this film. Talking about 'Jana Gana Mana' and his new project he said, “We were planning a big schedule abroad for Jana Gana Mana when Covid -19 struck. Though things started getting back on track last year, we wanted to wait so that international skies would completely open and we could shoot abroad. In that interim, I started working on another script and kept bouncing my ideas with Ravi. It was a new genre for me – a psychological thriller – and Ravi also liked the idea and we decided to start rolling with this first.”

He also added that Nayanthara will do justice to the character of the female lead and said, “I feel love and emotions are my strong footing, irrespective of the genre I work in. When I started writing this script, I had penned a beautiful love story as part of it and felt Nayanthara would do justice to that role. I approached her after completing the script, and she sweetly agreed. They are a hit pair and I am sure this film will do justice to their chemistry.”

Nayanthara is currently waiting for the release of 'Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal' with Samantha and Vijay Sethupathi. She is now busy shooting for her Bollywood debut film with Shah Rukh Khan. On the other hand, Jayam Ravi completed shooting for his epic drama 'Ponniyin Selvan' in which he plays the titular role.

Aishwaryaa greets her former brother-in-law Selvaraghavan A

ishwaryaa Rajinikanth posted a sweet birthday wish for director Selvaraghavan, elder brother to her estranged husband Dhanush. Aishwaryaa, who announced her separation from Dhanush at the beginning of this year, took to her Instagram account to wish Selva on his birthday. Sharing a picture of herself hugging the director, she wrote that he plays many roles in her life.

“Happy birthday my guru, friend, father figure and I can go on @selvaraghavan”, Aishwaryaa captioned the picture. Selvaraghavan reshared the post to his account, and wrote “Thank you my dear daughter.”

I don’t always want to do big films: Prabhas

outhern superstar Prabhas’ upcoming film ‘Radhe Shyam’ went on floors four years ago and remains marred with sporadic delays due to the pandemic. However, the leading actor has no qualms about how his character may be affected. Prabhas said, “I’m used to doing films which take four and half years.” However, he adds that he would rather work on a single project over a period of time.

“I was shooting for ‘Saaho’ as well as ‘Radhe Shyam’ which became a bit problematic. In the past also, I worked on two Telugu films at the same time. But doing one film and concentrating on that is always more comfortable than doing multiple projects simultaneously,” Prabhas said. Despite delivering blockbusters like ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’ in 2015 and ‘Baahubali: The Conclusion’ in 2017, Prabhas said he is nervous before the release of ‘Radhe Shyam’ as it is mounted on a “huge budget”.

He said, “We always thought we would finish the film in £15 million. But due to delays, the budget increased to £30 million. Moreover, the producers didn’t want to compromise on the portions where we were shot on a ship. I feel the box office pressure and it’s very stressful.”

Prabhas says he wants to do “something different and artistic” after every three tent-pole films.

“I’m already planning a comedy film which is not mounted on a huge scale. I don’t always want to do big films. I don’t want the audience to think that every film Prabhas is coming out with is a big one.

I might also do a small love story for which I may not even take any remuneration.”

Aishwaryaa and Dhanush announced their split in January this year after being together for 18 years. A statement they released on their social media accounts to reveal the news read, "18 years of togetherness as friends, couple, as parents and well-wishers to each other. The journey has been of growth, understanding, adjusting and adapting. Today we stand at a place where our paths separate.”

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MON 14 MAR - FRI 18 MAR 2022 6.00 Jesal Toral 9.00 SHUBH PRABHAT 9.30 SUR PRABHAT 15.00 RASOI SHOW 17.30 SHRIMAD BHAGWAT MAHAPURAN 18.00 DESHI BEATS 18.30 SURI 19.00 BHAKT GORA KUMBHAR 19.30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 20.00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI 20.30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU 21.00 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM 21.30 GEETA SATURDAY 12 MAR 2022 6.00 Halaman Jethwo 9.00 SHUBH PRABHAT 9.30 SUR PRABHAT

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MON 14 MAR - FRI 18 MAR 2022 16.30 RASOI SHOW DESI FLAVOURS 17.30 CHHUTA CHHEDA 18.00 SASURAL SIMAR KA 18.30 TU AASHIQUI 19.00 BHAGYA KA LIKHA 20.00 SWARNA GHAR 20.30 DIL SE DIL TAK 21.00 THAPKI PYAR KI 2 21.30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 2

10.00 MOTU PATLU 11.00 GATTU BATTU 15.00 RASOI SHOW 17.30 SHRIMAD BHAGWAT MAHAPURAN 18.00 DESHI BEATS 18.30 SURI 19.00 BHAKT GORA KUMBHAR 19.30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 20.00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI 20.30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU 21.00 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM 21.30 GEETA SUNDAY 13 MAR 2022 9.00 SHUBH PRABHAT 9.30 SUR PRABHAT 10.00 MOTU PATLU 11.00 GATTU BATTU 12.00 Dholo Mara Malakno 15.00 Aav Taru Kari Nakhu 18.00 DESHI BEATS 18.30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 19.00 SHU CHALE CHE 19.30 GEETA 20.30 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM 22.00 SHU CHALE CHE SATURDAY 12 MAR 2022 15.00 SHU CHALE CHE 16.30 RASOI SHOW - DESI FLAVOURS 17.30 DESI BEAT 3 18.00 SASURAL SIMAR KA 18.30 TU AASHIQUI 19.00 BHAGYA KA LIKHA 20.00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL 21.00 THAPKI PYAR KI 2 21.30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 2 SUNDAY 13 MAR 2022 16.30 RASOI SHOW - DESI FLAVOURS 17.30 DESI BEAT 3 18.00 BFFs with Vogue - Season 1 19.00 KHATRA KHATRA KHATRA 20.00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL 21.00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL

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12 - 18 March 2022

She’s like my evil twin: Madhuri on ‘The Fame Game’ character B

ollywood actress Madhuri Dixit, who recently made an appearance in the web series ‘The Fame Game’ says her on-screen character Anamika Anand, a Bollywood star, differs from her real self. Speaking with filmmaker Karan Johar in his talk show, Madhuri compared herself with the role.

“Nothing fazes me, I forge ahead always. There are so many other things I can do in life. But I don’t think Anamika would be able to deal with things the way I do. She would be a mess. If she walks into a room and nobody recognizes her, she’ll go mad. She’s like my evil twin,” the actress said.

In the interview, Karan mentions a particular “volatile” scene in the series in which Anamika undergoes an emotional breakdown. “And you know you have to walk on stage and give that showbiz smile and pretend like nothing’s wrong. As Madhuri Dixit, have you had moments like that? How have you managed those situations?” asked Karan.

Madhuri replied, “Well, yeah, there have been such moments yes. Well, somewhere you have to compartmentalise - if that’s the right word. You lose somebody close to you, and that sorrow is right there in you. But then you have to go on a set and do a scene that is the complete opposite. So you have to just forget everything at that moment. Once the camera is on, you have to forget all those things.”

Madhuri has been earning the love of audiences with her stellar performance in the show. Created by Sri Rao, the show stars Madhuri in the role of a successful actor who goes missing. ‘The Fame Game’ also stars Sanjay Kapoor, Manav Kaul, Lakshvir Saran and Suhasini Muley.

Maitreyi reveals her reaction to Indian character in 'Turning Red’ I

ndian-Canadian actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan of ‘Never Have I Ever’ fame will soon be seen in a leading role in the upcoming Disney animated feature film ‘Turning Red’. She will be voicing the spunky character Priya in the coming of age story directed by Oscar-winning director Domee Shi. Speaking in an interview recently, Maitreyi shared her experience bringing the character to life and shared her surprise at how the character resembled her Indian characteristics.

“I remember my first reaction to seeing just a rough sketch of Priya while recording,” Maitrey said. “I was immediately so excited about how similar she looks to me I'm talking about the bushy hair, the nose piercing, glasses and the slight eye bags from probably staying up way too late the night before! I definitely was not as quiet and cool as

OTT world revived me in many ways: Prateik Babbar

Priya is when I was in middle school, but we both are always ready to stick up for a friend.”

Revealing how she got into the character, the actress said, “Sounding excited, sad or angry while also staying monotone is a very fine line to walk. Priya is just someone with a monotone voice, but she still has feelings like every other middle school kid, so keeping that in mind definitely helped. Recording early in the morning also helped to sound monotone!

Not a fan of mornings.”

'Turning Red' is touted to be an endearing story of self-acceptance and true friendship as four girls traverse the ups and downs of teenage life. It features the voice cast of Rosalie Chiang as Meilin, Sandra Oh as Ming, Ava Morse as Miriam and Hyein Park as Abby. The film released on Disney+Hotstar on March 11 and will be available in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam.

A

Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton’ set to feature Bollywood song in Season 2 T he much-awaited Season 2 of Netflix’s series ‘Bridgerton’ is all set to drop on March 25 this year and from what we hear, Lady Whistledown has been “sharpening her knives”. The show, which premiered in 2020, went on to become the streaming giant’s one of the most popular series.

Along with the show’s steamy premises and shockingly good-looking actors, its music has

been a point of discussion.

Show’s creator Chris Van Dusen recently opened up on the songs one can expect to feature in the second season, and as it turns out, there is a strong Bollywood connection.

According to details revealed by him in an interview with People.com, Part 2 features a series of popular tracks, including the title track from Karan Johar’s popular film ‘Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham’.

The song originally featured Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Hrithik Roshan, and Kareena Kapoor Khan. The track was originally composed by Jatin-Lalit. Other songs on the list include Miley Cyrus' ‘Wrecking Ball’, Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’, Pink’s ‘What About Us’, and ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ by Calvin Harris.

Series’ music supervisor, Justin Kamps said in a separate interview, “It’s a first for ‘Bridgerton’, a cover of a Bollywood song called ‘Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham’ which I’m really excited about. It’s a beautiful cover.”

Dusen, meanwhile, said each song in the season’s playlist is “incredibly powerful and deeply emotional in its own special way. I always try many different songs for any scene before landing on the perfect one to use. This season, I couldn’t be more thrilled about her musical playlist.”

ctor Prateik Babbar has a long checklist he needs to go through, and the online medium is helping him achieve his goals. The 35year-old actor has made his presence in the OTT platform with a variety of characters in movies like ‘Four More Shots Please!’, ‘Cobalt Blue’, and ‘Hiccups and Hookups’.

Crediting the online platform for turning out to be a stepping stone in his career, Prateik said, “The OTT world has revived me in many ways. It has given me opportunities to showcase my work. My goal has been the same and will remain the same - to be the best at what I do. There are no shortcuts to success. I am a 24/7 ‘work in progress’.”

He added, “I am extremely grateful to be able to do what I love the most. I will never be satisfied or content because I will always have a hunger for more! I would like to conduct myself in the same manner because there is a lot to do in a short span,” he shares, adding, “There are many dreams to achieve, many checkboxes to tick! I have enjoyed all the work that I have done, and I will continue to do so.”

On the work front, Prateik has multiple projects including ‘Woh Ladki Hai Kahaan’, ‘India Lockdown’, and ‘Abhi Toh Party Shuru Hui Hai.’

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Jadeja shines in India's big win India completed a comprehensive innings and 222-run victory over Sri Lanka inside three days in the first Test to go 1-0 up in the two-match series at Mohali on Sunday.

All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja shone with the bat and ball as he snared nine wickets in the match to complement his 175 not out. India shot Sri Lanka out for 178 in 60 overs in their second innings after the visitors were asked to followon. Sri Lanka had scored 174 in their first innings in reply to India's 574 for 8 declared.

Premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who went past the legendary Kapil Dev's 434 Test scalps to become the second highest wicket-taker for India, also took four wickets in Sri Lanka's second innings while senior pacer Mohammed Shami got two.

Sri Lanka continued with their batting flop show as they did just a tad better than their first innings score with wicket keeper Niroshan

Dickwella top-scoring with 51 not out. Their best partnership was the 49-run stand for the fourth wicket between Angelo Mathews (28) and Dhananjaya de Silva (30).

Earlier, Jadeja also pulverised the Lankan bowling to amass his career-best score in Test cricket before India declared their innings on 574-8 in Virat Kohli's 100th game. Jadeja put on a stand of 130 with overnight partner Ashwin, who made 61, to help India notch up a hefty total on the scoreboard. He recorded his second Test century, surpassing his previous best of 100 not out. Rishabh Pant scored a 97ball 96 on the opening day.

Jadeja ensured there was no respite for the Lankan team which can at best be described as

in brief

ordinary. The problems in Lankan cricket were cruelly exposed as they got bowled out twice for 174 and 178 inside four sessions. On a pitch that didn’t offer raging turn or seam movement, India’s pacers and spinners gave no breathing space to the batters. Pathum Nissanka’s unbeaten 61 in the first innings and Niroshan Dickwella’s unbeaten 51 in the second innings were aberrations in a batting lineup that was susceptible all through.

The second and last Test - a day/night affair - will start on Saturday in Bengaluru.

Brief scores India: 574 for 8 declared in 129.2 overs. Sri Lanka: 174 all out and 178 all out in 60 overs (Niroshan Dickwella 51 not out, Ravichandran Ashwin 4/47, Ravindra Jadeja 4/46).

Cricket world mourns loss of legend Shane Warne Shane Warne, one of the greatest cricketers in the history of the sport, has died aged 52.

He was found unresponsive in his villa in Thailand and despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived.

According to Australian media, he died of a heart attack.

The spin bowler was part of Australia’s World Cup-winning team in 1999 as well as the linchpin of a side that became the sport’s dominant force in the late 1990s and 2000s.

Wisden, the respected cricket almanac, rated him among the five greatest cricketers of the 20th century.

Warne went on to claim about 700 more wickets over a

15-year career in Test matches, second only to the Sri Lankan great Muttiah Muralitharan. He is credited with reviving leg spin, a bowling technique designed to make a cricket ball move prodigiously off the pitch to catch out the batsman. An exuberant personality on the cricket field, he was also a charismatic presence off it, and spent his post-playing career as a television commentator with Fox in Australia and Sky in the UK. Born in Melbourne in September 1969, Warne played for his home state of Victoria and later joined Hampshire county cricket club in England.

His first Test match was in 1992 against India.

Mithali scripts incredible World Cup record

Indian women's cricket team skipper Mithali Raj on Sunday became the first woman, and only the third cricketer ever, to appear at six ICC Women's Cricket World Cups. Leading India in the opening game of their World Cup campaign against Pakistan, the 39-year-old ensured the record enters a new decade.

Former Pakistan cricketer Javed Miandad appeared in the first six Men's Cricket World Cups between 1975 and 1996 with Sachin Tendulkar beginning his World Cup career in 1992.

By the time Tendulkar's fairy-tale finish came in 2011,

Mithali had already captained India at a World Cup after having made her tournament debut in 2000. As skipper the records keep coming, the right-hander now equals Australian legend Belinda Clark by captaining at her fourth ICC Women's Mithali Raj World Cup - Clark's tenure spanning from 1993 to 2005, according to ICC. Clark and Mithali stand as the only two players to have captained their country at more than two World Cups. But Mithali also eclipses her fellow batter as the span between first captaining her country and last doing so stretches to 17 years, the Australian's tenure as skipper came across 12.

And it is not just her captaincy that is breaking records - her World Cup career now spans more than two decades with no women ever having played in ICC Women's World Cups 20 years apart.

Tributes have poured in from across the sport.

Adam Gilchrist, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Ben Stokes among some who paid respect to Warne.

Warne stopped playing international cricket after the 2007 Ashes.

He took part in the first four seasons of the Indian Premier League, winning the inaugural competition with the Rajasthan Royals as captain of the team.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the spin legend will receive a state funeral, while the cricket board

CHENNAI TO FACE KOLKATA IN IPL OPENER Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will face Kolkata Knight Riders in the opening game of the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Wankhede stadium on March 26. The BCCI on Sunday announced the schedule of the cash-rich league, which will be played across four venues -Wankhede Stadium and Cricket Club of India in Mumbai, DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai and Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium in Pune. “A total number of 70 league matches and 4 playoff games will be played in the duration of 65 days,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a media release. There will be 12 doubleheaders in the tournament and on such days, the first game will be played at 3.30 pm and the evening matches. will be played at 7.30 pm. The first-double header will be played on March 27 with a day game at the Brabourne stadium (CCI) where the Delhi Capitals will square off five-time champions Mumbai Indians. Later, DY Patil Stadium will host the clash between Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore in a night game. The first match in Pune will be played on March 29 when Sunrisers Hyderabad take on Rajasthan Royals.

GM ERIGAISI IS NEW NATIONAL CHESS CHAMP decided to rename a stand at the MCG in his honour. Morrison said Australians were “bewildered” by a “sad and sudden” loss of Warne and the state funeral would be organised by federal and Victorian governments, Cricket Australia and the family.

Sneh, Vastrakar star in India's win over Pak Struggling at 114/6 in the 34th over, India rode on a fine batting show from Smriti Mandana (52), Deepti Sharma (40), Sneh Rana (53 n. o. ) and Pooja Vastrakar (67) to steer India to a competitive 244/7.

Bowlers, led by left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad (4/ 31) then turned up the heat to bowl out Pakistan for 137 in 43 overs, thus handing India a handsome 107-run win.

In the process, they stretched their winning streak against their rivals from across the border to 11 matches. Diana Baig provided Pakistan the first break, when a slightly impatient Shafali Verma went for a big one on the legside but saw her bails tumble. Smriti and Deepti then decided to grind it out with their 92-run association.

Smriti decided to play with controlled aggression and the ploy worked. But spinner Nashra Sandhu (2/36) halted the partnership when Deepti played across, missed the line completely and watched as her off-stump cartwheeled. This triggered a collapse as the left-arm spin duo of Sandhu and Dar (2/45) ensured a procession of Indian batters.

India lost five wickets for the addition of 18 runs, as the batters were guilty of throwing away their wickets with Smriti, Mithali and Richa getting their shot selections wrong against tossed up deliveries.

On the flipside, the collapse brought to the fore the temperament and talent of Sneh and Pooja. The two held their nerves amid the ruins to register a record 122-run seventh-wicket partnership.

The target was achievable, but the Indian bowlers kept chipping away at the opposition to put it beyond their reach. Rajeshwari dealt the first blow to Pakistan as Javeria Khan decided to have a go at the spinner but mistimed to Jhulan at mid-wicket. From there on, the vanquished lost wickets at regular intervals, with some of the players’ inexperience and inability to play spin weighing heavily on them.

Brief scores: India: 244/7 in 50 overs (Smriti Mandhana 52, Deepti Sharma 40, Sneh Rana 53, Pooja Vastrakar 67; Nida Dar 2-45, Nashra Sandhu 2-36) bt Pakistan: 173 all out in 43 overs (Sidra Ameen 30; Jhulan Goswami 2-26, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 4-31, Sneh Rana 2-27).

Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi of Telangana won the Senior National Chess Championship, edging out fellow GMs of Tamil Nadu D Gukesh and P Iniyan in a tiebreaker after the trio finished on 8. 5 points each. The 18-year-old Erigaisi remained unbeaten in 11 rounds and ended up with 8.5 points for his maiden Senior National title. He drew his final round game against SP Sethuraman.

Gukesh had to settle for a draw against Aryan Chopra while Iniyan moved up to 8.5 points with a fine win over fellow GM Mitrabha Guha of West Bengal. Defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram of Tamil Nadu finished fourth with eight points, while top-seed B Adhinan ended a distant 20th. Erigaisi and Gukesh began the day on eight points and both had a chance of laying their hands on the top prize. Iniyan defeated Guha to make it an interesting battle for the title. However, Erigaisi and Gukesh were held to draws, meaning a three-way tie for the top place. Erigaisi emerged victorious on the basis of a better tie-break score.

AUSSIE GREAT MARSH DIES AT 74 With a distinctive mustache, unbuttoned shirt and a baggy green cap like a beacon behind the stumps, the sight of Rod Marsh and the sound of his name pervaded Australian summers in the 1970s and early 80s. The cricket great, who formed a prolonged and prolific wicket-taking partnership with Australian pace bowler Dennis Lillee, died in an Adelaide hospital last week just over a week after having a heart attack during a fundraising event in Queensland state. He was 74. A stocky and stoic wicketkeeper-batter, Marsh was half of a catchphrase that was synonymous with the era of test cricket: caught Marsh, bowled Lillee. They combined a record 95 times to dismiss opposition batters in test cricket. “This is a tremendously sad day for Australian cricket and for all those who loved and admired Rod Marsh,“ Cricket Australia chairman Lachlan Henderson said.