AV 14th May 2022

FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

How Modern Love Mumbai came alive with a trick game

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14 ‘Project Jayantee’ to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

Government slams report as WHO says India's Covid toll is 47,00,000

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

Celebrating Gujarat Day abroad is a big thing: Shri Parshottam Rupala

Lord Bilimoria delivers keynote at annual Business & Industry Dinner

COST OF LIVING PUTS MENTAL HEALTH AT STAKE British Indians face barriers to accessing mental healthcare amid the rising cost of living, hitting a ten-year low.

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PM Modi, Macron seek talks to end Ukraine war

Local council elections 2022: London turns red from blue Prime Minister Boris Johnson has taken the responsibility for the massive loss that the Conservative party has witnessed in the local council elections barring a handful of boroughs.

He admitted that the local elections were 'tough' for the Tories - and he 'of course' takes responsibility. The Conservatives suffered defeats at town halls across the country amid Partygate, the cost of living crisis and a Labour and Lib Dem resurgence.

Continued on page 04

Delimitation panel increases J&K House seats from 83 to 90

Shefali Saxena

According to the annual update of the Health, Wealth & Happiness Index from LifeSearch, compiled by Cebr, and with consumer insights including 500 ethnic minorities, Brits’ health, wealth and happiness remain at record ten-year lows with ethnic minority communities suffering most. The impact is even higher (52%) among people from ethnic minority groups; rising still among women in this community

(58%) and among Pakistani / Bangladeshi ethnic groups (59%) – vs 46% of white Brits.

The ongoing impact of the Covid19 pandemic, combined with the cost-of-living crisis and the war in Ukraine, is having a devastating effect on the overall well-being of people living in the UK, with ethnic minorities suffering the most, according to the latest findings of the LifeSearch Health, Wealth & Happiness 2022 Index.

The Delimitation Commission, in its final order for Jammu and Kashmir, has made fresh changes in the nomenclature or boundaries of 30 assembly constituencies across 13 districts of the Union territory. While the names of 13 constituencies have been revised, patwar circles or tehsils were included or excluded across 21 assembly constituencies since the last delimitation draft was released in March 2022.

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AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

14 - 20 May 2022

with Keith Vaz

KASH KUMAR Radio Broadcaster Kash was born in Uganda but has lived in Leicester since infancy. His parents were from Gujarat India and moved to East Africa in the 1950s, the family then moved to England in the late 1960s.

Kash was educated in Leicester and furthered his studies at a London Drama School in film and television. He enjoyed working on TV shows and movies such as The Bill, Eastenders and Tandoori Nights along with many modelling opportunities. For many years Kash has been a Radio Broadcaster including Radio Festival, and Rhythm Radio, and now hosts the primetime 6-2-8 show on Sabras Radio. Kash is currently employed at Lloyd’s Banking Group in Customer Services.

Kash is the father to Emile who lives in Toronto, Canada, and 2 daughters Talika Chandni and Monique Anmol who live in England. He is also a proud grandfather to Keyaan, Luca Milan and Skye Ariana.

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

Leicester has been home since I was a young lad. It is where my parents raised me, and I have many special memories with my community and family. Leicester is ‘India outside of India.’ The community spirit along with its unique culture makes this part of England a wonderful place to live.

2) What are your proudest achievements?

Obtaining a scholarship to go to a London Drama school was an achievement for me, especially coming from a family of modest means in the 80s. I had to overcome several personal challenges to attend this school. With love and passion for theatre and film as a child, and it was the right opportunity for me to develop my skills in the arts. This included many theatre performances all over the U.K. 3) What inspires you?

My parents sacrificed much, and displayed courage to settle our family in the U.K. They gave me the best to life I could have hoped for. Because of their decisions, I have had many blessings and opportunities that would not have been possible had my parents moved back to India or stayed on the continent of Africa. Also, the generous deeds of others has always touched me, and something I reflect on as a motivation to do more for others the best I can.

4) What has been biggest obstacle in your career?

In order to have a progressive career, quite often something must take a backseat. For me it was always a challenge to strike the right balance between family and work life.

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

My family for one, but there is an individual many years back that comes to mind by the name of Mr Barry Crawley. He was a good leader, and instilled confidence in me to take on a senior management position. I found his manner and style of management refreshing. He was kind, understanding, and gave me the freedom required to do my work well. I learned a lot from Barry,

and that shaped the rest of my career.

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

The work I do in the banking sector has benefited hundreds of people in their personal financial well-being. Since I also enjoy my radio broadcasting work, I’ll add, I receive a lot of joy from the support of my listeners. I attribute the opportunity to bond with these listeners from all over the world to Mr. Don Kotak, Director of Sabras Radio.

7) And the worst?

I think most people find a question like this challenging to answer especially when in the role. Transparently, I think it is fair to say the pandemic has put a lot of frustration and pressure on the way we work.

It has been a big adjustment for me personally. Also in the media world, you are constantly trying to keep up with the latest information, and find new ways to keep content interesting and engaging for your listeners.

8) What are your long term goals?

Whilst I am not the biggest fan of flying, I do have a love for travel. As I approach retirement in the next few years I definitely want to see more of this beautiful planet with my precious family.

I do have a personal focus on a project started back in 2007 when my father was still alive. My son Emile and I are on a special father son journey to share the story of Tilawa 1942 The Forgotten Tragedy. It is the story of SS Tilawa, a passenger cargo liner ship torpedoed by the Japanese Imperial Army on November 23 1942. My grand-father was onboard the SS Tilawa, and sadly perished. It is something that forever scared my father. We have the campaign to learn more, further our research, and share this historic event with others.

Our website www.tilawa1942.com is a great resource for this missing piece of history.

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

I keep a neutral stand on politics as I feel the world's problems cannot be resolved by one person. However, I am very interested in supporting any research for epilepsy since I lost my younger sister to this sad illness in 2011. She was in her early 40’s, and gone too soon.

FINANCIAL A SERVICES 10) If you were marooned on a desert island, which PROTECTION MORTGAGES historical figure would you Life Insurance Residential like to spend your time with Critical Illness Buy to Let and why.

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Elizabeth line will start running on Tuesday, May 24 The most long-awaited Elizabeth line, the London Crossrail will start running through central London on May 24, 2022, Transport for London announced.

Initially, the line will operate in three sections the western section between Reading, Heathrow and Paddington, the central section between Paddington and Abbey Wood, and the eastern section between Street and Liverpool Shenfield.

The central section

includes 10 spectacular new stations, some such as Liverpool Street, Tottenham Court Road and Paddington of a size never before seen in London. But, trains will run through Bond Street without stopping as it is not yet ready.

The fleet of 70 nine-car-

riage trains worth £1bn, will run every five minutes in the central section, from 6.30 am to 11 pm six days a week.

This will also help to cut down the journey from Paddington to Canary Wharf to 17 minutes, compared with more than 30 minutes by Tube at present.

On May 15, 2009, the construction of Crossrail began and it was expected to open in 2017. Later, there were delays and increase in cost as well.

GPs face ‘appalling’ racism A leaked report by, the first Health Education England of its kind says racism and discrimination are widespread within primary care across the capital, and GPs in other parts of the country have raised similar concerns.

Senior GPs have warned that if the situation remains the same, ultimately patients will suffer as experienced doctors will leave practices to avoid such abuse.

It has been found that one in three primary health care workers, including GPs, pharmacists, dentists and optometrists, had experienced racial discrimination or harassment from patients in the last 12 months, and one in five from the staff they work with.

Professor Simon Gregory, deputy medical director for Health Education England,

said: “There is considerable evidence that the UK is systemically racist, and that the NHS is a systemically racist workplace.

“This report is shocking evidence of terrible, indeed appalling, levels of discrimination across protected characteristics and with much intersectionality, but especially shocking levels of racial discrimination.”

“The awful and painful narratives of so many colleagues over so many years cannot be ignored but thanks to London’s primary care educational leaders we now have firm evidence. Evidence that cannot be ignored.”

A senior GP in Yorkshire said, “Patients saying ‘Why do I need to see a P*** here?

Why can’t I see somebody who is white or English?’ Receptionists being asked, “is there a white doctor?”

Radical plans to transform NHS tabled A list of radical ideas for transforming the NHS emerged in a pharma round table with senior No 10 advisers.

The ideas drawn up by drug and healthcare companies include lifting safeguards blocking startups’ access to patient data, and nurses being incentivised to help speed trials.

However, campaigners feel that transparency and patient confidentiality could lower standards and weaken patient protections if implemented.

The meeting was con-

vened by a task force appointed by Boris Johnson to generate ideas for cutting supposed red tape after Brexit. It was attended by representatives of companies including GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, drug firm lobbyists and figures including Johnson’s chief health adviser, William Warr, and another for digital health.

Some of the points that were discussed in the meeting were the creation of a new category described as “special forces nurses” that will reward NHS staff who

will in return help speed up testing and trials of new drugs in hospitals.

Also, startup companies will be given access to NHS data which currently are excluded on account of the risks associated with them.

Phil Booth, the coordinator of medConfidential, a group campaigning for confidentiality and consent in healthcare, said: “Of course, pharma and tech companies will always want more data, but ‘speeding up innovation’ should never mean fewer or weakened protections for patients.

Newborn baby died moments before birth at East London hospital Enamul Haque Rohel and Saima Tasnim lost their baby moments before birth leaving Saima in severe pain during the traumatic birth and alleged "gross negligence" at an East London hospital.

The couple claimed that the staff at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel ignored the concerns about Saima's pregnancy and did not pick up on the warning signs as well about the baby's condition until it was too late to revive the baby.

On April 14, around 3 am Enamul and Saima arrived at East London’s Royal

London Hospital after Saima went into labour, and were there for over 12 hours.

Saima who was in a great deal of pain said midwives and nurses were confused and were giving contradictory information to her about the baby.

Enamul said: “They

delayed the process until five o’clock - that was too late. There wasn’t any heartbeat, they were trying for several minutes - they were panicking…

So they pressed the panic alarm to arrange a bed for us downstairs.”

Finally, Enamul was told that they couldn’t find the newborn baby's heartbeat and there was no chance of recovery.

He said the complaint has been done and an investigation was underway.

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14 - 20 May 2022

Morning shows the day Elections are not just about exercising democratic rights but it is about strategising and planning a secured future.

While local councils are not given enough credit, they are responsible for a number of important things such as roads, education, houses etc. The living cost crisis that we are enduring, much of it could have perhaps been balanced if the local authorities had equal power as the central government.

The local elections last week saw the ruling Conservative party losing almost 500 local council seats, much of which went to Labour and Lib Dems. The Green Party also had a remarkable gain. Before the elections, while everyone predicted a loss for Tories, much of it was attributed to the Partygate scandal.

Interestingly, Partygate did not have an impact on this election result but the cost of living crisis did. People fed up with shortages and astronomical prices payable for basic necessities wanted to find an alternative route and exercised their democratic rights to solve their problems.

But in areas with ignorant voters not turning up to vote, control has gone into the hands of an apparently ‘disgraced’ politician who was dismissed earlier from the Labour Party for voting fraud allegations. Eventually, the man founded his own party called Aspire with other Bangladeshi lads and today Tower Hamlets is in the control of the same Lutfur Rahman who was once found guilty of electoral misconduct in 2015. This proves two things. First, public memory is short-lived and everyone gets a second chance. Second, if you do not go out and vote, be ready to suffer the consequences of your absence.

Rahman wasn’t the first choice as a mayoral candidate in Tower Hamlets, despite having much of the Bangladeshi diaspora living there. Labour’s John Briggs only received 33000+ votes as a first choice, while Rahman received 40000+ as a second choice even during the second count. He won on the basis of that, but also because more than 7000 people did not turn up to vote, in one of London’s poorest boroughs. His party Aspire also delivered a shocking blow to Labour after winning control of the council by taking a total of 24 seats out of the 45 up for grabs.

Of course, Rahman is being watched closely and if he does not deliver, he will not be spared. In a country where racism is still rampant, people would wait for a man like Rahman to slip, but if anything that the election results have proven, successes are not built on other people’s mistakes alone. While Rahman won due to absentee voters, in Harrow, Conservatives won much of its seats, to enthusiastic Indian voters, who voted to ensure they are represented by their own. 8 of the current councillors

are Gujarati with 4 from the Kutch area. Local temples, low traffic roads, and low crime have been many of the demands, and have never been met in the past few years.

Many of the residents came from East Africa and lived in council houses before making enough for a house of their own. They have always aspired to live better and build a good life around them for themselves and family.

They have encountered a fate where everything was taken away overnight during Idi Amin’s expulsion, and they could not protect anything in absence of their own representation in Ugandan Parties, Parliament or Government. Once bitten, twice shy, today this community knows what difference representation and voting could make in governance and they have not disappointed themselves while voting in Harrow.

Councillors like 35-year-old Ameet Jogia, whose parents came from Tanzania, are raising a family with a wife in the area. He knows the importance of a crime-free locality with good schools for children and a safe neighbourhood- as per the values of the community he belongs to.

Labour Party on the other hand has gained some important boroughs like Westminster and Barnet. With much of Labour’s antisemitism stance, it is interesting to watch, how an area, populated by the Jewish community went to choose Labour Party as their representative.

Barnet has the highest population of Jews in Britain and one of the highest proportions as a percentage of the total population. The Jewish population is 54,084 and represents 15.5% of the total population - the highest in the UK. The Labour Party took overall control in Barnet in this election, winning 41 of the seats to the Conservative Party's 22. In the last local elections, the borough witnessed the emblematic problems with Mr Corbyn among the Jewish community. And Labour fell back in Barnet, despite making gains elsewhere.

But this victory- the first once since the 1960s shows the Labour Party under Sir Keir Starmer has shaken off the taint of antisemitism and it is a step in the right direction, as the country readies itself for the general election in 2024.

The 2024 election may not be a cakewalk for Boris Johnson. Of course, if luck prevails, all his misdoings or failures will be behind him by then. But if Starmer does not resign for beergate, a leader who has solved a major fundamental problem such as anti-semitism, winning a majority in a forbidden borough after 5 decades, Prime Minister Boris Johnson should fear him as a fellow contender. After all, mornings always show you the day.

Political normalcy may be restored in J&K now There is a ray of hope for Jammu and Kashmir following the notification of the final delimitation order. Now steps should be taken to restore political normalcy in J&K. Since August 2019, people in J&K have taken advantage of the cessation of cross-border terrorism. The central government has promised substantial investment in different sectors for the overall development of the region. Even foreign countries have promised to invest in the region.

This will create employment opportunities for the local people. The investment in transportation will increase the mobility of people and goods to interior regions.

Education, health care and the IT sector will get a new boost. Before 2019, investment by outsiders was not welcome in the region. Following the restoration of normalcy, there is a huge rise in the number of tourists visiting the region. The income of the region will increase which in turn boosts the income of people engaged in the tourism sector.

The gazette notification brings to an end a two-yearlong exercise and clears a major hurdle in restoring normalcy in the region. After all, delimitation was a prerequisite for holding assembly elections in J&K following the nullification of Article 370 and the creation of a new Union territory. Towards that end, the delimitation commission has taken a sensible approach and viewed J&K as one unit. This should put to rest long-held complaints that the Valley wielded disproportionate power in the erstwhile political arrangement of the region.

Accordingly, the final delimitation order has increased the number of assembly constituencies in the Jammu region from 37 to 43 seats, while the Kashmir region will see its seat count go up by one to 47. Plus, for the very first time, nine assembly constituencies have been reserved for STs out of which six will be in the Jammu region and three in the Valley. Continuing with the unitary approach, the commission has also carved out a parliamentary constituency combining the Anantnag region in the Valley with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu. This will

allow each parliamentary constituency in J&K to have an equal number of 18 assembly seats and do away with the previous region-wise division of Lok Sabha seats.

These changes should be acceptable to most political groups in J&K. What’s needed now is their fair participation in assembly polls that will restore full democratic processes in the UT. In fact, holding these polls along with the Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat elections later this year is now feasible. Of course, the fructification of various development promises by the Centre is also tied to residents of the region feeling like stakeholders in this development. Once they vote again and political normalcy returns, this should allow for the restoration of their statehood next. The delimitation panel has recommended the reorganisation of the Lok Sabha constituencies in such a way that all five parliamentary seats in the UT have an equal distribution of assembly segments. To achieve this, the panel has redrawn the boundaries of the Anantnag and Jammu Lok Sabha seats. Jammu division’s Poonch and Rajouri districts that were earlier part of the Jammu parliamentary seat have now been included in the Anantnag seat in the Kashmir division.

It has also recommended that the Central government consider giving displaced persons from Pakistanoccupied Kashmir some representation in the assembly.

The changes mean that 43.8 per cent of the UT’s population in Jammu will now vote in 47.8 per cent of the seats, while the 56.2 per cent of voters living in Kashmir will vote in the remaining 52.2 per cent of the seats. Until now, Kashmir’s 56 per cent had 55.4 per cent of the seats and Jammu’s 43.8 per cent had 44.5 per cent of the seats.

The idea was to create more seats in the Jammu division so as to bring the region at par with the Muslim-dominated Kashmir region. Many reports have suggested that the BJP and the RSS want to ensure Jammu receives legislative representation equal to Kashmir so that the valley no longer dominates or controls the political scenario in the UT.

Thought for the week You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.— Buddha

Political Sketchbook Alpesh Patel

Femtech - Women's Tech Is Wrongly Overlooked For the purposes of this article, "femtech" is a broad term that refers to any technology that serves women's health needs.

I hosted the UK launch press conference of the Akshay Kumar film, ‘Toilet’. There was a time when an indoor toilet was considered a technological innovation. As the movie shows (10th highest grossing Bollywood movie of 2018) such ‘tech’ is a also a female safety issue too. For the purposes of this article, "femtech" is a broad term that refers to any technology that serves women's health needs. It includes everything from fertility apps and ovulation trackers and beyond.

By focusing on female-focused issues such as menstruation, infertility and pregnancy (or even just general health concerns), femtech products are designed with women in mind.

It also covers a number of general health conditions that affect women disproportionately or differently (such as osteoporosis or cardiovascular disease) Femtech is so important because it helps women take control of their own bodies by providing them with information they need in order to make informed decisions about their lives. When we're able to see our bodies as something we can manage rather than something that manages us, we feel empowered: we're able to take charge of our lives by making informed decisions about our health care choices, rather than leaving those decisions up for debate among doctors who don't necessarily share our goals for ourselves or our families.

As McKinsey puts it, “FemTech is powered to a significant extent by female entrepreneurs—more than 70 percent of FemTech companies we analyzed had at least one female founder, compared with a 20 percent norm for new companies. Indeed, across the value chain, a more inclusive, gender-aware healthcare system could help support more women to become inventors, investors, physicians, founders—and healthier human beings, solving for the health conditions of other human beings. Research has shown that when inventors set out to solve a health problem, male inventors are more likely to solve for a male-oriented condition; women-led teams solve for both.”

This kind of empowerment has been shown time and again through studies showing how access to accurate information about contraception has helped reduce unwanted pregnancies—and thus abortions—while decreasing teen pregnancy rates by 50%. Progyny, which manages fertility benefits for employers, went public in 2019 at a valuation in excess of $1 billion; its current market capitalization is about $4 billion. And Maven Clinic, a virtual clinic for women’s and family health, was valued at more than $1 billion.

Women have been ignored far too long, but we're cutting through the noise and proving that we're a profitable investment opportunity.

The VC world has a long history of ignoring womenfounded businesses. But over the last few years, female founders have been attracting more investment dollars than ever before. And it’s not just because they’re businesses are outperforming their male counterparts — it’s also because investors have realized just how profitable investing in femtech can be.

If you still need convincing that investing in femtech is worth your time and money, consider this: women make up half of all consumers, yet only four percent of venture capital investments go to female founders. That means for every $100 invested into startups with a woman founder, only one penny goes to a woman-led startup (and two pennies if you count companies with at least one female employee).

Venture Capitalists recognise the importance of investing in Femtech The VCs have finally noticed the potential of the female market and are making efforts to correct their neglect. The tech sector has been male-dominated for many years, but its new wave of entrepreneurs appear to be more gender balanced. With women now accounting for 18% of active angel investors in the UK and trending higher, it's clear that females are becoming more involved in this field than ever before.

Asian Voice is published by

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04 ELECTION SPECIAL

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LOCAL COUNCIL ELECTION RESULTS 2022 Conservatives take over Harrow in a shocking victory; Aspire Party leader’s win becomes a tower moment for Tower Hamlets Continued from page 1 The Lib Dems tasted victories in Tory strongholds, including in Oxfordshire, while Labour took the long-standing Tory councils of Barnet, Westminster and Wandsworth in London.

Johnson said, “It is mid-term.

It’s certainly a mixed set of results.

We had a tough night in some parts of the country but on the other hand in other parts of the country you are still seeing Conservatives going forward and making quite remarkable gains in places that haven’t voted Conservative for a long time, if ever.”

“The big lesson from this is that this is a message from voters that what they want us to do above all – one, two and three – is focus on the big issues that matter to them, taking the country forward, making sure we fix the post-Covid aftershock, get us all through the economic aftershocks in the way we got through Covid, fix the energy supply issues, that’s where the inflationary spike is coming, and keep going with our agenda of high wage, high skill jobs,” he said.

An OpEd in The Times titled ‘Surrendering London will haunt the Conservative psyche’ described the local council election results by saying that “living and working in Labour-run Westminster may turn more MPs against Boris Johnson.”

Celebrating in Barnet, Sir Keir Starmer said: "From the depths of 2019 in that general election, back on track, winning in the north.

Cumberland! Southampton!

"We've changed Labour and now we're seeing the results of that."

He added: "When it comes to London, you can hardly believe those names come off our lips.

Wandsworth! They've been saying for years, 'You'll never take Wandsworth from us'. We've just done it! Westminster! It's an astonishing result."

Raab admits facing “tough fight” to save his seat Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has admitted he faces a “tough fight” to keep his seat in the next general election after the Liberal Democrats ate into the Conservative’s vote share in the south of England in this week's local elections. Raab defended his party’s poor results in the local elections. With 199 of 200 councils declared, the Tories have lost 491 seats and the control of 11 councils, while Labour is up 115 councillors and the Lib Dems are up 222. He denied that the results were a “disaster” for the party”, insisting that it was a “mixed bag” across the country.

“I’ve pointed to the areas where we've done better than expected. Even in London, which was a very difficult set of results for us, there [were] areas like the Croydon mayoralty, there are areas like Harlow… and other areas where actually it has been uneven.

“I don't think you can take a single view, other than to say London under Keir Starmer very much looks like a metropolitan

Boris Johnson

Mirajbhai Patel

Lutfur Rahman

Sir Keir Starmer

allowance.

“Our promises going forward are even more progressive. Judge me on what we will do for you.”

Meanwhile, it has been reported that the far-right group allegedly ‘distributed fake Labour and Tory leaflets in a bid to influence by-elections’ First-ever Afghan wins Nasimi, Darius Conservative candidate for Hanworth Village won and became the first-ever Afghan Conservative candidate to stand in a local election and if he wins will make history. He is standing in Hounslow council. His family arrived in the UK in the back of a lorry and then claimed asylum. He is also the founder of KCL Central Asia Society.

Shocking victory for Conservatives in Harrow Harrow Times reported, “The Conservatives clinched a shock victory in Harrow, offering the party a spark of hope on what was a difficult night in London.

The Tories assumed overall control of the council for the first time since 2006. Voters elected 31 Conservatives, edging out Labour, who took 24 seats.

It means the new Tory administration will have a majority of seven. New ward boundaries meant there were just 55 seats up for grabs, eight fewer than in 2018.

Closely fought wards included North Harrow, where long-standing Tory councillors Chris Baxter and Janet Mote won by just a handful of votes.”

A record-breaking victory for Councillor Mirajbhai Patel that has achieved the highest number of votes across the whole of Newham Councillor candidates in the 2022 elections.

party which has got appeal in tion. east London council to Aspire London but not beyond to the rest On Friday, after being elected party. The Aspire Party, founded of the country.” mayor of Tower Hamlets in the

by Lutfur Rahman, gained Tower "What people vote in a set of second round, Rahman urged peoHamlets Council from Labour midterm local elections and what ple to “judge me on what we will after winning 24 of the 45 seats. they vote for when you choose a do for you”.

The political party formed by congovernment in a general election Rahman won 40,804 votes, troversial politician Lutfur are two wholly different things,” with Mr Biggs on 33,487. Election Rahman has taken control of an he said. commissioner Richard Mawrey east London council. The party Reshuffle on the cards said evidence aired at that trial had gained Tower Hamlets Council revealed an “alarming state of from Labour after winning 24 of Boris Johnson will reshuffle his affairs” in Tower Hamlets. the 45 seats. cabinet before the summer recess, He said his ruling meant the The Labour Party – which preaccording to allies of the prime 2014 Tower Hamlets mayoral elecviously held 42 seats – secured 19 minister. However, allies of the tion was void and when the elecseats, while the Green Party won PM told Sky News he is expected tion was re-run it was won by nine and the Conservatives won to change his top team before the Biggs. Following the win on one. summer recess, which is currently Friday, Rahman hailed the “huge Following the declaration, the set to begin on 21 July. vote” that took him to victory – party tweeted: “It’s official. Aspire The Conservatives lost nearly claiming he had “a bigger mandate gain control of Tower Hamlets.

500 seats in England, Wales and than I had in 2014 or in 2010” and Aspire now hold an overall majoriScotland in Thursday's council pledged to “rebuild” the borough. ty over the council. Thank you to elections, with party gate and the He said: “I want to rebuild all the residents, well-wishers and cost of living crisis cited by local Tower Hamlets, I want to invest in volunteers for their unwavering leaders as key issues on the our future, and give our people a support.” doorstep. better future than we had in the On Friday, Mr Rahman defeatOn Saturday evening, with 199 last seven years.” ed Labour incumbent John Biggs out of 200 councils declared, the Pointing to his time in the role, to become the elected mayor of Tories had lost 12 councils and 487 he said: “Judge me and my adminTower Hamlets. councillors, while Labour gained istration on our record, what we’ve His win is being criticised due five councils, the Lib Dems five, delivered in the first term. to his past activities where and the SNP one.

LibDem leader gloats “The only borough in the Rahman was forced to step down country to have free homecare.

The Liberal Democrats after an election court found him We delivered the London living enjoyed success in councils across guilty of corrupt and illegal pracwage – the first in London – we the country from Somerset to tices, and he was banned from delivered the university bursary, Hull. Liberal Democrat leader Sir running for office for five years. and educational maintenance Ed Davey said the PM was facing But he faced no criminal prosecuan "almighty shockwave that will bring this Conservative government tumbling down".

Speaking to Sky News' Kay Burley, he insisted Lib Dem gains were not protest votes against the Shefali Saxena first Afghan candidate to on fundraising at government but "a real fight for Public Office in the the Afghanistan trend now" - partly Darius Nasimi came to the UK in a UK and Central Asian because the Tories are refrigerated container when he was Speaking exclusively to Association for the "failing so badly". Mr only four months old with his family Asian Voice, Mr Nasimi said, past two years and Davey, in a speech to in 1999. Darius graduated in “It is a big victory for the has succeeded in activists after a string of Philosophy and Politics from King’s Afghan community in the increasing the victories, said: "The tec- College London where he also foundUK, as I am the first British charity's income tonic plates of British ed the KCL Institute for Central Afghan Conservative from £400,000 Candidate in the UK. I got two years ago to politics are shifting Asian Studies to provide a platform 1373 votes and lost by 41 nearly £1 million beneath Boris Johnson’s for Central Asia to be discussed and votes to Labour. In the past, this year. feet. And now it’s time the challenges addressed. Darius is no Conservative candidate More recently, for Conservative MPs to responsible for fundraising at got even close to even 900 he has led the charplunge him into the Afghanistan and Central Asian Darius Nasimi votes and the difference was ity's response to abyss. So our message to Association and his recent success has been increasing the charity's always between 500-600 votes. We the Afghan crisis and has been Conservative MPs here won in a Labour area for the first responsible for liaising with the in Wimbledon and income to £1 million in the last year. time in decades, despite British Media, and Home Office and across the Blue Wall is Darius is also a member of the Conservatives losing in areas like distributing 4 40ft containers of this: If you don’t get rid Counter-Terrorism Advisory Group Westminster, Wandsworth and donations to the Afghan refugees in of Boris Johnson, if you and was previously a Trustee of the Barnet. The Local elections were the bridging hotels after the UK govdon’t give struggling Heathrow Communities Trust.

Darius has strong experience shaped by the national mood. For us ernment evacuated 15,000 people families and pensioners to have gained so many more votes from Afghanistan in August. Darius more help with the working on a grassroots level with the Afghan, refugee and Muslim for the Conservatives when many has strong experience in project cost-of-living crisis, f communities in London. He has have used this election as a protest management and community you don’t start listening worked with think tanks such as vote to signal to the central governengagement, organising conferences to people and stop takQuilliam Foundation, Chatham ment that they are unhappy with the and events, strategic communicaing them for granted, House and Institute for Strategic cost of living, fuel prices and party tions and running counter-extremwe are coming for you."

Dialogue, Prevent departments at game. The election turnout was very ism workshops for young refugees Tower moment for London councils and university acalow, only 31%. We, the local and unaccompanied minors. He has Tower Hamlets demics at Royal Holloway University.

Conservative candidates got caught been selected as a candidate for the Labour Party lost Recently, Darius has been working in the crosshairs.” local elections next year and is the

First-ever Afghan Conservative candidate wins

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Harrow Council becomes the only council to go from Labour to Conservative Cllr Ameet Jogia, for Canons has won the trust of people in Ward, Harrow has been re-electHarrow, especially when it ed in the local council elections comes to 'low traffic neighby the people of Harrow. It is bourhoods’, Jogia explained, imperative to note that Harrow “In August 2020, the governCouncil was the only council in ment-supported TFL to the UK to go from Labour to implement traffic calming Conservative. opportunities to protect peoOn this historic win, speaking ple during the peak of the exclusively to Asian Voice, Cllr pandemic. These proposals Ameet Jogia said, “Our victory in were presented to Harrow in Harrow was symbolic for the the form of Low Traffic Party as it was the only Council Neighbourhood schemes, Cllr Ameet Jogia that the Conservatives gained where certain key roads across the entire country. Our victory against would be made one way to ease congestion. the national trend was largely down to our “The Conservative group immediately took engagement with Harrow’s British Indian comproactive steps to consult the impact of the munity – which is the largest in the UK. It LTNs with local residents in August 2020. reflected the success of our engagement with Residents were not keen, and we took steps to the British Indian community that the withdraw this proposal from Conservative Conservative Party best represents the shared wards, including Canons and Stanmore. It was values of the community. unfortunate that Labour decided to implement “Conservative Friends of India has been the schemes in their represented wards (despite successfully working for years to help bridge widespread opposition). the gap between the Party and the British “Once the costly schemes were implementIndian community. We have seen the British ed, they were difficult to withdraw. This led to Indian vote share go up for Conservatives in months of anguish and one of Harrow – and Harrow year on year from each General London’s – biggest campaigns against a traffic Election since 2010. In 2019, local MP Bob scheme. At the time, Labour voters were disapBlackman received the largest majority in pointed that their Labour Councillors did not London. Harrow also had the largest listen to them at the beginning. Instead, Labour Conservative vote share for both Zac Councillors kept in the schemes for over 18 Goldsmith and Shaun Bailey’s recent Mayoral months. The schemes were eventually removed elections. after another consultation (which again “This shows that the British Indian vote in showed unpopularity for the schemes). The Harrow is solidifying. However, our engagewithdrawal costs thousands and reflected ment programme with all communities is long Labour’s inefficiency in both money and time. term and we must never take any vote for This played a huge role in residents trusting a granted.”

Conservative council to deliver, which was When asked how the Conservative party reflected in the recent election results.”

Can 10 rupees a day incentivise girl students to

ATTEND SCHOOL IN POOR COMMUNITIES?

Wh

en asked to send her daughter to school a young rural mother responded: “Why should I lose an extra pair of hands for field labour? How can she go to school with no money for clothes or food?”

This shocking yet sobering insight shows that simple economics lie at the heart of the challenge: in rural India girls are liabilities; we knew education would transform them into assets.

When we started the Pardada Pardadi Educational Society (PPES’) in 2000 the majority dropped out within days.

Education simply wasn’t a priority and Parents saw no value in a free education compared to help in the fields. We quickly realised that economic problems could only be addressed by economic solutions. So, we built a new business model for educating the rural poor.

PPES’ unique approach incentivizes students in classes six to eight with Rs. 10 a day for attendance. This rises to Rs. 15 a day in classes nine to twelve. In addition, each girl receives three meals a day, free uniforms, free books and stationery, free transportation and free health facilities. We also launched a scheme to provide basic sanitation free to local communities as gifts to the girls attending our school.

The money is paid once the girl has graduated, and we continue to support every student after her graduation by encouraging further studies or by guaranteeing each girl a job.

And it works.

One of our students, Sonam, is current-

ly studying for a Diploma in IT from NTTF Bangalore. Sonam says, “Going to Bangalore was the highlight of my life, the scholarship fund enabled me to realise my ambition”.

Another student, Mohini, who is pursuing a B.Tech from Banasthali University, added, “Having a bachelor’s degree in technology had always been my dream. Without the scholarship fund, my ambition would have stayed a dream.”

Over the years we have seen a profound shift towards girls funding higher education. This speaks volumes about the evolving beliefs about the importance of education.

But the biggest reward is watching young women from poor rural communities become empowered to work and lead independent lives, thanks to the transformative effects of a good free education.

PPES transforms the lives of girls and women in rural India through free education, and programmes that support economic empowerment, community development and health and hygiene.

Pardada Pardadi is delighted to be Charity Partner for the upcoming Asian Achievers Awards on Friday 23 September.

PPES UK is a registered UK charity (Charity no. 1166879) and can be contacted through email at info@pardadapardadi-uk.org; phone at 079 03329311; postal address 25 Sweetcroft Lane, Uxbridge, UB10 9LE.

5 Kutchis from Conservative party win seats held by Labour Party since 45 years Five Kutchis - three from Harrow Council and two from Brent Council have won the local council elections.

Nitesh Hirani (Mandvi), Chetna Halai (Madhapar), Kanti Pindoriya (Vadasar) were elected as Councillors from Kenton West, whereas the other two candidates Jayanti Patel (Kerai, Kundanpar) from Queensbury and Sunita Hirani from Kenton were elected from Brent Council.

Local council elections were held in

Jayanti Patel

Sunita Hirani

London on May 5, the results of which have been announced. It is a matter of pride for the entire Kutch (Gujarat) that five Kutchis have won the elections from

Chetna Halai, Kanti Pindoria and Nitesh Hirani were felicitated by locals as they won the Harrow Council election. Following the election, there was a lot of enthusiasm among the Kutchi voters.

Harrow and Brent Council with such a good margin.

Surprisingly, the Kutchis from the Conservative Party have been elected on the seats that were held by the Labour Party for 45 years. In total, 8 Kutchi candidates stood in the election battle.

Nitesh Hirani has been re-elected for the second time. All the elected Councillors have expressed their commitment to development.

Harrow bucked the national trend Boris Johnson hailed the victoApril 2022, marked the ry in Harrow Council by the importance of the impact Conservative Party for the first the British Indian and time in 16 years. Whilst the Gujarati diaspora have had Conservatives lost close to 500 to the British Economy. The seats in the local elections, Conservative Party now has Harrow bucked the national 12 British Indian Councillors trend and won 31 out of the 55 in Harrow, the highest in the Cllr Mina Parmar contested seats. country. Cllr Mina Parmar, was elected for the third time in Harrow is one of the most diverse Belmont Ward. Born in Kenya and of boroughs in the UK, with at least 88 Indian origin, Cllr Mina Parmar said ‘it different languages spoken with is a great honour to serve the residents Gujarati being the second most comof the community where I have lived mon. The swing to the Conservatives for over 40 years. I take pride in my role likely represents a generational shift of and I’m passionate to engage with resiBritish Indian voters putting their faith dents so we can make improvements to in the Conservative party. Boris Harrow and deliver on our pledges.’

Johnson’s visit to Gujarat in India in

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Popular Indian restaurant 'Namaste' for sale after 27 years Namaste opened on Hinckley Road, in Leicester's West End in 1994 by Mr Dey, the muchloved manager of the restaurant. The family-run business became a local staple growing a loyal customer base over the years who became a "family".

The restaurant closed in October last year.

Namaste, has been listed by Kings Real Estate, which is accepting offers over £350,000. The resto has gone on the market after its owners of 27 years decided to close the business.

The whole four-storey building is for sale, including the basement, ground floor restaurant and first and second floors which have

two office spaces each and toilets, according to the particulars. Despite the listing describing the upstairs rooms as offices, the property is advertised as having four bedrooms and stated as being a "superb development opportunity".

News of the sale has led to disappointment locally, with some former fans of the restaurant saying they had hoped it might reopen after a break. The description of the premises has also led to some concerns that the premises could be redeveloped into accommodation.

Passengers defend Birmingham airport staff amidst chaos Passengers have rushed to defend staff "working their socks off" after weeks of travel disruption at Birmingham Airport. It comes after BHX chief executive Nick Barton admitted the chaos would continue amid a staffing crisis.

Rail conductor sues former employer who sacked him for questioning ‘black privileges’ Simon Isherwood, 60, from Northampton, was summarily dismissed for gross misconduct from West Midlands Trains (WMT) in March last year after he accidentally left his microphone on, meaning his colleagues overheard him criticising the webinar’s contents.

The session in January last year was attended by around 80 staff members from East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Railway and Mr Isherwood’s former company London Northwestern Railway, which is owned by WMT. At the end of the session, while staff were thanking the host, he was overheard telling his wife: “I couldn’t be a---- because I thought, ‘you know what, I’ll just get f-------- angry’’. You know what I really wanted to ask?... and I wish I had, do they have black privilege in other countries? So, if you’re in Ghana?...”

It is to be noted that Ghana has a population that is around 98 per cent black, and two per cent white, in contrast to the UK’s population of around 86 per cent white and three per cent black. Mr Isherwood was sacked after West Midlands Trains, the parent company of London Northwestern Railway, ruled he had “caused offence, brought the company into disrepute and breached our equality, diversity and inclusion policy and the code of conduct".

He is now seeking compensation through the courts alleging his dismissal was “unfair, unreasonable and unlawful”, including that his comments did not constitute gross misconduct and that the true reason for his dismissal was “WMT’s fear of facing allegations from colleagues about my conduct”.

Nearly 500 deaths in Leicestershire due to pollution Pollution led to nearly 470deaths in Leicestershire in a year, new figures suggest.

The Central Office of Public Interest (Copi) and Imperial College London have put together the most interactive map to date showing how dirty the air is in every street in the city and county, and across the country.

The data focuses on pollutants PM2.5 and the coarser PM10, both of which are small particles that can be inhaled and cause lung problems, and in the case of PM2.5 cause cancer. The map also shows the level of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which can increase the risk of disease-related mortality.

Anyone can enter their postcode on the

interactive map to find out the rating for the air around your home and workplace.

Leicestershire County Council and Leicester City Council say that they had limited control over emissions of PM2.5 as individual district and borough councils oversaw those efforts. However, they said work across the board was ongoing.

The World Health Organisation sets a guideline limit of 10 ug/m3, the amount of particles by cubic metre of air, for annual levels of PM2.5. The UK, excluding Scotland, has a target limit of 25 µg/m3 to be achieved by next year. Each increase by 10 ug/m3 in levels of PM2.5 is assumed to increase death rates by 6 per cent.

TUI passenger of snacks and drinks limited due to staff shortage In an update on their website, the travel operator TUI said a change to their services mean they currently cannot serve hot and cold meals or sandwiches. In addition to this, the snacks and drinks they serve will be "limited" on board their short and mid-haul flights.

The company issued a statement confirming this was due to "staff shortages" which would take place over the coming days and in total effects 15 airports - including Manchester and other airports in the North of England.

According to TUI confirmation, "unfortunately due to staff shortages with our catering supplier, there will be

no hot and cold meals or sandwiches, and a limited offering of snacks and drinks, available onboard TUI Airways short- and mid-haul flights over the coming days. Customers may therefore want to bring their own food and soft drinks onboard (no alcohol permitted).

Any soft drinks over 100ml will need to be purchased after you have passed through security."

The disruption does not affect any long-haul flights to Aruba, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico, Orlando and St Lucia and meal services on these flights will "continue to operate as normal."

Many travelers have said that they had passed through Birmingham Airport without much trouble. Some praised hardworking employees and urged people to arrive early for their flights.

While one person wrote: "Travelled with TUI [in] May from Birmingham to Tenerife.

Hundreds of us queuing but the staff kept us moving and it was well organized”, another responded: "As annoying as it is, I think we owe a thank you to the staff that are there working their socks off whilst heavily understaffed to help you get away on holiday!

Everyone is human, no one is a miracle worker!!"

A person called Leah Knight chimed in: "Had no problem flying from there a couple of weeks ago! The staff were amazing and the queues weren't that bad! We arrived early due to the social media and news reports but it was nowhere near as bad as people were describing". Passenger Lynn Roden replied: "We were lucky last Sunday we breezed through no problem we were with Jet2 they were great and passport control very efficient."

Family asks for help after mosquito bite leaves man paralysed John, now 31, had travelled by bike from Laos to Chiang Mai. After one day in the northern Thai city he fell ill with headaches, which only continued to worsen.

The next morning, his state had deteriorated significantly and he was taken to hospital by the manager of the hostel where he was staying. Upon his admission, John's parents in Glossop received the call that the then 24-year-old had fallen ill with what they believed to be some form of infection, which his mum Kathy Miller says was "killing his brain".

John spent a month in Bangkok before being in a stable enough condition to take a medical flight home, and on his arrival back in the UK he spent 11 months in hospital in Sheffield. His parents wanted nothing more than to bring John home, but due to the need to find a carer and the pandemic, he spent some time in residential care homes before returning to his parents' house on March 8, 2021.

The family received some disability funding for the extension. Now John's family are fundraising for an electric-powered wheelchair that they and his carers can control. They feel the new chair will help John gain even more independence in the hilly part of Derbyshire where they live.

in brief NHS SERVICES UNDER PRESSURE Greater Manchester has seen a reduction in Covid hospital admissions, Covid NHS staff absences and the spread of the infection within hospitals, but the high case rates are still 'putting pressure on already stretched NHS services', say Greater Manchester health chiefs. Meanwhile, the system is trying to catch up with the huge backlog of operations which have been delayed during the peak of the pandemic. Last month, nearly 1,000 patients with Covid-19 were being treated on Greater Manchester hospital wards, while the region's emergency departments 'struggled to assess' the high numbers of patients arriving with serious conditions. There were 971 beds occupied by patients with a confirmed case of Covid across seven NHS hospital trusts serving Greater Manchester as of April 5, according to NHS figures. That was up from 827 the previous week and 638 seven days before that, although it was still below the 1,289 recorded on January 11, around the time numbers peaked nationally.

According to sources, the hospitals across the region have been struggling over the multiple Bank Holidays, with staffing shorter while the volume of patients in hospital for delayed operation and those turning up at A&E remain high.

HEALTHCARE WORKERS AT NHS HOSPITAL CHARGED FOR ILL-TREATMENT OF PATIENTS Three nurses and two health care assistants, at an NHS hospital have been named and charged following a major investigation into the ill-treatment of patients. The five health workers from Blackpool Victoria Hospital will appear in court charged with alleged offences committed in the stroke unit. They are charged with various offences between August 2014 and November 2018 including ill-treatment relating to the unlawful sedation of patients, conspiracies to ill-treat, as well as the theft and supply of medication. The five people charged are Catherine Hudson, Charlotte Wilmot, Matthew Pover, Victoria Holehouse and Marek Grabianowski. Det Ch Insp Jill Johnston, leading the investigation, said: “This is a complex investigation into allegations of unlawful sedation and ill-treatment of patients on the stroke unit at Blackpool over a number of years. The safety of patients and the public remains our absolute priority and this inquiry has investigated the care provided to often elderly and vulnerable people.

BIRMINGHAM MAN CONTACTED A LADY POLICE POSING AS A MUSLIM CONVERT Muhammad, 30, of Craddock Road, Saltley, who had previously admitted three charges of disseminating terrorist material, was jailed for five years. Muhammed is also subject to a Part 4 order for 15 years which is issued to individuals convicted of terrorism offences and sentenced to at least 12 months imprisonment or detention. Individuals are required to notify police of any changes to their personal details, any stay at another address for seven days or more and also any intended foreign travel of three days or more prior to travel. Judge Paul Farrer QCm who passed the prison sentence, said: "The evidence demonstrates that by mid2019 at the latest, you had developed an extreme Islamic mindset. In that respect, the material was recovered on your phone and computer which demonstrated support for Islamic State and its terrorist agenda.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Payne, who leads Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands CTU, said: “We cannot underestimate the dangerous nature of extremist propaganda and the influence it can have; which is why it is so important to hold to account those who share with others such social media posts.

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Say no to Khalistan in India Last minute rush!

Lord Rami Ranger CBE, Chairman, The British Sikh Associations

Rohit Vadhwana Last-minute rush! Happens in everyone's life, and many times. The chance of missing a train, reaching late for a movie or not being able to reach on time to office creates a rush. We try to get ready, to maintain the time, but in that process of rushing, we miss something. More often than not, we are able to make it on the time for which we do make haste, but miss something even more essential for the day, something like a laptop, charger, entry card or something - which keeps bothering us throughout the day. You will not be fully present in yourself while running at this breakneck speed.

What's the benefit of such a hurry? Well, it's never intentional. It is just situational. But the real question is do we create such a situation or allow it to happen? Yes, sometimes in greed to spend some more time in bed in the morning, we get late for office. Sometimes in the office, a meeting gets stretched, we are not able to get out of it, and a delay happens. Occasionally, social functions hold us up till late, even though we are not required there.

Sometimes even friends force us to spend a few more minutes with them, which results in a hectic hustle.

To avoid such a situation is many times in our hands.

It needs a bit of time management, setting up of priority and to a certain extent social skills. If it is about an individual schedule, which you are unable to maintain, better to review your schedule, apply some of the lessons of time management and re-work your routine. This can be the case for those who get up late in the morning and miss office time. If there are hundreds of things taking up your time, coming one after another on your table, better to work on prioritisation skills. However, in a few events, you get stuck because of the inability to say that you have to leave. It happens informal events where your seniors are present, it also happens in social functions where elders are pressing for your presence. But a bit of soft voice, requesting tone and language of seeking approval would perhaps help in getting a safe and timely exit.

In short, if you do not want to rush without combing your hair or getting your tie knot properly, do manage the time and situation in such a way that it doesn't affect your fixed scheduled tasks. Because some programmes in your diary are not flexible, eg train or flight, office or meeting.

Some of them may certainly be less important than the activity which is taking longer to finish, but still, they are unavoidable and hence time should be respected. So, remember, setting the priority, allocation of time and asking for exit is not dependent only on the importance of the next event, but also on the urgency and avoidability. If something next is avoidable, no problem in getting late there. So, no need to rush. But if you ever rush, there is a chance that you will miss something which will tickle you the whole day. To avoid that irritation, avoid rush.

(Expressed opinions are personal)

Sikh Gurus and their followers left a unique legacy for India and the world.

They paid the ultimate sacrifices to restore religious freedom in India and in the process, saved the ancient Indian civilisation. Religious freedom in India has made India great as we see it today. It is now known as the cradle of human civilisation. More religions, races, cultures, languages and cultures live in perfect harmony in India.

According to Guru Gobind Singh Ji, Diversity must be accepted, respected, and protected. If need be defended, He did by establishing the Brotherhood of Khalsa. He and His

Providing this information, Chairman Jayantbhai Tanna and Secretary Vijayaben Bhanderi said, “We need to have information about all the schools that teach Gujarati in the UK. The membership and school

Statistically, lung cancer is the most common cancer that kills more patients than breast, prostate and pancreatic cancers put together in the UK. Reports suggest that approximately 20% of all lung cancers are asymptomatic until it is too late for treatment to work.

May 2019, before being transferred to a prison in Delhi.

The UN report says that despite being in jail for more than four years he has not been charged and no admissible evidence has been produced.

The UK is now under pressure to persuade India to release Johal after a UN working group ruled he had been arbitrarily detained by India and his detention lacked any legal basis.

Boris Johnson apparently raised the case when he met

Chandrika Rajendra Patel

tunities in this field Lions Club of Enfield under the leadership of Lion Jayant Doshi together with Lion Rajendra Patel, his family and well-wishers raised and donated £25,000 to Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation to help Professor Sam Janes at University College London Hospital to continue the very vital research into mass Early Detection of Lung Cancer.

Lung cancer can affect men, women, young, old, smokers and non-smokers. Such was the case with Lionette Chandrika Rajendra Patel. Late Lionette Chandrika had led a healthy lifestyle, was a non-smoker, always smiling and caring for all those around her and yet had succumbed to this dreadful disease. In loving memory of the late Lionette Chandrika and in order to raise awareness and to provide further research oppor-

information form for 20222024 will be sent after BGM. CGS is very much concerned about the low number of admissions for GCSE and A level Gujarati exams. To save the Gujarati language and our future please join CGS.”

UK wants India to release British citizen Johal Jagtar Singh Johal, a British citizen, was arrested after his wedding in Punjab in November 2017, accused of helping to fund a Sikh-onHindu assassination plot – something that he and his family strongly deny.

Johal has claimed he was tortured and forced to sign blank confession statements, and then had extra charges laid against him that had now reached a total of nine cases.

He was transferred to Nabha maximum security prison, where he remained until 25

do not respect our unfaithful friends or employees.

The notion of Khalistan is a direct insult to the Sikh Gurus who lived and sacrificed their lives for India. Guru Tegh Bhadur did not offer his life for Sikhs or Punjab. Guru Gobind Singh Ji was born in Bihar and left for His heavenly abode from Maharastra. Five Payaras came from every corner of India to symbolise India’s unity to establish Khalsa.

Khalistanis wish to hijack our religion for their selfish gains as they consider Sikhism is not universal faith, and it is meant for a handful of hardcore Sikhs. All it takes is for good people to do nothing for evil to flourish.

Please condemn Khalistani when you find one, as they are the enemies of our Gurus and us.

In loving memory of Late Lionette Chandrika

Biennial General Meeting of Consortium of Gujarati Schools to be held on 22nd May The biennial general meeting of the Consortium of Gujarati Schools (CGS) will be held on Sunday, May 22, 2022, at 2:30 pm at the Ekta Oshwal Center, 366A Stag Lane, Kingsbury, London NW9 9AA.

followers did not rest until the tyrannical and oppressing reign of the Mughal Emporer Aurangzeb was brought to an end.

Entire India is indebted to the Sikh Gurus and Sikhs for their actions to preserve India. More and more people are beginning to know about the life and teachings of Sikh Gurus thanks to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji. No one has done more for the Sikhs and their Gurus than Modi Ji. He has gone as far as to recognise the martyrdom of 4 Sahibjada by declaring a Public Holiday on 26th December as the Veer Baal Din. The only way Sikhs can keep the legacy of their illustrious Gurus is by their loyalty and Commitment to Mother India. No country respects or promotes disloyal citizens, just like we

the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, last month and provided a written note of consular cases, but Foreign Office ministers have not confirmed whether they regard his detention as arbitrary.

The Indian government, however, denies torture and says it is still compiling evidence in the cases. Jagtar’s brother Gurpreet Singh Johal, who has been fighting for his release, was elected a Labour councillor in the Scottish local elections in Dunbarton.

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COST OF LIVING PUTS MENTAL HEALTH AT STAKE Continued from page 1 Overall score has improved but mental health impact is significant with women, young people and ethnic minorities hit hardest.

A triggering survey data published by The Guardian suggests that more than 2mn adults in UK cannot afford to eat every day. One in seven adults is estimated to be food-insecure, up 57% from January, owing to the rising cost of living. The latest survey of the nation’s food intake shows a 57% jump in the proportion of households cutting back on food or skipping meals over the first three months of this year, with one in seven adults (7.3 million) estimated to be food-insecure, up from 4.7 million in January.

Mental Health Charity IronmongeryDirect has revealed that four in five UK tradespeople experience mental health problems due to work. 85% don’t feel comfortable talking about their mental health.

Finances are the most common cause of stress.

Maytree, a suicide helpline told Asian Voice, “There’s no doubt that uncertainty around finances and economic precariousness can correlate with poorer mental health.

Anything that creates instability, a perceived lack of safety, and interferes with a person’s ability to take care of their basic survival needs can add enormous pressure to what may already be a difficult situation.

Worrying about the basics may also leave little room to think about seeking help.”

Debbie Kennedy, Chief Executive at LifeSearch who commissioned the study said: “At a more granular level, our study reveals the pandemic pressures and consequences faced specifically by people in ethnic minority communities, where many have been hit harder over the last two years and the ripple effect may continue much longer.

Many in those communities feel they’ve had to work harder, dig deeper and risk more to stay afloat.”

LifeSearch consumer insights found that a quarter (24%) of all Brits feel less happy than last year, rising to 31% of those living alone and 28% of ethnic minorities, higher still (37%) among those of Indian heritage.

Over a quarter (28%) of all Brits say they have saved money in the last year, averaging £276 per month (pm), rising to 33% of those from ethnic minority groups (at £329 pm on average).

Furthermore, a greater number (38%) of people from ethnic minority communities have reviewed their spending over the last

year, compared to just 22% of the wider adult population.

Jabeer Butt OBE, CEO of the Race Equality Foundation commented: “Across education, finances and general happiness, it’s clear ethnic minorities are suffering. These major findings reflect our own knowledge that Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities continue to bear the brunt of the effects of the pandemic and cost of living crisis. We urgently need targeted support to take account of and effectively address these unequal impacts if we want to see a healthier, wealthier and happier Britain in the coming years.”

Setting the house on fire to stay warm Speaking to the newsweekly about the rising cost of living and its impact on mental health, Dr Dinesh Bhugra CBE, Professor Emeritus, Mental Health & Cultural Diversity, IoPPN, Kings College London said, “London fire

Dr Dinesh Bhugra

chiefs have warned residents not to set fires inside their houses to stay warm.

How did the sixth-largest economy in the world get to this stage? Ethnic minority individuals are more likely to be living in poor overcrowded conditions often with three generations living together- a factor which has been shown to be related to disproportionately high rates of death due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is well recognised that social determinants impact both physical and mental health.

Poverty, unemployment, overcrowding, poor access to transport and lack of access to green spaces have all been shown to be related to high rates of mental illhealth in ethnic minorities who already show high rates of certain mental illnesses. Faced with this double jeopardy they already show pre-existing vulnerabilities to physical illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, arthritis etc. With high levels of cost of living it is imperative that vulnerable groups are looked after by communities by providing physical and financial support that individuals need.”

London Assembly Labour Health Spokesperson, Krupesh Hirani AM told us, “Financial stability and

Krupesh Hirani AM

maintaining good mental health are inextricably linked. Coming on the back of consecutive lockdowns, the cost of living crisis is pushing some of the hardest pressed in our communities to the brink. Recent Government statistics show that last winter, over 1,500 Londoners with a history of mental health issues were facing the threat of homelessness and needed urgent support from their local council. This week, we have also seen the start of the migration of legacy benefit claimants onto Universal Credit. Those that are unable to submit their application and documents for the new system by the deadline could miss out on payments altogether.

Charities are now warning that without Government intervention, the incomes of more than 700,000 people with mental health issues, learning disabilities and dementia could be put at risk.

This Mental Health Awareness Week, we need the Government to act by restoring the uplift to Universal Credit and increasing Local Housing Allowance. A windfall tax should also be placed on the eye-watering profits of oil and gas companies so that proper help can be given to families and households struggling with their energy bills.”

Kiran Kaur Manku, CoFounder of the 1928 Institute and Researcher Fellow at the University of

Kiran Kaur Manku

Oxford told Asian Voice, “Financial and social adversity contributes to mental ill-health, particularly for ethnic minorities (Jaspal & Lopes, 2021). In our survey of over 1,700 British Indians, we found that Covid put 23% in financial hardship and worsened the mental health of 39% of respondents. This is particularly alarming given that we also found that 76% of British Indians face barriers to accessing mental healthcare. Within these barriers,

15% reported the barrier of costs. This infers that British Indians would not even attempt to seek support from the NHS. In the focus groups, there was a clear display of hopelessness and hesitation towards seeking help through GPs due to a lack of appropriate provision. This shows that not only will ethnic minority communities be facing further financial hardship, but their mental health will also be suffering, and they have limited or no access to adequate mental healthcare. We have been working with Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and now regional NHS trusts in Suffolk and Essex to improve mental healthcare provision for the British South Asian communities.

Although this work needs to be upscaled, efforts should also focus on promoting positive mental health and providing resources to alleviate financial burdens or barriers.”

Award-winning entrepreneur Sonya Barlow said, “According to widely distributed data, 1 in 4 of us

Sonya Barlow

suffer from mental health unwell being, but we all have had our moments in reality. It is estimated that almost 4 in 10 people say that financial situations are known to impact and worsen their mental health problems. Though limited, new research finds that 72% of entrepreneurs suffer from mental health unwell beings, primarily due to financial burden, either using their own money to fund the business, not gaining funding, or retaining funding when growing. Add to that the fact that brown women are paid at least 18% less than their white counterparts, whilst balancing the majority of the household duties still fall on the woman, and you can see the gap widening. As an Asian business owner, it's time to rethink what you are offering and possibly increase your prices. For my own mental health, I’ve decided to focus on quality over quantity, meaning it’s about valuing my time per hour and saying yes to activities which align with my values.

Additionally, encouraging my team to take numerous wellness breaks throughout the week, aligning our culture to tasks completed versus time spent online and

embracing the small things our culture shares, such as afternoon chai pauses and lots of chatter. As a brown woman who suffers from chronic migraine and anxiety, I talk openly about my mental and emotional health well-being online to demystify the subject matter, be that through my social content, BBC show the everyday hustle or my various Ted talks, all founded because I was lonely.”

Chronic pain and mental health Artist Eugenie Lee who is working toward expressing chronic pain through art said, “Pain is invisible.

Proving it even exists is difficult – it doesn’t show up on a scan and there is no hard evidence of its presence.

Communicating about pain can be problematic as it relies on the verbal accounts of the people who experience it, but these accounts are not always believed. These factors alone are enough to make the person feel isolated and guilty for not being able to contribute to the family or society as they used to.

Without social support, this disjunction between who they once were and the person they now have become can lead to an existential crisis with a destroyed sense of agency. Persistent pain can dictate a person’s life.

Everything they do must be planned ahead meticulously so that they are not left utterly incapacitated before their day ends. They need to re-assess and re-learn what they can and cannot do each day whilst acknowledging the unpredictable nature of pain."

Enfield Saheli CEO, Krishna Pujara is holding an interactive discussion about ‘Overcoming loneliness & isolation’ as a part of their initiative to mark Mental Health Awareness Week.

In a video message, Kate Middleton spoke about mental health among mothers. She said, "We all know that pregnancy, childbirth and the first months and years of a child's life can be hugely demanding.

Parents often feel lonely and overwhelmed by these early years. Around 20 per cent of women in the UK are reported to experience perinatal mental illness.

Sadly, we also know that many more are suffering in silence."

NHS Research Unit launches to tackle inequalities within mental health services A Research Unit, dedicated to researching inequalities in mental and physical healthcare, and to improving health outcomes for under-served populations, has been launched in Greater Manchester. The Equality, Diversity, and

Inclusion Research Unit (EDI-RU) will undertake research to better understand people’s lived experiences to develop learning and interventions that help to eradicate mental and physical health inequalities experienced by people across a range of protected characteristics like age, disability, gender, ethnicity, and religion.

Sharp increase in anti-anxiety prescriptions causes concerns of addiction Researchers from the University of Bristol have found that there have been increases in incident prescribing of most anti-anxiety medications (called anxiolytics) in recent years, which have been substantial in 18–35-year-olds. The new study, published in The British Journal of General Practice, looked at GP prescription data and found 44% of prescriptions for an anti-anxiety medication known as benzodiazepine were consumed for more than four weeks, longer than the recommended m a x i m u m .

Benzodiazepines are a habit-forming drug, leaving young adults at a huge risk of becoming addicted.

Well known author, businesswoman and crypto expert, Amber Asghar is also a holistic wellness therapist specialising in bespoke facials. She says that the skin is the first organ to show signs of distress and unhappiness. Her experience with skincare comes from her own personal journey where stress and a hectic lifestyle played a part in a number of skin issues.

Amber now has a book on the science and treatment of skin in the pipeline.

While Rishi Sunak vows to 'look at all options' to ease the cost of living crisis, an overhaul of what Boris Johnson described as “antiquated” mental health laws will make it harder to detain people with learning disabilities and autistic people in hospital.

"Over half (51%) of people from ethnic minority groups feel the pandemic has adversely impacted their household finances, compared to just 38% of white Brits and rising to 58% of Pakistani/Bangla deshi adults"

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Government inaction on Section 21 ban has led to 7,000 London households threatened with homelessness At least 7,070 households in London have been threatened with homelessness after being issued with a section 21 eviction notice, since the Government pledged to outlaw them in April 2019. Labour’s London Assembly Housing Spokesperson, Sem Moema AM, said these latest Government figures were a “scandal” and is calling on Ministers to finally push the ban through in tomorrow’s (Tuesday 10th May) Queen’s Speech.

Ms Moema said that the figures are just the tip of the iceberg, as the Government only record section 21 evictions that have led to the threat of homelessness. Recent research by Shelter has found that almost 230,000 private renters in England have been served with one of these eviction notices

since April 2019.

Section 21 evictions, also known as ‘no fault’ evictions, enable private landlords to eject tenants without having to provide a reason, with as little as 8 weeks’ notice.

Housing campaigners say that this loophole leaves renters vulnerable to ‘revenge evictions’ if they complain to a landlord about housing conditions, rent levels or ask for repairs.

The proposal to ban these evictions, as part of the Renters’ Reform Bill, went through a consultation stage between July and October 2019.

Last year’s Queen’s Speech announced the Government’s intention to publish a policy white paper on the Bill. This was originally expected in Autumn 2021 but was pushed

UK to introduce visa to attract high potential individuals The United Kingdom is on track to introduce on May 30, yet another visa aimed at attracting high potential individuals (HPI) The visa is aimed at attracting highskilled foreign university graduates - who will be allowed to work and stay in the U.K. for two or three years, depending on their degree level.

The first qualifying step for this visa is a degree from a world-renowned university.

The British government will be releasing the list once a year on the gov.uk website.

It will include schools that feature on the top 50 in at least two of three renowned rankings: Times Higher Education World University rankings, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University rankings & The Academic Ranking of the World Universities Also, you must have been awarded the degree within five years of application. The

degree can be in any discipline but has to be equivalent to not less than a UK bachelor's degree. If your degree wasn't taught in English, you will need to pass at least the B1 level of an accepted English language test.

Apart from this, you will need to show the equivalent of at least £1,270 in your bank account for a continuous 28-day period no later than 31 days prior to making the High Potential Individual visa application. If you’ve been resident in the UK for more than 12 months, you might not need to meet this requirement.

Graduates with a bachelor’s or a master’s degree will be given a two-year visa. PhD or other doctoral-level graduates will get visas valid for three years.

This visa can only be granted once and will not be available to those who have already had a Graduate visa.

Prosecutor asks anonymous honour for Rochdale grooming gangs scandal victim Girl A had given harrowing evidence during the trial at Liverpool Crown Court in a trial which saw nine men convicted of sex trafficking and the serial abuse of underage girls.

She was 15 when police arrested her for smashing the counter of an Indian takeaway in Heywood, near Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in August 2008.

Nazir Afzal, the former chief prosecutor for the north of England, has suggested Girl A - who as a rape sex abuse victim has life-

long anonymity - should be recognised in the Queen’s Platinum Honours’ List.

A decade on from the trial, Mr Afzal said: 'I think it would be fitting. She owes a debt of gratitude and it would be an easy thing to do – and without in any way jeopardising her life-long right to anonymity.'

Six of the nine defendants at Liverpool Crown Court made history by becoming the first in Britain ever to be convicted of sex trafficking.

Noted Indian film actor’s book launched at The Bhavan London The Indian diaspora turned out in signifiSociety, Cambridge University. cant numbers at The Bhavan, London on A household name, Ambareesh acted in Sunday 8th May 2022 to witness the first more than 200 movies including appearlook of the book ‘Friendship Unlimited’, a ances in Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil films. biography of Mr Ambareesh (29 May 1952 – Author of the biography Mr R. 24 November 2018), a highly celebrated Manjunath Chavan has been in the Indian south Indian film star who was also Union media for over three decades and has known Minister for Information and Broadcasting the former actor and his family for several Government of India. The event was graced years.

by Mrs Sumalatha Ambareesh, Member of Parliament, India and wife of the nowdeceased actor, and Dr Mattur Nandakumara, Executive Director The Bhavan London.

Also present were noted south Indian actor and film producer Rockline Venkatesh, Mr Ganapati Bhat, Chairman of Mr R Manjunath (L to R) Mr Rockline Venaktesh, Kannadigaru UK, and Chavan Dr Mattur Nandakumara, Mr Kishan Shastri Mrs Sumalatha Ambareesh.

President, Kannada

back. Following pressure from Ms Moema, the Government revealed that it had been delayed to Spring 2022.

In February, Ministers committed to axing section 21 as part of the Levelling Up Strategy missions. However, these missions have a target deadline of 2030.

The 7,070 London households threatened with homelessness between April 2019 and December 2021, due to being issued with a section 21 notice were owed a prevention duty by their local council. This means that the council must take reasonable steps to identify a solution to their housing situation.

Labour’s London Assembly Housing Spokesperson, Sem Moema AM, said: “It is a scandal that the Government’s inaction on banning section 21 evictions has

led to thousands of Londoners facing homelessness and having their lives uprooted.

“Over the last three years, Ministers have had multiple opportunities to put an end to this injustice, but have passed upon every single one.

“Section 21 can be used as a loophole for revenge evictions, placing yet more pressure on overstretched and underfunded councils.

So, alongside a coalition of housing charities and campaigners, I have kept the pressure on the Government to stick to their promise and push through the Renters’ Reform Bill.

“The half-hearted commitment in the Levelling Up strategy to outlaw no-fault evictions by 2030 is not good enough and this must now be pushed through in tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech”.

Priti Patel's speech disrupted Group of activists, campaigners from Green New Deal Rising – a climate activist and social justice group, disrupted a speech by Priti Patel at a Conservative event to protest the government’s controversial plan to offshore asylum seekers in Rwanda.

The group managed to infiltrate a spring dinner event hosted by the Bassetlaw Conservatives that featured the home secretary as a guest speaker.

Video footage posted online by the group showed an activist interrupting Ms Patel just as she began speaking and called the home secretary’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda an “inhumane” policy which will “ruin people’s lives”.

The Home Office spokesperson said: “The world-leading Migration Partnership will overhaul our broken asylum system, which is currently costing the UK taxpayer

£1.5bn a year – the highest amount in two decades.

“It means those arriving dangerously, illegally or unnecessarily can be relocated to have their asylum claims considered and, if recognised as refugees, build their lives there.

“Our new Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda fully complies with international and national law.”

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Our warmest felicitation to Gujarat Samachar - England and ABPL group on its Golden Anniversary May 5th 1972 was a historic day in England when the first edition of Gujarat Samachar was launched by Honourable Appa Saheb Pant, a distinguished diplomat of the Indian Government.

Beginning a journey for anyone in any chosen field is very hard and tough. I can vouch for this from my personal experience and most people like me. The year 2021 was the Golden Anniversary of my arrival to America as a student from India for higher studies after taking a bank loan. The way of life was strange, and so were the weather and culture. Their English accent was different and I had few friends, very limited groceries available to cook vegetarian food, no telephone to contact back home and the list goes on.

Likewise, Gujarat Samachar must have faced obstacles, difficulties, untold problems, no modern technology like today to get news, articles, subscription from readers, advertisements, loans from banks, proper staff, etc. But by its very committed staff, encouragement from Editor and Publisher one-by-one they must have removed all hurdles that came their way and now it is their testimony to celebrating Golden Anniversary, for which not only ABPL group feels proud but I’m sure its esteemed readers, writers, contributors, advertisers and well-wishers also take equal pride.

1st May was the 62nd Anniversary of the formation of separate Gujarat and Maharashtra states in India, and a historic event took place in Canada, unveiling the statue of The Iron Man Of India Sardar Patel at Sanatan Mandir and culture centre Markham, Ontario Canada.

May 2nd Eid al-Fitr the first day of the month of Shawwal ( Islamic Calendar ) marked the end of Ramadan's month-long fasting and the beginning of a feast that breaks the fast.

May 3rd was the Hindu festival of Akshaya Tritiya when the community worships Lord Vishnu as Lakshminarayan and the doors of the famous pilgrimage site Shri Badri Narayan Dham is opened. So the first week of May was an auspicious one and on the 5th of May was the Golden Anniversary of Gujarat Samachar - what a holy coincidence to cherish forever!

I wrote this letter just after coming back home from Sanatan Mandir after attending Mother’s Day Bhajan for almost two hours by Kirit Mistry of Gunjan Musical Group of Toronto - melodious bhajan is sung as a tribute to all mothers.

8th May is Mother’s Day in Canada, America, India and many countries of the world. We wish millions of good luck to Gujarat Samachar, Asian Voice in its fantastic onwards journey for many many years to come. God bless all, stay safe and healthy, Suresh and Bhavna Patel Markham, Canada

Local Elections: The last straw Local election results went badly for the plutocratic Conservative Party, relinquishing control of Barnet, Westminster and Wandsworth which were considered safe Conservative burrows in London, although Harrow turned blue, mainly due to the popularity of Harrow East MP Bob Blackman, a true friend of India and Indian community that local people appreciate.

Could this election result be the last straw that would break the camel’s back! At one time PM Boris was an asset, an artful dodger but certainly a vote winner, especially among British Indian community when he defeated Red Ken, grass-root popular politician, especially among Labour supporters. Ken’s defeat put paid to his political ambition to lead Labour Party to the relief of many in the ethnic minorities who had little faith in his left-wing ideology, a maverick politician without principal!

Although Labour has done well in London, it seems it may not be enough to gain an overall majority at the next election, some two years away. Labour should have buried Conservatives when economy is in a mess, inflation at an all-time high, living standard declining and scandals like “Party Gate” had more or less eroded the PM’s popularity who single-handedly won the 2019 election with a thumping majority.

The Cabinet reshuffle is inevitable in summer. It will be interesting to observe whether Rishi Sunak will retain his important portfolio. Once he was certain to take over from PM Boris but his wife’s tax affairs and even more damaging was his tax rise for ordinary people, at a time when the living standard is in free fall, queues outside food banks are lengthening and most people put the blame at the feet of PM Boris and Chancellor who are more interested in playing Mother Terrassa in Ukraine at the expense of our struggling people who find it difficult to put food on the dining table for the family! God help us from these self-righteous, semiGod politicians who live in a castle with the bridge raised!

Bhupendra M. Gandhi

Review of Mother Teresa's documentary The Sky Television documentary on Mother Teresa episode one was shown on 9 May 2022. What we gather is that Mother Teresa was a complex character who was driven by a very orthodox interpretation of Catholocism. It was not so much the care of the needy that drove her but the idea that suffering brings you closer to Christ. The Nuns regularly flogged themselves with a whip as part of some ritual purification. People in the last stages of life were left to face death and it seemed they were not getting any medical reports. As her fame grew she began to receive a huge amount of money according to the documentary. However, the money was not used to provide medical care. According to a doctor who worked for Mother Theresa's Charity the situation was appaling and chaotic. No proper care was given to the patients. The next two episodes of the documentary look into where all the money went.

Nitin Mehta

Are you a popular person?

Who does not want to be a popular person? Everyone desires that they are liked by their friends and relatives. Their wish is to impress other people that they come across by their personality and charisma. But is there a secret formula to be accepted by others? Well, here are a few tips, if followed, can go a long way in making you a popular person.

Normally, in any get-together, people are in a jovial mood. So if you can take this opportunity and share any interesting short story or a joke or an anecdote, you can invariably draw the attention of the audience. As a positive outcome of social media, every day we come across numerous such examples that we can share in a group gathering. Be careful, however, not to use obsolete and very common stories and jokes that are in circulation for a long time.

If you wish that other people take interest in you, remember that this will start with you first. This means you must begin to take interest in others and this can involve taking interest in others’ jobs, hobbies, daily routines etc. Be careful, however, to avoid personal life and intimate Qs that may irritate any person.

In this world, surprisingly, many people want to speak but very few want to listen to others. So here is a gap that you can fill in order to become a popular person. Be a good listener and show your curiosity while listening. Moreover, not only listen with your ears but listen with your eyes also, thereby observing the body language and the facial expressions of the other person. This is essential because people not only communicate with words but bulk of transmission is through gestures and postures.

Finally, learn the art of reciprocation, that is, returning the greetings and a smile by coming out of your comfort zone. For example, if someone asks you, ‘How was your weekend?’ you must not only answer his Q but to reciprocate, you must also take interest in asking how was their weekend?

To end with a quote, ’Some people bring happiness where they go but some people bring happiness when they go’. We can try to belong to the first category of people by being pleasant people whom everyone likes and appreciates.

Bharat Shah

Is your Support Network helping your Mental Health?

It is Mental Health Awareness week from 9th May and the theme this year is loneliness. There can be multiple reasons why some people slip into loneliness. For instance, due to a lack of confidence to connect with others, past relationship issues where there is a fear of being hurt again, moving to a new location, loss of a close loved one or lack of energy to devote to relationships due to ill health.

As human beings, we need practical, emotional and moral support at different times in our lives, so it is worth thinking about our support network in these categories. For example, you may go out and have fun with friends, but find it difficult to talk about painful emotions or you may have a friend who helps with practical things but is not a good listener.

Here is a five-step process to help you build a thriving support circle.

1. Make a list of all your contacts - at work, family, friends and even casual acquaintances.

2. Tick nine people from this list- three each for moral, practical, and emotional support.

3. Gradually build connections with these people. You may begin by sending a text, then a short telephone call, then inviting them for coffee or a meal.

4. Over a period, do the same with all nine people. The reason, I am suggesting nine people is because at any given time, a few may not be available for various reasons, in which case there would always be someone there for support.

5. Review your network and make changes as needed after several months.

Research shows that people with strong and balanced support networks are happier and enjoy better mental and physical wellbeing.

Hansa Pankhania UK

•

Kapil Dudakia

KAPIL’S

KHICHADI

Did Labour Really Win? On 6th May the Labour Party and our media went on a rampage to declare Labour as the big winners of the 2022 elections, and it was now only a matter of time before Keir Starmer became the Prime Minister. I was amazed. For a minute I thought I was in a parallel universe, and everything had changed. However, it didn’t take long for me to assess the data and conclude that both the Labour Party and our leftist media were not being entirely honest, as usual.

So let’s start with the facts. Labour did win many new seats across the UK. The Conservatives did lose many seats, obvious I know. However, all is not what it seems. You see, in England where we have the vast majority of voters, Labour gained only around 22 seats (that represents an increase of a 1.0%!). Whereas the Liberal Democrats got around 192 more, and the Greens getting around 63 more. In England there was a clear protest vote against the Tories, and this went to the minor parties. Labour will tell you this was all part of a master plan, but don’t be misled. The truth is simple, history shows us that at the time of a general election most of the protest votes tend to go back to the main party.

In Scotland Labour gained 20 seats, but the Liberal Democrats got an extra 20 with the Greens getting 16 more.

Only in Wales, which has always been the bedrock for Labour, did they do well at the expense of the Tories.

There is no doubt the Conservatives got a bloody nose in these elections. That was to be expected given it’s the midterm, and with the challenges of COVID, the massive pressure on our finances, the over-the-top attacks on ‘partygate’, the biased anti-Tory campaigns by the media, the antiBoris and the anti-Rishi campaigns, and the impact of the Ukraine war on the cost of our energy and essential items.

When you consider all of this, one wonders why Labour did not destroy the Tories? Relative to this expectation one can only conclude that whilst the Tories lost many seats, Labour was not the winner.

For the Tories this was a wake-up call. No doubt they will take stock and come back fighting. They always do.

For Labour, it would be a huge error if they over celebrate an average performance and make it out to be what it is not. Lest they forget, the red wall votes they lost at the last general election have still not come back. And therein they have their big challenge. The traditional Labour voters do not trust their own party. They object to its core policy of appeasement, something that Keir Starmer has hitherto been reluctant to tackle head on.

The most astonishing result must be Harrow Council which finally became Tory, all thanks to the local Indian Tory candidates who have worked with the grassroots since 2010. A clear message for places like Leicester to get their act together!

Overall, it was good to see so many candidates from our community take part in these elections. It’s important for them to remember that once elected they should use that platform to also challenge the anti-India forces.

Dr Neeraj Patil of ‘Hindus for Labour’ said, ‘In all probability there will be a Labour Government in 2024 with Kier Starmer as Prime Minister'. I fear he is rather too optimistic in his assessment. The people in the know, know that Labour have a lot more to do before getting anywhere near Number 10.

To me it seems, ‘Conservatives are for Hindus’, whereas in Labour, it’s still ‘Hindus for Labour’. Until Labour also becomes ‘Labour for Hindus’, and shows that with practical deeds, I suspect the haemorrhaging of the Indian and Hindu vote will continue. After all, why would any Indian vote for a party that is pro-Pakistan and anti-India?

India’s neutrality toward UkraineRussia war India’s neutral position towards the Ukraine-Russia war is quite praiseworthy, as, if India supports either one of them, it would be tantamount to flaring up the situation more rather than cooling it. It’s up to Western countries, mainly the USA. to see that, instead of supplying more arms, they should talk to both counties to settle their differences by amicable talks in the real interests of, particularly, Ukraine. USA wanted Russia to be a democratic country, and since Russia achieved democratic status after the arduous Cold War, both countries strived to be on good terms, and are on a par with each other to solve any problems in the interest of world peace the P.M. of India Mr Modi has in mind constantly.

RN Patel

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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‘This Queen’s Speech does nothing’, says LibDem leader Prince Charles delivered the Queen's Speech in Parliament on Tuesday, setting out the government's agenda for the coming year.

He was accompanied by the Duke of Cambridge. Prince Charles said the government's priority "is to grow and strengthen the economy and help ease the cost of living for families”. He stood in place of her Majesty, the Queen who will be scaling back the number of official engagements she attends as she preserves her health, but the 96-year-old head of state had hoped to attend one of the most important events in her annual diary.

Below are a few highlights:

Mental Health reforms The Government will reform mental health rules, aim to clear the NHS backlog caused by the Covid pandemic and give a renewed focus to women’s health, according to the Queen’s Speech.

The move will make it easier for people with learning disabilities and autism to be discharged from hospital, and there is also a plan to “end the existing disparities in the use of the Act for people from ethnic minority backgrounds – especially for detentions and for the use of community treatment orders”.

The definition of mental disorder will further be

amended so that people can no longer be detained solely because they have a learning disability or because they are autistic.

Also in the Speech are plans for 33 new maternal mental health services to be

Brothers sentenced for attacking police officers Two brothers who viciously attacked two police officers at a shopping centre in West Bromwich have been jailed.

Parminder Hunjan, 37, and Maninder Hunjan, 26, were sentenced today (9 May 2022) at Wolverhampton Crown Court for attacking PC Leon Mittoo and PC James Willetts in New Square Shopping Centre, West Bromwich, on 21 July last year.

Parminder Hunjan was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment comprising of 10 years plus an extended licence of four years.

Maninder Hunjan was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment comprising of eight years plus an extended licence of four years.

The police officers were patrolling Queens Square Shopping Centre when they spotted the brothers carrying large black backpacks and wearing thick coats and gloves in the summer. When PC Mittoo and PC Leon approached the brothers to carry out stop checks, the brothers attacked the officers with knives.

The brothers were disarmed and restrained after a brief but ferocious struggle in which both officers were fortunate to sustain only minor cuts. In addition to the knives used to attack the officers, their backpacks contained a machete, hammers, imitation firearms, balaclavas, gloves, and a smoke grenade.

The defendants were found guilty of their offences following a trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court on 31 March 2022. Parminder Hunjan was convicted of wounding PC Leon Mittoo and PC James Willetts with intent and possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of

violence. His brother Maninder was convicted of guilty of wounding PC James Willetts with intent and possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. Both had earlier pleaded guilty to possession of offensive weapons.

Douglas Marshall of the CPS said: ‘It is not clear why Parminder and Maninder Hunjan reacted with such ferocity when approached by the officers last summer, but what is apparent is that they were ready to resort to the use of knives at a moment’s notice. Regardless, the officers unhesitatingly put themselves in harm’s way and through their brave actions the pair were disarmed. PCs Mittoo and Willetts suffered relatively minor wounds as a result of their actions, but given the arsenal of weapons the brothers were carrying, the potential outcome could have been much worse.

“Today shows not only that carrying knives will not be condoned, but that violent acts against those whose job it is to protect the public will result in significant prison sentences.”

Appeal launched to commemorate 50th anniversary of expulsion of Indian community from Uganda AFFCAD UK, will launch a collection of testimonies - “50 Stories for 50 Years” - to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the exodus of Asian people from Uganda.

The charity is appealing to the families of those who were forced to flee Uganda to participate in this tribute by sharing their stories to be published throughout the year.

AFFCAD UK (Action for Fundamental Change and Development) is a volunteer-led charity set up to support young people and families living in extreme poverty in Uganda.

The charity currently works with the community in Bwaise, a slum and one of the poorest areas in the city of Kampala. The charity works there to provide quality, accessible education and training to the community.

Parvez Bhatty, AFFCAD UK’s Chair of Trustees, said:“Some of us at AFFCAD were

refugees from Uganda in 1972. We remember the despair, loss and fear that such a traumatic event causes.

“It’s therefore right to commemorate the flight from Uganda that was made and the lives that were rebuilt afterwards. We would like as many people as possible who were forced to flee Uganda to share their memories with us.”

In early August 1972, the President of Uganda, Idi Amin, ordered the expulsion of the country's Asian minority, giving them 90 days to leave the country. At the time of the expulsion, there were about 50,000 individuals of Indian descent in Uganda. The majority came to the UK with others settling in the USA, Canada, Kenya and elsewhere.

To tell us your story or learn more about what AFFCAD is doing in the slums of Kampala please go to https://affcaduk.org/

made available across the whole of England by March 2024. Some 399 mental health teams will also work in schools and colleges from next year.

The NHS resource budget in England will increase to £162.6 billion in 2024/25, up from £123.7 billion in 2019/20, including £8 million for clearing the treatment backlog.

Some 40 new hospitals by 2030 have already been announced, alongside moving more technology and staff into diagnostic hubs in the community so people can be seen more quickly.

New law to protect access to cash announced in queen’s speech New laws to protect access to cash and help victims of financial scams were announced by Her Majesty the Queen.

The new Financial Services and Markets Bill will support consumers by protecting access to cash. This will ensure victims are not left paying for fraud through no fault of their own Paresh Raja, CEO, Market Financial Solutions said, “Will they, won’t they – that was the big question surrounding the Planning Bill ahead of today’s Queen’s Speech. It is certainly positive to hear it mentioned, with the policy seemingly dragged back out of the proverbial long grass, into which it was kicked last

year. As ever, the devil will be in the detail, but stating that "the planning system will be reformed" is a start at least.

“Let’s start with the obvious fact: the UK needs more housing, and fast. To achieve this, we need to make it easier to build more new homes and, crucially, also convert disused commercial properties into residential ones. Tabling the Planning Bill is a vital first step in hopefully addressing the red tape that prevents the delivery of new homes.

“Question marks hang over the purported decision to give local leaders more power to revitalise high streets, which was hinted at.

It sounds promising, but the policy could miss the mark a little. Landlords seldom want their properties to sit empty – really the question is whether there is viable demand from businesses to rent shops and offices, and at a price that ensures landlords can cover their costs.

“The continued efforts to raise standards in the private rental sector and pro-

tect tenants' rights is welcomed. It will be interesting to see how this takes shape.”

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: “This Queen’s Speech does nothing to help the millions of families and pensioners facing soaring bills and eyewatering inflation. The Conservatives have failed to deliver a cut to VAT that would have saved families an average of £600, failed to help pensioners and failed to help the most vulnerable in our society.

“The Conservatives are continuing to neglect rural communities. There was nothing in these plans to support farmers on the brink, tackle soaring ambulance waiting times and GP shortages, or stop the dumping of filthy sewage into our rivers and seas.

“It shows a Prime Minister refusing to listen to the clear message sent by voters at last week’s local elections who are fed up of being taken for granted by this Conservative Government.”

The Queen’s Speech included 38 bills, some in draft form and some carried over from the previous parliament: v v v v v v v v

A Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill An Energy Security Bill The Renters Reform Bill A Non-Domestic Rating Bill A Public Order Bill A Brexit Freedoms Bill A Bill of Rights An Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill v A National Security Bill v The Online Safety Bill v The Transport Bill v A Media Bill will pave the way for the sale of Channel 4.

Other bills include a High Speed Rail (CreweManchester) Bill, a Social Housing Regulation Bill, Modern Slavery Bill, a Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, a Conversion Therapy Bill, a Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, and an Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, as well as a Draft Mental Health Act Reform Bill.

Sunderland pharmacist meets The Prince of Wales Umesh Patel from Leema Pharmacy in Sunderland met His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales at a special reception at St James’s Palace last week (Wednesday 4 May).

The event recognised the work of pharmacists across the United Kingdom, in the light of their extraordinary contribution to the health of the nation during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Patel, who is chairman of Sunderland Local Pharmaceutical Committee, was among nearly two hundred pharmacists invited to the palace for the occasion.

Mr Patel said: “As pharmacists, we know our patients appreciate us, but it’s not often we get national recognition of this kind. I’m very grateful to the Prince of Wales for hosting this special celebration.”

In a speech, The Prince of Wales paid tribute to the work of pharmacies on the NHS frontline:

“You are a very familiar fixture in the nation’s high streets and neighbourhoods – something that people have come to rely

on and value tremendously over generations. As well as providing prompt access to advice and treatment, of course, the great thing is you are also a friendly and reassuring presence in our communities. A place where science, as it were, meets society. As I have said once before, pharmacies are about people and places, not just pills.”

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SCRUTATOR’S Monkey fled with murder weapon!

Generally, people who commit a crime and then destroy the evidence, are considered criminals in the eyes of law. But what if an animal destroys the evidence of a crime committed by a human. Something on these lines happened in Rajasthan, where a monkey fled with the evidence collected in a murder case. The stolen items included the murder weapon. The incident came to the fore when Rajasthan police gave this statement at a trial court in Jaipur. According to the police, in September 2016 a person named Shashikant Sharma died under Chandwaji police station.

After five days, cops arrested two people in connection with the incident. The police had produced both of them in the court on the charge of murder. But when the time came to produce the evidence in court, cops said that a monkey had stolen the murder evidence. The cops said that evidence related to the case was kept in a bag, which was being taken to court. Apart from the knife, 15 other important evidences were also kept in it. Due to a lack of space in the malkhana, a bag full of evidence was kept under a tree. Later, when the court asked the cops to present the evidence, the cops informed the court that a monkey had stolen the bag. (Agency) 16-year-old seeks permission to donate liver to dad

The Bombay high court asked the ‘appropriate authority’ to consider expeditiously an application for liver transplant by a 16-year-old seeking permission to be the donor for her father, despite her being a minor. “Since the condition of the petitioner’s father is critical, we request that the application be decided as expeditiously as possible, said the HC bench, which heard the teenager’s petition. The Act does not consider minors as competent donors. She is 16 years, two months and 13 days old. The girl’s lawyer said the father is bedridden and had been advised to undergo a transplant in March.

All close relatives were evaluated as potential donors, but except for the daughter none of them were found “medically suitable”, the petition said. The urgency in approaching the HC, the petition added, was since the “life expectancy of the patient” was not beyond 15 days on the date of the petition. The lawyer submitted that the family is unable to find any other suitable donor and since she is a minor, she is unable to donate a part of her liver without approval of the appropriate authority or the state government. (Agency) Loco pilot stops train in ‘dry’ Bihar for a drink

The driver of a passenger halted the train on a roadside shop outside Hasanpur Road station in Bihar for a quick drink. As the news spread, railways suspended Karamveer Prasad Yadav for drinking on the job as well as imbibing in a ‘dry’ state that strictly prohibits alcoholic drinks. And it seems some train drivers in Bihar can’t do without their drink because another man halted his train at a station this April for a quick sip, though his choice of beverage was tea. Sources said Yadav got down from Samastipur-Saharsa MEMU special train while giving way to the Rajdhani Express at the station in Samastipur division around 5.40 pm.

When the Rajdhani crossed Hasanpur Road, station master Manoj K Choudhary signalled the waiting train to proceed towards Saharsa, but it did not move. The station staff and railway policemen took a look at the driver’s cabin, but the ‘loco pilot’ wasn’t there. A brief search found Yadav drinking at a shop. He was drunk and a 375ml bottle of liquor was found on him. As Yadav was drunk, a sober substitute was called in to fill in for Yadav - who was taken into custody. He was charged and an inquiry was initiated against him. (Agency) Footpath school impresses UN ambassador Sir Vartan Melkonian, British Armenian humanitarian ambassador to the UN street children programme, was overwhelmed after seeing 70-odd street kids pursue education in a footpath school in Anand, Gujarat. Melkonian had visited the footpath school that was started by college teacher Uma Sharma in June 2018 and runs every evening at Sardar Patel Raj Marg. “It is most extraordinary to see this happening in the 21st century. It is my duty and my passion to report this to the international community on how this beautiful initiative has taken place here, on the streets, on a footpath, in front of a shopping centre,” the UN ambassador said, adding that he felt both responsible and embarrassed at the same time in the 21st century. “We started this footpath school without a concrete plan or a roadmap on how to take it forward. But as we went ahead, we grew to a school of 70 children studying here every evening. Half of these children do not even have a roof above their heads,” said Uma, whose school is in its fifth year now. (The Times of India) Muslim woman seeks uniform divorce rules Benazeer Heena, a Ghaziabad resident, has approached the Supreme Court seeking to declare ‘Talaq-e- Hasan’ and all other forms of “unilateral extra-judicial talaq” as void and unconstitutional.

Benazeer, who claimed to be a survivor of Talaq-e-Hasan,” also sought a direction to the Centre to frame guidelines for neutral and uniform grounds of divorce and procedure for all citizens. In Talaq-eHasan, talaq is pronounced once a month, over a period of three months. If cohabitation is not resumed during this period, divorce gets formalised after the third utterance in the third month.

However, if cohabitation resumes after the first or second utterance of talaq, the parties are assumed to have reconciled.

The petitioner, who claimed to have been given such a divorce, contended that police and authorities told her that Talaq-eHasan is permitted under Sharia. “The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, conveys a wrong impression that the law sanctions Talaq-e-Hasan and all other forms of unilateral extra-judicial

talaq, which is grossly injurious to the fundamental rights of married Muslim women and offends Articles 14, 15, 21 and 25 of the Constitution of India and the international conventions on civil and human rights,” the petition submitted.

(Agency) Hindu sisters fulfil dad’s wish, give land to eidgah Sixty-twoyear old Anita and her sister Saroj, 57, have won the hearts of thousands of Muslims in Kashipur, a small town in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand. They fulfilled the wish of their father, who died nearly 20 years ago, by donating 2.1 acres of land worth over £120,000 to an eidgah days before Eid. As a mark of respect, members of the Muslim community sought blessings for him during their Eid prayers. Lala Brajnandan Rastogi,who died in 2003, was a farmer and owned some acres of land in Kashipur, a part of which went to Anita and Saroj after his death. It was only years later that the sisters came to know that their late father wanted to give away a piece of the land to his "Muslim brethren" and that he had hesitated to express his wish before his children. Recently, after discussing the matter with their kin, Saroj and Anita came to Kashipur to finally complete formalities for land transfer with the help of their brother Rakesh. Rakesh said, “My father was a strong believer in communal harmony. He wished to donate the land to the eidgah so that it could accommodate more people for namaz on festivals such as Eid. Haseen Khan, president of the eidgah committee, called Lala "a man with a big heart" and said, "When he was alive, the committee would always take the first donation from him on all important occasions.” (Agency) 41-storied building to come up in Ahmedabad

After 33-storeyed buildings becoming almost common in Ahmedabad, the city’s skyline is set to get an even taller structure.

If all goes to plan, a 41-storeyed commercial building will soon come up near Iskcon Circle on SG Road in

Ahmedabad. This will be Gujarat’s tallest building, with a height of 145 metres. So far, most buildings with more than 30 floors have been residential projects.

According to reports, Ahmedabad-based developers Goyal and HN Safal are set to begin this joint project, which will take four years to complete. The 7,000 square yard plot was bought for a record-high price about a year ago by the builders.

Goyal Group director Trilok Goyal said, “We plan to develop a 145-metre tall 41storeyed commercial project on this plot.

However, the project is at the finalization stage and once the plans are approved, we will launch it.” He declined to comment on the builtup area of the project. According to real estate industry sources, SG Road is witnessing strong growth in commercial space development with higher FSI available. The state government introduced special provisions to enable the development of skyscrapers in the five major cities of Gujarat: Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, and Gandhinagar. This will enable buildings with up to 70 storeys to be built. (The Times of India) Rickshaw driver’s son rides into IIM Ahmedabad Laxmikanth Reddy, the son of a rickshaw driver from Telangana, secured admission in IIM Amhedabad for a PGPX course.

His is a story of willpower and hard work.

Laxmi, as he’s fondly called, is a native of Godavarikhani in Telangana, Reddy comes from a family of farmers. But as farming became unpredictable, his father took up driving autorickshaw, which he continued for decades. He left it due to paralysis few years ago. “I studied in Telugu medium till Class 7. Afterwards, my father pooled in resources to get me to the convent school where he would drop other kids. From class 8 to 10, I studied there. I got a full scholarship to study science in a junior college. After that, I got a scholarship to study at Sreenidhi Institute of Science & Technology,” recounts Laxmikanth who completed his BTech in mechanical engineering in 2016. The period was marred by struggle. With father suffering ill health, he was forced to take help from the community and offer tuitions to earn money for fee and other expenses. In 2019, he launched a startup with friends to promote terrace garden and farming. But Covid had other plans. “The pandemic prompted me to get a management degree.

I cracked CAT in 2021. It was a dream come true.” (The Times of India)

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English Pharmacy Board chair calls for chemists to be able to alter prescriptions Pharmacists have doubled down on calls to get rid of red tape that blocks them from prescribing alternative HRT treatments amid the nationwide shortage.

Thousands of menopausal women have struggled to their hands on the key drugs, which has left the most desperate to ration prescriptions or turn to the black market.

In hope of alleviating the crisis, chemists have repeatedly called on Sajid Javid to ditch rules that force women to go back to their GPs for new prescriptions to get alternatives prescribed. But Javid has yet to announce a change, despite promising to 'do all I can' to fix the crisis.

Thousands of women have been unable to obtain therapy for

menopause symptoms such as low mood, brain fog and hot flashes.

A national shortage of Oestrogel, the most popular HRT drug that is used by around 30,000 women, is driving the crisis.

The Government last week instilled a former Covid Vaccine Taskforce chief as the new HRT tsar to get a grip on the crisis.

Makeshift schools to be closed in new government crackdown Schools watchdog Ofsted warned 'tens of thousands' of children attend the barely regulated independent schools, which are often housed in garages.

ist values by banned preachers will be closed in a new government crackdown.

Currently, Ofsted inspectors are limited to taking photographs of materials they find.

Four in ten respondents to the consultation expressed concern

about pupils at unregistered schools receiving a narrow religious curriculum. And nearly three quarters said all schools should be registered because education should be regulated and schools held accountable for the values they teach.

Patel couple who own Muswell Hill supermarket retire after 36 years The owners of a Muswell Hill supermarket, Bakul Patel and his wife Amita Patel, are saying an emotional farewell as they retire after 36 years service. The couple is handing over the keys of the Alexandra Supermarket, in Alexandra Park Road.

The shop was part of a Londis franchise when he and Amita, 62, took it over but with "too many rules to follow" they came out of it a decade ago and changed the name.

The couple – who have a son, Ankit Patel, 32 and a daughter Meera, 29 – say there have been highs and lows over the years.

Bakul says, "We are very grateful. I'm sure they are as well but we are most grateful. They are such a lovely neighbourhood, so welcom-

ing."

He added: "We've never seen the other side of the world. We've been here 24/7 – start at 6.30am, finish at 8. We had no social life."

A trip is planned to Morocco in the next few weeks. Then, in July, is the wedding ceremony of their son to their new daughter-in-law Ashika.

"We can enjoy that without the pressure of the shop," Bakul added.

"Maybe a few years down the road we'll look after their children."

Still no clarity on the cause of a rise in liver inflammation in children The Department for Education (DfE) was handed the new powers today by education secretary Nadim Zahawi.

He said the department will shutter independent schools with 'serious safeguarding failings which pose a risk of harm to students'.

These makeshift schools where children risk being taught extrem-

In the UK, 163 cases have now been identified, and 11 children have received liver transplants. A common adenovirus is thought to play a role, but other possibilities are still being investigated. Cases have been detected in 20 countries worldwide, with nearly 300 children affected, and one death.

What's puzzling scientists is that the most likely cause - aden-

ovirus - doesn't normally make children seriously unwell. Passed

from person to person via coughs and sneezes, it can cause colds, vomiting and diarrhoea. However, it's very unusual for adenovirus to be a cause of severe hepatitis in otherwise healthy children, but it has been circulating at high levels since the start of the year after virtually disappearing during the pandemic.

Scientists are investigating whether a new variant of adenovirus has developed which is making children more ill, or whether a previous infection, such as Covid, could be a factor.

The UKHSA says there is no evidence of any link to the Covid-19 vaccine because most children with hepatitis were too young to receive it.

70-piece collection of Gandhi's possessions set to go under the hammer India's Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi's belongings - including his own hand-made loincloths, wooden sandals and what's believed to be the last photo of him taken alive - are expected to raise more than half a million pounds at auction.

East Bristol Auctions, who previously sold a pair of Gandhi's spectacles for £260,000 in 2020, are confident the 70-piece auction will raise up to £500,000.

The 70-piece collection features items that were

owned and associated with the iconic figure, including one of his own hand-made loincloths, letters he wrote whilst imprisoned, and two pairs of his sandals.

A standout in the collection is what is believed to be

the last photograph taken of Gandhi whilst he was still alive. The picture was taken in the exact same place where Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated just three weeks later - the chair he is perched on in this photograph is the same chair he was sat on during the day he was killed.

An additional highlight in the auction is the appearance of Gandhi's trademark loincloths- described by Andrew as a 'unique piece of history' - and expected to make between £15,000 to 25,000.

740 unisex toilets worth £800,000 built by NHS Data obtained by the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) shows nearly 740 new unisex toilets were either built or converted since 2018 — including during the Covid pandemic.

Total £818,125 was spent on toilets which could have been used to pay the salary of 42 new nurses for a year, analysis suggests.

Pressure groups said the cash spent by trusts flies in the face of Government guidance, which states 'there needs to be proper provision of gender-specific toilets'.

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, in Merseyside, alone spent more than £586,000 on 63 gender-neutral lavatories.

Liverpool Women's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust — which specialises in treating women and babies — has installed three new gender-neutral facilities in

the last four years, costing around £1,000.

A row broke out online after a woman said she opened a door in toilets at Tredegar House in Newport to reveal a man urinating without the door locked.

A sign on the lavatory door of the café said: 'Gender-neutral toilets.

Alternative toilet facilities are available by the main car park.'

Feminist groups have increasingly called to make sure women have access to single-sex bathrooms to ensure they feel safe and have privacy.

29th August 1932 - 3rd May 2022 Please join us to celebrate the life of

Dr JAGDISH MITRA KAUSHAL Mr Kaushal arrived in the UK from a Punjab town Dasooha in 1966. He was publisher of a Hindi weekly 'Amardeep' and Punjabi weekly 'Punjabi Darpan '. Mr kaushal is survived by three sons , a daughter and their partners and 8 grand children. He was directly involved in selfless charitable initiatives in India.

Saturday, May 14th 2022 Cremation ceremony

12pm (UK time) at South West Middlesex Crematorium, Hounslow Rd, Feltham TW13 5JH Webcast details for the ceremony: https://watch.obitus.com Username: kinu6472 password: 860154 No flowers please. You may wish to donate to: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/millionandongosh

Followed by Puja & Langar 2 Chepstow Rd, Hanwell, London W7 2BG

OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI OM

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‘Project Jayantee’ to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Shefali Saxena On 6th February this year Her Majesty The Queen became the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years of service to the people of the United Kingdom, the Realms and the Commonwealth.

To celebrate this unprecedented anniversary, events and initiatives will take place throughout the year, culminating in a four day UK bank holiday weekend from Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th June.

The four days of celebrations will include public events and community activities, as well as national moments of reflection on The Queen’s 70 years of serVisit the vice.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport's interactive map to find out more about events taking place across the UK. The British Asian community is participating in the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations in their own unique way. Asian Voice spoke to artist Harsha Wadhwani Basu about it.

Harsha Basu Wadhwani is an artist working in collaboration with Community Youth Ventures, a commu-

Alfriston School in Beaconsfield.”

Keeping in view this special moment in their collective history and Harsha and the team are now starting to socialise after the Pandemic, it is a great time to organise something L-R: Mrs Ranjula Takora MBE, memorable in the schools.

Mayor of Aylesbury with Harsha “The current OFSTED Wadhwani Basu Framework encourages nity interest company that school leaders to invest in focuses on inspiring young ‘the knowledge and cultural lives through innovative capital they (all kinds of learners) need to succeed in life’ and latest research has also established that 98% of the ‘Outstanding’ schools ‘promote the arts through performances, events and celebrations’,” she said.

“As one can guess, Queen Bee painting in Madhubani art the title of the project is and diversionary activities.

Jayantee and we are Together they are delivfocussing on one of the ering ‘Project Jayantee’ to Commonwealth Countries celebrate Her Majesty the i.e. India. So far we have Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. introduced the girls to very Speaking exclusively to inspiring Mithila Art along Asian Voice, Harsha said, with some interesting food “Our project is funded by history. School children also Art Council England’s Let’s met Mrs Ranjula Takodra Create Jubilee Fund which MBE who told us all about aims to encourage commuthe day she met the Queen. nity organisations to think We do have exciting plans about what creative activity for the rest of the month would mean the most to that will culminate into an their local communities and exhibition in the library why. We are running this local to the school,” Harsha project at Special Education added.

Lord Swraj Paul's wife Aruna passes away The wife of leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul, Lady Aruna Paul, passed away peacefully at her home in London on Tuesday night 3rd May. She was 86.

“She was full of life and always trying to uplift people around her,” said a close family member, confirming the news of her death with PTI. Swraj and Aruna Paul, were married for over 65 years. They had celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary in December 2016, when Queen Elizabeth II sent her best wishes to mark the couple's wedding milestone.

Lady Paul is survived by her husband and three children – two sons Akash and Ambar and a daughter Anjli.

UK study suggests under 45s and women more likely to gain weight and jump a BMI category during lockdown New research being presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Maastricht, Netherlands (4-7 May), suggests that most adults in the UK did not lose or gain enough weight following the first pandemic lockdown to change their body mass index (BMI) category, but indicates that young adults (aged 45 years or younger) and women were more likely to gain weight and move up at least one BMI category.

The study, by Professor Thomas Yates and Dr David Kloecker from the Diabetes Research Center, Leicester General Hospital, University of Leicester, UK and colleagues, included information on a UK sample of approximately a million adults mostly from England.

"The implications of even modest weight gain at a population level in younger adults and women could translate into more diabetes, heart disease, cancers and other serious obesity-related health problems over the coming decades in these populations unless action is taken to reverse the effects of lockdown", says Professor Yates. "These data also suggest societal inequalities, with Black individuals more likely to put on pandemic weight and move up at least one BMI category compared to other ethnic groups."

For this study, researchers conducted a retrospective observational cohort study of one million adults (aged 18 or older), randomly selected from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD—a large general practice database) to investigate how BMI and weight changed after the first Covid-19 lockdown in the UK, and whether these changes differed by BMI category, sex, age group and ethnicity.

The pre-lockdown period spanned 22

One in 10 women who have worked during menopause have left a job due to their symptoms

A survey of more than 4,000 UK women aged 45-55, who are currently or have previously experienced perimenopause or menopause, has found that one in 10 women who have worked during menopause have left a job due to the symptoms that followed.

It also found that 14% of women had reduced their hours at work, 14% had gone part-time, and 8% had not applied for promotion. The report found that 45% of women surveyed said they had not talked to someone at their GP practice about menopause, and even among women with five or more severe symptoms, 29% had not spoken to their GP or a nurse.

Some 31% of women surveyed agreed that it took many appointments for their GP to realise they were experiencing menopause or perimenopause, rising to 45% among women from ethnically diverse backgrounds and 42% among women with five or more severe symptoms.

Just 39% of women who spoke to a GP or nurse said aged 40 and over in 2020, up from 30,015 a year earthey had been offered HRT lier. At a rate of 17.1 per 1,000 in the age bracket, that once they were diagnosed was the highest figure since at least 1990, when 6.6 with menopause. per 1,000 were recorded.

The research was supThe rate for those aged 30 to 34 went up from ported by the Fawcett 119.4 per 1,000 to 123.9 per 1,000, making it the Society, which has profourth consecutive year the age group had the highduced a report called est rate, overtaking 25- to 29-year-olds. Among Menopause And The women aged between 35 and 39, the rate also rose Workplace. slightly in 2020, to 66.7 per 1,000.

It follows reports the A conception is defined as a pregnancy of a government is pledging to woman that leads to a live birth, stillbirth or an abortackle shortages of hortion. The ONS said that, although a fall in concepmone replacement therapy tions might be expected to lead to fewer newborns, (HRT) medicine - used to figures indicate that births actually increased in 2021. combat menopausal symp-

Number of women getting pregnant continues to fall across England and Wales The latest data by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data has revealed that the number of women getting pregnant continues to fall across England and Wales – although the pandemic did see conceptions rise among the over-30s. There were 817,515 conceptions among women aged 15 to 44 across the two countries in 2020..

That was down from 821,089 the previous year and equivalent to 73.4 per 1,000 women in the age group, making it the fifth year in a row the rate has fallen. However, this has been driven by a decline in conception rates among younger women in recent years, continuing a shift towards pregnancy in later life.

There were 31,438 pregnancies among women

March, 2017 to 22 March, 2020 (the day before the start of the first lockdown in the UK), and the follow-up lockdown period was from 23 March, 2020 to 13 March, 2021.

The researchers found small changes in body weight trends after the start of lockdown in women and those younger than 45 years old with a BMI of ≥ 30 kg/m2 relative to historical trends.

Further analyses of data from 273,529 participants (with information on BMI before and after the start of the first UK lockdown) looking at changes in BMI, found that most adults remained in the same BMI category post-lockdown.

The researchers also found that a greater proportion of women than men gained weight, resulting in an increase in BMI category post-lockdown. For example, in the overweight category, 13% of women versus 9% of men transitioned into the obesity categories (any class) post-lockdown.

Overall patterns of weight change were similar across all ethnic groups. However, a greater proportion of Black individuals moved up at least one BMI category compared to other ethnic groups, regardless of the initial BMI category.

toms - which are leaving some women feeling suicidal.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced in April he will be appointing an HRT tsar to help improve supply in both the short and long term.

Recent figures suggest the number of HRT prescriptions in the UK has doubled in the last five years but stocks are running low.

Women are now reportedly sharing their prescriptions, with some said to be made suicidal by the debilitating menopause symptoms they suffer without the medication.

Fawcett Society chief executive Jemima Olchawski said: "Menopausal women are experiencing unnecessary misery and it's a national scandal.

"From waiting too long for the right care to uniforms that cause unnecessary discomfort - women are being badly let down.

"Too often menopause symptoms have been dismissed as a joke and HRT has been labelled a lifestyle drug. But with 44% of women facing three or more severe symptoms, our research helps to dispel that nonsense.

"Faced with that misinformation, is it a wonder that only half of women are even seeking help from their GP?" She added: "The government needs to make urgent changes, from requiring employers to have menopause action plans, to creating a route into menopause healthcare, to ensuring that GPs are adequately trained to spot menopause symptoms.

"For too long, menopause has been shrouded in stigma, we need to break the culture of silence and ensure menopausal women are treated with the dignity and support they deserve instead of being expected to just get on with it."

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NHS begs retiring medics to boost capacity by working part-time The health service is juggling an elective care backlog of 6.2million patients with around 110,000 staff vacancies. As analysts estimate 21,000 doctors will retire in September, senior doctors have been urged to delay their retirement to help tackle the record Covid-fuelled backlog of patients.

NHS England begged older and recently retired medics to keep working part-time or from home operating 'virtual wards', in a letter sent to hospital trusts. It also suggests older medics could opt-in to perform operations in their

spare time or stay on to help train the next generation of doctors.

According to the letter, older medics could also offer virtual outpatient appointments from home, which health bosses believe could

help those in the queue manage their condition while waiting for their procedure. And they could harness their experience to teach, supervise and certify thousands of doctors in training.

Rump took her daughter to school and came home. At around 11.15 am, Jackson was seen going to her flat to meet her. He had wanted to rekindle their relationship, which had ended a year before, but she did not. Just over an hour later, the mother-of-two was found dead in her flat by firefighters, after neighbours raised the alarm.

Jackson admitted using petrol in a small drinks bottle during the attack but told

the court he had the small bottle of petrol in his car for a bonfire he was planning for bonfire night. He was later seen discarding a bloodstained jumper and a cardboard box not far from the scene before driving off.

DfE officials asked to spend 4 days a week in office Officials at the Department for Education have been told they are expected to spend four days a week in the office with a pledge that moving to a 60:40 arrangement should not be difficult, the civil service’s biggest union has said.

PCS said the offer was set out by “senior leaders” at DfE, following the “drastic change” in hybrid-working arrangements at the department last month.

Around 200 members of PCS at the department met with the union’s negotiators to discuss the

impact of DfE’s back-tooffice drive. It said those issues – including the availability of adequate office space, a lack of justification for the push, and the impact of the changes on staff with caring responsibilities – were raised with management.

NHS bursaries not enough, medical students claim The #LiveableNHSBursary campaign has begun on Twitter, with students sharing financial realities of studying and saying NHS bursaries are not enough.

Some medical students in London say they are unable to prioritise their studies as they are having to work in part-time jobs to make ends meet.

One medical association representative said students were "forced to choose between eating or passing finals".

The NHS bursary provides eligible full-time undergraduate students with a non-means-tested grant of £1,000 and a means-tested grant of up to £3,191 for those living in London in their fifth and

sixth year of study, for the first 30 weeks of the year.

Those studying longer than this are entitled to an extra £108 per week in London if living away from home and £56 if living with parents.

However, the British Medical Association (BMA), a group which represents medical students, has accused the government of not doing enough.

Rigorous manpower planning required in NHS dentistry It is a fact that child dental health is in a poor state.

Dental caries is the most common reason for five- to nine-year-olds in England to be admitted to hospital.

Over 60,000 children were admitted to hospital to have teeth removed in 2015-16.

Sadly, the workforce planning amendment alluded to in the health and care bill was rejected. There has been no workforce plan for

Hay fever, also known as allergic rhinitis, affects almost 10 million people in England, of all ages. That's almost one in four adults and one in 10 children.

It is caused by an allergic response to allergens, such as pollen. Some people are triggered by tree pollen - typically around March to mid-May - and

others by grass or weed pollen which come slightly later in the season. When this happens, the body makes a chemical called histamine.

Stocks of chlorphenamine maleate, the active ingredient in brands such as Piriton, are limited, Boots says. The chain said it still had a large range of

other hay-fever medicines in stores and online.

A Boots official said: "There are a very small number of lines that are currently out of stock due to a current, industry-wide shortage of the active ingredient. Boots says it has over 90 hay fever relief products - four are impacted by the shortage.

Lecturers threaten to boycott

Man jailed for 23 years for murdering ex-partner Habib Jackson, 32, was sentenced to a minimum of 23 years for the murder of 29year-old Louise Rump at her home in Kensworth, Bedfordshire.

Jackson met Miss Rump at her flat before punching her in the face a number of times, then strangling and smothering her, said Bedfordshire Police. He then started a fire in the flat using a bottle of petrol he had brought.

On 16 October 2020, Ms

Hay-fever pill shortage hits chemists

the NHS since 2003. The government would rather claim that its inadequate funding commitments are enough to solve all the NHS’s problems, whereas with 110,000 staff vacancies,

ageing equipment and estate and rising demand there is no way that this can be true.

According to Dr John Puntis of Keep Our NHS Public, it’s time to demand a public dental service that will end the decay. This means rigorous manpower planning for current and future needs and necessary investment in training and facilities.

Staff at 44 of the UK’s most prestigious universities, including Durham and St Andrews, are set to strike before the end of the academic term in a row over pay, working

conditions and pension packages.

The action, orchestrated by the University and College Union (UCU) comes on top of up to 15 days of strike action taken

by teaching staff this year.

Thousands of students could miss out on graduating this year after lecturers threatened to boycott the marking of exam papers.

Vaisakhi celebration by India association: Blend of tradition, culture and a cause for humanity Vaisakhi celebration was organized by the India association with a blend of tradition, culture and a cause for humanity on 8th May at the Indian Gymkhana. The organizers appeal to donate funds to help the people who fled Ukraine. Lord M Sheikh, Joy Morrissey, member of parliament from Beaconsfield and C B Patel Chairman and Editor-In-Chief of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar were the guests of honour.

In the welcome note, Bobby Grewal Chair

Joy Morrissey

Singh was proclaimed as Maharaja of the Sikh empire and the third is the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919.”

Joy Morrissey said, “We're here to celebrate the wonderful work of the charity. India Association has led the way in uniting and providing help to our community not only during the pandemic but in every crisis.

During the lockdown, you were there selflessly to provide maximum help to the communiL-R: Jaishriben Patel, Dr. Parikshit (Peter) Patel, ty. Thank you for serving the community.”

Bobby Grewal, Rajan Sehgal, C B Patel C B Patel said, “At this moment I must recall that Dominik Grieve, a former memIndia Association said, “I have witnessed ber of parliament did a fantastic extreme poverty through my job for the community and he was three charity walks. Now we a great supporter of the Indian have all witnessed the atrocAssociation. I happened to join the ities of the war being waged India Association in 1987. In my against Ukraine. All funds opinion, Vaisakhi is of very imporraised tonight will be donattant significance. If India is today ed towards Ukraine and also India, thanks to Khalsa, Sikhism to a voluntary run charity in and so many people who paid their India for the sick and eldertoil and blood to the republic of ly.”

Lord Sheikh said, “apart India. No Prime minister from India has celebrated and paid from celebrating Vaisakhi Lord Sheikh respect to all the Gurus of Sikhism, and getting together today Khalsa and festivals as Narendra Modi is there is the purpose of raising funds for chardoing. When Bobby was walking from South ity also. I am very much impressed by Bobby India to Ahmedabad, I arranged his meeting Grewal and his desire to help humanity. We with the then chief minister of Gujarat Punjabis love to do Seva and it is a very Narendra Modi. Everywhere Sikhs and important part of our DNA. Vaisakhi is a harPunjabis are playing a very important part vest festival where the people want to celewhether it is diplomatic service, brate the success of their crops. In addition, entrepreneurship, army or Bollywood.” these three important events related to Vice-Chair Rajan Sehgal welcomed the Vaisakhi should be remembered by all of us. guests. Munde Punjab De presented enerFirst is the rebirth of the Khalsa order by getic Bhangra. Cllr Santokh S Chhokar Guru Govind Singh Ji in 1699. The second is offered a Vote of thanks. the Vaisakhi of 1801 when Maharaja Ranjit

Ministers accused of being slow to tackle systematic racism The government published its draft terms of reference for the inquiry in March and stated that the main topics would be the response to the pandemic and its impact in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It said the inquiry would also produce a factual narrative account of what happened.

However, the absence of

a specific programme of work investigating how racial inequality and racism affected millions of Britons over the last two years has caused anger and prompted half a dozen community leaders to raise their concerns directly with Heather Hallett, the chair of the inquiry.

The leaders urge Hallett

to “demonstrate independence from the government by focusing on racism and racial inequality and not ‘disparities’ in understanding what needs to change to ensure that future public health emergencies do not once again disproportionately impact black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.”

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Celebrating Gujarat Day abroad is a big thing: Shri Parshottam Rupala A bird named Demoiselle Crane lays its eggs in summer and flies away thousands of miles but its mind never moves away from its eggs. When it returns to its eggs in the second season, the chicks are already out. “NRGs love for Gujarat resembles this bird. They never allow Gujarat to be separated from their minds even if they move away from Gujarat.

This 1st May, Gujarat Day celebration in the UK proves it, says Parshottam Rupala, Union Cabinet Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Govt. of India”.

Shri Parshottambhai spoke as the chief guest, for the online celebration of Gujarat Foundation Day on 1st May, organised by the National Council of Gujarati Organizations-UK (NCGO) in association with Gujarat Samachar & Asian Voice and Gujarati Cultural Society-Brighton.

Shri Purushottam Rupala greeted everyone and spoke about Seva.

While talking about the virtue of service in Gujarati people, he said, Devidas Bapu used to gather leprosy patients into his Ashram

Narendrabhai Modi and Home Minister Shri Amitbhai Shah are working hard to make India a better India.

Parshottam Rupala Vimalji Odedara Speaking when they were abandoned at the about the business skills of seashore. We only remember Gujarati people, he cited the examChristian nuns or Christianity ple of Surat city and its diamond whenever we talk about service, workers. “The success of any busibut this is also required to be ness is dependent on two things, taught to our youth. namely, raw material and market; On this occasion, paying but Surat's Diamond business has homage to the martyrs of the none of the two, nevertheless, it founding of Gujarat, he applauded stands successfully in the world as all the efforts from the first Chief major of the Diamond industries Minister of the state, Shri Jivraj are owned by Gujaratis. It is only Mehta to the present Chief possible due to the hardworking Minister, Shri Bhupendrabhai people of Gujarat.”, he noted.

Patel, saying that everyone has Minister Rupala also talked invested energy to take this Yatra about the development of Gujarat forward in their own way. under the Hon’ble PM Shri Sardar Patel was the backbone Narendrabhai Modi, when he of the struggle started by Mahatma served as the CM of Gujarat. The Gandhi from Sabarmati Ashram. people of India handed over the Together with Sardar Saheb, power of the nation to Narendra Gandhiji gave shape to indepenModi after witnessing the developdent India and India became one ment of Gujarat under his regime.

India.

Same way now, two It is Narendrabhai who built the Gujarati dignitaries, PM Shri reputation of India before the

Gujarat Day Celebration in London Gujarat day was celebrated at the National Association of Patidar Samaj Hall by a large number of organisations.

Representatives addressed the audience on Pride of Gujarat while others joined in dip lighting.

Proceedings were sprinkled with some cultural presentations and finished with Garba dance and a tasty Gujarati dinner.

A prayer service was led by the women of the NAPS committee and ladies from participating organisations.

Rashtriya Geet was sung by Hiteshbhai and Dakshaben who provided appropriate songs and music during the entire event.

Pravinbhai Amin, President of NAPS, Chairman of Chha Gam Nagrik Mandal and Vice President of CIO welcomed all to 62nd Gujarat Day.

Shree Parikh and Sharad Parikh on behalf of Gita Foundation said, “Gujaratis are a symbol of unity, spirituality and prosperity. Every citizen of Gujarat is an inspiration to everyone.”

A message from Chief Minister of Gujarat, Honourable Shree Nitin Patel was read out

by Mayur Patel of NAPS. Rohit Vadhwana First Secretary (Economic, Press & Information) at the High Commission) the Chief Guest gave a full account of how Gujaratis played a leading role in India. Ghumar Dance was presented by Faguni, Sharmila and Priti and a song by Nishaben and Anitaben.

Mr Mukundbhai Patel, President of Dharmaj Society of London, Mahendrabhai Patel, President of Karamsad Samaj Jayeshbhai Patel an entrepreneur expressed their delight in joining Gujarat Day. Message from One Jain was read out by Mahendrasinh Jadeja. Message from Jaffer A Kapasi OBE FFA on behalf of Dawood Bohra Jamat of Leicester was read out by Pravin Patel, of SPMS (UK).

Trupti Patel, President of the Hindu Forum of Britain stated that Gujarat although predominantly Hindu, it is home to all faiths demonstrating that Hinduism is the most tolerant society.

Mrs Gulshan R Billimoria represented the Zoroastrian Parsi community. Nitin Mehta MBE represented the Vegetarian Society.

Bhanubhai Pandya, Secretary of Mahatma Gandhi Foundation were also present.

Everyone enjoyed a tasty Gujarati feast.

world's nations that all nations towards gaze India whenever any problem arises at a global level. It is only Narendra Modi who, as the Dhiru Gadhavi Prime Minister of India, supplied the Corona Vaccination to 100 nations and also got the full vaccination on a domestic level.

“Gujarat and Maharashtra are like brother states. Both are connected with each other even today.

Most of the interstate marriages take place between Gujarat and Maharashtra,” said Shri CB Patel, Editor-in-Chief of Gujarat Samachar and Asian Voice. He expressed a wish that the ministers from India should meet the Gujarati Community whenever they visit the UK and other nations. This would encourage the language of Gujarati over other nations.

CB Patel and Shri Jitubhai Patel, Vice president of NCGO praised Shri Parshottambhai’s services for the Gujarati

Alka Thakur & Rutvij Pandya

Communities staying abroad. Shri Vimalji Odedara, President of NCGO also joined the online celebration from India and delivered his message on the occasion.

Committee members, organisation members of NCGO & GCS and many other dignitaries took part in this online celebration.

Shri Dhirubhai Gadhavi compered the programme, while Ms Alka Thakur and Shri Rutvijbhai Pandya from the Live Music team entertained the audience with melodies songs, beginning with Ganesh Stuti including songs narrating the Gujarat pride stories.

Shri Anantbhai Suchak and Shri Mahendrabhai Chauhan assisted with the technical support for the event. Shri Jitubhai Patel presented the Vote of Thanks at the end of the program.

Gandhi & Co – takes centre stage at UK Asian Film Festival The UK Asian Film Festival (UKAFF) takes When we planned this movie, we wantplace each spring in London. The festival ed to pass on Gandhian values to today’s recognises how films can have an impact generation. This film is very light-hearted on society, particularly those which tackle and in a very innocent way it takes you near complex and challenging issues. The theme to values. of this year’s festival is ‘Dare to Dream’ and Q. What inspired you to make this movie? commemorates 75 years of India’s Everyone reads about Gandhiji.

Independence.

Today’s generation is more concerned The festival due to run between 4th about superheroes, technology and games.

May and 15th May 2022 is the leading and We wanted to introduce Gandhi Ji as a longest-running South Asian film festival superhero to today’s generation. in Europe. It was founded by Tongues on Fire director Dr Pushpinder Chowdhry in 1999.

The film Gandhi & Co took centre stage at the Rich Mix Cinema in the quirky setting of Brick Lane, London.

The film is a light-hearted Gujarati independent film that illustrates the Gandhian principles through the journey of a mischievous 11-yearold being led astray.

The film was produced by Mahesh Danannavar during the Covid pandemic in 2020.

L-Right: Nalini Inamdar, Mina Parmar, C B Patel, Mahesh Danannavar and Dr. Pushpinder The film won the second-best Indian Cinema award film at the 13th Bengaluru International Film Q. What are the key principles and Festival (BIFFES) and is currently being messages you would like the audience to shown at screenings at various film festivals take-home message? across the globe.

We all studied Gandhian values but we The London screening was hosted by do not follow or often start misuse of Mina Parmar, a British Indian Councillor of Gandhi’s name. The kids in this movie also Gujarati heritage who herself is inspired by do that. So, we put the message in a very Gandhian values. She welcomed CB Patel, light-hearted way. When we tell things in a Chairman and Editor-In-Chief of Asian simple way, kids follow.

Voice and Gujarat Samachar for closing remarks after the screening.

Q. What were the challenges of making this movie?

Mina Parmar thanked the organisers and audiences for showing this heart-warming We shot this film during covid. We Gujarati move of our nation’s Bapu planned this film 3-4 days before covid. In Mahatma Gandhi. Mina thanked the UK the first lockdown, we started writing a Asian Film festival team and Dr Pushpinder story. After lockdown, We shot the film in for bringing this film to the UK. Ahmedabad in 30 days. But it was very chalQ&A lenging to complete the film following covid norms and precautions.

Cllr Mina Parmar then conducted an Q. So what’s next for you Maheshbhai? insightful Q&A session with the producer Mahesh Danannavar.

We are planning to release this film in India in September/October. We are now Q. As we celebrate 75 years of India’s going to all the film festivals across the independence how would you describe world. We might dub it into different lanGandhiji’s legacy and how does the film guages. represent Gandhiji’s values?

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in brief BOOHOO'S WITNESSES A DIP IN PROFITS AS SHOPPERS RETURN MORE CLOTHES Boohoo, the fast-fashion brand witnessed a slump in profits by 94 per cent to £7.8m in the year to the end of February. Though its sales are going well above pre-Covid levels after high streets closed and shoppers turned to order online. But following the upliftment of the restrictions, online shoppers have started sending items back. Overall, Boohoo's sales rose 14 per cent on the year to £2bn.

But it warned that rising shipping costs and overseas delivery delays would continue this year. Julie Palmer, a partner at corporate restructuring firm Begbies Traynor, said, "The outlook isn't pretty, with inflation a real concern. Boohoo is going to have to come up with some new looks if it is going to stay relevant as it doesn't take long for consumers to shop around for faster, more relevant alternatives these days." To overcome the slump in profits, Boohoo said it was making its supply chain more flexible, its delivery network larger and investing in a new distribution hub in the US.

LONDON SUBURBS AND HOME COUNTIES ARE MORE ETHNICALLY DIVERSE, SAYS DATA According to school population data, since 2010, parts of outer London and the Home Counties have become significantly more ethnically diverse while areas of inner London have become whiter. Parliamentary constituencies in northeast London and parts of Essex and Kent saw a major decline in the share of local school pupils who are classed as ‘white British’, with ethnic minority communities both priced out of inner London and are choosing to move to the suburbs as they become more middle class. Also, over the last 12 years, seats in northern cities such as Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle have also witnessed a major increase in diversity.

The figures are drawn from the Department for Education’s annual schools' census data.

The biggest change was seen in Dagenham and Rainham in east London, wherein in the span of 11 years, the average white British share fell from 56 per cent to 32 per cent and in nearby Romford, the white British school population plunged from 77 per cent to 53 per cent.

PRINT REVENUE DIPS FOR DAILY MIRROR OWNER Reduced advertiser demand and crippling inflation have brought down the print revenue by 4.2 per cent for the owner of the Daily Mirror and OK! magazine Reach. In the first four months of the year, advertising revenue fell 10.1 per cent, circulation revenue dropped more than five per cent. The war in Ukraine has significantly reduced the level of ‘brand safe’ content for news publishers and inflation in operating costs. To overcome these problems, the company is now focusing on making changes within print production and taking action around print cover prices.

However, it’s not all bad news for one of Britain’s biggest newspaper groups, as the digital revenue of Daily Star and Daily Express, was up by 9.3 per cent during the quarter. As chief exec Jim Mullen explained: “We’re developing a more sustainable and profitable long-term future for the business, with the delivery of the strategy progressing well, despite a more challenging economic backdrop. The effective collection and use of data are supporting the growth of our higheryielding digital products, which are becoming an increasing part of our revenue mix. “We’ve taken swift action to address the impact of inflation on our cost base and the business remains strongly cash generative, supporting the investment in data and technology that is key to future growth.”

First ethnic minority CBI President, Lord Bilimoria, delivers keynote at annual Business & Industry Dinner T

he 693rd Lord Mayor of London, Vincent Keaveny, hosted the annual Business and Industry Dinner at the Mansion House on the 7th of April. The themes for the dinner were ‘people and purpose’& ‘investing in a better tomorrow’, with the Lord Mayor proposing that business will continue to flourish based on a strong history of innovation, and by industry and government working together.

Music for the night was provided by the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) Orchestra in the Egyptian Hall of Mansion House. The Lord Bilimoria CBE DL, the very first ethnic minority President of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), was invited to sign the Distinguished Visitors’ Book, with his signature joining those of various world dignitaries including former US President Barrack Obama, and Emirati President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed alNahayan.

Addressing an audience of senior political and business figures, Lord Bilimoria spoke alongside The Lord Mayor, and the Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Lord Bilimoria commenced his speech outlining the UK’s long history of business innovation, and how this L to R: Sheriff Alison Gowman, Secretary of State Kwasi Kwarteng, Lord could help address the Mayor of London Vincent Keaveny, CBI President Lord Bilimoria, Sheriff multiple challenges that Nicholas Lyons businesses are currently facing; followed by discussing strategies for energy security and how the country can take steps towards net zero; and finally addressing the launch of the CBI’s Change Notable quotes the Race Ratio, which seeks to increase ethnic minority participation in business.

Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE DL

Indian companies’ contribution to the UK economy increases

A

s the relationship between the UK and India continues to grow, following the launch of Free Trade Negotiations at the start of the year and the Prime Minister’s official visit last month, the latest research from the 2022 Grant Thornton India meets Britain Tracker* finds that the number of Indian companies operating in the UK has increased, with 900 companies identified, up from 850 in the 2021 research.

This is the ninth edition of the Grant Thornton India meets Britain Tracker, developed in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry, which analyses the data of UK-incorporated limited companies that are either owned or controlled by Indian interests.

This year’s report finds that, despite the uncertainty and disruption caused by the pandemic, Indian companies continue to make a significant contribution to the UK economy – a contribution that has increased in almost every measure compared to last year’s report. The 900 companies identified: Fastest growing companies in the UK identified The research also identifies the fastest growing Indian companies in the UK, measured by those with a turnover of more than £5 million, year-on-year revenue growth of at least 10% and a minimum twoyear track record in the UK**. This year, 37 companies met the qualifying criteria for appearing in the Tracker - achieving an average growth rate of over 38%.

The three fastest-growing companies by year-on-year revenue growth were: MSSL (GB) Ltd (248%), Prodapt (UK) Ltd (114%) and Route Mobile (UK) Ltd (98%).

Of the 37 fastest-growing companies in this year’s research, 33 have featured in previous Trackers, demonstrating the sustainable growth being achieved by Indian companies.

London and the technology and telecoms sectors are hotspots for growth The majority of the fastest-growing companies included in this year’s Tracker are based in London (46%), continuing the trend seen in recent years. This is followed by the North (22%) and the South (14%).

For the ninth year in a row, technology and telecoms companies dominate the Tracker, accounting for 35% of those who qualified for inclusion this year. This is followed by the pharmaceuticals and

chemicals sector (27%) and engineering and manufacturing (14%).

Anuj Chande, Partner and Head of South Asia Business Group, Grant Thornton UK LLP, commented: “Despite ongoing challenges faced by all companies over the past 12 months, our latest research finds that the number of Indian companies operating in the UK has increased and that many continue to grow at a rapid rate, with some recording triple-digit growth. While London continues to dominate as the location of choice, for the first time, more of the fastest-growing companies are also starting to be located outside of the city, highlighting the appeal the whole of the

“The government has been magnanimous in spending £400bn.

That is the swing to hit the ball. But if you stop there, the ball will hit the net. You need to follow through to get it over the net.”

“Let’s put power behind the energy security strategy. Let’s put real urgency and energy behind the energy security strategy.”

“Diversity without inclusion is useless.”

Indian-owned companies operating in the UK has continued to grow since the last research, despite the disruption faced by the pandemic. Following the UK Prime Minister’s recent visit to India, the two countries can now focus on deepening their relationship further for the future, with the start of negotiations on a free trade agreement signalling long-term intent.”

High Commissioner of India to the UK, Ms. Gaitri Issar Kumar said: “The pandemic has created uniquely challenging economic circumstances over the past two years. Despite Anuj Chande Gaitri Issar Kumar this, Indian businesses in the UK have UK holds to overseas investors. succeeded in expanding their combined “The difficult economic conditions of turnover and increasing the number of the past year have clearly favoured jobs they support. The growth in the companies with a track record of fast number of Indian-owned companies in growth, with almost all the businesses on the UK, identified by this research, is this year’s list having featured in previous remarkable and reflects the increasing years. appetite and appeal for Indian businesses to invest and set up operations in the UK.” “The year ahead provides many Minister for Investment Gerry opportunities for India and the UK to Grimstone said: “As one of our closest continue to develop their close and trading partners, Indian companies make mutually beneficial relationship, with an impressive contribution to the UK. negotiations on a future free trade deal having the potential to bring the two “As the Prime Minister announced in countries closer than ever. A free trade New Delhi last month, we’ve secured over agreement, once concluded, would £1 billion in new investment and export confirm the two nations as true partners. partnerships with India, creating almost It paves the way for an enduring economic 11,000 jobs in the UK in sectors from relationship that benefits the people of healthcare to electric vehicles, and adding both countries and brings exciting to the 140,000 people employed by Indian opportunities for businesses in India and firms here already. the UK for many years to come.”

“I am confident our partnership will go Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, from strength to strength as we advance Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), negotiations for an ambitious, modern added: “The relationship between the UK Free Trade Agreement and meet our goal and India continues to grow and it is to double trade between our nations by encouraging to see that the number of 2030.”

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Dear Financial Voice Reader,

Alpesh Patel OBE

Since the start of the pandemic, the Indian Nifty 50 is up 125% and the Chinese Shanghai Stock Exchange down 15%.

Is a Stock Market Crash Coming? - Let's Look at the Evidence The stock market has declined by more than 12% since 2022 began. Fears over inflation, interest rate hikes, reemergence of COVID in China, and persistent supply chain problems have investors worried.

So, is a stock market crash coming? Let's look at the evidence.

Is a Market Crash Around the Corner?

The stock market has posted its worst quarter since 2020's pandemic crash. P/E ratios are at 25 or above for a year — something we haven't seen since the 2008 financial crisis or the dot-com bubble. Recently, Medical, Coal, Steel, and Mining stocks have taken a tumble, causing widespread concern among investors.

Three significant issues are at play here: Supply Chain Issues Supply chain problems have been driving inflation and harming productivity. With Shanghai and Beijing experiencing COVID outbreaks, manufacturing will take a hit. As a result, goods and services will become in short supply globally.

Interest Rate Hikes & Inflation The Fed has committed to a program of interest rate hikes to curb inflation. Many investors are worried this could herald a recession. However, data on previous interest rate hikes don't support this position. In fact, only one of the last five interest rate hikes had a negative bearing on the market.

The Invasion of Ukraine Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could cause short-term market volatility. As the West imposes sanctions on Russian oil and gas, prices will rise. Whatsmore, food shortages could also contribute to the existing cost of living crisis. Any European market slowdown could be contagious: several big US companies do a lot of business in Europe, and decreased revenues could hit stock prices.

Why are the Experts Saying?

Goldman Sachs has told investors that they see one of two scenarios. Either 2022 will close out at around 4,700 (a 4% rise) — or, at 3,600 (down 21%). Their experts highlight a yield inversion and high inflation as the cause of a possible market slide.

Bank of America put it bluntly when they suggest that "Inflation causes recessions." A recent note from the bank says that inflation is "out of control" and that it will eventually lead to a recession that will drive the S&P 500 under 4,000 by the end of the year.

Other experts are more worried. David Hunter at Contrarian Macro Advisors believes that bond yields will drop, causing the markets to rise by 40 to 50%. However, he forecasts an 80% drop soon after.

Michael Berry — who famously called the 2008 credit crunch — has been suggesting we are in the most significant speculative market of all time since June last year. He quit Twitter recently, warning investors that a terrible crash was on the way.

Market veteran John Maudlin is also in a bearish mood.

He believes the Fed won't be able to engineer a soft landing with rate cuts. Maudlin points to slowdowns in housing, transport, and manufacturing as evidence that a recession and market drop are coming.

Finally, Kimble Charting Solutions analysts believe that if the Dow Jones drops below 33,000, it could trigger a mass sell off and a significant market plunge.

What to do if there is a market crash?

It's hard to say for sure if the market will crash.

However, you can take a leaf out of Warren Buffet's book and load up on the drip if it does. Otherwise, stay calm and don't engage in panic selling. The data is resoundingly clear on why panic selling is a sub-optimal strategy. Instead hold more cash till the panic is over then get in.

The average stock market return is 8% annually. A crash won't last forever.

Britain recovers $23m stolen by late Nigeria dictator Abacha Sani Abacha ruled Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998, a period during which he stole up to $5 billion of public money, according to Transparency International. He was never charged.

Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) has recently recovered more than $23 million stolen by military dictator Abacha, the latest in a series of similar recoveries around the world.

The money recovered in Britain forms part of a larger pool of funds identified by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) as having been misappropriated by Abacha and his associates, the NCA said in a statement.

"The NCA is committed to ensuring that the UK is not a safe haven for criminals to launder their proceeds of crime, and civil recovery of assets is a powerful weapon in this fight," said Billy Beattie, Asset Denial Senior Manager at the NCA.

BoE hikes interest rates to 1%, highest in 13 years The Bank of England has hiked the interest rates it charged from commercial banks for loans from from 0.75% to 1% from last week.

This is the highest hike in 13 years and the fourth increase since December, as the Bank of England battles to tame skyrocketing inflation. The Bank's policymakers voted to raise rates from 0.75% to 1% - a level not seen since early 2009 - as the Ukraine war compounds a crippling cost-ofliving crisis.

The fourth rise since December 2021 comes as soaring food, energy and fuel prices saw inflation -

the measure of the rising cost of goods - hit a 30-year high of 7% in March.

Threadneedle Street said inflation is likely to be at 10% by the end of the year.

As a result, households are curtailing in their

spending which is hitting growth. Following the latest rise in interest rates, two million homeowners will see an immediate increase in their monthly mortgage repayments with other loans potentially getting

more expensive too. But BoE governor Andrew Bailey defended raising rates at a time when the cost of living is increasing, saying that the risk of letting inflation get out of control was higher.

It said the impact of the Ukraine war on household gas and electricity prices was largely to blame, following the increase in the energy price cap in April and a further expected rise in October which could push household bills up to £2,800 a year. Bailey said there could be a 40% rise in the price cap based on current prices.

Issa brothers poised to rescue McColl's chain McColl's currently employs 16,000 people across its 1,100 stores. Morrisons is already in a partnership with McColl's, which operates more than 200 Morrisons Daily convenience stores.

The Issa brothers coown supermarket chain Asda, while EG Group owns thousands of petrol stations and convenience shops in the UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia and the US. The billionaire Issa brothers are now close to closing the deal to rescue the convenience chain

McColl's when it enters administration. The company had been moving towards making more of its shops into Morrisons Daily stores, but had not moved quickly enough to take advantage in the boom in local shopping during the pandemic. coronavirus With £170mn of debt to service, the business had been running out cash.

PwC are set to become administrators for the company and it is understood to sell it to Issa brothers' EG Group. In a letter from McColl's to its employees,

Insync Bikes named as one of the fastest growing companies in UK Manchester headquartered Insync Bikes has been named as one of the fastest growing Indian-owned companies in the UK after seeing growth of 43pc in the last year. Insync Bikes is owned by India’s Hero Cycles and the company has just accepted a Tracker Award in London after appearing in Grant Thornton’s annual India meets Britain tracker report produced with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The tracker report was formerly launched in the capital and tracks Indian owned companies with a turnover of more than £5 million and year-on-year revenue growth of at least

10 per cent and a minimum two-year track record in the UK. Out of 37 Indian owned companies meeting the criteria the report named Insync as the seventh fastest growing in Britain.

Lord Gerry Grimstone Minister for Investment in the UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT) presented the Tracker Award to Gopal Krishan, Insync’s Head of Business at the event.

Insync Bikes Executive Director Raman Awasthi said Insync sold more than 50,000 bikes in retail in the year to November 2020, a 200 per cent increase on the previous year. It sold a further 186,000 bikes in 2021.

Issa brothers

the firm said it hoped all staff would transfer to the new owner. Any sale could only be completed once administrators have been

formally appointed. In a statement earlier, McColl's said PwC intended to look for a buyer "as soon as possible."

Govt plans to sell UK's Channel 4 Channel 4 was created by Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government in the 1980s to deliver an edgy alternative to the BBC and ITV. Its unique model - funded by advertising but owned by the public and with no inhouse production - helped establish Britain's independent programme making sector and brought new voices to the screen.

The government announced last month it had decided to sell Channel 4, saying it would struggle to compete against global streamers like Netflix if it remained in public hands and had limited access to capital.

Channel 4, the publicly-owned British broadcaster that the government

wants to sell, published its alternative plan to privatisation, including setting up a joint venture that would own the rights to commercialise shows globally.

Chief Executive Alex Mahon said the broadcaster had presented its plan to the government earlier this year, and was making it public to inform debate in parliament, the industry and the wider public.

According to her, the private capital will enable the company to grow faster, build scale and compete harder for content.”

Lawmakers across parliament and television grandees oppose a sale, saying it would jeopardise Channel 4's distinctive programming, and the plan faces two years of scrutiny.

Defra officials resisted trade negotiations with Australia Trade negotiations between the UK and Australia began in June 2020 amid a reported dispute over the impact tariff-free imports of Australian lamb and beef would have on British farming.

Officials in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and other departments resisted trade negotiations with Australia

George Brandis

due to their anti-Brexit stance, an Australian exdiplomat has claimed.

George Brandis, former Australian high commissioner to the UK, who left last month, said the default position from British civil servants during the UKAustralian trade negotiations was “horror at Brexit”.

He described this as “reluc-

tance bordering on hostility in some departments – most notably Defra”, the department responsible for British farming.

Brandis, who was high commissioner to the UK throughout the talks, suggested Britain could learn from Australia to break out of a “soporific” EU-influenced mindset to agriculture policy and “go out and find new markets”.

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FINANCE & REAL ESTATE

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14 - 20 May 2022

LIC’s IPO oversubscribed by 3 times The £2.1 billion initial public offering (IPO) for LIC received a huge response from domestic institutions and was oversubscribed nearly three times by the time it closed on Monday.

LIC’s policyholders, its employees, retail investors, high net worth investors (HNIs) and domestic financial institutions contributed handsomely to the offer.

On the other hand, foreign funds - despite initial talk about strong demand from this influential group of investors - turned out to be fence sitters, mostly according to the final

subscription figures.

In the post-issue press conference, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary of the government’s divestment arm Dipam that was responsible for taking LIC

public, described the offering as an ‘Atmanirbhar’ issue as it was the domestic investors, especially the Indian financial institutions, that saw it through.

The issue had opened on

May 4 and, unlike other offers in the past, investors were able to bid in the IPO on all the intervening days as the government had made special arrangements to smoothen the usual lastday rush seen in most highprofile offers.

According to data, the portion reserved for LIC’s policyholders was subscribed 6.1 times, for eligible employees it was 4.4 times, for retail investors nearly 2 times, for HNIs 2.9 times and for the institutional buyers 2. 8 times. The IPO received bids for nearly 480 million shares against 162 million on offer.

Indian rupee hits new all-time low The Indian rupee breached the 77-level for the first time to hit a new low of 77.53 against the US dollar, raising concerns that a new front has opened up for the economy in the battle against inflation. If the rupee continues to weaken, it will add to inflation as all imports become costlier, and it will also make overseas education and international travel expensive.

On Monday, the rupee opened weak at 77.17, tracking weakness in Asian currencies, which corrected in light of depreciating Chinese Yuan. The domestic

unit fell to a lifetime low of 77. 53 against US dollar before recovering to close at 77.46 on suspected RBI intervention. The greenback posted record gains after last week’s 50 basis points rate hike by US Federal Reserve, resulting in the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback’s performance

against a basket of currencies, hitting a 20year high.

RBI not expected to intervene “Despite high crude prices due to rising import bill, the external situation is under control.

With RBI holding around $600 billion in forex reserves and $65 billion in forwards, India is in a comfortable position,” said Ashhish Vaidya, head of treasury and markets at DBS Bank. “I do not see the situation as grim, as the pressure on the current account because of high commodity prices can be

well managed thanks to the comfortable reserves position. The more-thanexpected tightening by the US Fed and the continued Russia-Ukraine standoff are putting pressure on the rupee and the entire emerging market space,” Vaidya added. India is hit worse than other emerging economies because of its large oil import bill. The central bank also appears to be letting the domestic currency slip a little. The statement that the RBI will build up its reserves is seen as an indicator that it will not use up reserves to support the currency.

Tata Steel becomes the RBI hikes key rate by 40 most profitable Tata firm basis points in nearly 11 years Tata Steel closed fiscal 2022 with record profit in its history, displacing Tata Group’s crown jewel TCS from the top slot as the most profitable entity of the $103 billion steel-tosoftware conglomerate. The company, one of the oldest units in the Tata Group, posted a profit of £4.17 billion in FY22, benefiting from a rally in alloy prices, while TCS logged in a profit of £3.84 billion during the same period.

The blowout numbers made Tata Steel declare the highest ever dividend of Rs 51 per equity share to its shareholders. The biggest beneficiary of this dividend bonanza will be largest shareholder Tata Sons, which holds 32% in the steel maker.

The company also announced that each share with a face value of Rs 10

will be split into 10 shares with a nominal value of Re 1.

“This will make the stock affordable to retail investors. It won’t make any impact for institutional investors but interest from retail investors in the counter increases,” said former JPMorgan India director and partner of RippleWave Equity Advisors, Mehul Savla.

Tata Steel is now among the star performers within the Tata conglomerate. It had posted losses for several fiscals at one point in its history, drained resources over its expensive foreign purchase of Corus, and was hit by the Covid pandemic, like several others. In Financial Year 2022, the company, led by T V Narendran, generated the highest-ever cash flow of £2.71 billion and operating profit of £6.38 billion.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced an increase in key interest rates by 40 basis points, the first increase since August 2018 and the sharpest in nearly 11 years, as it shifted gears to tame surging prices.

Rising prices against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and breakdown of supply chains have emerged as a key policy challenge, prompting central banks around the world to raise interest and tackle soaring prices. Hardening of both retail and wholesale inflation above the central bank's tolerance level has prompted the RBI to go in for a sudden rate hike aimed at protecting the growth recovery under way and shield consumers from the impact of surging prices of fuel and food.

Home loans and other retail loans as well as those

availed of by businesses will get more expensive as around 40% bank credit is linked to the repo rate, which is what banks earn on the overnight funds that they park with the RBI. The impact of smaller rate increases would have taken time to feed into the system and therefore the central bank seems to have opted for a higher thanexpected increase in rates so that inflationary pressures are anchored. Smaller rate increases spread over several months would have also invited fresh criticism that the RBI had fallen behind the curve on reining in inflation.

RIL's revenue crosses $100 bn in fiscal 2022 Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries' revenue has crossed $100 billion in fiscal 2022, becoming the first Indian company to reach the milestone this year. The Tata Group had a revenue of $103 billion in fiscal 2021. The group’s fiscal 2022 numbers are yet to be declared.

Reliance chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani has said that “despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic and heightened geopolitical uncertainties, Reliance has delivered a robust performance in financial year

2021-22.”

Though Reliance has launched new businesses over the years in retail, telecom and recently green energy, its O2C unit continues to account for the bulk of its revenue. “The gradual opening up of economies sustained high utilisation rates across sites and improvement in transportation fuel margins and volumes have bolstered our O2C earnings,” Ambani added.

Operating profit of digital (Jio) too climbed 25% to £1.12 billion due to strong

revenue growth and margin improvement. Operating profit of the retail business slightly grew 2% to £371.2 million. The retail segment does not include RIL’s petro-retailing venture.

This business is housed in a joint venture with UK’s BP. Operating profit of financial services increased 102% to £17.2 million, while that of oil & gas rose 218% to £155.6 million. RIL’s gross debt at the end of Q4FY22 was £26.6 billion. And, it had about £23.1 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

Perception is reality, in Realty

Suresh Vagjiani, Sow & Reap Properties Ltd

There was a property which we had been circling for a while. It was guided at £750K, consisting of two commercial units and three flats above. It failed to sell in an auction, which is never good. I think they had pitched it wrong. It had planning permission which was due to lapse in months. It begs the question as to why the current owners did not implement the planning if it was lucrative to do so, after all, they had three full years to get this done.

It leads interested parties to start to speculate; perhaps this is not a worthwhile planning permission to implement, hence the reason why it had not been done.

This issue causes what we believe to be a great deal, to be seen in the wrong light. This is what causes a property not to be sold. Perception becomes reality. We put in a cheeky offer of £650K, which would have been honoured. There was some attempt to bring us up on price, but we stayed stubborn.

The property was promptly put into the next auction, with a slightly lower guide. We were pessimistic of the auction sale occurring for the reasons described.

Predictably, the property did not sell for the second time.

Having not sold in two auctions back to back, puts the property in a worser light than before.

Presumably, the seller was getting more desperate and was ready to devalue his own property. Annoyingly the property got sold post auction, for the sum which we had offered!

Well, you win some, you lose some.

We had a similar situation with another property we had purchased some years ago, this time we happened to be on the selling side. The property was a freehold block in South Kensington, which consisted of 6,700 sq. ft. of space, we purchased this for £5.2M; which was very cheap. This was a good deal. The aim was to trade the building for more money, without doing anything to it, as we were in the habit of doing at the time. This was a sale by a charity and therefore we had to go through a process in order to win the bid.

However, the property had a quirky issue in that a small portion on the ground floor rear part of the building was owned by the French government, which they were leasing to us at a reasonable rent.

What should have been an easy sale was handicapped by this point. This is the issue which prevented the saleable deal from selling.

It would have been easier - and possible - to cut off the rear part of the ground floor and sell this as a plain vanilla fully freehold block. In retrospect this property would have been sold.

This quirky issue with the ground floor meant the market could not get their heads around this deal.

The property bizarrely was valued by a leading valuer for only £3.2M, which was just ludicrous given the size of the building.

Despite the issue, in the end the property was sold on for £5.8M. The desirability of the location overrode the issue of perceived complication.

Gujarat breaks records, surpasses Maharashtra in exports Till 2020-21 Maharashtra has been the highest exporter from among the states and Gujarat occupied the second position.

But this year Gujarat surpassed Maharashtra's record by exporting goods worth £83.7 billion in the financial year 2021-22 till February, while in the previous year the state’s total exports were £44.8 billion. Exporters say when the data for March, which is to be released soon, is taken into account, the figure might cross £100 billion.

In 2020-21, Gujarat’s exports were worth £44.8 billion while Maharashtra’s figure was £43.1 billion. In 2021-22 till February, Maharashtra’s total exports were worth £49 billion.

The commodities which have brought the highest foreign currencies by way of exports from Gujarat include petroleum, diamond, ceramics, cotton yarn, vegetable fats, textiles, oil seeds, machinery, engineering products and brass parts. According to officials of the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), “We started getting accurate statewise data from 2018-19 after implementation of GST. However, the figure for 2021-22 is the benchmark because now the GST is fully implemented and the pandemic is also over,” said a senior official.

Industry insiders say the global market opened up after Covid in the last financial year. Gujarat is the manufacturing hub and with all ports opening up and all manufacturing going in full swing, the state was able to manufacture at the highest level and export at the highest level.

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in brief

Lanka PM quits after violence kills 5, including MP COLOMBO: Sri Lanka PM Mahinda Rajapaksa quit on Monday to make way for a unity government in a bid to find a way out of the country’s worst economic crisis in history, but protesters said they also wanted his brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to stand down as president. The PM’s resignation came hours after clashes broke out in Colombo and elsewhere, killing five people, including an MP, and wounding almost 200. Ruling party parliamentarian Amarakeerthi Athukorala died after a standoff with anti-government protesters in Nittambuwa near Colombo.

A nationwide curfew was imposed, on top of the state of emergency the President declared last week in the face of escalating protests. Later in the evening, shots were fired from inside Mahinda Rajapaksa’s offi-

cial residence as thousands of protesters breached the main gate and torched a truck at the entrance. Police sources confirmed that shots were fired in the air to prevent the crowd from breaching the inner security ring of the residence where Rajapaksa was holed up.

Sri Lanka has suffered months of blackouts and dire shortages of food, fuel and medicines in its worst economic crisis since independence. This sparked weeks of overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, as well as his brother Mahinda.

On Monday scores of Rajapaksa loyalists attacked unarmed protesters camping outside the president’s office on a seafront promenade in downtown Colombo. Police fired tear gas and water cannon and

After India, Pak questions WHO’s Covid death count ISLAMABAD: After India, the Pakistan government too has rejected the WHO report on number of Covid-19 deaths in the country, questioning the UN body’s methodology to collect data and supposing an error in the software used to collate the numbers. India, last week, strongly contested the methodology, inaccurate sourcing of data, inconsistencies in criteria and use of assumption by the WHO in estimating 47,00,000 excess deaths in India due to Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021.

The WHO estimated there were 2,60,000 Covid deaths in Pakistan - eight times the official figure. Official records

state Pakistan had 30,369 Covid deaths with over 1. 5 million infections. “We (authorities) have been gathering data manually on Covid deaths, it could have a difference of a few hundred but it can’t be in hundreds of thousands. This is baseless,” Samaa News quoted health minister Abdul Qadir Patel as saying. He said the government has explained the calculation process to the WHO in a note rejecting the numbers. He said authorities in Pakistan collected the figures from hospitals, union councils, and graveyards.

He suspected “some error” in the data collection software used by WHO which has been “showing figures in average”.

declared an immediate curfew in Colombo, which was later widened to include the entire island nation of 22 million people. A total of 181 people were hospitalised, a Colombo National Hospital spokesman said. Eight were injured elsewhere.

The army riot squad was called in to reinforce police.

Soldiers had mostly been deployed throughout the crisis to protect deliveries of fuel and other essentials, but not to prevent clashes before. “Strongly condemn the violent acts taking place by those inciting & participating, irrespective of political allegiances,” President Rajapaksa tweeted. “Violence won’t sol- ve the current problems. ” Mahinda tendered his resignation, saying it was to pave the way for a unity government —but it was unclear if opposition would cooperate.

'ONCE UPON A TIME IN CALCUTTA’ WINS AWARD After the Colombo violence, anti-government protesters who had been demonstrating peacefully since April 9 began retaliating across the island. MP Athukorala’s car was surrounded by thousands of people in the town of Nittambuwa as he returned home from the capital after the clashes. He shot two people before fleeing to a nearby building and then “took his own life with his revolver”, a police official said. Athukorala’s bodyguard was also found dead.

Angry mobs set alight the homes of at least three pro-Rajapaksa politicians. Mobs attacked the controversial Rajapaksa museum in the family’s ancestral village and razed it to the ground, police said.

Blinken, Bilawal discuss ties in first telephonic talks ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTO N: US secretary of state Antony Blinken has held a telephonic conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto, the first such high-level contact since a new government took over in the country, and exchanged views on various aspects of bilateral ties.

The conversation took place amidst a chill in ties and weeks after ousted PM Imran Khan alleged that the US was behind the “foreign conspiracy” to topple his government through a no-confidence vote tabled by the opposition.

Bilawal received a telephone call from Blinken, the foreign office said. During the

phone call, Blinken congratulated Bilawal on the assumption of his office and expressed the desire to continue strengthening the mutually beneficial Pakistan-US relationship. He added that constructive and sustained engagement between the two countries based on mutual respect and mutual interest was vital to promote peace, development and security in the region. As per the state department, Blinken reiterated the desire to strengthen the broad-based relationship. He underscored the resolute USPakistan commitment to Afghan stability and combating terrorism.

Afghan women ordered to wear burqa KABUL: Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers ordered all Afghan women to wear head-to-toe clothing in public - a sharp, hard-line pivot that confirmed the worst fears of rights activists and was bound to further complicate Taliban dealings with an already distrustful international community.

The decree, which calls for women to only show their eyes and recommends they wear the

head-to-toe burqa, was similar to restrictions on women during the Taliban’s previous rule between 1996 and 2001. “We want our sisters to live with dignity and safety,” said Khalid Hanafi, acting minister for the Taliban’s vice and virtue ministry.

The Taliban previously decided against reopening schools to girls above grade 6, reneging on an earlier promise

and opting to appease their hard-line base at the expense of further alienating the international community. That decision disrupted efforts by the Taliban to win recognition from potential international donors at a time when the country is mired in a worsening humanitarian crisis.

The decree added that if women had no important work outside it is better for them to

stay at home. “Islamic principles and Islamic ideology are more important to us than anything else,” Hanafi said. Senior Afghanistan researcher Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch urged the international community to put coordinated pressure on the Taliban. “(It is) far past time for a serious and strategic response to the Taliban’s escalating assault on women’s rights,” she wrote on Twitter.

Sherpa scales Everest for 26th time, breaks own record KATHMANDU: An experienced Nepalese Sherpa guide scaled Mt Everest for the 26th time last time, breaking his own record for the most climbs of the world’s highest peak, expedition organisers said last week. Kami Rita reached the 8,849-metre summit on Saturday leading a group of Sherpa climbers who fixed ropes along the route so that hundreds of other climbers and guides can make their way to the top of the mountain later this month.

“Kami Rita has broken his own record and established a new world record in climbing,” said Taranath Adhikari, direc-

Kami Rita Sherpa

tor general of the department of tourism in capital Kathmandu.

Rita and 10 other Sherpa guides reached the summit without any problems and had

safely returned to lower camps, said Mingma Sherpa of the Kathmandu-based Seven Summit Treks. The group reached the summit around 7 pm on Saturday, which by

Everest climbing standards is late.

The climbing route used by Kami Rita was pioneered by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepal’s sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953 and remains the most popular. This year Nepal has issued 316 permits to climb Everest in the peak season, which runs through May, compared with 408 last year, the highest ever.

Rita, 52, first scaled Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since then. In addition to Everest, Rita has scaled several other peaks, including K-2, Cho-Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse.

The 2022 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) has announced the award winners for its 20th annual edition which featured a celebratory return to in-theater screenings and presentations. Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Calcutta’ won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film, with the jury citing it for “its sprawling, operatic depiction of broken people desperate to connect and its poetic mastery of cinematic craft.” Anmol Sidhu’s ‘Jaggi’ was the recipient of the inaugural Uma da Cunha Award for Best Feature Film Debut, as well as the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature. An honorable mention went to ‘Shankar’s Fairies,’ Irfana Majumdar’s restrained and lyrical portrait of the unconditional bond between a young girl and the gentleman who cares for her family.

AFGHAN FLOOD LEAVES 8 DEAD, 13 INJURED Eight people were killed and 13 others injured as floods swept parts of Afghanistan's Baghlan and Badghis provinces. In Baghlan’s Dahna-e-Ghori district, four people lost their lives and eight others were injured due to heavy downpours and flash floods that swept through several villages.

The floods have also badly damaged or washed away some 900 houses. About 9,000 acres of farmlands were damaged due to the flooding.

Similarly, flash floods also claimed four lives, including two children, and injured five others in the Qadis and Ghormach districts of the Badghis, another provincial administration official said.

CHINA-BACKED JOHN LEE IS NEW HK LEADER Hong Kong formally confirmed John Lee as its next top leader after an uncontested election, solidifying an era of more direct Chinese political control over the once-freewheeling financial hub. Lee, 64, won 1,416 votes from some 1,460 electors, according to the returning officer at the election venue. That is more than the simple majority needed to confirm his appointment. He will start his five-year term as Chief Executive on July 1, succeeding Carrie Lam, who last month announced her decision not to run. Lee, who earlier served as chief secretary for administration, the city’s No. 2 position, was the only candidate put forward to an election committee reformed by Beijing in 2021 to stack more pro-establishment members.

NEW WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY The Biden administration has named Karine Jean-Pierre as the new White House press secretary as Jen Psaki is stepping down from the post. In a statement, US President Joe Biden said Jean-Pierre would step into the press secretary role when Psaki is leaving the post on May 13.

She will also act as his assistant. Jean-Pierre is currently the White House’s deputy press secretary and deputy assistant to Biden. She previously held senior communication and political roles in Biden’s presidential campaign team and when he served as vice-president during the Obama administration, the White House statement said.

EU SEEKING TO SANCTION PUTIN’S ALLEGED GF The EU has proposed sanctioning former Russian gymnast Alina Kabaeva for her role in Kremlin propaganda and close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a document. The list of sanctions, which include a ban on Russian oil imports, were submitted by the EU executive to member states for approval, which requires unanimity among the 27 countries. If passed, Kabaeva would be hit by a ban on entry into the EU and an asset freeze. The proposal identifies Kabaeva as the chairwoman of the board of directors of the National Media Group, a holding company that holds significant shares in almost all major Russian state media. Kabaeva is rumoured to be Putin's girlfriend and mother to some of his children.

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in brief 25 KILLED IN CUBA HOTEL BLAST Rescuers in Cuba’s capital Havana searched to find survivors of an explosion that killed at least 25 people and devastated a luxury hotel that once hosted dignitaries and celebrities. A natural gas leak was the apparent cause of blast at Havana’s 96room Hotel Saratoga. The 19th century structure in the city’s Old Havana neighbourhood did not have any guests at the time because it was undergoing renovations ahead of a planned reopening after being closed. Of the dead, 22 had been identified, 18 residents of the capital and four from elsewhere in Cuba. Although no tourists were reported injured, the explosion is another blow to the country’s crucial tourism industry.

TAIWAN SAYS CAN’T AFFORD US’ NEW ANTI-SUB CHOPPERS Taiwan signalled that it had abandoned a plan to buy advanced new anti-submarine warfare helicopters from the US, saying they were too expensive. Taiwan had earlier said it was planning to buy 12 MH-60R antisubmarine helicopters, made by Lockheed Martin Corp unit Sikorsky, but domestic media said the US had rejected the sale as not being in line with the island’s needs.

Asked in parliament about recent changes to Taiwan’s purchases of US weapons, defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng mentioned the helicopter case first. “The price is too high, beyond the scope of our country’s ability,” he said. Two other arms purchases have also been delayed - M109A6 Medium Self-Propelled Howitzer artillery systems, and mobile Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.

SURVIVOR FOUND 6 DAYS AFTER BUILDING COLLAPSE Rescuers in central China have pulled a woman alive from the rubble of a building that partially collapsed almost six days earlier, state media reported. The unidentified woman is the 10th survivor of the disaster in the city of Changsha, in which at least five people have died and an unknown number, possibly dozens, are still missing. She was rescued about 132 hours after the rear of the six-storey building suddenly caved in on April 29. The woman was conscious and advised rescuers on how to pull her out without causing further injury.

100-YEAR-OLD SETS WORLD RECORD Hundred year old Walter Orthmann has set a world record by working in the same company for 84 long years. The Guinness World Records that the Brazilian sales manager holds the official record for the “longest career in the same company” after verifying that he’d been with the same textile firm for more than 80 years. The centenarian began working as a shipping assistant at Industrias Renaux SA, now named RenauxView, a year before the outbreak of WWII, when he was just 15 years old. He was quickly promoted to a position in sales, an area where he remains to this day. So what’s the secret of Orthmann’s exceptional career? “I don’t do much planning, nor care much about tomorrow. All I care about is that tomorrow will be another day in which I will wake up, get up, exercise and go to work,” Guinness quoted him as saying.

Richard Verma named to Biden’s intelligence advisory board WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden has named Indian American Richard Verma, a former ambassador to India, to a White House body that advises the president on the effectiveness of the country’s sprawling intelligence community.

Biden also named retired Admiral James A. “Sandy” Winnefeld as chair of the body – President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, – and Janet Napolitano, a former secretary of the depart-

ment of homeland security and Gilman G. Louie as members, like Verma.

The White House said the advisory board serves as an independent element within the executive office of the and that it exists exclusively to assist the president by providing him with an “independent source of advice on the effectiveness with which the intelligence community is meeting the nation’s intelligence needs and the vigor

and insight with which the community plans for the future”.

Verma is currently with Mastercard as its general counsel and head of global public policy. He was sent to India as ambassador by President Barack Obama in 2014 – he was the first Indian American to be named US ambassador to India. He had earlier served in the state department as assistant secretary of state and National Security Advisor to the Senate Majority

Richard Verma

Leader.

Verma was an active member of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and led the team’s outreach to the Indian American community.

Apple sues Indian American for stealing chip secrets SAN FRANCISCO: Apple has sued the Santa Clara-based “stealth-mode” semiconductor startup Rivos and two former employees, Indian American Bhasi Kaithamana and Ricky Wen, for allegedly stealing trade secrets to build a chip lineup.

In a lawsuit filed in CA, the iPhone maker said that Rivos launched a “coordinated campaign” to attract Apple employees and encourage them to copy confidential documents before quitting.

Apple employed Kaithamana for nearly 8 years, from September 2013 until

August 2021.

“During his tenure with Apple, Kaithamana was a CPU implementation engineer, responsible for managing CPU design for Apple’s SoCs (system on chips),” the lawsuit said.

Osmania and Rutgers University graduate Kaithamana was responsible for, among other things, designing and developing proprietary and trade secret physical structures for carrying out critical functions in Apple’s ARM-based SoCs. The lawsuit alleged that before leaving Apple in August

2021, Kaithamana copied a series of spreadsheets, presentations, and text files onto an external USB drive under the name “APPLE_WORK_DOCS”. Wen also allegedly accessed files related to Apple trade secrets, including “files related to Apple’s unreleased SoC designs, and then made a copy of his company-issued computer’s hard drive just before leaving the company”.

“The sheer volume of information taken, the highly sensitive nature of that information, and the fact that these employ-

Landslide victory for Marcos Jr in Philippines election MANILA: Ferdinand Marcos Jr, whose dictator father and namesake plundered and brutalised the Philippines for decades, on Tuesday won a historic election victory, capping his clan's journey from pariahs to the presidential palace. Marcos Jr, known by his nickname "Bongbong", won in a landslide, following relentless whitewashing of the family's past and leveraging of powerful alliances with rival families that control swathes of the poverty-plagued country.

In the 36 years since a popular uprising toppled the patriarch and chased the family into US exile, the Marcoses have been rebuilding their political fortunes. Despite his own father's concerns about his "carefree and lazy" nature, Marcos Jr, 64, made it the furthest. After narrowly losing the vice presidential race to Leni Robredo in the 2016 elec-

tion, he was determined their rematch in the presidential contest would end differently.

Vowing to unify the country, Marcos Jr made sweeping promises on the campaign trail to boost jobs and tackle rising prices as part of a pathway out of the pandemic.

"Unity is my cause because of my firm belief that unity is the first step towards getting out of this crisis we are now in," Marcos Jr said in February - without ever explaining further what the slogan meant. Growing up in the presidential palace in Manila, Marcos Jr wanted to be an astronaut before he followed in his father's footsteps into politics.

He served as vice governor and twice as governor of the family's northern stronghold of Ilocos Norte province, and also had stints in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Beijing shuts metro stations, bus routes as virus spreads BEIJING/SHANGHAI: Beijing shut scores of metro stations and bus routes and extended Covid-19 curbs on many public venues, focusing efforts to avoid the fate of Shanghai, where millions have been under strict lockdown for more than a month.

The city of Zhengzhou earlier also announced restrictions, joining dozens of big population centres under some form of lockdown as China seeks to control the spread.

With dozens of new cases a day, Beijing is hoping mass testing will find and isolate the virus before it spreads. Twelve of 16 city dis-

tricts held the second of three rounds of tests this week. The city of 22 million shut over 60 subway stations, about 15% of the network, and 158 bus routes, service providers said, most in the Chaoyang district at the epicentre of Beijing’s outbreak. Beijing officials also said closures of schools, restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues - as well as some businesses and residential buildings - would extend beyond the April 30 May 4 Labour Day break, without giving a timeframe. People were encouraged to work from home rather than return to offices.

Jill Biden and Trudeau visit Ukraine Kyiv: In high-profile display of solidarity with Ukraine on the eve of a key Russian military holiday, Jill Biden, the first lady, made an unannounced visit to western Ukraine on Sunday.

Canada PM Justin Trudeau also made an unannounced visit, travelling to view the devastation in the Kyiv suburb of Irpin, Ukrainian officials said. The events served to demonstrate the depth of support for Ukraine by the US and other nations in the face of Russia’s invasion.

Jill Biden travelled under the cloak of secrecy, becoming the latest high profile American to enter Ukraine during its 10-week-old conflict with Russia. She held a surprise Mother’s Day meeting with Ukraine first lady Olena Zelenska to show US support for the embattled nation.

“I wanted to come on Mother’s Day,” the US first lady told Zelenska. “I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and this war has been brutal and that the people of the US stand with the people of Ukraine. ” Jill spent about two hours in Ukraine, travelling by vehicle to the town of Uzhhorod, about a 10-minute drive from a Slovakian border village where she had toured a border processing facility. Zelenska thanked Jill for her “courageous act”. The two first ladies came together in a small classroom, sitting across a table from one another and greeting each other in front of reporters before they met in private. Zelenska and her children have been at an undisclosed location for their safety.

ees are now performing the same duties for a competitor with ongoing access to some of Apple’s most valuable trade secrets, leave Apple with few alternatives,” the lawsuit read.

“Since June 2021, over 40 former Apple employees have joined Rivos. Rivos continues to target Apple engineers, with more departures occurring this month. Most of these former Apple employees were design engineers, developing Apple’s cutting-edge proprietary and trade secret SoC designs,” said Apple in its lawsuit.

Record 46 candidates join race for Kenya presidency

NAIROBI: A record forty-six presidential candidates are among over 7,000 cleared to vie in the August 9 General Elections in Kenya. Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu confirmed the number, to be the highest ever recorded to contest Kenya's top seat. The presidential candidates cleared include perennial contestants Nazlin Omar, Nixon Kukubo, Muthiora Kariara who vied in 2017.

New entrants include gospel artiste Reuben Kigame, former Presbyterian Church of East Africa Moderator David Githii and Grita Muthoni. The independent aspirants include 106 governors, 147 senators, 110 women Reps, 958 members of the National Assembly and 5,845 members of the County Assembly.

They join the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), led by the Deputy President William Ruto, and Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) who were the first to kick off its primaries on 1 April.

President Kenyatta can no longer stand for re-election after two terms, but his deputy William Ruto is resenting him for backing Raila Odinga, a former prime minister instead of him.

The east African nations recent history features hotly contested, sometimes violent elections in which candidates and their allies have used tribal politics to turn people against one another.

The last time Kenyatta and Ruto were on opposing sides of an election, in 2007 and 2008, the country was plagued by violence, and they ended up on trial in the international criminal court (ICC). Their case would later be dismissed.

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in brief

PM Modi, Macron seek talks to end Ukraine war Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the “cascading effects” of the war in Ukraine, especially goods shortages in developing countries, in a meeting last week and agreed to play a constructive role in addressing these challenges.

While India expectedly didn’t join France, a key European and Indo-Pacific partner, in condemning Russia’s aggression, foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said after the meeting that there was a clear and broad understanding between the two countries of each other’s position on Ukraine.

India and France condemned the civilian deaths and sought cessation of hostilities but, unlike in the case with Germany and the Nordic countries, the joint statement also emphasised on bringing the warring “parties together to promote dialogue and diplomacy to find an immediate end to the suffering of the people”. While India wants to retain the option of reaching out to both Russia and Ukraine to "bridge the gap" between them, the French position is also nuanced as Macron, while supporting sanctions against Russia, continues to seek dialogue with his counterpart Vladimir Putin to end the conflict. The French President is learnt to have briefed Modi

about his two-hour long conversation with Putin.

"The two leaders agreed that close coordination and engagement was important. So that both India and France can play a constructive role in the evolving situation. They exchanged views on the cascading effects of the situation in Ukraine, in terms of global food shortages, shortages of commodities such as fertilizers and how the two countries can partner together to address some of these challenges," said Kwatra.

The meeting also focused on the IndoPacific region where France is a key partner and defence cooperation as the two sides discussed co-development and coproduction of defence equipment in India.

“As seen in the timely delivery of the Rafale despite the pandemic, the two sides enjoy synergy in the field of defence. Taking forward this momentum, and based on their mutual trust, both sides agreed to find creative ways for France’s deeper involvement in the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India) efforts in advanced defence technology, manufacturing and exports, including through encouraging industry to industry increased partnerships,” said the joint statement.

SC DIRECTS MAHARASHTRA TO HOLD CIVIC POLLS Emmanuel Macron & Narendra Modi

India-Nordic meet Post-pandemic recovery, sustainable development and calls to invest in India’s blue economy (ma rine resources) dominated discussions at the second IndiaNordic Summit in Copenhagen. On Ukraine, PM Modi joined the leaders of Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Denmark in expressing concern on the humanitarian crisis and civilian deaths while the Nordic PMs condemned Russia’s “aggression”. The Norwegian Prime Minister was quoted as saying India and the Nordic countries have different approaches.

India, Denmark ink 9 pacts India and Denmark signed nine agreements as they reviewed their Green Strategic Partnership and discussed cooperation in renewable energy, especially offshore wind energy and green hydrogen.

Denmark PM Mette Frederiksen also joined Modi at an Indian community reception where she, while welcoming Modi, said democracies like India and Denmark needed to stand together on the Ukraine issue for the principles they believed in.

PM Modi gifts exquisite artefacts to Nordic leaders Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his European visit presented gifts to leaders of Nordic countries that had highlighted India’s rich past, cultural diversity, martial traditions, age-old handicrafts, and exquisite work of artisans. The gifts obtained from several Indian states included A Dokra boat from Chattisgarh to Crown Prince Fredrik, a Silver Meenakari Bird figure from Banaras to Crown Princess Mary, a Brass ‘Tree of Life’ from Rajasthan, which PM Modi gifted to his Finland counterpart Sanna Marin, a Rogan painting from Gujarat to Queen Margrethe II of Denmark among others.

The Dokra boat that he presented to the Crown prince of Denmark is a metal casting made using 4,000 year old wax casting technique. These non-ferrous artifacts depicting folk motifs made mainly in Central and eastern India have great demand in the foreign and domestic markets.

The silver Meenakari bird from Benaras is made through a silver enameling technique that has its root in erstwhile

Persia. The base is a silver sheet attached to a metallic base. The most distinguishing element of Banaras Meenakari is the use of pink colour in various shades on various products.

The brass ‘Tree of Life’ handmade sculpture represents the connection of human life to mother nature and the candle stand represents light. The branch of a tree with various life forms represents inclusiveness.

The Rogan painting from Gujarat’s Kutch area is made from boiled oil and vegetable dyes. Artists skillfully place a small amount of this paint paste into their palms and carefully twist it into motifs using a metal rod. Next, the artisan folds his designs into a blank fabric, thereby printing its mirror image.

Norway Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store received a ‘Dhaal’ with Koftgiri art from Rajasthan. Koftgiri is inlay work with gold and silver wires used for decorating arms and shields and at present used over decorative

Amarnath Yatra; 150,000 bookings in 26 days The forthcoming Amarnath yatra, which was suspended for the past two years due to Covid, appears to have generated much enthusiasm among pilgrims with over 150,000 registrations made for the annual pilgrimage in the first 26 days of opening of bookings. This marks a 249% jump over the total 43,038 bookings received during the corresponding period of 2019, when the yatra was last conducted.

In 2019, 13,298 bookings were received in the first week since start of registration, with the cumulative figure rising to 25,832 in the second week, 34,098 in the third and 43,038 in 26 days. This year, 35,595 pilgrims registered in the first week since the bookings opened on April 11, which grew to 88,014 pilgrims in the second week, around 130,000 by the third week and 150,000 at the

end of 26 days. In percentage terms, cumulative yatra bookings were 168% higher as compared to 2019 in the first week, 241% higher by the second week, up 278% by the third week and up 249% till 26 days.

“We are expecting around 600,000 yatris this year,” a senior J&K government official said. The Central and the state security establishments are busy chalking out a detailed forces deployment plan along the yatra routes. Among the new initiatives this year are radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and insurance cover for all the pilgrims. Even the ponies which carry the pilgrims to the holy cave will be insured. The ‘mandatory’ RFID tags will help track the movements and location of each pilgrim from the integrated control room being set up in Srinagar.

pieces. The Koftgiri craft enriches the surface of the metals on which article it is engraved.

PM Modi gifted Pashmina stole packed in Papier Mache box from Jammu and Kashmir to his Sweden counterpart Magdalena Andersson. Kashmiri Pashmina shawls are known for their warmth and soft fabric. Its exquisite craftsmanship and reminiscent designs are beyond comparison.

The wool used comes from a special breed of goat found in the high-altitude regions of the Himalayas. Pure gold foil and paint impart a royal look to the piece.

Another piece, a Kutchi wall hanging, was gifted by PM Modi to Mette Frederiksen, his Danish counterpart. Earlier, the PM had gifted Sedali, a sitting desk made in Surat, to German chancellor Olaf Scholz. The Prime Minister had bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the Nordic countries of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, and Norway in Copenhagen and also took part in the second India-Nordic Summit.

ISI pushing pro-Khalistanis to carry out terror attacks in India India’s intelligence agencies said that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is pushing pro-Khalistani elements to carry out major terror strikes in India. The sources, quoting intelligence inputs, said that pro-Khalistani entities with the help of ISI are continuing with their efforts to smuggle IEDs, arms, ammunition and explosives into Punjab to carry out terrorist strikes in major cities of the country.

They also said that the ISI, in collusion with foreign based proKhalistani entities, is planning to use gangsters and local criminals in Haryana and Punjab to accomplish its terrorist agenda. Haryana Police claimed to have foiled a major terror attack bid with the arrest of four ‘highly radicalized’ Punjab-based terrorists, who were in touch with the ISI, from the Bastara toll plaza in Karnal in a joint operation with their Punjab counterparts and Central security agencies.

A large cache of arms, ammunition and explosives were seized from their possession. The accused persons were going to deliver the explosives at Adilabad in Telangana, the police said. Besides key accused Gurpreet Singh, who had met Rajbir Singh, an associate of Pakistan-based handler Harjinder Singh Rinda, in jail, the other suspects have been identified as Bhupinder Singh, Amandeep Singh and Parminder Singh, all from Punjab.

They were arrested from the toll plaza when they were on their way to Delhi in a white Toyota Innova. Rinda’s name had cropped up in connection with the blast in a court in Ludhiana last year.

Police have recovered three IEDs, one Pakistan-made pistol, 31 cartridges and Rs 130,000 in cash from the arrested persons in Karnal. Officials said the weapons were air-dropped using a drone at the behest of Rinda in Ferozepur. During interrogation, Gurpreet confessed that they received the explosives from across the border.

Observing that it is the constitutional mandate to hold elections after every five years and any delay cannot be brooked, the Supreme Court directed Maharashtra election commission to start election process for over 2,400 local bodies across the state and directed that notification be issued within a week. A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, A S Oka and C T Ravikumar rejected the plea of the state government which contended that election be postponed for some time as delimitation of wards was going on. The bench noted that the delimitation was an ongoing process and election could not be deferred. “We cannot wait indefinitely. It is a constitutional provision to hold election after five years,” the bench said.

ISRO TO JOIN RACE TO VENUS, EYES 2024 ORBITER LAUNCH After successfully completing Moon and Mars missions, India is set to join the race with the US and several other countries to go to Venus. The mission’s objective will be to study the Venusian atmosphere, which is toxic and corrosive in nature as clouds of sulfuric acid cover the planet.

Isro chairman S Somanath says the work on the mission has been going on for years and that the space agency is now “ready to send an orbiter to Venus”. “The project report is made, overall plans are ready, money identified, all that thing is done. Building and putting a mission on Venus is possible for India in a very short space of time, as the capability today exists with India,” the Isro chairman said.

2 MP TRIBALS LYNCHED FOR ‘COW SLAUGHTER’ A mob of 15-20 people lynched two tribal men on suspicion of cow slaughter and another man was gravely wounded in Simaria village of Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni district, triggering a political storm in the state as opposition parties alleged that Bajrang Dal and BJP members were involved in the crime. Sources said the mob accused Dhansa, 54, and Sampat Batti, 60, of killing a cow and smuggling the meat in Simaria under Kurai police station and beat them to death, sources said. A third tribal man, identified as Brijesh, was roughed up when he came out of his house near the crime site and tried to intervene. He was admitted to hospital, police said, and three of 20 suspects were rounded up so far.

Additional SP S K Maravi said an autopsy will be done before bodies are given to relatives.

PAK ULTRAS DUG TUNNEL TO TARGET AMARNATH YATRA The BSF said it has detected a cross-border tunnel along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district and claimed to have foiled the plans of Pakistan-based terrorists to disrupt the upcoming A marnath Yatra. The 150metres-long tunnel was detected in an area under the Chak Faquira border outpost in Samba, BSF officials said. "With the detection of this tunnel, BSF-Jammu has foiled the nefarious designs of Pakistanbased terrorists to disrupt the upcoming Amarnath yatra," BSF DIG S P S Sandhu said. The tunnel was freshly dug and originated from the Pakistan side. Its opening was about 2 feet and so far 21 sandbags, used to strengthen the exit of the tunnel, have been recovered. Sandhu said the tunnel will be searched in detail.

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Khalistan flags found tied on HP House gate Mahatma Gandhi’s personal belongings kept in Britain will be auctioned and are likely to fetch £474,000, a media report said.

According to the report, there are 70 items belonging to Gandhiji including his hand-made khadi loincloths, letters he wrote while he was imprisoned and two pairs of his sandals, a pair of his sunglasses, an inkwell from his desk and a pair of spectacles, along with other items that will be auctioned.

The online sale, which will end on May 21, is being arranged by East Bristol Auctions in the UK which sold a pair of Gandhi’s spectacles for 260,000 British pounds in 2020.

These items are considered “important to the history of the world”, the report said, adding that a standout in the collection is

what is believed to be the last photograph taken of Mahatma Gandhi while he was alive.

In the black and white picture, which was taken by his personal doctor in 1947 at Birla House in New Delhi, Gandhi can be seen seated, possibly with a spinning wheel or similar wooden tool, wearing a hat, and draped in a linen cloth.

Another highlight of the auction is Gandhi’s trademark loincloth which is

Sudhanshu Dhulia, Jamshed Pardiwala take oath as SC judges

expected to fetch between 15,000 and 25,000 pounds.

The special piece of cloth has his signature ‘Bapu’ on it.

The other important item for online sale is a handmade sash which was probably given to him before commencing his famous Salt March in the 1930s. This includes a photograph of the sash being presented to him. The sash is expected to fetch between 6,000 and 8,000 pounds.

Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala took oath as Supreme Court judges on Monday. Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana read out the oath of the constitutional office to the two new judges in a brief, solemn ceremony held in an auditorium of the Supreme Court additional building complex.

Other Supreme Court judges were in attendance on the dais. Justice Dhulia was sworn in first followed

by Justice Pardiwala. They would be judges 33 and 34, completing the sanctioned judicial strength of the court.

Justice Pardiwala is sitting in the Chief Justice’s Bench in court number one on his first day as Supreme Court judge. Justice Dhulia is part of the Bench led by Justice U.U. Lalit, who is the senior most judge after the

CJI and next in line to be the top judge as per the seniority norm.

Justice Pardiwala is in line to be appointed Chief Justice of India years from now. He would then have a tenure of about two years and three months as the top judge of the country.

Justice Dhulia is the second judge to be elevated from Uttarakhand High Court. The grandson of a freedom fighter who took part in the Quit India Movement, Justice Dhulia, who hails from Madanpur, a remote village in Pauri

Garhwal district, was elevated as a judge of the High Court of Uttarakhand in November 2008. later He became the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court on January 10, 2021.

Justice Pardiwala would be the sixth member of the Parsi community to become a Supreme Court judge. A fourth generation legal professional in his family, his father, Burjor Cawasji Pardiwala, had briefly served as the Speaker of the Legislative Seventh Assembly of Gujarat besides being a lawyer.

The President appointed the two judges on May 7 within only a couple days of the Supreme Court Collegium’s recommendation last week.

Vedic Sangh chief makes U-turn, won’t back out of Gynvapi mosque case Twists and turns in the Shringar Gauri-Gynvapi masjid case of Varanasi circled a roundabout on Monday when the chief of a religious outfit said his social media post about backing out of a lawsuit was “misinterpreted” as he never meant this one in particular.

Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh chief Jitendra Singh Bisen said he was speaking of withdrawing from five more cases related to Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Gyanvapi mosque with the intention of filing amended pleas.

Bisen reached the district court

and alleged that his statement was misinterpreted and it’s a “conspiracy to disturb the country’s atmosphere”. “I made a one line announcement on social media

India all set to test several homemade weapon systems India is all set to conduct a slew of tests of several indigenously-developed advanced weapons, ranging from air-to-air missiles and anti-radiation missiles to smart anti-airfield weapons and long-range glide bombs.

The tests of at least three weapons - the Astra-1 (100km range) and Astra-2 (160km) beyond visual range air-to-air missiles (BVRAAMs) as well as the new generation anti-radiation missile (NGARM) Rudram-1 with a strike range of 150-km - are slated for this month, defence sources said. The Astra-2’s “first live launch” will be from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter after completion of its carriage and handling trials as well as “dummy drops”.

The Astra-1, already under production by defence PSU Bharat Dynamics after the successful completion of its user trials, in turn will be tested for the first time with an indigenous seeker instead of the existing Russian AGAT from a Sukhoi jet. The IAF has already placed an initial order for 250 Astra-1 missiles, which flies over four times the speed of sound at Mach 4. 5, to arm its Sukhoi fighters. The integration of Astra-1 with the Tejas and MiG-29 fighters is also concurrently under way. The DRDO is also planning to conduct the first test of Astra-3, based on the solid fuel-based ducted ramjet propulsion to enhance its range to 350-km, by year-end, sources said.

that “VVSS chief would withdraw the case related to Kashi V i s h w a n a t h Gyanvapi.”

Video team denied entry The survey and videography of the Gyanvapi mosque premises, which began on Friday last amid tight security, was stalled on Saturday as the advocate commissioner and a team of lawyers were not allowed to enter and protests continued the

second day.

The lawyer for respondent Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee (AIMC), meanwhile, requested a local court to change the advocate commissioner for the survey and videography. The court of civil judge (senior division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar directed the plaintiffs and advocate commissioner to present their side in this regard in court on the next hearing date.

The committee claimed the current advocate commissioner is biased and working under pressure from the plaintiffs.

The advocate commissioner and lawyers arrived at the Gyanvapi premises in the afternoon to survey the Shringar Gauri temple in the complex, but a crowd of namazis gathered outside the premises. Police dispersed the crowd after sloganeering started.

The petitioners’ advocate Vishnu Jain said, “The court had given a clear order, but it was not followed. People from the Muslim community came and stood at the door. Thus the survey has been stopped. We will put our stand before the court on May 9,” he said.

Jet 2.0 gets security nod from govt The home ministry has granted security clearance to Jet Airways that is planning to relaunch commercial flight operations in the next few months, according to an official document.

The Jalan-Kalrock Consortium is currently the promoter of Jet Airways. The airline in its old avatar was owned by Naresh Goyal and had operated its last flight on April 17, 2019.

Last week, the airline conducted its test flight to and from the Hyderabad airport in a step towards obtaining the air operator certificate.

A letter sent by the civil aviation ministry to the airline on May 6 informed it about the grant of the security clearance by the home ministry.

Last Thursday’s test flight was conducted to prove to the DGCA that the aircraft and its components are operating nor-

mally. After the test flight, the airline has to conduct proving flights after which the DGCA will grant the air operator certificate.

Monsoon may arrive in Kerala any time after May 20 Monsoon could arrive in Kerala any time after May 20 and before its normal onset date of June 1.

Indications to this effect came from the IMD’s latest extended range forecasts (ERF), generated using the MultiModel Extended Range Prediction System developed at the Pune-based IITM. “As per the four-week extended range forecast for May 5-June 1, the monsoon onset over Kerala could take place any time after May 20. In the last ERF too, which was released on April 28, the May

1925 period was showing an increase in rainfall activity over Kerala. If the ERF next week also shows similar conditions over

Kerala after May 20, one could say that the onset over the coastal state could take place before time,” a top expert from IITM said.

The ERF also showed that around mid-May, parts of northwest India could experience heatwave conditions.

“A cyclonic storm is going to form over east-central Bay of

Bengal. It is likely to help strengthen monsoon flow over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. As per the latest ERF, this system is unlikely to hamper the monsoon flow around the third week because it would have already lost steam by then,” the expert said.

Scientists, however, said the ERF skill level gradually decreases from the third week. Therefore, observations from “week 3” should be considered with caution.

Independent meteorologist Akshay Deoras, a doctoral

researcher at the University of Reading, UK, said, “Normally, the monsoon enters the South Andaman Sea by May 15-16 and, by May 22 it covers the entire Andaman and Nicobar Islands region. The cyclonic storm could, however, help establish monsoon winds over the islands, thus speeding things up. While monsoon onset over the islands could also be on time, there are high chances that it could even hit the Andaman and Nicobar islands before time (around May 15-16). ”

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in brief

SOUTH INDIA

Bommai to remain as Karnataka CM for now BENGALURU: Amid speculation over leadership change in Karnataka, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai heaved a sigh of relief as Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Bengaluru yielded no result following the cancellation of the BJP core committee and party leaders meet.

Shah’s visit came amid a strong buzz over a change of leadership in Karnataka again.

During his meeting with Bommai, Shah assured the Chief Minister not to pay heed to any rumours and there would be no change of guard in near future.

“Amit Shah has given a clear direction to the Chief Minister not to bother about the leadership change, which people are talking about. He told him to go ahead and focus on development. We will contest elections on development, due to which we are successful,” sources said. Shah arrived in Bengaluru in order to chalk out a

SC to pass order on Rajiv assassin’s mercy plea

Basavaraj Bommai

strategy for the Karnataka Assembly elections, due next year. Shah also met BJP State president Nalin Kumar Kateel during Basava Jayanti celebration in Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, the BJP high command is learnt to be thinking of allowing only a ministerial expansion in Karnataka. “We are in favour of a ministerial expansion. But it is not possible to fix a timeframe,” the source said. “For now, we are not considering the idea of dropping any Ministers.”

NEW DELHI: Indicating that it will not wait for the President’s decision on the remission plea of A G Perarivalan in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the Supreme Court said it will adjudicate the issue and pass an order on his plea as he has already spent more than 30 years in jail and his conduct has been good.

A bench of justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai said the decision of Tamil Nadu governor to refer Perarivalan’s plea to the President despite the recommendation of the state Cabinet is “prima facie wrong” and against “country’s federal structure”. The court asked the Centre to be ready

with its submission.

The bench said that under Article 161 of the Constitution, the governor was bound by the advice of the council of ministers which had in 2018 recommended release of the convict.

The governor’s decision to refer the case to the President is prima facie wrong and against India’s federal structure and if the governor was not agreeable to the cabinet decision then he could have sent it back to the cabinet for reconsideration, it added.

“We cannot shut our eyes to something that is happening against the Constitution. We have to follow our Bible — the Constitution,” the bench said.

PUNJAB

Mann asks police to launch action against drug sellers CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann ordered police to launch a crackdown against those involved in selling narcotics and asked it to take action against any politician found to be conniving with the drug mafia.

Mann chaired a meeting of the anti-drug special task force team led by its chief Harpreet Sidhu in Chandigarh. Mann told police officials that neither politicians nor officers should be spared if found conniving with the mafia.

He asked the officers to work without any political pressure with a focus on making

Punjab a drug-free state. "To my mind, some police officers might have been working earlier under certain compulsions but all officers are not alike. However, few drug peddlers might be getting political patronage in the past but now this shall not happen and all of you should work fearlessly in a direction to wipe out the slur of drugs from the state," he said.

Mann asked the police officers to arrest those who are actually selling drugs not the addicts as they have already become victims of the drug mafia. With this initiative,

ultimately the backbone of the supply chain would be broken and Punjab would soon become a drug-free state, said Mann, adding this could not be accomplished without the wholehearted support of the police force.

The chief minister said his government will strive hard to run drug de-addiction centres across the state efficaciously while ensuring there is no shortage of medicines.

Appreciating the police for valiantly combating the black phase of terrorism across the state, Mann hoped, "It will now set an example by completely vanishing the drug terror, which has ruined the lives of our youth." He asked police officers to be vigilant while tackling the drug menace with heavy hand and should be aware who, where and what kind of drugs are being sold within their jurisdiction.

Shah rules out imposition of President's rule in Bengal

Amit Shah

President’s rule in the state citing alleged atrocities by the TMC. They alleged that the police administration is acting at the behest of the ruling party.

Shah also reportedly told party leaders that the BJP

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin announced a breakfast scheme for students of government schools in the state to mark the completion of his government's first anniversary. To commemorate the first year anniversary, the chief minister has also introduced a special nutritional scheme for children. In his announcement, Stalin said students from classes 1 to 5 will be provided with nutritious breakfast on all working days.

He also recalled various achievements of the government in the last one year in various sectors. He reiterated the state's 'Dravidian Model' of development and asserted that it was an all-inclusive one. He also announced setting up more urban medical facilities to more effectively cater to people's medical needs.

FILMMAKER HELD ON COMPLAINT BY ACTRESS Well-known Malayalam filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan was arrested following a complaint filed by actress Manju Warrier on charges of blackmailing her and maligning her reputation via social media, police said.

Minutes before the policemen took him into custody based on the actress' complaint, the director appeared on Facebook live claiming that his life was at risk and some people were forcibly trying to take him away.

However, setting aside his resistance, the policemen took him into custody and took him to Kochi. Police later confirmed that the 'Sexi Durga' filmmaker was arrested but they did not divulge details about the charges slapped against him. The filmmaker recently penned a series of Facebook posts claiming that the actress's life was in danger and she was under the control of certain people with vested interests.

4 TERROR SUSPECTS HELD FROM KARNAL

WEST BENGAL KOLKATA: Union Home Minister Amit Shah ruled out the possibility of imposing Article 356 when a section of party functionaries demanded President’s rule in West Bengal in a meeting held in Kolkata.

Shah met party functionaries on the last day of his two-day Bengal visit.

"The Trinamool Congress came back to power for a third straight term with a huge mandate.

An elected government cannot be overthrown by imposing Article 356. We will have to fight against Bengal’s ruling party politically," Shah reportedly said in the meeting with BJP functionaries.

In the meeting, a section of party leaders demanded

BREAKFAST SCHEME FOR TN GOVT SCHOOL STUDENTS

believes in democracy. "The Bengal CM also faced attacks by the then ruling CPI(M) but she continued her movement and achieved her goal. But the TMC is following the footprint of the CPI(M) and unleashing attacks

on our party workers. It is because the TMC no longer believes in democracy. But we believe in democracy. So we will have to fight it politically," he told the party functionaries.

Shah also assured the party’s Bengal chapter that the saffron camp would perform well in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and asked Bengal functionaries to strengthen the organisational set-up.

Shah visited BCCI president Saurav Ganguly’s house to have dinner with the former skipper of the Indian cricket team. The visit triggered a buzz of Ganguly’s proximity with the BJP. Ganguly, however, denied any political aspect behind Shah’s visit.

Four Punjab-based terror suspects on way to Adilabad in Telangana to deliver a consignment of explosives in an Innova car with Delhi registration were arrested at Bastara toll plaza in Haryana’s Karnal district. Police have seized three improvised explosive devices (IEDs), a Pakistan-made pistol, 31 live cartridges and Rs 130,000 in cash from them. Those arrested have been identified as Gurpreet Singh, Amandeep Singh, Parminder Singh (all residents of Vinjoke village of Zira in Ferozepur district of Punjab) and Bhupinder Singh of Bhatian village in Ludhiana district of the state.

Punjab DGP VK Bhawra claimed that the state police, acting on central intelligence agencies’ inputs, averted a possible terrorist attack by giving a hot chase of over 300km and getting four suspects arrested in Karnal.

BAILABLE WARRANT AGAINST ABHISHEK'S WIFE The Patiala House Court of Delhi issued a bailable warrant against Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee`s wife Rujira Banerjee on Enforcement Directorate's application for allegedly refusing to join the probe in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria passed the ED`s plea stating she is not appearing before the probe agency despite several summons issued against her. After the issuance of bailable warrant against Rujira Benarjee, court deferred the matter for August 20, 2022. Recently, the Delhi High Court had dismissed the petitions moved by Abhishek and his wife against the summons issued to them to appear in the national capital in a money-laundering investigation linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal.

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Govt slams report as WHO says DGCA to look into IndiGo denying boarding to disabled boy India's Covid toll is 47,00,000 India and the World Health Organization are at loggerheads over the latter’s new estimates of 47,00,000 excess deaths in the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 - an assessment that has been strongly contested by the government which cited flawed methodology, inaccurate sourcing of data, inconsistencies in criteria and use of assumption by the UN health agency for projections.

WHO estimates are nearly 10 times higher than the country’s official count of 484,000 Covid-19 fatalities in these two years. Globally, more than twice as many people have died as a result of Covid-19 as the official data shows, according to a new WHO report which pegged 14. 9 million excess deaths associated with Covid19 by the end of 2021. The

numbers reported by countries added up to 6 million.

In a firm criticism of the WHO report, the government raised concerns over use of mathematical models by the UN agency despite availability of authentic data. It has also raised concerns over sourcing of data, selection of states for extrapolation and lack of transparency by the UN agency. The government said WHO has released the excess mortality

estimates without adequately addressing India’s concerns and despite India’s objection to the process, methodology and outcome of this modelling exercise.

“India had informed WHO that in view of the availability of authentic data published through Civil Registration System (CRS) by Registrar General of India (RGI), mathematical models should not be used for projecting excess mortality numbers for India,” the government said. The world health body has calculated excess mortality as the difference between deaths that have occurred and the number that would be expected in the absence of the pandemic, based on data from earlier years.

Aviation regulator DGCA instituted a probe to look into IndiGo denying boarding to an anxious 13-year-old boy in a wheelchair at Ranchi airport two days ago after civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted about “zero tolerance towards such behaviour”.

“No human being should have to go through this! Investigating the matter by myself, post which appropriate action will be taken,” he said of airline staff treating the teenager as a threat to fellow passengers and barring him from a flight to Hyderabad with his parents. The boy was “in a state of panic” and hadn’t calmed down enough to be allowed on the flight, IndiGo claimed.

The boy’s father, Nirmal Kumar, wrote to Scindia, demanding action against the airline and the staff involved in the episode. He said three IndiGo executives sought to meet him at his house in Hyderabad to “settle” the matter, but he refused.

IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta issued a statement later, saying he stood by the airline staff’s decision at Ranchi airport

on Saturday. He offered an electric wheelchair to the child as a “small token”.

IndiGo arranged to fly out the teenager and his parents to Hyderabad the next morning. A DGCA official said the regulator received a report from IndiGo, following which a three-member team was formed for an inquiry. Taking a serious view of reports on the manner in which a specially-abled child was handled by IndiGo staff at Ranchi airport, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights wrote to Jharkhand Police asking them to lodge an FIR against the airline for barring the child from boarding a flight. The chief commissioner of persons with disabilities in the ministry of social justice and empowerment is also learnt to be preparing to issue a notice to take action in this case. The airline's staff told the teenager's parents that he was a risk to other passengers. The incident sparked widespread outrage with many calling out the airline for discriminatory behaviour. IndiGo has denied the allegations, saying it prides itself on being an inclusive organisation.

Six Gujaratis rescued from freezing river on Canada-US border Six Gujaratis were rescued by US and Canadian agencies from a freezing river on May 5. Another man, a US citizen, was part of the group. The boat carrying the seven began sinking in the icy St Regis river. A statement from the US Customs and Border Protection agency said: “With assistance from the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police Department, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, and the Hogansburg-Akwesasne Volunteer Fire Department (HAVFD), US Border Patrol agents…apprehended seven individuals in connection with a failed smuggling attempt.”

According to sources in Gujarat Police, the six rescued Gujaratis are N A Patel, D H Patel, N E Patel, U Patel, S Patel, and D A

Patel. “They are all are aged between 19 and 21, hail from a North Gujarat district, probably Mehsana, and went to Canada in April on student visas,” a source said.

Citing information crosschecked with Gujarat Police and other law enforcement agencies, the source said: “Bharat Patel alias Bobby along with his two accomplices, Bharagav Patel and Ankit

Patel, had sent these boys to Canada.”

Bharat Patel and his men had facilitated the illegal immigration bid in January of Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife Vaishali, 37; and their children Vihangi, 11; and Dharmik, 3 who froze to death in the USCanada border. The four were Dingucha residents. They froze to death on January 16 and the case was reported on January 19 after agencies of the US, Canada, and India began an investigation into the wider network of people smugglers. However, as no significant action was taken, people smugglers continued to despatch their clients through perilous crossings. The May 5 rescue offers evidence that the Dingucha agent is still running his dangerous busi-

‘Delimitation panel increases J&K House seats from 83 to 90 Continued From Page 1 Based on the representations made by Kashmiri migrants and displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied J&K (POJK) seeking presence in the J&K assembly, citing their past persecution and forced life in exile over the last three decades, the Delimitation Commission recommended that two nominated seats be created for the Kashmiri migrant community with voting rights.

Some representation for displaced persons from PoJK was also suggested. The commission is headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, and Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and J&K state election commission chief K K Sharma are its ex-officio members.

The fresh changes in the delimitation draft were approved by the commission after considering the suggestions and objections of the public, political representatives and other stakeholders during public hearings conducted by the panel in Jammu and Srinagar on April 4 and 5. This delimitation, which increases the total number of assembly seats in J&K from 83 to 90, is final and cannot be challenged in any court of law.

The delimitation award - which gives 43 assembly seats to Jammu region, including six new ones, and 47 to Kashmir divison, including one additional seat, apart from reserving nine seats for Scheduled Tribes has been finalised in two years and two months.

The central government will now notify

the date from which the delimitation order will take effect. The EC will then take up electoral roll revisions and rationalisation of polling stations according to the redrawn constituencies. These processes, which would require a few months, must be completed for assembly polls to be held.

Among the key changes in the delimitation order vis a vis the March 2022 delimitation draft are revision in names of 13 assembly constituencies (ACs), including seven in Jammu division and six in Kashmir.

Voters will punish BJP, says NC The National Conference said it was studying the impact of the report on individual assembly segments in J&K but claimed the BJP and its proxies will be punished by the voters whenever elections are held in the union territory. However, the People's Conference (PC) led by Sajad Gani Lone, which is seen as an ally of the BJP, accused the NC of providing sanctity to the delimitation exercise after its MPs participated in the deliberations of the commission.

“We have seen the final recommendations of the delimitation commission. We are studying the implications of these recommendations for individual assembly constituencies… No amount of gerrymandering will change the ground reality which is that whenever elections are held the voter will punish the BJP & its proxies for what they have done to J&K over the last 4 years,” the NC tweeted.

ness.

On April 28, in the runup to the rescue, suspicious activity was reported to the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service. The statement of the US Customs and Border Protection agency said that Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police Department was notified about a boat containing multiple people travelling from Canada to the US. The statement said that the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police Department responded and observed the vessel taking in water in Akwesasne. “Answering the call for assistance, Border Patrol agents and the HAVFD arrived on the scene to find the reported vessel almost entirely under water,” the statement said. “One of the subjects exited the sinking boat

and made his way to the shoreline.

The HAVFD deployed a boat and was able to recover the other six distressed subjects.”

It was later determined there were no life jackets or other safety equipment aboard the boat. All seven persons were evaluated and treated for hypothermia by medical professionals. Upon their release, they were arrested by US border patrol agents and transported to the border patrol station for processing.

The six Gujaratis have been charged with Improper Entry by Alien and the seventh person, the US citizen, was charged with Alien Smuggling. Alien smuggling is a felony, which can be punished with 10 years in prison for each violation.

In U-turn, govt tells SC it will re-examine sedition law The Central government told the Supreme Court that in deference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s views, the government will go for a comprehensive reconsideration of the sedition provision, Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, for necessary pruning and provisioning of safeguards to curb its misuse and requested the court to defer scrutiny of the sedition provision.

Indicating that such an exercise would possibly be carried out through the legislative route in Parliament, the Centre said, “The SC may not invest time in examining the validity of Section 124A once again (its validity was upheld by a Constitution bench in the Kedar Nath Singh vs State of Bihar case in 1962) and be pleased to await the exercise of reconsideration to be undertaken by the Union government before an appropriate forum where such reconsideration is constitutionally permitted. ” The Centre’s affidavit

came two days after it had defended the sedition law and urged the court to dismiss pleas challenging it.

The affidavit, filed a day before the three-judge bench headed by CJI N V Ramana is scheduled to hear the case, urged the SC to indefinitely defer adjudication of the colonial era law enacted in 1860.

The ministry of home affairs said the PM has been aware of the divergent views expressed in public by various jurists, academicians, intellectuals and citizens in general, who agree on the need of the law to protect the sovereignty and integrity of the country and foil attempts by some to destabilise the government through illegal means.

“However, concerns are raised about its application and abuse for the purpose not intended by law,” it said.

“The PM has been cognizant of various views expressed on the subject and has also periodically, in various forums, expressed his clear and unequivocal

views in favour of protection of civil liberties, respect for human rights and giving meaning to the constitutionally cherished freedoms by the people of the country. He has repeatedly said that one of India’s strengths is the diverse thought streams that beautifully flourish in our country,” it said.

“The PM believes that at a time when our nation is marking ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav (75 years of Independence), we need to, as a nation, work even harder to shed colonial baggage that has passed its utility, which includes outdated colonial laws and practices,” it added.

Referring to repeal of many obsolete and colonial era laws, the Centre said, “Various offences which were causing mindless hindrances to people have been decriminalised. This is an ongoing process. These were laws which reeked of a colonial mindset and thus have no place in today’s India.”

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Bradford literature festival Music is one of the greatest things that people have created announces full 2022 programme T H

Shefali Saxena

The Canticle of the Sun (translated as Praise of the Creatures) is an Umbrian prayer written by St Francis of Assisi in 1224 celebrating the unity of nature, from the sun to the creatures that live beneath it. Inspired by this ancient text, British-Asian clarinettist, composer and music educator Arun Ghosh reimagines it through spiritual music from across the world. Deploying the range of an eight piece band, this World Premiere harnesses the intensely evocative sounds of qawwali, meditative mantras, Ethiopian Mezmur, Gregorian chants and spiritual jazz.

Here's his exclusive interview with Asian Voice.

Please talk about your latest composition.

The latest composition is called The Canticle of the Sun. It is an ancient poem by the revered St. Francis of Assisi.

The poetry is in praise of God’s creations: the Sun, moon and the stars, wind, water, fire and the earth. Very beautiful.

I have set this to music, working with South Asian, jazz and classical musicians. hat according to you is the current importance and future of spiritual music? Has the pandemic impacted the way people perceive it?

Music can open our minds and panting peace, love and understanding. Playing and listening to music can bring a sense of comfort and belonging to people, and togetherness to the community and society.

It can help us feel a part of the world we are in.

I truly believe that music is one of the greatest things that people have created. It is an instinct and practice as old as humanity.

W

ow can South Asians who have never visited India or have not travelled enough to South Asia, learn more and correctly about varied kinds of music?

There is so much great music that can be found online…people love to share music.

And there are always new works being created. If interested in South Asian music, there are also many books and online tutorials. This is a time of great musical creativity in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh…and it has had a fantastic impact on Global sounds. ould you elaborate on what Gregorian chants and spiritual jazz are? For our readers?

Gregorian Chants are ancient Christian vocals that were sung in churches in Medieval times. They sound very pure, noble and graceful.

Spiritual Jazz is a form of jazz music that tries to use sound, melody, improvisation and rhythm to express love for creation and to connect players and listeners with the Divine.

This is our aim…but it is simply music, lovingly created.

I have tried to bring these musical worlds together in The Canticle of the Sun. f someone were to acquaint themselves with Qawwali, what could be the first [five] qawwalis they must hear?

I would always recommend the master, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, whose skill, virtuosity, innovation and emotional power has resonated with generations of music lovers across the world.

Secondly, Abida Parveen is a great vocalist, with wonderful range and iconic style. She has revolutionised Qawwali performance and inspired millions of people.

All their recordings and many excellent concerts can be found online.

C

I

First Dance: Blind people of South Asian Heritage take the floor Blind and partially sighted people of South Asian heritage have taken to the dance floor to perform for a live audience for the very first time.

he North of England’s leading literature festival – Bradford Literature Festival (BLF) – today announces the full 2022 programme for its eighth annual live inperson festival featuring over 500 events for adults and children across 10 remarkable days between 24 June and 3 July 2022.

The festival, a highlight of the UK cultural calendar, includes speakers from across the worlds of literature, politics, history and the arts, including Robert Peston, Delia Smith, Alastair Campbell, Ben Okri, John Barnes, Karen Armstrong, Sheikh Yahya Rhodus and Ed Balls.

Popular mainstays of the festival return including Poetry with a Punch, Lyrical Mehfil, the ever-popular Brontë Day, a heritage tour, and a new David Hockney Day. Sitting alongside will be panel discussions talks and workshops on subjects ranging from the 75th anniversary of the publication of Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl and the Partition of India, from the Platinum Jubilee to 100 years since the discovery of Tutankhamun. There will also be a diverse offering of music, theatre and performance ranging from Sufi music to conversations on the work of Paul Weller. A new theme for the festival this year is ‘In Memory of Andalusia’, which focuses on the cultural dialogue between Jewish and Muslim scholars in the “golden age”.

In a series of events on the 75th anniversary of the Partition of India, awardwinning historian William Dalrymple joins the festival to share the remarkable story behind his new book chronicling the rise and fall of the East India Company.

Saeed Khan will be introducing the context to Partition, while Owen BennettJones will reflect on the two dynasties that shaped the outcome. In an event based on her BBC R4 series 'Untold Lives', journalist Kavita Puri will share stories of families in Britain whose lives had been impacted by the events of 1947. A panel of experts will shine a spotlight on the friendship between the Indian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore and the Bradford-born painter Sir William Rothenstein, while Lyn Innes reveals the fascinating tale of the last prince of Bengal,

è Piloting face-to-face dance programmes Step Change Studios Founder, Rashmi Becker, who recently received an MBE for services to disabled, people said: “It is both exciting and satisfying to see people who have never danced before proudly stepping on stage to perform for a live audience.

Dance Dosti has highlighted the stigma that exists towards disability within communities but also the joy and confidence people experience in being able to access dance in a safe, supportive and sociable space.”

The dance performances PRS for Music have announced that were accompanied by live sitar Rupinder Virdee has been appointed Head of and tabla music performed by PR, Marketing & Digital.

Reporting into Director of blind musician Baluji Shrivastav OBE, who is the Founder of the Communications and Public Affairs, John Baluji Music Foundation and Mottram, Rupinder will be pivotal to the company’s future plans and implementation Inner Vision Orchestra.

Sajida Shah, another blind of strategic marketing and communications participant who performed that advance awareness of one of the world’s said: I think South Asian people leading music collective management tend to do less for just organisations.

Rupinder joins PRS for Music following a varied themselves and concentrate more on family. Dancing lifts and extensive career that spans 20 years as a new my mood and gives me time to media marketing strategist and publicist. As Owner do something for myself and Marketing Director of Revolution Agency, oneinstead of housework. I enjoy of-three leading British publicity agencies coming out, being part of a specialising in niche Black, African & Caribbean and group and moving to the South Asian markets, Rupinder created and executed national and regional campaigns working music.”

During the evening, across youth led initiatives, government, participants also took part in an entertainment, retail and community sectors.

Throughout her career, Rupinder has searched audience Q&A and Dance Dosti partners spoke of their support to uncover stories that can amplify a brand’s narrative to create goal-oriented, holistic for the initiative.

and Satvinder Juss and Chris Moffatt reflect on the life of Bhagat Singh, the revolutionary of the Indian Independence Movement.

Bradford Literature Festival’s flagship Evening of Comedy returns featuring sidesplitting sets by Sindhu Vee and Sukh Ojla and MC’d by Tez Ilyas, and Emma Smith dissects our magical relationship with books in her new book, Portable Magic. Founding editor of WritersMosaic, Gabriel Gbadamosi will chair a panel featuring Oscar GuardiolaRivera, Amal Said and Olumide Popoola on the current shape of mass migration in the wake of a century defined by war and decolonisation.

Sandra Igwe, Eliane Glaser and Pragya Agarwal will explore how and why society continues to define women by their reproductive choices.

Poorna Bell (In Case of Emergency) and Zeba Talkhani (My Past is a Foreign Country) will talk about acts of resistance and navigating the patriarchy. Jaspreet Kaur (Brown Girl Like Me) and Anchal Seda (What Would the Aunties Say?) share their experiences of growing up as young Asian women in the UK, modern feminism and cultural expectations.

Ancestry expert Gavin Rand, Amandeep Madra (UK Punjab Heritage Association) and Irfan Malik will be uncovering the stories of the Punjabi soldiers who fought in the First World War. Kasim Ali (Good Intentions) and Huma Qureshi (Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love) will look at the complexity of modern relationships. Hebden Bridge-based publisher Bluemoose Books will be launching their new title I Am Not Your Eve

by Devika Ponnambalam. The author and filmmaker spent ten years researching the troubled story behind post-impressionist Paul Gauguin's child-bride muse, Teha'amana.

AA Dhand will also be hosting a workshop dedicated to aspiring crime writers who are looking to fine-tune their craft. Acclaimed crime-fiction writers including Louise Hare and Vaseem Khan will discuss their work and fascination with a literary world where history and mystery intersect.

Rupinder Virdee appointed Head of PR, Marketing & Digital of PRS for Music

The special event in Newham last night was to highlight the work of Dance Dosti, the UK’s first programme targeting South Asian people with sight loss to be active through dance. The programme is created and led by inclusive dance company Step Change Studios and supported by Metro Blind Sport and Vision Foundation.

Spurred by the inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic, Dance Dosti is a one-year initiative that is using dance to improve physical and mental health, tackle social isolation and improve community engagement. The programme has involved three key core elements: è Creating over 100 online dance workouts in four languages (English, Hindi, Gujarati, and Bengali) è Working with the dance and fitness sector to improve the inclusion of disabled people from ethnically diverse communities

communication strategies and real engagement. Rupinder has sat on the strategic planning board for The London Week of Peace. Noticing a gap in the sector, Rupinder co-founded The Sikh Press Association in 2014. The news agency represents the British Sikh community and acts as a springboard between Sikh organisations globally and mainstream media.

Rupinder is also a proud ambassador for the charity, Binti Period, a socially responsible organisation focusing on creating a world where all women have menstrual dignity. She is also COO for Unstoppable Music Group.

Rupinder Virdee, Head of PR, Marketing & Digital, PRS for Music, said: “I am delighted to be joining PRS for Music at this exciting time as they develop their communication, marketing and digital strategy. I look forward to representing the South Asian community and women in music, whilst using my wealth of experience to carve out strong narratives and engagement, to further cement the impactful work PRS for Music carry out.”

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Lasting impact of severe Covid-19 on Morning rituals to reduce stress and promote happiness brain equal to 20 years of ageing: Study Starting your morning in a great tone sets the tone for the entire day. It is very important to ensure a relaxed and well-regimented morning to ensure not only a smooth but a happy day. This would also be the best time to prevent burnout and stress from accumulating to unmanageable levels and planning a happy, healthy and fulfilled life. Depending on what your goals are and what makes you truly happy, you can follow some morning rituals to keep you stress-free and feel content throughout the day.

Grand Master Akshar says starting your day on a calm note, preferably with a smile, feeling gratitude for all that you have, focusing on your health and fitness and keeping negative thoughts at bay are some of the things that will give your day a perfect start.

Some of the morning rituals suggested by him are: Start your day with a smile - It is important that you wake up feeling happy and grateful for being alive. Gratitude opens a lot of doors and when you start your day with a sense of being thankful then this will naturally allow for more opportunities to flow your way.

Practice yoga, meditation, and pranayama - Invest in your time wisely and spend it on things that will improve your health. Practice the holistic science of yoga by starting your day with simple breathing techniques, meditation, and Surya Namaskar practice. This will promote a healthy mind for better enjoyment of this

life, and give you immense peace within yourself.

Consume nutritious food - Healthy food like fruits, vegetables, and fresh home-cooked meals will give you a sense of contentment and do wonders for your body. What is good for your body is also good for your mind, and such practice will feed your soul.

Plan for the day - A little discipline in life goes a long way, especially when it comes to streamlining your professional or personal life. To combat stress or anxiety, take some time out in the morning to create a checklist of things to complete for the day. Knowing how to tackle your tasks will help you take better decisions.

Morning exercises - Set aside at least 10 to 15 minutes of your time every morning to do simple breathing techniques like an Anulom Vilom, Kapal Bhati and Bhastrika Pranayama. Starting your day with awareness of your breath will let you regulate your reactions and responses to people and circumstances calmly.

A UK study reports that the lasting impact of a severe Covid-19 infection on the brain in areas such as memory, attention or problem solving may be equivalent to 20 years of ageing. The new research, led by a team of scientists from the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London, suggests that cognitive impairment as a result of severe Covid-19 is similar to that sustained between 50 and 70 years of age and is the equivalent of losing 10 IQ points.

Professor David Menon, from the Division of Anaesthesia at the University of Cambridge, and the study’s senior author said, “Cognitive impairment is common to a wide range of neurological disorders, including dementia, and even routine ageing, but the patterns we saw - the cognitive ‘fingerprint’ of Covid-19 - was distinct from all of these.” The research was published in the journal eClinicalMedicine. It indicates the effects are still detectable more than six months after acute illness and that any recovery is very gradual.

Rid water weight naturally with these easy tips If you find yourself gaining a lot of weight of late, and suffering from swollen feet or ankles, puffy skin or stiff joints, there could excess fluid build-up in your body; Typically known as water retention or edema. This is typical of summer as the body finds it difficult to remove fluid from tissues in hot weather. Reasons for water retention could be several including pregnancy, certain health issues, menstruation, and inadequate consumption of protein or vitamin B1, among others.

Water retention occurs when excess fluids build up in your body and isn’t removed efficiently by the circulatory system, kidneys or lymphatic system that help maintain healthy fluid levels in the body. Dietician and nutritionist Dr and

Founder of Nutrifybypoonam Diet & Wellness Clinic, Poonam Duneja said, “We all face different kinds of challenges during our weight loss journey. Since most people are dehydrated when they age, the body tends to retain water and cause ‘edema’. It’s usually harmless. Excess water retention can also be due to a medical issue like heart, liver or kidney disease.”

Following are some ways to get rid of excess weight due to fluid retention.

Regular Exercise - The body loses 0.5-1 litres of sweat depending on temperature, hydration levels and clothing. Regular physical exercise reduces water outside of the cell and decreases swelling due to water retention.

Adequate Sleep - This may also help your body water levels and reduce water retention.

Stress Management Stress increases the Antidiuretic hormone (ADH) that controls water balance in the body. Stress management will help normalise the levels of ADH and cortisol which is important for fluid balance and long-term disease risk.

Supplement with

Magnesium and Potassium - When the electrolyte levels are too low are too high, they cause a shift in fluid balance and it leads to more water weight. Excess hydration levels, and exercising in hot humid climates also needs replenishment of these electrolytes to replace those lost in sweat.

Avoid Salty Foods High levels of sodium will lead to a fluid imbalance within the body and result in water retention. Intake of a lot of highly processed food, pickles and soups can also lead to water retention.

Keep Hydrated - It is that simple. Being wellhydrated can reduce water retention. Optimal water intake of 2-3 litres daily ensures general health including good digestive health, fat loss and brain function.

Professor Adam Hampshire, from the Department of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London, said, “Tens of thousands of people have been through intensive care with Covid-19 in England alone and many more will have been very sick, but not admitted to hospital. This means there are a large number of people out there still experiencing problems with cognition many months later. We urgently need to look at what can be done to help these people.”

The researchers reveal this is the first time that such rigorous assessment and comparison has been carried out concerning the after-effects of severe Covid-

19. There have been growing reports that Covid-19 can cause lasting cognitive and mental health problems, with recovered patients reporting symptoms including fatigue, “brain fog”, problems recalling words, sleep disturbances, anxiety and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) months after infection.

“We followed some patients up as late as ten months after their acute infection, so were able to see a very slow improvement.

While this was not statistically significant, it is at least heading in the right direction, but some of these individuals may never fully recover,” noted Professor Menon.

Minerals may be crucial in healing damaged tissue A study conducted by researchers in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the College of Medicine at Texas A&M University identifies the crucial role of minerals in regulating gene expression, thus controlling the number of proteins that a cell should make, promoting tissue regeneration and redefining cellular identity.

Minerals are inorganic elements that play many vital roles, working interactively with vitamins, enzymes, hormones and other nutrient cofactors to regulate thousands of the body’s biological functions.

While several minerals have been shown to regulate gene expression and cellular activity, very little work has focused on understanding

underlying molecular mechanisms.

In the research, a new class of mineral-based nanoparticles has been introduced to direct human stem cells toward bone cells. These nanoparticles are known specifically as nano silicates, and with them, the team can determine the role of minerals in regulating gene expression profiles to direct stem cell differentiation. These nano silicates are discshaped mineral-nanoparticles 20-30 nanometers (nm) in diameter and 1-2 nm in thickness. These nanoparticles are highly biocompatible and are readily eaten up by cells. Once inside the cell body, these nanoparticles slowly dissolve into individual minerals such as silicon, magnesium and lithium.

One week break from social media improvises overall well-being: Study According to new research, taking a break for a week from social media improvises an individual’s overall level of well-being, and reduces symptoms which helps people manage their mental health. Findings of the research were published in the journal ‘Cyberpsychology Behaviour and Social Networking’. The study was carried out by a team of researchers at the University of Bath.

They studied the mental health effects of a week-long social media break.

For some participants in the study, this meant over nine free hours of their week which would have been otherwise spent scrolling Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and

TikTok. The researchers randomly allocated 154 individuals aged 18 to 72 who used social media every day into either an intervention group, where they were asked to stop using all social media for one week or a control group, where they could continue scrolling as normal. Baseline scores for anxiety, depression and well-being were taken at the beginning of the study.

Participants reported spending an average of 8 hours per week on social media at the start of the study. One week later, the participants who were asked to take the one-week break had significant improvements in wellbeing, depression, and anxiety than those

who continued to use social media, suggesting a short-term benefit.

Participants asked to take a one-week break reported using social media for an average of 21 minutes compared to an average of seven hours for those in the control group.

Screen usage stats were provided to check that individuals had adhered to the break.

Lead researcher from Bath's Department for Health, Dr. Jeff Lambert explained, “Scrolling social media is so ubiquitous that many of us do it almost without thinking from the moment we wake up to when we close our eyes at night. We know that social media usage is huge and that there are increasing

concerns about its mental health effects, so with this study, we wanted to see whether simply asking people to take a week's break could yield mental health benefits.” He added, “Many of our participants reported positive effects from being off social media with improved mood and less anxiety overall.

This suggests that even just a small break can have an impact. Of course, social media is a part of life and for many people, it's an indispensable part of who they are and how they interact with others. But if you are spending hours each week scrolling and you feel it is negatively impacting you, it could be worth cutting down on your usage to see if it helps.”

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Bollywood needs to focus more on story and script: Yami A

Kartik Aaryan speaks up about fall out with Dharma Productions

ctor Yami Gautam believes films from the South are setting out to be panIndian successes as filmmakers are able to seamlessly share their vision.

Speaking during a session at the Goa Fest 2022, Yami said Bollywood filmmakers still find it difficult to have a free hand when bringing their perspective on-screen and are still interested in backing projects with big stars as they sideline story-oriented films.

She said, “This is time to improvise and work on what we need to do. My husband, Aditya (Dhar), who directed ‘Uri’, even after three years of the film’s release, is working on one of his most ambitious films. But for him to explain his vision to producers… They were just two or three who understood that and we are working towards it.”

She added, “The director needs more free hand in expressing their vision.

We need to focus more on the story and the script… We need to straighten our priorities.” Yami said films like ‘Baahubali’ franchise, ‘KGF’ series, ‘Pushpa’, and ‘RRR’ prove that producers trusted their directors and the story. The ‘Dasvi’ actor said, “The actors who are there (in these films) are huge stars, especially in the southern film industry and have a pan-India audience. I don’t think that it stopped them anywhere. They believed in the director’s vision and went for it.”

K

artik Aaryan, who is currently busy promoting his upcoming horrorcomedy film ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’, recently opened up about his fall out with Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. The actor and the production house were working on ‘Dostana 2’ before the fallout. Dharma Productions later issued a statement refusing to divulge details and said that it would maintain a “dignified silence” on the matter.

When asked if the fallout could affect an actor like him, who does not come from a movie background, Kartik said, “I just focus on my work. That’s all I would like to say on this.” Around the time of the separation, there were media reports that suggested that a few industry insiders are creating a lobby against the ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ actor to sabotage his career. When asked if he thinks there is any truth to these reports, the actor said, “Nobody has the time for it.” He added, “What happens, at times, is people make baat ka batangad (make a mountain out of a molehill). There is nothing more to it.

No one has so much time (to think so much). Everybody just wants to work, do good work. Other than that, things are just rumours.”

Kartik Aaryan’s ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ is a sequel to Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan’s 2007 hit ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ directed by Priyadarshan. The second instalment is directed by Anees Bazmee and also stars Tabu, Kiara Advani and Rajpal Yadav. The film is scheduled to release in theatres on May 20.

Think twice before doing Hindi remakes of South films: Kiara

O

ne of the leading actresses of the Hindi film industry, Kiara Advani has a recent string of superhit films like ‘Lust Stories’, ‘Kabir Singh’, and ‘Shershaah’ in her kitty. While the actor has been a part of a remake before, she now feels she will think twice before doing remakes in the future as most of the films are available on several streaming platforms for the audience to watch.

When asked if the popularity of South titles will prompt fewer Hindi remakes, Advani said, “I don’t agree with the fact that Bollywood is banking on south for content. I feel like, sometimes, a small film which is like a gem, that is made in a certain language that has a potential to probably reach a wider audience, tends to be made in a language that (may not reach a pan Indian audience). Hindi is so widely spoken over our country, that you think, like, why not make this film for a larger audience?!”

While Kiara says she might want to rethink doing a direct remake of a film, she said she is open to doing an adaption instead. Kiara said, “I did ‘Kabir Singh’ before OTT became a rage. Today, of course. I’d do ‘Kabir Singh’ eyes closed, hands down, but today even I’d think twice to do a remake if it is available on an OTT platform, because I feel I can watch it. I watch a lot of films dubbed, and a lot of films in other languages. But (I am okay to do it) if there is an adaption, where we’re taking the story, but making a few changes in the storyline (to make it more accessible to the audience who hasn’t watched it), because, at the end of the day, the point is to see how many people, who haven’t seen the film, and take it to a larger audience.

I don’t think Bollywood is banking on that, I feel it is just about taking a good story to a larger audience.”

On the work front, Kiara will be seen sharing screen space with Kartik Aaryan and Tanu in Anees Bazmee’s ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’, which is slated to release in theatres on May 20.

'Running out of money', says Harsh Varrdhan A

ctors and father-son duo, Anil Kapoor and Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor were recently busy promoting their Netflix release ‘Thar’, when they got talking about Harsh’s love for shoes. It is quite a well-known fact that Harsh is a major sneaker-head, so when he was asked in an interview recently about buying the latest Baby Jordans in the market, the actorturned-producer shook his head and said he has not since he has barely any money left in his account.

He said, “I barely have money, I am running out of money now. I hope I get paid for this biopic (the Abhinav Bindra biopic) because I need to pay rent.” Anil interjected and joked about not lending any money to his son, “I am not giving you. I only take, the shoes I am wearing at the moment are Harsh’s.”

Available to stream on Netflix, ‘Thar has been helmed by Raj Singh Chaudhary who has described the movie as a very “Clint Eastwood movie”. The movie also stars Satish Kaushik and Fatima Sana Shaikh.

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I wish I had that interesting life: Kriti Sanon on link-up rumours A ctor Kriti Sanon posted a video recently with her co-star Kartik Aaryan, kicking off dating rumours. However, Kriti said it is just another “petty” thing to ignore. Kriti feels it is an outcome of the growing popularity of social media.

The actress said in a media interview, “It is people’s need for information. I don’t know if social media is a great thing to happen to us or a bad thing that happened to us. I have mixed feelings when it comes to that. If you ask me about these petty things, they don’t bother me at all. It just makes you feel like ‘I wish my life was as interesting as it sounded it to be’.”

Kriti said she is still learning to live with the constant scrutiny on her personal and work life, after spending

eight years in the industry. “I know that this is a part and parcel of being a celebrity and a known face. But, I have to admit that there are things that annoy you and bother you. Sometimes things are written about you or you get scrutinised for everything you say.”

Drawing mental boundaries is her way to tackle it all. “And understanding what matters and what doesn’t. Now, I have realised that more and more information is needed because of social media. Every second there has to be something new that they need to post, there are portals which need to come out with content. So, when there is more content, more things will be written about you,” says the ‘Mimi’ actor, who has a packed year as she works on ‘Shehzada’, ‘Ganapath’, ‘Bhediya’ and ‘Adipurush’.

The 31-year-old is glad that it fades away faster too.

“Everything that is written about you faster, fades away faster. Since the public memory is very short. Just like success and failure are temporary, good and bad publicity is also temporary,” she concludes.

Legal trouble for Ranveer's

'Jayeshbhai Jordaar' R Akshay Kumar completes 30 years in Indian cinema

B

ollywood’s “Khiladi” Akshay Kumar recently got a beautiful surprise from Yash Raj Film Studios (YRF) which is bankrolling one of his upcoming releases ‘Prithviraj’. With the movie set to release, YRF gifted Kumar a unique poster upon

completing 30 years in Indian cinema. The poster featured Akshay’s character namesake dressed in his costume and armed with a sword, even as the background was made up of posters of all the films Akshay has done to date.

The actor shared the video clip of the poster on his Twitter page with a caption that read, “30 years of cinema, a lifetime filled with your love! Thank you for this amazing journey and thank you @yrf for piecing it together so beautifully with #Prithviraj, releasing in cinemas on 3rd June.”

In the clip, Akshay also reminisced about his first film ‘Saugandh’, which was

helmed by Raj N Sippy, and also starred Shantipriya. The movie hit cinemas in January 1991.

“Pehla shot action ka diya tha ooty mein,” Akshay is heard saying in the video. The actor

anveer Singh-starrer ‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’ faces legal troubles ahead of its theatrical release on May 13.

According to a new report, NGO Youth Against Crime has moved the Delhi High Court seeking the removal of a scene from the film. The plea stated that “though the film is based on female foeticide theme and strives to promote the cause of Save Girl Child, its trailer advertises the use of ultrasound technique for sex selection, which is squarely restricted under the PreConception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994.”

The report also said that the plea was mentioned before a bench comprising acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla. The plea urged the court to direct the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to censor to delete the scene involving the ultrasound clinic centre from the movie.

The report quoted from the plea, “Section 3A prohibits sex-selection, Section 3B prohibits the sale of ultrasound machines, etc., to persons, laboratories, clinics, etc. not registered under the Act. Section 22 specifically prohibits advertisements relating to pre-natal determination of sex and punishment for contravention. Thus, it is prayed that the respondent, Central Board of Film Certification may be directed to censor or delete the ultrasound clinic scene from the film.”

Ranveer plays the lead role in the film opposite Shalini Pathak. The movie also stars Boman Irani and Ratna Pathak Shah in important roles. Directed by Divyang Thakkar and produced by Aditya Chopra and Maneesh Sharma under Yash Raj Films, ‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’ will see Ranveer in the titular role of the son of a traditional Gujarati sarpanch.

then went on to thank the producer and YRF head, Aditya Chopra, for the sweet gesture.

‘Prithviraj’ director Chandraprakash Dwivedi had recently revealed that he had lived the story of the Rajput emperor for 18 long years, before finally getting a chance to tell the story on the big screen. Earlier, Akshay had also spoken about playing Prithviraj Chauhan, calling the movie a tribute to his heroism. “The more I read about him, the more I was awed by how he lived and breathed every single second of his glorious life for his country and his values,” he had said at the time.

On the work front, Akshay Kumar has a slew of films lined up for release, including Aanand L Rai’s ‘Raksha Bandhan’, ‘Ram Setu’, ‘Mission Cinderella’, ‘Oh My God 2’, and ‘Selfiee’.

Mrunal Thakur calls ‘Jersey’ box office failure 'disappointing'

S

hahid Kapoor and Mrunal Thakur-starrer sports drama ‘Jersey’ fail to make the mark at the box office. The movie, a remake of the 2019 National Award-winning Telugu film of the same name, tracks the life of a man who is ready to go to any lengths to fulfil his son’s dreams while also trying hard to save his marriage from falling apart.

Industry experts peg ‘Jersey’s less than ideal performance to the fact that it was released only a week after the record-breaking ‘KGF Chapter 2’. Speaking in an interview, Mrunal said it is undoubtedly disappointing to see the film underperform. But she attributed ‘Jersey’s failure to external reasons and the fact that the original version can be watched for free on YouTube. She admitted that she does feel low about it and said they will work harder on the next project.

She said she has “no idea” what the audiences want, especially after the success of South Indian films. “Maybe people want to watch larger-than-life content. But an actor does not choose films. It is really mysterious,” she said.

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I used to call Dhanush for inputs: Selvaraghavan on ‘Saani Kaayidham’ F

ilmmaker Selvaraghavan is a magician behind the camera, however, in front of the lens may just be a whole different deal. In a recent interview, Selvaraghavan revealed the humbling experience he had working on ‘Saani Kaayidham’. He said, “It’s really difficult. My brother (actor Dhanush) used to say that if you come before the camera, you will understand all the difficulties. Then, I never got it. When I started ‘Saani Kaayidham’, I realised how difficult it was to be in that mood. I used to call him every half an hour to take his input. ‘What should I do now? Now, I am bored. Can I read a book between the breaks? He guided me all the time,” the actor-filmmaker revealed.

‘Saani Kaayidham', which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video from May 6 onwards, marks his screen debut. The movie features Selvaraghavan and Keerthy Suresh

at the centre of the narration.

Praising Keerthy’s acting prowess, Selva said, “She (Keerthy Suresh) is a phenomenal actress. I was blown over by her performance in Mahanati. She performed really, really well. When Arun told me that Keerthy will also be doing the film, I was thrilled and had so many questions (about Mahanati). She is brilliant in Saani Kaayidham. She is one of the finest actors we have in India right now. It’s a pleasure to watch her perform.”

'Saani Kaayidham' was a steep learning curve for the director as it sort of challenged everything he thought he knew about acting.

“I used to act for my actors but it was a totally different thing when I had to memorize lines and say them in front of the camera.

Every day was a challenge. I love to learn and after a few days, I got a hang of it and then it became an incredible experience,” he added.

TN court orders FIR against Suriya, Jyothika and Gnanavel A Chennai court has directed the police to file an FIR against superstar Suriya, his wife Jyothika, and director Gnanavel for allegedly misrepresenting the Vanniyar community in their film ‘Jai Bhim’. A Vanniyar group, Rudra Vanniyar Sena, had claimed in its petition that the community has been shown in a poor light in the movie.

The petition came up for hearing at the Chennai Saidapet court on April 29.

According to reports, after hearing the arguments of the petitioner, the court issued orders to the police department to file an FIR against Suriya, Jyothika and Gnanavel and investigate it. The next hearing has been adjourned to May 20.

Earlier, Suriya was also served legal notice demanding pound 500,000 compensation by the political outfit Pattali Makkal Katchi for allegedly tarnishing the image of the Vanniyar community.

The main source of conflict stems from a scene in which a calendar with the ‘Agni Gundam’ (raging fire) symbol is shown. The

symbol is said to represent the Vanniyar community and the political organisations associated with the community are not happy, as they allege that the scene in question suggests that the main villain, a corrupt cop, belongs to their community.

“You have projected the said wicked person, a wrongdoer as if he belonged to the Vanniyar community thereby imputing that the members of the Vanniyar community are prone to commit wrong and illegal things while in real life the said sub-inspector does not belong to Vanniyar community,” read the part of the legal notice.

After the controversy broke out over the Agni Gundam calendar in the movie, director Gnanavel issued an apology, owning up to the responsibility for the oversight. “It is unfortunate to ask Suriya to own up to the responsibility. As the director, this is a matter I alone have to take responsibility for,” he had said in his apology.

‘Jai Bhim’ was released on Amazon Prime Video last November to massive critical acclaim. It has been making headlines since.

When Keerthy Suresh hit Mahesh Babu thrice on his face A ctor Keerthy Suresh is all set for the release of ‘Sarkaru Vaari Paata’ opposite Mahesh Babu.

She spoke indepth of her experience working with the actor and said Mahesh would often tease her, especially when she goofed up her dialogues. Keerthy said in an interview, “He used to tease me a lot, especially when I would go wrong with dialogue or something. At first, I would get

scared, wondering if he was being serious. But later, I realised that he is joking.”

Sharing an anecdote from a song shoot, Keerthy said, “During the shoot of the last song (from the film), there was a coordination error from my side. I accidentally hit his face. Not just once but two-three times. I was terrified.” She recalled that by the third time, Mahesh quipped, “Did I do something wrong to you?” ‘Sarkaru Vaari Paata' will release in theatres on May 12.

Concept of regional movies only in India: Hansika Motwani A

ctor Hansika Motwani isn’t quite fond of the “regional film” tag, as she believes it only widens the gap between the diverse content being churned out in the Indian entertainment industry. Hansika said, “I have observed that the concept of ‘Regional’ movies exists within our country, but the world always perceives our works as ‘Indian Movies’. Now, especially, after the remarkable feat of certain movies from the South, the scenario has completely changed.”

She continued, “The pan-Indian culture encapsulating the collaboration of actors and technicians across the country has opened up a new market.”

Hansika shares, “There have been many instances where international movies were available at film festivals for limited audiences, but today, we are finding Korean and Japanese movies released in cinema halls. On the other hand, our superstar Rajinikanth’s movies became popular hits in Japan during the 90s itself. Now, you can see the box office numbers of Baahubali, and RRR”.

Hansika, who kicked off her career on Hindi movies, later moving towards South projects, said her transition from Hindi to a different language was smooth, with no stereotype or prejudice attached.

“Every single industry, be it Hindi or other regional domains has always given support and respect to female actors. Yes, there are pros and cons in any industry. Personally, I have always experienced so much respect, love and support from every industry. From being a child artiste to a female lead actress, I haven’t experienced such stereotypes or prejudices,” she concludes.

TV Listing

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 16 MAY - FRI 20 MAY 2022 6:00 Alakh Na Ajwala 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 14 MAY 2022 6:00 Chundadi Odhu Ne Sajan Sambhre 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 SUNDAY 15 MAY 2022 9:00 SHUBH PRABHAT 9:30 SUR PRABHAT 12:00 Chori Na Fera Char 15:00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI 16:30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU 18:00 DESHI BEATS 18:30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 20:00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI 20:30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU 21:00 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM 21:30 GEETA 21:30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 2

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 16 MAY - FRI 20 MAY 2022 16:30 RASOI SHOW DESI FLAVOURS 17:30 CHHUTA CHHEDA 18:00 SASURAL SIMAR KA 18:30 TU AASHIQUI 19:00 THE GREAT INDIAN GLOBAL KITCHEN (SEASON 2) 19:50 BHAGYA KA LIKHA 20:00 SWARAN GHAR 20:30 KAWACH MAMTA KA 21:00 AJNABI BANE HUMSAFAR

SATURDAY 14 MAY 2022 16:30 RASOI SHOW - DESI FLAVOURS 17:30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 19:00 THE GREAT INDIAN GLOBAL KITCHEN (SEASON 2) 19:30 BHAGYA KA LIKHA 20:00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL 21:00 AJNABI BANE HUMSAFAR 21:30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 2 SUNDAY 15 MAY 2022 16:30 RASOI SHOW - DESI FLAVOURS 17:30 SWARAN GHAR 19:00 THE ANUPAM KHER SHOW SEASON 1 20:00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL 21:00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL

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How Modern Love Mumbai came alive with a trick game Shefali Saxena

and the first one love in India, I'm carrying the burden of this.

Thank God it didn't occur to me,” Shonali Bose added.

Mumbai Dragon and I Love Thane Speaking to Asian Voice, Dhruv Sehgal admitted that he would always feel cringed by the signposts of I Love Thane, I Love Goregaon and other places in Mumbai, but when he ran a search on Instagram, he realised there’s beauty and stories hidden behind them,

sense. It feels like I own this chance and yet it's mine. It feels like a great amount of learning has come to me at the right age. You hen Amazon Prime Video decided to know, I'm blessed that I got to do this at the produce the Indian version of Modern age of 31 and not at the age of 38 or 45.”

Love (an anthology), six directors took part in Meiyang Chang, the lead protagonist of a fastest finger first kind of a game where all Mumbai Dragon, directed by Vishal were given six essays from the New York Bharadwaj. set against the backdrop of the Times to choose one story in the six-part Indian Chinese community, tells the tale of Modern Love Mumbai.

Sui's overbearing love for her son which is Filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj selected the threatened when he shares his portion of most coveted story in a record time of five love with his girlfriend. It’s based on a minutes, which left all others who were unique storyline of a small Indo-Chinese eyeing the story titled ‘Mumbai Dragon’ a bit community that exists in the diverse hassled and envious. Dhruv Sehgal (creator L-R: Actor Bhupendra, Director Shonali Bose and writer Nilesh population of the city. While their inherent of Little Things on Netflix and Director, I language and cultural nuances might be apartment in Mumbai, far from Love Thane - Modern Love Mumbai) told different, the episode showcases how their native Kashmir.

He suddenly Asian Voice, “It's (Mumbai Dragon) one of similar their values, beliefs and mindsets dumps her, breaking her heart and are. Being Asian is at the root of it. shattering her dreams. All he While this particular story seems to leaves behind is his old bicycle. have picked just the right nerve of many Shonali still uses her bicycle in Los South Asians, we asked Chang what he Angeles to run errands and visit feels about people who seek answers and grocery stores. So she felt close to solutions from stories like these and art the narrative. Co-writer Nilesh in general. Chang told Asian Voice, “The Maniyar said, “It's so relatable in whole point of good art is that it has to many ways, and yet so poetic. And strike a chord somewhere. And the more it turns it on its head, you know? it does that, the more it relates to people.

So I felt there's an opportunity Masaba Gupta in I Love Thane So if what you saw in the trailer, if you here to do something more than and your friends are able to relate to that just some love songs.” Actor the best essays I've ever read in my life. But then in the story, I'm also able to relate Bhupendra told us that he believes him (Vishal Bharadwaj) being the brightest L-R: Meiyang Chang, Wamiqa, Ritwik Bhowmik, Dhruv Sehgal that with my life and with my family. It's there should be more or the fastest, understood the gist of it a double bonus key as an and that people truly go and take versions of Modern Love, immediately and instantly chose audience. I'm invested in it photographs with those signs. which could go beyond it, while others were busy when I'll watch it. And as Discussing how Dev Patel’s metropolitan cities. reading the whole essay.” an actor, I'm doubly ‘When Cupid is a Prying Modern Love Raat Rani invested.”

Journalist’ from Modern anthologies from Director Shonali All actors and Love S1, Dhruv said, “It small towns would Bose who helmed Raat directors as well as actually reaffirmed my Rani for the be equally writers felt that belief that even simple anthology (starring intriguing and they could have things can be Fatima Sanah entertaining. asked for more powerful and I was Sheikh and Bose is not Bhupendra Jadawat) length for these really impressed by burdened by the told the short films, but the footage in there.” idea that Modern newsweekly, “I chose most of them are Sehgal has nearly Love is a that story (Mumbai under 40 minutes. championed the celebrated series, Dragon) but Vishal’s Many artists who are modern love space by and the onset of reply reached them a part of this project creating Little Things the Indian version before mine!” haven’t watched (series) and yet, here, he makes her a part of an Still from Mumbai Dragon Still from Mumbai Dragon “It was me! They took Modern Love at all, which helms I Love Thane as a iconic debut for India. “If it, so then I cried. I said but I brings fresh perspectives to director, not as an actor. one is weighed down by the want to do this only, Shonali the table. It’ll be interesting to see Commenting on that, Dhruv told baggage of thinking, then chuckled. But she does feel that Raat how the Indian version of Modern Love Asian Voice, “It feels great. It feels like you're not being honest and through Rani was just as fantastic and best for her. unfolds. The series premieres on Amazon extreme, you know, a chance which comes just the way you treat any film. Any film that Raat Rani is the story of Lali, a cook, and her Prime Video on the 13th of May in over 240 rarely. It's a great privilege. But it's also a we're working on, we put our best craft husband Lutfi a security guard, in an upscale countries and territories. privilege that I think I worked hard in that there. And if you're feeling like oh my God,

W

Kabul, Afghanistan based writer and Country Director-Afghanistan BBC Media Action Shoaib Sharif’s documentary has won the BAFTA Award for Single Documentary goes to My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan.

Priyanka, Nick share first photo of

BABY DAUGHTER P

riyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas have shared the first photo of their baby daughter, Malti Marie, after she spent the first few months of her life in a neonatal intensive care unit. The 'Baywatch' star said it had been a “challenging few months” in an Instagram post she shared on Mother’s Day. “On this Mother’s Day we can’t help but reflect on these last few months and the rollercoaster we’ve been on, which we now know, so many people have also experienced,” she captioned the picture.

“After 100 plus days in the NICU, our little girl is finally home.

Every family’s journey is unique and requires a certain level of faith, and while ours was a challenging few months, what becomes abundantly clear, in retrospect, is how precious and perfect every moment is.”

In the photo, Priyanka holds Malti against her chest as her singer husband holds the baby’s hand.

“Our next chapter begins now, and our baby

is truly a badass. Let’s get it MM! Mommy and Daddy love you,” she wrote.

“Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers and caretakers in my life and out there. You make it look so easy. Thank you.”

She added: “Also.. there is no one I’d rather do this with than you. Thank you for making me a mama @nickjonas I love you.”

The couple also took the opportunity to thank the doctors and nurses at Rady Children’s Hospital, La Jolla and Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles, for their care and support. The couple, who married in 2018, confirmed in April that they had named their first child Malti Marie Chopra Jonas.

“We are overjoyed to confirm that we have welcomed a baby via surrogate,” the couple said in January.

“We respectfully ask for privacy during this special time as we focus on our family.

Thank you so much.”

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Super Giants become table-toppers It has been a far from ideal IPL season for Kolkata Knight Riders. They started decently with three wins from the first four matches, but then the team lost five on the bounce. And just when it seemed they had managed to get their campaign back on track with a win against Rajasthan Royals, KKR are back to their losing ways. On Saturday, KKR received a comprehensive 75-run thumping at the hands of tabletoppers Lucknow Super Giants. Chasing 177 to win, KKR folded for a paltry 101 in Pune.

Andre Russell (45) and Sunil Narine (22) provided some fireworks, but the LSG pace attack was too strong.

Knight Riders stay alive It was a top effort by the Kolkata Knight Riders and especially their bowlers as they bowled out Mumbai Indians for only 113 and defended 165 to win the match by 52 runs and stay in the hunt for a Playoffs spot in the Indian Premier League 2022. Though the chase didn't really start well for the Mumbai Indians as they lost Rohit Sharma early and Tailak Varma departed soon too.

But Ishan Kishan at one end was keeping the hopes alive and it seemed that it was going to be a victory for the Mumbai side.

However, Pat Cummins broke the back of the chase by picking up three wickets in one over.

Jaiswal leads Rajasthan's revival Dropped after three failures in the initial stages of the IPL, Yashasvi Jaiswal was presented with one more opportunity to justify his selection. The young southpaw grabbed it with both hands, slamming a fiery half-century to almost single-handedly help Rajasthan Royals beat Punjab Kings by six wickets and arrest a two-match winless streak. Rajasthan’s chase of 190 got off to a flier with Jaiswal and Jos Buttler clobbering the new-ball duo of Sandeep Sharma and Kagiso Rabada for 46 runs off a mere 23 balls before being separated by the South African pacer.

RCB’s massive win over SRH Spinner Wanindu Hasaranga picked up

KL Rahul

a five-wicket haul after skipper Faf du Plessis’ half-century as Royal Challengers recorded a 67-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad to boost their play-off hopes in the IPL on Sunday. Opting to bat on a slow surface, du Plessis led from the front with a 50-ball 73 not out, while Dinesh Karthik (eight-ball 30 not out) provided the late flourish as RCB overcame an anxious start to post 192/3. In response, Sunrisers Hyderabad were skittled out for 125 to crash to their fourth loss on the trot as Hasaranga stymied their chase with figures of 4-1-18-5.

Conway, Moeen star in CSK win Devon Conway’s blazing blade and Moeen Ali’s effective offbreaks beautifully complemented each other as Chennai Super Kings outclassed Delhi Capitals in every department of the game, winning their IPL match by a comprehensive 91run margin. Put in to bat, Conway completed a hat-trick of half-centuries with a superb 87 off 49 balls to set up a winning score of 208 for 6 in 20 overs. The scoreboard pressure was always mounting on Capitals as they finally managed 117 in 17.4 overs with Moeen (3/13 in 4 overs) taking wickets of Mitchell Marsh (25 off 20 balls) and skipper Rishabh Pant (21 off 11 balls) in quick succession to finish the contest.

Warner helps Delhi to win over Sunrisers Explosive Australia opening batter David Warner's 92 not out off 58 balls powered Delhi Capitals to a 21-run win

A fairytale run for newbies Lucknow, Gujarat When IPL-2022 started, little did one expect the newbies of the tournament, Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants, to be perched on top of the table after 11 matches. Both sides have won eight and lost three with LSG’s superior net run rate pushing it ahead of GT. It has been a fairytale run for both teams. The Lucknow management fought tooth and nail to get KL Rahul on board as skipper before the auction in February. They flushed out £1.7 million for the dynamic opening bat. Rahul has returned the faith by not only scoring 451 runs in the tournament so far, including two centuries, but has shown astuteness with his captaincy skills.

Then LSG brought the experience of Gautam Gambhir as the team mentor. The plethora of allrounders Lucknow picked, or the move to opt for extreme pace in the form of Avesh Khan and Dushmantha Chameera, all had the stamp of Gambhir on it.

Likewise, Gujarat struck a chord and immediately built a fan base when they went for Hardik Pandya to lead their side. They also managed to woo a young and upcoming batsman like Shubman Gill away from Kolkata Knight Riders, but the absolute heist was securing a match-winner like Rashid Khan from Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Former India fast bowler Ashish Nehra was roped in as the head coach and that reflected in the decisions Gujarat took at the auction. They focused on bolstering their bowling department, and got the services of top fast bowlers like Mohammed Shami, Lockie Ferguson and Alzarri Joseph.

The ‘Iceman’ Rahul Tewatia, who has won Gujarat at least four matches on his own, was another great investment. As was South African David Miller, who has often had to warm the benches since teams have had other ‘big names’ filling up the foreigner quota in the playing XI. Gujarat don’t have that luxury and that has worked for Miller.

over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Indian Premier League match. Warner made his highest score of the season with the help of 12 fours and three sixes in a powerpacked batting display and shared 122 runs with Rovman Powell (67 not out off 35 balls) for the unconquered fourth wicket to guide the Capitals to 207 for 3 after being asked to bat. The Capitals then restricted the Sunrisers to 186 for 8 with Khaleel Ahmed (3/30) and Shardul Thakur (2/44) sharing five wickets between them to notch up their fifth win of the season.

Titans lose nerve as MI win in close finish Openers Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha had laid a solid foundation for Gujarat Titans with a century partnership for the opening wicket, but clinical bowling and good work in the field helped Mumbai Indians pull off a five-run win on Friday. Saha struck a superb 40-ball 55 while Gill blasted 52 off 36 deliveries as they went neck-and-neck in scoring runs to give their team a brilliant start as they chased Mumbai Indians’ 177/6 in 20 overs build largely on vital innings by skipper Rohit Sharma (43), Ishan Kishan (45) and Tim David (44 not out). But a hitwicket and two runouts changed the course of the game as Mumbai Indians dragged the match to 9 needed off the final over and Daniel Sams denied David Miller many opportunities as Gujarat Titans were restricted to 172/5 in 20 overs.

IPL points table TEAM LSG GT RR RCB DC SRH KKR PBKS CSK MI

M 11 11 11 12 11 11 12 11 11 11

W 8 8 7 7 5 5 5 5 4 2

L 3 3 4 5 6 6 7 6 7 9

P NRR 16 +0.703 16 +0.120 14 +0.326 14 -0.115 10 +0.150 10 -0.031 10 -0.057 10 -0.231 8 +0.028 4 -0.894

Adani Group forays into UAE’s T20 League Adani Sportsline, a part of Adani Group, has made a landmark foray into franchise cricket by acquiring the rights to own and operate a franchise in UAE's flagship T20 league. Licensed by Emirates Cricket Board, the UAE T20 League is an annual event featuring six franchise teams competing in a 34-match event.

Top players from all the cricket playing countries are expected to be in the line-up of different teams. Khalid Al Zarooni, UAE's T20 League chairman, said: "It is a proud moment for us to announce the Adani Group's association with the UAE's T20 League as a Franchise team owner. This acquisition fits perfectly in the group of corporates who have already acquired franchise team rights in the League."

"We are excited to be part of the UAE T20 league," said Pranav Adani. "The UAE is an amazing amalgamation of cricket loving nations. It provides an excellent platform for enhancing the visibility of cricket as the sport goes increasingly global. Our presence here is also a great base for the Adani brand that is contributing significantly to the sports ecosystem in India," he said.

Australia No 1 in tests, India on top in T20s, NZ numero uno ODI team India under new captain Rohit Sharma finished the 2021-22 season as the world’s number one ranked T20 team after a string of impressive performances at home but were a good nine points behind Australia in the annual Test rankings released by ICC. New Zealand finished as the world No 1 ODI team with the cut-off date being May 4, 2022. The England versus India series that began in 2021, will be included in the rankings once the final postponed Test is completed.

“Australia have increased their lead over second-placed India from one to nine rating points, while Pakistan have overtaken England to fifth position in the ICC Men’s Test Team Rankings

following the annual update,” the ICC release stated.

“India have also gained a point to move to 119, while England have had the biggest decrease of nine points as their 4-1 series win over India in 2018 is now dropped from the rankings.

England’s 88 rating points is their lowest since 1995. ” The annual update drops the 2018-19 season and reflects all series completed since May 2019.

Series completed prior to May 2021 are now weighted at 50% and subsequent series at 100%.

India extended their lead over No. 2 England in T20s from one to five points. SA and Australia have overtaken NZ, who are at sixth.

in brief GAYLE WANTS TO COME BACK TO IPL NEXT YEAR West Indies cricket star Chris Gayle says he pulled out of this year’s Indian Premier League draw due to a lack of “respect” in his previous two seasons of the Twenty20 tournament. The big-hitting selfstyled “Universe Boss” has long been a popular fixture of the IPL, hitting the most sixes – 357 – of any player in the competition.

He played 10 matches for Punjab Kings in the previous edition before “bubble fatigue” forced him to leave. “For the last couple of years, the way the IPL went about, I felt like I wasn’t treated properly,” Gayle was quoted as saying by British daily The Mirror. “So I thought ‘okay, you (Gayle) didn’t get the respect you deserved after you did so much for the sport and IPL. ’ “So I said ‘okay, that’s it, I’m not going to bother to enter the draft,’ so I left it as it is. There is always going to be life after cricket so I’m just trying to adapt to normality. ” Gayle did not put his name up for this season’s auction that had top stars from across the globe. But the 42-year-old Jamaican, who holds the record for the IPL’s highest score of 175 in 2013, wants to return to the money-spinning tournament next season.

“Next year I’m coming back, they need me!” he said. “I’ve represented three teams in the IPL, Kolkata, RCB (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and Punjab. Between RCB and Punjab, I would love to get a title, with one of those two teams. ”

PRITHVI HOSPITALIZED DUE TO HIGH FEVER The problems for Delhi Capitals don’t seem to end. After the team recovered from a Covid-19 outbreak last week, another net bowler has tested positive for the virus. To add to that, opener Prithvi Shaw had to be hospitalized because of high fever. Shaw had missed the last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad because he was feeling unwell. All the members in the Capitals team went into isolation as they awaited the results of the tests done on Sunday morning. Thankfully, everyone returned negative. Shaw’s results too have returned negative. “Admitted in hospital and recovering from fever. Thank u all for your good wishes. Will be back in action,” said Shaw in his Instagram story.

Earlier in the season, six members of the franchise including physio Patrick Farhart, allrounder Mitchell Marsh, keeper-batter Tim Seifert and three other non-playing members had tested positive for the virus.

POORAN REPLACES POLLARD AS WINDIES ODI, T20 CAPTAIN Nicholas Pooran has replaced Kieron Pollard as captain of the West Indies one-day international and Twenty20 teams. Pollard retired from internationals recently. Pooran has been Pollard's deputy for a year. Pooran's appointment covered the T20 World Cup in Australia in October and the Cricket World Cup in India in October 2023. He has already led the team in Pollard's absence, a home T20 series win against Australia last year. His first assignment will in the Netherlands at the end of this month for three ODIs. “I am following the footsteps of several giants of the game who have created an amazing legacy for West Indies cricket,” Pooran said in a statement. "This is, indeed, a prestigious role, a pivotal position in the West Indian society, as cricket is the force that brings us all West Indians together. To be named captain is, indeed, the highlight of my career so far.”