AV 14th November 2020

FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE PM Modi hails NDA's victory in Bihar elections SEE PAGE - 25

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Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

14 - 20 NOVEMBER 2020 - VOL 49 ISSUE 29

DIWALI 2020

LET THE LIGHT GUIDE US Community welcomes celebrations virtually across Britain

Happy Diwali We wish all our readers a Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year. All subscribers will receive their copy of the Diwali Special Magazine separately.

Due to Diwali holidays, your next issue of Asian Voice will be 28 November 2020. Till then take care and stay safe.

Charusmita

Community organisations have united to celebrate a virtual Diwali this year despite the UK remaining in a national lockdown 2.0 owing to a second wave of coronavirus. Local councillors and politicians have ensured that Asians strictly follow lockdown restrictions, banning all sorts of public gatherings to avoid an uptick in the number of coronavirus cases.

Continued on page 16

KAMALA HARRIS AND JOE BIDEN MAKE HISTORY The first coloured Vice President of US and President-elect Joe Biden defeat Trump

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

2019 Diwali celebration in Trafalgar Square, London

On November 3, as the incumbent US President Donald Trump grappled to come to terms with a historic loss in the US Presidential Elections 2020, “You’re fired” trended on social media across the globe. Democrat and US President elect Joe Biden and Vice-President elect Kamala Harris achieved a stupendous victory. Receiving the news of Harris’ victory, people in her Indian grandfather’s hometown set off firecrackers and offers prayers in a Hindu temple. Village Thulasendrapuram’s councillor eagerly awaits the oath taking ceremony of the daughter of his village.

Continued on page 22

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AsianVoiceNews

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14 - 20 November 2020

with Keith Vaz

Pay-as-you-feel supermarket helps community

Smita Tharoor Smita Tharoor is a motivational keynote speaker and thoughtleader on how the Unconscious Bias influences all of us. She is the founder of Tharoor Associates a Training, Coaching and Organisational development company and co-founder of Culturelytics, a company that uses artificial-intelligence to understand culture in an organisation. She is a TEDx speaker, broadcaster, trainer, coach, mentor, Mindfulness practitioner and associate lecturer.

In her podcast, Stories of Unconscious Bias, she has interviewed people around the world to share their stories and life-lessons on how they manage their unconscious biases.

Smita is an associate lecturer at Jindal University, India and the University of Arts, London. She is the recipient of the “Global Diversity Leadership” Award at the 2017 World HRD Congress.

Growing up in pluralistic India taught her the value of tolerance and appreciation of the acceptance of differences. Her experience working around the world gives her a unique advantage in understanding the expectations and needs of different cultures.

Which place, or city or country do you Avinash, Nihal and Ashwin are my greatest most feel at home in? champions.

I feel most at home in a place where I What is the best aspect about your am with people I love. That could include current role? any country I have visited for the first time Interviewing all these amazing, inspiror that I know well. I am lucky in that I ing people around the world. How many of have family living in 3 continents. But closus can have heard personal stories of someest to my heart are India and London, in one who was a refugee after India’s partiequal measure. tion, or dealing with FGM in Somalia or What are your proudest achievements? hearing the story of a journalist who lost 3 limbs in a land mine in Afghanistan and continues to work and contribute to sociBeing a mother of 3 adult sons, I feel ety. I feel privileged. proud that I have brought them up to be well- rounded, good, kind and caring men.

And the worst?

Parents have a lot of power; fundamentally, we are all the product of our parenting, no Working for yourself means you don’t matter what age we are. It is up to us as to ever clock-off. I never seem to have enough how we wield that power. hours in the day. Quiet self-indulgent What inspires you? weekends remain only in my imagination.

What are your long-term goals?

I work in the field of Unconscious Bias and recently started a podcast series called To give myself an entire weekend off Stories of Unconscious Bias, where people without any work commitments. To around the world share their stories of indulge myself and read a novel in the middle of a weekday. Now that would be decaUnconscious Bias. I have been hugely dent living! inspired by the stories I have heard, stories If you were Prime Minister, what one that would crush many of us. Being posiaspect would you change? tive in the face of insurmountable challenges is most inspirational.

Putting my country before myself and my ego. Genuinely listening and learning What has been the biggest obstacle in to be more inclusive instead of being seen your career? to tick the boxes.

I don’t see obstacles in my career.

If you were marooned on a desert Careers and life in itself are cyclical. Every island, which historical figure would once in a while, a wave will come and you like to spend your time with and why? knock you to the ground. At other times, you may be swimming with ease. It’s about My father Chandran Tharoor who died riding the waves as they go up and down. in 1993 aged 63. He was a man who taught me all I know about being non-judgemenWho has been the biggest influence on tal, challenging our Unconscious Biases, your career to date? seeing the good in all human beings, being My husband Seamus Murphy who kind and seeing the positive in all situacheered me on when I decided to leave a tions. I would love to tell him how I’ve been salaried job to start my own company durkeeping busy since he left and learn some ing recession, and who continues to believe more life-lessons from him before I am resin what I do. Seamus and my 3 sons, cued to join the wider world.

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Protestors fined in Greater Manchester On Sunday 8th November, about 600 protestors had gathered in Piccadilly Gardens in Greater Manchester as the national lockdown rules came into force.

Police have reportedly fined 24 people with £200 fines and 20 of these were handed to the Cumbrian group, although none were arrested.

A number of police officers suffered minor injuries at Sunday's event, which included one group of protesters who had travelled from Cumbria. GMP are hunting for the organiser and have vowed to fine them £10,000. In a statement to the Manchester Evening News, assistant chief constable Mabs Hussain said, "These restrictions are to control the spread of Covid-19 and protect everyone - including you and your loved ones as well as the NHS. Whilst responding to this gathering, a number of officers were injured," he said. This is unac-

ceptable behaviour towards officers who were simply doing their job and protecting people. Investigators will now work to identify those responsible and ensure they face justice." He also reportedly explained that before and during the protest, officers tried to engage with the organisers and attendees to "explain the restrictions and encourage compliance", but this was ignored.

Around 50 officers were originally deployed and then a 'force response' had to be instigated to disperse the crowd.

On Monday 9th November, a community supermarket in Birmingham which allows shoppers the opportunity to “pay-asyou-feel” reported a surge in the demand for essential supplies as Britain continued to battle a second national lockdown.

The BBC reported that the Community Interest Company, Incredible Surplus, had reportedly helped almost 85,000 people and distributed 569 tonnes of food particularly to the BAME community most vulnerable to coronavirus.

This supermarket sources food from other supermarkets and restaurants destined for landfill and runs four pop-up shops around Birmingham and Solihull. They also prepare meals from the food in cafes, which operate on the same "pay-as-you-feel" terms.

In a statement to the BBC, Dibah Farooqui, from Incredible Surplus, said, "It's quite disheartening actually, especially when you see it coming in off the van, how much there is, to realise that would have ended up in landfill or animal feed. But we turn it into something positive."

Diversity push for Leicestershire Police On 3rd November Tuesday, it emerged that the Leicestershire Police was reportedly pushing for greater diversity in their police forces with the goal that one in every four of its staff members is from an ethnic minority background. Their announcement appears at the end of Black History Month and with an aim for comprehensive representation of the local population.

According to Leicester Mercury, presently just under one in every 10 of the force's staff members is from an ethnic minority background. Nearly 9 in 10,

of Leicestershire Police staff - including officers, staff and PCSOS - are white. Whereas Asian or Asian British members comprise nearly seven in every 100 members, of the force; nearly two in every hundred, define themselves as being in the “mixed” category. Now, one-in-four, or 25 per cent, “diversity target” has been fixed considering a quarter of Leicester’s population is from the Black, Asian or other ethnic minority (BAME) background.

In a statement to Leicester Mercury, Lord Bach said, "This is our public and I believe that the composition of the force should

Lord Willy Bach

reflect the public it serves."

Lord Bach on Friday discussed with the Black Police Association how it and his office can support each other to achieve his goal.

Jailed for life for random attacks On Friday 6th November, a 33-year-old man was jailed for life for slitting the throat of a 10-year-old boy as part of a series of random attacks.

The trial at Leicester Crown Court heard that Carlos Vinodchandra Racitalal, targeted victims unprovoked at various locations in Leicester. According to Leicester Mercury, in January he had committed a series of such attacks including driving into the back of the five-year-old girl in an Asda car park off Abbey Lane, attacking a woman as she walked home with her children, aged three and six, and stabbing her in the back of the head and targeting a man who was on his way home after a shopping trip.

And the final attack on a 10year-old boy left him with a 10cm (4in) deep gash to his neck.

Now, he has been convicted of attempted murder and was earlier sentenced to 21 years at Leicester Crown Court. He was found guilty of four counts of attempted murder, one count of causing Grievous Bodily Harm and three counts of possession of a bladed article, and one count of dangerous driving. According to Judge Mr Justice Thomas Linden QC, the offences "clearly

demonstrated" he was dangerous.

He said, "You armed yourself with a weapon in at least three of these cases, went out and identified vulnerable members of the public to attack. Your attacks were random in the sense they were without any reason, still less provocation. It is also clear that your methods were likely to result in death as you intended, or very serious injury. It was only through luck rather than judgement that you did not achieve your objectives. You are one of the more frightening types of offender from the

point of view of the public, and particularly vulnerable members of the public, in that they will have no inkling of what is about to happen and therefore no opportunity to take evasive action.”

Carlos Vinodchandra Racitalal

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14 - 20 November 2020

Is Mr Sunak between a rock and a hard place?

The second wave of coronavirus has come with Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak’s immediate financial remedies. The Furlough scheme has been extended till March 2021 as well as some help for the self-employed. But Mr Sunak’s magic wand could not save record redundancies, rising unemployment and fewer job opportunities.

In the three months to September, the latest official ONS figures show that redundancies soared to 314,000, overtaking the 2008 financial crisis. Unemployment jumped to 4.8%, the highest in four years.

Britain has ben shielding its workers and families from the damaging effects of the coronavirus pandemic. It has been done mainly through its furlough scheme, which pays 80% of workers’ salaries. Britain’s approach has been very similar to other European countries, but ours is a more generous scheme, as The Economist pointed in its 29 October edition.

Even during the worst times, close to 10 million workers, a third of the labour force were benefitting from it. It was twice the number of Italians, Germans or French on furlough. Until recently, the Chancellor was planning to offer a replacement of furlough, slowly weaning away the employees and employers.

But as the infection increased alarmingly, on 1 November the Treasury went back to being as generous as before. Of course, a stitch in time saves nine, but in this case Mr Sunak’s generosity is more political than not. No one can overlook the time wasted by the government to prepare for a second wave. This generous offer is a very clever move.

Her Majesty’s Opposition, the Labour Party can now not criticise a policy that they themselves had lobbied for. This will also save the criticism from right-wing Tories, who are anxious that restrictions on socialising, movement and subsequent closures is crushing the economy.

But as economists have pointed that this step of Mr Sunak’s also mean that he will be protecting jobs that are not required.

20 years ago, if the British government had done the same, today 100,000 jobs would have been never created, especially in the high streets and travel sector since 2009.

Moreover, in September, the government said that up to £3.5bn in Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme payments (furlough scheme) may have been claimed fraudulently or paid out in error. HM Revenue and Customs told MPs on the Public Accounts Committee it estimates that 5-10% of furlough cash has been wrongly awarded. Latest data shows the programme has cost the government £35.4 billion so far.

Allowing old-fashioned, outdated jobs to wither away and new ones to prosper is one of the main ways in which any capitalist economy grows and gets richer.

We must remember that ultimately the cost of all these payments have to be borne by taxpayers, who are struggling under the financial pressure. As the esteemed letter writers in The Times said, it is important that Mr Sunak makes this decision based on pure economics and not under undue influence of his next-door neighbour. In that case he will be harming than helping those he really wants to stand by.

Divided yet United Donald Trump may have lost the Presidential elections but identity politics TRUMPed America. Worse yet it has polarised the USA like never before. It pegged Black versus White, Latinos versus Hispanics, mask versus no mask and Indians against Indians.

A sizeable proportion of the 1.3 percent Indian American electorate celebrates Kamala Harris in her monumental victory as the first Female, Black, Asian Vice President in the US. But a recent Indian American Attitudes Survey noted that 15% of Indian Americans were “less enthusiastic” about Joe Biden despite Indian-origin Harris being chosen as his running mate.

A YouGov poll also recorded that 72% of registered Indian American voters supported Biden down from 77% who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and 84% for President Barack Obama in 2012.

10 Indian-Americans ran for US Congress this year, of which seven are Democrats. Three were Republicans and all three lost , including Rik Mehta, Nisha Sharma, and Manga Anantatmula.

Texas, Michigan, and Pennsylvania all have large South Asian communities. And while Texas continues to remain a battleground for some candidates, it is important to note that IndianAmerican former diplomat Srinivas Rao , lost the congressional race to his Republican rival Troy Nehls in Texas' 22nd district.

Democratic candidate Dr. Hiral Tipirneni also lost her House of Representatives seat from Arizona. Sara Gideon, the current speaker to the Maine House of Representatives, lost to Republican senator Susan Collins. But that does not undermine the victory of Democrats- Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna, Dr. Ami Bera and Raja Krishnamoorthi - all incumbent members of the US House of Representatives who were able to redeem their seats.

Such a divided electorate has demonstrated that Indian Americans exhibit signs of significant political polarization.

Analysts believe that Republican and Democratic Indian

American voters are politically polarized and hold divergent positions on several contentious policy issues—from immigration to law enforcement. Perhaps, as was evident in the 2019 UK General Election, there is a marked shift of the Indian electorate with Indians moving in favour of Trumpism. This despite Democrats courting the second-largest immigrant group in the US through widespread adverts in Hindi and regional dialects including Gujarati and Tamil. There are several factors for the winds of change. As election data trickles in, political pundits will have a Hawkish eye on the Kamala factor especially when some have griped about Harris’ time as Attorney General in California. While others are skeptical of her stance on issues of foreign policy more particularly Kashmir. There has also been some friction between religious groups.

The webinar '2020 Presidential Election: A debate on the American Hindu issues' demonstrated as much, where Trump supporters accused Democrats of always "pandering to Muslims" and that their support to Hindus was mere "tokenism". Trump supporters showed on the screen an "insensitive" image tweeted by Meena Harris, niece of Kamala Harris where the latter was depicted as goddess Durga, killing Trump, who was depicted as buffalo demon 'Mahishasura'. Meena has deleted the tweet.

From being given the right to vote in US elections after the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924 to Harris being declared Vice-President-elect and Vivek Murthy now appointed as co-chair to lead the coronavirus taskforce of President-elect.

Indian Americans have climbed up the ladders to the White House. But they have also been divided in the process.

America was on the brink of a civil war. Today, America is equally divided and the divisions have only deepened. Our American friends should perhaps err on the side of caution especially when history has taught us that divide and rule only lead to doomsday!

Democracy in remembrance Remembrance Day is one of the only ways to honour the sacrifice of the soldiers who fought to safeguard democracy.

Approximately 1.3 million Indian soldiers served in the First World War and more than 84,000 of them lost their lives.

Almost 4 million Indian soldiers participated in two world wars.

These soldiers fought for democracy, for a country they have never been to, without experiencing the spirit of freedom in their lifetime.

Remembrance Day (sometimes known informally as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of the remembrance poppy) is a Memorial Day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty.

Following a tradition inaugurated by King George V in 1919, the day is also marked by war remembrances in many nonCommonwealth countries. Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November in most countries to recall the end of hostilities of the First World War on that date in 1918. Hostilities formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month", in accordance with the armistice signed by representatives of Germany and the Entente. Commemorating Remembrance Sunday on 8 November 2020, Queen Elizabeth II was seen with a face mask for the first time during the lockdown honouring the fallen British and Commonwealth troops. Home Secretary Priti Patel also laid down a wreath at the Cenotaph.

Honouring sacrifices made by the Sikh soldiers, a nine feet tall bronze statue will be unveiled next to the Guru Nanak Gurudwara in Wednesfield, Wolverhampton in September 2021.

Yemi Odanye, British Deputy Head of Mission at Kolkata paid tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives in the world wars at the War Graves Cemetery, in Bhowanipore, and Cenotaph War Memorial in Kolkata.

Many crucial battle victories in the First World War wouldn’t have been possible without the Indian Army that fought in unfathomable conditions, the most concerning being lack of proper equipments and acclimatisation . These battles also shaped the Indian military history in uniting post India’s independence in 1947. It is both iconic and astounding at the same time that Indian soldiers traveled across the globe to fight on unknown battlefields, without the promise of returning to their motherland.

Elections were held during the US Civil War, the Great Depression in the United States and the British had elections while they were under attack.More than 99 million people reportedly voted during the US Presidential Elections in 2020.

As per official data, Bihar recorded 57.05 percent turnout in the Assembly elections despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nothing stopped citizens from turning out in huge numbers in the world and choosing new leaders to save the spirit of democracy. Governments took tough calls across the globe to save economies and most importantly, lives of People who elect them in hope and trust.

The US election has proved that democracy functions as a crucial check on people in positions of power. Global leaders had to acknowledge that the power of democracy had painted America blue, instead of red.

If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you. – Steve Jobs

Alpesh Patel

Dear Kamolabhen Dear Kamolabhen, Well done. But of course, being Indian as I am, I have to ask, ‘why Vice President? Why not actual President?’ But I will wait four years for that to happen.

Now, Lord Kilclooney knows you are Indian. And we Indians would have claimed you as Indian even if you only had an Indian take away once.

I know you’re Indian for the same reasons Sanjeev Bhaskar gave, “Kamala Harris, INDIAN! Studied political science & economics, keeping options open, Indian. 2 honorary doctorates (they all count!) so Dr, Indian. Many nicknames, Da, Ag and now Vipee, Indian. Now working w/ Joginder Bhai Din. Kamala Harish INDIAN!” So, now that is clear. Let me give you some unsolicited advice because you have time before taking office. I understand Trump is not letting you have access. I think you may need to dig a tunnel into the White House. Or some kind of eviction order.

Trump did one great Tweet in all his time in office. One. On New Years Day 2018 he Tweeted, “ The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!”

I want you to be forthright. I want you to be direct and to the point. You have to remember 70m people voted for Trump. The Russians, Chinese and Trump supporters are all withholding congratulating Biden.

There is a belief that the Democrats are weak on their adversaries and enemies. That they will be weak on terrorism, weak on China and weak on Iran. Don’t be.

And speaking of Twitter, I would like to remind you the second most popular Tweet ever. That by Barak Obama: "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion.”

When people from the left shout down those shouting at them – remember this.

As for 2020 – you may be one of the few who remembers it fondly. As this Tweet said from Andy Milonakis, “Congratulations to the Astronauts that left Earth today. Good choice.”

Anyway, happy Diwali Kamolabhen – as you know you were named after one of the names for Lakshmi – so how appropriate you will be celebrating double this Diwali. Oh, and one more thing, you can go ‘full Indian’ now, visit mandirs, Tweet about it – you’ve won. No need to hide it.

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in brief in brief

Immigrant NHS staff asked to leave NHS trade unions and charities have warned that immigrant NHS staff are being asked to leave the UK after the expiration of their visas. Their concerns appear in light of concerns raised

by Dr. Basem Enany who is currently infected due to coronavirus and his visa is slated to expire next month. While the Home Office had assured that he and his family will not be deported back to Egypt considering his condition, he fears regardless.

The Home Office had previously announced that the visas of that NHS and care workers would be extended for a year free of charge so they could “focus on fighting coronavirus”. But this has only been applied to about

3,000 workers, and left out thousands of care workers and NHS staff including low paid healthcare assistants, hospital cleaners and porters. According to Unison this policy has had a detrimental impact during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic and at a time when there are 122,000 vacancies in the health and care sectors in England.

Last month, the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) called for indefinite leave to remain for migrant healthcare workers and raised concerns about visa processing delays. In a letter, 1,660 doctors and other healthcare workers have protested about the treatment of cardiologist Dr.

Dr. Rinesh Parmar

Enany.

In their letter, they noted, “With 153000 NHS workers reporting a non-British nationality, it is vital that we attract the “best and brightest” to the NHS, or else risk the NHS losing its

status as a world class health service. We entered this pandemic severely short-staffed, with over 10,000 vacancies for doctors, and 100,000 for nurses. An immigration policy that acknowledges reality rather than fixed ideologies is vital and essential. In 2020, both the Prime Minister’s and the Leader of the Opposition’s families have been the beneficiary of the exemplary care that such migrant workers provide. This issue is not confined by party politics and should not be treated as such. DAUK hopes that this recognised as such and that this Bill for Indefinite Leave to Remain generates unanimous cross-party support”.

Lisa Nandy slams Foreign Secretary for not condemning Trump On 4th November Wednesday Shadow Foreign Secretary has slammed the government after Dominic Raab refused to condemn Donald Trump’s premature declaration of victory and calls for votes to stop being counted in the US election.

Speaking on Politics Live Lisa Nandy stressed that by neglecting “to stand up for that principle of democracy” her Conservative counterpart had made this a “very dangerous

moment for the UK” It is not for a candidate to declare when an election is over. The election is over when the votes are counted…I very much agree with Jeremy Hunt that this is a very dangerous moment for democracy. Because the President didn’t just say that he thought that there might have been fraud committed, he actually called from the White House for the vote to stop being counted.

Many of those votes that are

coming in will take several days.

“To see Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, refuse to stand up for that principle of democracy was a very dangerous moment for the UK.” Later the Foreign Secretary’s interview with Sophy Ridge on Sky News got him into another controversy where he refused to make a statement on whether all votes should be counted in a democracy. His insistence that he would not be “dragged into”

Lisa Nandy

questions over the legitimacy of the poll was branded “astonishing”.

Harsher penalties for BAME officers On Monday 9th November, a latest report noted that the Black, Asian and minority-ethnic (BAME) police officers receive harsher penalties than their white colleagues when a complaint is made against them. BAME officers are reportedly more likely to have their cases referred to professional standards departments for an official investigation that stays on their record, even for more minor complaints it has emerged.

The Times cited the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) report which said

that officers often described being subjected to “unfounded investigations” based on poor evidence and suffered “unfair treatment compared to white colleagues” and that many were refusing to join the service owing to their negative experiences. The study was based on an analysis of 15,441 complaints in England and Wales and noted that 33% of complaints made by members of the public against BAME officers were referred straight into the disciplinary process, compared to 12% against white officers. Reportedly there

was also a disparity in internal conduct complaints, with 93% BAME cases assessed as misconduct or gross misconduct compared with 85% for white colleagues.

The report noted, “The internal culture within the service is feeding the levels of disparity due to fear of reprisals or being labelled. Inadvertently the avoidance of dealing with low-level matters at the earliest opportunity is magnifying those levels of distrust and resulting in the exact consequences those supervisors are seeking to avoid.”

MPs and Lords urge peer to apologise for tweet MPs and Lords have urged a former deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist party to apologise after referring to Kamala Harris, US vicepresident-elect, as “the Indian” in his tweet.

82-year-old peer John Kilclooney received considerable criticism when he tweeted, “What happens if Biden moves on and the Indian becomes President. Who then becomes Vice President?”

The Speaker of the Lords, Norman Fowler, demanded that Lord Kilclooney retract his remarks about Kamala Harris. In the meantime, Labour’s Lords leader, Angela Smith, is also reportedly making an official complaint. Apparently, Lord Kilclooney, who sits as a crossbench peer, claimed he had not

John Kilclooney on Kamala Harris

“known her name yet” and denied it was racist.

He tweeted, “Whilst Biden is proud to be

Irish and Harris is rightly proud of her Indian background, I certainly withdraw my reference to her as an Indian as it seems to have upset some people. I did not know her name and identified her with the term Indian. Most people understood. Racist NO.” In a further statement to the Press Association, he said, “I’m very fond of India myself, I’m a member of the British India allparty group, I have two Indians (tenants) in my flats here in London and there’s nothing racist in it whatsoever.”

Funeral costs set to rise in Brent On Monday 9th November, it emerged that funerals offered by Brent Council are likely to be more expensive after agreements from the cabinet to pursue plans of establishing a new company to manage them.

Harrow Times reported that senior councillors have approved suggestions made by council officers to create a trading company in this area to potentially increase profits. This entails that the cost of funerals offered by the Council could jump with £1,250 for a basic burial and

£1,500 for a basic cremation to up to £3,200. The Council’s initiative appears as it believes that the new company could generate around £260,000 in yearly profits. They also anticipate that there would be “significant opportunities to also tender for NHS contracts” alongside possibilities of working with other organisations across London.

Discussing the subject with Harrow Times, Cllr Krupa Sheth, who is responsible for the environment at Brent Council, said it was

the right way to deal with “increased demand” for such services while council leader Cllr Muhammed Butt said it will “allow us to continue to support people in their time of need and grief”.

In a report presented to the council’s cabinet, officers admitted this “moves away” from the original lowcost funeral option offered to residents, but they believe there will be scope for price reductions “as the business builds”. They also insist the new approach will continue to help reduce funeral

ETHNIC MINORITIES NEED MORE FINANCIAL SUPPORT On Sunday 8th November, a leading thinktank has demanded that the Government provides more support for the Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAME) communities. Appeals by the Runnymede Trust appear in light of a YouGov poll which found that BAME people are about a third more likely than the white British population to say that their finances have suffered as a result of coronavirus.

According to the YouGov poll 45% of people from BAME communities said their personal finances had suffered as a result of the pandemic, the figure among white respondents was 34%. In the meantime, 54% BAME people were also more likely to be worried about their job security as opposed to 47% white people. 56% BAME respondents were concerned about prospects for career progression as opposed to 45% white. The poll had reportedly surveyed 2,665 people of which over 500 respondents were from BAME backgrounds.

The BAME community has been doubly disadvantaged during the pandemic suffering both financial and health loss.

Speaking to The Guardian, Alba Kapoor, Runnymede Trust, said, “This data is yet more evidence that black, Asian and ethnic minority communities are being left defenceless whilst bearing the brunt of Covid-19. We already know that BAME people are more likely to work in low-paid, precarious jobs and to live in poverty. It is extremely alarming to see how the pandemic is worsening these pre-existing inequalities.”

VIRENDRA SHARMA RAISES PLIGHT OF HEATHROW AIRPORT STAFF On 10th November, Tuesday, Virendra Sharma MP for Ealing Southall flagged up concerns for the staff of Heathrow Airport.

Speaking at the House of Commons he said, "Heathrow airport is pushing staff to strike—a measure that garnered support in a ballot ending last week. Its behaviour now amounts to bullying. Staff are being summoned to meetings before the consultation is finished and without support. Will the Secretary of State say that this is wrong, condemn this behaviour and agree that this business has relied on the support of the community, who are owed something back in these troubled times?

Responding to his question, Paul Scully, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Minister said, "We expect all employers to treat employees fairly and respectfully, no matter what job, what position and what community they live in."

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14 - 20 November 2020

Bowing to all the Superheroes

Dr

. Ranj Singh needs no introduction.

An NHS paediatrician, BAFTA winning TV Presenter, author and columnist, Dr. Ranj has been omnipresent in his campaign to ensure Britons looked after their physical and mental health. Now, as Britain is in a month-long national lockdown 2.0, he has taken a step further in celebrating and honouring the contributions of all the key frontline workers who served the nation while coronavirus continued to wreak havoc across the world. In his first children’s picture book ‘A Superhero Like You’, he aims to inspire confidence in every child to retain that faith in their abilities and belief that they too can be “superheroes”. Asian Voice caught up with Dr. Ranj about his latest publication: Can you tell us a bit about your new book?

Why did you write a children’s book focusing on key workers?

A Superhero Like You is a story about a little girl who wants to be a superhero. Not one that wears underpants outside their trousers, but a real-life superhero who helps make the world a better place. It’s a lovely little tale that aims to celebrate the work of front-line and key workers who have kept us going throughout the coronavirus pandemic - a little way of saying thank you! I also wanted this book to inspire little ones to think that, no matter who you are/where you are from/what your ability is, you too can be a real-life superhero.

How do you hope ‘A Superhero Like Me’ will inspire children?

I feel very strongly about representation, so we have tried to make this book as appealing to as many different kinds of children as possible. No matter your gender, background, race or ability, I want every child to feel empowered and excited by this story. It was important for the main character to be a girl of colour for this very reason.

Plus, we highlight people of different

appearances and abilities throughout the book too. I want this book to encourage all children to aim high and live their best lives.

How do you think the coronavirus crisis has transformed people’s views on key workers?

As the saying goes, in any crisis, look for the people that are helping. The same applies for the coronavirus crisis. It has made us realise how much we need key workers and how essential they are to our everyday lives. And it’s made people realise that it’s not just the obvious front-line staff like police or health workers. It’s also postal workers, teachers, supermarket staff, care home workers and many others who keep us all going.

How were you first inspired to get into medicine?

I have always been interested in science and working out what makes things tick. At the same time, I’ve always loved helping people out. So, I suppose medicine was a logical choice in combining both interests. However, I never thought I could do something like medicine because I didn’t really have any examples of role models. It was only when someone encouraged me to aim high and do my best that I actually thought: hang on, this might just be possible! That’s been my motto since: give it a go, give it your best shot, and see what happens! It’s helped me throughout my medical, TV and writing careers to date!

How has being part of the key worker community been for you?

I find it a huge honour to be part of such a wonderful group of people, and do my bit. The pandemic has made us realise just how important and essential key workers are, and we should continue to value them long after this is all over.

A Superhero Like You by Dr Ranj Singh, Illustrated by Liam Darcy published on 12th November 2020 by Hodder Children’s Books, £6.99

EHRC investigates BAME inequalities On Thursday 5th November, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission announced that it had begun an inquiry into the inequalities experienced by people from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities who work in health and social care.

The announcement appears after a study commissioned by the Mayor of London earlier found that ethnic minorities were twice as likely as white people to be at the risk of dying from Covid-19.

Commenting on the EHRC’s announcement, Sadiq Khan said, “I am pleased that the Equality and Human Rights Commission is acting on my call for a full investigation into the structural racial inequalities laid bare by this dreadful pandemic.

From the earliest days of the outbreak it was clear that frontline workers from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities were disproportionately exposed to and affected by Covid-19.

“Your ethnicity should never

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan

mean the difference between life and death and it’s vital that action is urgently taken to end this injustice.”

According to EHRC chief executive, Rebecca Hilsenrath, the inquiry would reportedly help answer questions about racial inequality “and make recommendations” which can be applied to several other working environments where “ethnic minorities are over-represented at the lowest-paid levels.”

A call for evidence will be announced in coming weeks, along with further information about an external advisory group that will help guide the investigation.

in brief GRENFELL SUPPLIERS ALLEGEDLY KNEW CLADDING WOULD BURN

On Monday 9th November the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower Fire heard that the Grenfell Tower cladding companies knew for years their materials would burn as disclosed by internal documents submitted to the inquiry. The Guardian reported that lawyers for the bereaved and survivors revealed emails and slideshows from inside Arconic, Celotex and Kingspan, which they claimed showed “widespread and persistent wrongdoing” as they sold products they knew “were dangerous to life”. 72 people had died in the Grenfell fire in 2017, and the public inquiry is now starting its examination of the manufacture, marketing and testing of the materials used in the 2014-2016 refurbishment.

And Celotex, which made most of the plastic foam insulation, produced a “chilling” internal presentation in 2014 that announced it would be able to market its combustible product partly because “nobody understood the test requirements”, the inquiry heard.

“These companies … knew their materials would burn with lethal speed and yet they marketed their products into an uncaring and underregulated building industry which spread them around like a disease,” said Stein.

All three companies have denied wrongdoing.

In statements to the inquiry last week, Arconic said the main fault lay with those responsible for the refurbishment, Celotex accused construction professionals of failing to follow building regulations and Kingspan said the outcome of the fire would have been no different if non-combustible insulation had been used.

FAMILIES ANGRY OVER CEMETERY MAINTENANCE Families in Birmingham have started a

Fashion brands deny links to forced labour High street fashion brands including Boohoo, H&M and Nike have denied all claims around using products produced by the forced labour of Uighur Muslims in China.

In their written evidence to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) committee examining forced labour in the UK supply chains, all these brands have categorically stated that they are ensuring human rights are not violated and maintaining a strict vigilance on the ethical administration of their supply chains.

In its written evidence submitted to the House of Commons, Boohoo noted, “We have carried out an initial assessment of our China supply base and do not believe that we are directly engaging with any factories in the XUAR to produce our products. In addition, we do not knowingly source any fabric from this region. We have written directly to all our Tier 1 suppliers, with clear expectations that no sourcing takes place from this region. Unlike most other retailers, a large proportion of our suppliers are based in the UK.” The company’s statement arrives fol-

lowing a series of controversial reports which alleged of worker exploitation and unsafe conditions at UK suppliers engaged with BooHoo. Thus, the company was under the scrutiny of both national and local government and gradually an independent review had been undertaken examining the company’s administrative lapses.

In its statement to the BEIS committee, BooHoo explains, “Following the release of the Independent Review into our UK supply chain this year, we have redoubled our commitments to supply chain visibility.

Supply chain compliance has become a mandatory item on every Board Meeting agenda, and we have constituted an additional Board Committee on Risk to enable better identification and closer monitoring of the risks we face as a business. The Group is also introducing a new Supply Chain Compliance Committee comprised of recognised cross-sector experts, which will report into the Risk Committee and be led by our new Director of Responsible Sourcing.

“Within the next five months, we will

consolidate our approved UK supplier list.

In this timeframe, we will also invite new suppliers who have a track record of ethical and sustainability policies to be included on our supplier list and extend our independent audit programme to the rest of our UK and global supply chain. In 2018 Boohoo PLC became members of NGO charity Hope4Justice / Slave Free Alliance, to support our Modern-Day Slavery due diligence and have been engaged with members of their team almost weekly for the last few months.”

The BEIS committee was established after several reports alleged that thousands of Muslims from China's Uighur minority group are working under coercive conditions at factories that supply some of the world's biggest brands.

petition urging the local authority to improve maintenance at a cemetery in Oxhill Road and has already accumulated 10,000 signatures. Families used their bare hands and tools to clear mud, unblock drains and build trenches at Handsworth Cemetery after graves sunk in the wet. Now they have questioned where more than £50,000 has been spent on repairing a cemetery after repeated incidents of flooding. Birmingham City Council has apologised to the families for the upset caused.

Mohammed Ishtiaq’s mother is buried there which has recorded more than four floods in six months, but repair work had only been carried out in one section of the cemetery and new turf laid by the section where his mother was. In a statement to the BBC, he said, "So the money that they say they've spent - the £50,000 - I still can't believe that they've actually paid out £50,000 for that sort of work."

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Muslim Council Britain launches Covid-19 report On Tuesday 10th November, the largest consortium of Muslims in the UK launched a first-of-its-kind report examining the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on the Muslim diaspora.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) launched its report titled ‘Together in Tribulation: British Muslims and the Covid-19 Pandemic’ which highlights the specific issues that Muslim communities have faced during the first seven months of the pandemic.

Launched by Naz Shah MP, Dr. Justin Varney and Dr. Tanweer Ahmed, the report analyses the reasons why Muslims had the “highest Covid-19 mortality rates” by faith group, the suspension of mosque activities and the economic and social implication this has had. It has also listed the adaptations made to traditional funeral and burial processes, mental health repercussions, and the way in which Muslims were often negatively

portrayed in the media reporting of the pandemic.

Commenting on the resilience of the Muslim community in observing lockHarun Khan restricdown tions especially during festive celebrations of Ramadan, Harun Khan, Secretary General of MCB said, “The response of Muslim communities through these trying months has been awe inspiring. This is not only shown by the sheer volume of grassroots initiatives and Muslims working on the frontline jobs, but also by the resilience of communities when mosque activities were suspended, particularly through the holy months of Ramadan and Dhul

Hijjah, and the festivals of Eid-ul Fitr and Eid-ul Adha. This report seeks to serve as a positive reminder of just how adaptable, resilient and hopeful we have Naz Shah MP been in such troubling times, particularly as we are not yet at the end of this pandemic.

Muslim communities up and down the country have indeed exemplified the teachings of Islam through keeping the faith, compassion, mercy and patience which kept them going strong, in spite of adversity. It is important that we remember this, and continue to channel these teachings and this sense of resolve as we continue to see the pandemic affect our lives.”

Labour urges Home Secretary to act on domestic violence Labour leaders have written to the Home Secretary demanding that she urgently addressed the subject of domestic violence while insisting that mistakes made during the first wave of Covid-19 lockdown should not be repeated during this national lockdown.

The shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas Symonds and Jess Phillips, the shadow minister for domestic abuse and safeguarding have written to Priti Patel urging her to present a financial package of support for organisations working with victims and survivors of domestic abuse. According to The Guardian, these Labour leaders had earlier held discus-

sions with more than 15 organisations working to support victims of domestic abuse including Women’s Aid, Action for Children, Refuge, Barnardo’s, Southall Black Sisters, Latin American Women’s Rights Service, Galop, SafeLives and Stay Safe East.

Now in their letter to the Home Secretary, they highlight issues raised by these organisations, including concerns about long-term sustainable funding for the domestic abuse support sector, and the risk of redundancies during the pandemic. They have also flagged up concerns for provision of specialised services such as for the BAME survivors of domes-

tic violence, migrant victims, LGBTQ+ victims besides others. A call to continue to raise public awareness of domestic and sexual violence, ensuring press briefings are utilised.

In their letter, they have written, “For some, this period has led to an escalation of abuse and violence, and the coronavirus crisis has created further barriers for victims to escape abuse or bring perpetrators to justice.

“Frontline organisations are doing extraordinary work to support people at an incredibly difficult time; the very least they deserve is the necessary support from the government.”

Navendu Mishra fights jobs losses On Thursday 5th November, Sainsbury’s announced that it is expected to slash 3,500 jobs with the closure of 420 Argos outlets. The 420 standalone Argos stores will close by March 2024, although Sainsbury's said it would open 150 Argos Navendu Mishra outlets in its supermarkets. And it has emerged that the supermarket will be closing its Warren Street branch in Stockport.

Stockport MP Navendu Mishra has now written to Sainsbury’s CEO to reconsider plans to close the Stockport superstore, which would result in dozens of job losses.

He has labelled the closure of the store “unacceptable” emphasising that they have “pocketed millions of pounds of taxpayers' money” and shelled out £231m in dividends to their shareholders.Expressing his disappointment in his letter, he wrote, “It is disappointing that Sainsbury’s has taken the decision to close its Warren Street branch. In addition to impacting the thousands of people who shop there, as many as 87 people are now facing redundancy. I have been in direct contact with Sainsbury’s head office to raise my concerns and will continue to press them on this issue to ensure there is a more positive outcome. I have also sought answers as to why their Grand Central branch has been closed for months and whether there is a possibility that it might be able to reopen.“It is vital that workplace representatives including Unite the Union are engaged with, staff are fully consulted throughout this process and, where possible, redeployed to other stores. “In the middle of the worst recession in our history and an ongoing pandemic this is an incredibly challenging period for anyone facing redundancy and I urge Sainsbury’s to do all they can to safeguard as many jobs as possible.”

8 COMMUNITY

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Industry fights after “Wedding Funeral” banned The organisers of a banned “Wedding Funeral” at Parliament Square have vowed to continue with their campaign after the Government’s Covid-19 financial support packages excluded most of the UK’s Asian Wedding Industry, it has emerged.

The first of its kind protest with 200 performers was designed to highlight the plight of the wedding industry. Now, with the national lockdown 2.0 in place and with Home Secretary issuing restrictions public rallies, their protest has been delayed. But the Asian Wedding Association UK (AWAUK) is determined to organise their protest performance at the earliest when these restrictions are lifted. The Asian wedding sector forms a substantial part of the wider wedding industry, which is worth £14.7 billion to the UK economy and employs 400,000 people. AWAUK was set up as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has already seen more than 20,000 Asian weddings being cancelled, hundreds of businesses forced to close and thousands of workers forced into unemployment.

Neal Khanna, owner of the Clay Oven and one of the AWAUK’s Founder Members commented, “Whilst the most recent extension to

the Furlough Scheme may help to save employment in the short-term. But the absence of any support directly to the businesses means that these jobs cannot be sustained as businesses will fold due to zero revenue and ongoing direct costs. Employers will still be expected to meet NI and Pension contributions for Furloughed employees. More importantly, the emotional and psychological turmoil in terms of numerous postponements, cancelled weddings, potential lost deposits is unfath-

omable.”

Unfortunately, from the onset, the Government’s refusal to recognise the wedding industry in its definition of ‘hospitality’ has meant, Asian wedding companies have been excluded from grants and rates relief that have been given to other hospitality businesses. In May 2020, AWAUK members wrote directly to Chancellor Rishi Sunak to highlight the unfairness of the policy and demanded action. Despite the letter being endorsed by over 40 MPs and the CBI, the organisation has yet to receive a response. Instead, Business Secretary Alok Sharma subsequently argued that businesses in these sectors were not commercially viable and suggested that laid-off staff should “retrain and find themselves better jobs”. This contradicted their own definition of “viable” when approving CBILS loans for many within the sector.

AWAUK, along with the Association of British Wedding Businesses (ABWB), the Wedding Venues Support Group (WVSG) and the National Association of Wedding Professionals (NAWP), on 9th November 2020 have finally secured a key Debate in Parliament set for 9th November 2020.

Anti-Semitism unchecked in football, says AAD Chairman On 4th November, Jonathan Metliss, Chairman of the charity Action Against Discrimination (AAD) and Chairman of Axiom Stone Solicitors, participated in a virtual panel discussion on the subject of Jews in British football.

He told the event’s worldwide online audience that having spent a number of years on the advisory board of Kick Racism Out Of Football (Kick It Out), he formed AAD in 2013 to support a fundraising exercise for Kick It Out (which culminated in a successful dinner at Wembley Stadium with over 850 guests) and thereafter to campaign directly against racism in football and in particular anti-Semitism, after becoming disillusioned with the lack of action in this area.

Although “football mad” from his

Jonathan Metliss, Chairman, Axiom Stone Solicitors

youth, and in a career in the law which had seen his involvement in many football club takeovers and fund-raisings, he had grown concerned from the early 1980s about increasing anti-Semitism among fans.

“The FA, Premier League, anti-discrimination organisations and the Government do little to combat antiSemitism in football. It does not appear to be on their radar screens,” he told the online event hosted by Rabbi Jonathan Hughes, of Radlett United Synagogue and promoter of the United Synagogue in the City, of which Jonathan Metliss is a patron.

Rabbi Hughes was a former player with Swindon Town and Reading.

Along with Jonathan Metliss, his guests were Clifford Crown, Brentford FC Chairman, Ronny Rosenthal, former Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur player and David Kohler, former owner of Luton Town FC, who spoke of their respective experiences in the game and how they became involved.

Sikhs lose ethnicity tick-box challenge On Friday 6th November, Sikhs lost their fight against the UK Cabinet Office regarding the inclusion of a separate category for Sikh ethnicity tickbox in the upcoming census of 2021.

The High Court in London dismissed the challenge brought forward by the Sikh Federation UK, with Justice Akhlaq Choudhury concluding that the census, as currently designed, will not prevent people from identifying as ethnically as Sikh as a write-in option.

The judgment notes, “In coming to that view, I do not underestimate the importance to the Claimant of having a specific Sikh tick-box under the ethnic group question. However, the census, as currently designed, will not prevent any respondent who wishes to do so from identifying as ethnically Sikh. The write-in option, with the auto-fill function in the online version, will enable the respondent to do so. It cannot be right that any challenge to executive decision-making should require the decision maker to cease ongoing work, particularly in respect of a project of the scale of a national census.”

Sikh Federation UK was represented by Leigh Day at the Royal Courts of

Do you play cards on Diwali?

Rohit Vadhwana Diwali festivities are round the corner.

One of the key elements of celebrating Diwali is playing cards!

People in India like to play cards on the Diwali night with the hope that Goddess Lakshmi will bestow its blessings upon them and that luck and fortune will follow their way. In some parts of India, people play cards on Janmashtami too. I have heard that some people traditionally gamble on the night of Maha Shivratri as well. Then there are people who gamble frequently celebrating each day as it comes!

But it is an important part of Diwali celebration in Mumbai and Delhi also. I have certainly enjoyed it wherever I am. While playing cards, people also like to try different games. I like the simplest of games like Teen Patti (3 cards) or Rami (13 cards) and the main focus remains on transaction of money.

There are different types of people and such games often reflect on the sporting characteristics of such players. There will be a typical auntie who starts the game by saying, “I am not an expert at this game. Someone, needs to help me, otherwise, I will lose all my money.” She is usually the one discussing the rise in inflation, increasing prices of the vegetables, difficulties in running household expenses nowadays, etc. But her husband, would be least bothered either about the inflation or about her losing money in the game. He would happily focus on playing cards.

Youngsters would be more excited about the game and use all their skills and swiftness in dealing cards. As usual, they believe the old are slow and don't know anything about the modern world. They begin with an aggressive game, bet a larger amount, hoping that the aunties and uncles will be intimidated. Millennials, who are at the edges of both generations, have no intention to either offend the elders or upset youngsters. They munch on their snacks and play their natural game.

Gradually during the game, we realise that the aunties and uncles, who hold their cards very tight and close to the chest, turn out to be the skilled gamblers. They open the cards with so much pressure on the corner of each card as if the two cards are stuck to each other with glue.

They are very cautious of anyone else seeing their cards.

By midnight, after playing many blind games, youngsters are about to finish their quota of money, while the oldies have accumulated all the wealth. “I don't know how to play” griping oldies are the winners and the ever-energetic youngsters prove themselves to be naively ambitious and aggressive. The only wise generation that doesn't get embarrassed either by winning or losing are the millennials.

As the night proceeds, the oldies become more and more interested in games. While youngsters have changed their biggest notes, the oldies have pocketed them by handing them loose change. They keep only a small amount of money in view of others.

And the game goes on. Money remains in the family.

No one is an actual loser but the whole family has a winning spree after spending a festival night together. So, the question is: Do you play cards on Diwali? If not, try it with your family this Diwali. It is fun. But be careful.

Don't bet heavy. There should be a limit per game, too. I would suggest maximum £1 per game and £50 for whole night per person.

[Disclaimer: I do not promote gambling. This is only within family and with strictest limit on money, members and also only for one day. Readers are advised to use their discretion and caution.]

(Expressed opinions are personal)

“While we are disappointed with Justice. They had previously claimed the court’s decision, we look forward to that it would be unlawful for the working closely with MPs and governCabinet Office to present a Census ment bodies to find another solution to Order based on the proposals set out by ensure the specific needs of the Sikh the Office for National Statistics (ONS) community are not overlooked in the in its December 2018 White Paper. allocation of public resources and poliSikhs are recognised as a separate relicymaking,” it said in a statement. gion in the optional religious question introduced in the 2001 Census but are now campaigning for a separate tick-box for ethnicity.

The judge also stressed, “Such matters are not for the court to determine. This judgment is concerned solely with the scourge of Islamophobia and the question whether, as alleged November marks the beginning of encourage better reporting of inciby the Claimant [Sikh Islamophobia awareness month dents to the police. The Federation], the Cabinet Office, (#IAM). IAM was co-founded by Metropolitan Police has reportedwhich has responsibility for lay- MEND with other British organily helped kick off this year’s caming the necessary legislation for sations in 2012 to deconstruct and paign launch by stressing the need the 2021 Census, has acted challenge the stereotypes about for communities to report inciunlawfully in the process leading Islam and Muslims. The monthdences of hate crime and to the making of the Census long campaign aims to work with Police and Crime Commissioners Islamophobia with contributions Order.” from and voluntary work offered Sikh Federation UK said that (PCC), local council, in particular by 150 organisations. although the High Court has the lead on hate crime or commuAs part of the #IAM prorejected its claim, refusing to nity safety, councillors and local gramme, the Labour Muslim quash the census legislation, its MPs, Mosques, universities, Network is also expected to battle for a separate tick-box schools, community organisations and others to raise awareness of release a report at the end of this continues.

Anti-Muslim racism during Islamophobia Awareness Month

month on ‘Islamophobia and the Muslim experience’ in the Labour Party. The report is likely to highlight that 44% Labour Muslim members and supporters did not “believe the Labour Party takes the issue of Islamophobia seriously”.

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A solemn Remembrance Sunday On 8th November, the Queen Her Majesty Elizabeth II Armistice Day, Mayor of London. led a solemn Remembrance Sunday ceremony as she paid Remembering those who laid their lives during the tributes to the contributions of the Armed Forces, British two World Wars, Navin Shah AM, Chair of the London and Commonwealth veterans, the allies who fought Assembly, said, “On behalf of the London Assembly, I am alongside the UK and the civilian servicemen and women proud to remember the men and women who fought and involved in the two world wars and later conflicts. died so that we may be free. Today, we remember those who died while serving our country, the ultimate sacrifice The annual wreath-laying ceremony which usually for our freedom and for peace. While we cannot gather witnesses participation from 10,000 people at the together in person to pay tribute and honour the sacriCenotaph in Whitehall was attended this year only by 30 fices made by the generations before us, we must keep veterans in alignment with the social distancing guidetheir memory alive and honour their bravery and continlines of Coronavirus. ue to support veterans and their families.”

The Queen was joined by her family members, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Prime Ministers John Major, Tony Blair, David Cameron and Theresa May. But Prince Harry and Meghan Markle who last year announced that they were stepping away from their royal duties observed Remembrance Sunday by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth with Duchess Sadiq Khan laying flowers at the Los of Cambridge Kate Middleton Angeles National Cemetery instead. In London, meanwhile, a two-minute silence was observed and wreaths were laid by Prince Charles, Prince William and the PM, among others. The ambassador of Nepal, Durga Bahadur Sabedi, also laid a wreath, on behalf of Gurkha veterans, only the Navin Shah second time a representa- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tive of the Commonwealth country has been asked to participate.

This year’s Remembrance Sunday is perhaps even Earlier, Sadiq Khan, the Chair of the London more significant considering Army Chief Sir Nick Carter Assembly, Navin Shah AM, and the Chair of Royal British warned of risks of a new world war if current, smaller Legion City Hall Branch, Len Duvall OBE AM, lead a speconflicts escalate out of control, drawing in more councial online Remembrance Service. Due to Covid-19 tries and weapons. In an interview with Sky News he also restrictions, the annual commemoration inside City Hall offered a vision of Britain's Army of the 2030s, potentialwas a pre-recorded online video service ahead of ly comprising 90,000 human soldiers and 30,000 robots.

First statue honouring the Sikh soldier of Battle of Saragarhi On Friday 6th November, it was reported that a nine-foot-tall bronze statue of a 19th century Sikh will be created and placed at a Wolverhampton temple.

The memorial statue aims to commemorate the valiant efforts of of Havildar Ishar Singh who led 20 Sikh troopers against the 10,000 Afghan tribesmen in September 1897 in the forgotten Battle of Saragarhi. It is likely to be sculpted by Black Country artist Luke Perry of Industrial Heritage Stronghold.

Members of the City of Wolverhampton Council cabinet resources panel are expected to agree to transfer authority owned land to the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Well Lane, Wednesfield, Birmingham Mail reported.

The Sikh temple is looking to unveil the Saragarhi Monument in September 2021.

And councillors at Wolverhampton Metropolis Council are anticipated to approve proposals at a gathering on November 11 to lease land to the gurdwara for putting in the statue.

A report to committee noted, "We were approached by representatives of the Gurdwara for the proposed siting of a memorial statue and plaque which represented a tribute to the 36th Sikh Regiment and the 21 soldiers who lost their lives in the Battle of Saragarhi. Following a consultation, a suitable location was identified for the siting of the statue. The proposed site will be sympathetically landscaped in part and subsequently maintained by the Gurdwara for the duration of the lease which is currently subject to grounds maintenance as undertaken by the council.

"The asset could alternatively remain as is, but this would be at the detriment of losing an excellent opportunity to utilise the land for the siting of a memorial monument that represents an important part of history which has significant importance to not only

Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal

residents of Wednesfield, but throughout the city."

The 21 troopers from the 36th (Sikh) Regiment of Bengal Infantry made a valiant final stand combating for over six hours with 180 to 200 Pathan tribesmen dead. The gurdwara congregation has up to now raised £50,000 of the £100,000 for the statue. This initiative is led by Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, originally from Jalandhar.

Speaking to The Print, he said, “This can be a very proud second for the Sikh neighborhood as as soon as it’s erected will probably be there for generations to come back.

These 21 Sikhs may have run away however they didn’t and fought to the final man. The British Empire recognised their sacrifice.

There is a gentleman in New York who seemed one of the surviving family of the 21 troopers and did portrait photos of them based mostly on that.”

Lord Dolar Popat

Lest We Forget: Remembrance Sunday Remembrance Sunday was very different this year. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, services were dramatically scaled back. The usual 10,000 or so military veterans and members of the public who pack into Whitehall had to be cut to 30. The numerous march-pasts and wreath-laying events around the country, normally attended by thousands, were also cut down significantly.

In Harrow, I took part in a wreath-laying ceremony with Bob Blackman MP. It is Lord Popat with Bob Blackman MP extremely unfortunate that the event had to be small in size, but services across the country on Sunday show that nothing could stop us paying tribute to those who fought for the glorious country in which we live. It is of paramount importance that Covid-19 does not break our yearly commemorations. Now, more than ever, we must come together to appreciate and celebrate those who gave their lives for our freedoms, and those who continue to serve our great country.

We must counter the tendencies of those who seek to renounce our country and the things we stand for. Let us make sure we remember what this country has given us and what it represents: the rule of law; tolerance for others’ opinions and beliefs (as long as those views do not impinge on others’ freedoms); the right to vote; equality of opportunity; protection for minorities and much more. Our forefathers’ bravery and sacrifice ensured we enjoy all these things. Let us never forget that.

In both world wars, soldiers of the Commonwealth fought side by side with allies whom they did not know. Some 1.27 million Indian soldiers contributed to the war efforts in the First World War, and 2.5 million in the Second World War. 135,000 sadly lost their lives, with many more civilian deaths. Many of our grandfathers were among the thousands who won awards for bravery.

My message to people of all ethnicities, religions and cultures this Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day is: take pride in our country and everything we stand for. Failing to do so would be a grave injustice to those who gave everything for us to live peacefully.

Lest we forget.

10 READERS' VOICE

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Self-reliant and self-sufficient India This week, thousands of Londoners will be given a pay boost with the increase of the voluntary London Living Wage to £10.85 an hour.

Over the last four years, the number of employers in the capital signed-up to the Living Wage Foundation’s scheme has doubled. As London begins its economic recovery from the second lockdown, I hope to see this number continue to rise.

After a decade of austerity, we have seen a worrying surge in in-work poverty and food insecurity. It is vital that we act now to close the widening gap between wage packets and the costs of living.

I welcome the Government’s recent announcement of the extension of the furlough scheme until March.

However, the Chancellor must now put measures in place to ensure that furlough pay can no longer be allowed to fall below the minimum wage and that, as a starting point, the temporary uplift in Universal Credit payments is extended.I am also backing the calls made by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) that statutory sick pay should be increased from £95.85 to £320 per week to match the real national living wage.

Navin Shah AM London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow

Progress under PM Modi Since BJP came to power, especially under popular PM Narendra Modi, India has progressed on all fronts, but tourism has been singled out as the main attraction, money earner and provider of mass employment for the ever-rising population of India.

A friend of ours who visited Bali recently, told us interesting and informative tales of Indonesia, a Muslim country with Hindu roots. While travelling in a taxi, he saw a statue at the round-about. He asked the taxi driver whose statue it was, and driver said innocently, you are a practising Hindu, should know. It is a statue of Gatorgatch, son of Bhīma, one of the five Pandavas.

Most roundabouts have various statues throughout Indonesia, mainly of Lord Krishna, Rama, Pandavas and other such names taken from our religious literature.

Compare this to India, the birthplace of noble religion Hinduism where I have never seen such statues anywhere on public display.

The latest gift to tourist industry is the ropeway in the city of Gunagadh, from the base of Mount Girnar, to the top, indeed a timely gift to elderly foreigners, as the climb is somewhat difficult and arduous, especially for the elderly.

This is a safe and panoramic way to observer the wildlife of Mount Girnar, especially Asiatic lions found nowhere in the world. Let us hope India becomes a number one tourist attraction in near future, when we are free of dreadful coronavirus.

Kumudini Valambia By email

President Trump: Self-inflicted wounds Donald Trump came on the political scene like a whirlwind, taking the nation by storm, especially with his policy to make America great by bringing back manufacturing from China.

But will leave disgraced and humiliated. Some of the political mistakes he inflicted on the nation are unforgivable and that include separating children from their parents, political and economic refugees entering US illegally from Mexico.

He behaved like a CEO, accountable to no one rather than a President who has to answer to the public, come election time. American economy was thriving, and Trump was riding high in opinion poll; that is until unenviable import of coronavirus from his bitter enemy China.

It could have been a blessing in disguise on political front if he had taken it seriously, distributed free face masks and wearing one himself; setting an example that would have saved thousands of lives. In this day and age, media is the master; it can make or break a politician. Unfortunately, he constantly blamed media of lying, with the result that he constantly got bad publicity in the press, even when he was right, fighting for American jobs and prosperity at home.

Politics in America is ruthless. There is no ground inbetween and Democrats used all the dirty tricks to bring him down, to impeach President during his first two years in office, using the excuse that Russia interfered to give Trump an upper hand, playing dirty politics to no end!

Trump got on well with many prominent politicians of the world and that include PM Modi, Israeli PM Netanyahu, our PM Boris, Saudi, UAE, Qatar and Bahrain Kings, President of North and South Korea and above all Russian President Putin with whom he had established close repertoire, bringing two great nations closer as never before, turning a foe into a close and trusted friend, thus putting cold war into permanent hibernation. Unfortunately, dirty politics, mainly by Democrats prevailed over truth, honesty and patriotism as never before!

Bhupendra M Gandhi By email

True meaning of Diwali Every year many Hindus, Sikhs and Jains community have been celebrating Diwali by having family get-togethers, dinners, decorating homes by putting on lights and diyas, attending Diwali functions at various venues, going to temples, and gurudwaras and exploding fireworks.

Diwali is victory of good over evil. It is about compassion and forgiveness. Only people who understand true meaning of Diwali can do this and put it in practice. Few years ago, let me narrate a brutal incident happened in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Kevin Kugathasan 19, whose Tamil name is Gautama, grew up in Scarborough and was studying criminology at University of Windsor brutally stabbed to death in downtown Windsor.

This is very shocking news not only to his family, relatives and friends but also to strangers like us. For a family to lose a young, aspiring, smart, caring boy at this tender age is very shocking and many people would think of revenge against perpetrators. But the boy’s mother said she doesn’t want to seek vengeance instead she said “Whoever did this, let God take care of them, I am not going to get back my Kevin. Revenge is not going to give you anything.

I will pray for Kevin- and also will pray for the guy who did this.” By saying so she freed herself from revenge and animosity- and that is big healing therapy for her to get through rough and sad times ahead by forgiveness and setting forth the true meaning of Diwali, just not only for herself but for others as well. If we put even 10% of forgiveness that Kevin’s mother has demonstrated into our own lives, then we have celebrated Diwali in true sense.

Due to Covid-19 pandemic and second lockdown in England, Diwali celebrations will be totally different than it used to be. Hats off to all NHS personals for their sacrifices.

God bless all and Happy Diwali and Hindu coming New Year.

Suresh and Bhavna Patel Markham, Canada

Self-reliant and self-sufficient India It was interesting to read the comments by the Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman about “Aatma Nirbhar Bharat”. She has rightly pointed that it does not mean stop imports and shut the country down.

It is the right time for the businesses to come forward with the new and innovative ideas which can serve the local population, keeping in mind their needs and give benefits to the country as a whole. The government is prepared to provide required monetary resources and necessary facilities.

Mr. Ratan Tata has given emphasis to innovative and creative ideas and advised entrepreneurs to look for upcoming opportunities. Indians are capable to make innovative products keeping in mind local needs and usefulness of the products. We have world-class institutes like IITs, IIMs and the colleges offering courses in medical sciences.

The time has come for the youth of India to take advantage of all the available resources and create a niche market for their products. On the other hand, the government should make sure that the red-tapeism is minimum and support should be extended only based on merit with minimum political interference. The process of getting monetary support should be transparent and easy to understand.

Hitesh Hingu London

Kashmir's upbeats The beautiful land of Jammu and Kashmir, the heart of India, has been removed from the United Nations list of unresolved disputes since 2010 in a setback to Pakistan which has been asking the world body to intervene on the issue but without success.

Since the removal of articles 370 and 35A, there has not been a single terrorist attack. PM Imran Khan has been proved wrong in his speech stating bloodbath in Kashmir at the UN. Most of the countries including some Muslims in the world have passively accepted the justifiable move by PM Modi. The great work of the Shah and Modi duo is significant. To mention a few here are, some 5 lakh Hindu-Sikh families become J & K domiciles.

All perks facilities withdrawn from Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba. Legal protection granted to anti-Nationals 42 years revoked. The competent authority empowered to take Suo Motu Notice and Evict Encroachers from properties of Hindus left behind in Kashmir in 1990.

The land banks of thousands of canals have been indefinite and earmarked in different districts of Kashmir to be allocated to nonstate subjects in the name of 'investment and industry.' A number of militants have been arrested and terrorists eliminated. Lots of changes and developments have taken place and many more are in progress to establish peace, prosperity, and security in the region. No doubt, these will be attained in time to come.

Niranjan Vasant By email

KHICHADI No Winners for America Kapil’s

Follow me on Twitter: @kk_OEG

Kapil Dudakia By now I am sure you have had enough of the American election fiasco. However, I felt compelled to pen a few observations. It’s clear that President Trump will not accept the result as it stands. It is also clear that President elect Biden will not accept defeat. The matter has now gone to the courts, and if anyone knows America then you will know that dependent on which court you go to, the verdict can be fundamentally different - even under the same law. I cannot see this ending well for anyone, so hold on to your hats because there may well be a sting left in this tale.

What we already knew, and what has been confirmed, is that the American voting system is flawed and open to corrupt practices. There has been a massive influx of mail-in voting that has taken place this time round. Mail-in voting, worldwide, has always been open to corrupt practices. We in the UK have seen evidence of this in several constituencies, so this is not new to us.

However, given its unprecedented rise in America, especially in states where the legislature is controlled by the Democrats, it creates a worrying situation. The integrity of voting now rests in the hands of judges.

We are where we are as they say. As it stands, we do have President elect Joe Biden and he will have the very first person of colour, and a woman, who will be his Vice-President. History is being made in our lifetime.

There are many discussions about a Biden presidency being bad for both the UK as well as India. I am not too sure about that. America under any leader must be mindful that the world has changed. UK is now postBrexit and as such, very much free to interact with any country in the world. America also knows that the UK is its only true all-weather friend. No matter how many tantrums we may have between us, the people of Britain and those of the USA know all too well, these two nations are bound by more than just politics.

India does not need to fear a Biden presidency either.

Namely since India is now too powerful on the global stage for America to play any of its historic games.

Bottomline, America needs India more than India needs America. There is always a worry that a Biden presidency will be in bed with the Chinese and the Pakistanis.

That argument does hold water, however, post COVID what little respect China had has gone. Any nation that pins its colours to the Chinese dragon knows it’s only a matter of time before that dragon consumes it also.

Apart from China, is there any serious power in the world that would touch Pakistan with a barge pole? I doubt it. When you hug the terrorism of Pakistan, it’s only a matter of time before that same terrorism engulfs you. The smart nations know how to stay away from such madness.

Talking of madness, the wokes anarchy that was unleased in America, and worldwide, will create massive issues for Biden. Ironic given he has been their massive supporter. The only thing uniting this disparate group of hooligans was their common hatred for Trump.

Remove that reason and you have vested groups who believe in anarchy and violence, but for totally differing and often conflicting reasons. Good luck Joe, you helped create a monster, my advice – don’t defund the cops! Just one parting observation on Kamala Harris, beware the sepoy within.

How sweet of them I am pleased to report that a special campaign of mine in Asian Voice is finally getting results. Regular readers will know that I have been urging Asian sweet manufacturers to use less sugar in their products because of the high incidence of diabetes in our community. Well, to my delight, one manufacturer is making gulab jamons with 30 per cent less sugar.

However, I would prefer to see a 50 per cent sugar reduction across the full range of sweets including jilabees, dhood peras, halwa, ladoos and the rest. When that happens, watch Asian sweets fly off the shelves.

Rudy Otter By email

We are grateful to all letter writers for more and more versatile letters well within word limit. Please keep contributing as always.

If you are new, then write to Rupanjana at rupanjana.dutta@abplgroup.com - AV

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PROFILE OF THE WEEK

Council praises brothers for raising £25,000 to support NHS On Friday 6th November, Wolverhampton council lauded the efforts of SCP Forgeco Ltd for raising more than £25,000 to support the city’s NHS Trust in tackling Covid-19 pandemic.

Based in Meadow Lane Bilston, and run by brothers Ranjit Dale, Managing Director, and Rikki Dale, the company has raised the money to source PPE, coveralls and hand sanitiser for New Cross Hospital to help NHS staff on the frontline. The scaffolding fitting manufacturer supply equipment to construction sites across the globe. Following a family bereavement in April for Ranjit launched a fundraising campaign to help the NHS ahead of the flu season.

His family kickstarted the campaign with a £10,000 donation and company’s clients also added their own donations to the contribution of £25,755. The company then secured an agreement with a UK supplier to provide large numbers of PPE

Ranjit and Rikki Dale

equipment suitable for NHS staff at New Cross Hospital.

Ranjit said, “After seeing the amount of PPE that was used daily by the staff, I wanted to see if I could help.

At that point I felt it was my duty using our UK connections to source the necessary PPE and this led to our very successful just giving fundraiser. I would like to personally say thank you to everyone in my company, associated companies, family, friends and everyone that donated to our cause.”

In appreciation for their contribution, Stephen Simkins, City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet

Member for City Economy, said, “This is a remarkable achievement and demonstrates the spirit of generosity shown throughout Wolverhampton. It underlines the ‘One City’ approach taken to tackling the pandemic and I’d like to thank the SCP Group, other businesses in the construction industry and the general public who came together to support the NHS.” Rachel Robinson, Community and Events Fundraiser at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said, “We are very grateful for SCP Group’s generosity and wonderful donation.

Our staff are doing a fantastic job in exceptionally challenging circumstances and this donation will help keep them and the people they are caring for safe.”

SCP Forgeco is one of many city businesses to benefit from City of Wolverhampton Council’s Aim for Gold programme which provides business and investment advice and access to grants.

Business Secretary reportedly met Prince Charles after testing positive of Coronavirus On Thursday 5th November it was reported that Business Secretary met Prince Charles at Clarence House three days after a staff member at Alok Sharma’s private office tested positive for Covid-19.

According to The Guardian the Business Secretary had a meeting involving the individual on the Thursday before the test result, and the pair were in the department’s Whitehall

office the following day.

Alok Sharma then flew to South Korea where he continued meeting foreign dignitaries after being informed of the positive test, while other colleagues were forced to self-isolate.

In a statement to The Guardian, a spokesperson for the business secretary, said, “The business secretary had no close contact with the staff member who tested positive at any stage. At no

Alok Sharma

point has Mr Sharma been told to self-isolate either by

NHS test and trace or through the NHS Covid-19 app, because he and the staff member were not in close contact at any stage.

“Clarence House was informed of the situation ahead of the meeting and it was agreed it could progress as planned as Mr Sharma did not have symptoms and had not been told to self-isolate.

Mr Sharma has followed all of the government’s guidelines at all times.”

Sanjeev Gupta reportedly parts with Scottish power station On 8th November, Sunday The Times reported that British-based Indian had offloaded a hydro-electric power station in the Scottish Highlands amid concerns around coronavirus.

Sanjeev Gupta who has become one of Europe’s biggest steel-makers in the last five-years bought Kinlochleven from miner Rio Tinto — along with another hydro-electric

power station and aluminium smelter in nearby Lochaber — in 2016 for £330m, with the promise that the Scottish industry will be revived. But according to the Times, Investor Equitix took over Kinlochleven power station last month from Simec subsidiary.

Filings at Companies House illustrated that Kinlochleven’s parent company, KLL Holdings, is

now controlled by Equitix, and Gupta’s father Parduman has resigned as a director. GFG said it had “signed a lease agreement for Kinlochleven with Equitix”, implying the fund has bought a long-term concession.

In a statement to The Times, it said, “Simec will remain the landlord of Kinlochleven and continue to operate and manage the asset. We anticipate no

change in how Kinlochleven is run, including employment levels and the commitment to safety.”

Former Chancellor believes Biden better for the UK On Sunday 8th November, former chancellor Sajid Javid hailed President-elect Joe Biden’s US election victory emphasising it was “the right outcome” for the UK. Sajid Javid indicated that the Democrat would be likely to dissipate international tensions and be a closer ally as demonstrated by Mr Biden’s pledge to re-join the World Health Organisation showing his willingness to co-operate across the globe.

He also suggested a Biden presidency would improve Britain’s chances of a favourable trade deal with the US. He suggested that a series of tariffs slapped on

Sajid Javid

goods by Donald Trump would have made it tougher to seal an agreement.

In an interview with Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, he said, “I think there is a lot of crossover, a lot of mutual interests – far more than there ever was with a Trump administration. If you look

at three or four of the biggest issues right now, the pandemic, for example, he will certainly be taking it more seriously, as we do. He has already said he is going to rejoin the World Health Organisation.” Asked if a deal would have been easier under Trump, he said, “Not at all. In fact, I think a trade deal with Joe Biden is far more likely. Let’s look at the evidence, let’s look at what Donald Trump actually did when he was in office when it came to trade with the UK. He slapped tariffs on UK aluminium, UK steel, Scotch whisky – that not only hurt people in America in terms of higher prices, but

it also cost jobs here in the UK. “We now want to strike more trade deals across the world and actually what you need is a president who believes in free trade, and that’s what we’re going to have with Joe Biden.”

Lord Karan Bilimoria: Torchbearer of Diversity and Inclusivity There is perhaps, not another individual as celebrated in the elite business and political circles of London as Lord Karan Bilimoria. He is the Founding Chairman of the UK India Business Council, Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London, and has recently been elected as the President of Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the first ever from an ethnic minority background. In the globalised era of doing business where most companies are aspiring to have “diverse and inclusive” workspaces, diversity is thus one key buzzwords. Yet, considerable progress needs to be achieved on those grounds and Lord Bilimoria is spearheading Change the Race Ratio campaign, urging the companies to set tough targets to improve diversity and publish them within 12 months.

But more fundamentally, he has been instrumental in amplifying concerns of the hospitality industry especially as crippled restaurants, pubs and bars battle another nationwide lockdown imposed due to coronavirus.

Highlighting the renewed struggles that the hospitality industry is stuck in especially during the festive season, the co-founder of the well-known beer brand Cobra, said, “The hospitality industry is one of the sectors that has suffered the most during the pandemic.

In the first lockdown, it was shut completely for three and a half months except for takeaway deliveries. The industry showed its resilience and ability to adapt at speed, reopened and bounced back.

However, disappointingly it is now shut again in this second lockdown, once again except for takeaways. What has helped has been the government measures throughout the pandemic, including the furlough scheme which has been thankfully reintroduced for the second lockdown and extended until the end of March.

Furthermore, the industry has benefited from business rates relief, access to grants, postponement of rent, VAT, and taxes, a reduction of VAT from 20% to 5% (excluding alcohol), access to the 100% government-guaranteed Bounce Back loans as well as the government Eat Out to help Out scheme (EOTHO) in August. Cobra beer sponsored an EOTHO extension in September in which hundreds of restaurants participated and co-funded.”

In May, hundreds of restaurants provided takeaways by participating in the Cobra Beer sponsored HRH The Prince of Wales’s charity, The British Asian Trust’s Big Curry Night In, besides others where all money raised was for Covid-19 victims in South Asia. Now, Lord Bilimoria believes “the second lockdown could not have come at a worse time, especially as the already paralysed hospitality industry was hoping to recuperate from annual losses by making up one-third of its business in the two months from Halloween to New Year’s Eve. In the midst of the second lockdown Cobra Beer has launched the Cobra Beer Sony Tv The Chef Virtual Cookbook free of charge globally. Again, showcasing the resilience and innovation of the hospitality industry in the face of challenges. And he believes, that the recent US elections would open up a raft of possibilities for the UK businesses.

He said, “The US and UK have one of the world’s most successful trading ties and businesses in both countries look forward to building on that with the new administration. The case for a UK-US trade deal is as strong as ever: the world’s largest investment relationship with over a million jobs created in both our countries, like-minded free traders with scope to shape future regulation in new sectors like AI or fintech or life sciences.

“It’s early days but a Biden Presidency could open up possibilities for UK business across a host of things including climate change, WTO, and reinvigorated B7.

British business looks forward to working with the US to capitalise on that.”

Companies required to disclose risk of climate change On Tuesday, 10th November it was reported that all those companies listed on the London Stock Exchange will have to improve disclosures on the risks they are facing from climate change from January.

Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said the new rules will require premium listed companies to make disclosures consistent with

a global set of recommendations made by the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

Speaking at an online conference honsted by the City of London, Nikhil Rathi said, “We will also consult in the first half of 2021 on extending the scope of these rules and also on introducing TCFD obligations for asset managers, life insurers and pension providers.”

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DIWALI SPECIAL

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14 - 20 November 2020

Happy Diwali

Ruchi Ghanashyam On the auspicious occasion of Diwali, it is a pleasure to wish readers of Asian Voice a very happy, prosperous and safe Diwali. This is a time of joy and celebrations for all Indians regardless of their faith.

Diwali marks the return of Lord Rama, Sita and Lakshman to Ayodhya after 14 years. It symbolises the victory of good over evil and is known the world over as the Festival of Lights! Guru Amardas listed Diwali as a festival for Sikhs along with Vaisakhi. It’s also Bandi Chor Diwas, the day Guru Hargobind along with 52 Hindu kings was released from prison by Emperor Jehangir. Diwali is the end of the year for Jains and the passing commemoration of the 24th Tirthankara Mahavira and his achievement of moksha. Many Buddhists celebrate Diwali by lighting lamps and celebrating Gautam Swami Buddha; the day on which Emperor Ashoka decided to follow the path of Buddhism;

HAYES

and return of Gautam Buddha to Kapilavastu with followers after 18 years. Muslims and Christians often join the Diwali celebrations of their friends. Widespread and grand celebrations of Diwali are, thus, a joy for Indians all over the world.

This year Diwali comes at a difficult time. The world is battling a global pandemic. Countries in Europe, including the UK are in their second lockdowns. In India, the steady opening up after a strict lockdown, saw a steep rise in Covid cases. Covid has disrupted normal life almost everywhere. Its impact on the economy has been extremely devastating. Job losses are rampant as economies have declined.

Young people and students are dealing with online classes and are worried about their future. Large sections of society are struggling to cope with economic challenges, even as all of us try to find ways to cope with a new life of isolation and lack of social interaction. As we celebrate Diwali this year, we have to think of people facing these struggles. The Indian diaspora has been in the forefront to support those who were stranded by the stoppage of flights and first lockdown in the UK. The community’s support to the Indian student community has also been commendable. The spirit of Diwali should reenergise the spirit of service within the diaspora.

In much of north India, Diwali season comes with crop burning and pollution. In the UK, too, the approaching winter is the flu season. Corona virus has been added

to the menu this year.

Traditionally, Diwali celebrations are incomplete without bursting crackers. While fireworks add to the excitement of our celebrations, this year avoiding pollution causing firecrackers is essential, to prevent the adverse impact of Covid and pollution on our lungs.

But there is also good news this Diwali. With her success in the US elections, Vice President elect, Kamala Harris, has become the first woman of colour to shatter that high glass ceiling, reflecting the strength and vibrance of the global Indian diaspora. Just about 150 years ago, approximately 2 million Indians were taken as indentured labour to European colonies, as a substitute for slave labour, after abolition of slave trade in the early 19th century. Kamala Harris traces her Indian heritage more recently, through her mother who migrated to the US from India in 1958 after her graduation. Her brilliant success shows the long journey that the Indian diaspora has made through their hard work, focus on education, dedication to family and determination to succeed. Congratulating her, PM Modi called her success ‘pathbreaking’ and a source of pride. UK, too, possesses the most diverse Cabinet in history. Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Home Secretary Priti Patel, Business and Energy Secretary, Alok Sharma and the Attorney General, Suella Braverman symbolise the vigour of Indian diaspora in the UK. The younger generation of the diaspora can take inspiration from these and other role models

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in politics, business, science and technology, art and media and the administration. There may be challenges today, but on this Diwali, the future looks bright for the Indian diaspora. Let this Diwali be one of hope for victory over the Coronavirus and success and prosperity for all!

(Mrs Ruchi Ghanashyam is the former High Commissioner of India to the UK. With a career in

Indian Foreign Service for over 35 years, she has been posted in many countries, before arriving in the UK. She was only the second woman High Commissioner to the UK since India’s independence and during her tenure, she witnessed a number of significant developments in the UK-India relations.

Asian Voice welcomes her first of many columns, exclusive for our readers).

Namaste, and happy Diwali everybody.

All over the world, millions of lamps are once again being lit, as the spectacular, joyful festival of Diwali is here to burst through the autumnal darkness. Of course, I know that this year, as with so many other events, Diwali is not going to be the same. People across this country are making huge sacrifices. Your lives have been put on hold, your work and businesses disrupted.

And so, while I know it’s disappointing that many Diwali celebrations can’t go ahead in the usual way and getting together with friends and family is not always going to be possible, this year, perhaps more than any other, Diwali holds a potent meaning for all of us.

Because just as surely as Lord Rama defeated the demon king Ravana and brought his wife Sita home and just as Diwali celebrates the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, so too – I have every confidence – that we shall triumph over Covid-19.

And as we all pull together, and play our part in defeating this virus, I am filled with awe and respect for the way British Hindus, Sikhs and Jains have risen to this challenge, and have gone out of their way to help others. From the amazing doctors and nurses on the frontline who have cared for the sick throughout this crisis, to the temples that have used their kitchens to feed the vulnerable and support our key workers and the heroes in every community who have carried out acts of kindness to support friends, family and neighbours.

So, this Diwali, as we remember the mantra to wash our hands, wear a face covering, and keep our distance from anyone we don’t live with, let’s all take comfort from the meaning at the heart of this fantastic festival. And let the many millions of Diwali lights all over the world shine through the darkness as beacons of hope for a better future.

Shubh Diwali everyone. Once again, I wish you a happy Diwali and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

- Prime Minister Boris Johnson

14 DIWALI SPECIAL 14 - 20 November 2020

AsianVoiceNews

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EXCLUSIVE

STAYING SAFE THIS DIWALI Baroness Dido Harding In these darkening Autumn days, the colourful, musical and vibrant festival of Diwali always fills hearts with hope and joy. This year, more than ever, we need that hope and joy.

In 2020 we have faced a great darkness in Covid-19. Over the past 7 months we have built the largest diagnostic network in British history, and I was really pleased when we hit our testing capacity target of 500,000 tests a day at the end of October.

But NHS Test and Trace is not a silver bullet, it’s a valuable second line of defence. Our first line of defence is making sure that we’re all washing our hands, wearing face coverings, and following Government guidance on social distancing.

The Prime Minister has taken the very difficult decision to introduce new national restrictions, to protect the public, because the virus was spreading too quickly.

Unfortunately, Diwali falls in the lockdown period, which means that celebrations can’t happen as they usually would, and many will be unable to visit family and friends at a time when it feels most important.

It will be extremely difficult to say no to parents and elders, but it is

imperative that we don’t give the virus the opportunity to spread further within our cherished communities.

Despite new limitations, the festival is not cancelled. Whilst outdoor firework displays will not be possible and non-essential shops will not be open, individual prayer is still allowed at places of worship and many of us will be able to go and pay our respects on this special day. In fact, the symbol of hope represented by Diwali is more relevant than ever for the whole country.

I feel hopeful about the prospect of an upcoming vaccine. I feel hopeful about the potential of the mass testing pilot in Liverpool that’s continuing this week and what it may mean for the rest of the country. And I continue to feel hopeful and proud about how everyone across the country is responding and continuing to play their part.

We know the Indian community has been disproportionately affected by the virus. Lockdown may feel like an extension of this, but it is, in fact, a circle of protection for us all. We still want everyone to be able to celebrate Diwali, but instead of in-person gatherings, we’re urging people to come togeth-

Welcoming Diwali virtually

iwali is the five-day festival of lights, celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains across the world. Diwali. For some it also coincides with harvest and new year celebrations. The year 2020 has brought many challenges for everyone. While it has been extremely hard on many, there have been some unexpected silver linings too.

In the UK and abroad, many religious and community organisations have come together to stand by the people who need help desperately. They have also organised virtual Diwali celebrations to engage the community around the festive period.

26 Hindu organisations across the West Midlands are hosting virtual events to celebrate the festival during lockdown. The University of Birmingham India Institute is hosting a star-studded virtual concert to celebrate Diwali – streaming the music and dance celebration online. Birmingham's Festival of Light event, usually held in Victoria Square, is also being streamed online for free. With restrictions in place to stop the spread of coronavirus, crowds will not be gathering on Leicester’s Belgrave Road this year for the traditional entertainment and fireworks. But instead, the city council is inviting people to take part in a shared Diwali Day celebration from the safety of their homes.

D

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Property market shines through the gloom Pragnesh Modhwadia, Managing Partner

er through voice and video calls and posting cards and gifts. Everyone can still dress up at home, make favourite foods, and do Rangoli.

Everyone can still engage in private prayer. Everyone can still honour this festival. However, we cannot and should not meet one another in person. In this sacrifice will be an embedded expression of love and care for our family and friends who we are protecting by keeping at a distance.

I’m looking forward to the future, when I hope people will be able to celebrate these important festivals together again. Easter, Eid, Rosh Hashana, Vaisakhi, Diwali: these festivals have existed for centuries and will continue to do so.

This year we’re just commemorating them differently, and we’re doing it for each other.

(Baroness Dido Harding is the Head of the NHS Test and Trace programme and acting chair of the National Institute for Health Protection).

Members of the public can send in their personal video messages, which could feature in an hour-long package of entertainment that will be streamed on the visit Leicester website on Diwali Day, Saturday 14 November. In London, a striking floating flower installation has launched at Canary Wharf’s Jubilee Park fountains in the days leading up to Diwali.

This year’s Diwali celebrations will see artists from Wales and India come together to share how they have worked in partnership to create new work. In 2017 British Council Wales launched India Wales, a cultural programme that has seen artists from both countries crossing the world to work together.

This year further partnerships were planned, but Covid-19 has meant artists have had to work together mainly online. The event will take place over a two-week period to coincide with the Diwali celebrations in India and Wales, starting on 12 November.

The Welsh Government is also hosting a Digital Diwali this week to celebrate the Hindu festival of Lights. The festival runs for five days, from 9th – 14th November, is to celebrate one of the most popular festivals of Hinduism, which symbolizes the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. It is estimated that there are at least 20,000 people or Indian descent living in Wales and in the past few years there have been major celebrations of Diwali in Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, and north Wales.

This year there will be online messages from the new Indian High Commissioner Gaitri Issar Kumar, the First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford and Indian Honorary Consul for Wales, Raj Aggarwal, as well as Indian cricket coach Ravi Shastri.

The Diwali Basket Brigade, an annual event organised by The Diwali Foundation, a registered charity, has given over 42,000 items of food and essentials, weighing over 12 tonnes, to provide over 35,000 meals to families in need. The baskets were provided to families by 25 charity and foodbank partners on Saturday 7 November, ahead of this year’s Diwali celebrations on Saturday 14 November

COMPETITION If you are celebrating Diwali at home with your family, why don't you make it more special? Send us a photo of your celebration with a short description and Asian Voice will print the best photo received in our upcoming issue.

Email: aveditorial@abplgroup.com.

Deadline: 22 November 2020.

“The UK real estate demand is soaring with many of us, including foreign investors, looking to take advantage of the current schemes that have been announced by the government.

We are working constantly and endlessly to ensure we adapt and continue to provide a high level of service. We understand the stress and pressure the current pandemic may have caused to many of our clients who are in the process of selling, buying and investing in real estate but the future looks positive with number of transactions across the nation continuously growing. Whilst many of us are facing difficult times ahead in other aspects we wish to assure that we are here to assist and support wherever we can”.

Whilst the Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on global markets, the UK financial sector, employment and the nation’s personal lives, the UK property market continues to be fairly steady.

Forecasts remain progressive. Those that put their house moves on hold since March, now appear to be resuming their efforts to move or buy a new home.

Rishi Sunak’s Economic Statement on 8 July was the accelerant needed to kick-start the property market in England, following predictions that house prices would fall and cause market stagnation. The previous Stamp Duty holiday was introduced in 2008 in an attempt to lift the market following the financial crisis. However, those that are looking to make the most out of the tax holiday need to do so by the 31 March 2021.

The summer housing boom also saw wealthy buyers, unaffected by redundancies or reduced household incomes, fuelling the frenzy of relocating out of London to the suburbs.

The working-from-home trend has seen buyers looking for properties that can offer more comfort such as a larger garden or additional bedrooms.

UK house prices rose by 5% in September, compared with a year ago, as the property market saw an increase in postLockdown demand. The Nationwide Building Society reported a surge in demand for houses from July to the end of September. This summer also saw a surge in ‘UK staycations’, with many individuals and families staying in the UK for their getaways, thus driving up the demand for holiday properties.

However, it is not just the residential markets that have seen an increase in demand. The third tax quarter also saw a roar in commercial investments, with a large chunk of the investors being international clients. Acuitus, one of the largest auction houses in the UK, sold 86% of its lots in the October auction, demonstrating that interest and confidence in the commercial markets has been restored.

Landlords are also coming back with the Government’s ban on evictions expiring on 20 September 2020. Lockdown saw many Landlords claiming mortgage payment holidays as tenants were unable to pay their rent. Now able to take legal action against their tenants, landlords will be looking to invest in the market again.

The Stamp Duty holiday has encouraged many first-time buyers to push forward their purchases, thus driving a demand for houses within the market. Those looking to sell should consider doing so now, to take advantage of the rising demand.

What will the second Lockdown, mean for the property market? The Housing Minister has confirmed that renters and homeowners in England will still be allowed to moveand removal firms, tradespeople and estate agents will still be able to operate and will have access to the properties. Sellers and buyers must just be mindful that there is a chance that their completion date may be delayed should either party need to self-isolate or is tested positive for Covid-19.

Investors must remember, too, that this Lockdown will have fewer restrictions than in March, allowing individuals to have more flexibility on how they wish to proceed.

Once the pandemic is over, the UK and the rest of the world will become a lot more optimistic, thus hopefully leading to a rise in spending within the economy.

Should you wish to discuss how Axiom Stone can help you with your next investment, property purchase or litigation matter, then please contact us on 0208 951 6989. Axiom Stone offer a range of legal services, from residential and commercial conveyancing, to immigration, corporate, litigation and family services.

On behalf of the teams at Axiom Stone, we wish everyone a very Happy Diwali and a prosperous new year with the hope that it allows us to meet our family and friends again without restrictions.

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LET THE LIGHT GUIDE US Continued from page 1 Lauding these efforts and in the spirit of Diwali, Prime Minister Boris Johnson in an exclusive message to Asian Voice readers said, “This year, perhaps more than any other, Diwali holds a potent meaning for all of us. Because just as surely as Lord Rama defeated the demon king Ravana and brought his wife Sita home and just as Diwali celebrates the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, so too – I have every confidence – that we shall triumph over Covid-19. And as we all pull together, and play our part in defeating this virus, I am filled with awe and respect for the way British Hindus, Sikhs and Jains have risen to this challenge, and have gone out of their way to help others.”

The fundamental role of community leaders and organisations is to bring volunteers together and to come up with an evolving vision to tackle various pressing issues amidst Covid-19.Non-profit advocacies, information associations, religious community organisations,senior-support organisations, and women’s centres – all were united in their dedication to uplift those around them.

Praful Bhatt and his team starteda ‘teaching service’ at Santosh Day Care. Their aim was so to familiarise the elderly with social media and latest communication technology to facilitate regular video communication with their loved ones.

At the start of the lockdown, they also distributed free tiffin for old people as his young volunteers were concerned about their parents and grandparents and people like them. He called for volunteers for distributing tiffin and many young people came forward to help distribute food. These enthusiastic

BAPS Swamijis cooking food for tiffins

volunteers also ensured that they were in constant touch with the older community members, shopping on their behalf and making everyday items accessible.

PrafulBhattsaid, “We are planning something for Diwali but at the moment, the health crisis is an evolving situation. The constant influx of news makes it difficult to plan. Although we have resigned to the fact that this Diwali will not be the same as previous years, the spirit of this festival is to spend time with family, virtually or physically, do charity, and believe in goodness.

“For our young volunteers, planning a Diwali celebration for the old and vulnerable means quite a lot and they are coming up with new ideas.

“For our elderly friends, we will put in special effort on Diwali – releasing a video for everybody, distributing traditional delicacies to them on the day, and supplying them with the things that they need. No one should not feel left out on Diwali.”

Temples and faith organisations prepare for Diwali

Diwali celebration in Edinburgh

Speaking about this year’s Diwali celebration at BAPS Swaminarayan Temple, Neasden, Yogesh Patel said, “Volunteers of BAPS have begun their preparations to bring the enriching spiritual experience of Diwali to the homes of worshippers and wellwishers across local communities.

A series of devotional online programmes have been planned which will allow families to participate from their respective homes.

Diwali and Hindu New Year services and assemblies will continue from the Mandir shrines by resident swamis which will be enjoyed through these online webcasts.”

The temple which is frequented by the Prime Ministers of UK and Home Secretary have always flaunted a generous spread of Annakut. When its 40 mandirs and centres around the country closed their doors to traditional ways of worship in March, there was a need to adapt at pace, with new, innovative ways of connecting worshippers with God and with each other.

Yogesh said, “To continue meeting the spiritual needs of the community and provide a deeper connection during these times of isolation and social distancing, BAPS began online worship with daily webcasts of the evening arti and prayers, and a weekly webcast of religious assemblies in English and Gujarati for all ages, a special web series on ‘Timeless Hindu Wisdom’, and devotional rituals and ceremonies which encourage participation from home.

This fusion of technology and devotion continues to bring people together from around the world now, not just the vicinity.”

They mobilised over 1,100 volunteers in 61 areas around the UK as well as in Europe to help the elderly and vulnerable in local communities and ensure that they remain informed, safe and supported. This included preparation and delivery of over 50,000 meals to the needy.

Sadhu Yogvivekdas, Head Sadhu of Neasden Temple, added, “We realised very quickly that we had a duty to support our local community by offering online worship, government updates translated in Gujarati and guidance on staying safe, and it was particularly important that we reached the elderly and vulnerable during this time through our ‘Connect & Care’ programme.”

Vishal Shah, Head of Public Relations and Outreach, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) UK told the newspaper, “Diwali would have been celebrated with great colour, indulgence and the joy of bringing the family and community physically together. The 100+ shakhas (activity centres) of HSS (UK) across the country would become a centre of community engagement,

banks were regularly served through collecting and delivering donations from across the country, with much of this necessary work still continuing.”

The UK lockdown measures also had a significant impact on Indian Students and Indian Nationals, many of which became stranded in the UK with little support. Through INSA (Indian National Students Association (UK)) along with Friends of India Society International, over 20 volunteers handled a crisis helpline that was open daily from 8am to joyous celebration and dharmic 10pm. Over 2600 student and activity. However, this year the celIndian national enquires were ebrations will need to take a more assisted via email and phone calls, virtual, but also virtuous form, with over 315 accommodation continuing to serve the communirequirements being handled, and ties around us and help those in over 3600 grocery requests mangreatest need. Diwali will be a mesaged and hot meals served with sage of ‘Caring and Sharing’, buildsupport from Sewa UK. ing greater bonds between us all as In addition to the significant one extended family, looking after efforts to assist in the community, each other and the environment the outset, HSS (UK) transformed around us, and upholding a central its activities to digital delivery and of message created programmes, activities and VasudaivaKhutumbakam (the social engagement for all ages. whole world is one family).”

Dr Mehool Sanghrajka, Trupti Patel, President, Hindu Managing Trustee of Institute of Forum of Britain said, “The Hindu Jainology said, “Jain communities Forum of Britain has celebrated celebrate Diwali because on this Diwali at the House of Commons day, the 24th Jain Tirthankara Bhagwan Mahavir attained moksha. On this auspicious occasion Jains families come together in homes, community halls and temples to greet friends and family, and visit temples to seek blessings for the New Year. The ritual of ChopdaPoojan is practiced VHP Bradford branch celebrating Diwali in 2019 by many in the business community. Many choose for past 18 years. This year we will to fast and recite spiritual mantras be celebrating it virtually on 11 in memory or Bhagwan Mahavir.

November between 4-6pm. Diwali This year Covid-19 and the at the House of Commons is the Government's lockdown will premier multi-party Diwali event change Diwali significantly. to take place in the home of Families will meet over Zoom, and democracy. It continues to be the temples will be relaying their aarti most prestigious and ‘must attend’ and pooja online for devotees. event of the year.”

Many have arranged During Covid-19, the Team ChopdaPoojan on zoom too. The HFB has been very busy liaising activities will not change, but the with the Ministry of Housing, way they are practiced will; and for Community and Local many it will be a difficult time as Government on various subjects they are not able to meet family ranging from guidance to policies face to face.” for Places of Worship, celebrating The Institute of Jainology cofestivals, health and safety at temordinate all 32 UK Jain organisaples, health and well-being of tions under the 'OneJAIN' banner. devotees, organ donation to name The organisations have all started a few.

Zoom activities which are circulatThe team also helped Mayor of ed to OneJAIN so their members London, Manchester, Birmingham can join any activity. They also to help develop local policies and help coordinate and publicise charproduce local guidance. itable activities, like providing food Vishal Shah, Head of public for those alone, supporting key Relations from Hindu workers and promoting NHS iniSwayamsevak Sangh (UK) said, tiatives (such as the local oxygen “During this ongoing crisis, HSS meter project).

(UK) has inspired more than 27 Dr Vinaya K Sharma, General organisations and projects whose Secretary, Vishwa Hindu Parishad tremendous work, selfless effort of (VHP) UK told the newsweekly, volunteers and utmost kindness “Most of our branches actively suphas helped to ensure that the most port their elderly citizens, hold lanvulnerable in our communities are guage classes for children. Most connected with and cared for. branches are involved with sewa “Sewa Day (a national charity within their local communities, for championing volunteering) formuexample at the 'Old People’s lated a rapid response to the Homes', with distributing both impact of Covid-19 on communicooked food and ingredients. This ties, forming 36 regional teams activity is not limited to just Diwali bringing together 1700 volunteers but carries on throughout the year. working daily to assist with a Since the first national locknational helpline and four key down, members of the community campaigns. Over 50 hospitals were of Bhaktivedanta Manor have volregularly served hot meals to front unteered their time and energy to line staff as well as assisting with help others. key supplies needed to maintain The Manor launched and initheir wellbeing. Over 40 food tiative to call as many members as

possible to check on how they are and what help they might require, up to 50 devotees have been making phone calls.

One of Bhaktivedanta Manor's departments have delivered 700 Meditation and care packages to NHS staff, Care Homeworkers, and all other key workers to support their overall well-being during these difficult times. The packs have been distributed via 5 hospitals and 44 care homes. It continues to prepare and provide thousands of wholesome meals for the National Health Service together with Govinda's Kitchen of Avanti Schools. The Meals have been well received and are popular amongst the staff across 3 hospitals.

Alpesh Patel OBE, Chair of the City Hindus Network said, “City Hindus Network usually has a gala dinner. This year we have partnered with IGlobal who hosted aDiwaliFest and probably the largest online Diwali celebration including bhajans and modern dance – all online. We are also partnering with PwC, Deloitte and KPMG for a Dharma and Business Diwali online event – after all, Diwali is also about Lakshmiji!”

Rajnish Kashyap, General Secretary of Hindu Council UK said, “Like many other religious events, Diwali festival has been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic with family celebrations set to be impacted by social distancing restrictions. Diwali celebrations across the UK have either been cancelled or adapted due to coronavirus restrictions and Diwali will obviously be different this year.

Hindus are looking at a number of ideas that will allow people to mark the occasion in alternative ways.

“In Leicester a traditional light switch on complete with music and dancing has been cancelled, though the lights themselves along the city’s golden mile will still be switched on. In London, Diwali celebrations at Trafalgar Square have been swapped for a virtual celebration.

“The government has issued

Praful Bhatt of Santosh Day Care

many advices on celebrating religious events while coronavirus restrictions are in place.Temples may remain open, if visiting we are advising to do your puja and lit your diya or candle if temple allows this while keeping your social distancing.

“At home, as hard as it is, but now one cannot meet people outside your household. One should ensure that Diwali celebrations only involve people from your households. Safety and well-being should be priority.”

(Additional writing by Rupanjana Dutta and Priyanka Mehta)

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Diwali in the Classroom: Recreating festivity through innovative workshops Charusmita In any festival, it is the children who look forward to the celebrations with most anticipation and excitement. In the UK, many organisations and individuals have organised workshops over the years on Diwali across schools. This year, the pandemic has led them to think of new ways to recreate the magic of group workshops through a combination of physical and virtual events.

Matt Matson, the co-founder and Director of Dance Days, shared with us the Diwali activities planned for schools this year, “All of our workshops can be run virtually, however, schools are still keen to have someone in person to deliver the workshops. We have pre-recorded dance classes available and also offering live conferencing if needed”.

Although Dance Days works across all age groups, the majority of their workshops are for Primary school children in London and the South East, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire.

Cathy Lightowler, Creator and Director of REonDemand, is

a workshop practitioner, class teacher and a Religious Education advisor (primary). She said that online events miss out on the main aspect of her workshops and shared, “We pride ourselves on the vast collection of genuine and precious artefacts we use and

children are encouraged to learn about these in a tactile way. Schools are still welcoming us in but those that cannot are purchasing our resources and artefacts which are uniquely chosen to cover all primary learning objectives”.

Recalling last year’s Diwali, Cathy said, “As I make workshops tailored to each school’s individu-

al requirements, my Diwali workshops have incorporated Lakshmi stories, footprint designs, rangoli art with pavement chalks, cultural clothes linked to the festival season, re-enactments of the Ramayana chapter about Prince Rama and Princess Sita and the demon, Ravanna using puppets, volunteers, costumes and audience participation (particuthe monkey larly bridge!). All sessions allow reflection on the continued battle between good and evil, light over darkness, loving, giving, togetherness within families and the wider communities. Not only have we covered Diwali through the Hinduism faith, but also from the Sikh perspective. We’ve shared the story of Guru Hargobind and his coat of 52 tails and with the older children, year 6 and over, we looked at Amnesty International and the falsely imprisoned throughout the world. With both religions we also investigate the seven things people of faith do when celebrat-

ing: share stories, give gifts, wear special clothes, eat special foods, meet friends and family, decorate their homes and visit their place of worship”.

Matt, talking about the response this year from schools on online workshops, said, “During the first lockdown, we had to adapt to running our workshops online quickly, the response was great. We had schools taking part in weekly dance classes, and even parents of children who's school didn't sign up were asking us if they could attend. We also had the opportunity to work with some children on 1-2-1 bases, and it was very rewarding to see their confidence develop”.

Matt urged everyone to still mark Diwali even if the celebration will be smaller than usual: “Try and use technology as an advantage, arrange a family zoom or facetime, take the time to get together even if you are miles away, share a meal via the conferencing tools out there, many offer free options”. Cathy’s message to those who were looking forward to grander celebrations

this year is this: “Not coming together with extended family, friends and our community will inevitably put a dampener on the

event. However, within faith communities there are other ways of taking part; by helping the vulnerable, using the resources we're given through the internet, telephone and postal service we are able to reach out in different ways. Especially with the older generation. Taking time to think of the people who are alone during those celebrations and acting on our passion for inclusion and love we will bring our communities together in a united and comforting way”.

How two sisters raised over £10,000 for charity by reviving ‘Supper Clubs’ Shefali Saxena

Bound by history, liberated by culture: Indo-Fijian Diwali teaches us plenty Padmaja The thread that ties India with Fiji is historically attributed to the Britain’s colonial past. However, what made that bond last has more to do with the preservation of Indian culture of the 1880s by Indo-Fijians to this day. I had the privilege and honour of serving the seven islands of the South Pacific as the High Commissioner of India from April 2019 to August 2020, and it was an eye-opening experience, culturally and spiritually.

Fiji has a unique tradition of celebrating festivals for appreciably long durations.

Diwali in Fiji is celebrated for more than six weeks, and its celebrations in 2019 are among my most vivid memories. All organisations, institutions and community groups host Diwali celebrations, with each one remarkably grander than the other.

From Bollywood dance programmes to musical and theatrical cultural events, celebrations in Fiji retain the essence of global Diwali celebrations, and yet are distinctive, particularly in terms of wide participation of people at all levels. Celebration of Diwali at ‘India House’ (the residence of the Indian High Commissioner) is a grand event that people look forward to.

I had the honour of hosting a Diwali reception for not just the Indo-Fijian community members but also political dignitaries of the country. There were seven government ministers who came to the

reception. What moved me was that some of them took part in the celebrations as performers rather than being sitting attendees. I welcomed everyone in a traditional style with garlands, prayer and a variety of Indian sweets and savouries. For people of the Indo-Fijian community, visiting India House had always been as close to being in India as possible. It is not just a building but a sentiment. The cultural centre of the HCI, Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre’s (SVCC) teachers and students organised a scintillating live dance and musical performance inside the residence.

Fiji also hosts fusion cultural events around Diwali. Organisations hire troupes who perform fusion of Fiji’s traditional Meke dance with vibrant Bollywood dancing.

Outside the India House festivities, the organisations that host Diwali celebrations are particularly mindful of the fact that the attendees at their events would be most or less the same set of people that would be willing to participate in other similar Diwali celebrations. For this reason, people avoid organising events on dates that are conflicting with other community organisations so that everyone can celebrate together and keep the festivities going on for as long as possible.

The PM and the President address the people celebrating Diwali and remind them that this festival is a tool for social unity and harmony.

Emily and Amy hosted their first Burmese supper club as part of the “E17Popup” series in Walthamstow in February 2013.

Emily is a Consultant in Sexual health and HIV working in South London. Amy is a Registrar in Psychiatry working in East London. They have raised over £10,000 for a variety of charities through supper clubbing. Their events continue to sell out! Scroll to the bottom of the page to join their mailing list. They have published their first cookbook, The Rangoon Sisters Cookbook: Recipes from a Burmese Family Kitchen (Ebury, 2020).

Asian Voice spoke to Emily and Amy about their charitable work and the penchant for popularising Burmes food in the community.

You’ve raised money for charities with the support of supper clubbing. How did this idea come to life and what is the process like?

We are extremely privileged to be able to have our day jobs as doctors, combined with hosting our Burmese supper clubs, so it was natural to want to use these events to try and raise money for organisations close to our hearts. These have included Medical Action Myanmar, a NGO providing health care all over Myanmar, that we have both volunteered with, and St Raphael’s Hospice, who cared for our father who passed away in 2018.

Supper clubs require a lot of organisation – firstly both of us and our husbands need to be free so that involves four different rotas – then once a date is set, we decide a menu and between the two of us, plan who does want, the schedule and then the actual day is usually pretty frantic but so far we have avoided any major disasters!

You both have a solid career besides being able to run the supper club, how do you manage this work-passion balance? How

The Rangoon Sisters

supportive are your families?

We wouldn’t be able to do it without our families – our parents and husbands have always been extremely supportive, giving their time and energy to make them a success. At the beginning, our Dad said “I don’t understand why they’re doing these supper clubs, they don’t make any money?” but he was soon volunteering to help out and was really proud when we got the cookbook deal. Work life balance is a tough one for most people – we definitely aren’t experts – but we have seen how colleagues have burned out in medicine and how important it is to have other outlets and give time for yourself and activities that make you happy.

How did Covid-19 impact this process for you?

We haven’t had any events since Covid-19 – the last one was due to happen the weekend just before lockdown. We did a virtual supper club for the launch of the Rangoon Sisters cookbook back in July and have done a couple of online cookalongs. We will be back – at some point! We are just lucky that we still have jobs unlike so many people affected by the pandemic and we haven’t lost loved ones – we can’t complain.

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Dear Financial Voice Reader, Alpesh Patel To find the top stocks to rally with a vaccine I have used the following hypothesis: • We should look for companies which before the pandemic were not in a decline. After all, even after the pandemic they would still fall.

• They should be companies which rose in the year before the market peaked ie upto 21st February 2020, because that’s when the lockdown began (UK) and stocks fell for 4 weeks.

• They should be companies which fell during the month 21st February to 21st March 2020. That is they were impacted.

• They over the past 6 months have not recovered. Again, if they had, then there is no gain to be had.

• They should be otherwise healthy companies. We do not want ones on the brink of bankruptcy, since the vaccine implementation may seen them collapse. So for these companies I would look for ones with high Altman scores and good CROCI scores.

• Of course we want ones which have started rising now after the vaccine has been announced.

Risk Warning Of course there remains a risk warning. I don’t like gambling on how long it will take to issue a vaccine and get it out there. And there is another problem. No measure of a company is fool proof. Add to that that if 75% of people only take the vaccine and it is 90% effective, then we still have a sizeable group, maybe around a third, who are unprotected.

Beware too, that stocks which have lept in the past two days, may see some profit-taking before the strategy of them eventually resuming their pre-lockdown trend resumes.

Which Stocks Don’t Make the Cut For instance JD Sports, Computacenter, Kainos, does not make our list because it’s already rallied and benefitted from home gym clothes buyers after the initial dip from the virus. That’s not to say those companies may not rise for other reasons not linked to the virus. Here I am looking at virus strategies.

Carnival didn’t make the cut because there are other companies with better financials.

Which Stocks to Rally with the Vaccine? FTSE 350 So with all the above in mind. Which will do well potentially?

From the FTSE 350, I find: Countryside Properties [CSP], Morgan Sindall [MGNS], 4imprint Group [FOUR], Which Stocks to Rally with the Vaccine? US Shares 500 And using the same principles these stood out for me in US stocks: American International Group [AIG], Chubb [CB], CDW, Globe Life [GL], Hartford Financial [HIG], Trandign [TDG].

Which Stocks to Rally with the Vaccine? Nasdaq 100 Here I found Fiserv [FISV]. Again, that’s not to say others won’t do well on other strategies.

At this critical time for people, their jobs, their savings, their pensions, I’ve created a free newsletter/blog to teach people and keep them informed with the best insights. You can access it here: www.alpeshpatel.com/blogsignup

Five to ten year recovery phase from Covid 19: Sorrell Advertising and PR giant Martin Sorrell believes Britain could take five to 10 years to properly recover from the ongoing Covid 19 onslaught. Britain has recorded the worst death toll in Europe along with the deepest economic contraction of any leading G7 nation from the pandemic. Founder of the world's biggest advertising company WPP and one of the longest serving chief executives of British listed companies, Sorrell said, “It is going to take a long time for the UK to recover unfortunately.”

He added, “It's going to be a tough 5 to 10 years, we're going to be 5 to 10 years before the economy fully recovers from the Brexit withdrawal and the industrial changes that will need to take place, to re-skill, to re-educate, to invest in the necessary infrastructure.” The UK is currently in a tiff with the European Union as both sides are now trying to clinch a deal that would govern nearly 1 trillion dollars in annual trade before the transition period ends this year.

Importers and exporters will have to bear the brunt of border delays in the first months of next year even with a deal. Sorrell said the country needed to embark on a new programme of investment not just in physical infrastructure but in 5G capacity and technology skills. He said this was becoming more important after the pandemic forced companies to accelerate digital strategies. Several company executives have criticised the Boris Johnson-led government for failing to engage with business and give companies enough time to prepare for the biggest change in trade in over 45 years.

EU deal there to be done : Boris Johnson It is no secret that Britain, and the European Union are fighting their own battle trying to close significant differences even after months of talks on a deal to protect trade between the two. Chief negotiators, EU's Michel Barnier and Britain's David Frost resumed talks on Monday. Speaking with reporters on Sunday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said both sides will “redouble efforts to reach a deal”.

He said, “I've always been a great enthusiast for a trade deal with our European friends and partners. I think it's there to be done, the broad outlines are pretty clear. We just need to get on and do it if we can. And I said that to Ursula Von der Leyen just

yesterday. And she totally agrees with me.”

Britain and the EU are working on guarantees for fair competition, especially over state aid rules, and fisheries. They have called

on each other to compromise in order to reach an agreement.

Meanwhile, BoJo will be under even greater pressure to strike a deal with the EU as Joe Biden prepares to

enter the White House.

Experts fear a no-deal outcome could seriously damage relations with a new Democratic administration.

UK hits pre-Christmas shopping slump as lockdown dampens the holiday spirits Total footfall across British retail stores fell 15.4 per cent in the week up to November 7 versus the previous week, as lockdown brings the Christmas spirit down a notch.

As COVID-19 continued to lash across Britain, the Boris Johnson-led government imposed a second national lockdown for England, starting November 5 until December 2. Under the lockdown, all nonessential shops must close, along with cafes and restaurants with takeaway food an exemption. The government has also urged people to take up work from home if

possible.

Market Researcher Springboard said shopper numbers fell 16.2 per cent in high streets, 18.9 per cent in shopping centres and 9.7 per cent in retail parks. Footfall was down 38.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

Springboard however, said the result for the week as a whole disguised a mini-boom in the days leading up to the lockdown with footfall up an average 11.7 per cent between Sunday and Thursday. Thursday onward, footfall crashed, falling by an average of 46.7 per cent from the week before.

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NK Singh submits India’s 15th Finance Commission report India’s 15th Finance Commission report has been submitted for the year 202122 to 2025-26 to President Ram Nath Kovind. The report titled ‘Finance Commission in Covid Times’ was submitted by the FC Chairman NK Singh along with members of the Commission Ajay Narayan Jha, Anoop Singh, Ashok Lahiri and Ramesh Chand.

As per the terms of reference (ToR), the Commission was mandated to give its recommendations for five years from 2021-22 to 2025-26 by 30 October, 2020. Last year, the Commission had submitted its report containing recommendations for the year 2020-21 which was accepted by the Union Government and tabled in the Parliament on 30 January 2020.

The Commission was

asked to give its recommendations on many unique and wide-ranging issues in its terms of reference. Apart from the vertical and horizontal tax devolution, local government grants, disaster management grant, the Commission was also asked to examine and recommend performance incentives for States in many areas like power sector, adoption of DBT, solid waste management etc. The Commission was also asked to examine whether a separate mechanism for funding of defence and internal security ought to be set up and if so how such a mechanism could be

operationalised.

The Commission has sought to address all its ToRs in this Report to the Union government.

This Report has been organised in four volumes.

Volume I and II, as in the past, contain the main report and the accompanying annexes. Volume III is devoted to the Union Government and examines key departments in greater depth, with the mediumterm challenges and the roadmap ahead. Volume IV is entirely devoted to the States. The Commission has analysed the finances of each State in great depth

and has come up with Statespecific considerations to address the key challenges that individual States face.

The Report will be available in the public domain once it is tabled in the Parliament by the Union Government along with an explanatory memorandum/action taken report on the recommendations contained in the Report. The cover and title of the Report are also unique in this Report“Finance Commission in Covid Times” and the use of Scales on the cover to indicate the balance between the States and the Union.

Covid-19: British firms invested around £140mn in India According to a latest report by the Confederation of Business Industry (CBI) and EY Sterling Access' that studies the trade between the UK and India, British firms invested around £140Mn in India during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The report states that overall, trade between the UK and India hit GBP 24 billion till March 2020, up by nearly 12 per cent in just one year. India invested in 120 projects and created 5,429 new jobs, making India the second-largest foreign investor in the UK, just after the US. Lord Karan Bilimoria told Financial Express that the Indian government has stepped up its game to

improvise the fiscal environment during the pandemic, especially with the massive surge in non-digital payments and by implementing labour reforms.

Speaking on behalf of 190, 000 British businesses, Lord Bilimoria said, “Building back from the economic shock of COVID-19, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi has made clear his ambition for India to play a bigger role in the global supply chain. In order to accomplish this further progress will need to be made, adoption of global standards, reducing technical barriers and upping the momentum on a UK-India free trade deal will be critical.”

UK-India relations have further solidified due to

their synergy in the field of life sciences and IT services.

As a part of the national challenge to accentuate the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’, the CBI report in association with Ernst & Young (EY) proposed actions to overcome trade barriers. They include the new Joint Economic

Trade Committee services working group, enabling growth of the insurance market by raising the FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) limit from 49% to 74% and implementation of labour reforms as well as developing Special Economic Zones (SEZ) to support the manufacturing sector.

India banking on poor farmers to revive economy during the pandemic Leaders from the business industry, policy makers and politicians are banking on the rural sector for another year of crops. According to Bloomberg, “Higher disposable incomes with farmers are expected to boost demand from automobile to cement to gold jewellery.” comes after one of the most stringent lockdowns of the world that was implemented by India in March 2020 as a severe measure to save the people from the novel Coronavirus. But, due to labour shortage, business activities and sales have taken a hit countywide. The only hope right now remains with the farmers.

Companies like Maruti Suzuki India Lets. and a

local unit of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co. reported a record number of sales in the rural markets, as well as Bajaj Auto Ltd. during the pandemic. The hope now, is not the 144.5 million tons of food grains that were sown during this monsoon, supporting rural incomes.

“Despite Covid-19 and the related lockdown, the agricultural activities across the country have almost remained unaffected.

This has raised the hope that rural demand could

drive the economic recovery,” according to India Ratings and Research Ltd., a unit of Fitch Ratings Ltd. According to India Ratings and Research, the demands for automobiles, cement, steel, tires and gold jewellery also went up in rural areas. Some farmers pre-

ferred to invest in gold.

Rural demand will perk up somewhat, but will not be able to offset the shortfall in urban demand because the share of agriculture in gross value added of the Indian economy ranged between 14.6% and 17.8% during 2012-13 to 2019-20.

Capital India Finance has renamed its Forex platform Capital India Finance’s newly launched platform RAPIMONEY is now named REMITX. REMITX is an integrated Foreign Exchange Service Provider platform which is presently offering comprehensive forex solutions to various customer segments in Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chennai, Ludhiana, Patiala, Jalandhar, Agra, Nasik, Nagpur & Ahmedabad. CIFL is the first listed NBFC in India to receive authorised dealer category II license from Reserve bank to build & conduct Foreign Exchange business.

The right ingredients

Suresh Vagjiani, Sow & Reap Properties Ltd

We are currently working on a very lucrative deal in the south east of London.

This is one place one should buy and hold, even if there is no value add to the deal. That’s because there is going to be a natural rise in values, like a wave. The reason for this is half of the buyers are first timers.

This is an important part of the housing sector, it is demand from this segment which means new entrants are coming into the property market - new blood. This shows the location is still priced to attract and encourage this segment. These new entrants are thought to fuel the rest of the market.

Often, property is viewed as a money generator or as a piggy bank. Buyers will be turning to property increasingly given the low bank yields and the threat of negative interest rates.

Really, property should be about shelter, and not pure speculation.

In this location it is actually refreshing to see this is the case, at least it is where a large chunk of the demand is coming from.

From an investment perspective, this gives a lot of stability to the deal. Speculative bubbles can rise and burst, I know this first hand.

Here, the demand come from those first time buyers who need a roof over their head. We have a housing shortage in the UK, which is like a black hole that can never be filled – not with the current policies in place.

The deal we have agreed constitutes of a commercial on the ground and basement, with flats above.

It’s very close to the station and therefore the rental will be high and the voids will be low.

A perfect location. What’s more appetising is the immediate value which can be added. We are structuring the deal for a late completion. The aim is, by the time completion takes place, we will have the permissions in place. We are confident regarding this point because we are not reliant upon the planning process which is whimsical and untimely in nature.

We are going down the route of permitted development, which is guaranteed in 56 days; and is certain.

This is what every investor wants, they wish to remove the variables from the deal.

This investment does so. Once this is in place, we will move to the second phase which will utilise planning. This will add approximately 2,000 sq. ft. to the deal; about 60% of extra area to the building. Once we have locked the money in we will keep biting at the deal to maximise the extra potential. This is the same process we are following for a couple of existing sites we have, that are similar in nature.

All bank accounts to be linked with Aadhar

by March 2021

The Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman has asked all the banks to ensure that Aadhaar numbers must be linked with their respective bank accounts by March 31, 2021.

She believes that the story of financial inclusion cannot be completed unless banks comply with the norm. This decision came in the light of the fact that many accounts are still not linked with Aadhaar.

"… by March 31, 2021, every account should have a PAN where needed and where applicable, and Aadhaar in every one of your accounts,” Sitharaman said addressing the 73rd annual general meeting of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA). The Finance Minister also emphasised over the importance of non-digital payments. “UPI should be a common parlance word in all our banks,” she said.

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BIDEN AND HARRIS CREATE HISTORY, DEFEAT TRUMP Continued from page 1

A total of 35 Indians contested the US Elections 2020. Out of them, 10 won, 15 lost, 9 are awaiting or trailing and only one is leading. Hiral Tipirneni, a Democrat from Arizona topped this list.

Biden was put over the edge by more than 147,000 votes in the state of Michigan and, after a dayslong count, 34,000 votes in Pennsylvania.

Speaking about her mother in

family man Biden has been trying to become the president for three decades. According to Joe Biden’s biography, just as all of his wildest dreams seemed to be coming true,

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

her first address to the nation, Harris said, “And to the woman most responsible for my presence here today — my mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who is always in our hearts. When she came here from India at the age of 19, maybe she didn’t quite imagine this moment.”

Little do people know that it is not just Kamala Harris who has roots in India. Joe Biden too has his own Indian connection. Biden made claims of having an Indian connection for the first time in 2013. A few years later he explained that he descended from George Biden, his “great, great, great, great, great, grandfather” who was apparently a Captain in the East India Company. A website claims that it wasn’t George, but his brother Chritopher Biden who is most likely to be Joe’s ancestor (if at all it’s true) in India.

‘Joe is a healer’: Joe Biden, the

he was struck by devastating tragedy. A week before Christmas in 1972, Biden's wife and three children were involved in a terrible car accident while out shopping for a Christmas tree. The accident killed his wife and daughter and severely injured both of his sons, Beau and Hunter. Biden was inconsolable and even considered suicide. He recalls, "I began to understand how despair led people to just cash in; how suicide wasn't just an option but a rational option ... I felt God had played a horrible trick on me, and I was angry."

Biden has been married to his second wife, Jill Biden, since 1977.

The couple's daughter, Ashley, was born in 1981. On May 30, 2015, Biden suffered another personal loss when his son Beau died at the age of 46, after battling brain cancer. "Beau Biden was, quite simply, the finest man any of us have ever known," Biden wrote in a

statement about his son.

Speaking fondly about Biden, Kamala Harris quite rightly said in her winning speech that, “Joe is a healer. A uniter. A tested and steady hand. A person whose own experience of loss gives him a sense of purpose that will help us, as a nation, reclaim our own sense of purpose. And a man with a big heart who loves with abandon.”

In his first address to the nation after winning the presidential elections, Biden said, “I’m Jill’s husband. I would not be here without the love and tireless support of Jill, Hunter, Ashley, all of our grandchildren and their spouses and all our family.

They are my heart.” In an interview with Elle, his grand daughters said that their grandfather talks to them every day, and if he doesn't hear from his grandchildren, he'll call them to ask what's wrong.

"He always calls with the same energy even after he's just done 15 interviews in a row," Maisy Biden said.

Biden and India India is now hoping that Biden will bring the dream of “two closest nations in the world'' come true for India-US. Even before the elections, Biden had hinted during his address to Indian American on India’s independence day that Indo-US relations are on “high priority” on his list. Michael Kugelman, deputy director and senior associate for South Asia at The Wilson Center in Washington, said India is getting a “long-time friend” in Biden.

Coming to cross-border tensions, India can expect to have a strong ally in the US to put further pressure on China in terms of technology and global political affairs. Right before the elections, during a two plus two Ministerial Dialogue, India and America signed a key defence pact, sending a strong message to China and Pakistan. Defence trade is likely to

Kamala Devi Harris, "The female Barack Obama" The 55-year-old first time senator, Kamala Devi Harris from California is the first woman of Asian descent to be elected first Black and South Asian Vice President to hold that office.

Kamala with her sister Maya in traditional Indian chooridaar pants Kamala’s roots go back to India because her mother Shyamala Gopalan hailed from Chennai.

She met and married Kamala’s father Donald Harris, Jamaican student at the University of California at Berkeley in a hugely “progressive” decision taken by the family in an “inter-racial union’. Shyamala Gopalan was a cancer researcher, who raised Harris and the younger daughter Maya Harris, as a single mother mostly after early separation from Donald Harris. Shyamala passed away in 2009. Kamala’s grandfather PV Gopalan remained a guiding light in Kamala’s life imparting values of civic mindedness, public service and human rights. Some of Harris’ fondest memories from childhood were walking along the beach with him after he retired and lived

in Besant Nagar, in what was then called Madras.

She has been a county district attorney; the district attorney for San Francisco - the first woman and first African-American and Indian-origin to be elected to the position. A decade ago, journalist Gwen Ifill called Harris "the female Barack Obama" on the "Late Show With David Letterman". Later, a small businessman from Willoughby Tony Pinto called her "a young, female version of the president".

Harris went to college in the US, spending four years at Howard University, and then went on to pursue a law degree at the University of California, Hastings, and began her career in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office. She became the top prosecutor for San Francisco in 2003, before being elected the first woman and the first black person to serve as California's attorney general in 2010, the top lawyer in America's most populous state. Harris has been married to her husband Douglas Emhoff, a lawyer, for the past six years. She is the stepmother of two children, Ella and Cole. In her mighty speech Harris affirmed that she’s here to stay and pave the way for the future women. She said, “But while I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”

exceed $20bn between India and the US, which will in turn reduce India’s dependence on Moscow for purchase of armaments. Arun Singh, former Indian ambassador to the US, said: “There’s a general sense in the US that China has emerged as a rival in military as well as in the technological field.

“The policies towards China are unlikely to go back to what it used to be in 2014-15. Towards the end of the Obama administration, there was talk of an Asia rebalance or pivot, so the focus will remain.”

However, free trade agreement between the two countries will take some time.

Biden and the UK Former US President Barack Obama had appealed to the UK to stay in the EU. Biden resonated the same sentiment and tweeted last month: “"We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit."

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "MPs backed the UK Internal Market Bill by 340 votes to 263 in September and our position remains that the clauses are a vital safety net.” According to Biden, Nato is critical. He also

between the US and the UK. In an interview with the Associated Press, Boris Johnson said: "There is far more that unites the government of this country and government in Washington any time, any stage, than divides us."

What’s next for Biden?

Biden’s tragic family history and his own brush with death are reasons enough for him to put greater emphasis on health when his term begins as the President.

“China has grown in power and tensions have increased between the two superpowers. Europe is not the same since Brexit and the rise of populist parties.

Vladimir Putin has become increasingly meddlesome not least with regards to American democracy,” The Sky reported, underlining the challenges for Biden in the near future.

Meanwhile, incumbent President Trump is yet to accept defeat and vacate White House for bidden. "From this House to the White House with the Grace of God," Biden wrote in black pen on a wall of the living room behind a picture, signing his name and adding the date, "11-3-2020". The time has come.

Joe Biden with his family

indicated that if Iran returns to “strict compliance” then the US will rejoin the UK and others in the nuclear deal. The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) is due in Glasgow next year. Biden is said to be sure to rejoin the Paris Climate Change agreement to lower global average temperatures. UK PM Boris Johnson cited climate change as one of the “shared priorities”

What happens if Trump doesn’t accept defeat?

Ex-Republican congressman Mr Coleman told the Telegraph that for over 200 years, no one has been forcibly removed from office, but if Trump doesn’t concede defeat, the country needs to prepare for the unthinkable. He said, “But we do not live in normal times, and Trump if certainly not a normal president.”

RECORDS MADE AND BROKEN •

American voters set a new record for early votes, casting a new whopping 101 million pre-election ballots. The country witnessed the highest voter turnout in more than 100 years.

• So far 148 million votes have been tallied, with Democrat Joe Biden winning more than 75 million - the highest number for a presidential candidate in history. Trump received more than 70 million - the highest total for a losing candidate.

CONGRATULATORY TWEETS • UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson: "Congratulations to Joe Biden on his election as President of the United States and Kamala Harris on her historic achievement. The US is our most important ally and I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities, from climate change to trade and security."

• Indian PM Narendra Modi : “ Congratulations Joe Biden on your spectacular victory! As the VP, your contribution to strengthening Indo-US relations was critical and invaluable. I look forward to working closely together once again to take India-US relations to greater heights.”

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Lord Ranger appeals to Imran Khan to reconsider ETPB’s decision on Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib LONDON: A controversy has erupted when the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), recently declared a non-Sikh body — Project Management Unit (PMU) — incharge of the administrative control of the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib.

Amidst heightened tension over the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan last year, the two countries decided to open the corridor that links Dera Baba Sahib in Gurdaspur (India) with Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib (Pakistan).

A British Sikh Peer and Chair of the British Sikh Association in the UK, Lord Rami Ranger CBE is therefore appealing to Imran Khan, the current Prime Minister of Pakistan to reconsider this decision made by the ETPB. The linking of the corridor was an initiative for the people by the people of the community because the place holds sacred value for Sikhs as this is the final resting place of their faith’s founder Guru Nanak Dev, who spent the last 18 years of his life in Kartarpur.

The change of administration hasn’t gone well with India and has been termed as “highly condemnable” and against the spirit of the Kartarpur Corridor. The Shiromani Akali Dal has termed Pakistan’s decision as “a grave attack on fundamental rights of Sikh minority in Pakistan.”

Lord Rami Ranger

However, Satwant Singh, president PSGPC said, “The ETPB never makes any plan regarding gurdwaras without discussing with us.

The PSGPC wants control over religious affairs and we have that. It has always been like that. Nothing has changed.”

Lord Rami Ranger said, “I’m saddened by the decision taken by the government of Pakistan to take over the control of the management of the Sikh Gurdwaras throughout the country. As we all agree and understand, Gurdwaras like other places of worship are respected and adorned as ‘Houses of God’. They are central to our faith as are Mosques to Islam; there is no exception to the Sikh religion.

The Gurdwara is held with the highest of reverence. Its management should be by the local Sikh communities. Removing this right not only hurts the sentiments of

the Sikhs in Pakistan and across the world, but it also has direct repercussions by detrimentally affecting the confidence and trust of minorities, as their legitimate rights to manage their place of worship are stripped away from them, this is an abrogation of their fundamental human rights.

“I will appeal to the Honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan to reconsider his government’s decision and allow the public to manage their religious affairs according to their traditions. “Diversity in a country must be accepted, respected and also celebrated as there is phenomenal strength in diversity. In all progressive countries, there are laws against discrimination of every kind. No country can progress whilst systematically discriminating against a section of her own population based on religion, race

or gender.

“More importantly, it is never in the interest of any government to get involved in the religious affairs of her citizens as religious sentiments can be hurt inadvertently. “As Pakistan is not a secular country where religious equality is enshrined in her constitution, this move has caused even more suspicion and mistrust in the minds of people against the government, which to the contrary has been doing a great deal for the Sikhs starting from the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor. Such illthought-out plans by the government of Pakistan will, unfortunately, detract from all the good it has done for the Sikh community.”

Lord Rami Ranger, a Sikh by birth, visited Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur Gurdwara with his wife in November 2019 along with other 176 delegates from the UK to celebrate Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary. Lord Ranger’s father, Sardar Nanak Singh, who was a freedom fighter, had given his life to unite the Hindus and Muslims during the 1947 partition. The British Sikh Association signed a memorandum of understanding with Pakistan’s multinational company Hashoo Group in 2019 to develop infrastructure for the Kartarpur corridor.

The MoU was signed by Lord Rami Ranger, on behalf of the association, and Murtaza

Haswani, deputy chairman of the Hashoo Group, at an event in parliament organised by Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi.

Citing this move as “targeting of human rights”, the Ministry of External Affairs, India said, "This unilateral decision by Pakistan is highly condemnable and runs against the spirit of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor as also the religious sentiments of the Sikh community at large." Reacting to this statement, the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan issued a statement and said, "Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and fallacious propaganda by the Indian government against the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor.”

President of Shiromani Akali Dal, Sukhbir Singh Badal also urged the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to take up this issue with Pakistan and ensure restoration of status quo."This is also against the "maryada" (code of conduct) associated with Sikh shrines," Badal added.

Meanwhile, according to the latest development, India has summoned a Pakistani diplomat over the Kartarpur issue. The Pakistan diplomat was seen arriving at South Block in Delhi after being summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) over the said issue, news agency ANI reported. The corridor was shut in March in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bangladesh opens it’s first religious Indo-Kenyan Scholarship for IIT Students school for transgender people DHAKA: The Transgender community is now officially recognised as a third gender in Bangladesh. They will now be able to study Islamic and vocational subjects free of cost at a privately funded madrassa in the capital, Dhaka.

They will also have the right to vote and participate in elections, but the orthodox society still makes their education and job seeking processes difficult. According to the gov-

ernment of the country, there are about 10,000 hijras (South Asian word for Transgender people). However the actual number is said to be more than 50, 000.

According to the BBC, School officials, local councillors and hijra community leaders attended the opening day at the Dawatul Koran Third Sex Madrassa, which

China seizes 150 hectares of Nepal In a recent report published by the Telegraph, the Himalayan nation’s politicians alleged that China has seized 150 hectares of Nepal. This has triggered the beginning of a heightened Chinese aggression along the border. Chinese allegedly began seizing Nepali land in five frontier districts in May, sending members of its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) across undefended areas of the border, Telegraph reported.

It is being reported that in Humla districts, PLA troops had crossed the border into the Limi Valley and Hilsa by moving stone pillars which were previously demarcating the boundary. The Daily Telegraph claims to have seen images of the bases.

“Why should China come over into Nepal, when China is already sixty times the size of our small country?” Telegraph quoted Jivan Bahadur Shahi, a lawmaker in the Nepali Congress Party.

is near Lohar bridge in the Kamrangirchar area of Dhaka. Classes in the three-storey building began last Saturday.

Indian surgeon conferred with honorary fellowship in Sri Lanka Dr P Raghu Ram, President of Association of Surgeons of India (ASI) and Director of KIMS - Ushalakshmi Centre for Breast Diseases was conferred with the Honorary Fellowship of the College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka (Hon. FCSSL) during the virtual Inaugural Ceremony at the 49th Annual Sri Lanka Surgical Congress. The Honorary Fellowship is the highest recognition and honour that is bestowed by the Sri Lankan Surgical College to a select few distinguished surgeons worldwide.

A perpetual scholarship for successful, underprivileged applicants commencing in 2020 at IIT-Bombay has been established by the legacy of late Mr. Shantilal Mohanlal Shah. Moreover, a similar ten-year Scholarship has also been established at IIT-Delhi.

Late Mr. S M Shah migrated to Kenya from India in 1923 when he was 18 years old.

His mother had passed away at a very young age, with responsibility on his father who was a headmaster in Porbandar (Gujrat), to raise six children. Upon encouragement from well-wishers, his father sent him as the eldest child to Africa with a view of earning money to support the family resulting in him not able to complete his matriculation. After arriving in Kenya, he settled in Thompson’s Falls. Without any educational qualifications, he could not land himself a job. He therefore had to strike out on his own. Amidst great hardship, he gradually expanded into multiple business enterprises and became very successful. He retired in Bhavnagar, India and spent the last twenty years of his life in altruistic endeavours to benefit the poorest members of the society. His motto was Service to

Mankind is Service to God and Utilise wealth for maximum benefit for maximum number of people.

IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi are one of the premiere institutions in the world and the Trustees of late Mr. S M Shah hope that the scholarship will enable the brightest minds from an underprivileged background to get the best education, excel in life and support other deserving students in the future. Prof.

Suhas Joshi, Dean Alumni & Corporate Relations of IIT Bombay, said “We truly appreciate this thoughtful contribution from the S.M. Shah Trust. The Scholarship instituted will definitely help in supporting the studies of a needy deserving student.

The impact of such scholarship will definitely inspire many. We strongly believe that this is the beginning of a long-standing relationship between the SM Shah Trust and IIT Bombay.” Prof. Naveen Garg, Dean Alumni Affairs at IIT Delhi mentioned, “We are grateful to the trustees of Late Mr S M Shah that they have chosen IIT Delhi to institute these scholarships. We hope that students who benefit from these scholarships will continue Mr Shah’s legacy of servicing mankind.”

Indian origin woman bags a role in a key UN committee NEW YORK: An Indian candidate has been elected to a key UN committee in a cut throat competitive race. A career diplomat who is currently posted as the first secretary in the permanent mission of India to the UN in New York, Vidisha Maitra has been elected to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) by 126 votes to 64 votes. Vidisha Maitra was elected for the role being the only candidate from India, competing with one candidate from Iraq in the Asia Pacific Group. As India gears up to start its two-year membership as a non-permanent member at

the UN Security Council next year, this win is crucial. ACABQ performs several Vidisha Maitra key functions, including the examination of the budget submitted by the UN Secretary General to the General Assembly, and advising the General Assembly on administrative and budgetary matters. The committee also plays a crucial role in ensuring that resources of member states are used effectively and that the UN’s mandates are properly funded.

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Journalist Arnab Goswami arrested in connection with a suicide case, denied bail by Bombay HC MUMBAI: Republic TV owner and editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami was arrested on Wednesday by Maharashtra Police from his home in connection with a 2018 suicide case, where an architect and his mother died by suicide over alleged non-payment of the architect’s fee by Goswami’s TV channel for a project.

Anvay Naik, a Mumbai based interior designer was found dead along with his mother Kumud Naik in his Alibaug home in May 2018. After the post-mortem the police said that it was indicated that Anvay had committed suicide but his mother was strangulated. She did not commit suicide. It is believed by the Police that Anvay killed his own mother by strangulating her before committing suicide himself. His mother’s body was found on the ground floor of his house on the sofa, and he was found hanging on the first floor by his caretaker. The reason of Goswami’s arrest as stated by the Police is that Anvay had left a suicide note behind, stating that he took this extreme step because the owners of three companies hadn’t cleared their dues with Anvay. He named Arnab Goswami of Republic TV, Feroz Shaikh of IcastX/Skimedia and Niteish Sarda of Smartworks in his suicide note.

“The three firms owed Naik’s company, Concorde Designs Pvt

Arnab Goswami

Ltd, Rs 83 lakh, Rs 4 crore and Rs 55 lakh respectively, the note added,” the Indian Express reported. Arnab had allegedly denied the non-payment charges.

Anvay Naik’s wife Akshata told the reporters in a press conference, “My husband in his suicide note had mentioned three names but no action was taken against them. Arnab Goswami is behind my husband’s death and I request every single Indian not to help him. Maharashtra police’s action is justice for us,” she added.

Naik’s daughter Adnya said, “My father spent his money, energy, blood and sweat on the project. Despite all that, Goswami ensured my father did not get his dues. He continuously threatened my father saying that he will finish his career and my career.

Between February and March 2019 we had gone to Alibag police station to collect my father’s suicide note and chemical analysis report. The investigation officer Suresh Wadare asked us to sign a paper

Anvay Naik's wife and daughter

and when we read it we found that they had mentioned a line the paper which read ‘We have filed this complaint to take revenge and now we want to take our case back.’ I remember this line but not the entire content. After reading the paper, I tried to take a picture of that which the officer opposed and then he tore the page and asked us to leave.”

“On my father’s death anniversary on May 5, 2020, we decided to raise our voice for justice and we uploaded some videos. Few days later Republic issued a statement on their Twitter handle saying that police had filed a closure report in this case. It is then that we came to know that our case has been closed. The investigation was botched up earlier,” Adnya added.

Arnab is now in custody until November 18. His lawyers have been pushing for bail to no respite from the Bombay High Court. In their statement on Wednesday, Goswami and Republic TV said: "It is shocking that a case that was decisively

closed has been reopened with the sole purpose of misusing power, concocting facts and forcefully arresting Arnab Goswami in a prima facie act of revenge and vengeance for his news coverage which questioned those in power in the state of Maharashtra."

Supporting Goswami, and resenting his arrest, Indian Home Minister Amit Shah called the arrest an "attack on free press." "Congress and its allies have shamed democracy once again," he said. "Blatant misuse of state power against Republic TV & Arnab Goswami is an attack on individual freedom and the 4th pillar of democracy ... This attack on free press must be and will be opposed,” Shah tweeted.

On his arrest, Arnab claimed in a video to Republic TV that he was assaulted, dragged and taken into custody by the police without being given the time to wear footwear (he was only wearing socks). Bar and Bench reported, “A fresh FIR is registered against Arnab Goswami, his wife Samyabrata Goswami, his son and two unknown persons for allegedly obstructing police officers from carrying out their duties, more specifically for assaulting female police officers carrying on their duty.

When Priyanca Radhakrishnan spoke Malayalam in New Zealand Parliament NEW ZEALAND: Priyanca Radhakrishnan, 41, became New Zealand's first-ever Indianorigin minister last week. Soon after that, an old video of her addressing the country's Parliament in Malayalam went viral on social media.

In the video, Radhakrishanan, who has her roots in the Indian state of Kerala said, "Mr Speaker, I

believe that it's the first time my mother tongue, Malayalam, has been spoken in this house." The video is from a parliament session from November 2017.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri shared the three-year-old video on Twitter Thursday. He said, “Doing India proud, the Indian origin minister in New Zealand @priyancanzlp addresses her country's parliament in

Malayalam.” Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also tweeted: "It gives us immense happiness to learn that Priyanca Radhakrishnan (@priyancanzlp) became the first-ever Indian-origin minister of New Zealand.

The Labour party leader has her roots in Kerala. On behalf of the people of the State, we extend our Priyanca Radhakrishnan warmest greetings. (sic).”

Amuriat to 7-year-old girl becomes the campaign ‘World’s Youngest Author’ and without shoes ‘Grand Master’ in writing

UGANDA: As a way of expressing resentment and discontent over security forces brutality against the opposition, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate Patrick Oboi Amuriat said that he will campaign without putting on shoes.

The election campaigns will run for 60 days. This decision came after his arrest on Tuesday when he was on his way to Kyambogo for his nomination. Amuriat was brutally arrested from his party headquarters in Najjanankumbi by security operatives who later drove and dropped him to the nomination centre without shoes. “I have not seen my shoes because they have been taken away by police, for now, I can say that they became a police property and because of the force and torture that the police force meted on me, I’m going to campaign without shoes,” he added.

UTTAR PRADESH: Seven-year-old Abhijita Gupta, who belongs to the third generation of the renowned poet duo Rashtrakavi Maithilisharan Gupta and Santkavi Shri Siyaramsharan Gupta, has become the world’s youngest author and Grand Master in writing. Abhijita Gupta was recognised as the world’s youngest author by the International Book of Records, while the Asia Book of Records has conferred on her title of ‘Grandmaster in Writing.’

Abhijita’s book, titled “Happiness All Around,” is an anthology of short stories and poems with illustrations acclaimed globally.

Abhijita is currently a student of Class 2, who started writing at the age of five. She wrote diligently during the Covid-19 lockdown. Her father Ashish Gupta is a

Abhijita Gupta

chartered accountant by profession, and mother Anupriya is an engineer- turnedentrepreneur. She lives in Ghaziabad with her parents. Abhijita’s book “Happiness All Around” has been published by Invincible Publishers and is available on Kindle. Her next book will talk about Covid-19 and its effect on children.

in brief 22 IIT GUWAHATI FACULTY MEMBERS MAKE IT TO WORLD’S TOP LIST OF SCIENTISTS GUWAHATI: In a list of “World’s Top Scientists” created by Stanford University of the USA, twenty two faculty members and researchers from IIT Guwahati have made it to the list. This list is drafted by experts at Stanford with more than 1,00,000 scientists on it who publish research manuscripts after working on projects in their respective fields.

IIT Guwahati faculty members featured in the list are from the Departments of Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Chemical Engineering, Biosciences and Bioengineering, Chemistry, Electrical and Electronics.

TECHNOLOGY WILL PLAY A KEY ROLE IN THE POSTCOVID WORLD, SAYS PM MODI DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently joined the 51st annual convocation of IIT Delhi in a virtual chat and expressed how technology will play a key role in the post-coved world, and that world will be very different. "India is fully committed to giving its youth ease of doing business so that the youth through their innovation can bring about a change in the lives of crores of people of the country. The country will give you ease of doing business but you do one thing, through your expertise, experience, talent and innovation, ensure ease of living for the poorest of the poor citizens. Your work will give global recognition to our products. Your efforts will lead to swifter recognition of Indian products,” PM Modi said.

FAMILY OF 5 COMMITS SUICIDE DUE TO FINACIAL ISSUES ASSAM: A family of five was found dead in Assam’s Kokrajhar district last Sunday.

According to media reports, financial problems drove a man, his wife and three daughters to commit suicide. 45-year-old Nirmal Paul, used to run a cooking gas subagency and allegedly owed around ₹25-30 lakh to banks and local moneylenders. He was unable to pay his monthly instalments for the past few months. Nirmal’s wife, Mallika was 40. His eldest daughter Puja (25) was a science graduate and used to teach at a private school. The other two daughters attended local school.

TAMIL NADU WINS NATIONAL WATER AWARDS 2019 TAMIL NADU: The state of Tamil Nadu has won the first prize in the National Water Awards for the year 2019. Besides this, the TN government has won six more prizes in different categories. The awards were presented during a two-day virtual ceremony on November 11 and 12 in the presence of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Rattan Lal Kataria and Union Minister of Environment Prakash Javadekar. On behalf of the Tamil Nadu government, PWD Secretary K Manivasan will be receiving the first prize in the National Water Awards. During the National Water Awards 2019 ceremony, 98 awards will be presented in 16 different categories -- Best State, Best District, Best Village Panchayat, Best Urban Local Body, Best Research/ Innovation/ New Technology, Best Education/ Mass Awareness effort, Best TV show, Best Newspaper, Best School, Best Institution/ RWA/ Religious Organisation, Best Industry, Best Water Regulatory Authority, Best Water Warrior, Best NGO, Best Water User Association, and Best Industry for CSR Activity.

Each of the categories has sub-categories in different zones of the country.

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How Indian-Americans fared You can now send and receive money via WhatsApp in India in the US Elections 2020 A total of 35 IndianAmerican candidates became a significant part of the US Elections 2020. There were 19 Democrats and 8 Republicans.

The winning names are as follows: Pramila Jayapal (US Congress), Ami Bera (US Congress), Raja Krishnamoorthi (US Congress), Ro Khanna (US Congress), Nima Kulkarni (e House)Ky, Jenifer Rajukmar (New York State Assembly), Kesha Ram (Vermont State Senate), Vandana Slatter (Washington State House), Padma Kuppa (Michigan State House), Niraj Antani (Ohio State House),

Pramila Jayapal

Raja Krishnamoorthi

Jay Chaudhuri (North Carolina State Senate), Amish Shah (Arizona State House), Nikhil Saval (Pennsylvania State Senate), Ranjeev Puri (Michigan state House), Jeremy Cooney (New York State Senate) and Ash Kalra

(California State Assembly).

Around 20 Lakh IndianAmericans voted in the US Presidential Elections 2020.

According to News18, the estimated population of Indian-Americans in 2018 was 44 Lakhs (4.4Mn).

PM Modi hails NDA's victory in Bihar elections The results of the 243 Assembly seats in Bihar, are out. Bihar assembly election results were declared on Tuesday night with the ruling NDA winning 116 seats (BJP 68, JDU 40, VIP 4, HAM 4) and the Mahagathbandhan won 105 seats (RJD 71, Congress 18, Left 16), leading ahead of the RJD-led Grand alliance.

According to the Election Commission, the NDA had won or was ahead in 124 seats, just above the majority mark of 122 for the 243-member Bihar assembly. While final results for more than 200 seats were declared, counting for the last few rounds continued till late night for the remaining seats.

Many exit polls had predicted a thumping victory for the RJD-led Grand alliance in Bihar predicting that Tejashwi Yadav will dethrone Nitish

PM Modi and Nitish Kumar

Kumar-led NDA alliance.

In a series of tweets, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed victory in the Bihar polls, the official result for which is yet to be declared. "Young people in Bihar have made it clear that this new decade will be for Bihar and self-sufficient Bihar is its roadmap," PM Modi tweeted.

"The youth of Bihar have relied on their strength and resolve of the NDA. This youthful energy has now encouraged the NDA to work harder than before.

Every voter in Bihar has clearly stated that he or she is an aspirant and priority is only and only development.

The blessings of the NDA's good governance again after 15 years in Bihar shows what Bihar's dreams are, what Bihar's expectations are," the prime minister added. "..We are satisfied that NDA got an opportunity to give new confidence to the mother power of Bihar in the past years. This confidence will give us strength in advancing Bihar".

Harsh Vardhan Shringla discusses extradition of Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya with Priti Patel India’s Foreign Service Officer Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who is serving as the 33rd and current Foreign Secretary of India met British Home Secretary Priti Patel in London to underline India’s interest in expediting the extradition of former Kingfisher Airlines Chief Vijay Mallya and fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi.

Mallya has completed the legal process for the extradition. During his visit, Shringla also interacted with UK Foreign Office Minister for South Asia, Lord Tariq Ahmad to discuss the issue of these economic offenders.

Pressed with charges of fraud and money laundering related to now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, Mallya has a case to answer in India by the UK courts.

Currently on bail, taking care of a “confidential” legal issue before the Home Secretary signs off on his extradition order.

Diamond merchant Nirav Modi who is accused of fraud and money laundering in the Punjab National Bank (PNB), is residing at Wandsworth Prison in London to fight his extradition to India at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Before visiting London, Shringla visited Paris and Berlin, holding meetings to cover issues that concern India-UK vaccine

Last Friday, after the National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI’s) permission, WhatsApp announced that its payments services in India are ready to start. In 2018, WhatsApp had started testing its UPI-based payment service in India in order to allow users to send

and receive money via the app. During that timeperiod testing was limited to about a million users as it waited for regulatory approvals to come in.

“Starting today, people across India will be able to send money through WhatsApp. This secure payments experience

makes transferring money just as easy as sending a message. People can safely send money to a family member or share the cost of goods from a distance without having to exchange cash in person or going to a local bank,” WhatsApp said in a blogpost.

With more than 400 million users, WhatsApp will now compete with Paytm, Google Pay, Walmart-owned PhonePe and Amazon Pay in India.

Here how you can start using WhatsApp Pay and how it will work: 1. You must first add a payment method by clicking on ‘payments’ from the three-dotted icon on the home screen to start using WhatsApp Pay. 2. You should select the bank and verify through SMS to set up a UPI ID. 3. You should select the ‘attachment’ icon and select ‘payment’ from chats to make payments.

4. You need to enter UPI PIN to complete the transaction.

5. WhatsApp has partnered with five leading banks in India including ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, the State Bank of India, and Jio Payments Bank.

6. “To send money on WhatsApp in India, it’s necessary to have a bank account and debit card in India. WhatsApp sends instructions to banks, also known as payment service providers, that initiate the transfer of money via UPI between sender and receiver bank accounts,” WhatsApp said.

7. You can also send money through WhatsApp to anyone who is using an app that supports UPI. 8. WhatsApp will make users enter UPI PIN for every payment to enhance security and privacy on the app. The company has said that “payments are designed with a strong set of security and privacy principles”.

9. WhatsApp Pay is available for all iOS and Android users.

10. You will need to update your app to get the new feature.

18-year old girl from Gujarat has the longest hair ever on a teenager GUJARAT: Nilanshi Patel is 18. Her hair is 2 metre long and that makes her the only teenager with the longest hair in the world in the Guinness Book of World Records. She has broken her own record which she made back in November 2018.

When Nilanshi made her records for the first time on Italian television show La Notte dei Record (The Night of Records) in 2018, her hair was 170.5 cm long, i.e. five feet seven inches. Following a bad experience with hair

Nilanshi Patel

dressers, Nilashi stopped cutting her hair from the age of six. "I got my hair cut, a really bad haircut. So,

then I decided that I won't cut my hair. I decided that when I was six and have not cut it since," she said.

Legal action likely against Harley Davidson Priti Patel and Harsh Vardhan Shringla

partnership in the post-coved-19 world and climate change. He also noted the backdrop of Brexit that will reset IndiaUK’s relationship.

"We are looking at early harvest deals, which would bring benefits to both our countries, followed by a more detailed, either preferential trade agreement or a free trade agreement. Obviously, a limited deal means we work on those areas on which both sides can immediately agree to. We need more time to conclude a more comprehensive trade agreement but our ministers are in touch and will work on trying to close such a deal. We are also looking at a similar deal at the EU level, but bilateral agreement is always different from an agreement with a group,” Shringla said.

A leading law firm AZB & Partners has been hired by a group of dealers to file a case against the American motorcycle brand HarleyDavidson Inc. after it exited the market as a part of a resting plan. In a press conference organised by The Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) in India, Rishi Aggarwal, a dealer said, “Harley has to compensate us for our losses. That is the only bone of contention. AZB is studying the case.”

The annual sales of the company became half and

reached 2,470 motorcycles in FY19-20 from 4,641 units in five years. India is one of the leading motorbike and scooter markets of the

world yet the company had to make a planned exit which was inevitable.

Harley-Davidson hasn’t commented on this move, yet.

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Amit Shah lunches with the Adivasis and Matua community in West Bengal WEST BENGAL: Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited West Bengal on a two-day trip to begin his quest to campaign in Kolkata since Bihar elections are done and dusted. Mr Shah’s agenda for West Bengal seems to be perfectly laid out in his attempt to gain a vote of confidence from Adivasis and scheduled caste voters. The Home Minister had two lunches, one at an Adivasi household, another at a Matua (scheduled caste) home. Shah was quoted by The Quint saying that the “death knell had been rung for the Mamata Banerjee government”.

Amit Shah

Shah started his visit by visiting Bankura district and paid a floral tribute to the statue of Birsa Munda, a tribal icon. He then went out to lunch with the Adivasis and relished a quintessential Bengali lunch that comprised rice, roti, dal, aloo post and five types of dried vegetables. The next day, he visited the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple,

and met Bengali music maestro Ajoy Chakraborty, followed by lunch at a Matua household in Kolkata.

Critiquing Mamata Banerjee’s legislation and blockage of over 80 schemes by the central government that are meant for Dalits and adivasis, Amit Shah said, “In the state’s Adivasi sector like

Bankura, neither has the money granted for their houses reached the people, nor have the 6,000 for farmers been granted to them.

Every poor man is supposed to get 5 lakh rupees insurance, that has not reached them either.”

However, on the eve of Shah’s visit, West Bengal Chief Minister

Senior Journalist Uday Mahurkar has been appointed as Information Commissioner in Govt of India Senior Deputy Editor and eminent author Uday Mahurkar has been appointed as Information Commissioner in Govt of India by His Excellency the President Shri Ramnath Kovind on the recommendation of the Narendra Modi Government. Mr Mahurkar is all set to take over this prestigious position after a glorious career of 33 years with India Today Magazine.

After covering all the major beats of journalism for three decades , Mr Mahurkar’s journalistic experience will prove to be a boon for his new position of semi-judicial nature which deals with implementation of the Right to Information Act. Mr Mahurkar has written two books on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

One on : Modi’s 13 year

Mr Mahurkar with PM Narendra Modi

tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister titled “ Centrestage: Inside the Narendra Modi model of Governance’ and second book titled “ Marching with a Billion “ on PM Modi’s three years as PM, which was released at the Rashtrapati Bhavan by Lok Sabha speaker and late Union Minister of Finance

Shri Arun Jetley in the presence of the then President Shri Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari.

The book was endorsed by former French President Francois Hollande, Prime MInister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh and Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy amongst others.

PM Modi inaugurates the Ghogha-Hazira Ro-Pax route Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Ghogha-Hazira Ro-Pax route on Sunday in a virtual meet.

This is the second time that the state has received a ferry after the first one arrived three years ago for the Ghoga-Dahej route which is now dysfunctional. The service was launched to provide a sea route to a

large number of passengers traveling to and fro between Bhavnagar and

South Gujarat.

This sea route is comparatively shorter than the road. This route is 60km-long and provides easy access to Surat. By road, the same route is about 400Km long. This project is worth Rs 650 Crore and for the second route, the terminal of Hazira has been given on lease by Adani Hazira Port Pvt Ltd for Re 1 a month for 11 months.

Mamata Banerjee announced land rights for 25,000 refugee families.

Grants worth Rs 10 Cr and 5 Cr were announced for Matua Board and Development Namashudra Development Board respectively.

Matua is a sect of folk Hinduism without a chaturvarna

system . The movement was launched as a reformation by the followers of Harichand Thakur.

Born to a peasant family belonging to the Namahśūdras community, Thakur attained atmadarshan at an early age and would subsequently preach his Darshan in Twelve Directives. Namashudra, also known as Namassej or Namassut, is an avarna community originating from southern and central Bengal. The community was earlier known as Chandala or Chandal, a term usually considered as a slur. They were traditionally engaged in cultivation and as boatmen.

The population of these communities is now estimated to be around 3 crore in the state with the influence of six parliamentary seats. Hence they are the prime vote bank for politicians to win the state elections.

Obituary Dr Satindar Nath Ganju ( 1st May 1927- 7th November 2020 ) Dr Satinder Ganju was born in Srinagar, Kashmir and attended Benares Hindu University to study pharmacy. He then obtained his PhD from the pharmacy department of Chelsea College in London (now part of King’s College London) before returning to India to establish a pharmaceutical manufacturing company in Pune. In 1959 he married Dr Durga Kaul and they had two daughters, Anita and Pamposh.

In 1971 the family moved to the UK and took up residence in Luton. He established a successful chemical business based on import of lavender oil from Kashmir. His wife Durga practised as a General practitioner and a successful surgery in Luton.

Over the five decades Dr Ganju dedicated himself to the Kashmiri pandit community in the UK.He was president of the Kashmiri Pandit Association for many years. Determined that its cultural and linguistic heritage should be passed on to

the diaspora he set up Kasmiri Cultural Centre in Luton with the support of Luton Council and Lottery Fund. The centre would hold annual cultural festivals, teach Kashmiri language and music to children. He motivated the Kashmiri community of all religious faiths to live and promote together Kashmiri culture by holding ‘get togethers’ as well as music festivals.He encouraged the Community to remain in touch with Kashmir valley. He himself would visit the valley almost every year even during the days when valley faced serious disruptions.

He provided support to Kashmiri migrants and helped to build shelter in refugee camps in Jammu and Srinagar. On learning of his passing many tributes have been paid by those who knew him. He is survived by his daughters and 5 grandchildren; his wife having predeceased him.

Gujarati columnist Father Carlos Gonzalez Valles SJ passes away Veteran author and Gujarati columnist Father Carlos Gonzalez Valles SJ, popularly known as Father Valles passed away on Monday, November 9. He was 95 and breathed his last in Spain. A Jesuit priest born in Spain, he was a Mathematics teacher in Gujarat. He wrote extensively in Gujarati, English and Spanish. He translated many mathematical concepts into Gujarati and coined terms for them. Father Valles was a dear friend of our PublisherEditor CB Patel and a close ally of the ABPL Group.

Remembering Rabbi Lord Sacks Rabbi Lord Sacks was a world-class teacher, scholar and leader. He led the British Jewish community as Chief Rabbi for 22 years, and during that time and after, became a hugely respected figure not only at a national level but arguably the preeminent religious communicator of his age. A man of exceptional intellect, dazzling oratory and warm compassion, he left his mark not only on his own community but also on millions of followers and admirers.

He was a passionate advocate of strong inter-faith relations through his

writing, broadcasts and activities. He was a friend of the British Indian community, and hosted events as Chief Rabbi to cement the relationship between the Jewish and Indian communities. As interfaith week 2020 begins, we should be inspired by the beauty of his teachings about the dignity of difference. His moral leadership will inspire many in the years to come.

We send our condolences to his family, the Jewish community and all those whose lives he touched.

• British Indian Jewish Association

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Pfizer vaccine 90 per cent effective Pfizer Inc announced on Monday its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective, a major breakthrough in the global fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE BNTX.O are the first drugmakers to release successful data from a large-scale clinical trial of a vaccine. The pharmaceutical giants said they have so far found no serious safety concerns and expect to seek US authorization this month for emergency use of the vaccine.

Pfizer chairman and chief executive, Albert Bourla said, “Today is a great day for science and humanity. We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing overcapacity and economies struggling to reopen.” If authorized, the number of doses of the vaccine will initially be limited and many questions remain, including how long the vaccine will provide protection.

Pfizer shares were indicated 14.2 per cent higher in pre-market trading New York, while BioNTech's stock was up nearly 23 per cent in Frankfurt. Chief market analyst at Markets.com, Neil Wilson was quoted by reports as saying, “Light at the end of the tunnel. Let's just hope the vaccine deniers won't get in the way, but 2021 just got a lot brighter.” Shares of other vaccine developers in the final stage of testing also rose with Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N up 4% in pre-market trading and Moderna MRNA.O 7.4% stronger. Britain's AstraZeneca AZN.L was down 0.5%.

US President Donald Trump was ecstatic about the test results, and the market boost. He tweeted, “STOCK MARKET UP BIG, VACCINE COMING SOON. REPORT 90% EFFECTIVE. SUCH GREAT NEWS!” Pfizer now expects to seek broad US authorization for emergency use of the vaccine for people aged 16 to 85. To do so, it

Shefali Saxena

will need two months of safety data from about half the study's 44,000 participants, which is expected late this month. One of his top vaccine scientists, Bill Gruber said in an interview, “I'm near ecstatic. This is a great day for public health and for the potential to get us all out of the circumstances we're now in.”

Both Pfizer and BioNTech have a $1.95 billion contract with the US government to deliver 100 million vaccine doses beginning this year. They have also arrived on supply agreements with the European Union, the UK, Canada and Japan. Pfizer said it would continue the trial until there are 164 COVID-19 cases among participants.

UK government to rollout plan for Vitamin D supplements : Report If media reports are to be believed, the UK government is said to be finalising a rollout plan for Vitamin D to be distributed among the most vulnerable groups as emerging science suggests it plays an important role in cutting the risk of death from COVID-19. Ministers are believed to be drawing plans for four-month supplies of the vitamin to be delivered directly to the elderly at care home residents in England and those Prime Minister Boris Johnson had told the House of Commons recently, “We are indeed looking at the possible beneficial effects of Vitamin D, and... we will be updating the House shortly.” UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs last month, “I have asked the scientists to look once again at the impact of Vitamin D on resistance and immunity. There has been some updated evidence that has

come to light in the past few weeks, and I want to ensure that it is fully taken into account.”

Vitamin D supplements will be delivered to more than two million clinically extremely vulnerable people along with all care home residents, across England. The supplies are intended to last throughout the winter months, when the National Health Service (NHS)

already recommends that people should consider taking the vitamin.

A media report quoted a senior government source as saying, “We are going to make sure those most in need of Vitamin D can access a free supply over the winter months. Some studies suggest Vitamin D supplementation could have a positive impact for people suffering with COVID-19.”

Virus not tired of us : WHO chief The World Health Organization (WHO) chief called upon countries to keep fighting the Coronavirus, warning that while we may be sick of the fight, the virus is not. Speaking to the WHO main annual assembly, Dr Tedors Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was vital for people to follow the science and resist the urge to turn a blind eye to the virus. "We might be tired of COVID-19. But it is not tired of us," he said. He also warned that the virus preys on weakness.

He said, “It preys on those in weaker health, but it preys on other weaknesses too: inequality, division, denial, wishful thinking and wilful ignorance. We cannot negotiate with it, nor close our eyes and hope it goes away. It pays no heed to political rhetoric or conspiracy theories. Our only hope is science, solutions, and sol-

‘The power of community cannot be underestimated’

eroded by the “creeping tides of misguided nationalism and isolationism.”

He added, “In that spirit, we congratulate President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and we look forward to working with their administration very closely.”

Biden's victory signals a welcome change from Tedros Adhanom President Donald Trump's harsh rhetoric. He has idarity.” Dr Tedros also welcomed already announced that his the outcome of the US election, administration will reverse hailing Joe Biden's victory. He said Trump's decision to withdraw the he hoped the win could signal United States from the UN health tighter global cooperation to end agency. “We need to reimagine the pandemic. leadership, built on mutual trust Dr Tedros warned that the and mutual accountability, to end pandemic had highlighted the the pandemic and address the funneed for the world to recapture a damental inequalities that lie at “sense of common purpose”, the root of so many of the world’s which in recent years has been problems,” Tedros said.

Dr Rupa Joshi

Dr Rupa Joshi has been a GP for 19 years and practices in Berkshire. She is a Co-Clinical Director of her Primary Care Network and Workforce Development lead for Berkshire West.

She has a keen interest in Lifestyle Medicine, Coaching and Quality Improvement in patient care. She is part of the 'Time for Care' faculty (part of NHS England and NHS Improvement) and is also a member of the Primary Care Network Clinical Director board for NHS Confederation. Asian Voice spoke to Dr Joshi in the light of the festive week and the measure we need to take as a community in the postCovid world.

1. How do you think the existing lifestyle of the Asian community can contribute in preparing for the post pandemic world?

Lifestyle plays a huge role in our health and well-being, and can be classified into 5 ‘pillars’: Nutrition, Movement, Relaxation, Sleep and Social Connection.

A good tip is to write the colours on your fridge and tick them off as you eat. Reducing sugar, saturated fat and switching to a whole grain diet are also beneficial (Moving to brown flour/ bread, brown rice, brown pasta). Healthy fats include olive oil, avocado, linseeds (flax) and walnuts. Some traditional staple ‘treats’ should be just that (Indian sweets, samosas, fried foods like pakoras and bhajis etc.) It’s all about moderation, not do’s and don’ts so treats are fine once or twice a week and on special occasions.

The power of community cannot be underestimated and whether it is through a social club or a place of worship, these networks give great comfort to many and can be invaluable to make sure that word gets around in terms of helping the most vulnerable, online exercise classes, or making sure that everyone knows about something important like the local flu campaign. Please ensure you have your flu vaccination if you are in an at risk group.

2. People with existing lifestyle diseases are more prone to the virus and many unforeseen medical conditions that may arise as a result of the pandemic. Please make our readers understand this concept.

The pandemic has highlighted health inequalities in BAME populations. Statistics have shown a higher rate of infection and poorer prognosis for those diagnosed with Covid-19. There are theories that higher rates of infection might be due to the increased likelihood of people living in urban areas, occupational hazards, deprivation and the number of members in households.

Some people are at higher risk of complications due to certain conditions. The government will have sent a personal letter to you if you are in this category. Those at moderate risk are: over 70’s, people with severe lung conditions, heart disease (e.g. heart failure), chronic kidney disease, liver disease, neurological diseases, people taking steroids, those with a BMI of over 40 and pregnant ladies.

In essence, eat well (as above), sleep early, move or exercise daily, connect with others and make sure you can switch off when you need to. All these practices will help to control inflammation in the body and ensure our immune systems are working as well as they can and reduce the burden and risk of these conditions.

3. Since many companies have now declared that work from home will be a part of the future work culture, how do you think one must alter their lifestyle to maintain a healthy life?

Working from home can suit some people but doesn’t always suit everyone. On the one hand the stresses of commuting and the time it takes disappear, but not everyone finds working from home easy.

Making sure that you have a separate space or room for work is important. You don’t want to be distracted - very easy when you’re at home, particularly if the rest of the family are at home interrupting your video calls!

There are 4 types of exercise; cardiovascular, strength or resistance training, flexibility and balance. The recommendations are 150 minutes of moderate intensity walking or other aerobic activity per week if possible. Strength and balance exercises are particularly helpful in the elderly as falls prevention. Over the pandemic, we have seen a greater incidence of muscle wasting which has led to complaints of more pain from knee and hip osteoarthritis. Standing on one leg, or using ankle weights to do lifts and stretching are a good way to gain flexibility and strength.

4. How much does mental health contribute to a healthy lifestyle? What according to you are some key signs that one must not ignore?

Key signs not to ignore: • constant feeling of sadness or feeling tearful • feelings of hopelessness or morbid thoughts like those of suicide • friends or relatives saying they are really worried about you • not being able to sleep or concentrate on the simplest things • not finding enjoyment in anything • loss of appetite coupled with any of the above 5. Give three pieces of advice to our readers on adapting to a new normal once the vaccine comes.

• Top tips in a post-Covid vaccine world would be: • Take nothing for granted. Use lifestyle measures to look after your own health and the health of your nearest and dearest, for coronavirus and beyond.

• Remember that each of our own actions affect the rest of society and we must work together. Stay in touch and value your friends and community by remembering the power of the social connection, look out for those who are most vulnerable and stay safe.

• To say the vaccine has been trialled and tested and we are expecting this to be effective, but just to make sure, it’s advisable to follow precautions such as washing hands.

28 ART & CULTURE

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Pakistan’s Best Kept Secret: Lahore Museum Documentary The documentary, ‘Pakistan’s Best Kept Secret: Lahore Museum’ documents the journeys of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and their shared history with the UK. The film features Anwar Akhtar, British Pakistani journalist and director of samosa media, in conversation with the Lahore Museum’s ex-director Sumera Samad, and playwright Shahid Nadeem (Ajoka Theatre Company).

According to the makers, Lahore Museum has a rich, ancient and varied collection

which demonstrates the historical wealth, religious and cultural plurality of Pakistan, one of the largest Muslim majority countries in the world, with large diasporic communities across the globe.

The film explores the significance of the Museum in Asia, but also in Britain today. Its collection tells stories of ancient cultures: Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Muslim histories, and

not shot like quintessential documentaries one might find on the internet. It is more like a virtual tour of the museum, with more explanations than screen time for artefacts. It may not make for a cinematic experience, but does open the pathways for numerous stories into your head, almost like an information explosion which you may want to note down on a diary as you watch. It is after-all a

commendable effort on the part those of empire, trade, the of the makers to put together arrival of the East India the legacy of the East India company, the contribution of Company, India and Pakistan.

British Indian soldiers in World The documentary is available to Wars I and II, the partition of watch for free on YouTube.

India, and the creation of Pakistan. It also gives some insight into life in Pakistan today.

“It struck me, watching this revealing film, that this Museum throws This documentary is a light not only onto thousands of beautiful and fascinating works of art, volcanic eruption of but also onto a body of thought, a concept of society, an ecumenical information about the vision and a long view that risks being erased by many forces in the shared history of South contemporary world.”

Asia with Britain, preserved – Dame Marina Warner, DBE, CBE, Professor of English and inside a museum in Lahore.

Creative Writing, Birkbeck It opens with the mention “The real star of the film is the museum itself, founded at the height of playwright Rudyard of the British Raj, with John Lockwood Kipling (father of Rudyard) as its father’s first curator. As the film’s title implies, it’s a museum which, if it were in Kipling’s contribution, and over a almost any other country, would enjoy worldwide fame.” span of 49 minutes, it talks – Edward Mortimer, author of Faith & Power: The Politics of Islam, about hundreds of untold former adviser to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and long-serving stories ranging from the program advisor to Salzburg Global Seminar discovery of Harappa & “The conversation…is, first and foremost, a pleasure to eavesdrop on.

Mohenjodaro and Indus All three protagonists seem to be having fun, to be enjoying the pursuit Valley Civilisation, the of serious questions in an extraordinary context. At the Lahore Museum, power of Pakistani women, showing a collection that reflects the serial transformations of this their contribution in visual complex country poses thorny problems of identity and ownership. arts and politics and the Pakistan’s relatively recent acquisition, in contrast to its long and fluid division of Indian and history, of an apparently monolithic religious identity, makes the Pakistani army post museum’s address to a richly diverse past more difficult and more partition who belonged to essential.” the same regiment.

– Dr Jim Harris, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Teaching Curator, This documentary is Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Sampad South Asian Arts & Heritage and Birmingham University create a digital concert for Diwali Sampad South Asian Arts & Heritage in association with the University of Birmingham India Institute, created an exclusive digital concert.

Based on the “Spirit of Diwali '' the concert was streamed online on Sampad’s YouTube channel from Wednesday 11 November and The University of Birmingham’s YouTube channel from 7pm on Saturday 14 November. The concert was narrated by Reena Tailor (Bollywood and Kathak dancer and Artistic Director of Bollywood Dreams Dance Academy), Vimal Korpal (stage, television and film actor and radio presenter) and Dharmesh Rajput (Lecturer in Media Production, Birmingham City University and Head of Cinema, Birmingham Indian Film Festival). Music director Amit Trivedi was also a part of the celebration. The concert brought together musicians and dancers across 60

international cities. More names include Ludhiana’s Kumar Sharma who teamed up with this year’s Russia’s Got Talent semifinalist Svetlana Tulasi and the inimitable Kathak Rockers. Pune-based sisters Antara and Ankita Nandy performed songs in Assamese, Malayalam and Rajbongshi. Got Talent España semi-finalist dancer Sneha Mistri performed a duet with the acclaimed Mumbai choreographer and Bollywood dancer, Devesh Mirchandani. British born, internationally recognised Gujarati folk singer, Pritee Varsani and Asian Media Award winner Parle Patel performed their Gujarati song Ranjaniyu Reloaded. The Ananda Dancers – Amritha, Chiinthu, Sushmitha, Anaya Vasudha and Pranita – did a special piece illustrating how dance has filed their lives. Winner of the 2011 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, dancer Tanusree Shankar presented her choreographed

Nandy Sisters

performance We the Living, based on a Sanskrit Hymn which celebrates life in harmony with nature. The concert included an invocation to the lord of dance Shiva Shambho, choreographed and performed by Swathi Isha and Sophia, as well as an Indian version of Ed Sheeran’s hit Shape of You, performed by Aditya Rao, Vinod Krishnan and Mahesh Raghavan.

21 year-old student joins London based games company 21 year-old Bhavya Puntajal from Indirapuram, Ghaziabad has joined London video games company.

Flick Solitaire with his traditional India deck illustrating legendary figures from Indian history. According to a press statement, Flick Solitaire the finest card game on mobile keeps dealing the decks that artists, art lovers and fans are FLICKING fanatical about. More than a mobile game, Flick Solitaire's tiny team based in London have decided to make art and their artists the focus of their video game. Bhavya joins 12 talented and bold artists already commissioned since June 2020 (and many more planned into 2021).

freelancing experience. To The twelve court cards are the contrary, I found out a real triumph in telling that I would get a lot of traditional stories from artistic liberty this time to Indian history. From create whatever I want! The infamous love stories and idea of having my designs in war of renowned Hindu a playable game was very military general, Baji Rao I, new to me. I decided to stick to India's original heroic to my culture and create a warrior queen, Rani of deck based on Indian Jhansi. architecture, designs, Speaking to Asian Bhavya Puntajal patterns and legends. Ian Voice, Bhavya Puntajal helped a lot during the said, “When Ian(CEO Flick entire process and was valuable in games) approached me to collaborate on his conveying his feedback at every step.” game(Flick Solitaire), I thought working on this project would be like a typical Note: Asian Voice does not endorse gambling.

What's On BRITISH COUNCIL LAUNCHES GRANT OF UP TO £50K FROM THE DIGITAL COLLABORATION FUND

The British Council has announced that grants will now be available to support arts organisations to collaborate internationally.

The council website stated, “We are offering grants of up to £50k to organisations in the UK and selected countries overseas to collaborate digitally on international projects.”

Explaining why a digital collaboration fund has been announced, the council said, “We have always supported international artistic collaboration through our work. In response to increasing restrictions on global travel due to Covid-19, and rising concerns about the sustainability of face-to-face collaborations, we are now looking for new ways to foster these international connections. The Digital Collaboration Fund aims to address this challenge. Through a series of grants, we are supporting organisations to devise new virtual ways of working internationally, in turn creating a climate-friendly approach to international collaboration and artistic exchange.”

Grants of up to £50k are available to organisations in the UK and selected Official Development Assistance (ODA) countries to collaborate on digital projects. For more information you can log on to britishcouncil dot org.

UK GOVERNMENT UNDER PRESSURE TO SUPPORT FREELANCERS IN ARTS COMMUNITY The UK government has been pressured to help the arts community in England and Wales as venues are shut again during lockdown 2. Labour MP Chris Elmore told the House of Commons there were "growing numbers of freelancers, musicians, performance artists who are excluded" from support. Arts minister Caroline Dinenage said the government was "working very hard" to help freelancers access support.

She said Arts Council England had allocated £119m for individuals, on top of the £1.57bn available to venues in England through the government's Culture Recovery Fund.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden acknowledged this issue and said, "I understand the many challenges faced by freelancers and I hear about it every day. It is the case that across the economy 66% of freelancers are able to benefit from the Treasury scheme, which has been increased again by the chancellor." Arts Council England has made £119m available to individuals, £23m of that has already been distributed and about £96m is still available to apply for." She also said that the Culture Recovery Fund would "benefit freelancers because it does enable organisations to be assisted to reopen, and to restart performances, maybe in a digital or live stream capacity".

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Twinkle breaks down trollpsychology, responds to 'Laxmii' controversy Author and columnist Twinkle Khanna has reacted to the controversy surrounding Akshay Kumar's 'Laxmii' in her latest weekly column. She said trolls have been sharing her morphed pictures on social media to get back at Akshay for allegedly hurting religious sentiments with the movie title.

The movie, which was initially called 'Laxmii Bomb' received a lot of flak for using a Hindu deity's name next to the word 'bomb'.

Religious groups urged the producers to change the title.

Several trolls even took Twinkle's

pictures, turned her skin blue and put a large red bindi on her face.

Writing about it in her column, Twinkle said she found it “flattering” to be called a bomb in her middle age. “The trolls have been after the man of the house’s Laxmmi Bomb and for some odd reason, they have taken pictures of me, turned my skin the same peacock shade as Lord Krishna, added a red bindi and are sharing posters called Twinkle Bomb.

Honestly, I am rather flattered because this moniker has come along at the right time for, as a middle-aged woman, I was

beginning to think that my bombshell days were far behind me,” she wrote.

She also slammed trolls, by talking about troll-psychology and how they feed on attention. “I look at another meme I am tagged in .

This one comes with a comment, 'Third class person. You make jokes about God.' I am almost tempted to reply, 'God clearly likes a good joke, otherwise she would not have made you.'.”

'Laxmii' is set to release on Disney+ Hotstar on Monday. The movie features Akshay who plays a man possessed by a woman's spirit.

No Bachchan Diwali Party this year The Bachchan household will not throw their mostcoveted annual Diwali party this year, with a death in the family and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic making up for deciding factors. A signature event, the party witnesses the who's who of the industry every year. Speaking in an interview, Abhishek Bachchan said the cancellation of the event came after the death of sister Shweta Nanda's motherin-law Ritu Nanda.

He said, “It's true. We had a death in the family this year.

My sister Shweta's mother-in-law passed away. Besides. Who hosts parties at a time like this? Civilisation is going through

the worst crisis ever. We all need to be as careful as possible.

Observing the utmost social distance is the only option we have. And that too is not a guarantee against infection. Diwali parties and other social occasions are for now a distant dream.”

Covid-19 closely affected the family this year, with Amitabh, Abhishek, Aishwarya, and Aaradhya all testing positive for the virus. They were all admitted in Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital until recovery.

On the work front, Abhishek will be seen next in Harshad Mehta biopic 'The Big Bull', and Anurag Basu's 'Ludo'.

SRK back in Mumbai after eventful Dubai visit

Case filed against Milind Soman for sprinting naked on Goa beach A case has been filed against modelactor Milind Soman for running naked on a Goa beach. The South Goa district police booked Soman for promoting obscenity. A case has been registered under IPC 294 (obscene acts and songs) and 67 (punishment for publishing/transmitting obscene material in electronic form).

Superintendent of Police South Goa, Pankaj Kumar was quoted in a press report as saying, “An organisation called Goa Suraksha Manch

had given a complaint against Milind Soman for running nude on a beach in South Goa and then circulating those pictures on social media.”

It all began with a social media post featuring Soman sprinting along the beach in nude. The actor/model is currently vacationing in Goa with wife Ankita Konwar. He shared the photo on his birthday, crediting Konwar for the picture, and a caption that read, “Happy birthday to me 55 and running.”

Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan is back in India after his bid in Dubai watching the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 matches. He has been a regular at the matches of his team, the Kolkata Knight Riders, which failed to make it to the top four in the tournament.

The actor was spotted arriving at Mumbai airport, along with his wife Gauri, with kids Aryan and AbRam later spotted in their car. The family was also accompanied with filmmaker Karan Johar and fashion designer Manish Malhotra. Shah ringed in his 55th birthday earlier this month in Dubai. The Burj Khalifa decided to honour the star

by lighting up the building with scenes from his films.

Shah showed his gratitude by tweeting, “It's nice to see myself on the biggest and tallest screen in the world.

My friend #MohamedAlabbar has me on the biggest screen even before my next film. Thanks & love u all @burjkhalifa & @emaardubai. Being my own guest in Dubai... my kids mighty impressed and me loving it!”

On the work front, Shah has not signed any film after the massive failure of 'Zero'. He is, however, reportedly in talks with Siddharth Anand's 'Pathan' alongside Deepika Padukone and John Abraham.

30 BOLLYWOOD

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Ananya Pandey completes a year in Bollywood, calls it “everything she has dreamed of” Actor Ananya Pandey, who recently celebrated her 22nd birthday, is excited about completing a year in the Indian film industry.

Stating in a recent interview that her excitement has only increased for what's to come, she said she is “looking forward to growing up in general and also in the industry.”

The actor's latest release is 'Khaali Peeli', opposite Ishaan Khatter. Directed by Maqbool Khan, the film features her as the feisty Pooja who runs away from her forced wedding and meets her childhood sweetheart on a fateful night. The actress is also currently filming for a Shakun Batra directorial. A project engulfed in mystery, with no plot details made public yet. It also stars Deepika Padukone and

Siddhant Chaturvedi.

Ananya says Batra is a dream director for her. She said, “I am also really excited for this film because Shakun is like a dream director for me. I have this list of people that I want to work with and Shakun is on that list. So for me when I got the opportunity to work with him, I put a tick mark near his name. It was really surreal for me. It was everything I could have dreamed of. We did a lot of workshops and readings.

Shakun is just an amazing director for an actor to work with.”

She added, “He gives you so much space and clear instructions. He just lets you play when you are on screen.

So I am really enjoying the equation I have with Shakun.”

Concept of marriage “alien” in her 20s, says Priyanka Chopra Actor Priyanka Chopra may have found marital bliss now, but a couple years back, it was not even on her mind.

Speaking in an interview, Chopra said she had all but given up on marriage in her 20s. She said, “For a really long time, I was like, I don't know. Being married was such an alien thought. But I am so comfortable in it.”

Chopra added, “I loved the idea of being married, I was fascinated with the idea of being a bride when I was a child without realising what it really meant.

But when I got in my 20s, I said I have got things to do, I didn’t know what it would have meant. When you find the

right person, everything is so comfortable and not everything is the effort I thought it would be.”

Priyanka also spoke about being ambitious.

She said, “I'm very ambitious. When I was first growing up, I thought that that was seen as not really a good thing when a woman was too ambitious. And slowly over time, I realized that was my strength.”

Genre: Horror film Duration: 90 minutes

Will Shivangi be able to save her father’s village Kaali Khuhi means The Black Well and it revolves around a young 10-year-old girl who is taken from the City back to her father’s village when they receive news that her Grandma is not well. But once they arrive there the village is very dark and cold and there are rumors that a spirit has been killing people in the village.

The film starts on a rainy night where an elderly woman sees a young child and invites her in. The woman is attacked and paralyzed.

We then move to see a young girl looking into a well where she sees a reflection of a girl staring back at her. At this moment her mother pulls her back and drags her home. This young girl is Shivangi and her father has just received news that his mother has been attacked back in her village and isn’t very well. The family then pack up and head to the village.

This is where everything goes wrong. Shivangi meets another young girl who lives in the village and starts telling her that she doesn’t understand what is going on here. Shivangi also starts seeing a young girl ghost in her Grandmother’s house. Her grandmother finally wakes up and starts blaming he mother for giving birth to a girl and not aborting the baby. She then mysteriously dies after throwing up some black substance.

It soon becomes clear that this village has some very

Shahid debuts new look for 'Jersey' Actor Shahid Kapoor is back with bang, and to say we are drooling would be an understatement. The actor shared a new look from his upcoming movie 'Jersey', sporting a lean bod, and long hair. In the photo, he is seen wearing a black T-shirt and black shorts with black tights as he carries his cricket kit. He finished the look with black sunglasses and white sneakers.

He wrote on Twitter, “#jersey prep. . . De dhana dhana”. Shahid also shared some selfies impressing his industry colleagues, with actor Hrithik Roshan calling it “kadak”. A Hindi remake of a Telugu film with the same name, 'Jersey' is about a failed cricketer in his 30s, who returns to the field to fulfill his aspiration to represent the Indian cricket team and his son's wish for a jersey as a gift.

Shahid recently wrapped the Uttarakhand shoot of the film. He had tweeted, “It's a wrap on this schedule of #Jersey. I would like to thank the Govt of Uttarakhand for supporting and putting in place efficient policies that enabled us to safely shoot and wrap the schedule of our film in the many beautiful locations of the state.”

dark secrets that are now coming back to haunt them, and it falls on this young girl Shivangi’s shoulders to try and help the village from its past sins.

After watching the trailer of the film, I was fully expecting a total horror film that would scare me but actually the film didn’t have as many jumpy moments as expected. However, the film has been shot very well and has some very pivotal moments and scenes that will keep you wanting to watch more. The only downside of the film is that it is set to tackle the infanticide however it looks like the blame is all placed on women with very little blame on the men. The film also revolves around a very dominating female cast and only really one male figure.

Watch Kaali Khuhi to see if Shivangi is able to save the village from the darkness that looms over it.

You can get in touch with Vallisa: djvallisa@gmail.com

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Social media reflection of what's going on in the world : Shruti Haasan Social media trolling, and toxicity is a topic of contention these days and many celebrities have even resorted to quit various platforms due to the level of negativity that hits them every day.

While the majority of them agree the WWW can get a bit dark at times, Shruti Haasan has a different take on things.

Stating it is unfair to call social media negative, Haasan says, “It's a

reflection of everything that is going on in the world. People on it talk about people on it, it's just layers. There's a large streak of negativity in the world currently, there are a number of things going in, along with the situation, and it's reflected on social media.”

Speaking in an interview, when asked if she feels the pressure of having to speak up about topics as a public figure, Shruti said, “I absolutely don't.

My social media is about me, I was clear about that from day one. There are many causes I feel speaking up for, but I'm also a person in life who doesn't make statements without weighing every argument. People don't do that on social media anymore. Sometimes, people defending the right thing are not articulating it, they are not just joining the melee of screams, so I'm on the quiet corner of social media.”

Fan asks Samantha Akkineni to divorce Naga Chaitanya, she has a hilarious response Actor Samantha Akkineni is quite active on social media. She recently treated her Instagram family to a gorgeous photo of herself. While fans went gaga over the picture, one couldn't resist but ask her to divorce her husband Naga Chaitanya and marry him. Commenting in Telugu, he wrote, “Divorce Naga Chaitanya.

Let's get married.” Samantha gave a hilarious response. She wrote, “Difficult. Do one thing, ask Naga Chaitanya himself.”

One of the most-loved couples from the Telugu film industry, Samantha and Chaitanya met on the sets of Gautham Menon's 'Ye Maaya Chesave' in 2010. Their Goa wedding in 2017, was one of the most-spoken-about weddings in the industry.

On the work front, Samantha will soon make her digital debut with the second season of Amazon Prime Video series 'The Family Man', which stars Manoj Bajpayee as a middle-class man secretly working for the National Investigation Agency.

Suriya goes viral on the internet, sports new look at a wedding reception Suriya has quite the knack of making noise on the internet.

His photos from the wedding reception of filmmaker Sudha Kongara's daughter recently went viral on social media. The actor was seen sporting a new look with slightly long hair and nice stubble. If industry grapevine is to be believed, the actor's current look is for his next yet-untitled Tamil project with director Pandiraj. The shoot is expected to commence later November. The film is tipped to be a rural action drama.

Suriya also awaits the release of 'Soorarai Pottru', which has been directed by Kongara. The

movie is set to release on Amazon Prime on November 12. The trailer of the movie was released last week, giving us a peek into the life of Nedumaaran Rajangam.

In a media statement, Suriya said, “Soorarai Pottru is a very special movie for me and one

that’s very close to my heart.

With this film, we want to bring out the message that nothing in this world can stop you from chasing your dreams if you are true to yourself and dedicated to the task. We hope that the audience will continue to shower us with their unwavering support.”

The film, which also stars Paresh Rawal, Mohan Babu and Aparna Balamurali, marks Suriya’s maiden collaboration with a female filmmaker.

Originally shot and made in Tamil, the film will also be dubbed and released in Telugu and Malayalam.

'KGF' star Yash rumoured to join hands with Shankar for new project There's a lot going on in Kollywood, and we bring you the most of what we know. If rumours are anything to go by, filmmaker Shankar is in the works on a new Tamil project likely starring 'KGF' star Yash. The director is currently working on Kamal Haasan starrer 'Indian 2'.

Reports reveal Shankar is planning a multi-starrer project with actors from several industries. Yash is apparently one of the actors he has already approached. Also in the bowl of names is Vijay Sethupathi, who

may star in a pivotal role. Reports suggest the movie will be simultaneously shot in Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi.

Yash is currently filming the final leg shooting of 'KGF: Chapter 2'. He should be relieved from the project by December.

He may start work on Shankar's project from January 2021.

TV Listing

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 16 NOV FRI 20 OCT 2020 6:30 INTERNET WALA LOVE 14:30 KASAM 16:00 THE GREAT INDIAN GLOBAL KITCHEN 16:30 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR 18:30 SHAKTI 19:00 ISHQ MEIN MARJAWAN 2 19:30 CHOTI SARDAARNI 20:00 SHAKTI 20:30 MOLKKI 21:00 PINJARA KHUBSOORTI KA

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 16 NOV FRI 20 2020 8:30 BHARADWAJ BAHUEIN 15:00 OM NAMAH SHIVAY 16:00 SILSILA BADALTE RISHTON KA 16:30 THE RASOI SHOW 17:30 CHHUTA CHHEDA 18:00 TUM KAUN PIYA 18:30 DIL KA RISHTA 19:00 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR 21:00 BALIKA VADHU - LAMHE PYAAR KE 22:30 MERE HUMRAHI

21:30 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) SATURDAY 14 NOV 18:30 NAMASTE BREAKFAST 19:00 ISHQ MEIN MARJAWAN 2 19:30 CHOTI SARDAARNI 20:00 NAAGIN (SEASON 5) 21:00 DESI BEAT RESET 21:30 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR SUNDAY 15 NOV 13:30 GOLMAAL 3 16:30 DESI BEAT RESET 17:00 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR 19:00 CHOTI SARDAARNI 20:00 NAAGIN (SEASON 5) 21:00 DESI BEAT RESET 21:30 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR

SATURDAY 14 NOV 11:00 DESI BEAT SEASON 2 16:00 SILSILA BADALTE RISHTON KA 16:30 THE RASOI SHOW 17:30 DESI BEAT SEASON 3 18:00 KHATRA KHATRA KHATRA 19:00 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) 20:30 BARRISTER BABU 21:00 BALIKA VADHU SUNDAY 15 NOV 11:00 DESI BEAT SEASON 2 16:00 SILSILA BADALTE RISHTON KA 16:30 THE RASOI SHOW 17:30 DESI BEAT SEASON 3 18:00 KHATRA KHATRA KHATRA 19:00 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 14) WEEKEND KA VAAR 21:00 BALIKA VADHU

32 WOMEN’S VOICE

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How an IIT grad quit her job at Microsoft to make a Netflix film Shefali Saxena Writer-director Arati Kadav has made one of the most talked about original feature films of 2020 for Netflix India. Kadav has received massive and well deserved critical acclaim and accolades from viewers for the film that is based on the story of a spaceship named Pushpak 634A where a demon Prahastha, works for the Post Death Transition services with the help of a female astronaut, where dead people are recycled for rebirth.

Asian Voice reached out to Arati Kadav to know more about her roots, her stellar education and a departure from the tech industry to the world of films.

Kadav grew up in the late 80s and 90s and being part of Indian middle class, there was lots of stress on Science and Maths on her.

“If you are in one of the tier 2 cities in India the general unsaid understanding is to study your way out of that city. And so we slogged and I remember even going for tuition classes at 5 am during my 12th standard. Fortunately for me I was good in studies so I did not suffer the system much - or at least that's what I thought. I had lots of inclination towards arts and story writing and even poetry but that passion existed in fringes and it was never encouraged. One good thing was that I learned lots of rigor and precision through this journey and it helped me crack IIT and also maybe because I loved coding I went ahead and got a job in Microsoft, Seattle,” she said.

However, she always felt that she had a wilder imagination than her peers and she really felt restless to break away. Speaking about how she forayed into films, she said, “I got myself a video camera and it started providing me endless possibilities. Leaving my job was a risky move, but I just felt like trying out a film school to know more. I was young and confident so I took the plunge. So

Behind the scene still from "Cargo"

yes, in my earlier years, my aspirations were to confirm. Now I just like being super disobedient in terms of stories I want to tell.”

We asked her how studying science shaped her perspective as a filmmaker. Arati said, “I really consume lots of books and stories on scifi and surprisingly for me lots of my favourite authors were really steeped in science and their initial experiments in coding shaped their imaginary world view a lot. I used to design lots of systems and games and I guess that has helped me a lot in designing fantastical worlds and filling it with details. So I guess my science training gave foundations to my passion for world building. It came in handy especially because

no one in India does scifi so we never had sufficient budgets.

So it helped me innovate within restrictions and not give up.”

In many of her interviews online she has stated that her film Cargo is based on the premise of “longing and departure”. Commenting on her idea of life and afterlife as an individual, she said, “I think what makes life beautiful is the Arati Kadav fact that it is finite. The ephemeral quality is probably what makes it most attractive. I don't think there is any afterlife as such. But we all leave traces, in terms of relationships we have built, lives we have affected. We exist in the fingerprint we leave in this world and even after death, we exist in the form of the impact we have made in this world.” In an intriguing scene in Kadav’s film, Cargo, two souls travel together into the after-life, signifying that souls find each other no matter where they go. We asked Kadav how much she believes in this concept herself. She said, “This is very tricky. At a pure science and reasoning level I don't. I think lots of us can get together with lots of people and have meaningful relationships. In Fact sometimes we evolve together in a beautiful way so I don't think we are factory made for eachother. But there is this lovely thing in Cat's Cradle where Kurt Vonnegut talks about karasse - people we share this world with - a bunch of people, are reborn again and again in the company of same people which I find very fascinating. So I weaved that in Cargo.”

But what is it like to be a woman filmmaker in such sensitive and fiercely competitive times in India? Arati said, “I sometimes really feel that women have to

work twice as hard to be half as successful. We do have women directors (more now that 10 years ago) - but in my journey I have seen myself and my ideas being dismissed way too often. There were moments where I used to be tempted to dismiss myself because of constant rejections. But thank God, I realized that most of the people dismissing me are largely hacks. themselves Honestly, I am immensely grateful to my core team, my film school folks who continued to believe in me and my family, especially my mother, and I was glad that even if you live in a ecosystem that constantly ignores you, you will find truly feminist people, who not just support you but also enable your passion.”

Cargo has received exceptional response both from critics and audiences. We asked if she was anticipating this magnitude of success while making the film. She said, “Not really! I was preparing a whatsapp list of my friends and was hoping they would promote the film but I was amazed at the automatic reach a platform like Netflix provides. I was also happy that it worked so well for young people and they created so many videos about the film. It touched me and made me realize the impact of every creative decision I take while making a film. It was truly a great learning and it was super encouraging.”

Lastly, we asked her if she were to give one piece of advice to any aspiring filmmaker/storyteller who has a story to tell and doesn’t know where to start, what would it be. “Just make your film. Don't wait for permission. But also study and learn a lottake time in perfecting your craft - because knowledge of the craft will really help you make your film better,” Arati said.

Book Recommendation: Sita - Warrior of Mithila An abandoned baby is found in a field. Protected by a vulture from a pack of murderous volves. She is adopted by the ruler of Mithila, a powerless kingdom, ignored by all.

Nobody believes this child will amount to much. But they are wrong. For she is no ordinary girl.

She is Sita.

In book 2 of the Ram Chandra series, based on the Ramayana, the story of Lady Sita, written by the multi-million bestselling Indian Author Amish; the author writes about Lady Sita's journey from an Adopted Child to the Prime Minister to finding her true calling. You will find all the familiar characters you have heard of, like Lord Ram and Lord Lakshman and see more of Lord Hanuman and many others from Mithila.

You will also start discovering the true purpose of the Vayuputras and Malayaputras and their conflicting ideologies that leads to

plot twists, politics and intrigue as they try to influence outcomes from behind the scenes.

This is the second book in the Ram Chandra Series. A sequel that takes you back. Back before the beginning.

Tripathi has dedicated this book to his brother-in-law Himanshu Roy, who was an Indian police officer, who served as the Additional Director General of Police of Maharashtra and Joint Commissioner of Police in Mumbai. He was Chief of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad. Roy battled cancer and died in 2018.

The beauty of Amish’s writing is in his

attention to small details and packaging the book. With every leaf you turn, you'd like to bookmark or make a note of something as you read on. He quotes the Adbhuta Ramayana (credited to Maharishi Valmiki), “Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati suvrata, Abhyutthanamadharmasya tada prakrtisambhavah’ O keeper of righteous vows, remember this, Whenever dharma is in decline, Or there is an upsurge of adharma; The Sacred Feminine will incarnate.

She will defend dharma.

She will protect us.

Amish further accentuates the readability and beauty of the book by adding a list of characters, flowcharts and notes on narrative structure of the book. This is not just another educational book based on mythology, it’s one of those books that you would like to pick up on a grim day or when you’re feeling a little lost in life and open any page to seek some answers and meaning.

Amish Tripathi

The book is available on Amazon and has sold more than 3.5 million copies so far.

‘I wish many more would be inspired by Amish Tripathi…’ - Amitabh Bachchan, Indian actor and living legend ‘Amish is India’s first literary popstar’ Shekhar Kapur, renowned filmmaker ‘Amish is a fresh new voice in Indian writing - steeped in myth and history, with a fine eye for detail and a compelling narrative style.’ - Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament and celebrated author

88 participants attended the Inaugural Meeting of the APPG on Muslim Women On the 20th October 2020, 88 participants attended the Inaugural Meeting of the APPG on Muslim Women. At the meeting, Naz Shah MP and Caroline Nokes MP were elected as Co-Chairs of this new APPG and the Muslim Women’s Network UK were elected as Secretariat. Jess Phillips MP and Nusrat Ghani MP were also elected as Vice-Chairs and Apsana Begum MP, Afzal Khan MP and Baroness Meral Hussein-Ece were elected Officers.The purpose of the APPG on Muslim women is as follows: “to

support social justice and equality for Muslim women and transform their lives by debating, scrutinising, investigating and raising awareness of issues affecting them to influence practice, policy, legislation and attitudes.” MWNUK also announced the launch of its first inquiry: ‘Muslim Women's Experiences of Maternity Care.’ This muchneeded research will be conducted by Dr Suriyah Bi and is funded by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation (who are also funding the Secretariat support). Given the shocking

health disparities, the aim of this research is to develop an in-depth understanding of the experiences of Muslim women who have accessed maternity care in the last five years in England, and to better understand the different factors which have had an impact on the maternal health care received by them.

A Panel discussion also took place on the issues faced by Muslim women when accessing maternal health care services, and

the need for more research. Speakers included Dr Edward (Eddie) Morris President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and Shaista Gohir OBE – Co-Chair of MWNUK and Women’s Voices Lead at the RCOG.