AV 15th September 2018

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Let noble thoughts come to us from every side 15 - 21 SEPTEMBER 2018 - VOL 47 ISSUE 20

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15 - 21 September 2018

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Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

15 - 21 SEPTEMBER 2018 - VOL 47 ISSUE 20

VISA APPEAL REFUSAL

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'INHUMANE'

Hindu community seeks apology over temple advertisement on public toilet SEE PAGE 7

British Indian man failed by UK Consulate in Bali SEE PAGE 11

Rupanjana Dutta It is now widely accepted from all sections of industries that cutting immigration will hamper economic growth. The Tory government has been on a 'witchhunt', making immigrants feel 'unwelcome'. They have inexplicably ignored the long-term benefits of immigration, in particular the significant contributions

of the skilled migrants to innovation and wealth creation. In fact, in the UK immigrants are twice likely to start their own business than British-born individuals. A new research by the Citi group has suggested if UK immigration was frozen since 1990 then the number of immigrants would have remained constant but the economy would have been smaller by 9%, losing more than £175bn.

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Currently the issues of immigration are many. The UK Universities are calling for post-study work visas to be re-introduced for international students as well as ensure they are not included in the net migration figure. On the other hand, many highly-skilled migrants are facing a dead end to their life and career over visa denials.

Mumbai: Delhi: Hyderabad: Chennai: Ahmedabad: Rajkot: GOA:

Continued on page 17

£385 £375 £385 £380 £380 £455 £380

Bangalore: Bhuj: Lucknow: Kochi: Kolkata: Amritsar: Dhaka:

India's day of Independence: SC makes homosexuality legal SEE PAGE 23

£385 £455 £499 £380 £385 £380 £485

Singapore :

£450

Katmandu:

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Bangkok:

HongKong:

£415

£440

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onetoone Dr Gursharon Gangotra I was born in Birmingham to parents who originate from the Punjab, India. I was nicknamed after an epic Bollywood 1970’s movie “Bobby”! Having spent some of my childhood years acting as a make shift Punjabi interpreter for my grandmother at her hospital appointments and went on and made a career for myself in medicine, since it was the longest course available and got me out of having to work at our family retail shop after school. I am still practising today in the West Midlands within an organisation called Your Health Partnership. I have spent the majority of my life in the Midlands and have recently, after much deliberation, got married and now learning to settle in Nottinghamshire. I realised within two weeks that I absolutely hate commuting.

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

Birmingham is the city I feel most at home.

Although, having started to visit India more often since my sister got married in 2005, I feel quite at home in Chandigarh where my grandparents lived, as well as New Delhi since I love the shopping and relaxation spas there.

What inspires you?

Change inspires me and then trying to keep up with the rate of change is my daily challenge!

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WITH KEITH VAZ, MP

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2) What are your proudest achievements?

My proudest moments have changed with time, so apart from the usual academic achievements, I think travelling around the world by myself with just my Lonely Planet Guides and then later on winning BBC2’s The Big Family Cooking Showdown in 2017 with my sister, Lorna Nanda, and sister- in- law, Monika Singh, were equally proud moments.

What has been biggest obstacle in your career?

I think in hindsight I, myself, have been the biggest obstacle in my career; in not believing enough in what I am capable of achieving and allowing the fear of failing stopping me from pursuing certain paths!

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

Whether or not I like to admit it but it’s my paternal grandfather Mr Doulat Ram who has been my biggest influence. He arrived in the UK with a mere £5 and worked his way up and established a successful business of his own. He achieved far more than I will ever achieve in his lifetime. I’d like to think I derive my work ethic from him directly. He made me do maths calculations at the till to see if my total tallied with his cash register!

He is convinced this is what helped me achieve an ‘A’ in my maths A level.

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What is the best aspect about your current role?

My current role as a GP allows me to influence and help drive change within primary care but this can take a long time so my best aspect is working with amazing colleagues who have been like family to me for the past 15 years. All striving to offer their best care with opportunities of innovating new clinical models to help provide efficiency in the continuity of care we offer as well as help improving the health of our practice population.

Police mugshots show conman posing with his new £10,000 hair transplant Before-and-after police mugshots show a callous conman posing with his new £10,000 hair transplant - after he duped a confused old couple out of their own home and stole their life savings.

Syed Bukhari, 38, had masqueraded as a customer services advisor for a bank to persuade the victims to hand over their confidential details before using them to sell their £150,000 property without their knowledge.

The husband, 80, a former Merchant navyman and his wife, 81, who both have dementia trusted Bukhari as they genuinely believed he was 'Gerry from the bank' who worked at their local Lloyds branch in Blackpool.

He had falsely told them there had been 'fraudulent transactions' on their bank accounts and he vowed to help them warning their home could be at risk of repossession.

But by the time police unravelled the scam, the victims' home in Fulwood, near Preston which they had lived in for 40 years had been sold to a private company at a knockdown price

phone landline and attempted to take a £40,000 bank loan.

Today as Bukhari began almost eight years in jail, police said he may have been part of a gang targeting OAPs by posing as bank workers claiming their accounts had been compromised. The couSyed Bukhari pictured on the left, 38, before he underwent the £10,000 hair transplant and on the ple who have four children are still living at right after his hair transplant used the stolen money on a stay at a luxury hotel, Rolex watches, their home but their famjewellery, designer clothes, bags and mobile phones ily are fighting a legal battle to get their property and they lost their life savings of back. £150,000.

Preston Crown Court was Bukhari had used some of told Bukhari began preying on the stolen cash to fly business the couple in November 2017 class to Dubai and splurge when he contacted the couple £11,000 on a stay at a luxury under the guise of 'Gerry Patel' hotel and also spent tens of from their bank. thousands of pounds on the cosThe fraud began to unravel metic implants procedure for his in January when the couple's receding hairline plus Rolex real son contacted police, conwatches, jewellery, designer cerned that his parents had been clothes, bags and mobile phones. victims of fraud after seeing letHe was arrested when officers ters about various overdrafts met an Emirates flight at they had not applied for.

Manchester Airport from Dubai Detectives started an invesafter inquiries revealed he had tigation and it was revealed that set up multiple bank accounts in the couple had been driven the couple's name, redirected round various banks in Chorley, their mail and diverted the tele-

Blackburn and Manchester.

New accounts had been opened, requests were made to reactivate frozen accounts or to transfer various sums of money between accounts, all the while believing that 'Gerry from the bank' was helping them from losing their home It was also found that their house - where they had lived for 40 years - had been sold on December 21 to a private company without their knowledge for less than the market value.

Bukhari was identified as a suspect and officers discovered he had made six trips to Dubai and Pakistan in three months often travelling in first and business class.

He was traced to Dubai and was arrested on February 11 when police found him in a business class seat on an Emirates flight at Manchester Airport.He was found to be in possession of the couple's identity documents and documentation relating to them and the fraudulent accounts.

Bukhari admitted fraud at an earlier hearing. He was jailed for seven years and 11 months.

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And the worst?

I’m finding that the nature of this line of work means I find myself unable to switch off. In order to find my current role sustainable, I have had to reduce my hours to cope with the demands of the job. I’d encourage more flexibility within the work place and look at other ways of working to help retain and recruit future clinicians.

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What are your long term goals?

To be a GP with a specialist interest in food!

I would love to have a pop up restaurant or just cook for fun. I wish to support charitable causes, (that’s if I am ever allowed to retire from the health service). I have much respect and admiration for people like Rav Singh who have chosen to dedicate their entire life to serve those less fortunate through organisations such as Khalsa Aid.

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

Let’s not even go there, there is not enough space! But to start off with I think everyone who works should have a day off on their birthday as compulsory.

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

The person I would like to spend time with is not yet historical but is making history is Bear Grylls, apologies to my husband but I have no idea how to survive on a desert island so having him as a desert buddy would be ideal for obvious practical reasons. I can’t hunt or gather unless I’m in the sales’ shopping.

BBC Asian Network's head of news charged over live bulletin BBC Asian Network's head of news has been charged over a live radio bulletin in which a reporter allegedly revealed the identity of a Rotherham sex abuse victim.

Arif Ansari is pleading not guilty Arif Ansari Head of News at to the charge relat- BBC Asian Network ing to the radio broadcast on 6 February.

The BBC is supporting him and says the reporter 'genuinely believed the name he broadcast was a pseudonym.'

The charges were brought by the National Crime Agency investigating sexual abuse in Rotherham from 1997 to 2013.

The BBC said it was worried by the decision to charge an editor rather than the corporation as a whole.

A BBC spokesman said: 'We believe that on the facts of this case, it is the BBC itself that should answer in court for this mistake, rather than the individual editor, who if convicted will have a criminal record with all the consequences that flow from that.'

'This worrying decision only to prosecute the editor risks creating a climate of fear for editors endeavouring to report court proceeding in the public interest.'

Ansari is due in court on 11 October.

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COMMENTS

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15 - 21 September 2018

Liberation Day for LBGT community The Supreme Court has done India proud. On September 6, 2018, it removed a 157-year old law criminalizing same sex relationships, thereby releasing the country’s substantial LBGT community from an age-old stigma, and also from fear of imprisonment. For the many thousands and tens of thousands men and women it was Liberation Day, and they took to the streets outside the Supreme Court building in celebration of the joyous moment of thanksgiving. The court did what craven politicians were fearful of doing lest they alienated their ignorant and prejudiced vote banks.

Stealing and bribing could pass muster, but not social tolerance based on medical science. Alas, the gulf between words and deeds in India’s political space will remain with us, as they will in advanced countries, notably the United States, whose governments extol freedom for all humankind yet seeks to drive those of whom they disapprove into bondage, political and economic. The name of the game is hypocrisy writ large.

The Supreme Court much to India’s pride is now the guarantor of the civil rights and freedoms enshrined in the Indian Constitution. It has prevented censorship of films, upheld the rights of creative writers to publish their work without fear or favour [See Media Watch, page 12 for recent case involving a Tamil author].

Returning to the LGBT case, the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, in an unanimous 5-0 judgment of 493 pages struck down the infamous Section 377 of more than a century ago, and a two-judge court

verdict of 2013 defending the 377 law was overturned. The Supreme Court upheld the right of consensual same sex couples the rightto sexual activity in private.

Extracts from the judgment of Supreme Court judges are well worth quoting. Chief Justice Dipak Misra: ‘I am what I am. So take me as I am.’ (Quote from the great German writer and philosopher Goethe).

‘What is the order of nature? State cannot decide the boundaries between what is permissible or not. Section 377 is based on deep-rooted gender stereotypes.’ Justice D.Y. Chandrachaud.

‘History owes an apology to members of the community for the delay in ensuring their rights.’ Justice Indu Malhotra ‘When the state has no compelling reason to penalise same sex couples who cause no harm to others, it is a violation of fundamental rights.’ Justice R.F Narriman.

This is not the end of the story but its beginning, one that promises hope and fulfillment. Legislation eases free discussion and, over time, opens the doors of understanding and thence, growing acceptance across society. A video from Malaysia of two young lesbians being caned in public was a shaming sight, so was something similar in Indonesia.

Asia has a long and difficult road to travel, as India once did and still does. India’s candle hopefully may light the way to unfettered private and public debate beyond sexuality into the frequently forbidden zones of human rights, democracy, based on the rule of law.

India-US 2+2 dialogue fruitful The keenly awaited India-US dialogue between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and their American counterparts, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary General James Mattis was a fruitful and productive exercise going forward.

The threatening noises emanating from certain more junior members of the Trump Administration targeting India on its relations with Russia were nowhere in evidence during the talks. Perhaps they were psychological ploys to soften up the two Indian women ministers. If so, the calculation failed to yield the desired results. Indian women are often made of sterner mettle than Indian men. Think of Indira Gandhi standing up to President Richard Nixon and his National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger in 1971-72.

The far-reaching outcomes of the present dialogue were pleasing to both sides. Even The Times of India – the foremost media voice for a closer Indo-US strategic alignment - argued against excessive US pressure on India to abide by US sanctions against Russia and Iran. However, the paper accepted unquestioningly Washington’s stand on Ukraine and Crimea. It would have behoved the Times leader writer to acknowledge that India has not, does not, cleave to the US narrative on Ukraine, Syria or Crimea.

Why so? Because it was the Obama Administration’s brazen intervention in Kiev and the overthrow of a democratically elected Ukrainian government, and its substitution with a pliant American-sponsored regime has back-fired spectacularly. The sight and sounds of then Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland mouthing obscenities during the choreographed mob violence in Maidan, with EU leaders in tow, was captured on television and broadcast around the world. Crimea rejoined the Russian Federation following a referendum witnessed by a number of Austrian members of the European Parliament, the scale of the majority scarcely surprising since the vast majority of the Crimean population were overwhelmingly Russian. All that has tragically followed must be laid at the door of the Nobel Peace laureate Barack Obama. Such is the historical canvas of contemporary developments.

We return, thus, to the present the 2+2 India-US dialogue. It was a broad success because both sides willed it

so in their national interest. India will acquire certain critical American technologies. The statement at the conclusion of the talks included India’s accession to the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) of 2002 and the four foundational agreements With the US had been mooting these arrangements for years. India had already signed two of these – the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) in 2002 and the Logistics Exchange Agreement (LEMOA) in 2006) The first deal was struck under the BJP regime of Atal Birai Vajpayee, the second by its successor Congress regime presided over by Dr Manmohan Singh, thus reflecting a broad two-party national consensus.

Under the COMCASA, the US will transfer critical equipment for encryptioned communications for US platforms such as the C-17, C-130 and P-81aircraft. This comes into immediate effect, and will be valid for ten years.

Indian officials said the government had negotiated an India-specific agreement and ‘specific additional provisions had been incorporated in the text to safeguard security and the national interests of both parties.

‘While the text of the COMCASA is confidential, we have ensured that we have full access to the relevant equipment and therefore there will be no disruptions. Data acquired through such systems cannot be disclosed or transferred to any person or entity without India’s consent.

Both countries will implement this agreement in a manner that is consistent with the national security interests of the other,’ said an official Indian source.

India and US will hold their first ever tri-services on the east coast of India in 2019. Also on the cards are projects of joint innovation and research in new defence systems and their co-production. The US has promised full cooperation in controlling and eliminating Pakistan-sponsored terrorism on Indian soil. The US called upon Pakistan to arrest those responsible for the terrorist assault on Mumbai on 26 November 2008.

China has accepted the India-US accord as a normal exchange between two states, while by Sitaram Yechury, head of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), denounced it as a sellout.

Cricket a team game Team India came, they saw, and, unlike Julius Caesar’s Roman legions, were conquered by the local Britons..

India’s cricket board, its selectors and media pundits, were in a comfort zone endorsing alleged batting stars turned out to be extinct black holes. Indulgence was referred to as faith, hence Hardik Pandya, except for the solitary Fourth Test match at Nottingham, failed abjectly with both bat and ball, as he has done facing international cricket’s top sides. Shekhar Dhawan, a one day batsman at best, was hailed repeatedly by Indian commentators for his revised technique - head over ball, bat close to pad as a second line of defence – as his second coming. No sooner was this pearl of wisdom displyed than the hero was departing to the pavilion, falling to the moving ball in the slips. Pujara and,

to a lesser extent, Rahane, shone intermittently; only the polar star, Virat Kohli, the world’s premier batsman, kept India’s hopes alive. It has been a dismal performance. The guff about invincible batsmen has been indecently exposed.

The cricket establishment’s embrace of mediocrity must end forthwith. Young stars, waiting in the wings, must be given their opportunity centre-stage. The junk on view must be discarded.

India’s pace bowlers performed wondrously well, while slip catching was outstanding on the whole. Some honour can be redeemed with a sturdy performance in the final Test match at the Oval, but this seems highly unlikely after another pathetic Indian display on the second day. It’s all over bar the shouting - a familiar Indian tale, alas.

There is no such thing as 'too late' in life - Mitch Albom (1997)

Lord Dolar Popat of Harrow

Standing shoulder to shoulder with our Jewish friends There has been a lot of talk about antisemitism in the past few months. But should the British Indian community be concerned? The answer is yes.

Antisemitism is a scourge that goes wellbeyond the Jewish community. It goes right to the heart of our British values, raising serious questions about who we are as a country and a society at a time of immense uncertainty. And it is for this reason I decided to bring the debate to the House of Lords earlier this week.

History teaches us that hatred that starts with Jews, does not end there. The Holocaust did not claim only Jewish lives. Extremist terrorism is not only aimed at Jews. Far right hatred does not only target Jews. When prejudice – any prejudice – rears its ugly head, no community can afford to stay in its comfort zone. Because hate know no bounds. As Dr Rami Ranger mentioned in his “Letters to Editor” last week [4 September 2018], when any community comes under threat, it is only a matter of when, not if, other groups will fall victim.

As British Indians, it is our duty to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Jewish friends. We are no strangers to prejudice ourselves. We faced many challenges as immigrants trying to integrate into British society. In those early days it was the Jewish community that welcomed Ugandan Asians with open arms. The Board of Deputies of British Jews were at the forefront in helping Ugandan Asians to settle and to adjust to our new lives here in Britain.

In many ways our success as a community is down to the Jewish community who we looked up on as our role models. Here in Britain, we have emulated their successful formula of building a better life for ourselves and our families. Our commonality of purpose has also been mirrored on a much larger scale with India and Israel now firm allies. The India-Israel relationship continues to strengthen especially since the official visits by Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Netanyahu to each respective state in attempts to further increase bilateral trade between both countries.

Over the years, our two communities grew to know each other very well, as friends, colleagues, business partners and neighbours who continue to live side by side. We developed a strong bond based on the many values our two cultures share. Both our communities attach great importance to education, enterprise, faith and family. We also feel an overarching loyalty to the country that granted us freedom and equality before the law, that created opportunities for us to realise our aspirations.

So when our Jewish friends tell us they fear for their children’s safety at schools and synagogues.

When they say they are afraid to openly identify as Jewish. When they begin to question their future in this country. We must not stay silent.

It is important for us to unite and understand what lies at the heart of the Jewish community’s fears.

Continued on page 16

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Girl 'passed around and raped by 100 men' Rotherham child abuse trial hears

Amjal Rafiq

Salah El-Hakam

A young girl was "passed around" and had sex with 100 men by the time she was 16, a court heard.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the abuse she suffered between 1998 and 2001 began when she was just 13-years-old. Her harrowing account was given in a video interview played at the trial of eight men accused of the sexual abuse of five girls over a five-year period from 1998 to 2003.

They were arrested and charged as part of Operation Stovewood - a police investigation into sexual abuse launched after the Rotherham grooming scandal.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how her phone number was passed around between the men - with others then "demanding" to meet her.

Tanweer Ali, 37, and Mohammed Imran Ali Akhtar, 37, are both accused of indecently assaulting the girl between 1998 and 2001 when she was under the age of 16. Ali and

Akhtar would have been aged between 17 and 20 during the alleged period of offending.

The victim described how she initially disliked Akhtar, of Rotherham.

However she eventually fell for the delivery driver when he made her feel special by visiting her "every day" after he finished his shift in the early hours of the morning. She fell pregnant with his son at the age of 14 and gave birth when she was 15.

Ali, also of Rotherham, and Akhtar are on trial with six other men, all accused of committing historic sex offences in Rotherham against five alleged victims.

The men have pleaded not guilty to a total of 28 counts of sexual abuse of five girls over a five-year period from 1998 to 2003.

Akhtar denies four counts of indecent assault, one of supplying a controlled drug, one of rape, one of procuring a girl under 21 for unlawful sexual

Nabeel Kurshid

Ajmal Rafiq

Salah Ahmed El-Hakam

Iqlak Yousaf

intercourse with another, one of aiding and abetting a rape and one of sexual assault.

Tanweer Ali, 37, of Rotherham, denies two counts of indecent assault, two counts of rape and one of false imprisonment.

Salah El-Hakam, 39, of Sheffield, denies one count of rape.

Nabeel Kurshid, 34, of Rotherham, denies two counts of rape and one of indecent

assault. Iqlak Yousaf, 34 of Rotherham, denies two counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault. Ajmal Rafiq, 38, of Rotherham, denies one count of false imprisonment and one count of indecent assault. Asif Ali, 33, of Rotherham, denies three counts of indecent assault.

An eighth defendant, who cannot be named, denies three counts of rape and one of abducting a child.

The trial continues.

Darron Whitehead, prosecuting, told the court the fire damaged 613,549 units at the site, resulting in a loss of £7.3m. The repair, clean-up and labour costs amounted to a further £745,000.

Adris Ali

four years at Stafford Crown Court on Tuesday. He had previously admitted a charge of arson with intent or recklessness as to whether life was endangered.

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NAWAZ SHARIF’S WIFE DIES IN LONDON AFTER PROLONGED ILLNESS Begum Kulsoom, the wife of Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, died Tuesday in London after a long battle with cancer, her family said.

Kulsoom, who was under treatment at London’s Harley Street Clinic since June 2014, was placed on life support earlier Tuesday after her health deteriorated, Geo TV reported. The health of the 68-year-old former first lady began deteriorating Monday night as she had developed a lung problem again, the channel said. Sharif’s brother and Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz president Shehbaz Sharif confirmed her death in a tweet.

Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar are currently serving jail terms in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi after being convicted by an accountability court in a corruption case in July. Citing sources, the channel said Sharif, Maryam, and Safdar have been informed about Kulsoom’s death. According to sources, the Sharif family has decided to bring back Kulsoom’s body to Pakistan, it said.

ARSONIST WHO SPARKED £8 MILLION AMAZON WAREHOUSE FIRE JAILED A disgruntled worker who sparked an £8 million fire at a flagship Amazon warehouse has been jailed. Arsonist Adris Ali, 22, torched a stack of papers with a cigarette lighter after he claimed a team leader ‘disrespected’ him. The fire spread through the distributing facility at Rugeley, triggering a fire alarm and mass evacuation as fire crews raced to the scene. Ali, an Amazon picker for three months when the blaze started on November 4 last year, was arrested after staff rotas revealed he was in the aisle where fire began.

Ali, of Kent Road, Walsall, was jailed for

in brief

MEN WHO KILLED JEWELLER SENTENCED IN COURT Three men were today jailed for their part in the death of a city jeweller. Thomas Jervis, Charles Mcauley, and Callan Reeve were each handed 12 years in prison for offences of kidnap and robbery. In addition, for manslaughter Callan Reeve, 20, was sentenced to 16 years. For murder, Thomas Jervis, 24, was sentenced to 33 years, and 20-year-old Charles Mcauley was sentenced to 30 years. The judge paid tribute to the Jogiya family's 'dignity, forbearance and understanding.

Asma Khan of Darjeeling Express is a British first on Netflix’s ‘Chef’s Table’ Darjeeling Express’ Asma Khan has been named as the first chef from Britain to appear on the popular, award-winning Netflix original series, Chef’s Table.

According to news report from Eater dot com Khan, along with chefs Mashama Bailey, Sean Brock, and Dario Cecchini, will appear on season six of the show, which is due to air in spring 2019.

Khan is the chef and owner of Darjeeling Express, the acclaimed Indian restaurant — famous for its all-female kitchen staff — that emerged from a supper club, whose final residence took place at the Sun & 13 Cantons on Soho’s Beak Street.

Khan, who was born into a royal family in Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, norther India, became interested in

Asma Khan

cooking only in adulthood — at a time when she was working as a constitutional law scholar in Cambridge.

(She moved to the U.K. in 1991).

It was around then that she realised her husband was a bad cook, so travelled back to India in 1993 to cook in the kitchens of family members, mastering their recipes and studying 1930s Royal Nawabi and Mughal

cuisine.

In 2012, she decided to change careers and launch a supper club, which was initially run out of her home.

In addition to her Mughlai roots on her father’s side, Khan cooks the food of Calcutta, the city where she was born and brought up.

Darjeeling Express opened in Kingly Court, Soho, last year.

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15 - 21 September 2018

Arora Group redoubles effort to secure Heathrow contract Marcus Parekh Hotel tycoon Surinder Arora has stepped up his audacious and surprising £14.4bn bid in an attempt to secure the rights to build the third terminal at London Heathrow Airport.

The expansion of Britain’s largest airport was initially approved by a Parliamentary vote in June, from which it was expected that Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) would be awarded the contract, after submitting a detailed proposal costing up to £31bn.

However, the Arora Group, headed up by Mr. Arora himself, have put forward plans that “could save up to £6.7bn when compared to the costs of Heathrow Airport Limited’s own plans” on

Surinder Arora

the terminal building alone.

First reported by The Sunday Telegraph, Mr. Arora’s 11th hour efforts are designed to “wrestle control of the expansion from the current airport operator”, thereby preventing HAL from possessing a monopoly over various forms of income such as

landing fees.

The Sunday Telegraph reports that it expects the Arora Group to “make a rival planning application to the one tabled by HAL”, after the finer details of the Arora proposal were revealed earlier in the year.

Mr. Arora, the largest single land owner around Heathrow airport, claims

that his plans will cost less than half of those of HAL, but that he only wants to build the new terminal building if “he can operate it and be entitled to a share of the landing fees”.

The steps taken come as a great surprise to many, who believed that the high costs of acquiring a development consent order (a key step in the planning process) would have put off any rival bids. The DCO could stretch to costing hundreds of millions of pounds alone.

However, the Civil Aviation Authority recently published documents that suggest that the planning authorities may consider multiple DCO’s, presenting an opportunity to the Arora Group.

HAL has encouraged

outside companies and entrepreneurs to be involved in developing ideas and pitches for the new scheme, but has stopped short of allowing a third party to build and operate the new terminal, something Mr. Arora has stated clearly he wishes to do.

In a statement, a HAL spokesman said that the Arora Group’s plans had not been scrutinised sufficiently by the public and were “laced with financing and delivery risk and would catastrophically degrade the passenger experience”. The same spokesman went on to deny that Mr Arora was being frozen out of the planning process.

Mr. Arora said: “Heathrow is the most

expensive airport in the world and is run for the benefit of its shareholders.

We, along with others, are calling for full transparency of Heathrow Airport Limited’s plans so that a like for like comparison can be made. We are confident ours will result in a better customer experience for less cost.

“We want passengers to be at the heart of our plans and the current monopoly at Heathrow, which over-charges airlines and in turn raises fares for passengers, is not the right model for the future. Heathrow needs competition and innovation”.

No timeline has been set for when the Arora Group proposal will be formally heard.

Hindu community seeks apology over temple advertisement on public toilet Rupanjana Dutta An advertisement promoting Brent as the 'London Borough of Culture' with Shri Vallabh Nidhi Mandir picture on a Kingsbury public toilet has enraged the city's Hindu community.

This was part of the borough's attempt to celebrate creativity in the capital, as a part of a new concept devised by the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan. Brent was therefore named as a 'borough of culture 2020' as a part of the campaign along with Waltham Forest.

Cllr Krupesh Hirani, responsible for culture and leisure at Brent Council, told The Harrow Times, “It’s a great honour to be chosen as the London Borough of Culture 2020.

“Young people and local groups played a key role in winning the bid, so it is vital that they continue to shape the ideas for Brent’s year in the cultural spotlight.”

In Hindu culture, toilets are regarded as inauspicious and are not associated with pure and holy objects like a place of worship.

Speaking to Asian Voice, Pramod Patel, a Committee Member of the Hindu Council of Brent told Asian Voice, “People are really angry about this poster of a temple on a public toilet!

This is outrageous. It is not the right place for our temples to be advertised or photos of Gods to be displayed.

There are billboards for that purpose. The Brent Council should apologise to the community for the hurt they have caused.”

Nearby Harrow MPs came forward to support the Hindu community of Brent.

Bob Blackman, MP for

Harrow East, who has many Hindus in his constituency told Asian Voice, “Advertising a place of worship on a public toilet is distasteful and disrespectful.

This is a disgraceful placement of a photograph of the beautiful Kingsbury Mandir.

I have no idea whom Brent Council consulted before these posters were placed on public toilets. I am aware that this has caused immense distress amongst the local Hindu community and I have requested that Brent Council remove them immediately. I would urge an apology from whomever made this ill-considered decision.”

Gareth Thomas, MP for Harrow West, told the newsweekly“When I first saw where this advert was situated I was shocked at the lack of respect for one of Britain’s most important places of worship. I hope whichever agency made the mistake of placing this advert will recognise the

upset they have caused and get it removed as soon as possible.”

Hindu Councillor Ameet Jogia, from Harrow Council said, “Brent prides itself on being one of the most culturally diverse boroughs in London. I was therefore surprised that Brent Council allowed such a culturally insensitive mishap to happen. Brent Council should offer an apology to Brent’s Hindu community at the very least and endeavour to update their policies so that this never happens again.

Lord Dolar Popat, one of the Hindu Peers, said, “I was shocked and saddened to hear about this insensitive incident by Brent Council. I am surprised that Brent – which has one of the largest Hindu communities in the UK – has been at the centre of the controversy. Brent Councillors and Officers should have known better.

Whilst this incident may be an unfortunate oversight, I

urge Brent Council to rectify this error and issue an apology to Brent’s Hindu community.”

Navin Shah AM, London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow told Asian Voice, “I’m proud of the religious and cultural diversity of Brent and Harrow and the immense contribution the Hindu community makes to the success of our Boroughs. Not being a Councillor I’m not in a position to state whether Brent councillors were consulted about locations of the posters in question.

However, there can be no doubt that a large number of members of Hindu community have taken a huge offence about the posters displayed on toilets.

“I had a number of residents / organisations expressing their concerns to me. Upon receiving the complaints I immediately spoke to both Cllr Butt, Leader of Brent Council and Cllr Krupesh Hirani who

were very positive in their response and I’m pleased that the posters have been removed from the offensive locations. I know that no offence was intended and Brent Council and the Council Leadership have been in contact with local Temples and explained fully the situation.

“I’m absolutely delighted that Brent Council has been recognised as a Borough of Culture reflecting Brent’s cultural and religious diversity. It is important that we celebrate this but at the same time we must ensure that promotion of events and aspects of the cultural programme is done sensitively. To this end I will continue to work with the Council and our stakeholders to ensure respect and recognition of the values of all faiths. “

Cllr Muhammed, Leader of the Brent Council, told Asian Voice exclusively, “We would like to apologise sincerely for this error as we recognise that the locations of some of the JCDecaux advertising sites were not appropriate given the content of this campaign, no offence was intended. The posters, which include a range of images from across Brent were intended to promote Brent’s year as borough of culture and, as a borough which proactively celebrates diversity at every opportunity, we certainly did not want to cause any offence to anyone. As soon as we received the complaint we instructed our contractor to remove the posters and our contractors have confirmed that they have now been taken down.”

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Swami Swaroopananda of Chinmaya Mission to visit UK The Global Head of Chinmaya Mission Swami Swaroopananda is visiting the UK from Thursday 13 September to Sunday 23 September. During this period, Chinmaya Mission UK will be holding a number of events which are open to all.

Born and bred in the bustling Indian city of Mumbai, Swami Swaroopananda first encountered Swami Chinmayananda (who established Chinmaya Mission) at a relatively young age through a copy of Swami Chinmayananda's commentary on the Bhagavad Geeta, which he picked up from his father’s bookshelf. He later became an active member of the Yuva Kendra (Youth Wing) of Chinmaya Mission Hong Kong.

As an adult, enchanted with Swami Chinmayananda and the sheer breadth and depth of Vedanta, Swami Swaroopananda gave up his family’s thriving business and joined the Vedanta course under Swami Chinmayananda and Swami Tejomayananda at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Mumbai, India in 1984.

Upon completion of his studies, Swami Swaroopananda was posted back to Hong Kong, from where he worked to grow new Chinmaya Mission centres across the Far East.

Swami Chinmayananda initiated him into the monastic order on the auspicious Shivratri of 1992. Soon, Swami Swaroopananda's remit was expanded to

University for Sanskrit and Indic Traditions, and formerly Head of Chinmaya Mission UK, Australia, New Zealand, Asia Pacific, Africa and Far East, S w a m i Swaroopananda was bestowed by Swami Tejomayananda the privilege to serve as the Head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide in January 2017.

S c h e d u l e d programme for his upcoming visit: l The Secrets of the Hanuman Chalisa Tuesday 17 September Swami Swaroopananda Saturday 22 September 2018. include the Australia and Tue-Fri: 7.30pm to 9pm, New Zealand region. In Sat: 6.30pm to 8pm | 2005, he was appointed Dhamecha Lohana Centre, Director-in-charge of the Brember Road, South Chinmaya International Harrow HA2 8AX. This Residential School in series of six talks will be free, Coimbatore. in English and open to all.

Besides presiding at l The Festival of Hanuman ‘gyaan yagnas’, Swami Saturday 22 September Swaroopananda has 2018,11am to 6pm, authored original commenDhamecha Lohana Centre, taries on Ik Onkaar, Sankat Brember Road, South Mochan and the Maha Harrow HA2 8AX. A free, Mrityunjaya Mantra, as well unique and fun-filled day of as a number of books on activities including meditadiverse spiritual and lifestyle tion, classes and workshops topics for the modern man for all age groups. Free and and woman. He also created open to all. Registerthe proprietary self-develophttps://tinyurl.com/ybew2x5b ment course Make It Happen, currently used as a Visit www.chinmayauk.org human resources training for the full itinerary and model at various corporate other details. Contact organisations.

Chinmaya Mission on Presently Chairman of info@chinmayauk.org or the Chinmaya 020 8203 6288.

Vishwavidyapeeth,

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Nine year old walked 11 miles to worship Lord Krishna on Janmashtami On the auspicious occasion of Janmashtami, nine year old Aryan, son of proud parents Rakesh and Mayuri Patel, walked 11 miles to pray to Lord Krishna at the Watford Temple. The little boy took five hours to reach the temple, without any breaks in between. When Asian Voice asked how such a young kid found motivation for the walk, his mother Mayuri said, “I had actually taken a resolution to walk to the Watford temple from our home, and had chosen Janmashtami as the appropriate day to do so.

My brother from Borsad, Gujarat, Maheshbhai Revabhai Patel is currently in London. At the age of 52, he has trouble in his legs.

However, he is always keen

to participate in such pilgrim walks.

Watching him, Aryan too began to insist on joining us. We tried to convince him that the distance is too long and too difficult for him to cover, but to no avail.”

She added, “At the end, all of us began our walk at five in the morning of September 3 and reached the temple at 8.45 am.” Mayuri said Rameshbhai of Isacon with Aryan Patel that nowhere along Lord Krishna. Student of the walk did they stop to the fifth grade, Aryan has a rest even once. Seeing strong belief in God and Aryan's determination and the divine strength. A reguenthusiasm, temple head lar visitor of the Neasden Rameshbhai was impressed temple, he knows the and gifted him his blessHanuman Chalisa by heart. ings, prasad and a photo of

Bhagavad Gita Walk: A community initiative to benefit future generations The vibrant community of ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Manor are undergoing another exciting project. A "Gita Walk" will take place on Sunday 16th September 2018, starting from the Krishna Avanti.

School in Edgware and end at Bhaktivedanta Manor where participants will have kirtan, prashadam and family fun!

The sponsored charity walk will take Bhaktivedanta Manor another step closer to fulfilling its dream. The Shree Krishna Haveli buildings will provide facilities to bring communities together for cultural activities, education and spiritual rejuvenation for present and future generations.

Each participant in the Gita Walk will represent a verse from the sacred text Bhagavad Gita As it Is, and in this way make a contribution to this unique project.

The Shree Krishna Haveli is the culmination of decades of struggle and sacrifice made by the community to secure their right to worship Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda.

The aim of the organisers is to give all participants the opportunity to support the project by raising as many funds as they can, whilst also getting fit and

having a devotional experience. They are hoping to raise £500,000 from this particular project.

Everyone is invited to support the Gita Walk and invest in the cultural and spiritual upliftment of society. Come walk Krishna’s talk; raise some funds to support this unique project!

For more information see www.krishnatemple.com.

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15 - 21 September 2018

Bladder and Kidney Cancer - Look before you flush Dr Jyoti Sood A recent survey reveals that only 16% of adults aged 50 and over in England say they check the colour of their urine every time they go to the toilet, with women being less likely to check every time (12% vs 20% of men).

Blood in urine is a key symptom of bladder and kidney cancer but you’ll only notice blood in your urine if you look before you flush the toilet.

Over 8,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer in England each year and over 10,000 people are diagnosed with kidney cancer.

These cancers can affect people of all ages, but are most common in people over 50.

Women are less likely to look before they flush Men are more likely to notice blood in their urine, as it isn’t the norm for women to check the toilet after they have urinated, but I would encourage women to look before they flush.

Some female patients have questioned how they can differentiate between

menstrual blood and bleeding that could be a sign of bladder or kidney cancer.

My advice would be that any woman who experiences bleeding that is unusual for them should see their doctor without delay.

South Asian communities need to seek help early There are often cultural, religious and language barriers preventing South Asian people from seeing their doctors early and this needs to change so that more lives can be saved.

Dr Jyoti Sood is the face of Public Health England’s latest ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaign. She is a GP partner at Newbury Park Health Centre.

Konnie Huq 'appalled' by the arrest of Bangladeshi photojournalist Television presenter Konnie Huq and the sister of MP Rupa Huq has said that she has lost pride in her Bangladeshi homeland after renowned photojournalist Shahidul Alam was arrested. Mr Alam, who is famous for chronicling human-rights abuses, was arrested on August 5th, by the Dhaka metropolitan police for allegedly damaging “the image of the nation”.

The photographer, who has covered Bangladesh’s alleged use of death squads and the Rohingya refugee crisis, has been a vocal supporter of student protests in the country. Mr Alam has been accused of breaching Bangladesh’s Information and Communications Technology Act because of an interview he gave to Al Jazeera.

Konnie Huq In a short video Huq reportedly said she was “really appalled at the treatment of Shahidul Alam”.

She attended a demonstration against Mr Alam’s incarceration outside the Bangladesh High Commission in London on Friday.

She reportedly said: “To be taken by force and put into prison just because of your beliefs is something that I did not think the Bangladesh government was capable of.

“In recent years it has transpired that that is not the case at all and peo-

Shahidul Alam

ple are beginning to think of my country, that I used to be very proud of, as one with an objectionable government.”

She added: “I really hope he gets freed. I just want justice.”

Huq has campaigned for the photographer’s release on social media and in August tweeted saying that she was “sickened and upset” by his ongoing detention.

Her sister Rupa Huq, the MP for Ealing Central and Acton, has also

campaigned against Mr Alam’s ongoing detention and wrote to the Foreign Office asking them to work for his release.

In a statement made to Mr Alam’s niece, Foreign Office minister Mark Fields said the issue had been raised by the UK Government with the Bangladeshi minister for foreign affairs.

Dancer and choreographer Akram Khan, artists Anthony Gormley and Anish Kapoor and Film-maker Steve McQueen are some of the high-profile figures who are campaigning for his release.

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AsianVoiceNews

15 - 21 September 2018

Britain’s exit from the EU As negotiations for Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU) are drawing towards a conclusion, we hope that the powers that be, Mrs May and her colleagues, will steer us through the troubled waters and strike a favourable final deal for Britain.

When the scaremongers are advocating for a second referendum, we need to pause and consider all the pros and cons of leaving the EU before it is too late. As has been predicted, rightly or wrongly, would we suffer a famine like situation with a shortage of food and medicines? Why do we want to separate ourselves from a huge economic bloc and go alone? Is the price to remain too much to pay?

Would all our contributions towards the running of the EU since 1974 go down the drain? If we do have to leave the EU without making provisions for our future economic well being, should we not ask for refunds of all the monies that we have paid to-date?

Without getting into the intricacies of the process and the exact amounts involved, as laymen, we want to see if our negotiators can clawback the vast amounts of funds we were made to contribute towards the running of the EU or towards subsidising other member countries.

Whatever happens, a period of uncertainty will no doubt follow until every thing is cut and dried and Britain settles down to go all alone in a life without the EU partners Dinesh Sheth Newbury Park, Ilford

Could Gujarat become a hub for excellent medical education?

Gujarat is famous for giving a lead, whether it is a struggle for independence or giving the nation supreme, corruption free, dedicated and patriotic leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and now Narendra Modi, the most visionary, honest to a fault and extremely capable PM in the history of independent India who has put the nation on international stage as one of the most dynamic, forward-looking, corruption free nation for the multi-conglomerates to do business with.

No wonder most leading international motor-vehicle manufacturers like BMW, Honda, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai and many more have moved to India, especially to Gujarat, making Gujarat a hub for the industry. Who can forget how CM Modi while leading Gujarat facilitated Tata Motors to move to Gujarat, providing land and planning permission within a week while West Bengal failed to do so in two years.

Now Gujarat is moving in the same direction as far as education is concerned, especially medical education, increasing Medical colleges (MC) granting MBBS degrees from six during CM Modi’s reign to nine today.

It was CM Modi who brought the scheme, “Ayushiaman Bharat” (Life-longevity India) which has now become a reality. These colleges are located in different cities, different part of Gujarat to make them easily accessible to local population.

The leading names that readily come to mind are Pramukswami MC (Anand), Smt. NHL Municipal MC and B.J. Medical College (Ahmedabad), Pundit Dindayal Upadhya MC (Rajkot) M. P. shah MC (Jamnagar) and many more, spread throughout Gujarat.

Besides these colleges, there are many colleges that educate aspiring doctors in Ayurvedic medicine, the old and tested knowledge based on traditional herbal medicine going back thousands of years, to Lord Rama and Lord Krishna’s time, along with traditional western medicine awarding MBBS degrees, thus keeping the old tradition alive and in the main stream.

No wonder Gujarat is fast becoming one of the favourite destinations for medical treatment for people from all over the world, especially from Middle East and Africa. Gujarat is catching up fast with Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi who all had early start but being late arrival or new-comer has its own advantages, as Gujarat has one of the most modern facilities in such colleges who have come on the scene during the last decade or two.

Let us hope that Gujarat becomes a leading educational establishment that will give Bharat and the Western world, highly qualified doctors, surgeons and specialists, especially our Britain where doctor shortages are chronic in our underfunded NHS. It is a sad irony that advanced economy like ours could not educate enough doctors at home and have to depend on developing nations to fill the vacancies, thus depriving developing nations of their skill a brain drain they could least afford.

Bhupendra M. Gandhi By email

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Our long suffering public deserves better NHS It is normal that most elderly people, who had cataract operations, will need laser surgery in a year or two to remove the misty build-up behind the lens that hinders vision. Although this is a minor, routine, ten minute surgery, the demand is high, due to ageing population and life-longevity, as well as poor management.

A family member needed such a surgery which was carried out in a local, recently built NHS hospital wing. It is a bright, well equipped building with friendly, efficient and caring staffs working under enormous pressure. Although this is a minor surgery, the patient has to be checked twice by nursing staffs before surgeon can operate. Understandably this creates a build-up of patients queuing up in the lounge.

There were some twenty patients before us in the waiting area and it took some four hours from registering to being discharged. Add two hours for travelling and it becomes very tiring day, especially for the elderly in poor health, as couple of patients were in their nineties and in wheel-chairs. I cannot but feel that such elderly patients should be given priority, although it is easier said than implemented, as patients were there for variety of reasons besides laser surgery.

It is time for our out of touch politicians living in their “Ivory Tower” to break status quo, study how NHS is funded and operated in Scandinavian countries, as well as France, Germany, Singapore and Japan where medical treatment is at its best, more or less available on demand.

Our long suffering public, as well as medical staffs deserve better, well-funded NHS. It is time for government to look at our ever bulging “Overseas Aid” budget, as well as defence spending when we are willing to spend £10 billion on a single “Aircraft Carrier” to defend our super rich NATO partners like Germany whose defence budget is a fraction of what we spend. It is time for us to stop playing “Robin Hood” overseas and “Shylock” at home!

Kumudini Valambia By email

Families in debt The result of austerity and rising costs of energy bills and rent, will by December make families in debt most likely to hit a 5 year high. In fact loans and credit cards aren’t the biggest problem. The situation is grave for families laden with piling debt are suffering real hardships. About 1.6m UK households are living in extreme debt, according to a report by the TUC, which says official figures underestimate the intense burden of repayment on many families and individuals. However, in identifying the types of debt that are throwing household finances off course, it said 'smaller but trickier' bills are overtaking large scale loans.

Half of callers to National Debtline are now struggling to repay debt of £5,000 or less – up from just 22% in 2008.

These smaller levels of debt are proving difficult to repay due to an increase in 'broken budgets' – where the money coming in is simply not enough to cover essential spending. It follows a report in August that found four in 10 households have just £7 a day left after factoring in essential monthly bills.

Families with debt pose risk to the entire British economy. Debt-ridden households 'risk a new credit crisis': Bank of England’s dire warning over mortgage lending, credit cards and car finance deals. Lenders were heading for a ‘spiral of complacency’ as low interest rates encouraged potentially catastrophic borrowing binges. In a stark warning that Britain could be heading for another major financial crisis ten years on from the last, the Bank’s director for financial stability, Alex Brazier, said there were ‘signs of boundaries being pushed’ by banks now offering riskier mortgages.

The problem is growing fastest among the working poor, people with jobs but insufficient pay to stay financially afloat. OECD figures show that UK real wages fell by 10.4% between 2007 and 2015, making the task of keeping up debt repayments harder. The government must give priority in its economic plan for higher wages. What is needed is a return to proper annual pay rises and a higher national minimum wages to tackle this problem. This dire situation is also putting a lot of pressure of food banks throughout the country.

Baldev Sharma Rayners lane, Harrow What do you think?

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Prisons minister warns Islamist hate preacher Anjem Choudary is 'genuinely dangerous' and will be watched 'like a hawk' when he is freed next month Islamist hate preacher Anjem Choudary still poses a 'genuinely dangerous' threat to safety in the UK and the West ahead of his release from jail, a minister has warned.

Prisons minister Rory Stewart said the 51-year-old, who inspired the killers of Lee Rigby and London Bridge terrorist Khuram Butt, would be 'watched like a hawk' by police.

The 51-year-old has served less than three years of a five-and-ahalf-year sentence for inviting support for ISIS and is currently in a special 'prison within a prison' at HMP Belmarsh.

He spent five months inside before his trial took place which is part of the reason why his release next month has been triggered.

Anjem Choudary

lengths of sentences being handed out for hate speech offences with questions raised over whether legislation is strong enough to deal with the problem.

Mr Stewart added plans were in place to train a group of 25 'elite' Muslim preachers to try to deradicalise extremist prisoners and tackle 'crazy ideas' and 'false logic' put forward by Islamists and ISIS. He said he was 'optimistic' the approach would work despite 'concerning' numbers of prisoners influenced by extremism because of social media, troubled backgrounds and mental health problems.

Earlier this year Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced new policies including longer London Bridge terrorist prison sentences being Khuram Butt introduced for those convicted of terrorist Mr Stewart said he offences, including a remained a 'destabilising maximum 15 years for influence' because he watching jihadist propawas part of a group of ganda such as beheading 'highly dangerous fanatvideos and bomb-makical extremists' whose ing manuals on the views cannot be changed internet. and should be under The government's surveillance. new counter-terrorism Choudary ran strategy will boost intelbanned terrorist group ligence cooperation Al-Muhajiroun whose between MI5 and police members would hold as well as the private 'Sharia surgeries' and sector. discuss plots in an east The plan, to be London sweet shop dubbed Contest, will belonging to a businessseek to ensure 'that man associate of the there are no safe spaces hate preacher. for terrorists, no safe Among those he is spaces internationally, credited with inspiring in the UK or online'. are Michael Adebolajo Under the new and Michael Adebowale, blueprint, the security the murderers of Fusilier services will be alerted Lee Rigby, and suspected to suspicious purchases ISIS executioner more swiftly.

Siddhartha Dhar. His The government upcoming release comes want firms to raise the amid concerns at the alarm as quickly as possible if they have evidence of unusual transactions - such as someone stockpiling large amounts of chemicals or acting suspiciously when Michael Adebolajo, left, and Michael hiring a vehicle.

Adebowale, right, who murdered Lee Rigby in 2013

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15 - 21 September 2018

British Indian man failed

by UK Consulate in Bali Mitul Paniker What started off as an exemplary vacation in the island of Bali, soon turned into a British couple's worse nightmare as 69 year old Rameshkant Ruparelia found himself on the receiving end of an unprovoked assault.

On a holiday at the exclusive five star Mulia Resort in Nusa Dua, Bali, Rameshkant and wife Kirti are now stranded in a foreign country, with the former nursing three broken teeth, 23 stitches, and a determination to actively pursue justice against his violent aggressor.

With no assistance or support from either the local authorities or the British Consulate, they see all the more reason to make their plight heard.

Asian Voice reached out to the couple, and spoke to the victim as he revealed that it was a normal Sunday, and being an insulin dependent diabetic, he had just taken his injection and needed to eat something.

On going down to the breakfast dining area of the luxurious hotel, he found a lack of service due to which he went ahead to serve himself. “Suddenly this... woman, seemingly European or Australian passed a comment saying that 'some people don't have any manners whatsoever'. I replied to her saying I am a guest in this resort too, and that is when she began to verbally wind me up. Frustrated after a bit of arguing, I asked her to shut up,� Rameshbhai said. “And that is when I unexpectedly felt a huge blow on my face from behind, where her husband was standing. It instantly broke three or four of my

teeth, and I wear partial dentures on the bottom so that broke as well and engraved into my lips. He had caught in directly on the mouth and it had begun to bleed. “The Resident Manager, Sonny Koenjoro, just began to play it down as this is a five star hotel and he did not want bad publicity.�

Reluctant to call the police considering the severity of the situation, he called a nurse who immediately asked him to go to a hospital to get himself checked.

While one would assume the worst was over as Rameshkant and Kirti rushed to the hospital, it was there on that their real struggle began.

After spending the entire day at the hospital, spending a ÂŁ1000 and getting a couple of stitches on the mouth, they returned to the hotel and inquired about the guest who had criminally assaulted Rameshkant.

Koenjoro flatly refused to give them information on the man and woman who attacked him, making excuses that they had no clue who they were.

When asked if he could at least call the authorities, the manager again refused saying he won't call the police to the hotel.

He advised Rameshkant to go to the police station himself and register a personal complaint.

The pensioner then went to the station, where he miserably found just one

English-speaking officer, who informed him that the hotel's manager should have called them when the assault took place.

On calling the manager to the station, he refused to come and instead sent two-three security guards themselves.

Rameshkant and Kirti were made to sit in the station, answer the same questions repeatedly for over four hours.

Later, the police officer advised them to approach the British Consulate, stating that they won't find any help in the local station.

Mildly relieved thinking about the presence of a consulate whose basic idea is to serve British citizens in Bali, Rameshkant unfortunately found himself subjected to the same kind of interrogation and disinterest as he experienced with the locals.

A lady who talked to him asked him, “Why are you calling me? What can we do for you?�

Rameshkant replied saying he is a British citizen and that he needs their aid.

He gave all his personal information, when she suddenly passed him over to a local-born person working for the council.

She again asked all the same questions, none resulting in a definite solution.

Rameshkant said he and his wife have spent two days trying to find some relief, ÂŁ1400 in medical supplieswith no guarantee that he would recover.

He has also sent two emails to Conservative MP Victoria Prentis, expressing his situation, and has failed to receive a proper response.

The manager meanwhile, continues to deny knowing the assaulter.

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Research reveals cost of school year reaches ÂŁ800 per child New findings reveal the cost of sending a child to school could reach almost ÂŁ800 a year. This is the equivalent to 3.5% of the average annual salary. The research considers the cost of preparing a boy or girl for a new school year, as well as ongoing expenses such as school meals.

The research shows it costs slightly more to send a boy to school than it does a girl, with expenses potentially reaching ÂŁ792.49 compared to ÂŁ773.49. Parents with multiple children face an even greater financial outlay.

With the average UK salary standing at £22,829 after tax, according to the Office of National Statistics, parents will spend almost 3.5% of their yearly income on a child’s school attendance -3.5% for boys and 3.4% for girls.

School meals are the biggest expense across the year, reaching a total of ÂŁ448.50 based on the government assigned cost of ÂŁ2.20-ÂŁ2.30 a day. New school uniforms are the next most expensive item, potentially extending to ÂŁ183 for boys and ÂŁ154 for girls.

Certain schools require customised uniform that may increase costs further. Sports kit is another clothing purchase that needs to be considered, coming in at ÂŁ85 for girls and ÂŁ83 for boys.

Other items on the school shopping list include a full stationery set and a school bag. It is often assumed that a child’s school costs only impact parents at the start of a school year.

Sending a child or children to school is a significant financial commitment and it is important to plan accordingly.

Indian billionaire's daughter is hiring staff to get her through uni According to reports an Indian billionaire's daughter is said to be hiring at least 12 staff to help her whilst she studies at St Andrews University in Scotland and includes a butler, maid, three footmen and a housekeeper!

Reports state that her family have bought her a mansion to live in, instead of getting an accomodation in the halls of residence. Her family is believed to be preparing to hire the staff in an attempt to ease her into

her freshers' week this week and throughout her four years' term at the institution. Along with a maid, the student will also have a private chef and a chauffeur to take her to her lectures and the student union from the mansion.

The advert for a maid had reportedly been placed earlier this summer and asked for a help with "an outgoing, cheerful and energetic personality." It stated that the maid would be responsible for "waking

principal up, liaising with other staff regarding routine and schedule, assisting with grooming, wardrobe management and personal shopping�.

A butler will oversee the entire team with footmen being responsible for serving all meals daily, laying the table and keeping the house clean. It also added that the entire staff would be required to open doors for the student and that the staff will be paid nearly ÂŁ30,000 per year.

12 MEDIA WATCH

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15 - 21 September 2018

SCRUTATOR’S now has the highest proportion of female commercial pilots in the world, 12 per cent of its flying staff. This is twice as high the numbers in most Western countries, including the US and Australia. Phew!

The Roman Empire in its declining years boasted rulers such as Nero who played his fiddle while Rome was ablaze; another Emperor Caligula sent his horse to occupy a seat in the Roman Senate.

Police families targeted

by Kashmiri jihadis

Manmohan Singh, Narendra Modi and Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi

Kolkata’s shattered bridg

an inquiry into this latest mishap, but whether thorough measures will be undertaken to prevent such calamities in the future is beyond rational prediction, judging by the past record.

Congress leader Anand Sharma and Lok Sabha Spoeaker Sunitra Mahajan. Dr Manmohan Singh lauded Mr Naidu’;s efforts for greater discipline in legislatures across the country. to discuss parliamentary discipline at the centre and in the legislative assemblies in the states.. Freedom of speech cannot be licence for boorish behaviour. Mr Naidu.

Until and unless penalties of expulsion for periods of time are meted out the rot will continue.

Mr Naidu has cracked the whip (Indian Express, Hindu September 3).

Estonia pitch for Indian IT Refale gives India the edge: IAF

Future bleak

Mamata Banerjee

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may not have climbed these heights of absurdity nor plumbed the depths – depending on one’s preferred angle of vision – but her zany utterances and behavior is turning out to be an obstruction to the desired norms of proper administration While the good lady was engaged in heavy political lifting on Assam’s policy to determine who is, or is not, a true citizen of India on those living within its borders; lunching or dining with the Gandhis – mother Sonia, and son Rahul at their Delhi residence, in an attempt to cobble an Opposition alliance to counter the BJP-led coalition at the Centre in the May/June general election, her Bengal bailiwick was in trouble, dire trouble.

Kolkata bridge collapse Kolkata’s infrastructure were tumbling down. A few days ago, a bridge situated at a key junction of the city leading to Diamond Harbour collapsed. Four people were killed, with many more bodies, possibly, remaining to be recovered from the debris. This is the third such tragedy in city the last six years. The responsibility for these disasters have to be shared by the previous inept Communist Party (Marxist)-led Left Front and its successor, the present Trinamool Congress regime.

Warnings Warnings of the deteriorating structures of the bridge (and others that collapsed) were ignored or shelved by bureaucrats and inert ministers. There will be

Experts have blamed red tape, quick-fix repairs and slack maintenance for the collapse. It will take many months before the debris is removed, and it will take another 18 months before a substitute bridge of the latest design and contruct6ed with material to match is operational. A visibly chastened Mamata Banerjee, speaking to the media, acknowledged that Kolkata’s bridges were unsafe and required urgent attention. She accepted that the Bengal PWD bureaucrats had been slack. That is an encouraging start. The task before the State government now is to put things rights – not easy by any means – without loss of focus (Times of India, Telegraph September 5,6,7).

Code of conduct for MPs Unruly behavior by MPs has brought Parliament into increasing disrepute, and more damagingly, the concept of democracy itself. Cries for Order from the Chair are routinely ignored, and hence the House in adjourned and the show repeated ad nauseam. Little business is done and bills pile up as the legislative process is derailed by the very people entrusted with its functioning. The public perception is that valuable tax payers’ money is squandered, MPs being well paid and enjoying travel and other allowances and perks.

Conclave of rectitude BJP MPs misbehaved as a matter of routine during the second term of the Congress-led Manmohan Singh government (2009-14), the Congress in opposition currently does so with similar abandon.

Communists and Trinamool contribute liberally to the pandemonium. Enough clearly is enough. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu had a meeting with Dr Singh, Prime Minister Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley,

generation technologies. Tech Mahindra announced a partnership with FutureSkills – an inititiative by the IT industry’s apex body Nasscom. ‘The partnership pace at which digital technologies are disrupting business today is creating an immediate demand for professionals who can work with next generation technologies to deliver state-of-art solutions and services,’ said C.P.Gurmani, CEO and Managing Director Tech Mahindra (Business Line September 5).

The Indian Air Force has stated the French fighter aircraft gives India an ‘unprecedented’ advantage in combat and revolutionize air power on the Indian Subcontinent, while dismissing the Congress-driven controversy ‘We are waiting for the Rafale to come. It is a beautiful aircraft. It is a very capable aircraft. It has a capability that we need very quickly,’ said Air Marshal S.B. Deo in New Delhi.

Countering critics of of the Rafale deal with France, the Deputy Chief of the of the Air staff, Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar said that had been alleged did not fit with the facts.’the facts on record indicate that there is no truth in those allegations, ‘ said the Air Marshal. (Times of India, Business Line September 6, September 7) India currently has 31 operational squadrons, well short of the 45 sanctioned by the government (Times of India September 6).

Cyient bags UAV Army contract Cyient Solutions & Systems Ltd, a joint venture between Hyderabadbased Cyient and Israel’s BlueBird Aero Systems, received its first order from the Indian Army for supplies of Spylite mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for high altitude surveillance.

‘Spylite is an advanced combatproven electric mini unmanned aerial system. It is optimized to offer covert, extended range realtime visual intelligence. Fully autonomous, from launch to accurate parachute recovery, the system delivers enhanced reliability even in severe weather conditions,’ said a CSS statement.

‘Its low visual and acoustic signature underlined its suitability for covert operations.’ (Business Line September 5).

Nasscom to upskill staff IT trade body Nasscom is to retrain and upskill staff with next

Estonia borders Finland and Russia with a miniscule population, but is rapidly emerging as an e-country with 99 per cent of its government services online. Estonia is establishing Data Embassies which replace embassies on the ground in selected countries. Riho Kruuv, Estonia’s Ambassador to India , referred to his country’s rapidly changing relationship with India from 2017, when India emerged as one of the top three countries locating its start-ups in Estonia, as it launched a ‘Start-up Visa’ policy.

Another initiative that was drawing Indian businessmen to Estonia was its e-Residency programme for foreigners beginning in 2013. ‘There are 45,000 e-Residents from 160 countries, of which 1,600 are from India,’ said the Ambassador (Business Line September 5).

India high-flier in women pilots Times are a-changing – perhaps faster than ever before. Time was when a woman pilot was almost as rare as the fabled Kohinoor diamond. Not any longer. India

Kashmiri jihadis have taken to abducting the kin of police personnel and holding them to ransom. This, say intelligence officials, are a dangerous trend.

The National Intelligence Agency arrested Syed Ahmed Shakeel on charges of terror funding.

Kashmiri jihadis held in Delhi The Delhi police Special Cell oin anti Terrorist operations arrested two young Kashmiri men, Parvaiz Rashid Lone, 24, and Jamsheed Zahoor Paul, 19. Arma, ammunition and mobile phones were recovered. Lone is an M.Tech student, while Paul was studying engineering (Hindu September 8).

Hyderabad Meanwhile in Hyderabad, three months before the twin bomb blasts, two convicts, Anik Shafique Saeed and Mohammed Akbar Ismail Chowdhury were trained in a farmhouse in Chikkamagaluru, Karnataka (Hindu September 6).

Supreme Court upholds creative freedom Tamil writer S. Hareesh saw his novel Meesha ran foul of local Hindu bigots, who demanded that its contentious passages be expunged. A local magazine that was publishing the novel in serial for, abruptly ceased publishing the work following threats. The Supreme Court of India rejected the plea to have parts of his novel expunged, upholding his rights as a creative writer with the appropriate extracts from the works of George Orwell. It was a blow for freedom of expression when writers, fearful of giving offence to BJP elements were subconsciously censoring their own work (Hindu September 6).

Women excel in 2+2 diplomacy

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and US Defence Secretary James Mattis signing Indo-US defence agreement in New Delhi

Sushma Swaraj and Nirmama Sitharaman, respective Indian Ministers of External Affairs and Defencem, engaged in an extensive 2+2 strategic conversation with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary General James Mattis in New Delhi. The goal of this exercise was to clarify and deepen mutual understanding of Indian and American interests. By all accounts the experience was a rewarding one (Hindu, Times of India September 6).

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Alpesh Patel

The Greatest Debt The England and India Cricket team captains worry the red poppy to re-launch the initiative to commemorate the service in World War 1 of Indian soldiers on this the Centenary of the end of the War. As Britain has another conflict with Europe today, though not military, it is immigrants who suffer the emboldened prejudice against them. So let us remember…

Approximately 1.3 million Indian soldiers served in World War One, and over 74,000 of them lost their lives according to the BBC. Just as quick as you are to be grateful to Britain at every opportunity, and how grateful you are the country offered you a home as a Ugandan Indian, or a penniless migrant from Kenya, or Tanzania or India – remember too you worked for it, you earned it.

You repaid your debt of gratitude manifold to the country. Look the country in the eye not from a position of being prostrate on the floor. My grandfather did not migrate here because of the generosity, great though it is of the British people, but because he was in the British Army in the War, and generously provided his Indian courage to the war effort.

He earned that right to migrate. When your fellow British Indians fought in the First World War – they too earned the right for you to migrate here – lest you forget – until the British Parliament legislated away that right. Lest you forget.

Patriotism is loyalty of the citizen to the country, but the country owes loyalty to its citizens. A British Indian seeks not extra protection but certainly demands no extra prejudice because he is Indian. So do not mistake our gratitude for weakness, our gratefulness for a willingness to be maltreated. We too, by the millions, put the Great into Great Britain. Continue to show us the respect we deserve and demand. We are British Indians. This is our nation.

Lest YOU forget.

And of those Indian who fought for British Independence in World War 1, this poem by Housman could have been speaking of them: Here dead we lie Because we did not choose To live and shame the land From which we sprung.

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Asian families in Brent ‘targeted’ for jewellery by armed burglars Asian families in Brent have been “targeted” by armed burglars posing as meter readers who then steal their jewellery.

Nineteen aggravated burglaries which occurred across Brent, Harrow and Barnet are being investigated by Brent detectives.

The burglaries all occurred in the afternoon or evening throughout August and appear to have targeted Asian families including elderly victims, said police.

A man knocked on doors posing as a meter reader but provided no identification.

Once inside, he’d jar the door while accomplices armed with knives, and wearing gloves and balaclavas, stormed in demanding cash and jewellery.

If the occupants were out, the doors were forced

open.

There have been no arrests.

DS Kelly Schonhage, from Brent CID, said: “These are terrifying burglaries for the victims; often when they are in the safety and comfort of their own homes.

“If anyone asks to check your meter, please make sure you check if they are wearing any identification.

If they are not, do not let them in and call police.

“We would urge anyone with information about these burglaries to get in touch as soon as possible.”

To help police with their enquiries, call Brent CID via 101 quoting reference CAD 4966/07Sept18, or tweet @Metcc. Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Police break up large fight in Uxbridge Officers were called to reports of a large fight taking place on the High Street at about 5pm on Monday (September 10).

Pupils from several schools in the area, including Uxbridge High School, were reportedly involved in the fight. The school was closed when Getwestlondon attempted

to call on Monday evening.

It is alleged youths were behaving aggressively such as “stamping on” and “kicking” people, causing stores in the High Street to close.

According to one local, part of the “chaos” occurred outside Clarks in the High Street which was forced to “lock its doors”.

Heart-rending plea from father to raise funds to save daughter A young Sikh father, Anupreet ‘Anu’ Amole, fought in the British Army’s Operation Herrick VI in 2007 survived the potentially-fatal badlands, but is now fighting another battle. His daughter, Daya, is suffering from neuroblastoma, a very rare cancer and has already undergone nine rounds of chemotherapy at Great Ormond Street Now, Anu needs to raise more than £100,000 for a vital operation, this month Daya, who has plastic medical tubes running across her face and around her chest, is suffering from neuroblastoma, a very rare — fewer than 100 new cases are diagnosed in the UK each year — and aggressive form of cancer which strikes the youngest and most vulnerable, developing in nerve cells left behind from a baby’s growth in utero.

The chances of survival in high-risk cases such as hers are, at best, 50-50.

Yet the original ‘massive’ tumour in her chest persists, albeit diminished. Three months ago, Daya’s surgeon told her parents it was inoperable. The tumour’s posi-

Anupreet ‘Anu’ Amole, pictured with his daughter, Daya, who is suffering from neuroblastoma, a very rare cancer.

tion, wrapped around two main blood vessels, was too dangerous for removal. But in leaving it alone, the chances of relapse and the cancer spreading once again were high.

Anu and his wife Pam, an academic, sought a second opinion, which led them to Dr Michael La Quaglia at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Dr La Quaglia is perhaps the world’s foremost expert on the surgical treatment of Daya’s condition. He can operate on her this month, he has told Anu and Pam. The procedure will be high risk, but it is the family’s

only hope.

A fundraising campaign, backed by leading military figures, has raised the £362,000 needed for the initial operation, which the family hopes will take place on September 24.

The generosity, very often from strangers who’ve seen Pam’s moving My Three Little Bears blog or the @HelpSaveDaya Twitter feed, has been a bright light in an otherwise bleak landscape.

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Government is urged to bring back Post-Study Work visa 15 - 21 September 2018

Previously, the Tier 1 Post-Study Work visa was a way for international graduates from UK universities to remain in the UK for a year after graduation, enabling them to gain some UK work experience before returning to their home country, or before applying for another visa category, such as a work permit.

The Post-Study Work visa route was closed in line with changes to the UK immigration policy in 2012, as the then Home Secretary, Theresa May, led a crackdown on student overstayers.

As a result, graduating students who wish to remain in the UK now have to apply through the Tier 2 (General) route to remain in the UK. The Tier 2 programme has stricter requirements for qualification; employers now have to carry out a resident labour market test when sponsoring graduates, which was not necessary through the PostStudy Work visa route.

Under this route, students must find a job with a salary of at least £20,800 with an employer who has a Tier 2 sponsor licence after completing their course, or set up a business with £200,000 investment as an (Tier 1) entrepreneur, which most find difficult to obtain. The only exceptions are PhD graduates who can stay for a year after obtaining their degree.

Earlier this month, Universities UK (UUK) called for the government to reintroduce the Post-Study Work visa to give the UK a competitive edge over rival countries and help it maintain the 450,000 international students in Britain every year, as reported by the Guardian.

The UUK said reviving the provision will enable the UK to compete with other popular destinations such as the US, Australia and Canada, who have more welcoming student visa policies, including poststudy work facilities.

Speaking at the UUK annual conference

in Sheffield, UK Universities minister Sam Gyimah said he “welcomes [the] UUK Post-Study Work visa proposal”, and that the forthcoming MAC report “offers us an opportunity to ensure our policy on student migration recognises the contribution that overseas students make to our universities, our balance of trade and our communities”.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "There is no limit on the number of genuine international students who can come to study in the UK. We recognise the cultural and financial contribution which international students make to the UK, which is why we have developed an excellent post-study offer.”

As an Immigration Director, author, Tamana Aziz assists with immigration applications under EU law, business immigration under the Points Based System, complex appeals (including deportation and country guidance cases) in Immigration Tribunals, the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

Tamana Aziz

Contact Tamana on 020 3114 1130 and tamanaa@duncanlewis.com.

Duncan Lewis’ Immigration department is ranked as a toptier practice in Immigration: human rights, appeals and overstay matters in The Legal 500 2017. As leading immigration specialists we advise on business immigration, right to work in the UK, Tier 2 visa applications, student/graduate visas, spousal visas and visa overstays.

14 CULTURE

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15 - 21 September 2018

Bengal’s Durga comes to London’s Southbank Delegates visit exhibition featuring West Bengal’s Durga Puja in London Rupanjana Dutta

Kamalika Bose, Debanjan Chakrabarti, Adrian Evans, Baroness Usha Prashar, Pretty Ali, Atri Bhattacharya, Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Radhika Singh

Creative Director said, “We are so delighted to be a part of this stunning exhibition and very proud that it has come out of our Silk River Project. We are excited about the opportunities future collaborations might offer us.”

The exhibition photographs showcased different aspect of the Durga Puja, starting from variety of pandals and lighting, idols to 'sindoor khela'.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla, the Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs said, “Durga puja is a celebration of cultural identity that goes beyond religion. Millions of people come together through tradition, art performances, music and

Debanjan Chakraborty, Minister Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Anirban Mukhopadhyay from London Sharad Utsav and Atri Bhattacharya

food. Coincidentally Durga Puja in its present form traces its origin to interactions With the British in the late 18th century. We are delighted to present the exhibition at

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promote Kolkata as a heritage city. He added, “Our Durga puja as a festival is unparalleled.

There is nothing in the world that compares to it.”

At the event, British Council further signed 3 years of 'partnership agreement' with London Sharad Utsav. The purpose of the MoU is to promote the ongoing series of projects focussed on tourism, global promotion of Durga Puja, education of underprivileged children, skill development, cultural exchange etc in association with Bengal Heritage Foundation.

On 6th Septmember, the delegates met with MP Virendra Sharma, the Chairman of All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) in House of Commons. This was joined

by Bob Blackman MP and Lord Meghnad Desai. They also went on to visit the Houses of Parliament, listen to a debate, followed by a meeting at the Horniman Museum in South London. Besides London, the delegation has met visited Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, to meet representatives from government, tourism industry, fringe festivals, arts councils, literature festivals and museums.

Asian artist inspires community to end cancer tabboo Bollywood singer and songwriter Veronica Mehta, 44, of Uxbridge who survived breast cancer, spoke on Monday about 'breaking the stigma' around the disease in the Asian community on a Sunrise radio show, which is dedicating the month to supporting Cancer research UK's Stand Up To Cancer campaign.

44 year old Mehta found a lump in her left breast while heavily pregnant with her third child Veer. She was diagnosed with grade three breast cancer in October 2016 and had a Caesarean section in order to start treatment. The London born singer who is well known in the Asian circle kept her diagnosis from her fans, as she wanted to keep her 'private life private' in line with her cultural background.

According to a report in the Evening Standard, she said, “If a couple of people found out about my situation – there is a bit of a stigna attached to it. Had I done smething wrong? Or perhaops it was karma? And

photo courtesy: Twitter

West Bengal's Minister of State for Sports and Youth Services Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Atri Bhattacharya, IAS, Principal Secretary of Tourism and Debanjan Chakrabarti, Director, East and North East India, British Council visited the UK for 10 days, on the back of a Memorandum of Understanding that was signed in India between the Government of West Bengal and British Council on 6 July, to build robust links with the UK’s festivals and cultural tourism sector, with several reciprocal projects in the pipeline that include discussions with London’s Totally Thames Festival for a river festival in Kolkata.

On 6th September the delegates attended an exclusive viewing of the exhibition in South Bank, outside National Theatre“Bengal's Durga” followed by a reception to welcome them. Part of the Kinetika 2017 Silk River project, it drew together communities from River Thames and River Hooghly, exploring connections between them, this exhibition has been put together by the Department of Tourism, West Bengal along with British Council to celebrate 70 years of India.

The exhibition showcased 16 panels with photographs by Manjit Singh Hoonjan, have been particularly curated by Ali Pretty of Kinetika and Kamalika Bose. It will be on display till 30 September.

Ali Pretty, Kinetika’s

Totally Thames 2018 and hope it will showcase West Bengal as a destination for tourism. We also seek to establish collaborations between artists from across the world with artists of West Bengal.”

Debanjan Chakrabarti, Director, East and North East India, British Council said, “The exhibition is a legacy programme arising out of the Silk River project

by Kinetika, which was one of the flagship programmes of U.K.-India Year of Culture in 2017. British Council India has been inspired every day of the last 70 years by the art and culture West Bengal. I hope this exhibition which showcases the creativity and culture of Bengal’s river communities will inspire young people from both India and the U.K. to build enduring connections through education, arts and culture for the next 70 years.”

Meeting the diaspora at an event organised by London Sharad Utsav and Bengal Heritage Foundation on Wednesday 5th September evening at The Grand Royale Hotel, Principal Secretary of Tourism, Atri Bhattacharya urged the Non Residential Bengalis (NRBs) to help create jobs and promote tourism in Bengal as well as

that would really upset me.

“The older generation come with that. Now when I come out with my story I don't believe the younger generation will think like that at all- I think they will embrace and support it. It's just not enough people have spoken about it. We need to break that stigma.” she added.

She told the show that the hardest thing was telling her two daughters 8 year old

Mya and 6 year old Esha.

Despite undergoing mastectomy as well as chemotherapy, she manged to write and release a record, Mere Dil Mein from the Bollywood film Half Girlfriend. She also worked on a score for the film Boogie Man for which she has won an award at the UK Asian Film Festival. Mehta is now clear of cancer and awaiting breast reconstruction.

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BOOKIES OFFER ODDS ON UNSIGNED ARTIST TOPPING THE UK CHARTS IN 2018

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CHANTING IN THE NAME OF OUR GURU Dhiren Katwa The Wanza Samaj, a Hindu community organisation, held its annual Guru Gopal Lal Bhajan Utsav in Harrow, London, last Saturday. The evening programme, which began with dinner, brought together around 100 people.

Entertainment was provided by Gopal Lal Bhajan Mandal, led by veteran singer Damjibhai Bharakda.

Several from the audience said the authentic folk songs and hymns brought back fond memories from their days in parts of East Africa, India too.

President of The Wanza Samaj, Prakash Babulal Parmar, who live-streamed the event, thanked everyone for attending and made a plea to attendees to encourage younger members of their families to get involved. He said that the overall event cost had been covered, thanks to generous donations from attendees. Members also spoke about the success of a major week-long spiritual festival organised by Leicester’s Wanza community which ended earlier this month. The event, Shrimad Bhagavatam, was led by spiritual leader Shyambhai Thakar. Wanzas across the world are followers of Gopal Lal, their Guru, or teacher.

15

15 - 21 September 2018

Shahil Kotecha: How Pivot and Propio are making borrowing in a volatile property market more straightforward Sunetra Senior

Bookmakers are beginning to take an interest in the artistic progress of 20 year-old Hertfordshire songstress, Shakila K.. They’re currently offering odds - of, admittedly, 100 to one - that Shakila K.’s latest song will make it into the BBC Radio Charts this year.

Shakila K. is releasing her second song since becoming a student at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP), in London. Called ‘Electricity’, the song is produced by fellow ICMP students, Milxnake and LVCAS. Coincidentally, Dua Lipa, with Silk City duo Mark Ronson and Diplo, have collaborated to create a different song with the same name.

“I had no idea anyone else would be creating a song called ‘Electricity’ at the same time as me,” said Shakila.

“When I heard the name of the track and the collaboration between Dua Lipa and Silk City I could hardly believe my ears!”

Shakila added, “A while ago I did a cover of Dua Lipa’s song, ‘Hotter Than Hell’, and uploaded it to YouTube. I didn’t think anything would happen, but I got an email from The Fader magazine wanting to use some footage from my video.

“I thought that was cool, even though they said they’d only use a small clip. Who’d have thought that, a year later, Dua Lipa and I would be releasing a song with the same title?

“I’ve worked hard to create this track - and I’ve had great support from Milxnake and Lucas Green. I really love the result of our collaboration.”

“When I heard the very first version of Shakila’s ‘Electricity’ I had a feeling that it had the potential to be Number 1,” said Karim Ullah, Shakila’s father and manager. “Everything about it is great – and should prove to be popular with the public.

“I haven’t heard Dua Lipa and Silk City’s song of the same name but I expect it’ll be exceptionally good too,” he added. “Nonetheless, I’m confident that Shakila’s track will also do very well.”

The ICMP - Shakila’s, Milxnake’s and Lucas’ college - has been developing and delivering music education and training to students of contemporary music for over 30 years. The college claims that, within six months of graduating, over 90% of its graduates are in employment or further education; around two-thirds are engaged in music-related jobs or study; and the average salary of ICMP graduates is almost 12% above that for arts graduates.

UK

TLIGHT

EO of Pivot, a specialist property lender, which is part of “a wider real-estate group including a developer and digital fund manager, Propio,” located centrally in Regent’s Street, talked to us on his emergent company’s contribution to counterbalancing “a volatile property market.”

Started in 2012, Shahil, who has held leadership roles across a range of financial services institutions, told us the “mission was to make the borrowing process as simple as possible, supporting their clients in their various property projects.”. Having a lender with first hand experience of working across the property lifecycle “enables SME developers and investors to progress business objectives where previously they may not have had the opportunity to do so.” The Pivot lending outfit expertly integrates and streamlines otherwise disparate services within the property market, making it an optimal one-stopshop for those looking to fund their property projects.

The young professional gave an example of loan provided to support the purchase of a landmark, Grade II million-pound facility from a wellentertainment venue in Brighton known US asset manager.” which the borrowers wished to convert *** into a luxury hotel: “this is a perfect The smooth way in which Pivot illustration of how we use operates extends to their our multi-disciplinary Banks “lean”, no paper expertise to support approach which are not lending our clients,” the means all interacfounder said. “We to everyday tion, application received a call developers after the last forms and data are from the client’s driven via tech. finance broker, financial crisis. Pivot, in “We are hoping to who explained particular, is different develop an app in that funds were because we are not a tick the future too, required within and want to a week as anothbox lender and will look include the latest er lender had let data analytics.” at every transaction the client down,” However, in a modas well as needing to on its own ern property landscape operate quickly the that exists post-financial merits. transaction involved a crash, Shahil and his team do complicated trust structure, not end their company competenand “our experienced underwriting cy there. Shahil made ensure to highteam had to also assess the likelihood light that Pivot abides by strict “regulaof achieving planning.” Because Pivot is tory standards” so transactions and risk also part of a larger, well-established appetite are not just safe for customers property group, the expertise is extenbut also in the context of the wider, sive while the business model is robust. fragile economy. The democratic attiHere, Shahil emphasised the customertude is reflected in a third interconcentric approach that Pivot applies necting business, recently launched, when it comes to communicating with and this time co-founded by Shahil: its clients: “we pride ourselves on being Propio. “We wanted to provide opporable to make credit decisions in-house, tunities for property investment to having the smartest staff who are everyday investors. We experienced equipped to deal with the intricacies of first-hand the difficulty of SME propereach individual transaction . We have ty firms in finance, and wanted to an open channel of communication change this obstacle. Our crowdfundbetween our funders, underwriting and ing platform allows investors to easily sales teams, and can leverage the experparticipate in pre-vetted property tise of Property Development business investments, offering them the chance we sit beside. We’re often quicker than to make healthy returns, whilst deliverthe competition at dealing with coming much needed funding to SME plex transactions. We can provide credproperty developers. We’re proud to it back terms within 24 hours. not only offer exciting property investFurthermore, we’ve worked hard to ment opportunities but also to help secure institutional funding lines who support the companies that are buildback us, so we don’t have to go to a ing much needed new homes and third party to receive their authority to workspaces in the UK.” Additionally, fund a transaction: we have a committhis means Pivot as a lender company ted £20 million-pound facility from a has multiple funding sources. “Because UK challenger bank, as well as a £30

C

of Propio, we’re also able to raise our own funds via a unique debt and equity platform, providing the cheapest platforms for fees for investors.” So, as precise, swift and adaptive as its trademark name might indicate, Pivot brings a unique brand of accessibility at the perfect proprietary time.

Please elaborate on your mention of ‘timing’ being of the utmost importance with Pivot.

We might be more expensive than a high street bank, but for the reasons mentioned we can perform quicker.

Getting quick answers is of paramount importance in the market. However, while others might speak about this, we live by that word because we have the substantial internal framework to back it up. Most of the time people just want to know the right answer: they don’t mind if it’s a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but they want certainty and honesty during the process.

You seem to have a lot of experience in property: could you please elaborate?

As well as my experience of working across Pivot and Propio, I have a significant personal experience. My family have for decades managed a commercial property portfolio so I’ve always been around the environment from a young age. My cousin founded the companies in the group and my brother is also involved, so, coming to work is a very friendly, familiar place, and always exciting.

Is there an emotional pull towards what you do?

Obviously dealing with physical property assets means that we can see the fruits of our labour. Also, by supporting SME housebuilders by providing funding, we are part of the group of companies helping the imbalance in the UK property market where there are not enough houses. There is a problem where banks are not lending to everyday developers after the last financial crisis. Pivot, in particular, is different because we are not a tick box lender and will look at every transaction on its own merits.

Finally, what would be a highlight in your career so far?

Feeling proud of the incredible people in our team. Sarah Jackson, who is Head of Underwriting for example, has achieved commendations for her service and was recently voted onto the board of the Association of Short Term Lenders. For a relatively small, young business this is a great achievement to have to our name. It’s great to be able to live through the hardworking people in our team, completing wonderful professional milestones and only growing every year.

W: www.pivotfinance.co.uk Pivot is an established provider of short term lending facilities secured against commercial and residential property in England and Wales on a first and second charge basis.

W: https://www.propio.com/

16 UK

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15 - 21 September 2018

15 - 21 September 2018

BAPS promotes organ donation at Bhaktivedanta Manor Volunteers from BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) organised an organ donation awareness stall during the Krishna Janmashtami celebrations at Bhaktivedanta Manor in Watford on Sunday 2 September 2018.

BAPS is leading a project to raise awareness about living organ donation among Hindus in a programme funded by NHS Blood & Transplant (NHSBT). The awareness drive at Bhaktivedanta Manor was supported by a number of charities and organisations, including the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the National BAME Transplant Alliance (NBTA) and Sewa Day. Organ donation is the giving of an organ to someone who needs it, to save or transform their life. There are two ways of donating an organ: a living donation or a donation after death. A living donor is someone who donates an organ whilst they are alive.

More than 30 volunteers engaged with visitors and distributed over 1,500 educational leaflets printed in Gujarati, Hindi and English to members of the local and

wider Hindu communities.

The leaflets conveyed important messages about living organ donation and encouraged people of all ages and backgrounds to join the national organ donation register. Approximately 850 organ donation registration forms were distributed.

Kirit Modi, Honorary President of the NBTA joined volunteers from BAPS to promote organ donation awareness to larger audiences with announcements in the main event marquee.

Hindus donors shared personal testimonies with the many hundreds of visitors

whilst information and organ donation registration forms were distributed.

A video testimony was played charting the story of Jay and Sina Patel, who made the difficult decision to donate organs of their threeyear-old son after he lost his life in an accident. The

Standing shoulder to shoulder with our Jewish friends Continued from page 5

Many of us will associate antiSemitism with far-right thuggery, overt abuse and violent aggression.

Modern anti-Semitism, however, has evolved. It is different. Today it has found subtle expression through the anti-Zionist movement and the delegitimization of the world’s one and only Jewish State, Israel. The connection between anti-Zionism and antisemitism is not always understood.

Zionism is based on the proposition that the Jewish people have a right to their own country. Anti-Zionism advocates the opposite. Anti-Zionists not only reject the legitimacy of the present-day State of Israel, they believe that it should be dismantled.

This is different from being critical of the Israeli government and its policies. Rejecting the existence of Israel under any circumstances by definition means the Jews are not worthy of having their own state. If that is not anti-Semitism, I don’t know what is.

Many anti-Zionists justify their position on anti-colonial and humanitarian grounds. On the surface their

arguments might seem reasonable, even virtuous. But ask yourself: Why is it acceptable to have many Hindu, Muslim and Christian states? Should we on this basis question the legitimacy of countries such as the USA, Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the modern countries of the Middle East, including Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq which were arbitrarily carved out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire? Should we refute the legality of practically the whole of Europe whose borders were shaped, destroyed and redrawn through centuries of war? Why is Israel, this tiny strip of land no bigger than Wales, singled out for criticism with so much intensity and loathing? The honest answer is, there is a deeper hostility driving the anti-Zionist agenda. It is not about concern for Palestinian human rights. It is not a reaction to the perceived injustice of Israeli Government policies. It is about hating Jews.

Look up Zionism or Israel on social media and you will be shocked by the level of hatred directed against Jews. The internet is full of vicious myths of Jewish power and

influence, which are part and parcel of conspiracy theories blaming Jews for all the world’s ills. It is not long before you find yourself in Holocaust denial territory; in blood libel territory. These anti-Semitic tropes are not new. The difference is that today, they are inextricably linked to Israel, a country portrayed as a global villain that is propped up by its malevolent Jewish accomplices across the world. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so dangerous. The advent of communication technology means that these preposterous ideas have a wide reach. They are finding enthusiastic audiences in both the far left and the far right of the political spectrum.

Whether it is coming from the left or right, make no mistake: The word Zionist is code for Jew. Jews have long suspected it. Anti-Semites have always known it. Recent events have exposed it. Antisemitism is a problem that affects us all, and so anti-Zionism should worry us too.

Not long ago our Jewish friends came to our help when we needed it most. In their hour of need, it’s our turn to step up.

ASIAN ACHIEVERS

AWARDS

The people’s choice awards Nitin Ganatra

17

®

videos also enforced positive messages of Hindu perspectives and principles supporting organ donation as a form of ‘seva’ (selfless service).

One member of the local Hindu community said, “It’s great that you [BAPS] are doing this. I have learned so much about living organ

donation today. Our family has been meaning to join the organ donation register for a while, but today we have been able to do so, and now all are registered.”

Dr Chandni Dalia, a BAPS volunteer, added, “This has been a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness about organ donation amongst Hindu families and to address concerns in a sensitive manner. It has been well-supported and a huge success, highlighting how Hindu communities can unite to raise awareness for such an important issue.”

BAPS has been campaigning to raise awareness about this issue and encourage Asians and Hindus to sign up to the organ donation register through a series of local and national events since 2011. The latest campaign specifically aims to raise awareness about living organ donation among Hindus, addressing the anxiety and hesitation that exists about discussing this as an alternative to dialysis.

For further information about BAPS’s organ donation drive in the UK, please visit http://londonmandir.baps.o rg/forthcoming-events/living-organ-donation/

Continued from page 1

Such cases have taken a worse turn than the 'Windrush scandal', with no 'right to appeal' within the country. People have died, starved, piled up huge financial debts, even lived on streets, awaiting justice.

Hence the Highly Skilled Migrants group are now starting a petition to bring back 'within country appeal and work rights for migrants' who are awaiting decision from the Home Office after their Indefinite Leave to Remain visa was rejected.

Bring back appeal & work rights for migrants The Guardian in a report has said that, three-quarters of final immigration court appeals brought by the Home Office against rulings allowing asylum seekers and other migrants to stay in the UK are dismissed. In the year from April 2017 to March 2018, 11,974 cases were determined in court, with 4,332 of the Home Office’s decisions being overturned.

Of those decisions granting leave to remain, the Home Office then referred 1,235 to the upper tribunal for further appeal, with 900 (73%) rejected by an independent judge, according to a freedom of information response.

The low success rate raises concerns the Home Office is putting people through lengthy and expensive court

HOME OFFICE VISA APPEAL REFUSAL 'INHUMANE'

processes when it has little chance of winning. One lawyer said the figures, which will be associated with the “hostile environment” policy, showed the government was needlessly “stopping people getting on with their lives”.

Aditi Bhardwaj of the Highly Skilled Migrants group speaking to Asian Voice, said, “We are petitioning to bring back appeal and work rights for people who believe they have unjustly been refused the right to stay in the UK, so they can make their case in court here.

“The 2014 Immigration Act severely restricted access to legal appeals for people who lost the right to be in the UK. Their right to work was also removed or restricted.

“Judicial Review is the

only option for these people.

But not only it costs thousands, it can take up to a year or more to be decided and migrants can still be left in limbo as the Home office uses a tactic of giving a consent order and could refuse them again. The approach of the Home Office runs contrary to the principles of justice and fairness.”

Those who lose the right to appeal and to work, go from being tax-paying, productive members of society to destitute, piling up huge debts and feeling desperate.

They might end up on streets or be forced to work illegally to put food in their children’s mouths.

If these people are allowed to work in the UK while their cases are in the

City Corporation to work more closely with Parliament to boost UK-India relations The City of London Corporation has agreed to sponsor the Indo-British AllParty Parliamentary Group (APPG), a cross-party informal group chaired by Virendra Sharma MP. The APPG is a collection of members of both Houses of Parliament with an interest in strengthening the bonds between India and the United Kingdom, and aims to promote understanding and co-operation between Indian and British parliamentarians.

The City Corporation has a longstanding programme of work in India, and opened a representative office in Mumbai ten years ago. Current priorities for the organisation in the country include developing ties in insolvency and bankruptcy regulation development, green finance and fintech.

Sponsorship of the APPG comes as the City Corporation continues its Asia Next Decade campaign, which involves working in partnership with industry and government to highlight future pri-

Central London 14th Sept. 2018 VENUE

orities for engagement between the UK and Asia.

The decision to support the IndoBritish APPG was agreed at a meeting of the City Corporation’s Policy and Resources Committee, which is responsible for the organisation’s governance arrangements, recommending its strategic priorities, agreeing policy, and allocating overall resources.

Catherine McGuinness, Policy Chairman at the City of London Corporation, said: “I am delighted we are supporting this highly influential group.

“Since we opened our office in Mumbai a decade ago, the City of London Corporation has been at the forefront of promoting closer UK-India relations in financial and professional services alongside industry and government partners.

“Joining the Indo-British APPG is therefore a logical step for us to take, and we look forward to being involved

Virendra Sharma MP

with the group.”

Virendra Sharma MP, Chair of the Indo-British All-Party Parliamentary Group said, “The APPG is excited to be

working more closely with the City of London Corporation.

“The City Corporation is a worldwide brand and an amazing asset to Britain, what they say matters, and we are looking forward to their contributions to the group.

“Their support means we can do new things, draw more attention to UK-India relations and continue to ensure policy makers are always thinking of that special relationship.

The City of London Corporation’s support of the Indo-British APPG follows its longstanding sponsorship of many similar groups, including the APPG for China. The organisation has run a representative office in Mumbai since 2007 to enable long-term relationship building with financial sector stakeholders across India. Around 10-15 Indian financial firms are based in the Square Mile which the City Corporation works closely with, and there are many more based across London.

court, they can continue paying taxes and their lives, and those of their children, are not devastated while waiting for what is often, a positive outcome to their case.

The Windrush scandal and the recent cases of Toiec, and Article 322(5) have taught that appeal rights and work rights are desperately important, if unjust decisions by the Home Office are to be challenged.

There is increasing recognition that to deny people the right to appeal and to work, is inhuman. In a recent court ruling, the judge said a seriously ill woman could work while fighting deportation.

“I know people who have been out of work for two years or more. They lose their mental sanity,” said Bhardwaj.

“How they survive is unimaginable. I knew a family who used to mix water in milk to feed their children!

The stories are shocking people who have always worked and never borrowed money are piling up enormous debts, paying huge interest rates, going to food banks, feeding their disabled children out of date food thrown out by supermarkets.

The list goes on,” she added.

Recently, in a House of Lords debate, Lord Taverne accused the Home Office of “not only breaking every canon of a civilised society [but] ignoring one of the most basic tenets of the rule of law: the golden rule that someone is assumed innocent until proven guilty”.

Removing and restricting the right to appeal and to work, means innocent people are brutally punished before they’re even proved guilty.

An Indian man, suffering from cancer was denied his ILR on the basis of a small tax discripancy, which was settled with HMRC. In March

2016, after he completed 10 years, he made his application, which was refused in 2018. His appeal was listed to be heard in October 1st week 2018.

He was diagnosed with last stage of cancer in December 2017. His father was struggling after hearing about their young son's health, but the man didn't want to jeopardise his 10 years legal long stay by just going back. He was very hopeful that the judiciary would get him justice but unfortunately he couldn't see that.

He left for India on 7th September 2018 and passed away within 2 days. Before leaving, he did try to raise his ill-health to bring his appeal forward, but the Home Office unfortunately didn't see much compelling reasons in his health conditions.

When he finally decided to go back - the documents were not even returned to him. He infact travelled back using emergency travel documents.

The Highly-skilled migrant group is appealing people to sign a petition, asking for basic rights and fair access to justice for immigrants who have been denied Indefinite Leave Remain. To sign please see: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/ petitions/bring-back-appealwork-rights-for-migrantswhose-immigration-applications-gets-refused.

Migration Advisory Committee report rejects a post-study work visa possibility The Universities UK last week had appealed to the government to reinstate the poststudy work visa to attract more international students to the UK. However a report published by the Migration Advisory Committee said the government has clearly no plans to cap student numbers.

However it clarified that removing students from the net migration target would be technically difficult, and if done correctly, would make almost no difference to the net migration figures.

Professor Alan Manning, the Chair, of the study said, “Many of the responses to the call for evidence argued that students should be taken out of the government's net migration target. None suggested a practical in which this might be done and we cannot see a reliable mehod.

Eeven if a method was found,

it would be unlikely to make much difference to the net migration target, it is with the target itself rather than the inclusion of students in target...”

The study also said that they do not recommend a separate post-study work visa option for international students. However it substantiated by saying that for undergraduates, the four-month period of leave to remain in the UK after their course has ended is sufficient to find a highly-skilled job. But for Master's level students, the study recommends the period of leave to reamin in the UK after studies to be increased to six months for all Master's level students, in line with the current Tier 4 pilot.

They have also recommended PhD students be automatically given a one year's leave to remain after completion of their studies, incorporated into their original visa and would continue to be subject to meeting progress requirements and course completion, for the eligibility purposes.This would replace the doctoral extension scheme that allows the same rights but has to be applied for associated costs.

The advantages of incountry swtiching from Tier 4 to Tier 2 (work permit) are also recommended to be extended to all graduates of UK Higher Education institutions for a period after graduation, perhaps for two years, whether or not they remain in the UK. Bill Rammell, Vice Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire, and former Higher Education Minister said, “Today’s report from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has failed to recognise the impact the current immigration system has on the recruitment of international students.

International students have reported they find our immigration system to be complex and hostile and believe they are unwelcome in this country.

“The MAC had the opportunity to change that rhetoric; to recommend removal of international students from the Government’s net migration targets, and easing of post work study rules. Unfortunately it was a missed opportunity as disappointingly neither feature in the report’s main policy recommendations.”

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16 UK

AsianVoiceNews

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AsianVoiceNews

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AsianVoiceNewsweekly

15 - 21 September 2018

15 - 21 September 2018

BAPS promotes organ donation at Bhaktivedanta Manor Volunteers from BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) organised an organ donation awareness stall during the Krishna Janmashtami celebrations at Bhaktivedanta Manor in Watford on Sunday 2 September 2018.

BAPS is leading a project to raise awareness about living organ donation among Hindus in a programme funded by NHS Blood & Transplant (NHSBT). The awareness drive at Bhaktivedanta Manor was supported by a number of charities and organisations, including the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the National BAME Transplant Alliance (NBTA) and Sewa Day. Organ donation is the giving of an organ to someone who needs it, to save or transform their life. There are two ways of donating an organ: a living donation or a donation after death. A living donor is someone who donates an organ whilst they are alive.

More than 30 volunteers engaged with visitors and distributed over 1,500 educational leaflets printed in Gujarati, Hindi and English to members of the local and

wider Hindu communities.

The leaflets conveyed important messages about living organ donation and encouraged people of all ages and backgrounds to join the national organ donation register. Approximately 850 organ donation registration forms were distributed.

Kirit Modi, Honorary President of the NBTA joined volunteers from BAPS to promote organ donation awareness to larger audiences with announcements in the main event marquee.

Hindus donors shared personal testimonies with the many hundreds of visitors

whilst information and organ donation registration forms were distributed.

A video testimony was played charting the story of Jay and Sina Patel, who made the difficult decision to donate organs of their threeyear-old son after he lost his life in an accident. The

Standing shoulder to shoulder with our Jewish friends Continued from page 5

Many of us will associate antiSemitism with far-right thuggery, overt abuse and violent aggression.

Modern anti-Semitism, however, has evolved. It is different. Today it has found subtle expression through the anti-Zionist movement and the delegitimization of the world’s one and only Jewish State, Israel. The connection between anti-Zionism and antisemitism is not always understood.

Zionism is based on the proposition that the Jewish people have a right to their own country. Anti-Zionism advocates the opposite. Anti-Zionists not only reject the legitimacy of the present-day State of Israel, they believe that it should be dismantled.

This is different from being critical of the Israeli government and its policies. Rejecting the existence of Israel under any circumstances by definition means the Jews are not worthy of having their own state. If that is not anti-Semitism, I don’t know what is.

Many anti-Zionists justify their position on anti-colonial and humanitarian grounds. On the surface their

arguments might seem reasonable, even virtuous. But ask yourself: Why is it acceptable to have many Hindu, Muslim and Christian states? Should we on this basis question the legitimacy of countries such as the USA, Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the modern countries of the Middle East, including Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq which were arbitrarily carved out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire? Should we refute the legality of practically the whole of Europe whose borders were shaped, destroyed and redrawn through centuries of war? Why is Israel, this tiny strip of land no bigger than Wales, singled out for criticism with so much intensity and loathing? The honest answer is, there is a deeper hostility driving the anti-Zionist agenda. It is not about concern for Palestinian human rights. It is not a reaction to the perceived injustice of Israeli Government policies. It is about hating Jews.

Look up Zionism or Israel on social media and you will be shocked by the level of hatred directed against Jews. The internet is full of vicious myths of Jewish power and

influence, which are part and parcel of conspiracy theories blaming Jews for all the world’s ills. It is not long before you find yourself in Holocaust denial territory; in blood libel territory. These anti-Semitic tropes are not new. The difference is that today, they are inextricably linked to Israel, a country portrayed as a global villain that is propped up by its malevolent Jewish accomplices across the world. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so dangerous. The advent of communication technology means that these preposterous ideas have a wide reach. They are finding enthusiastic audiences in both the far left and the far right of the political spectrum.

Whether it is coming from the left or right, make no mistake: The word Zionist is code for Jew. Jews have long suspected it. Anti-Semites have always known it. Recent events have exposed it. Antisemitism is a problem that affects us all, and so anti-Zionism should worry us too.

Not long ago our Jewish friends came to our help when we needed it most. In their hour of need, it’s our turn to step up.

ASIAN ACHIEVERS

AWARDS

The people’s choice awards Nitin Ganatra

17

®

videos also enforced positive messages of Hindu perspectives and principles supporting organ donation as a form of ‘seva’ (selfless service).

One member of the local Hindu community said, “It’s great that you [BAPS] are doing this. I have learned so much about living organ

donation today. Our family has been meaning to join the organ donation register for a while, but today we have been able to do so, and now all are registered.”

Dr Chandni Dalia, a BAPS volunteer, added, “This has been a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness about organ donation amongst Hindu families and to address concerns in a sensitive manner. It has been well-supported and a huge success, highlighting how Hindu communities can unite to raise awareness for such an important issue.”

BAPS has been campaigning to raise awareness about this issue and encourage Asians and Hindus to sign up to the organ donation register through a series of local and national events since 2011. The latest campaign specifically aims to raise awareness about living organ donation among Hindus, addressing the anxiety and hesitation that exists about discussing this as an alternative to dialysis.

For further information about BAPS’s organ donation drive in the UK, please visit http://londonmandir.baps.o rg/forthcoming-events/living-organ-donation/

Continued from page 1

Such cases have taken a worse turn than the 'Windrush scandal', with no 'right to appeal' within the country. People have died, starved, piled up huge financial debts, even lived on streets, awaiting justice.

Hence the Highly Skilled Migrants group are now starting a petition to bring back 'within country appeal and work rights for migrants' who are awaiting decision from the Home Office after their Indefinite Leave to Remain visa was rejected.

Bring back appeal & work rights for migrants The Guardian in a report has said that, three-quarters of final immigration court appeals brought by the Home Office against rulings allowing asylum seekers and other migrants to stay in the UK are dismissed. In the year from April 2017 to March 2018, 11,974 cases were determined in court, with 4,332 of the Home Office’s decisions being overturned.

Of those decisions granting leave to remain, the Home Office then referred 1,235 to the upper tribunal for further appeal, with 900 (73%) rejected by an independent judge, according to a freedom of information response.

The low success rate raises concerns the Home Office is putting people through lengthy and expensive court

HOME OFFICE VISA APPEAL REFUSAL 'INHUMANE'

processes when it has little chance of winning. One lawyer said the figures, which will be associated with the “hostile environment” policy, showed the government was needlessly “stopping people getting on with their lives”.

Aditi Bhardwaj of the Highly Skilled Migrants group speaking to Asian Voice, said, “We are petitioning to bring back appeal and work rights for people who believe they have unjustly been refused the right to stay in the UK, so they can make their case in court here.

“The 2014 Immigration Act severely restricted access to legal appeals for people who lost the right to be in the UK. Their right to work was also removed or restricted.

“Judicial Review is the

only option for these people.

But not only it costs thousands, it can take up to a year or more to be decided and migrants can still be left in limbo as the Home office uses a tactic of giving a consent order and could refuse them again. The approach of the Home Office runs contrary to the principles of justice and fairness.”

Those who lose the right to appeal and to work, go from being tax-paying, productive members of society to destitute, piling up huge debts and feeling desperate.

They might end up on streets or be forced to work illegally to put food in their children’s mouths.

If these people are allowed to work in the UK while their cases are in the

City Corporation to work more closely with Parliament to boost UK-India relations The City of London Corporation has agreed to sponsor the Indo-British AllParty Parliamentary Group (APPG), a cross-party informal group chaired by Virendra Sharma MP. The APPG is a collection of members of both Houses of Parliament with an interest in strengthening the bonds between India and the United Kingdom, and aims to promote understanding and co-operation between Indian and British parliamentarians.

The City Corporation has a longstanding programme of work in India, and opened a representative office in Mumbai ten years ago. Current priorities for the organisation in the country include developing ties in insolvency and bankruptcy regulation development, green finance and fintech.

Sponsorship of the APPG comes as the City Corporation continues its Asia Next Decade campaign, which involves working in partnership with industry and government to highlight future pri-

Central London 14th Sept. 2018 VENUE

orities for engagement between the UK and Asia.

The decision to support the IndoBritish APPG was agreed at a meeting of the City Corporation’s Policy and Resources Committee, which is responsible for the organisation’s governance arrangements, recommending its strategic priorities, agreeing policy, and allocating overall resources.

Catherine McGuinness, Policy Chairman at the City of London Corporation, said: “I am delighted we are supporting this highly influential group.

“Since we opened our office in Mumbai a decade ago, the City of London Corporation has been at the forefront of promoting closer UK-India relations in financial and professional services alongside industry and government partners.

“Joining the Indo-British APPG is therefore a logical step for us to take, and we look forward to being involved

Virendra Sharma MP

with the group.”

Virendra Sharma MP, Chair of the Indo-British All-Party Parliamentary Group said, “The APPG is excited to be

working more closely with the City of London Corporation.

“The City Corporation is a worldwide brand and an amazing asset to Britain, what they say matters, and we are looking forward to their contributions to the group.

“Their support means we can do new things, draw more attention to UK-India relations and continue to ensure policy makers are always thinking of that special relationship.

The City of London Corporation’s support of the Indo-British APPG follows its longstanding sponsorship of many similar groups, including the APPG for China. The organisation has run a representative office in Mumbai since 2007 to enable long-term relationship building with financial sector stakeholders across India. Around 10-15 Indian financial firms are based in the Square Mile which the City Corporation works closely with, and there are many more based across London.

court, they can continue paying taxes and their lives, and those of their children, are not devastated while waiting for what is often, a positive outcome to their case.

The Windrush scandal and the recent cases of Toiec, and Article 322(5) have taught that appeal rights and work rights are desperately important, if unjust decisions by the Home Office are to be challenged.

There is increasing recognition that to deny people the right to appeal and to work, is inhuman. In a recent court ruling, the judge said a seriously ill woman could work while fighting deportation.

“I know people who have been out of work for two years or more. They lose their mental sanity,” said Bhardwaj.

“How they survive is unimaginable. I knew a family who used to mix water in milk to feed their children!

The stories are shocking people who have always worked and never borrowed money are piling up enormous debts, paying huge interest rates, going to food banks, feeding their disabled children out of date food thrown out by supermarkets.

The list goes on,” she added.

Recently, in a House of Lords debate, Lord Taverne accused the Home Office of “not only breaking every canon of a civilised society [but] ignoring one of the most basic tenets of the rule of law: the golden rule that someone is assumed innocent until proven guilty”.

Removing and restricting the right to appeal and to work, means innocent people are brutally punished before they’re even proved guilty.

An Indian man, suffering from cancer was denied his ILR on the basis of a small tax discripancy, which was settled with HMRC. In March

2016, after he completed 10 years, he made his application, which was refused in 2018. His appeal was listed to be heard in October 1st week 2018.

He was diagnosed with last stage of cancer in December 2017. His father was struggling after hearing about their young son's health, but the man didn't want to jeopardise his 10 years legal long stay by just going back. He was very hopeful that the judiciary would get him justice but unfortunately he couldn't see that.

He left for India on 7th September 2018 and passed away within 2 days. Before leaving, he did try to raise his ill-health to bring his appeal forward, but the Home Office unfortunately didn't see much compelling reasons in his health conditions.

When he finally decided to go back - the documents were not even returned to him. He infact travelled back using emergency travel documents.

The Highly-skilled migrant group is appealing people to sign a petition, asking for basic rights and fair access to justice for immigrants who have been denied Indefinite Leave Remain. To sign please see: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/ petitions/bring-back-appealwork-rights-for-migrantswhose-immigration-applications-gets-refused.

Migration Advisory Committee report rejects a post-study work visa possibility The Universities UK last week had appealed to the government to reinstate the poststudy work visa to attract more international students to the UK. However a report published by the Migration Advisory Committee said the government has clearly no plans to cap student numbers.

However it clarified that removing students from the net migration target would be technically difficult, and if done correctly, would make almost no difference to the net migration figures.

Professor Alan Manning, the Chair, of the study said, “Many of the responses to the call for evidence argued that students should be taken out of the government's net migration target. None suggested a practical in which this might be done and we cannot see a reliable mehod.

Eeven if a method was found,

it would be unlikely to make much difference to the net migration target, it is with the target itself rather than the inclusion of students in target...”

The study also said that they do not recommend a separate post-study work visa option for international students. However it substantiated by saying that for undergraduates, the four-month period of leave to remain in the UK after their course has ended is sufficient to find a highly-skilled job. But for Master's level students, the study recommends the period of leave to reamin in the UK after studies to be increased to six months for all Master's level students, in line with the current Tier 4 pilot.

They have also recommended PhD students be automatically given a one year's leave to remain after completion of their studies, incorporated into their original visa and would continue to be subject to meeting progress requirements and course completion, for the eligibility purposes.This would replace the doctoral extension scheme that allows the same rights but has to be applied for associated costs.

The advantages of incountry swtiching from Tier 4 to Tier 2 (work permit) are also recommended to be extended to all graduates of UK Higher Education institutions for a period after graduation, perhaps for two years, whether or not they remain in the UK. Bill Rammell, Vice Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire, and former Higher Education Minister said, “Today’s report from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has failed to recognise the impact the current immigration system has on the recruitment of international students.

International students have reported they find our immigration system to be complex and hostile and believe they are unwelcome in this country.

“The MAC had the opportunity to change that rhetoric; to recommend removal of international students from the Government’s net migration targets, and easing of post work study rules. Unfortunately it was a missed opportunity as disappointingly neither feature in the report’s main policy recommendations.”

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Consultant Editor Financial Voice Alpesh Patel Dear Financial Voice Reader, I write to you on 9/11. When the World Trade Centres were destroyed. World Trade. Think of it for a moment.

So let me write in praise of America. Let me quote you from Warren Buffet’s recent annual letter to shareholders.

‘Money will always flow toward opportunity, and there is an abundance of that in America. Commentators today often talk of “great uncertainty.” But think back, for example, to December 6, 1941, October 18, 1987 and September 10, 2001.

No matter how serene today may be, tomorrow is always uncertain.’

This is the year the American markets will outperform the emerging ones. You know why? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, so to repeat – do not bet against America. I’ve worked and studied there. I have studied their history and met their people. Do not bet against America.

Or as the Buffet puts it, ‘Throughout my lifetime, politicians and pundits have constantly moaned about terrifying problems facing America. Yet our citizens now live an astonishing six times better than when I was born. The prophets of doom have overlooked the all-important factor that is certain: Human potential is far from exhausted, and the American system for unleashing that potential – a system that has worked wonders for over two centuries despite frequent interruptions for recessions and even a Civil War – remains alive and effective.

We are not natively smarter than we were when our country was founded nor do we work harder. But look around you and see a world beyond the dreams of any colonial citizen. Now, as in 1776, 1861, 1932 and 1941, America’s best days lie ahead.’

Incidentally you know what makes him one of the world’s richest, and also the world’s largest philanthropist at the same time. He knows what motivates people in business.

Do you know what it is? Bet you don’t. In a new book called ‘Drive’ by an academic researcher, studies show that what motivates is not money. Sure, in the short term for monotonous tasks it does. But for quality creative work money is not the driver. Experiments were done on humans, children and apes. Each given tasks they enjoyed without reward. As soon as reward was offered, their performance dropped.

Find people who in the words BUffet, ‘Many of our CEOs are independently wealthy and work only because they love what they do. They are volunteers, not mercenaries. Because no one can offer them a job they would enjoy more, they can’t be lured away.’

And that is why the world’s richest man, an American, is gonna stay that way. You can’t get at his people!

For a free online trading course visit www.alpeshpatel.com

Business confidence in UK slumps to 15-month low A new research says business optimism has hit its lowest level since May 2017, when Prime Minister Theresa May announced a snap general election. The decline comes as prime questions on the UK's trading relationship with the EU after Brexit remain unanswered and the government ramps up preparations for no deal.

BDO's Optimism Index, which shows how businesses expect output to develop in the next three to six months, declined by 0.43 points in August to stand at 101.93. However, output increased marginally from July's eight-year low. Optimism in the UK's service sector, which accounts for approximately 80 per cent GDP, fell to its lowest level since March 2017. Output rebounded slightly in August to 97.17, but remains a 3.12 points beneath the figure for this time last year.

Optimism in manufacturing has fared better, rising from 100.16 in July to 102.06 in August.

Partner at BDO, Peter Hemington said lack of progress on a trade deal with the EU was now testing companies' resilience. He said, “With the services sector accounting for more than 80 per cent of UK GDP, the government must do more to reassure businesses that it will protect Britain's 26 million services sector workers as Brexit negotiations take place, particularly considering the UK has the highest share of services exports than any leading economy.”

Pharmaceuticals Business honoured by Board of Trade Award A Pharma business is one of nine in the Midlands to receive a Board of Trade Award, from the Department for International Trade.

At a special ceremony Dr Nik Kotecha OBE, Chief Executive of Morningside Pharmaceuticals Ltd, which is based in Loughborough, received the award from Secretary of State, Dr Liam Fox. Speaking about why Morningside has been chosen to receive the award, Dr Fox said: “As a leader in the medical field, Morningside Pharmaceuticals Ltd is a fantastic advocate for international trade. Having exported to over 100 countries worldwide, the company represents the best of British on the global stage.

“I am delighted that my international economic department is presenting Morningside with a Board of Trade Award, paying testament to its continued exporting growth over the last few years.”

The judges were particularly impressed with how Dr Kotecha OBE used “his experience to champion the benefits of International Trade in the Midlands” through his work as a Department for International Trade (DIT) Export Champion.

After receiving the award Dr Kotecha said: “It’s a great honour to receive this award, particularly as it’s about working within the community to deliver prosperity and to champion free trade.

“I am very proud to be one of 28 Export Champions for the Midlands, which involves offering expertise and advice to inspire companies to export and to support existing exporters, who are looking to expand into new markets.

In particular, I have been working to promote exporting to countries outside

Dr Nik Kotecha OBE receiving the award from Dr Liam Fox

of the European Union, which is essential if the UK is to make a success of Brexit.

“I hope our work will help maximise the potential of the Midlands engine to drive this region’s exports to new heights, as well as to support businesses with exploring successful trade opportunities around the world.”

Morningside Pharmaceuticals Ltd, which is based in Loughborough, specialises in manufacturing and supplying generic and branded medicines to UK hospitals and pharmacies, as well as essential supplies to global aid agencies.

The Department for International Trade (DIT) works with thousands of businesses, and set up the Board of

Trade Awards, to help celebrate those individuals who are showing exceptional innovation, delivering prosperity to their local communities, and championing free trade.

The Board of Trade Awards allow civil servants working for the Government department to recognise businesses that they believe deserve special recognition for their role within their communities. The Awards are given out on an annual basis at Board of Trade meetings, as they travel around the UK, during domestic visits and missions, and at an annual business reception. Award recipients are nominated and selected by Civil Servants from the Department for International Trade.

UK growth will slow to 1.3% amid Brexit uncertainty A sharp fall in consumer spending and business investment is expected to drag Britain's growth rate down to just 1.3 per cent this year, bringing hopes that the UK's sluggish rate of expansion in the first six months will recover in the second half of the year.

Consultancy KPMG stated that Brexit uncertainty will take a bigger toll on the economy than many forecasters, including the Bank of England, expect following a slump in consumer spending from 1.9 per cent last year to 1.2 per cent in 2018, and an even bigger drop in business investment, from 3.4 per cent in 2017 to 0.8 per cent this year.

The report has warned that despite growing difficulties finding staff, intense pressures on profit margins and Brexit uncertainties would dictate caution. KPMG said, “If productivity growth remains at around 1 per cent then, as a basic rule of thumb, we would expect wages to rise by around 3 per cent on average,” giving workers only a small real-terms rise over an inflation rate running at 2.3 per cent.

The predictions coincide with figures from the retail industry showing a 1.6 per cent falls in the number of people visiting high street shops in August compared with last year. The agency said that in its quarterly health check of the British economy that uncertainty and risks around Brexit were likely to put a brake on further interest rate rises by the Bank as policymakers remained cautious “during the critical months

ahead.”

“Interest rates are likely to be cut to at least 0.25 per cent if negotiations are not successful, with additional measures to be announced by the (Bank of England) to ease any significant pressure on the banking sector,” the report said. Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK said, “If negotiations between the EU and UK result in a relatively friction-free agreement, then growth is likely to remain around 1.4 per cent in the medium term as a result of relatively weak productivity. If we see a disorderly Brexit, growth will obviously slow more dramatically. If negotiations end well, the MPC are likely to raise interest rates to 1 per cent at the tail end of 2019. If no deal

is reached, the MPC will need to use interest rates to soften the economic impact.”

The Office for National Statistics said the UK economy grew by 1.7 per cent during 2017. Growth slowed to 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2018, recovering to 0.4 per cent in the second quarter. “High price levels, uncertainty around the future economic outlook and rising interest rates are expected to take their toll in London and the south-east especially.

House prices in the capital are expected to drop by 0.7 per cent in 2019,” the report said. It added, “In regions with lower pressures on valuations, such as Scotland, there is expected to be growth of 4.9 per cent in 2018.”

REAL ESTATE VOICE

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE IS KEY

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We are on the verge of closing a deal in Battersea. The property is a freehold house, which requires modernisation. The property is surprisingly small, given the quoted resale price of £1.2M. But there again, I don’t know the market on the other side of the river.

Suresh Vagjiani

Sow & Reap London Property Investment

A local agent confirmed this is indeed the valid local price for a developed property. Many buyers now understandably don’t want to pay for decoration carried out to someone else’s taste. This point varies across different regions in London. In some areas, they absolutely must have the finished product in order to attract an end user.

Usually, it comes down to the type of client who will buy the property.

The wealthy are generally cash rich but time poor, and have little time or patience to deal with a build project. Often, they want quick gratification.

In this location, according to the agent, the clientele would be open to taking on a project like this. A freehold house means it is free of hold, i.e. you have no freeholder to report to and take permissions

To be fair this agent was commercially minded, maybe he smelt that I was in the trade and therefore there was little point in going to and fro in negotiation.

Straight away, he offered to resell this for a 1% commission, and no notice period. This means we can dis-instruct them instantaneously.

So, there was nothing for me to say.

You cannot negotiate if the other side have given you what you want from the outset. Although, I guess it depends on how cheeky you wish

LOVE IS THE GREATEST FORCE It has been said that the essence of Man is driven by his sense of purpose. When we have purpose, we are alive and effective. If we do not, then our lives do not function so well. Happiness is elusive.

My observation is that, while this is true, the ultimate creative force of Man is agapelogical. This means that, fundamentally, we are most effective when we are driven by love. Love begets purpose.

Our happiness flows from the degree to which we have

defined four loving activities, and the depth to which we apply ourselves to these four loves.

The first is a loving promise to our family.

The second is a loving promise to a vocation.

The third is a loving promise to a community.

And the fourth is a loving promise to a higher power, which is either God or some over-arching philosophy of

BUY TO LET OPPORTUNITY

15 - 21 September 2018

AGONY AGENT IS HERE TO HELP!

from. This can be very valuable in terms of execution of a project, and can add massive amounts of expense to a project.

The local agent claims houses are in short supply, and this one should sell quickly. He recommends a resale price of £950K, which I can live with. However, often the proof is in the pudding. There are agents who are expert in talking a good game to get the instruction on, and also expert in beating the client down once they are in a long contract with them.

19

Q: Is it necessary to use a letting agent?

A: No. It is not necessary.

However, it is helpful! to be.

Perhaps it helped that he saw that we had recently purchased two properties, on behalf of clients, in the area, and there were possibly more in the pipeline.

We are due to be exchanging on this deal for £760K, and expect a quick resell, no more than 6 months. We may get some light planning in motion, like a loft extension and a rear extension.

This always helps to smooth a resale along, and doesn’t cost too much in relation to the uplift you are looking to get. There is much leverage one can get in just obtaining planning permission, without even doing any work on the property.

All rental properties need to be managed. Managing your own property may not be that much of a headache if you’re lucky; perhaps you won’t hear a peep from your tenants for months on end.

On the other hand you could get calls day in day out about blocked sinks, and leaking taps; or worse you might get nightmare tenants that don’t pay rent. There are a myriad of issues that could come up, and do come up.

Either way, issues or not, there are a number of legal requirements that must be complied with, and lots of ‘paperwork’ involved.

The actual reality is that most people are not suited to be hands on landlords.

life.

When we dedicate ourselves in love to a congruent set of people, and a world view that is outside of, and bigger than we are, then we are fulfilling our agapelogical propensity.

And, thus, happiness prevails.

In order to maintain and increase love, we need to adhere to some rules. The commentator David Brooks expresses it very well when he says that rules keep us in a loving condition when we do not feel within us that love.

Love is a hugely powerful force, and its existence and flow within us can help us reach heights of achievement that would, otherwise, be impossible.

Most of our clients ask us to manage their rentals for them.

This helps to make their investment hassle free. The idea of giving up their time to deal with piles of paperwork, trivial property issues and calls from tenants makes no sense, as their time and expertise is better spent elsewhere.

Richard Bond

Abraham Goldberg

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15 - 21 September 2018

Borrowing cost for Indian cos goes up after Re fall The steadily falling rupee is set to hurt corporate borrowing as foreign investors begin to seek higher return on Indian bonds. Bankers believe the sharp depreciation of the local currency in recent days exerts more pressure on the economy's fundamentals increasing the risk perception on rupee investments.

Fears of a trade war has led to global weakness in emerging market currencies. The rupee breached the 72-level against the greenback for the first time last week, before recovering to close at 71.99 against the dollar.

After the fallback, there was panic among importers in India, who rushed in fearing further depreciation. A massive intervention by the RBI, believed to have sold close to $1 billion in the interbank market, helped the rupee close below the 72level.

Dealers said recent developments are negative for large corporate and banks who

were planning to raise funds in the international markets. Foreign investors who are present in the local markets too have been selling bonds. Finance company Nomura said there have been outflows in Indian bonds recently. Both long-term investors and other investors have reduced their holdings with corporate debt too

seeing cumulative outflows in the last five sessions.

Craig Chan of Nomura Securities wrote in a research report, “The political calendar is expected to heat up with state elections in November/December- including in Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. An August ABP-CVoter opinion poll suggested that the BJP could lose its majority in all three states, which would bode poorly for the general election next year, and weigh on the Indian rupee sentiment.”

So far the central bank has only used intervention as a tool to defend the rupee. The other instruments used in the past include a separate window to enable oil companies to buy dollars without adding to the demand in the market. The central bank could also hike short-term interest rates to make it more expensive for speculators to bet against the rupee.

Air India gets £210 mn as guaranteed borrowing from govt Beleaguered state carrier Air India has received a fresh breather as the government extended £210 million of guaranteed borrowing from the Centre. The announcement was made by Ministry of Civil Aviation Secretary, RN Choubey. The update comes at a time when reports claim the government is considering not to disinvest the airlines. A member of the Parliament's Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, said, “They don't have any plans in the near future as they don't have any buyers.”

Officials of the Senior Civil Aviation Ministry briefed the panel on different issues plaguing the national carrier. The panel wanted to know the number of funds being infused into Air India, which the

government failed to disinvest in May. On March 28, the Central government had invited an Expression of Interest for disinvestment of Air India, including its shareholding interest in Air India Express Ltd and Air India SATS. It, however, had not received any response till it's closing day,

May 31.

Last month, a senior Finance Ministry official said that the government plans to transfer the debt and non-core assets of the loss-making carrier to a special purpose vehicle (SPV). The proposal is expected to financially revive the debt-ridden airline through the sale of its non-core assets. A ministry official said, “What they have suggested is... a proposal... for making a special purpose vehicle, transferring its noncore assets and the unsustainable debt to that SPV and then encashing through sale or divestment of those assets.”

They added, “As of now, as stated in the budget that capital infusion will be made... other than that there is no such plan for fresh capital infusion.”

Govt reaps £1 bn tax bonanza from Flipkart deal The Income Tax department has benefited exceptionally with the Walmart's acquisition of 77 per cent stake in Flipkart. It will receive over £1 billion as the American retail giant agreed to pay all dues in consultation with the government. The payment will bring an end to uncertainty regarding tax dues related to the $16 billion transaction, that includes a $2 billion fresh investment.

A spokesperson for Walmart said, “We take our obligations seriously, including paying taxes to governments where we operate.

Following our Flipkart investment, we have now completed our tax withholding obliga-

tions under the guidance of the Indian Tax authorities.” A team of executives from Walmart headquarters, Bentonville, USA, had held discussions with Akhilesh Ranjan, head of the foreign taxation unit in the IT department. Reports on how the Walmart-Flipkart deal will help the government clean up $1.5-2 billion in taxes had begun doing the rounds in August.

The deal caught the public eye for several reasons, especially when some of the sellers sought exemptions from paying capital gains tax. The government had rejected the demand for an exemption and fixed September 7 as the

deadline for clearing dues. A bulk of the tax accruing to the Centre from the deal will be in the form of withholding tax that has been paid by the American giant on behalf of those selling shares such as SoftBank, eBay, Naspers, Besides, Indian investors, including Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal.

The tax department has been keeping close tabs on the transaction and had raised queries as soon as the deal was finalised, intending to avoid a repeat of the Vodafonetype situation were the telecom company did not deduct tax dues before closing the deal with Hutchison Whampoa.

Banks not out of woods as corporate stress remains Banks may have to lean on promoters to bring in equity or reduce debt, as corporate stress continues to remain high. Share of debt with companies that are not generating enough quarterly revenue to pay bank dues has gone up to 43 per cent. A report by Credit Suisse, share of companies whose quarterly earnings were not enough to cover interest cost rose to 43 per cent in Q1FY19 as against 41 per cent in Q4FY18. The increase came as Tata Motors (debt £6.9 billion) saw its first quarter earnings fall below levels enough to cover interest. Other highly indebted companies, Bharti Airtel (debt £10.1 billion) saw its earnings fall below its

quarterly interest obligations, and Idea Cellular (debt £6.9 billion) saw its earnings fall below interest obligations for three quarter, but has since been acquired.

With insolvency proceedings seemingly the only option to resolve bad debt, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has almost reached full capacity with bankruptcy cases. Over 2,200 cases have been filed and resolution of the cases referred to bank by the RBI are taking longer than the timelines prescribed. The RBI had in June last year, asked banks to proceed against 12 large corporate with borrowings of over £1 billion each, adding to £23 billion

in the NCLT. Later in December 2017, the RBI provided banks with a list of 27 more companies with total borrowings of £13.4 billion.

The two lists have referred to as NCLT-1 and NCLT-2 cases. Banks had raised hopes of quick resolution of chunky non-performing assets following the directive. Of the first list of 12 cases, two have been resolved and accounted for in the first quarter. This includes Bhushan Steel and Electrosteel where the ownership has been transferred to Tata Steel and Vedanta.

The companies had a debt of £4.7 billion and £1.24 billion respectively.

in brief SEBI MAY SOON SUMMON KOCHHARS Sebi may soon summon ICICI Bank’s onleave CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak regarding a probe into alleged regulatory lapses in his business dealings, officials said. Some other top executives of the private lender - as also from Videocon, which allegedly benefited due to its association with Deepak - are also likely to be called for personal hearings regarding charges against them.

This could lead to the bank and its embattled chief being slapped with millions of rupees in fines and other penal actions, including a ban from markets and directorships. Top officials said the multiagency probe into ICICI Bank and business dealings of the Kochhars will also be discussed by Sebi’s board. The bank and its CEO have maintained there has been no regulatory violation on their part and that she was not aware of specific business dealings of her husband.

INTERPOL ISSUES RED NOTICE AGAINST NIRAV MODI’S SISTER The Interpol has issued a Red Notice against Purvi Modi, sister of absconding billionaire Nirav Modi, in connection with the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. It is alleged that Purvi helped her brother launder the funds generated through the scam. The transactions, made through some entities in Singapore and Hong Kong, are under the scanner. On the Enforcement Directorate's request, the Interpol had issued a Red Notice against Modi's close confidant Mihir Bhansali, who oversaw his US operations and was also allegedly instrumental in setting up dummy firms for money laundering. Interpol Red Notices have so far been issued against five persons wanted for their involvement in the scam, including Nirav Modi and his brother Neeshal Modi.

TATAS LIKELY TO ACQUIRE 51% STAKE IN AIRASIA Tata Sons may emerge as the controlling shareholder in AirAsia India by acquiring stakes held by airline’s chairman S Ramadorai and non-executive director R Venkataramanan. The share purchase from the two board members comes at a time when the low-cost airline joint venture is plagued by rule-rigging allegations and senior management exits. Tata Sons, the holding company of the $103-billion Tata Group, is likely to snap up the shares as part of a clean-up and consolidation act.

Ramadorai, former TCS CEO, owns 0.5% in the carrier, while Venkataramanan, CEO of Tata Trusts, holds 1.5%. The transaction, when done, will make Tata Sons the largest shareholder of the low-cost airline, increasing its stake from 49% to 51%. The remaining 49% is held by Malaysia’s AirAsia.

2 BANK EXECUTIVES QUESTIONED Just days before their retirement, the CBI questioned the former MD & CEOs of two public sector banks, Melwyn Rego and Kishor Kharat of Syndicate Bank and Indian Bank respectively, in connection with its probe into the £60 million fraud involving former Aircel promoter C Sivasankaran.

Both Rego and Kharat completed their tenures in Syndicate Bank and Indian Bank respectively a week back. Sources in the agency said that Rego and Kharat were called for questioning few weeks back when they were still heading the two banks and were questioned about the IDBI management’s role in approving loans to Sivasankaran’s companies.

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15 - 21 September 2018

in brief

7 Indians, 5 Gujarat BPOs indicted in call centre scam in US

6 DIE AS COPTER CRASHES IN NEPAL A helicopter crashed into a hillside in central Nepal, killing six on board, including a Japanese tourist, officials said. One woman survived the crash with injuries and has been airlifted to the capital. District police chief Basanta Bahadur Kunwar said the cause of the accident remained unknown. The single pilot Kathmandubound Altitude Air helicopter lost contact with air traffic control after taking off from the central district of Gorkha.

55 KILLED AS QUAKE, TYPHOON BATTER JAPAN At lease 55 people were killed as an earthquake and typhoon batter Japan last week. The death toll from a powerful earthquake that triggered massive landslides in northern Japan rose to 44 with tens of thousands of police and troops still on the ground to support survivors. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said no one was left on a missing list, which suggested the figure could be the final death toll. Earlier, 11 people were killed when a powerful typhoon struck the country. The typhoon had lifted heavy trucks off their wheels and triggered major flooding in western Japan, and damaged the main airport near Osaka and Kobe.

JAPANESE HUSBAND AND WIFE ARE OLDEST COUPLE Masao Matsumoto (born 9 July 1910) married Miyako Sonoda (born 24 November 1917) on 20 October 1937 and officially became the Oldest living married couple, aggregate age on Wednesday 25 July aged 108 years 16 days and 100 years 243 days respectively, giving them a combined age of 208 years and 259 days. The Japanese couple has been together for more than 80 years and they have five daughters, 13 grandchildren and are expecting their 25th great-grandchild in August. However, their impressively long relationship has not always been without adversity. Both born in Oita prefecture were introduced to each other through an acquaintance. The pair wed in 1937, but there was a chance that the marriage may not have taken place.

'Vegetarian' shark discovered Researchers from the University of California have identified the world's first known omnivorous shark species, which consumes up to 60 per cent of sea grass. The experts have decided to investigate the bonnethead sharks' dietary habits after reading reports of them munching on sea grass. In the study, five bonnethead sharks were fed on a three-week diet of sea grass and squid. A series of tests indicated that the fish successfully digested the sea grass with enzymes that broke down components of the plants, such as starch and cellulose. All of the sharks put on weight over the course of the study. The researchers said that they were surprised to find that the bonnethead sharks were taking an omnivorous digestive strategy, Samantha Leigh, the study's lead author, said.

CHICAGO/BHOPAL: As many as 15 people, including seven Indians, and five Indian call centres have been indicted in a multimillion dollar scam which defrauded over 2,000 US citizens, resulting in over $5.5 million in losses, the department of justice said. The scam involved call centre operators who called potential victims while impersonating as officials from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or individuals offering payday loans, US Attorney Byung J Pak said.

Later, they threatened victims with arrest, imprisonment, or fines for failing to pay taxes or penalties to the government, the justice department said in a statement.

In connection with the scam, seven individuals were arrested on Thursday in the United States. Seven co-conspirators and five call-centres based in Ahmedabad were also charged for their alleged involvement.

The indictment alleges that the defendents were involved in a sophisticated scheme organised by co-conspirators in India, including a network of call centres in Ahmedabad. "IRS and payday loan phone schemes seek to profit by exploiting United States citizens, including the most vulnerable members of our community," said the US Attorney. "This indictment and arrests demonstrate our commitment to identifying and prosecuting those who hide behind these types of phone scams," Pak said.

"This indictment makes clear that the IRS impersonation scam has risen to a new level, with indictments against five call centres and seven co-conspirators in India who allegedly directed their employees to

Men & women can’t dine here together A district in Indonesia’s Islamic Aceh province has banned men and women from dining together unless they are married or related, an official said, saying it would help women be “more well behaved’. Under the latest Islamic regulation, women in Bireuen district will not be able to share a table with men unless they are accompanied by their husband or a close male relative. Co-workers on their lunch break would also be forbidden from sharing a meal.

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participate in the scam," said J Russell George, treasury inspector general for tax administration.

Modus operandi Between 2012 and 2016, the defendants perpetrated a complex fraud and money laundering scheme in which individuals from call centres located in Ahmedabad frequently impersonated officials from the IRS or US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in a ruse designed to defraud victims located throughout America. The call centres in India used various telephone fraud schemes to defraud mainly vulnerable Americans, including the elderly and legal immigrants. Using information obtained from data brokers and other sources, call centre operators allegedly called potential victims while impersonating officials from the IRS or individuals offering fictitious payday loans.

The call centre operators would then threaten potential victims with arrest, imprisonment, or fines if they did not pay taxes or penalties to the government, the

indictment alleges. If the victims agreed to pay, the call centres allegedly would immediately turn to a network of US-based co-conspirators to liquidate and launder the extorted funds by purchasing prepaid debit cards or through wire transfers, including through MoneyGram and Western Union, to the attention of fictitious names and USbased defendants and their co-conspirators, it said.

The five India-based call centres that have been indicted are Excellent Solutions BPO, ADN Infotech Pvt Ltd, Infoace BPO Solutions Pvt Ltd, Adore Infosource, Inc and Zurik BPO Services Pvt Ltd. The 15 individuals who have been charged are Shylesh Kumar Sharma, Dilipkumar Kodwini, Radhishraj Natarajan, Shubham Sharma, Nirav Janakbhai Panchal, Athar Parvez Mansuri, Mohmmad Samir Memon, Mohamed Kazim Momin, Palak Kumar Patel, Mohmed Sozab Momin, Rodrigo Leon-Castillo, Devin Bradford Pope, Nicholas Alezander Deane, Drue Kyle Riggins and Jantz Parrish Miller.

22 WORLD

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in brief

PAKISTAN-SRI LANKA-NEPAL

Imran bows to hardliners, ousts minority economist Islamabad: The Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has succumbed to pressure from hardliners and removed a renowned economist Atif R Mian from the economic advisory council (EAC) as he was Ahmadi by faith. Apart from a vicious online campaign against Mian’s appointment, opposition parties including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and an alliance of several religious parties - had submitted a call-toattention notice in the Senate, the upper house of Parliament, against his inclusion in the 18-member EAC. Information minister Fawad Chaudhry took to Twitter to make the announcement of his removal, saying: “The government has decided to withdraw Mian’s appointment as it wants to avoid division…

The government wants to move forward, taking along religious scholars and all segments of society, and it would be inappropriate if a single nomination creates

an impression to the contrary.” In a tweet, PTI senator Faisal Javed said Mian had agreed to step down and that a replacement would be announced later.

Mian, a Pakistani-American, has served as a professor of economics, public policy and finance at Princeton University and as director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Centre for Public Policy and Finance at Woodrow Wilson School. He is the only Pakistani to be considered among IMF’s ‘top-25 brightest young economists’.

The news of Mian’s removal from EAC comes as a big surprise since the PTI government, while defending his academic credentials, had said in categorical terms that it would ‘not bow to extremists’.

“Pakistan belongs as much to minorities as it does to the majority,” Chaudhry had said.

About one million Ahmadis living in Pakistan have been prohibited by law from identifying themselves as Muslims. Also,

BOOST FOR ASIAN WORKERS AS QATAR LIFTS EXIT VISA SYSTEM Imran Khan

their freedom of religion has been curtailed by a series of ordinances, acts and constitutional amendments.

Two economists resign in protest Two economists have resigned from EAC in protest against the removal of Mian.

"With a heavy heart, I have resigned from the EAC," Dr Imran Rasul, a professor of economics at University College London, said in a tweet. "I wish the government and EAC luck in their future work and remain willing to offer non-partisan, evidence based advice that can help improve economic policy making in the country," he said. His resignation came a day after another EAC member Dr Asim ljaz Khwaja, a professor of International Finance and Development at the Harvard Kennedy School, resigned hours after the the PTI government asked Mian to step down.

Action sought against Lanka military officers over missing men COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's president should suspend military and police officers implicated in the disappearance of thousands of civilians during the island's decades-long civil war, a state watchdog said.

More than 20,000 people were allegedly abducted by security forces during the bloody conflict, which claimed over 100,000 lives before its conclusion in 2009. The newly-established Office of Missing Persons said President Maithripala Sirisena should act to end the practice of keeping accused officers in service and allowing them to be promoted through the ranks.

Sirisena should "ensure that state officials (including military and police) who are named as suspects or accused in criminal actions are suspended pending the final outcome of such cases," said the OMP. A magistrate last week ordered the arrest of Sri Lanka's top military officer, Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, over his involvement in covering up the murder of 11 children between 2008 and 2009. Navy intelligence officers have been accused of

Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne

abducting and killing the children as part of an extortion racket.

Wijegunaratne is yet to be arrested and was not named in the report, which urged the government to expedite investigations

and prosecutions over the war-time disappearances. The OMP also called for an end to delays in reparations promised by Sirisena when he came to power in January 2015. Set up earlier this year, the OMP can recommend compensation and clear the way for next of kin to take legal action against those responsible for the disappearance of relatives.

But the UN Human Rights Council has said Sri Lanka's efforts at transitional justice are at a "virtual standstill" nearly a decade after the end of the civil war. Sri Lankan forces were accused of killing up to 40,000 Tamil civilians during the final months of the conflict while defeating separatist Tamil Tiger guerrillas. International rights groups have called for the prosecution of leading figures from the military and the Tigers, who were known for suicide bombings and the use of child soldiers. Sirisena's predecessor Mahinda Rajapakse, who brutally crushed the Tamil movement to end the war in 2009, resisted international pressure to probe alleged war crimes.

Nepal snubs India, to take part in China drill New Delhi: In a snub to India, Nepal has decided to pull out of the joint Bimstec military drill in Pune, but at the same time decided to participate in a 12-day long military exercise with China later this month. Nepal army spokesperson Brig Gen Gokul Bhandaree said that the second such joint exercise with China, ‘Sagarmatha Friendship-2’, was going to take place from September 17 to 28 in Chengdu. “The main focus of the exercise is going to be on counter-terror operations,’’ he said.

Nepal’s first such joint exercise with China took place in April last year leading to concerns in India over growing security cooperation between Nepal and its northern neighbour.

The second Nepal-China joint exercise will come days after Nepal government directed its military to withdraw from the first joint military drill by Bimstec countries.

Former Indian foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said participating in the Bimstec exercise would have balanced the exercise

Nepal PM K P Sharma Oli

with China. “By taking such steps, they will alienate Indian opinion more and the cost will be felt when Nepal faces a crisis in the future. They have to nurture the India relationship, not create distrust,” he said.

The Nepal government, according to reports from Kathmandu, is not particularly pleased with attempts by India to provide an impetus to security and defence cooperation within Bimstec.

To be sure, Nepal hasn’t scaled up its defence exercise with China from what it was last year. Like in 2017, and as Bhandaree said, not more than 20 soldiers will participate in the Chengdu exercise. India’s own joint exercise with Nepal ‘Surya Kiran’ involves over 300.

It hasn’t helped the Indian government’s cause though that Nepal PM K P Sharma Oli is widely seen in the media as pro-China.

Nepal’s decision to pull out from the Pune exercise also came after PM Modi welcomed the “multi-national military field training exercise’’ at the Bimstec summit in Kathmandu last month. The Modi government has also been under pressure from Nepal to unblock the Saarc summit process. Oli had taken up the issue with PM Modi during his visit to India in April.

Qatar amended its residency laws to allow most foreign workers to leave the country without exit permits from their employers, a provision which labour rights groups have long said should be abolished. Employers will still be allowed to require up to 5% of their workforce to request permission to leave, after submitting their names to the government “with justifications based on the nature of the work”, Qatar said in a statement. Labour groups have attacked Qatar for its “kafala” sponsorship system.

Qatar’s system still requires the country’s 1.6 million mainly Asian foreign workers to obtain their employers’ consent before changing jobs, which the groups say leaves workers open to abuse. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) hailed the move as a “significant step.”

INDIAN YOUTH AMONG 3 KILLED IN US BANK SHOOTING An Indian youth was among the three people who were killed when a gunman opened fire at a bank in the US state of Ohio. Pruthviraj Kandepi 25, who hailed from Andhra Pradesh, and two others, Luis Felipe Calderon, 48, and Richard Newcomer, 64, were shot dead by the gunman identified as Omar Perez, 29. Perez was later shot dead by the police. Five others were also injured in the incident that took place at the headquarters for the Fifth Third Bank near Fountain Square, Cincinnati. Kandepi was working as a consultant with the bank.

Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac said Perez acted alone and he entered multiple businesses before going to the bank. He opened fire in the building's loading dock before continuing into the lobby area and firing more shots.

PAK WOMAN PENALISED FOR LIP-SYNCHING TO INDIAN SONG Pakistan’s Airport Security Force has penalised a young female staffer for lipsynching an Indian song while wearing a cap with the country’s flag on it. The video of the song had gone viral on social media, prompting the authorities to order a probe into the matter. The Airport Security Force has withheld increments and perks for two years of the 25-year-old woman’s service for violating the code of conduct. The officials also warned her of strict action if she is found involved in any other violation in the future. The ASF administration has also warned its staff not to indulge in any controversial activity on social media. The staff has been working in at the Sialkot airport for the last two years.

PAK COURT ORDERS PROBE IN ZARDARI ‘GRAFT’ CASES The Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered constitution of a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the money-laundering and fake accounts case, allegedly involving former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur. The decision was taken as a three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, resumed hearing into a suo moto case regarding an investigation into the fake transactions worth billions of rupees. The Federal Investigation Agency has been probing the case since 2015.

Twenty-nine ‘benami’ accounts were allegedly used to channel funds received through kickbacks. Zardari, Faryal and five other individuals are respondents in the case.

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INDIA

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15 - 21 September 2018

India's day of Independence: SC makes homosexuality legal

In a fantastic judgment that was cheered across the globe, the highest court in India partially struck down Section 377 of the IPC, and embraced the LGBTQ community by making homosexuality legal in the country. People, both young and old walked out the streets in India flashing rainbow colours, cheering the judgement, as it is for the first time in history that their existence has found acceptance.

Stating that the law was based on gender stereotypes that reinforce sexism and hence, the effort to end discrimination against homosexuals, a bench comprising of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice DY Chandrachud, Rohinton Nariman, AM Khanwilkar and Justice Indu Malhotra.

They unanimously decriminalised part of the 158 year old “colonial law” that criminalised consensual, what is termed as 'unnatural' sex. Justice Indu Malthotra, the only woman on the bench, said history owed an apology to those persecuted in the past by the law.

Justice Chandrachud said, “Section 377 rests on deep-rooted gender stereotypes,” adding that Bennett Capers' binary gender system was based on 'hetero-sexism' defined as the “institutionalised valorisation of heterosexual activity.” He quoted Capers as saying that “sanctioning of discrimination based on sexual orientation perpetuates the subordination not only of lesbians and gays, but also of women.”

The Court was ruling on a bunch of petitions filed by several individuals seeking the scrapping of the 19th century law. The SC bench said, “The right to live with dignity has been recognised. Sexual orientation is a natural phenomenon determined by biology and science. Any discrimination on this basis is unconstitutional.”

CJI Misra read out the judgment saying, “Only Constitutional morality and not social morality can e allowed to permeate rule of law... Sexual orientation is one of the many natural phenomenon. Any discrimination on basis of sexual orientation amounts to violation of fundamental rights. After judgment in Puttuswamy case, privacy has been raised to fundamental right.” He also said, “Sans identity the name only remains a plain factor. Emphasis is laid on the identity of a person. The sustenance of identity is the pillar of life.” He called the Section irrational and arbitrary, adding that the LGBTQ community enjoys same rights as other citizens under the Constitution.

CJI Misra said that the judgment will be considered in all pending prosecutions.

“Denial of self-expression is like death.

Social morality cannot violate the rights of even one single individual. Sexual orientation is natural and people have no control on it.”

Section 377, which came into effect in

1861, deems sexual intercourse “against the order of nature” as punishable with imprisonment of between 10 years and a life sentence, along with a fine. Delivering his concurring judgment, Justice Chandrachud said, “Section 377 inflicts tragedy and anguish; it has to be remedied. This case is

judgment. It held that amending or repealing Section 377 should be a matter left to the Parliament and not the Judiciary.

Three years later, five petitioners came forward and challenged the Supreme Court's verdict.

The lead petitioner is Navtej Singh

much more than just decriminalising a provision. It is about an aspiration to realise constitutional rights and equal existence of LGBT community as other citizens.” He added, “To deny the LGBT community of their right to sexual orientation is a denial of their citizenship and a violation of their privacy. They cannot be pushed into obscurity by an oppressive colonial legislation.”

Johar, a renowned Bharatnatyam choreographer and winner of Sangeet Natak Akademi. Johar moved against the verdict on Section 377 with his partner Sunil Mehra, one of the lead petitioners. He said the section violated the right to life and personal liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. Mehra, is a former journalist and media editor of Maxim magazine. He has been Navtej's partner since 1993. The

The petitioners While the verdict still doesn't allow same-sex marriage in India, last week's ruling is a significant step towards the establishment of a liberal and progressive society in the country. The first public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by the NAZ Foundation, a sexual health NGO working with gay men against the Section 377 in the Delhi High Court. Delhi High Court had struck down the section as unconstitutional in 2009. However, on December 11, 2013, the Supreme Court overturned the court's

third petitioner is celebrity chef and owner of niche restaurant chain Diva, Ritu Dalmia identifies herself as a lesbian. Also part of the team is 61 year old Aman Nath, owner and founder of the Neeramana chain of hotels. He was in a 23 year old relationship with known architectural restorer Francis Wacziarg till his death in 2014. Nath now lives with his adopted daughter Aadya Nath.

The fifth petitioner is Ayesha Kapur, a former child artist and a well-known gay activist and speaker. A businesswoman, she works in the food and beverages industry.

“Any discrimination on basis of sexual orientation amounts to a violation of fundamental rights.”

In an interview after the ruling, Navtej said, “This is not to say that we haven't had our share of snide remarks and sneers. And this is also not to undermine the emotional, pschological, and physical violence that many of our friends have been subject to.

We have learnt to normalise our marginalisation. But that does not mean that it is not deeply violating of our basic human dignity.”

UK and the World reacts to the verdict The historical judgment created quite a frenzy, with several religious organisations condemning the legalisation, but for the most part, there was a celebration for the official acceptance of the LGBTQ community erupted across streets in India.

International organisations and celebrities too applauded the SC's liberal judgement.

Sir Elton John and partner David Furnish wrote a piece for an Indian newspaper, lauding the judgment. They wrote, “We commend the Supreme Court for its remarkable decision to repeal the colonialera Section 377. September 6 will go down in history, a day when India became more equal, a day when 18 per cent of the world's LGBT population was told, in the words of Justice Indu Malhotra, that they are “not an aberration but a variation”. And we congratulate the plaintiffs and activists who sacrificed so much for so long, to get to this moment. They too, belong to history.”

Spiritual Commissioner at Hindu Forum of Britain, Gauri Das took to social media in support of the judgment. He talked about a young man who, a couple of years ago, had called in on a BBC call in show, Das was part of. “Kartik agonised that he could not 'come out' and at the same time did not want to ruin a young woman's life by conforming to marriage. He concluded that if there was some pill he could take to change everything, he would take it.” Das wrote, “Thoughts of Kartik came to mind today as I saw this news article. I felt this agony back then, it was a heartbreaking story. Perhaps with this news breaking story, the many silent gay members of the Hindu community, including Kartik, may feel some ease to their anguish. Hinduism has always been very much 'live and let live' with respect of course, so I am glad this has been referred as a law from colonial times.”

The United Nations also welcomed the verdict, calling it the first step towards ensuring full fundamental rights to LGBTI persons. It released a statement saying, “The United Nations in India welcomes the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of India striking down a key component of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalised specific sexual acts between adults, a law dating back to British colonial rule that has targeted in particular lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals and communities.”

24 INDIA

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15 - 21 September 2018

in brief

SOUTH INDIA

Telangana assembly dissolved, TRS seeks early poll HYDERABAD: Telangana Cabinet led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao recommended the dissolution of the State Legislative Assembly last week. Rao, along with some of his Cabinet colleagues went to the Raj Bhavan to meet Governor ESL Narasimhan and submit a copy of the resolution for further proceedings. While accepting the recommendation, the Governor asked Rao and his Council of Ministers to continue as a caretaker government. Rao has agreed to the request.

The meeting that lasted 22 minutes witnessed the Chief Minister and his colleagues endorsing the resolution. The Cabinet reportedly passed a

lasted for four years, three months and four days since the swearing in of Rao on June 2, 2014.

In the 119-member Assembly, the TRS won 63 seats on its own, while close to two dozens MLAs from other parties subsequently switched loyalties to the ruling party.

Rao's government seems to be in favour of K. Chandrasekhara Rao handing over the resolution early assembly elections, ahead of the passed by the Telangana Cabinet to dissolve the Assembly to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan. parliamentary elections.

Political analysts feel this single line resolution could leave options open for the recommending the dissolution ruling party, to draw suitable of the House. This brings down equations with rival political on the TRS Government that

parties like BJP during the parliamentary elections. They also believe the current state government would like to have the assembly elections out of the way, and with the outcome try and improve its bargaining power with the BJP at the Centre.

Chief Minister Rao had earlier this year, made a strong pitch for his government's performance in Hyderabad. He talked of the progress made on various fronts and said that Telangana should not be considered a small state as it is bigger than states like West Bengal and Bihar in terms of land area and there are 17 states that are smaller than Telangana.

PUNJAB-HARYANA

Sikhs to get visa-free access to Kartarpur gurdwara CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR: Pakistan Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has said that the Imran Khan government plans to give Sikh pilgrims “visafree direct access” to the historic Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara. He said the Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaaf government was developing a “system” for Sikh pilgrims to visit Kartarpur Sahib and some forward movement is to be expected soon.

He said, “Pakistan will soon open the border at Kartarpur for Sikh pilgrims who will be able to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur without visas,” adding that “a road will be constructed for the pilgrims to come. They will then have to buy a ticket to go back.” There is no clarity, however, whether the access will

be permanent or be specifically for the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev next year. While there has been a longstanding demand in India for opening a corridor for the Sikh pilgrims between Kartarpur

Sahib in Narowal district of Pakistan’s Punjab province and Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur.

However, there has been no official announcement by the Pakistan government, and no confirmation from New Delhi.

Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu convened a press conference last week to announce that Islamabad had decided to allow access to Kartarpur corridor.

Meanwhile, the BJP took a dig at Sidhu for thanking Pakistan. They said leaders admiring the neighbouring country were on a rise in the Opposition party.

BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters that it has become a habit of the Congress to praise Pakistan.

He also sought clarification from Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the matter, noting that Sidhu was a minister in the Congress-led Punjab government and also a good friend of the party president.

WEST BENGAL

BJP, Mamta’s TMC gearing up for cyber war KOLKATA: The ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition BJP in West Bengal have decided to revamp their IT cells and enhance social media presence to take on each other in the virtual space. Both the parties have been engaged in a bitter political battle for the past few years and are now planning to extend it to the social media turf. TMC is set to organise a Digital Conclave on at Nazrul Mancha, where Abhishek Banerjee will address its IT members, ministers and youth workers.

A senior Trinamool leader said, “During this conclave, special instructions will be given to ministers to be more active on social media such as Twitter and Facebook to directly interact with the masses. Most of the BJP ministers are active on social media but in comparison only a few of our ministers and party leaders are active on social media.

This has to increase.”

The party will train over 40,000 youths on the usage of social media to reach out to the masses across the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state. TMC has apparently set a target of creating 10,000 WhatsApp groups with 256 members in each of them to spread awareness on the developmental work of the state government and “anti-people” policies of the BJP government at the Centre.

A member of the TMC's Social Media IT cell said, “Till now, we have been able to

CBI RAIDS TN HEALTH MINISTER, DGP

C. Vijayabaskar and T.K. Rajendran

The premises of Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, Director General of Police TK Rajendran, former Chennai Police Commissioner S George and former state minister B V Ramana were among the 35 locations raided by the CBI in connection with gutkha scam. Top ministers, police officers, and revenue officials are alleged to have taken bribes to allow the manufacture and sale of gutkha, which was banned in the state in 2013.

Apart from ministers and police officers, the premises of some Indian Revenue Service officers, central excise officers and sales tax officers are also being searched.

Voluminous documents have been seized from all these places and will be examined in due course.”

GOVERNOR URGED TO FREE CONVICTS IN RAJIV CASE Acting quickly on the Supreme Court directive, the Tamil Nadu cabinet has decided to recommend to governor to release all the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The apex court had on September 6 said that the authorities concerned could take a decision on the writ petition of one of the convicts, AG Perarivalan, which was pending before the governor. “The recommendation of the state cabinet will be sent to the governor immediately,” fisheries minister D Jayakumar said. “The governor is the executive authority. He will execute the government’s decision,” Jayakumar said.

EX-SGPC GENERAL SECY HELD FOR HURTING SENTIMENTS Police authorities have arrested former SGPC general secretary Sukhdev Singh Bhaur after a video surfaced showing him allegedly using objectionable language against Dalit-dominated Dera Sachkh and Ballan leader and Guru Ravidas follower Ramanand Dass. A case has been registered under Section 295-A (malicious acts to outrage religious feelings) of the IPC and Section 66-A of the Information Technology Act against Bhaur. The move came after hundreds of members of the Ravidas community surrounded Bhaur's residence at Banga and raised slogans against him. A team led by Banga DSP Deepika Singh rush to the spot and tried to bring the situation under control.

DRUNK MAN BITES OFF BARKING DOG'S EAR IN BENGAL

Amit Shah and Mamata Banerjee

create 3,000 WhatsApp groups and for each Lok Sabha constituency, we have created a separate media page. We have 12-14 people monitoring media content, fake news and trolls from district level to booth level.”

Colonel (Retd) Dipatanshu Chowdhury, joint convenor of TMC's Media cell said the party is not looking into the usage of Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp but also

other platforms such as Messenger, microblogging sites, e-mails, Pinterest, and Instagram.

He said, “Social media is going to play a very vital role in the next Lok Sabha polls.

We are looking at the use of digital spectrum so that we can reach out to our target audience, especially youths and first time voters.”

A resident of a village in Hooghly district of West Bengal, has been booked on the charges of biting off a stray dog's ear in a drunken condition. Sambhunath Dhali, a construction labourer is known for returning home every nigh in a inebriated condition. He is often confronted by local stray dogs who bark at him. Last week, when the dogs barked at him again, an intoxicated Dhali turned around, grabbed a mongrel and bit off its ear. While he was immediately attacked by the rest of the pack, the ruckus brought all the neighbours to the street, who got hold of him and beat him up. Dhali has been handed over to the police.

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15 - 21 September 2018

Lord Irwin, Mahatma Gandhi and Bhagat Singh l l

ICS officers threatened to resign en bloc if the trio was not hanged Bapu was prepared to surrender life to save Bhagat Singh, comrades

ne of the prominent revolutionaries of India, Bhagat Singh (28 September 1907-23 March 1931), an Arya Samaji turned atheist, has been an icon of the youth in India even today. Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, who followed the path of Ahimsa during his life time and was the torch-bearer of the freedom movement, is being questioned whether he ever tried to defend Bhagat Singh from being hanged.

O

On 17 December 1927, Bhagat Singh and Shivram Rajguru shot and killed assistant superintendent of police, John Saunders. They were supported in this act by their compatriots Sukhdev Thapar and Chandrashekhar Azad. However, their original target was not Saunders but superintendent of police, James Scott, who had ordered his men to lathi-charge protesters leading to death of the nationalist leader, Lala Lajpat Rai. Owing to the slow pace of the legal proceedings, a special tribunal consisting of Justice J. Coldstream, Justice Agha Hyder and Justice G. C. Hilton was set up on the directives of the Viceroy, Lord Irwin on 1 May 1930. The tribunal was empowered to proceed without the presence of the accused and was a one-sided trial that hardly adhered to the normal legal rights guidelines. The tribunal delivered its 300-page judgement on 7 October 1930. It declared that irrefutable proof has been presented confirming the involvement of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru in the Saunders murder. Bhagat Singh admitted to the murder and made statements against the British rule during during the trial. They were sentenced to be handed till death.

“Gandhi alone could have intervened effectively to save Bhagat Singh’s life.He did not, till the very last,” concludes A. G. Noorani in “The Trial of Bhagat Singh”. Talks between Gandhi and Irwin, who was to retire in April, began in New Delhi on 17 February 1931; just six days after the Privy Council rejected Bhagat Singh’s appeal. The talks culminated in the

Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru

famous Gandhi- Irwin Pact on 5 March 1931. Eighteen days lay between it and Bhagat Singh’s execution. The Pact did not contain any provision concerning Bhagat Singh and the other two sentenced

have three hundred and odd millions of people, you cannot prevent such crimes being committed, however much you may deplore them and however much you may say that they are misguided. It is

Bhagat Singh in his National College, standing forth from right

to death with him. Both Gandhi and Irwin noted that the issue of the suspension of the capital punishment was discussed. But rather the Viceroy was helpless.

Noorani does mention: “Gandhi did not know, did not try to know and to understand, Bhagat Singh’s thinking when in prison; specifically, his renunciation of terrorism.” Even Barrister M. A. Jinnah while delivering his speech in the Central Legislative Assembly on 12 and 14 September 1929 did say: “Mind you, Sir, I do not approve of the action of Bhagat Singh, and I say this on the floor of this House. I regret that, rightly or wrongly, youth today in India is stirred up, you cannot , when you

the system, this damnable system of Government, which is resented by the people.”

According to Noorani, Jinnah’s was one of the most powerful and effective speeches in the Central Legislature Assembly, in defence of Bhagat Singh and his comrades,

Next Column: A Punjabi’s Tryst with Manipur when the Government tried to amend the law to provide, draconically enough, for trial in absentia.

Yet not one book in India or Pakistan mentions that with the exception of a volume brought out by the human rights activist I. A.

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Rehman and his colleagues in Lahore.

Kuldip Nayar, who was an Indian High Commissioner in UK, in his well researched book “Without Fear : The Life and Trial of Bhagat Singh”, has revealed the circumstances which made even the Viceroy helpless in at least postponing the execution of Bhagat Singh and his two comrades. Subhash Chandra Bose, representing the left wing of the Congress, had told Gandhi that they should, if necessary, break with the Viceroy on the question of Bhagat Singh and his two comrades.’ Because the execution was against the spirit, if not the letter, of the Delhi pact.’ Still, Bose added, ‘it must be admitted that he(Gandhi) did try his very best.’

One of the most credible journalists, Nayar, notes : “ Faced with the public’s ugly mood, Congress leaders tried to come up with several explanations for Mahatma Gandhi and Viceroy Lord Irwin their failure to rescind the sentence. But nothing worked to general(Gandhi). You must supsoothe the frayed tempers of the port all Congress leaders. Only public. One explanation the then will you be able to win indeCongress offered was that Irwin pendence for the country.” Kishen promised Gandhi he would comSingh was a supporter of mute the death sentence to life Congress. imprisonment but he went back on The Mahatma wrote in the his word when senior British ICS ‘Young India’ of 11 June 1931, “I had officers threatened to resign en interested myself in the movebloc if the three men were not ment for the commutation of the hanged.” death sentence of Bhagat Singh “Another incredible story and his comrades. I have put my doing the rounds was that the whole being into the task.” In Viceroy had sent orders for comanother public utterance, he said: mutation to Lahore Central Jail “I would gladly have surrendered through a telegram but the bureaumy life to the Viceroy to save crats conspired to delay its transBhagat Singh and others.” Despite mission and jail officials received these efforts, Gandhi is blamed the telegram after the hanging.” In even today. an appeal to mollify the anger of the huge gathering, Sardar Patel, who was to take over as Congress President, paid glowing tributes to Dr. Hari Desai Bhagat Singh and his comrades in his address and expressed the deep (The writer is a Socio-political Historian. resentment in the country over the E-mail: haridesai@gmail.com)

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execution. Of course, the Sardar did say: “I cannot identify myself with their methods, I have no doubt that political murder is no less reprehensible than any other ; but patriotism, the daring and the sacrifice of Bhagat Singh and his comrades command my admiration.” He preferred to call the British administration ‘heartless’.

Gandhi chose Nehru to pilot the resolution “to place on record the admiration of the bravery and sacrifice of the late Bhagat Singh and his comrades, Sukhdev and Rajguru” which was seconded by Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya.

The session was addressed by Kishen Singh, the father of Bhagat Singh, also: “Bhagat Singh told me not to worry. Let me be hanged.

One week after the execution, the country will get independence. He warned me against going to the Privy Council because he said slaves had no right to complain… .You must support your

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26 INDIA

AsianVoiceNews

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www.asian-voice.com

15 - 21 September 2018

Kashmiri Pandits observe Martyr's Day globally Col Tej Tikoo Aborigines of Kashmir, called Bhatta (otherwise known as Kashmiri Pandits the world over) have decided to observe this year’s Martyr’s day on 14 September 2018, globally. On this day in 1989, one of the community’s icons, Shri Tika Lal Taploo, was assassinated by Jihadi militants in Kashmir. This murder signaled the beginning of large-scale killings, rape and ruthless torture of this peaceful community, whose small numbers formed a microscopic minority in the sea of brutal Muslim majority of Kashmir.

Random as well as targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits throughout the length and breadth of Kashmir thereafter, become a regular feature of the turmoil that engulfed the Valley in the fire of Jihadi upsurge; sponsored, financed and conducted by Pakistan. Fresh from its ‘victory’ in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s Islamist dictator, Gen Zia-ul-Haque, roped in Pakistan’s numerous radical Islamic parties to provide their cadres to launch jihad in Kashmir.

Politically unstable conditions in India after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in October 1984, provided an ideal environment for the hordes of Afghan veterans to now fight the Indian ‘infidel’ in Kashmir. Pakistan was neither short of weapons/equipment nor funds to conduct this proxy war against India in Kashmir. A large part of arms and ammunition stockpiled in Pakistan to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan was diverted by Pakistan to fight its own war in Kashmir.

In keeping with the fundamental principle of terror tactics, ‘Kill one and scare a thousand’, brutal torture, rape, killings of

nearly 1,500 men, women and children by inhuman ways, scared the day lights out of this peaceful community. The Jihadis felt that an environment of fear had already frightened the community and it just needed a push to throw them out of Kashmir. This happened on 19 Jan 1990, when thousands upon thousands of Muslims poured on the roads of Kashmir during the coldest period of the year, when temperatures fall many degrees below the freezing point. This huge mass of people, fired by the concept of Jihad, were joined by armed cadres of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), baying for Kashmiri Pandit blood. The war cries of Jihadis rent the air, terrorizing the community no end. A host of highly provocative, communal and threatening slogans, interspersed with martial songs, incited the believers to throw out the kafirs in order to ring in true Islamic order. Pandits were given three choices; Relive, Tsalvieand Galive (convert to Islam, leave the place, or perish). These dreadful slogans broadcast from nearly 1,100 mosques, exhorted the hysterical mobs to embark on Jihad. Those who organized this frightening show of violent force in the middle of a cold winter night, had only one objective, to put the fear of death into the hearts of the already frightened Pandits.

For the first time after India’s independence from Britain, Kashmiri Pandits found themselves abandoned to their fate, stranded in their homes, surrounded by rampaging mobs. The pusillanimous Central Government was caught napping and its agencies in the state, particularly the Army and other ParaMilitancy forces, did not consider it necessary to intervene in the absence of any orders.

The State Government had been so extensively subverted that the skeleton staff of the administration at Srinagar (winter

capital had shifted to Jammu in November 1989) decided not to confront the huge mobs. Delhi was too far away, anyway.

The Pandits could see the writing on the wall. If they were lucky enough to see the night through, they would have to vacate the place before they were ruthlessly killed; and that is what they did. It was the Pandit’s seventh exodus from Kashmir ever since the arrival of Islam there in the fourteenth century. Between January 1990 and the middle of 1991, nearly 4,00,000 Kashmiri Pandits, accounting for nearly 99% of their population in Kashmir, fled from the Valley to save themselves.

The apathy with which all sectors of the Indian society reacted, encouraged the radical elements and their armed gangs in Kashmir to increase the tempo of violence.

At the same time, indifferent attitude of the government, the civil society and the media towards the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, laid bare the illusion of Indian secularism.

Leaving behind their land, their religious places, their properties and their way of life, Kashmiri Pandits, with an unbroken history

India gets access to encrypted US military technology The first India-US ‘2 plus 2’ dialogue ended with the inking of ‘Comcasa,’ a defence pact that allows India access to encrypted technologies, and a pointed call to Pakistan to desist using terror proxies. The agreements commit New Delhi and Washington to working together on the open seas, with critical emphasis on the Indo-Pacific with its implied reference to China, sensitive technology and counterterrorism even though trade and economic disputes remain unresolved.

The tenor of discussions made it evident that there would be no combative negotiation on a laundry list of issues, said sources. The reference to Pakistan and use of terror proxies closely reflects India’s concerns and a growing impatience of the Trump administration with Islamabad backing anti-US Taliban in Afghanistan even as it awaits the new government’s actions.

Sources said the four leaders set a broad direction, describing the talks as “positive and constructive.” With both sides willing to listen, convergence was the buzzword and after the dialogue, Pompeo and Mattis called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a meeting that lasted for almost an hour.

The most important takeaway was the signature of Comcasa - Communications, Compatibility, Security Agreement - which has been in the works for long. The pact will help services of both countries to advance interoperability, as US becomes one of India’s closest defence partners in the world.

Comcasa comes into effect immediately, and is actually an enabling agreement, with terms that apply to all US-origin platforms that India has already bought or plans to buy, with distinct India-specific features.

US defence secretary James Mattis, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on Thursday

In discussions on Iran sanctions, US made it clear that it expects a sharp reduction of energy imports by India, but did not get into numbers. Swaraj insisted India was an energy-reliant economy. But it appears there may be a carve-out for Chahbahar port, as was the case in previous sanctions legislation too. India has been developing the port as an access to Afghanistan free of Pakistan’s influence.

Stop exporting terror, Pakistan told In a joint statement, both countries named and called upon Pakistan to ensure its territory wasn’t used to launch terror

attacks on other countries. Official sources described the “reprimand” as one of the important takeaways from the meeting which saw India and the US agreeing to further intensify counter-terror cooperation.

The two sides welcomed the launch of a bilateral dialogue on designation of terrorists in 2017 which, they said, is strengthening cooperation and action against terrorist groups, including al-Qaida, Islamic State, Lashkare-Taiba, Jaish-eMohammad, Hizb-ul Mujahideen, the Haqqani Network, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, D-Company and their affiliates.

of over 5,000 years in Kashmir, have been living as refugees in their own country, ever since. Recently, the Supreme Court of India dismissed a petition of Kashmiri Pandits seeking to investigate the community killings and fix responsibility for the same.

The apex Court said that the killings had happened long ago and it would be difficult to gather any worthwhile evidence after 28 years. Having been abandoned by the Indian State, the Apex Court’s ruling was the last nail in the coffin of Kashmiri Pandits hopes of being rehabilitated in Kashmir.

Consequently, as a peaceful community, Kashmiri Pandit diaspora, spread all across the world, has decided to observe the Balidan Diwas (Martyr’s Day) at a global level. This will involve handing over a memorandum to our High Commission/Embassies in many countries, a public meeting at Delhi and other places in India, and candle marches, etc.

The objective of this public observance of paying homage to our martyrs is to tell the entire world of our plight and neglect by powers that be.

52 pilgrims killed in Telangana bus accident

Fifty-two people were killed and several others injured after a state-owned Road Transport Corporation bus carrying pilgrims from a temple in the hills of Telangana’s Jagtiyal district plunged off a road into a 30-foot gorge. According to police, the pilgrims were on their way back from a Hanuman temple atop Kondagattu hill. The bus was travelling from Sanivarampet village to Jagitial via Kondagattu pilgrim centre when the accident took place.

The driver, who also died in the accident, reportedly lost control as he tried to avoid another bus on the route. “Most of the deaths seem to have occurred due to suffocation, as the passengers fell over one another,” police said. Authorities recovered bodies of five children, 32 females and 15 males before calling off the rescue operation. The injured were shifted to Jagitial government hospital. The toll could go up as the condition of some of the injured was stated to be critical.

Chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao expressed shock and announced an ex gratia of Rs 5,00,000 to each of the families of the deceased, and directed officials to provide immediate medical assistance to the injured.

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15 - 21 September 2018

Radical NHS plan to tackle Britain's diabetes 'epidemic' PATIENTS TO BE PUT ON LIQUID DIETS OF HEALTH SHAKES AND FAT-FREE SOUPS FOR UP TO FIVE MONTHS TO HELP REVERSE CONDITION THAT AFFECTS MILLIONS Diabetics will be given lowcalorie liquid diets under radical plans to beat the disease. NHS chiefs hope that prescribing fat-free shakes and soups for up to five months will reverse the illness.

If the trial succeeds, the treatment will be rolled out nationally. Research funded

by Diabetes UK has already found that half of Type 2 diabetics on the diet were in remission within a year.

Details of the strategy are likely to be set out in November. It is based on the idea that Type 2 can be conquered if patients lose enough weight. On the diet, they would consume between 810 and 850 calories a day, depending on the flavours of the four shakes and soups they choose.

Many would shed the pounds very quickly after previously taking in as many

as 3,000 calories a day.

The liquid diet was described as an exciting development by Jonathan Valabhji of NHS England.

‘The trial involved 300 people, of those in the intervention arm a staggering almost 50 per cent their diabetes went into remission,’ said the professor. Their blood glucose levels fell into the non-diabetic range. That excites us. The beauty of the research is that it was implemented in GP surgeries. It wasn’t hugely expensive.’

He said the average weight loss of 2 stone and 5lb was staggering.

The number of diabetics has doubled to nearly four million in the past 20 years.

Nine in ten have Type 2, which is strongly linked to excess weight.

The illness strikes when insulin in the pancreas does not work properly or the

Diabetics will be given low-calorie liquid diets under radical plans to beat the disease

pancreas does not make enough insulin. This causes a rise in glucose levels in the blood which, if untreated, lead to heart disease and strokes, kidney disease, liver failure, blindness and damage to nerve endings in the feet.

One in six patients staying in hospital overnight has diabetes and the condition is estimated to cost the NHS £9billion a year.

The British Heart Foundation has warned that the condition will lead to 400,000 cases of heart disease annually by 2035, 30 per cent more than now.

Last month the Daily Mail revealed that children as young as nine were being treated with Type 2 diabetes.

Professor Valabhji, a consultant diabetologist at St Mary’s Hospital in central

Positivity cuts risk of heart attack Looking on the bright side of life cuts the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke, a scientific review has found.

Being optimistic has a direct impact on cardiovascular health - reducing stress hormones, pulse rate and blood pressure, experts found.

And people with a positive outlook eat better, do more exercise and are less likely to smoke and drink, their study showed.

Scientists at Northwestern University in Chicago and Harvard School of Public Health in Boston examined all existing evidence linking psychological well-being to cardiovascular health.

The researchers, whose work is published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found mental outlook is ‘consistently related’ to

heart disease.

They cited one study in which the 25 per cent of people with the highest optimism had a 38 per cent reduced risk of dying of heart disease.

Other papers have linked the feeling of having a ‘higher purpose’ in life with lower odds of having a stroke.

The researchers said doctors should consider using counselling or relaxation strategies such as yoga or tai chi to improve their

patients’ mental health.

The research team found optimistic people less likely to smoke - and if they already smoke they are better at quitting.

High levels of psychological well-being are also associated with regular physical activity.

Optimistic patients sustained healthier diets by consuming more fruits and vegetables, and less processed meats and sweets, leading patients to maintain a healthier weight.

Other studies have found similar results for cancer, stroke, respiratory disease and infection.

Scientists suspect this may be because someone’s general mood alters the levels of harmful and beneficial hormones in their body.

Being optimistic, for example, reduces stress and anxiety hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which can place a burden on the heart and raise blood pressure.

Studies have also found people who are less stressed have lower cholesterol levels, are less prone to inflammation, have a better immune response and higher levels of antioxidants in the blood.

Having a strong support network also gives patients confidence and makes them more likely to act on medical advice, the scientists said.

Older adults who do tai chi are much less likely to suffer dangerous falls Older adults who practice tai chi are less likely to fall, a small new study suggests.

Researchers said that elderly people who practiced the martial art were more than 50 percent less likely to suffer a fall than those who just performed stretching exercises.

Around one in three US adults aged 65 or older report having fallen - and 38 percent of these falls lead to

injuries that can result in ER

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We are publishing these items in good faith, kindly consult your Doctor before you try to implement any advice. We do not hold any responsibility for its efficacy...

visits, hospitalization, or death.

The team, led by researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing, says it hopes the findings lead to

more older adults taking up the practice to prevent themselves from experiencing large hospital bills, a loss of independence or premature death.

Tai chi is often recommended for older adults because it is a low impact exercise that puts little to no stress on the joints or muscles.

There has been some evidence in past research that shows tai chi can help reduce falls.

London, said: ‘Not only are we seeing greater numbers, what we’re also rather frighteningly seeing is younger age of onset.

‘I may have been looking after the grandfather for the last couple of decades who was diagnosed at the age of 65, then the father came onto my book who was diagnosed at the age of 48, now I’ve got the granddaughter diagnosed at 29.

‘I’ve got quite a lot of people who are in their 20s with Type 2 diabetes which we simply didn’t see when I

started practising. You’d write that up in a journal if you saw it back then, now we’re seeing it all the time.’

The successful liquid diet was tested in a study of 298 patients carried out by Newcastle and Glasgow universities.

Results published in the Lancet in December showed that 46 per cent per cent were remission from diabetes within a year.

NHS England wants its own trial to be rolled out in waves, through GP surgeries, next year.

28 BOLLYWOOD

AsianVoiceNews

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15 - 21 September 2018

It's a boy! Shahid-Mira welcome Baby No. 2 Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput are blessed with their second child, a healthy boy. Mira was admitted to Mumbai's Hinduka hospital last week, and within hours it was reported that she gave birth to a baby boy. The couple's friends soon shared congratulatory messages for the new parents. A source said, “Shahid is spending all the time with Mira. If he has to step out it is either for gym or office but otherwise he is constantly by her side.”

Shahid's father Pankaj Kapoor expressed his joy saying, “I am very delighted that a new bundle of joy has come to our house. A baby being born in any house is a matter of sheer joy and excitement. Similarly, it is a moment of joy for our family and as the grandfather of the newborn, I am delighted and very proud of my family. I wish Shahid and Mira all the very best and many congratulations.” He added, “Shahid's family is now complete.

God bless all of them. We are thrill about the new arrival.”

Meanwhile his mother, Neelima Azim said that everything went normally.

“My dearest elder son's family is now complete.

Misha (Shahid and Mira's daughter) has got a brother and Ishaan (Neelima a n d

Rajesh Khattar's son) has a nephew now. I'm a hands-on grandmother with Misha and since I've had two boys of my own, being with the new member of the family will come naturally to me.” She said that the family is still deciding on a name for the new addition. Neelima also said, “My daughter-in-law Mira has been so wonderful, brave and strong through the whole process... Insha'Allah the baby and mother will be home soon.” On the work front, Shahid is preparing for the release of his upcoming film, Batti Gul Meter Chalu and will be seen next in the remake of Arjun Reddy.

Deepika to return in Vin Diesel's 'xXx'

Deepika Padukone who made her Hollywood debut with Vin Diesel's 'xXx: Return of Xander Cage' has been roped in for the fourth instalment of the franchise.

When Director DJ Caruso welcomed Chinese singer-actor Roy Wang to the xXx family, a Twitter user asked whether Deepika is in the movie, and he replied “Yes”. He also said that he is working out a script right now.

Back in May, Caruso had expressed a desire to shoot a Bollywood-style dance number, featuring Dippy for the end credits of his upcoming film. He had said,

“I want to end 'xXx 4' with a Bollywood dance song. Led of course by @deepikapadukone.

Lungi Dance?

Something new?” Deepika's entry into the West had created a buzz just as strong as her friendship with co-stars in the film.

Her portrayal of Serena Unger was also appreciated worldwide. 'xXx: Return of Xander Cage' also starred Ruby Rose, Nina Dobrev, Samuel L Jackson Toni Collette Tony Jaa and Hermione Corfield. It collectively grossed nearly $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

Salman confirms doing film with SLB Rishi, Neetu approve bahu Alia

Not one to mince words, Rishi Kapoor is known to voice his opinion. In an interview last week, he spoke to a daily about his son Ranbir Kapoor and his girlfriend Alia Bhatt.

One of the most selling topic today, this is first time Ranbir has come out in open about his relationship, and we feel may be, just may be, Alia is the One. Apparently, not just just us, even daddy Rishi said that he definitely likes Alia.

When asked about RK's new-found love, he said, “It's Ranbir's life. Who he wants to get married to is his prerogative.

Neetu likes her, I like her, Ranbir likes her.

Get it? I can't be judgmental. After all, my

uncles Shammiji and Shashiji and I chose our life partners. Ranbir is entitled to choose his.” Neetu Kapooor has often expressed her liking for Alia, Rishi's daughter Riddhima too has been overtly affectionate towards the young prodigy.

Alia has often been spotted with the Kapoor family on several occasions. The two young actors are currently shooting for 'Brahmastra' together. Speculations about their relationship began to do the rounds when the two arrived together for Sonam Kapoor's wedding reception. While Ranbir has publicly acknowledged the relation, Alia has maintained a dignified silence.

Everyone knows about the fallout between master filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Salman Khan, after the former cast Shah Rukh Khan in 'Devdas' instead of him. Later when he planned his magnum opus 'Bajirao Mastani' for him with Aishwarya Rai and Kareena Kapoor, that failed to pan out too.

However,when SLB finally did make 'Bajirao', he dedicated the movie to his original hero, Salman.

Now, years later, after the filmmaker confirmed that he really wanted to make a film with his favourite actor, our very own 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' has finally buried the

hatchet and given a nod to the project. The actor confirmed the rumours at the launch of his popular television show 'Big Boss 12'.

He said, “Yes, I am doing Sanjay's film”, before jokingly adding, “I don't know much about it. Have only heard a one-liner about it. But Sanjay is not answering my calls.

Please ask me to speak to me.”

The project is reportedly titled 'Inshallah', and Bhansali might work on the script as long as nine months before work on the movie begins.

Makers may release the movie for Eid 2020.

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KOLLYWOOD

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

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15 - 21 September 2018

Prabhas moves on to next project

Huge surprise for Dhanush fans Actor Dhanush currently has a lot on his plate. He currently awaits the release of Vetri Maaran's 'Vada Chennai', and Gautham Vasudev Menon's 'Enai Noki Paayum Thota', shoot of which was wrapped up yesterday.

Also, he's working on Balaji Mohan's 'Maari 2', with Sai Pallavi in the lead, and Yuvan Shankar Raja as the music director.

Amidst all this, the actor also plans to organise a fans meet this October. Executive producer of Dhanush's banner Wunderbar Films, Vinod Kumar took to Twitter to announce the news. He tweeted, “We are arranging a meet for Online Fans club members with Dhanush sir this October.

Will keep you all posted on the exact date and details. Thank you all for the patience.”

A surprise at the end of the fans meet is expected. Sources believe Dhanush might reveal something exciting about 'Vada Chennai'. Audio of the movie is expected to release in the third week of September, and the movie is set to entertain the audience from October 17.

* Schedule is subject to change

MONDAY 17th - FRIDAY 21st September

TIME

16:00: 17:00: 17:30: 18:00: 18:30: 19:00: 19:30: 20:00: 20:30: 21:00: 21:30: 22:30:

TIME

18:30: 19:00: 19:30: 21:00: 22:00:

TIME

17:30: 18:30: 19:00: 19:30: 21:00: 22:00:

TV PROGRAM NAMES

RASOI SHOW THE GREAT INDIAN GLOBAL KITCHEN 2 INTERNETWALA LOVE RADHA PREM KI DEEWANI UTTARAN DIL KI PUKAR AMRUTA GHADGE & FAMILY ISHQ MEIN MARJAWAN INTERNETWALA LOVE BALIKA VADHU - LAMHE PYAAR KE SHAITAAN - A CRIMINAL MIND ZINDAGI KI HAQEEQAT SE AAMNA SAAMNA

SATURDAY 22nd September TV PROGRAM NAMES

UTTARAN DIL KI PUKAR INTERNETWALA LOVE - CATCH UP EPISODES ZINDAGI KI HAQEEQAT SE AAMNA SAAMNA SHAITAAN - A CRIMINAL MIND

SUNDAY 23rd September

TV PROGRAM NAMES

"WEEKEND KA MAHAEPISODE UTTARAN" UTTARAN DIL KI PUKAR AMRUTA GHADGE & FAMILY - CATCH UP EPISODES ZINDAGI KI HAQEEQAT SE AAMNA SAAMNA SHAITAAN - A CRIMINAL MIND

'Baahubali' star Prabhas' next film has been confirmed to be with director Radha Krishna Kumar. It is said that the actor moved over to 'Saaho' soon after wrapping up the magnup opus. With shooting currently on, it is likely to hit screens next year. The film was recently launched with a pooja. On the same day, Prabhas took to Facebook to announce, “Hey guys, I am very excited to share with you the launch of my next trilingual film, directed by KK Radha Krishna and produced by Gopi Krishna movies in association with UV creations. The shoot for the same with Pooja Hegde will begin very soon.”

It is was due to Prabhas' an Indian appeal, the film will be made in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi. Veteran actor Krishnam Raju, also Prabhas' uncle, will be a part of the star cast playing a pivotal role. Bollywood's Amit Trivedi has been roped in to compose the tunes for this flick, with Manoj Pramahamsa handling the cinematography department. Shooting is reportedly planned in some exotic locations in Europe. The film is produced jointly by UV creations and Gopi Krishna movies.

Wednesday September 19, 2018 00:11 Film : Chameli Ki Shaadi 05:00 Film : Login 07:00 Film : Pyar Ki Kahani 10:04 Film : The Killer 12:31 Film : Madhoshi 15:01 Film : Satya * Schedule is subject to change 18:25 Film : Star Stop * Schedule is subject to change Sunday September 16, 2018 19:02 Film : Yes Boss SATURDAY 15th - SUNDAY 16th September 00:45 Film : Zeher-A Love Story 22:26 Film : Jashnn TIME TV PROGRAM NAMES 05:00 Film : Good Buddy Gadbadi Thursday September 20, 2018 16:30 CID 07:23 Film : Gurudev 00:55 Film : Woh Lamhe 17:30 Comedy Circus 10:43 Film : Aakhree Raasta 05:00 Film : Good Buddy Gadbadi 18:30 Indian Idol 07:23 Film : Wafadaar 14:00 Film : 36 China Town 20:00 Indian Idol 10:32 Film : Tadipaar 16:55 Film : Don 2 21:30 Comedy Circus 13:26 Film : Dastak 19:54 Film : Khoobsurat 22:30 Crime Patrol 22:30 Film : Rama Rama Kya Hai Dramaa 16:20 Film : Phir Hera Pheri 19:28 Film : Alone MONDAY 17th - Thursday 204th September Monday September 17, 2018 01:05 Film : Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan 22:00 Film : Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. TIME TV PROGRAM NAMES Friday September 21, 2018 05:00 Film : Login 00:32 Film : Kaun?

18:30 Vighnaharta Ganesh 07:00 Film : Aaj Ka Mahatma 05:00 Film : The Silent Heroes 19:00 Mere Sai 09:50 Film : Jaanam 07:15 Film : Kaun Kare Kurbanie 19:30 Dil Hi Toh Hai 12:40 Film : Utthaan 10:00 Film : Showbiz 20:00 Porus 15:26 Film : Main Tera Hero 20:30 Main Maayke Chali Jaaungi 12:22 Film : Mr. India 18:00 Film : Star Stop 21:00 Kaun Banega Crorepati 16:01 Film : Jab We Met 19:00 Film : Josh 22:30 Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai 19:14 Film : Agneepath 23:00 Crime Patrol 22:17 Film : Pappu Can't Dance Saala 22:26 Film : Alone Tuesday September 18, 2018 FRIDAY 21st September Saturday September 22, 2018 00:52 Film : Cheetah The Leopard 00:55 Film : Yeh Hai Judgement Hanged Till Death TIME TV PROGRAM NAMES 05:00 Film : Bezubaan Ishq 05:00 Film : Prithipal Singh... A Story 18:30 Vighnaharta Ganesh 07:27 Film : Johny I Love You 07:00 Film : Nazar Ke Samne 19:00 Mere Sai 10:22 Film : Tumsa Nahi Dekha 09:41 Film : Baadshah 19:30 The Kapil Sharma Show 13:02 Film : Jwalamukhi 13:15 Film : Phir Hera Pheri 20:00 Porus 16:23 Film : Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. 16:00 Film : Khoobsurat 20:30 Main Maayke Chali Jaaungi 19:00 Film : The Shaukeens 19:00 Film : Shaapit 21:00 Kaun Banega Crorepati 21:52 Film : Chor Bazaari-Ek Atrangi Prem Kahani 21:41 Film : Awarapan 23:00 Crime Patrol SUNDAY 23rd September SATURDAY 22nd September

TIME

* Schedule is subject to change

MONDAY 17th - FRIDAY 21st September

19:00: SAVITRI DEVI COLLEGE & HOSPITAL 19:30: UDANN

20:00: SHAKTI ASTITVA KE EHSAAS KI

20:30: TU AASHIQUI

21:00: BIGG BOSS (SEASON 12) 22:00: SILSILA

22:30: BEPANNAAH 23:00: ROOP

TV PROGRAM NAMES

19:30: DESI BEAT 3.0 20:00: NAAGIN - SEASON 3 21:00: BIGG BOSS (SEASON 12) 22:30: KAUN HAI?

TIME

16:00: 20:00: 21:00: 22:30:

TV PROGRAM NAMES

BREAKFAST WITH CHAMPIONS

NAAGIN - SEASON 3

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15 - 21 September 2018

Ganesh Chaturthi The festival celebrates Lord Ganesha as the God of New Beginnings and the Remover of Obstacles as well as the god of wisdom and intelligence and is observed throughout India, especially in the states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Telangana, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, and is usually celebrated privately at home in states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Ganesh Chaturthi is also observed in Nepal and by the Hindu diaspora elsewhere such as in the Trinidad, Suriname, Fiji, Mauritius, United States and in Europe (in Tenerife).

At public venues, along with the reading of texts and group feasting, athletic and martial arts competitions are also held.

Ganesh Chaturthi is the Hindu festival that reveres god Ganesha. This year it will be celebrated from 13th to 23rd September.

A ten-day festival, it starts on the fourth day of Hindu luni-solar calendar month Bhadrapada, which typically falls in the months of August or September of the Gregorian calendar.

The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha clay idols privately in homes, or publicly on elaborate pandals (temporary stages).

Observations include chanting of Vedic hymns and Hindu texts such as Ganapati Upanishad, prayers and vrata (fasting).

Offerings and prasadam from the daily prayers, that is distributed from the pandal to the community, include sweets such as modaka believed to be a favorite of the elephantheaded deity.

The festival ends on the tenth day after start, wherein the idol is carried in a public procession with music and group chanting, then immersed in a nearby body of water such as a river or ocean.

In Mumbai alone, around 150,000 statues are immersed annually.[4] thereafter the clay idol dissolves and Ganesha is believed to return to Mount Kailash to Parvati and Shiva.

Local Events Shri Sanatan Hindu Mandir: - Ganesh Sthapan on 13th September 10.30am followed by Aarti 11am / Evening Aarti 6.30pm - 14th to 20th September Morning Aarti 10.30am / Evening Aarti 6.30pm 17th September Radhashtmi Dharo AthamRadhaji Pujan from 11am followed by Aarti Venue: Wembley Temple, Ealing Road, Wembley, Middlesex, HA0 4TA

Bochasanwasi Shree Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha's head Param Pujya Mahant Swami is currently in Ahmedabad. He reached the city on September 2, from Vadodara. Every day at 5 in the morning, thousands of his followers flock in to join in the morning pooja with him. Last week, Mahant Swami participated in several programs. He gave Haribhakts the opportunity of Sameep Darshan for five consecutive days. Vivek Din was celebrated on September 11, during which, children and the young presented a program on mobile, TV, and the internet.

Mahant Swami's birthday will be celebrated as Guru Bhakti Day. He will continue his vicharan in Ahmedabad till September 23

Sneh Joshi

eleventh house now. Group activities and cooperative efforts are the best way to achieve your goals right now. You prefer to lead a group rather than follow during this period, and there are certainly ways to do so without stepping on others' toes. The best way to achieve your goals is to work as a team and network.

You bring much energy, enthuTAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 siasm, and drive to your career

as Mars is transiting your solar 10th house. You may be quite competitive during this period, preferring to achieve and accomplish things on your own. This is a good time for pursuing your goals, and, as you are self-motivated now, your enthusiasm can be channelled positively.

GEMINI May 22 - June 22 Mars continues to energize your

solar ninth house. Others find you easy to be around, as you are courageous and charismatic. You are strong and bold in your beliefs and convictions as well, and others tend to naturally follow your lead. You actively seek out new learning experiences and adventures without any fear.

Mars is transiting your solar eighth house. This is a great time to find out what is important in your life and get rid of unwanted clutter and negative people who are clouding your judgement. Shared finances can come into focus, and these could lead to disputes and disagreements if you are not careful or insensitive in your dealings with others.

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

Religious education in England's schools should be renamed Religion and Worldviews to reflect the diversity of modern Britain, say experts.

The subject should include non-religious worldviews as well as major faiths, says the Commission on Religious Education final report.

It follows research suggesting at least a quarter of schools break the law on teaching RE. Without an overhaul, the subject could wither, the authors warn.

The independent Commission was set up two years ago by the Religious Education Council of England and Wales, amid growing concerns about the quality of RE lessons.

These include: - Fears that poor RE could leave pupils ignorant or bigoted - Evidence that growing numbers of schools do not teach RE - Ofsted's finding that RE is less than good in about

half of schools The commission's report confirms that the quality of RE in schools is "highly variable".

There is some excellent practice in some schools. it says, but in others the amount of time allocated to the subject is being squeezed, and the subject is suffering from an acrossthe-board decline in specialist teachers.

"RE needs rejuvenating if it is to continue to make its important contribution, indeed if it is not to wither on the vine," says Commission Chairman, The Very Rev Dr John Hall, Dean

A homeless man who of Westminster and a forfraudulently claimed more mer chief education officer than £50,000 after for the Church of England, pretending to be a victim of in his foreword. the Grenfell Tower fire has The new subject would been jailed. Antonio Gouveia allow pupils to study the difcame forward days after the ferent traditions of major disaster, claiming to have religions such as lived in Flat 42 on the seventh Christianity, Buddhism, floor of the tower, which Hinduism, Islam, Judaism burned on June 14th last year, and Sikhism but alongside killing 71 people. Gouveia these they would also look claimed nine months free at non-religious worldviews accommodation at a Marble like humanism, secularism, Arch hotel, worth £155 a night, atheism and agnosticism. as well as £260 in emergency Schools would have to cash, a £249.99 Google publish a detailed statement Chromebook laptop. His hotel on how they achieve this stay alone was worth a total and Ofsted would have the of £53,456.76. power to ensure that minimum standards are met.

Editor: CB Patel

Boris Johnson says May's Brexit plan 'worse than status quo' Boris Johnson and other leading Tory Brexiteers have attacked Theresa May's Brexit plan at an event putting the economic case for leaving the EU without an agreement on trade.

The Economists For Free Trade report said the UK had "nothing to fear" from a "clean break" from the EU and using World Trade Organisation rules which could give an £80bn boost to the tax base and cut prices by 8%, it said.

But the claims were branded "Project Fantasy" by Labour MP Chuka Umunna.

And Chancellor Philip Hammond said the econom-

ic assumptions behind the analysis were "not sustainable" and out of line with other forecasts.

Mr Hammond, who earlier on Tuesday announced Bank of England Governor Mark Carney would be extending his contract until January 2020 to provide continuity after Brexit, has issued a fresh warning of "some turbulence" if the UK left the EU in March without a deal. Ministers have said reaching a general agreement on future economic cooperation with the EU is in the UK's interests before it leaves on 29 March, 2019.

It also emerged that Boris

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

Mars has just moved into solar seventh house. During this period, personal relationships can suffer as arguments arise due to unresolved issues. Tread carefully as some form of conflict, whether intentional or otherwise can rear its ugly head. On a positive note you are full of energy and ready to compete, so make sure you stay the course and win the battle.

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

Mars animates your solar sixth house and energises your daily routine. You may have a larger workload but things tend to feel sped up during this period. Make sure you use that energy to take charge of your health and start a keep-fit regime. However, beware of falling out with colleagues and channel that anger into more productive pursuits

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23

With Mars, comes increased creative and romantic energy but be sure to manage this carefully as you want to avoid the trouble that these areas can bring. Your self-confidence will be well-received by others during this period but you are likely to take a few more risks and embrace your competitive nature. Just remember to remain sensitive to the needs of others.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

Asian Voice has erroneously published a photo of the deceased founder of Medina Dairy Ltd, Medina House, Shirley Avenue, Windsor, Berkshire, SK4 5LH in the nominations for the 18th Asian Achievers Awards. We sincerely regret the error.

GRENFELL FRAUDSTER CLAIMED 9-MONTH HOTEL STAY, CASH AND LAPTOPS WORTH OVER £50,0000

Johnson and his wife, Marina Wheeler, who is half Indian, have announced they are divorcing, news that highlights a unique tension at the heart of the former foreign secretary’s career: that he has an unusually vivid personal life for a Conservative MP, and that his political fortunes remain largely unharmed.

Johnson and Wheeler, a senior lawyer, both 54, have been married for 25 years.

They made the announcement in a joint statement after a story appeared in the Sun on Friday detailing claims that Johnson had recently been unfaithful.

The UK’s leading Vedic writer and TV personality

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20 Mars is energizing your solar

Apology

'Teach religion and worldviews instead of RE'

Domestic projects and activities will get a welcome boost during this period with more of a focus on feeling secure and consolidating the home front. However, as you focus more on the home, there can be family conflicts or disputes.

Your career may also be frustrated by others but don’t use this as an excuse to re-examine old wounds.

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SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

Ideas and plans will come easily to you during this period but with such volume be sure to channel your efforts well.

Pitches and new proposals should be very positive as you will be more articulate than usual. You will also be able to assert yourself more readily but avoid heated discussions and don’t be hasty as it could cost you.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

Mars is transiting your solar second house this time, extra care should be exercised when it comes to new financial initiatives. There may be the need to resolve old, nagging issues regarding personal finances. Take this time to re-budget and re-think how you want to spend your cash during this period.

Mars is transiting your solar 1st house. This transit helps you to assert yourself more than usual.

You have lots of energy and are more enterprising. During this transit you may lose your temper more than usual. Avoid being hasty in your decisions and do not step on anyone's toes. Love affairs may also be pleasurable during this period.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19

With Mars moving through your solar twelfth house, this is the time to research and reflect upon your goals. It is also a time when much of your energy is channeled into private matters without any one knowing about your activities. Some may experience insomnia during this phase - a good time to relax and take up yoga.

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

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15 - 21 September 2018

in brief RAJKOT TO HOST 1ST INDIA VS WI TEST India will begin its seven-week home series against the West Indies with a Test match at Rajkot on October 4, less than a week after the completion of the Asia Cup. The BCCI announced the fixtures of the home series against West Indies which will culminate on November 11. India will play two Tests, five ODIs & three T20Is during this period,” BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary said. The opening Test will be held in Rajkot from October 4 to 8, followed by the second Test from October 12 to 16 at Hyderabad. The five-match ODI series will begin on October 21 at Guwahati, followed by the second ODI on October 24th at Indore and third ODI at Pune on October 27th. The final two One-Day International (ODI) will be held at Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram on October 29th and November 1. The one-dayers will be followed by the three T20 Internationals to be held at Kolkata (November 4), Lucknow (November 6) and Chennai (November 11).

MURLI VIJAY SIGNS FOR ESSEX COUNTY STINT

India opener Muraly Vijay signed for county side Essex for the remainder of the 2018 County Championship season. After being excluded from the Indian squad for the final two Tests against England, Vijay played a couple of one-day matches for local club Jolly Rovers here, but he has now decided to head back to England and get his first taste of playing county cricket. He will join with the squad immediately as a replacement for Australian pacer Peter Siddle. The 34-year-old will be available for Essex’s final three games of the season, starting with the clash against Nottinghamshire. Essex will then take on Worcestershire from September 18-21 before ending their season with a game against Surrey from September 24-27.

EX-INDIA PACER RP SINGH CALLS IT A DAY Former Indian fast bowler Rudra Pratap

Singh has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. Announcing the same on his official Twitter handle, the 32-yearold said that there is no easy way to say goodbye, but added that it is the right time to call it quits. “Today as I hang (up) my boots and call it a day I wish to remember and give thanks to each and everyone who made this journey possible,” Singh wrote.

The pacer, who made his international debut during an ODI against Zimbabwe in 2005, played a crucial role in India's titleclinching campaign at the 2007 T20 World Cup. In Tests, Singh debuted against Pakistan in Faisalabad in 2006 and bagged the ‘Man of the Match’ award for scalping a five-wicket haul on a flat track. Singh played a total of 14 Tests and took 40 wickets with an economy rate of 3.98.

Amir Khan now wants to fight Pacquiao Amir Khan who won a points victory over Samuel Vargas in Birmingham wanted to fight Manny Pacquiao rather than fellow Brit Kell Brook.

Khan had to climb off the canvas before comfortably beating the game but limited Samuel Vargas in Birmingham.

The Bolton welterweight, in his second fight since returning to the ring after a two-year absence, was knocked to the floor in the final seconds of the second round. It was not a performance to give Brook or former light-weight world champion great Pacquiao too many sleepless nights.

But Khan at least got the rounds under his belt after his first comeback bout, against Phil Lo Greco in April, lasted all of 40 seconds. The 31-year-old said: "What I really wanted to do was go the distance. I wanted to get the experience. There were times in the fight when I wanted to put him away, there were times when I could have pushed it and knocked him out."

The second round was only 20 seconds old when Vargas hit the canvas, sent on his way by a fearsome left jab. He was up quickly but was immediately sent staggering backwards again amid more lightning Khan combinations.

Khan's fragile chin, let him down right at the end of round two as a long-range right hook left him on his backside. He sprung back to his feet and, fortunately, had time to recover on his stool. Khan added: "He caught me with an overhand right hand, right on the button, I got back up and I was fine.

This is boxing and I've got to learn from those mistakes." Asked if he could have beaten Brook on the night, Khan said: "One hundred per cent. I wanted to get my feet wet tonight and I did that. Bring on who you want. The only fight that works for me over Kell Brook is Manny Pacquiao. I want him, he is my number one pick. If not we go back to the drawing board and if it's Kell Brook, it's Kell Brook."

India placed fourth in ISSF World Championships India are place fourth in the overall medals' tally with seven gold, eight silver and seven bronze in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championships at Changwon, Korea on day 9. India’s junior shooters scaled another high by delivering the country’s first set of skeet medals - a men’s team silver and an individual bronze

by Gurnihal Singh Garcha. Before this edition of the world championship, India had won all its shotgun medals in the trap and double trap disciplines. This will be the first time that Indian skeet shooters will come back with medals from the premiere competition.

The trio of Gurnihal (119), Anantjeet Singh Naruka (117) and Ayush Rudraraju (119) combined for a score of 355 for a second-place finish in the finals. The three had topped day one of the team qualifying on Monday. The 19-year-old Gurnihal also made the six-strong individual final, where he shot a score of 46 to claim the individual bronze, the biggest achievement of his international career so far. India have secured two Olympic quotas, making it the country’s best performance ever at the World Championship. Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela secured quota places for the Olympics by winning a silver and finishing fourth respectively in the women’s 10m air rifle event. Though the two shooters have secured quotas, as per the policy, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) will take the final call on selection, based on

the aggregate scores of shooters (in

Ankur Mittal

international tournaments and selection trials) leading up to the Olympic Games.

Ankur Mittal wins double trap gold Ankur Mittal claimed the men’s double trap gold medal for his career’s biggest triumph. The multiple World Cup medalist shot 140 out of 150 to go into a shoot-off for gold with China’s Yiyang Yang and Slovakia’s Hubert Andrzej. The 26-year-old overcame the Chinese 4-3 to emerge triumphant after the Slovakian had missed his second shootoff clay target to settle for bronze. Ankur also won the team bronze in the event along with compatriots Md. Asab and Shardul Vihaan, their tally of 409 points putting them behind China’s 410 and the gold winning team Italy’s tally of 411.

Young Hriday wins hearts After 16-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary’s gold in junior men’s 10m air pistol, it was the turn of Hriday Hazarika, also 16, to strike gold – in the junior men’s 10m air rifle. In junior women’s 10m air rifle event, India’s

Elavenil Valarivan won silver, while Shreya Agarwal bagged bronze. The junior women’s team comprising Elavenil, Shreya and Manini Kaushik totalled 1880.7 to create a new junior world record and win gold.

Saurabh Chaudhary creates record Asian Games gold medalist Saurabh Chaudhary broke the junior world record to bag the 10m Air Pistol Junior Men gold. The 16-year-old qualified for the finals in the third position with a score of 581. In the the final series of shots, which would have decided the gold medalist, Saurabh went with an over 3 point lead against Korea’s Hojin Lim. Despite missing a 10 on his final shot he comfortably overtook the junior world record with a total score of 245.5.

India’s Arjun Singh Cheema clinched the bronze with a score of 218 after qualifying for the final in sixth place with score of 577.

Mitharwal strikes gold Indian shooter Om Prakash Mitharwal picked up his maiden gold medal, claiming the top honours in the 50m pistol event. The 23-year-old, a bronze-winner in the 10m air pistol and the 50m pistol events of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast earlier this year, shot a score of 564 to finish on top.

In the junior competition, the duo of Asian Games gold-medallist Saurabh Chanudhary and Abhidnya Patil brought India the 10m air pistol mixed team bronze.

England beat India; Rahul, Pant shine K L Rahul (149) and Rishabh Pant (114) forged a defiant 204-run stand in the final session of the fifth test, before leg spinner Adil Rashid dismissed them both to guide England to a 118-run win over India in the final test at Kennington Oval. With this victory, England clinched the five-match series 4-1 after wins in Birmingham, Lord's and Southampton. India won the third test at Nottingham.

Rahul and Pant both played superb knocks to delay England's victory charge with the double century partnership for the sixth wicket, but the hosts ultimately reached home. India who were 298/5 at tea, lost centurion Rahul on the

score of 149 early in the third session- when a Rashid delivery took a vicious turn to claim his wicket. Rahul played calmly to take his overnight 46 to 149 by the mid afternoon break. India's 20-year-old Pant had joined Rahul before lunch, and played superbly to reach a maiden test century from 117 balls. He reached the three-figure with a huge six off Rashid shortly before tea, making him the first Indian wicket keeper to score a test century in England.

Their partnership of 177 brought the victory target below 200, giving India a slim chance of a victory.

K L Rahul

Rishabh Pant

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Lord Gadhia joins Royal British Legion to unveil ‘Khadi’ Poppy during India-England Test Match at The Oval The English and Indian cricket teams made history at the Oval during the fifth and final test match which started on Saturday. Not in terms of runs, overs or wickets but in a more significant way. The two teams united to recognise the role of Indian soldiers during the First World War as part of the Royal British Legion’s movement to thank all those who served, sacrificed and changed our world.

The two squad captains, Virat Kohli and Joe Root, are the first to wear a unique poppy made out of Khadi, the handwoven cotton closely associated with Mahatma Gandhi, which will be unveiled on Sunday 9 September at a special commemorative match day hosted by Surrey Country Cricket Club.

Initiated by Lord Jitesh Gadhia and commissioned especially by the Royal British Legion to mark the Centenary of the end of the First World War, this red cloth poppy is otherwise identical in every respect to the traditional British symbol of remembrance.Other activity on Sunday includes a half time re-enactment of a cricket match played on the Western Front between the Royal Manchester Regiment and the Sikh Regiment of the Indian Army.

The massive contribution of Commonwealth forces 100 years ago, particularly from undivided India, is a key focus for the Royal British Legion during this year’s

special anniversary. More than 1.3 million Indian soldiers served in World War One across multiple continents, from the Somme to the Sahara, and over 74,000 lost their lives.

They fought with courage and distinction, with 11 individuals awarded the Victoria Cross for their outstanding bravery. And Indians not only put their lives on the line but also made a generous financial contribution of over £20 billion in today’s money, as well as providing 3.7 million tonnes of supplies, over 10,000 nurses and 170,000 animals to the war effort.

But figures alone don’t do justice to the human dimension. These were predominantly young men, who had travelled thousands of miles by ship from their homeland to fight a distant war. They adjusted to a cold and harsh climate with completely different food, language and customs. The first Indian soldiers arrived on the Western Front within six weeks of the outbreak of war, poorly prepared for the freezing weather, grappling with unfamiliar equipment and lack of ammunition.

Some didn’t even fully appreciate the cause they were fighting for – but they did their duty and their nation proud.

The solidarity of today’s cricketers in honouring these fallen heroes is doubly poignant. It matches the solidarity shown by India during Britain’s hour of need. And it uses an evocative symbol of India’s

Virat Kohli and Joe Root

freedom struggle to provide a subtle twist to the traditional British poppy.

Khadi is well known in India as the handwoven fabric made famous by Gandhi, who promoted the use of a spinning wheel to make India more self-sufficient and promote rural employment. As a result, the homespun cloth became synonymous with India’s Swadeshi, or independence movement.

Although many associate Gandhi with nonviolence and vigorously opposing the British Raj, his behaviour during World War One is highly revealing.

At the outbreak of war, Gandhi was on a ship from South Africa homeward bound to India, with a scheduled stop in England.

On August 6, 1914, he landed in Southampton and declared his unconditional support for the war effort, losing no time in calling a meeting of his Indian friends to raise an

ambulance unit. He later wrote: “it was our duty to win their help by standing by them in their hour of need”.

Gandhi felt that “England’s need should not be turned into our opportunity and that it was more becoming and farsighted not to press our demands while the war lasted”.

What was meant to be a brief sojourn in London, turned into a four month stopover during which Gandhi personally chaired a committee recruiting members for the Indian Field Ambulance Corps, setting up base in Eastcote, a suburb of North West London. He took special nursing classes along with his wife Kasturba and even secured the support of the Aga Khan.

When Gandhi eventually returned to India, he was also active in enlisting volunteers to the Indian Army, including from

difficult to reach areas such as his home state of Gujarat.

Openly proclaiming himself as the “recruiting agent-inchief” he defied criticism from his own friends and colleagues arguing that to become equal partners with the British it was important for India to acquire the skills and ability to defend itself.

Although he was always careful to make clear that: “I personally will not kill or injure anybody, friend or foe”, Gandhi’s principled and loyal support was crucial at a difficult time in India’s relationship with Britain.

Lord Jitesh Gadhia said, “The Khadi poppy is a hugely symbolic and highly appropriate gesture to recognise the outsized contribution of Indian soldiers during World War One. It will also send an important signal to young Asians growing up in Britain. Our identity is our destiny and so third and fourth generation Asians should know that their fathers and grandfathers didn’t just come to Britain as immigrants.

Our ancestors fought for this country and for freedom and democracy even though they lived in a colony at the time. We therefore have as much stake here as anyone else.

British Asians should be proud of the role which their forbears played in shaping the destiny of the world. So I hope they too will join the Indian and English cricketers in saying “Thank You” to the First World War generation - and

expressing our eternal gratitude for all they did for us.”

Chief Executive of Surrey County Cricket Club, Richard Gould, said, “Surrey are proud to be partnering with the Royal British Legion to help commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. Our country owes more to the sacrifices of these men than it is possible to express and this anniversary seems a particularly appropriate time to say ‘Thank You’.

Through ‘The 48’ and the events being held during the Test Match, the club is honoured to be doing its bit to help a very important national campaign.”

Director General of The Royal British Legion, Charles Byrne, said, “The First World War left so many legacies that positively impact our lives today, from ground-breaking social change to pioneering innovations. This Centenary of the ending of the First World War is a chance for us all the thank the British Armed Forces who fought and gave their lives, but also to the thousands who fought alongside them from India and across today’s Commonwealth, and the many men, women and children who played their part on the home front. I am very grateful to Surrey County Cricket Club for commemorating the Legion’s ‘Thank You’ movement during such an important game of cricket between England and India”.

ICC Women's Championship: India beat Sri Lanka India's bowlers shot out Sri Lanka for only 98 in 35.1 overs at the Galle International Stadium before Smriti Mandhana stroked an unbeaten 73 off 76 balls to bring up victory in 19.5 overs in the first ODI in ICC Women's Championship. Opting to bat first, Sri Lanka were in trouble early, with Mansi Joshi having Prasadani Weerakkody caught behind in the sixth over with the score on just eight. Sri Lanka had started slow, and were consistently hindered by the new-ball tandem of Jhulan Goswami and Joshi, who returned to international cricket after 14 months, recovering from a knee injury sustained in December last year. The duo reduced the hosts to 18 for 3 in the Powerplay, and the spinners mounted further pressure thereafter.

Goswami snared Nipuni Hansika in the ninth over, for her 300th international wicket, the first woman to get that many. Goswami, who called time on her T20I career ahead of the tour, would later return to get Udeshika Prabodhani, and now has 40 wickets in Tests, 205 in ODIs and 56 in T20Is. Joshi ended up with the best figures, taking 3 for 16 in 6.1 overs, while Goswami took 2 for 13 in eight.

Poonam Yadav, who became the second-fastest Indian to 50 ODI wickets, finished with 2 for 13 in four. Save for Harmanpreet Kaur, who bowled only one over, every other Indian bowler had at least one wicket, including debutant D Hemalatha.

For Sri Lanka, the only notable contributions came from captain Chamari Atapattu, who made 33 and

Smriti Mandhana scored 73 as Indian women’s cricket team defeated Sri Lanka.

was seventh out, and No 8 batsman Sripali Weerakkody who made 26.

Coming off a prolific run at the Kia Super League in the UK, where she finished as the leading rungetter and the Player of the Tournament, Mandhana

took the lead in India's chase, getting into her stride quickly and finding the fence regularly. At the break, India had already reached 43 without loss in in seven overs, with Mandhana on 31 off 29. The lunch interval didn't

hamper Mandhana's momentum, with two fours in the first over on resumption. She reached her half-century - her fifth in six ODI innings - in only 42 balls, with a six off Weerakkody.

India looked set for a

ten-wicket victory when Punam Raut miscued an inside-out lofted drive to backward point off Inoka Ranaweera to end the opening stand at 96 in 18.4 overs. Mandhana, who appeared to be in visible discomfort against Shashikala Siriwardene's offspin, escaped at least three edges in the last over of the chase. She hit a boundary off the fifth ball of the 19th over - off Siriwardene - to seal the chase.

Mithali Raj faced only two balls and didn't score off them, but this was still a landmark match for her.

She went past Charlotte Edwards as the captain with most ODI appearances this being her 118th in charge - and equalled Edwards' record for most wins as captain, with her 72nd victory.