AV 17th January 2015

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UK to set up trade centre in Ahmedabad: Priti Patel

First & Foremost Asian Weekly in Europe

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15 honoured with Pravasi Bharatiya Samman

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C B Patel launches online writing competition on Gandhi's life

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VOL 43. ISSUE 35

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

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17th January to 23rd January 2015

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More Reports on pages 16, 17, 18 & 20 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India would be the easiest place to do business and stated that his government would pursue “predictable and transparent� policies and ensure stable taxes.

Addressing political and business leaders, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon and World Bank head Jim Yong Kim and nearly 2,500 delegates from over 111 countries at the opening of the Seventh Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Modi said: “Since day one, my gov-

ernment is actively working to revive the economy.

My government is committed to creating a policy environment that is predictable, transparent and fair‌ We are clear that our tax regime should be stable.�

Seeking to address key concerns of foreign investors, he said: “(Ease of doing business in India) is a prime concern for you and for us. I assure you that we are working very seriously on these issues.

We want to make them not only easier than earlier, not only easier than the rest, but we want to make them the easiest.�

Emphasising the

advantages of doing business in India, he said: “India has three things to its credit - democracy, demography and demand.

This is what you are looking for. And I am sure you will not find all of them together at any other destination.’’ He also spoke of low-cost manufacturing and high-quality manpower. “We are planning to take a quantum leap,� he said, in his 40-minute speech in English. “India is changing fast, growing fast, moving faster than expected, learning even faster,� he said. Listing his government’s achievements, he spoke of the Jan

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Dhan scheme, and his Make in India campaign to promote manufacturing. “We are not only making commitments and announcements. We are also backing them up with concrete action,� he said. “People say Modi does everything with hype, but it is this hype that pressures the government,� he said, addressing the local audience in Hindi.

Appealing to world leaders to join hands for “progress, prosperity and peace’’, Modi said, “aao saath chalein� (Come walk with us). He assured that the government would “hold your hands Continued on page 26

India is full of opportunities, Modi tells expats

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that several opportunities await NRIs in India and they would be welcomed with open arms.

Addressing delegates at

the 13th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Modi said, "The world is seeing India with Continued on page 26

Srisena sworn in new Lanka President

former cabiIn a stunEra of hope for net minister ning elecSri Lanka... page 3 Maithripala tion result Sirisena.

Rajapaksa, that was unthinkable just whose nearly a decadeweeks ago, Sri Lanka's long rule was marked by longtime president the defeat of LTTE and Mahinda Rajapaska has end of civil war, been defeated by his onetime political ally and Continued on page 26

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Sumit Agarwal, Managing Partner of DNS Associates

Sumit Agarwal, Managing Partner of DNS Associates, is a highly respected accountant with expertise in helping owner-managed businesses. Being qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2002, he has since helped hundreds of owner-managed businesses to prosper, showing them how to manage financially the challenges of growth.

Sumit, a winner of the Young Entrepreneur of the year Award (2012) organised by the Indo British Business Forum at the House of Commons by Cabinet Minister Eric Pickles, has recently developed one of the most exciting new accounting software packages for the industry, NOMISMA, which he is working hard to promote to UK Businesses.

In his leisure time, Sumit enjoys listening to music, watching movies, playing with his son and reading tax journals (... it cannot be better). Sumit is happily married with one child.

1) What is your current position?

I am the Managing Partner of DNS Accountants, Managing Director of DNS Consultancy Ltd, Managing Director of Nomisma Solution Ltd, Managing Director of DNS Accountants Franchise Ltd. 2) What are your proudest achievements?

Winning Young Entrepreneur

of the Year Award in Sep 2012 at House of Commons organised by the Indo British Business Forum, and Winning the Best Online Accounting Firm Award in 2013 at The British Accountancy Awards 2013.

3) What inspires you?

Making life easy for my clients 4) What has been the biggest

achievements from one side while I am a follower of “The World’s #1 Small Business Guru” Michael E Gerber, a true legend of entrepreneurship.

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

Variety, learning new things all the time, new challenges, ability to lead and implement decisions is quite satisfying.

No two days is alike, so when you are driving to office you are not sure what’s going to come today. obstacle in your career?

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

My family and especially my father who motivates me to keep working without worrying too much about the end results/

Donations to Gandhi statue pass £500,000 Thanking its many donors, the Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust last Thursday announced it has raised over £500,000 in donations and pledges to support the planned statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square, Westminster.

The news was announced as UK government minister and Indian diaspora champion, Priti Patel MP, visits Gandhi’s Ashram in Gujarat to pay tribute to the much respected figure.

Donations so far have ranged from £1 to £200,000 as people from all over the world have pledged to support the statue designed by renowned sculptor Philip Jackson.

Lord Desai, founder of the Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust, said: “It's fantastic that we have reached this milestone in just three months. I cannot thank our generous supporters enough. We are now looking forward to the final push as more people come forward to support this historic monument.

“In our latest calculations we need a total of £750,000 in all for the work related to the statue, and so we are now well past the halfway mark.

Any extra money will be used by the trust to promote the work of Mahatma Gandhi further.”

Priti Patel, the UK government’s Indian diaspora champion and Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said: “I’m delighted to hear that donations for the Gandhi Statue are still flooding in and that the fundraising is on track.

Gandhi is such an important figure in both British and Indian history and this statue is a great example of our shared past and future.”

Graduate recruitment set to reach highest level in more than a decade A study by High Fliers Research predicts that employers will create 8.1 per cent more entry-level vacancies in 2015, building on an increase of 7.9 per cent in 2014. This represents the third consecutive annual increase, after a sharp dip in the aftermath of global financial crisis in 2008.

The research – which examined 100 employers including Barclays, Shell, the Civil Service, RollsRoyce, Deloitte and Marks & Spencer – also revealed that starting salaries are set to hit a median of £30,000 for the first time in 2015.

University leavers working in law firms and investment banks can expect starting salaries in excess of £40,000. This

pay increase comes as the first undergraduate students to pay £9,000 tuition fees get ready to leave higher education.

The study also shows a big increase in paid work placements and internships available for students and recent graduates. More than four-fifths of recruiters now offer paid work-experience programmes to students and university leavers, with 13,049 placements available this year.

The research found that graduates with no work experience are unlikely to find employment, while a third of graduates who went on to work at a firm have already held a position there.

Two-thirds of recruiters offer paid placements during the summer holidays.

Martin Birchall, the managing director of High Fliers Research, said that graduates leaving university in 2015 can expect a “buoyant jobs market”.

Universities minister Greg Clark said: “Confidence in the economy continues to grow, and this is reflected in the fact that Britain’s top companies will recruit more graduates this year than they have for a decade.”

7) And the worst?

Uncertainty, challenges for which little information is available, making a decision when you are not sure. Getting work out of team 8) What are your long term goals?

Create the coolest accounting

software. It’s a dream project as I am very passionate about integrated working and all in one solution on Cloud which offers from the stage of Lead management, CRM, Document management to Accounts and bookkeeping and hope to complete fully by the end of December 2015. Of course I want to have lot more kids and great family life with my children and wife.

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

Bring down taxes and cut red tape. Stop Blaming people who generate wealth and pay taxes.

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

I would love to spend time with Krishna to learn more about Bhagvad Gita and life. Jesus would be good choice as well as love what he preaches.

Less than half of workers will get full ‘flat rate’ state pension

Fewer than half the people who retire under the new state pension due in 2016 will receive the full weekly payment, official figures show.

Around two million people will get less than the supposed "flat-rate" payment during the first five years of the scheme.

The revelations, contained in an email seen by The Telegraph, will give a "nasty shock" to many workers in their late fifties and early sixties, experts predicted.

Ministers had promised to replace today's means-tested state pen-

sion, which consists of a basic payment and top ups linked to career earnings – with a single payment of at least £148.40 in today's money.

Workers were told that everyone who reached pensionable age after April 2016 would see their national insurance contributions count towards a "single tier" amount.

But the first official calculations for the proposed payments show just 45 per cent of people reaching pensionable age between 2016 and 2020 will receive £148.40 or more.

Tom McPhail of pension company Hargreaves Lansdown said: "The new state pension will ultimately be a simpler and fairer system, but in the short term it will be complicated and many people are likely to get less than they may expect.

"With the new pension freedoms meaning that they will be free to spend all their private pension savings, it is imperative that they receive a proper state pension forecast.

Without this, they could get a nasty shock when they do reach state pension age."

Scientists discover 'game-changing' new antibiotic for first time in 30 years Scientists have discovered the first new antibiotic in nearly 30 years that can kill serious infections without encountering any detectable resistance, giving hope in the fight against evolving drugresistant superbugs.

The antibiotic teixobactin has been found to treat many common bacterial infections in mice without resistance, including tuberculosis and septicaemia.

Researchers said the antibiotic could one day be used to treat drug-resistant infections caused by the superbug MRSA, as well as tuberculosis, which normally requires a combination of drugs that can have adverse side effects.

"The discovery of this novel compound challenges long-held scientific beliefs and holds great promise for treating an

array of menacing infections," said Professor Kim Lewis from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.

The problem of infections developing drug resistance has worsened in recent years as multi-drugresistant bugs have developed and drug companies have cut investment.

The World Health Organisation warned last year that a post-antibiotic era, where even basic healthcare becomes dangerous due to risk of infection during routine operations, could come this century unless something drastic is done.

Dr Lewis is the cofounder of the NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals, which has patented teixobactin.

He and his NovoBiotic colleagues sought to address the problem by tapping into new potential sources of antibiotics.

Teixobactin could be the key to defeating drugresistant superbug MRSA, and tuberculosis.

They developed a way of growing uncultured bacteria in its natural environment using a miniature device called an iChip that can isolate and help grow single cells.

Scientists not involved in the work welcomed the finding, but cautioned that human trials of teixobactin would be key which Dr Lewis hopes to start in around two years.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

COMMENT

Paris: Citadel of civilization under jihadi threat

The tragedy that struck Paris has reverberated across the civilized world. The city of Voltaire, who made free speech and free thought sacred for all humankind, the capital of France known for its beauty and elegance, its writers, philosophers, artists: a centre of scholarship, intellectual inquiry and unrivalled discourse, was subjected to barbaric assault by two Algerian jihadis, who were eventually cornered and shot dead at the weekend by a French anti-terror squad. Before that the two brothers had killed the editor and staff of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The shock at the dastardly deed was intensified by the murder of two policemen and four hostages held at a Jewish supermarket by a jihadi accomplice and the dead gangster’s moll, now on the run. Seventeen people in all have died. Shock and consternation have traumatized the nation, which is home to the largest Muslim and Jewish populations in Europe. Je suis Charlie [ I am Charlie) banners were seen throughout France; also France est Charlie [France is Charlie} These were expressions of defiance in the face of terror.The entire nation observed a minute’s silence to honour the heroic journalists and the two dead policemen. Undaunted, another set of journalist brought out the next edition of Charlie Hebdo. The alleged crime of the martyred journalist was a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed considered defamatory to Islam and its Prophet. The issue is more far-reaching and complex. There are Muslim writers such the Bangladeshi novelist, Taslima Nasreen, who lives in India as an exile. Her writings and social documentaries make no mention of the Prophet, but are also banned in Bangladesh simply because they are critical of Islamic societies, their mores and practices. Do apologists want all critical comment on these subjects to be banned or scrutinized for approval by mullahs and imams? At this rate Charles Darwin and his theories of evolution will have to be removed from the curricula of all non-Islamic states in order to satisfy Islamic whims and prejudices.

Islamic practices, writes Hasan Haqani, the former Pakistan ambassador to the United States, who fled his country and now lives and teaches in America, in a newspaper column in the aftermath of Paris, pointing to a deeper crisis in the Islamic world which, he says, has been ongoing for centuries. He points to its intellectual stagnation, its lack of progress in the sciences and in all forms of intellectual endeavour. Jihadi terrorism refracts a moral malaise, masks a deep feel of inferiority and insecurity. He has a point. In India, governments and the political class bent over backwards to accommodate Islamic sensitivities. India has kept aloof from the American-led coalitions of the willing,

which includes France and Britain, that has decimated Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya, reducing these once prosperous countries to howling desolations.

America and the West have much to answer for their crimes against humanity in this region. India has played no part in these murderous misadventure, yet it is targeted by jihadis armed and funded from abroad.

Mumbai[26/11/2008] suffered a devastating jihadi attack from Pakistan, immensely greater in scope and destructiveness than the Paris tragedy. The masterminds of that assault roam the streets of Pakistan without a qualm, and the Pakistan military is rewarded by large tranches of financial and military aid by its patron, the United States. The scourge of jihadi terrorism was aided and abetted by successive US administrations as statecraft in the Cold War. The chickens are now coming home to roost.

When jihadi terrorism targeted other countries a few words of solace for the victims were all that could be expected. Terror in Kashmir, Mumbai or Delhi or Chechnya was acceptable so long as no harm came to Washington or London, or Paris. Readers wishing to know more about this fraught subject should read Mark Curtis’s widely acclaimed study entitled ‘’SECRET AFFAIRS: Britain’s Collusion with RADICAL ISLAM”. The book makes passing mention of America’s role as well, but the US culpability is dealt with more fully in kindred publications.

Let us expand on the theme. Today’s non-state actors in terrorism have been, and are, funded, trained equipped and let loose by states, from Saudi Arabia, the Gulf sheikhdoms and Pakistan. They are all clients of the United States, the United Kingdom and Nato generally. ISSL is in the field occupying parts of Syria and Iraq with financial help from the Gulf States. Its forces have sophisticated arms because such funding makes this possible. A week or so ago, a boat with suspected jihadis on board was making its way from Pakistani shores to the Indian coast, presumably to conduct a terrorist operation. It was tracked by Indian Intelligence agencies, and intercepted by the Indian Coast Guard in Indian waters before it could fulfill its mission. The awful events in Paris should make us all think long and hard about our responsibilities to make the world a more civilized place in which all men and women of every faith, race, ethnicity and creed can live in peace and harmony. The million-strong demonstration in Paris, which included leaders from the European Union, Russia and Ukraine is hopefully the first step towards true internal cooperation to eradicate the menace that now confronts civilization.

Mahinder Rajapaksa called a general election two years before one was due, and lost his gamble to retain power for a third successive term as his country’s president. It was his final service to the people of his country. He resigned immediately on receiving the electorate’s verdict. His opponent, the former health minister in the Rajapaksa government, Maithripala Sirisena, who became the opposition’s joint candidate takes over as Sri Lanka’s new President. Mr Sirisena had been increasingly disturbed by the growing authoritarianism of the administration and Mr Rajapaksa’s preference for rule by executive order bypassing Parliament, neutering the judiciary with placemen and stooges, intimidating the media and silencing voices of dissent across the country. Like all strongmen, he was intoxicated and corrupted by power in what was also fast turning into dynastic rule with close relatives in charge of key ministries. Mr Rajapaksa, having presided over the victory against the Tamil Tigers (Ltte), eventually lost the peace through his inflexible policies towards Sri Lanka’s minority Tamil population, hence was unable to heal the deep wounds of war; he failed conspicuously to bridge the

country’s ethnic divisions. Greater autonomy, guaranteed by constitutional safeguards for the northern Jaffna province, would have been a surer way to win back the trust and confidence of the Tamil people, but this was an anathema for Mr Rajapaksa. His successor, President Maithripala Sirisena’s tryst with history will rest on his ability to win back the trust and confidence of all Sri Lankans through conciliation and compromise. Tamils and Muslims must be allowed sufficient space to participate meaningfully in national life as equal partners with the majority Sinhalese community to the benefit of all the parties. The mainstream will be enriched and stronger for that. Mr Sirisena’s arrival opens a window of opportunity to strengthen Indo-Sri Lankan relations, which had been subjected to periodic strain under the Rajapaksa dispensation. President Sirisena has said mending ties with India would be his first foreign policy objective. Trade and investment can move forward with speed as political and strategic cooperation at every level deepens.

President Sirisena has the opportunity to embrace the future and make it work as never before. We wish him luck.

Some twelve years ago, Zulfiqar Sheth watched in fear as a Hindu mob attacked his Muslim locality in Himmatnagar town, 20 kilometres from Ahmedabad, during the infamous Gujarat riots of March 2002.

Now, aged 27, he has become the first foreign member of the students’ union at Israel’s Hebrew University in Jerusalem. “I’m delighted to be the first overseas representative in the students’ union. This election is testimony to the broadmindedness of the (university) community,” he told a reporter back home in India. A PhD student from Aligarh Muslim University, Zulfiqar was chosen by India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development for the Hebrew University’s “visiting fellow programme.” He arrived in Israel in early November for an eight month research project on “Performance Evaluation of Social Policies.” He

says he became interested on learning that no overseas student at the Hebrew University had ever become a member of its students’ union. Well, it’s nice to be a first in an institution of 2,000 members known internationally for its high standard of academic excellence. Zulfikar comes from a humble background. His father was a shopkeeper back home and his mother a homemaker. Neither had been to school. His first schooling was at a local madrasa.

His time at Hebrew University, he says, has been an uplifted experience. Fellow students, some also Muslim, from foreign countries, have enjoyed the tolerant and welcoming spirit of the place. Zulfikar Sheth looks forward to completing his studiers at Aligarh and putting the skills and knowledge he has acquired at the service of his country, India.

Era of hope for Sri Lanka as Rajapaksa is ousted

Indian student shines in Israel

3

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.

- Audrey Hepburn

Who is responsible for Islamic terrorism – Je Suis Charlie?

Whatever the mistakes the West has made, the plain fact is this: it has underwritten global security for more than six decades with the blood of its citizens and the strength of its arms.

It has borne this burden not because it seeks to impose its will. But because it knows other people’s lives will be better for their children and their grandchildren if they can live in freedom and prosperity.

An American scriptwriter put it like this:“So you know what strikes me the most about terrorism? It's 100% failure rate. Not only do terrorists always fail at what they're after, they pretty much always succeed in strengthening whatever it is they're against. What about the IRA? The Brits are still there. The Protestants are still there. Basque extremists have been staging terrorist attacks in Spain for decades with no result. Left Wing Red Brigades from the 60s and 70s, from the BaderMeinhoff gang in Germany to the Weatherman in the U.S. have tried to take over capitalism. You tell me.

How's capitalism doing?”

Muslims killed 2000 women and children in Nigeria this past week.

This week in Saudi Arabia a man was flogged and lashed for blasphemy to Islam.

In the West we have to involve ourselves in the lives of those in other countries. It’s how we must think. It is our responsibility, the responsibility of our UN, our governments that 2000 died in Nigeria.

And we failed in our responsibilities.

Terrorists only

strengthen our resolve.

Our laws should no longer stop at our borders.

But at the forefront, we want those of the same faith to shut down their Mosques and Imams and Madrassas which are teaching putting god before law. And in their countries where the law puts god first, we want them to change their laws. We will not stand on the bylines and say ‘that is their country’.

Because you can come from your country into mine, carrying your guns, it is my business what happens in your country. And we will no longer say your religion is more important than our laws. Our laws come first. And we want our laws in your countries because your laws are killing our people and our beliefs – our belief that freedom comes before God. This week the French will publish a magazine with an image of the Prophet Mohammed holding a sign saying ‘Je Suis Charlie’. They are using the right to free speech. That image is an insult to a billion Muslims because it depicts the Prophet Mohammed.

When some companies used the image of Krishna on toilet seats, Hindus were insulted.

The companies had a right to free speech.

Hindus were insulted.

Those companies chose not to exercise that right any further when Hindus pointed this out. Hindus took no lives. We put the rule of law above all else.

The rule of law comes above the protection of god, and if you don’t like the laws, change them through the ballot box, not the bullet.

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MIDLANDS VOICE

Fox News pundit apologises for calling Brum 'Muslim-only city'

An American TV ‘expert’ has been forced to apologise for remarks where he labelled Birmingham as a “Muslim-only” city on a primetime US network show watched by millions of viewers.

Steve Emerson, a Fox News commentator, pictured, was speaking about the terror attacks in France when he described Birmingham as as a “Muslim-only city” where non-Muslims “don’t go in”. But he was forced to withdraw the remarks and offered a make a donation to the city’s children’s hospital after being bombarded with protests over the

claims. His apology read: “I have clearly made a terrible error for which I am deeply sorry. My comments about Birmingham were totally in error. And I am issuing an apology and correction on my website immediately for having made this comment about

the beautiful city of Birmingham. I do not intend to justify or mitigate my mistake by stating that I had relied on other sources because I should have been much more careful. There was no excuse for making this mistake and I owe an apology to every resident of Birmingham. I am not going to make any excuses. I made an inexcusable error. And I am obligated to openly acknowledge that mistake. I intend to make a donation to Birmingham Children’s Hospital.”

Mr Emerson also took to Twitter to apologise.

Aston shop worker's hand amputated after it got stuck in meat mincer

A part time supermarket worker’s hand had to be amputated after it got stuck in a faulty meat slicer. And Ash Food Fair on Witton Road in Aston began using the machine an hour after the accident – having washed it down with Fairy Akhtar Khan Liquid and hot water. The Ash Food Fare, Witton Road, Aston the machine was still being hand in a hole, but it had Nasa Iqbal lost all his used when he visited the snapped and broken off fingers and attempts to shop. about a month before 37 rebuild his hand failed.

In the evening two offiyear-old Mr Iqbal lost his Ash Food Fair owner cers from the city council fingers.

Akhtar Khan previously also discovered meat and Staff had been using a admitted a charge under herbs were still being plunger to insert meat the Health and Safety at passed through the since the breakage.

Work Act at Birmingham machine. One of the Fellow workers heard Magistrates’ Court. His employees said washing Mr Iqbal screaming on the case was sent to the city’s liquid had been used to morning of October 12 as crown court for sentence clean it. But the officers he placed his right hand on February 16. issued a prohibition notice inside the machine. They Barry Berlin, prosecutbanning its use until called an ambulance when ing for Birmingham City stronger chemicals had they realised he had been Council said the small been used to disinfect it. injured. The machine consupermarket, which Simon Morgan, tinued to operate as crews employed three to four defending, said there had made their way to the people and sold fresh and been arrangements to shop. A paramedic recovpackages products, kept repair the guard, but there ered three of Mr Iqbal’s finthe mincer in the meat had been an unacceptable gers after the machine was room. He said the machine delay before the accident dismantled. About an hour should have had a guard to occurred. later a police officer found stop users putting their

Man threatened to put explicit pictures of ex-lover on Facebook

A disgruntled man told a former lover that if she did not drop a harassment charge against him he would put sexually explicit videos and pictures of her on Facebook.

Yasin Kanamia (34) sent the woman a menacing letter - extracts from which can be read below demanding she withdraw her complaint, and pledging to “ruin and destroy” her if she did not.

Leicester Crown

Court was told the victim was physically sick and scared, but was made of “sterner stuff” and reported Kanamia’s threats.

Kanamia, a business management graduate, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice in April 2013 by sending a letter and a memory card containing explicit images of the woman, and threatening to disclose the contents of the

card unless she withdrew a complaint of harassment against him.

He was sentenced to an 18 month jail term, suspended for two years, with supervision, and a requirement to attend 40 sessions of a building better relationships programme.

Kanamia, of Wilson Street, Spinney Hills, Leicester, was also ordered to pay £1,500 costs.

Leicester businessman admits half a million pound VAT fraud A businessman has appeared in court to admit a half a million pound VAT fraud. Bulbinder Singh Sandhu, 51, pleaded guilty to an offence of furnishing VAT returns with intent to deceive, knowing they were false in a material

particular, namely making claims for VAT repayments to which he was not entitled, between January 2010 and January 2011.

Leicester Crown Court was told the offence relates to a total of £500,000.

Judge Michael Fowler ordered the preparation of a pre-sentence report. The case was adjourned for sentencing on March 16.

Sandhu, of Swithland Lane, Rothley, who works in the clothing industry, was released on bail.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Hastings Road crash victims named locally as Ammar Shah and Abz Patel

Two friends killed in a car crash in Hastings Road at the weekend have been named locally as Ammar Shah and Abz Patel.

They died when the car they were travelling in was involved in a collision with another vehicle in Hastings Road, Northfields, Leicester, at about 8.30pm on Saturday.

Four other people were injured. Three of them remain in hospital in a serious condition.

Friends said Ammar, (also known as Ammar Ingar), who lived a few streets away from the scene of the collision, had celebrated his 21st birthday last Thursday.

Abz, 22, of Twycross Street, Highfields, worked in his family’s furniture shop, in Uppingham Road. They were both former students at Gateway College, in Leicester.

Friend Imtiaz Sotta, 20, from Northfields,

Tragic duo Ammar Shah (left) and friend Abz Patel

said: “Ammar was a really genuine person – they both were – and Abz was about to get married in two months. They always had a smile and a laugh – never serious – it was a great thing to be around.

We would always be laughing.”

Paloma Lucas, 33, who lives near the scene, said: “You can still see the marks on the road, but it’s a lot different to last night. There were flashing blue lights and police and firefight-

ers everywhere. I heard the crash and ran over to the window to see what happened.”

Ward councillor Abdul Osman said he knew both families – and paid tribute to the two friends. He said: “I want to express my sympathy to the families of all those involved in this terrible tragedy. I’m deeply saddened to hear about the deaths of two people, especially ones so young.”

Two brothers charged with murder of Sameena Imam

Two brothers are due to appear at Birmingham Magistrates Court charged with the murder of Sameena Imam.

Roger Cooper, 40, from Coventry and David Cooper, from Leicester, were charged on Friday evening and will appear before magistrates on Saturday.

Coventry warehouse worker Sameena, 34, was last seen at Costco in Torrington Avenue, Tile Hill, on Christmas Eve. Despite extensive searches by specialist officers her body has not been found.

Det Supt Mark Payne, who is leading the investigation, said: “This is a significant development, our thoughts are with Sameena’s family and friends at this time. This investigation is still very much ongoing, anyone with information is urged

to call 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”

The brothers were arrested on Wednesday morning and had been held since then.

Police have searched a home in Hughenden

Drive, Leicester as well as nearby grassland, a brook and a park in an effort to find out what happened.

Mrs Imam lived in Cardiff but worked in Coventry. Her car has still not been found.

A coroner ruled the death of new-born baby at the Royal Oldham Hospital following a rare complication at birth was unavoidable.

Baby Mohammed Ibrahim had a caesarean section birth on March 9, 2012, after a forceps delivery failed. He died the next day from a brain injury caused by a traumatic birth. After a three-day inquest, senior coroner Simon Nelson recorded a narrative verdict.

Mohammed had bleeding on his brain, which led to the loss of half the volume of blood in his body.

He also had bruises and

multiple fractures on his head.

Dr Stephen Walkinshaw, a retired consultant in obstetrics, said the haemorrhaging alone may not have caused death, but if baby Mohammed had survived, he may have had some disabilities. Doctors tried vacuum suction cups to deliver the baby five times (against a recommended three), then forceps, then a caesarian section - the last of those the most dangerous form of delivery for the mother Dr Walkinshaw said he believed suction cups weren’t applied in the right position on the baby’s

head, but suggested doctors did the best they could in the circumstances of the delivery process.

He added: “Most of us would regard that as a genuine clinical mistake.”

Haemorrhaging, he added, could still occur even without the suction cups.

Mr Nelson said: “Subject to further views, baby Mohammed died on March 10 from injuries arising from recognised complications. The care that was afforded to Mohammed was given with the absolute best of intentions so as to achieve a successful delivery and birth.”

Sameena Imam

Officers searching in Hughenden Drive

Baby’s death in Oldham unavoidable

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Mayor Boris backs infringement of civil liberties Spriha Srivastava

A big step towards NRI voting ed to NRIs. In order to cater to needs of all categories of NRIs, additional options of e-postal ballot and proxy voting can be made available depending upon the preference exercised by the NRI voter. In case NRI

Looks like Non-resident Indians (NRIs) will soon be able to cast their vote despite being physically away from the country.

The Union government informed the Supreme Court that it had accepted Election Commission's recommendation to allow NRIs to vote through e-ballot system or through proxy. The EC discarded other possibilities - postal ballot and internet voting - terming them fraught with the danger of manipulation.

On hearing this good news Mr Nagender Chindam, chairman of the Pravasi Bharat said the following... "It is matter for millions of Indian citizens around the world; It’s an historical In Indian democracy; it’s been great achievement for every Indian citizen living abroad, happy to know that Government of India accepted EC proposals for NRI absentee ballot in true spirit. This victory is dedicated to each and every supporter of Pravasi Bharat who have been part of this campaign either through signing our online petition or by participating in our demonstrations and

London march...This is the day we were dreaming to see from over years. Ours is a genuinely democratic struggle for the basic right of feasible voting. The purity of our democratic and legitimate struggle has made it

possible. We have fought for it in the path shown to us by Gandhi Ji. At the end our long lasting efforts have given fruitful results."

The Election Commission has examined several suggestions to enable NRIs to cast their vote and rejected the idea of allowing them to cast their votes at diplomatic missions abroad. "The committee recommends that the option of voting through proxy appointed by the overseas electors can be considered to be provid-

voter does not exercise any of these additional two options, then by default it will be deemed that overseas elector will cast his vote as per existing legal provisions and procedures at the polling station in India,” the EC said.

The decision will come soon but it’s time to thank the Pravasi Bharat organisation led by Mr. Nagender Chindam whose relentless efforts are slowly taking us towards a dream we all had in mind when we left India.

If you love musicals and absolutely loved Bend it Like Beckham then it’s time to get happy because the famous film is going to come back as a musical in June 2015.

Natalie Dew will play football crazy Jess with Lauren Samuels as Jules, a player with the Harriers, a local women’s football team, and Jamie Campbell Bower as their coach Joe. The three young leads will be supported by some familiar faces, including comedian Ronni Ancona who plays Paula, Jules’s Mum, with Jamal Andréas as Jess’ good friend Tony.

Preeya Kalidas who appeared in the original film as one of the cousins, will take on the role of Pinky, Jess’ sister and T o n y Jayawardena and Natasha Jayetileke take on the all important roles of her parents, Mr and Mrs Bhamra.

Opening at the Phoenix Theatre on 24 June 2015, London

previews for Bend It Like Beckham begin on 15 May 2015. Directed by Gurinder Chadha, with original music by Howard Goodall and lyrics

by Charles Hart, Bend It Like Beckham has a new book by Paul Mayeda Berges and Gurinder Chadha; choreography and musical staging

by Aletta Collins; set design byMiriam Buether; costume design

by Katrina Lindsay; lighting design by Neil Austin; sound design by Richard Brooker; musical direction by Nigel Lilley and orchestrations

by Howard Goodall and legendary musical maestro Kuljit Bhamra. Bend It Like Beckham is produced in the West End by Sonia Friedman Productions and Deepak Nayar Productions.

The musical follows the movie story where Jess, a young BritishIndian girl needs extra time. She is facing the

most important decision of her life: live up to family expectations of university, career and marriage, or follow in the footsteps of her hero David Beckham. When the talented teenager is spotted playing football in Southall, a world of unexpected opportunities opens up before her.

But as her sister’s traditional Indian wedding approaches, can she keep her family happy and still follow her dreams? Bend It Like Beckham is a joyous new British musical about where we are now.

Featuring an original score with a Punjabi kick, it brings a unique cultural fusion of musical theatre to the stage for the first time. This reimagining of the muchloved hit film sees generations, cultures and communities brought together in this joyous and uplifting story about bending the rules and scoring that deciding goal.

“I am not particularly bothered with this civil liberties stuff” announced Boris Johnson on the 11th of January in a statement to Sky News.

The Mayor of London responded to opposition from the Liberal Democrats about the introduction of a Conservative-led 'Snoopers' Charter' (more about this on p 7) catalysed by the extremist attacks in Paris.

The Charter would mean amending the Communications Data Bill so that accessing personal information would be law-

ful for security officials.

This would very much resemble 'The Patriot Act' in America.

Johnson stated that the government had every right to want to monitor 'these people' and those who did not accept this should just 'go away': "I think the values we stand for in London and Paris are the same - enlightenment and freedom. In our society there are limits on what you can say (…)

What we do not accept is that people's sense of being offended justifies in any way any act of violence. We have to stand up

very firmly for freedom of speech, for democracy and the rule of law (…) The Muslim mayor of Rotterdam said to the would be Dutch jihadis 'if you don't like freedom then go away'. I think that was very powerful, very moving."

The owner of a newsagent in Cricklewood who dumped his rubbish in a busy thoroughfare has been fined for fly-tipping Shams Shamsullah, the proprietor of The Orbit, left the bags next to street bins near his shop in Cricklewood Broadway.

He was traced after contents in the bag showed they were connected to his shop. He was convicted of fly-tipping which is an offence under section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. He was fined £1,000 for the

offence, £800 costs and £100 victim surcharge at Brent Magistrates’ Court.

Cllr George Crane, Brent Council’s lead member for the environment, said: “Fly-tipping is extremely anti-social behaviour: it’s unsightly and not fair on anyone in the vicinity of the offence.

We take fly-tipping offences very seriously in Brent and encourage anyone who sees items dumped and has evidence as to where it came from on the streets log it on our web page brent.gov.uk/fly-

tipping so we can investigate.”

A Conservative councillor in Brent has died suddenly while on holiday in India.

Bhiku M Patel, pictured, who has served Kenton for 12 years, passed away on Friday after suffering a heart attack.

Fellow Tory Kenton councillor Reg Colwill, who knew Cllr Patel for more than 40 years, said: “He was a brilliant councillor. His sense of humour, his morals were higher than

anybody’s. He really was a terrific guy and we’ll miss him.” Cllr Patel was known to many in the community as he ran a post office on Harrow Road, Wembley, with his wife Hansa for many years. They had three children together. He was a councillor for the Tokyngton ward in Wembley, before winning a seat in the Kenton byelection in 2003. Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council said:

“I’ve known him a long time. It’s a sad loss. Our condolences go out to his wife and children and we’ll do whatever we can to help support them.”

Newsagent owner in Cricklewood fined for fly-tipping

Bend it like Beckham back again!

Let us know what you think.

Email Spriha at aveditorial@abplgroup.com

Brent councillor dies while on holiday in India

Man in court over motorway deaths A man charged with causing the death of a lorry driver during a ‘catastrophic’ accident on the M25 appeared in court last weekend.

Adam Olkusz, a 25year-old unemployed man of no fixed address is accused of one charge of causing death by dangerous driving.

The collision between junctions 26 and 27 happened at around 1.50am on December 9 and involved multiple vehicles including a Peugeot car, a Scania lorry, a DAF artic, a Mercedes lorry and a Romanian lorry.

Vehicles came crashing through the central reservation causing road closures for many hours.

Bhagwant Singh, a 39-

The scene of the accident on the M25 in December where a man from Leicester was killed

year-old man from Leicestershire, died and four other people were injured and required hospital treatment at the time.

Olkusz entered no plea and was remanded in custody until his next appearance at Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday, January

27.

A 33-year-old man from Leicester was also arrested following the incident on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

He is on bail pending further enquiries until Wednesday, April 8.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Miliband bombed by Tories for wanting to 'weaponise' NHS

Sunetra Senior

As general campaigns begin in the run up to the general elections, Conservative politicians have accused Labour leader Ed Miliband of exploiting the huge demands on the NHS system, including the poor service and attendance in A&E and the emphasis on shockingly long waiting lists. PM David Cameron called out Miliband's phrase 'to weaponise' in the Labour pledge to make the NHS the focus of their policies the "most disgusting phrase I have ever heard in politics (…) The leader of the opposition apparently said to the political editor of the BBC 'I want to weaponise the NHS'. I think that is disgraceful.

"The NHS is not a weapon, it is a way we care for our families, it's a way we care for the elderly, it's a way we look after the frail.” Cameron also chastised the Labour leader for treating the issue as if it were “a political football.”

Miliband, who has not used the term since discussing the party's manifesto with BBC executives in November of last year, stood by his heavy-handed approach: “We are in a fight for the NHS” he said on the Andrew Marr programme on BBC One, “and I make absolutely no apologies for the fact I am really concerned about what is happening in our national health service."

Another spokesman for Labour said: "No one should be surprised that we are going to make a fight of the NHS in the coming election. No one should be surprised that we are going to campaign and fight for the future of the NHS."

Dr Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative MP and chairman of the health select committee retaliated that: "They (Labour) are exploiting the huge pressures that A&E is under for political gain. It is less about genuinely arguing about systems and the best way forward, and more about a campaign to gain votes. I resent it deeply, it is wholly wrong and damaging for the political process (…) They are also exploiting people's fears that we are moving towards a USstyle system where people have to pay. It's totally untrue. They are deliberately blurring what people fear about privatisation with the facts.”

Mary Helen Creagh, senior Labour politician, who recently appeared alongside Nigel Farage and Russell Brand on Question Time has shirked the term 'weaponise' as an arbitrary tangent and insisted that her party was committed to the rejuvenation of the National Healthcare System.

The head of NHS England, Simon Stevens, has said a minimum of £8 billion a year will be needed by 2020 if any real change is to be affected.

So far, only the Liberal Democrats have emphasised the need for this specific amount.

Jail for hungry burglar who broke into house for food A burglar from Cricklewood who broke into a house and tried to steal a watch before claiming he was only looking for food has been jailed.

Hamid El Majid, 23, of Elm Grove, and a friend clambered through the kitchen window of the house in Anson Road, Cricklewood, in the death of night.

Moroccan-born El Majid was tackled by the brave householder while his accomplice fled in a getaway car on November 30 last year. He claimed he had broken into the kitchen because the person who cooks for him was away, Harrow Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Emma

Antonelli told the court the family who lived at the address were all asleep at the time of the raid. “It was a Sunday night and the family in the house noticed that a garage light had come on. As all the family had all gone to bed and it was none of them downstairs, they went to investigate and to their shock, in their kitchen were El Majid and another man. El Majid was detained by the family in the kitchen, but the other man ran away. The family chased him and saw him get into a silver car, which was driven away by another person.”

Police were called and arrested El Majid for burglary. Officers searched

UK

Surveillance state is mandatory, announces PM Cameron

Sunetra Senior

Prime Minister David Cameron has made a drastic decision to push for new powers so that law officials may access the details of every digital conversation, including mobile phones and social media. He said he realises this would be “intrusive” but felt the government would be justified, especially after the events in Paris where 17 people were killed by the now apprehended Islamist terrorists.

Following the Charlie Hebdo incident, Cameron stated: “The first duty of any government is to keep our country and people safe. The attacks in Paris once again demonstrated the scale of the terrorist threat we face and the need to have robust powers, through our security and intelligence agencies and policing in order to keep our people safe.” He has also said he wants to stop terrorists from retreating to “a safe

Stricter security measures

space” to communicate.

However there has been opposition in the coalition polity with Lib-dem MPs opposing an 'extremis' extension of power.

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat Justice Minister said: "the idea that you protect free speech by spying on every law-abiding person in this country is a contradiction in terms. You can't have an open society if you are constantly worried that the state is prying into your daily life." He stated that the idea of an unrestricted 'Snoopers' Charter' that

Cameron plans to introduce if he is re-elected, will have to be 'necessary' and 'justified': "The socalled Snoopers' Charter, which would see the internet browsing of every single citizen stored for a year, fails these very reasonable precautions."

Cameron was also briefed last week about threat levels reaching a critical state in the UK with security officials warning that there could be a lash-back from up to 150 Jihadists in attacks similar to those in Paris.

Border control were warned to be thorough

snapper Rankin - will be on billboards throughout the country from this month.

They appear alongside fellow NCS graduate Jermain Jackman, who took part in the programme in 2012 and went on to win the BBC’s The Voice last year.

Gobinder, a 17 year-old student at Soar Valley College, and Vishal, a 17 year-old student at Rushy Mead School, are two of more than 130,000 teens to have taken part in NCS since the programme launched in 2011.

During his NCS, Vishal went to Beaudesert Park

High Adventure in Staffordshire for a week of adventure, went on a residential course at De Montfort University called A Taste of Student Life and then took part in a fundraising project for the Leicester Hospitals Charity.

Gobinder’s time on the NCS was involved with a new group called the Altrueists, set up by young philosophers to develop new ideas about international problems.

Speaking to a local newspaper about his experience with NCS, Gobinder

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with their illegal firearm searches with warnings that up to 50% of extremists who had returned from Syria would be capable of assaults such as those on the French publishing house.

Whitehall members also state that more than 30 IS fighters in the UK are being monitored by MI5 while a further 120 are going to be re-assessed despite passing previous inspections.

Opposition leader Ed Miliband has commented that he was wary about supporting new disciplinary powers where security services would need to have the proper tools in place for a proper system of oversight. Lord Carlile, Lib Dem peer who was an objective reviewer for the terrorism legislation, stated: “We must make sure that the security services and the police have adequate powers ... so that the authorities can take action against people they reasonably suspect of a terrorist intent.”

Teenagers from Leicester picked to feature in national poster campaign for citizen service

Two teenagers have been picked to feature on a poster for the National Citizen Service. Last summer Gobinder Singh and Vishal Unadkat both took part in the youth programme, which carries out social action projects to boost young people’s skills.

The new campaign, called “Our Future”, involves 22 youngsters from all over the UK and the poster featuring them photographed by celebrity him and found a silver watch, which he admitted taking from a counter in the kitchen.

Miss Antontelli added: “El Majid told police he had been walking around the area with a friend, that he was hungry because the person he usually lives with and who feeds him was away. Why did he not eat something instead of taking a watch?”

Judge Freya Newbery jailed El Majid for eight months and ordered him to pay a £100 surcharge.

said: “It’s been indispensable. I hope I can inspire other people who want to create social and political change on a national scale to say 'Yes'.”

NCS is for 15 to 17 year olds and involves holiday programmes where teenagers learn about the world of work, take part in activities and spend 30 hours on a community project.

Gobinder and Vishal were among more than 1,000 teenagers in the county taking part in the scheme in Leicestershire last summer.

Married father found guilty of rape and sexual assaults A married father has been convicted by a jury of raping and sexually abusing a teenager more than a decade ago.

Nasir Uddin, 39, was found guilty of one rape, two offences of attempted rape and four sexual assaults.

A jury took four hours and 56 minutes of deliberations before

announcing the verdicts at Leicester Crown Court.

The rape offence and one of the attempted rapes, which took place in Loughborough, resulted in guilty verdicts by a majority of 10-2 and the other convictions were unanimous.

Uddin, a taxi driver,

of Lower Cambridge Street, Loughborough, denied any misconduct towards the female college student, between 2003 and 2005.

Judge Robert Brown remanded Uddin into custody to await sentencing on January 30.

“It will be a prison sentence of a substantial length.”

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Leading luminaries of Indian Islamist charity stripped of funding fashion descend on the Capital

A discerning edit of India’s most lauded fashion designers will be presenting their latest bridal and couture collections at the UK’s most high fashion Indian bridal exhibition – Aashni + Co Wedding Show in association with Zouch & Lamare.

The event will be taking place amid the fitting grandiose of Ballroom Suite, The Dorchester, 53 Park Lane, Mayfair, London W1K 1QA on Sunday 25th January 2015 and will be hosted in association with Zouch & Lamare – one of the leading, luxury wedding planning services in the UK that specialises in exquisite, original and bespoke weddings and events.

Aashni + Co Wedding Show will also feature floral styling by Zita Elze, an award-winning artist, designer, teacher, creator of the Living Embroidery Bridal collection and design consultant, who will also be exhibiting as the show’s exclusive luxury florist.

Marking a first of its kind entry on the UK’s fashion calendar, Aashni + Co Wedding Show will present on one platform high end, bridal and occasion wear by India’s most celebrated designer brands – from established, A-list fashion houses to the crème of new gen talent, namely: Anushree Reddy, Arpita Mehta, Ashima-Leena,

Sunetra Senior

Jaipur Gems, Manish Malhotra, Monisha Thahryamal, Nikasha, Pallavi Jaikishan, Rimple and Harpreet Narula, Sabyasachi, Shehlaa, Sonali Gupta, Tarun Tahiliani and Varun Bahl.

Furthermore for the very first time, the UK will experience the opportunity of meeting some of the leading Indian designers themselves under one roof, with visitors having the chance to interact with the attending fashion talents, celebrities in their own right across India’s fashion landscape and beyond.

With January being renowned as the seasonal

buying and browsing period for Summer brides and grooms, Aashni + Co Wedding Show will curate the latest bridal, occasion wear and couture collections from the top tier of the Indian design spectrum, with accessibility being key to the show. Not just judicious brides and grooms to be, the event will appeal to stylistas, tastemakers and the aspirational alike.

In addition to bridal couture, the event will present a handpicked showcase of high end and luxe wedding services from cake designers to wedding planners and live bands.

began investigating his bank accounts.

Iqbal is now serving a jail sentence of seven years and two months after being imprisoned last September with seven other gang members.

He admitted conspira-

cy to manage a brothel, conspiracy to money launder and conspiracy to possess Class A drugs.

Iqbal, from Ward End, Birmingham, pleaded guilty and admitted making unauthorised attempts to access police intelligence systems while serving with West Midlands Police. A court last September heard how Iqbal was caught when the Serious and Organised Crime Unit linked him with convicted armed robber Talib Hussain, 33.

The bank accounts of the companies were being used by the pair to launder hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Crooked policeman caught in Ferrari

A policeman who led a double life as leader of an organised crime gang was caught after turning up for work in a Ferrari worth £170,000.

Osman Iqbal, 37, pictured, earned a modest salary as a sergeant in a team that responded to 999 calls in Kings Heath, Birmingham.

However, he was also the lynchpin of a mob that ripped off those who ran brothels and peddled class A drugs in exclusive areas of London.

Colleagues raised suspicions when Iqbal arrived for work in the exclusive Ferrari 458 supercar and an anti-corruption team

Appeal by police after burglars steal high-end Asian jewellery in Wembley Detectives are making an appeal for information after burglars stole thousands of pounds worth of jewellery after breaking into a house in Wembley.

The crooks made off with the high-value, Asian gold jewellery after forcing opening a ground floor window of the property in The Avenue on December 28.

Anyone with information should call Brent Police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

David Cameron with Sajid Javid

PM David Cameron is supporting, Sajid Javid, the Culture Secretary of State's claim that Muslims have a “special burden” in the fight against terrorism.

Speaking in the wake of the Paris shootings Javid, who has recently been tipped as future Toryleader material said "all communities can do more to try and help and deal with terrorists, try and help track them down, but I think it is absolutely fair to say that there is a special burden on Muslim communities, because whether we like it or not, these terrorists call themselves Muslims (…) It is no good for people to say they are not Muslims, that is what they call themselves. They do try to take what is a great peaceful religion and warp it for their own means."

Having taken part in the Paris march for unity, David Cameron also released a statement in which he underscored the fact that many Muslim families are losing “a small number of relatives” to radical activity, including children who travel abroad to be trained with terrorist groups such as ISIS. He corroborated Javid by adding “it is that community whose religion is being warped (…) The government works with communities to deal with

and try and help tackle extremism.

Tackling Islamist extremism means working extremely closely with the Muslim community (…) Of course that is an important part of the Prevent strategy. That in no way detracts from the fact that Islamist extremism is a perversion of the Muslim faith.”

Among these comments came the news that Eric Pickles, Communities Secretary, has stripped the £250,000 worth of taxpayer funds that were given to the Muslim Charities Forum for faithbased community projects.

Pickles stated that this was on the basis that they have been linked to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood political movement. While the Communities Secretary asserted he had no qualms about confiscating support to any group that is linked to “individuals who fuel hatred, division and violence”, The Muslim Charities Forum have responded that they “are extremely disappointed in the decision.”

“The MCF is committed to creating an integrated Muslim charitable network in the UK and to building partnerships which have been a key part of its work since its inception. We reject the basis on which this funding decision has been made (…) The Faith Minorities in Action

Project is about bringing people together to build trust between communities across the country. It is now likely that this vital work will cease.”

Islamic Help also refuted the allegations stating that “This action is a smear on the good work we have been doing in the UK and overseas since 2003.” The charity went on to speak up and say that it had only been awarded £1,000 in state funding for their scheme to teach English to minority groups in London: “By its actions, the government has not only contributed to the very atmosphere of ‘Islamophobia’ that it claims to be combating but has harmed its own objective of promoting integration and British values.”

Culture Secretary Javid, who is Muslim by heritage but does not practice the faith, added that there is “no getting away from the fact" that those behind the assassinations in Paris and England "call themselves Muslims (…)

The lazy answer would be to say that this has got nothing whatsoever to do with Islam or Muslims and that should be the end of that (…) You can't get away from the fact that these people are using Islam, taking a peaceful religion and using it as a tool to carry out their activities."

Having a work smartphone only leads to more stress Smartphones, tablets and other digital devices have resulted in longer working hours, higher stress levels and blurred boundaries between personal and working life, according to a large-scale study.

It found that the digital revolution has been almost entirely negative for the health and happiness of employees. The only clear advantage identified was a greater ability to attend immovable family events such as a school sports day.

These one-off events were more than outweighed by reduced time spent with the family.

Researchers at the University of Surrey examined 65 big studies on the subject, covering the experiences of about 50,000 employees. They found that handing out work phones and other gadgets to staff generally came with

an expectation that employees were available for work at all times.

Few companies have clear policies about the limits of contacting staff in their free time, making it a virtual free-for-all.

Svenja Schlachter, a researcher at the University of Surrey, said that many more companies needed to address the issue — or face the consequences of havcing a burnt-out workforce.

“In the absence of a policy written down in black and white, employees tended to take guid-

ance from their manager or their colleagues. If managers sent emails late at night, staff felt they were required to answer them,” she said.

“Employees generally showed great enthusiasm at first when they received phones from work but very quickly they felt an expectation was established that meant they had to be always available.”

Overall smartphone technology is thought to have led to white-collar employees working an average of a full working day extra each week, and managers up to two days a week more.

Family life emerged as the greatest casualty of digital technology, with parents often being distracted or breaking off during the evening, at weekends and on holiday to deal with work emails and calls.

UK

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Leading Lights

Rani

Because of my insight into formal training, I am able to marry knowledge with skill and I aim to ensure that these standards are Singh, Special Assignments Editor always met in our training deliveries.”

Sangita was quick to realise that as a start- up one has to do everything oneself. “I would make calls, write emails, go for while growing her meetings and business. everything else, Sangita has but then it was all several in- demand so worth it as I specialities. got my first conAlthough her tract within 15 main work is curdays of setting up. rently with small And then the and medium sized same year deliventerprises workered training sesing between sions in India.”

Britain and India, Her cross culright now she is tural work is fasup early at 3.30 cinating and am most days to arose because she talk to India, as was intrigued by her company is how different recruiting for nationalities multinationals reacted to the there, and yet she same situation. still managed to Having lived and interview pleasworked in multiantly with The ple locations both Asian Voice. in India and Articulate and abroad, “I found m e d i a - s a v v y, Sangita Pandey that individuals, Sangita had wantsations in order to get companies, corporates, ed to set up her own comrobust experience in the businesses all want pretty pany for some time, and in art of delivering formal much the same thing.

2011 she founded training in a structured Without exception success Corporate Life Skills. way. “It was useful to be is the one ask.”

Despite her extensive able to measure aims and She experienced difexperience before launchobjectives, measure the ferences in business etiing her own business effectiveness of training quette when working in Sangita made sure to work and take that forward.

Moscow, China, Hong with other training organi-

The Lady Learned in Much More Than Where to Put Your Napkin Sangita Pandey, Director of Training and Business Development at Corporate Life Skills Ltd. has extensive experience of working on a range of projects for the public and the private sector in India and in the U.K. A leadership and management trainer her USP is cross cultural etiquette training and she has successfully delivered workshops and training in India and here in the UK A regular contributor to the BBC, prior to working in the UK, was in Dubai as Head of News for Dubai Radio Station Radio 4 (not the BBC version) and before that in India working on communications projects such as a media consultant to the Department of Adult Education, Ministry of HRD India. Her early career was with All India Radio and Doordarshan in Delhi.

A law graduate and a qualified business mentor, she is currently doing an NLP practitioner course

Brothers in brutal Hackney robbery

Two brothers, Bhagat and Padam Singh, aged 28 and 24, took part in the violent robbery of a business unit in Staples Corner, Hackney. Detective Constable Chris Wall from the Barnet Police told the Kilburn Times: “This was a well planned and violent attack on three innocent people for no apparent reason.

Thankfully, one of the victims has fully recovered from stab wound injuries to his liver. However, another of the victims awaits surgery to repair a severed nerve in his leg and hopefully will regain full use again of his limb.”

The brothers were part

also stolen during the robbery which took place in 2012.

“The Singh brothers took steps to avoid being captured” continued Constable Wall, “but eventually it was possible to Bhagat (left) and Padam Singh prove their of a gang who tied up and involvement in this gagged three office men, offence. I hope the sentwo of whom were later tences will give the vicstabbed. One man was tims some sense of juspunched until he lost contice.” sciousness when he tried Bhagat and Padam to escape. The assailants Singh were given eighteen stole cash, a CCTV system years in jail. Police are and a television which still searching for the were then loaded into a other accomplices, after waiting van before they getting a lead from the drove off. A car belonging man who hired the van for to one of the victims was the Singhs.

26 year-old Daniel Patel, pictured, was jailed for a period of five years after a perverted sex attack on a seventeen-year old girl in Harrow, Kenton. Under the influence of drugs, Patel stripped himself naked and hid behind a bin before preying on the unsuspecting teenager.

Harrow Crown Court also heard that he had also set fire to two cars where a string of arsonist incident came to end after his arrest.

DC Janine Stevenson who investigated the sex

attack commented that: “Patel’s disturbing and predator y behaviour that day resulted in a young woman being left traumatised and haunted by what happened to her (…) His attack was fuelled by drugs and his own selfish desire for sexual gratification (…) I would like to thank the victim, her family and all the witnesses involved in this case for their courage, cooperation

Sick sex arsonist apprehended in Harrow

and patience during this investigation which was crucial in securing this conviction of a dangerous sexual predator and ensuring the future safety of the community.”

Patel resisted arrest when police found him, still naked, at the scene of the crime. The intoxicated man jumped over garden fences in Kenton, Kenmore Road to escape, before being sprayed with CS gas for detainment.

Kong, Dubai and other cities. She says “coping with global cultural challenges is key to business success now more so than ever when you don’t always have to go abroad to encounter cultural differences.”

Communicating to business the importance of understanding the differences between cultures is integral to her work. “I deliver standalone cross cultural training sessions

In Corporate Life Skills you can find a media adviser, recruitment specialist, talent manager, and cross border etiquette trainer and have now woven them into almost all of my other training modules” she said. She has delivered workshops and webinars at PNB UK, Warwick Business School, Common Purposes UK, Conner India, and UKIBC UK. Sangita described India, Pakistan, Japan, Nepal, Bangladesh and China as among those with hierarchical cultures as compared to America, Britain and Australia. “A common example to facilitate understanding is realising that questioning is not common in hierarchi-

9

cal cultures which means managing teams and meeting business objectives when working with people from these cultures would require a different management style.”

Sangita believes that corporate skills are not just for when one is in work; nurturing young talent is important. She recently spent time in a west London high school teaching 12 and 13 year olds about corporate etiquette and employability skills. “Giving children those skills at a young age helps them in later life,” she said. She elaborated that simple things like where you place your napkin when leaving your seat in a restaurant can become very important depending on the type of job you are going for.

And of course spouses and families are supported into changing corporate environments- in short, Sangita Pandey’s Corporate Life Skills is a one stop shop.

Whichever direction the SME or business is travelling; to or from the UK or India, SMEs and others can find in Corporate Life Skills a legal and tax consultant, media adviser, recruitment specialist, talent manager, and cross border etiquette trainer. Where else would you go for solutions to your challenges?

10

UK

Caste bias

The undersigned Hindu organisations in the UK wish to respond to the news article published in Asian Voice on 3rd January 2015 titled ‘Cameron blocks ban on Caste bias’.

We fully endorse PM Cameron on his principled and intelligent position on ‘caste. For your readers let us be very clear, it was the Labour Party that promoted the ‘caste’ legislation under the pretence of the Lord Harries amendment to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill.

Leading Hindu Organisations came together under the auspices of the ‘Alliance of Hindu Organisations’ and repeatedly informed the Labour front bench that the caste legislation was illconceived, had no integrity, had no evidence and that the existing ‘Equalities Act’ as it stood already had sufficient bandwidth to consider all forms of discrimination. They ignored our pleas and voted against the interest of Hindus in this corrupt legislation.

We commend the Prime Minister and the Conservative MPs and Lords who voted in favour of the Hindu position enmasse.

The Lord Harries Amendment is a disgrace and disrespects all people of Indic faiths. It must be rejected and repealed at the first opportunity. We shall be asking each Party Leader to confirm to us in writing what they intend to do post the next General Election. We hope this letter conveys to all your leaders the facts as they stand and the position of our community and the undersigned organisations.

Lakshmi Kaul Chair, Public Relations and Special Adviser, Jammu & Kashmir Affairs British Hindu Voice [BHV] Coalition for Dialogue Hindu Council UK [HCUK] Hindu Forum of Britain [HFB] Jain Samaj Kashmiri Pandits Cultural Society [KPCS] National Council of Hindu Temples [NCHT] Nepalese Hindu Forum UK Sanatan Mandir Leicester

Flying the Silver Bug

Air Asia flight QZ8501, en route from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, vanished with 162 people aboard a few weeks. This is the third such disaster which has happened in the last few months of aviation history.

Before that we witnessed Malaysian Airline plane, flight No MH 17, which was a scheduled international flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, and was shot down killing all 298 passengers who were on board, while their flight No MH 370 (which was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing) is missing even today with no trace of any survivors.

It is distrubing to know that air travel

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Criminal penalty and punishment I am really shocked that physical and sexual crimes against young children and women are still recurring! Govt. should mix and match the following measures. If needed it ought to amend the laws to Implement and expedite them.

1. There should be quick courts in most cities as in Britain which deal with the Offences and crimes within a few days or few weeks when there are CCTVs and witnesses evidence, criminals are already caught in committing crimes.

In the case of Mumbai Attack 26th Nov 08, Kasab was kept in prison for nearly two years wasting tax payers' crores of rupees, also it looks silly sending evidence to Pakistan which itself planned it!

2. If child under 16 commits serious crime, there should be Penalty of say Rs. 2000 or more as per severity, so parents will be involved. If above age of 16 , he should compensate the Victim.

3. Once serious crime committed, his name should be put on school or college notice board, not allowed to hide his face, also put in newspapers or TVs, and database. This will deter criminals.

4. Criminals should be treated harshly. If sentenced, in prison they should be given hard task, make it uncomfortable to sleep and live there, but not like holiday home, otherwise they will repeat the same crime in future.

5. All crimes whether they are theft, robbery, physical abuse, murder, or even terrorism must be recorded in Govt.

Database. As in Britain in Bharat to person with court conviction should find it hard in getting any employment, house, life or car insurance or even personal loan.

6. There should be a policewomen squad of say five in each city to give harsh corporal punishment at some public place like Ramlila Medan.

I am sure these measures will have some definite positive effect!!!

Upendra Kapadia By email now-a-days is not as safe as it used to be.

We non-residential Gujaratis (NRGs) and NRIs travel from London to Bombay or London to Dar-es-Salaam to see our friends and relatives. These incidents will now put us off from frequenting our former places of abode.

We also make extensive use of air trvel to go on holidays. But then there are hundreds if not thousands of planes which dot the sky every day and a few incidents like these should not deter us from flying. I remember the good old days when we used to travel from Dar-esSalaam to Bombay by ship. We would take coconuts with us to offer them to appease the sea Gods when crossing the rough waters at mid sea. Should we now revert to that practice and offer coconuts to the air-Gods?

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Dinesh Sheth Newbury Park, Ilford

ASIAN VOICE

Conversions

Conversion or fanaticism

I would like to add my voice and agree with Dr J Saha and Dr D Shah (AV letters 3/1/15) both writers opposing your editorial (AV 20/12/14) on reconversions. As somebody who first religious book was the Bible aged 7 in a colonial Kenyan white only school in the 60's I can claim knowledge of religion from both sides. My father said “son acquiring an education is a must” and promptly sent me to the local Christian European school. My devout Hindu mother performed Arti at home. This sent me on a lifelong journey to seek the truth as to who was right and today I can say my mother was, not my teachers.

One person who helped me is Mahatma Gandhi who left India for England and faced similar issues.

When my mother prays she prays for the well being of the whole world and all life where as Abrahamic religions divide people into believers and non believers and are taught to save non believers, like me or we will go to hell. Gandhiji himself a proud Hindu was averse to conversions and welcomed re-conversions his son being an example. Visiting newly migrated Hindu relatives in the US, last month I was shocked when the 7 year old produced a personalised Bible, engraved with her name, given to her by the school as part of her studies, my heart sank. She may need reconverting one day.

Jayesh A Patel Wimbledon

Hari Desai’s article in this week’s Gujarat Samachar enlightens the reconversion-“Ghar vapasi” issue.

Conversion/reconversion are not new to India. Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism grew due to conversions. Many conversions to Islam and Christianity during early days were voluntary as recorded by conversion of a Hindu maharaja of Kerala to Islam and Namboodiri Brahmins to Christianity.

Educated Bengal Brahmins and literati Gujarati elites converted to Christianity/ reconverted. Eldest son of Gandhiji, became Abdulla, reconverted to Hinduism. One leader trusted by Shivaji converted to Islam, fought in Afghanistan, later was welcome by Shivaji after his reconversion.

Dalits converted to Christianity as upper caste Hindus treated them worse than untouchable animals. Many Hindus converted to Islam in order to expand their area of influence, defeat the rival or to curry favour with ruling nawab.

Note that Maharana Pratap and Shivaji hired Muslim commanders and Muslim rulers hired Hindu commanders.

Thus notion of ancestral enmity is falsified. If Kashmiries, who had converted to Islam, and if Mahamadally Jinna who had Hindu grandparents, were allowed to reconvert to Hinduism, history of India might have been different.

Problem is not conversion itself but religious fanaticism and vote hungry politicians who perpetuate the problem.

Funeral Attire?

In Hindu culture it seems customary to dress casually at funerals with white or light colours being the preferred norm for both males and females. There were I am sure reasons in the old days for the casual attire like getting rid of the funeral clothes or washing them before getting home etc.

One could argue that it does not matter what one wears but what is more important is that one has turned up at the funeral to pay respect to the deceased and provide support to the family.

However in the UK, over recent years I have noticed that the casual clothing has become quite extreme. It is not uncommon to see men in their jogging bottoms, tee shirt and trainers. One would not normally go to parties or to a friend’s house for dinner wearing such clothes so why at funerals which are supposed to be solemn and serious occasions? We have over the years picked up many good habits from the host community and whilst I am not advocating black suits and ties, perhaps we should at least try to dress smartly to reflect the seriousness of the occasion?

I find it highly shameful that even as India has positioned itself as an emergency global superpower, practices such as dowry continue to plague our society.

Many young men claim that they don’t believe in the practice of accepting dowry but tolerate it on their family’s instance.

How can the youth of today, so loudly demanding about the causes they believe in, allow dowry to continue even without a murmur of protest?

Weddings have become a very costly affair and a mere business deal among many families today. Some men even claim that they never wanted dowry but were forced to accept it by their parents.

If these men had any convictions, they would not have allowed their parents to get away with it. It is surprising to see men, who are perceived to be strongwilled, turn into spineless meat when it comes to taking a stand against their dowry-seeking parents. Dowry is an illness that must be cured, if we want our country to be a world power.

Satish Kanabar Northwood UK

Operation India

Can India’s many world-class hospitals help to alleviate pressure on the NHS? For example, operations for brain, eye, hip, kidney, stomach, lung and a whole lot more can be carried out quickly and efficiently by top Indian surgeons in

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Staff cuts blamed for bad behaviour

The EIS teaching union has protested that cutting teachers is making it difficult to enforce good disciplinary standards in their schools. A specific concern is that pupils who may be better suited to special schools are remaining in mainstream classes without the necessary support.

The EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan told the BBC: "Reductions in staffing - including a decline in teacher numbers, deep cuts to special-

ist support staff, and the fall in the number of professional educational psychologists - are exacerbating the problems that many schools face in supporting pupils who have displayed challenging behaviour.”

Ealing trials cycling lights

Ealing has been the first London council to trial a progressive set of cycle lights. The little luminosities, known as Falcopathfinder lights, will be a big step forward for road safety.

Falcopathfinders are solarpowered and resistant to heavy vehicles making them cheap to maintain too. Councillor Bassam Mahfouz for environment and transport commented: “Road safety is a priority for us and we need to do what we can to avoid accidents involving cyclists, especially during the Winter period (…) “This

EDUCATION/COUNCIL VOICE

Fight for tax freeze, says Eric Pickles

Higher fees; better prospects

Eric Pickles

Eric Pickles, the Local Government Secretary is telling residents to challenge council tax increases to combat corrupt authorities. In an interview Pickles stated that the “Conservatives in government have worked to keep council tax down, cutting bills across England by 11 per cent in real terms since 2010 (…) A further freeze offer is on the table this year, with extra gov-

ernment funding for councils which freeze their bills (…) I would encourage local taxpayers to ask their councillors to sign up to this freeze and demand an explanation why they are refusing extra funding if they do not”. The Lincolnshire county council for example, is planning to increase rates by 1.9% stating that the change is necessary for quality maintenance.

A study conducted by the High Fliers programme shows that recruitment prospects for those graduating from UK universities are at their best for a decade. The study looked intensively into the graduate market for 2015 and suggested that those paying the steeper fees for higher education will also enjoy the benefits of a better economy.

Over four-fifths of the UK's leading graduate recruiters are currently offering paid work-experience for students and recent graduates with a reported 13,049 places this year. This is good news as surveys confirmed most first jobs are obtained through training with the company. The UK's leading employers plan to develop graduate recruitment even further in 2015, with 8% more

11

University Minister Greg Clark

vacancies predicted than those available in 2014.

Greg Clark, the universities minister confirmed the statistics: "Confidence in the economy continues to grow, and this is reflected in the fact that Britain's top companies will recruit more graduates this year than they have for a decade.”

League tables are irrelevant, most parents think

LED pavement lights

is part of our ongoing steps in the council’s plans to transform Ealing into a safer and friendlier cycling borough.”

The LED powered lights are already being used in Europe in biking cities such as Amsterdam.

The NASUWT have reported that less than a third of parents check league tables when they are scouting for their children's school. In fact, statistics show that the winning factor is general information from websites with 54% of parents relying on the facts they

read there. Another 49% read the latest inspection

report and 53% rely on word of mouth, talking to the parents of children attending the prospective institution.

The general secretary of NASUWT urged government officials to take note of these findings and accept that league tables are an unnecessary and

'negative annual ritual'.

"It is clear that punitive ranking of schools in performance league tables is not something on which the majority of parents rely,” he said. “Therefore schools, parents and children are subjected to this negative annual ritual unnecessarily."

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MEDIA WATCH

The last few days have been truly terrible. The gruesome murders of innocent French people in a jihadi attack in the offices the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine, in Paris, is a further reminder of the combustible world in which we live. Those in the civilized world who enjoy the basic freedoms of thought and expression enshrined in the rule of law should count their blessings and never take what they have for granted (More on this on page 3) Earlier, there was a flutter of concern in India at media reports that a vessel from the direction of Pakistan had been sighted on the high seas moving steadily towards Indian shores.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

2G auction cleared The Union Cabinet has approved the largest ever telecom spectrum auction that is targeted to earn the exchequer Rs 64,840 crore. The government will sell 380.75 megaertz of second generation (2G) spectrum in three bands – the premium 800 MHz and 1800 MHz. Spectrum in 2100 MHz may also be put up for auction simultaneously after the Defence Ministry vacates it. The Cabinet approved a reserve price of Rs3,646 crore pan-India per MHz in 800 MHz, Rs 3,900 crore for 900 MHz band pan-India excluding Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Jammu and Kashmir Proceeds from this year’s auction will help government reach its fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of GDP (Business Line,Hindu January 6)

munities, will feature a multicity week-long programme spread across 13 industry sectors,” Nicola Watkinson< Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner for South and South East Asia, Australia Trade Commission (Business Line January 8)

Kerry, Ban Ki Moon at Vibrant Gujarat summit

Bengal. In the last few months, the demand for FMCG in the country has increased and West Bengal is topping the chart. It is quite remarkable.”

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) MD & CEO N Chandrasekaran: “ We have been on a growth trajectory. Now we are planning to recruit13,000 people in the next 24 months, taking our headcount here [West Bengal] to 40,000.”(Times of India January 8).

US Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon arrived at the weekend to attend the Vibrant Gujarat Global and Investors’ summit in Ahmedabad, where they shared the stage with Prime

In the latest twist to the mysterious death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of the high profile Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, has been a statement by the Delhi Police

Tharoor mystery

Ashok Leyland revival on track

A million people joined world leaders including David Cameron in a huge unity rally on the streets of Paris - See comment page 3

The Indian Coast Guard intercepted the vessel, which had been tracked by Indian Intelligence agencies from the start of its journey in Pakistani waters and the information passed on to the naval authorities. The Coast Guard said four men on the boat, finding themselves cornered fired the vessel, which sank with those on board.

“This route is not the normal fishing route and the area is not a fishing area. Even smugglers of gold and contraband take a busy route to pass off as a fishing boat,” said India’s Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Furthermore, smugglers do not maintain communications with Pakistani maritime security agencies or their army officers, he said.

Surveillance

“Intelligence inputs were clear and left no room for speculation by the Coast Guard. They reacted immediately. The boat was under our surveillance for almost 12-14 hours and the Coast Guard intercepted it as soon as possible,” explained the minister.” Communication intercepts by Indian Intelligence agencies indicated the conversations were about passing on cargo. Asked about the repeated ceasefire violations on the Kashmir border, Minister Parrikar replied: “It only proves what we have been saying: that there is an attempt to push unwanted elements across the border and covering fire happens to facilitate that.” (Hindu, Times of India, Telegraph January 6)

Panagariya appointment

Economist and author Arvind Panagariya is to head the new institution, Niti Aayog, which

replaces the Planning Commission. He will be its Vice Chairman, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Chairman, keeping faith the administrative structure of the Planning

Arvind Panagariya Vice Chairman, Niti Aayog

Commission. The government believes that the Planning Commission had outlived its relevance and the new body replacing would be more in tune with the goal of transforming the Indian economy in line with the new ground realities.

New thinking

New thinking and fresh approaches on economic issues is the need of the hour. Dr Panagariya currently teaches at Columbia University in the US and was Chief Economist at the Asian Development Bank. He is the author of a number of books, among them the acclaimed “ Why Growth Matters: How Economic Growth in India Reduced Poverty and the Lessons for Other Developing Countries,” which Panagariya co-authored with Professor Jagdish Bhagwati ,also from Columbia University. Other notable appointments to Niti Aayog include economist Bibek Debroy and scientist and former Adviser to the Defence Minister , Dr V.K.Saraswat. (Mint, Business Line January 6)

A crisis is calculated to concentrate minds. When the Indian economy was in slowdown in 2013, leading carmakers, including Ashok Leyland felt the chill with steeply declining sales.

Desperate situations often result in desperate remedies . Vinod Datari, Managing Director of Ashok Leyland trvalled to London to meet the Hinduja brothers, the owners of the company. He presented them with his tough rescue plan and got their nod – a hard decision, with no other realistic option in sight.

The plan worked and sales began to pick up. The company reported a profit of Rs 120 crore following losses spanning six consecutive quarters. “It’s just the beginning of the story,” said an analyst of a global consulting firm. “With the market recovering, the real challenge for the company would be to sustain the lead. The impact of newer entrants is likely to be more pronounced now than ever before.”

(Mint December 15)

Australia trade deal

Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb is to meet his Indian counterpart Rudi Prasad and senior Indian officials to clinch the pending free trade agreement (FTA) between the countries. India and Australia have recently restarted on the subject. FTA talks were initiated by the Congress-led UPA government in 2011 has been reenergized by both sides and has gained considerable traction.

This will entail a reduction in tariffs for most goods traded the countries as well as liberalized rules for the flow of investments and services.

Business delegation

A 400-member Australian business delegation is to arrive in India shortly to sign commercial pacts in the areas of water management, manufacturing , sports education tourism, skills development, road safety, rail transport, life sciences and tropical medicine. “The mission, which aims at promoting interaction between the two business com-

US Secretary of State John Kerry, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon

Minister Narendra Modi, once a chief minister of Gujarat. About Fortune 500 companies CEOs and 200 other global company heads were also present at the meet. Security agencies and police have thrown a tight cordon around the VIPs (Business Line January 12). More next week.

Bengal business meet

registering a case of murder after a receiving a medical report submitted by AIIMS on December 29.

The Delhi Police Commissioner B.S.Bari, told the media that the report had concluded that the poison found in Ms Pushkar’s body was either injected or fed orally. The postmortem examination and autopsy were conducted by an AIIMS team along with teams from the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory. The evidence collected by the teams was included in the AIIMS report (Hindu January 7).

Barely a week ago, Dr Bikash Chandra Sinha, an eminent Cambridge-educated physicist pronounced that West Bengal was a “bhaarta rashtra” [ failed state in English]. He deplored Diaspora welcomed the rising student hooliganism in schools and colleges across An ordinance has been issued to the state caused by the politiamend the Citizenship Act and cization of education. There may confer similar rights to Persons be a sliver of hope that things of Indian Origin (PIO) and may improve. The state’s volatile Overseas Citizens of and unpredictable Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, has convened an ambitious business conference in Kolkata for Indian and global company executives to meet and interact with ministers and officials with a view to investing in the state.

She has promised them land and other facilities.

Union Finance Narendra Modi with Guyana President Donald Ramotar Minister Arun Jaitley and his India(OCI)will free the visiting Cabinet colleague Nitin diaspora of procedural irritants Gadkari, both invited guests as such as frequent calls to police Ms Banerjee sets about her stations.

Prime Minister charm offensive with Centre, Narendra Modi addressing the with whom she has promised to Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas in cooperate.

Gandhinagar, at which Guyana’s Present Donald Ramotar was Optimism present, appealed the diaspora communities to involve themAdi Godrej MD & CEO of the selves with India’s development, Godrej Group, among others, for instance, to help fund the struck a note of optimism: “I Ganga clean-up project now would like to congratulate the under way (Business Line Chief Minister on the steps January 9) taken for doing business in W

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Boy, 16, in court over Bilal Mirza murder in Marylebone

A 16-year-old charged with the murder of teenager Bilal Mirza in Marylebone appeared in court over the weekend.

Bilal Mirza, 18, of North Kensington, was walking along Salisbury Street outside Lea House on Thursday (January 8) at about 10.40pm when he was stabbed. He was taken to St Mary’s Hospital by ambulance but died less than an hour later at 11.24pm from a stab wound to the thigh.

A 16-year-old boy, who cannot legally be named, was arrested and charged with Bilal’s murder after attending a police station at 3am on Friday. He has also been charged with possession of an offensive weapon without lawful authority or reasonable excuse in a public place in relation to a multi-tool knife. He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday (January 10)

Bilal Mirza

where the judge told him his case would be heard at the Old Bailey tomorrow (January 13). In court his mother was crying and he started crying as he was taken away to a youth detention centre.

Detectives are asking witnesses to come forward as they continue their investigations.

DCI Noel McHugh, leading the investigation for the Homicide and Major Crime command, said: “My condolences are with Bilal’s family at this tragic time, and our investigation continues

Regular naps are 'key to learning'

The key to learning and memory in early life is a lengthy nap, say scientists.

Trials with 216 babies up to 12 months old indicated they were unable to remember new tasks if they did not have a lengthy sleep soon afterwards.

The University of Sheffield team suggested the best time to learn may be just before sleep and emphasised the importance of reading at bedtime.

Experts said sleep may be much more important

in early years than at other ages.

People spend more of their time asleep as babies than at any other point in their lives.

Yet the researchers, in Sheffield and Ruhr University Bochum, in Germany, say "strikingly little is known" about the role of sleep in the first year of life.

The results, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed "sleeping like a baby" was vital for learning.

to evidence exactly what took place and led to his death.

“Whilst we have had good support from local community affected by this violent crime, and a number of witnesses come forward, I continue my appeals for more people, especially young people, to come forward.

“I know that there were several youths in the area at the time of the stabbing and I am appealing directly to them to come forward and speak with officers. They can be assured that any call they make to us will be treated in the strictest of confidence. If you were in the area and saw what happened please call our incident room.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the incident room on 020 8785 8099 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via www.crimestoppers-uk.org

UK

Half-deaf pensioner ordered to pay £2,000 for playing loud music A half-deaf pensioner who annoyed her neighbours by constantly blasting out Bhangra music has been ordered to pay more than £2,000.

Satinder Kholi, 72, pictured, repeatedly ignored warnings about playing loud music from her house and back garden after being served a noise abatement notice in July 2013.

Magistrates heard she continually breached the order by playing Sound Asia FM tunes from her property in Kings Heath, Birmingham, at all hours of the day and night. But she continued to blast out tunes from her radio and environmental health officers received more complaints about noise levels at her home.

An environmental health officer visited her home on July 30 last year and heard loud music coming from Ms Kholi's home. A tape recorder was installed and recordings made over two days in

August reached levels that constituted a 'statutory noise nuisance.'

On August 29, officers seized Ms Kholi's radio, television and laptop. She was charged with three counts of contravening or failing to comply with an abatement notice under Environmental Protection Act. Councillor Barbara Dring, who chairs the city council's Licensing and Public Protection Committee, said: 'Our officers have received numerous complaints about loud music coming from Ms Kholi's home since April 2013 and she was served with a noise abatement notice in July 2013.

However, officers continued to receive complaints and, as a result, seized audio equipment from her home on three occasions.

Despite being asked to turn down the volume, she has repeatedly broken the terms of this notice and shown a lack of respect for her neighbours' welfare

Reprieve for armed police

One of Britain’s biggest police forces has apparently abandoned plans to reduce its firearms capability after the terror attacks in France.

Senior officers at Greater Manchester police met within hours of the killings on Wednesday and agreed that a plan to cut firearms officer posts should not go ahead, the Manchester Evening News reported.

Officers told the newspaper that no decision had officially been made but it is understood that they will reverse plans to lose 25 posts from the force’s firearms unit and 50 officers from its traffic division as part of government cuts.

In November, figures showed that the number of authorised police firearms officers in England and Wales had fallen by 760 since 2009, to 4,986. It comes amid an

13

increasingly worrying terror climate. The UK’s threat level is rated “severe”, which means that security forces believe that an attack is highly likely.

Senior officers have also warned about the threat posed by hundreds of radicalised British youths returning from Syria.

November’s figures, obtained by the industry website Police Oracle under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that 22 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales had reduced the number of firearms officer posts in the past five years.

and wellbeing - so I am pleased to hear she's been found guilty of these offences.'

Her daughter Anita Mukherjee, 44, said her mother was partially deaf and was not bothering anybody with her music. “'It is just one neighbour who complained. My mother is deaf in one ear.

She is entitled to lead her life, she's not bothering anyone. Playing music in the day time doesn't hurt anyone. She doesn't listen to music loudly or at antisocial hours.'

One in three care homes is judged to be substandard

Almost a third of homes for the elderly have been judged as substandard under a new inspection regime that has granted its top rating to just one residential care home in the three months since it was set up.

The Care Quality Commission has so far examined 353 care homes and domiciliary services, which offer care to the elderly in their own homes. Of these, 24 were judged to be inadequate and face closure if they do not improve swiftly, and 81 “require improvement”.

Of the rest, 245 have been judged “good”. Only three services have been given an “outstanding” rating — two domiciliary care companies

and one care home, Prince of Wales House in Ipswich, Suffolk.

When the new system began, the CQC warned that it would be tough, and Andrea Sutcliffe, chief inspector of adult social care, predicted that about 5 per cent of services would get the top grade. So far it has been fewer than 1 per cent.

Homes that are judged inadequate are issued with warning notices and given deadlines for improvements to be made.

However, inspectors have also closed homes on the spot.

14

UK

Man denies causing death of Crawley mum through dangerous driving

The man charged with causing the death of Crawley mum Lisa Watling through dangerous driving has denied the allegation.

Minesh Parbat, 35, appeared at Lewes Crown Court last Friday (January 9) to enter a plea to a charge of causing death by dangerous driving. He pleaded not guilty.

Parbat was driving a BMW Z3 sports car in which Miss Watling was a passenger when it careered off Crawley Avenue, between the Tushmore and Hazelwick roundabouts, and crashed into a fence at about 1.40am on March 9 last year.

Miss Watling, a 28year-old mother-of-two, from Kestrel Close, in Langley Green, who worked at Rush hair salon,

Lisa Watling

Minesh Parbat

in the town centre, died later that day from her injuries.

Parbat, from Gregory Close in Maidenbower, previously faced a separate charge of drink-driving as well during the same incident.

However, the court heard the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had decided to put forward a single indict-

ment and include the drink-driving accusation as part of the evidence during the trial.

Parbat, from Gregory Close in Maidenbower, was released on conditional bail, with conditions not to go to Graffham Close, in Ifield, and not to contact a number of individuals.He is due to return to Lewes Crown Court on July 13 for trial.

Shepherd’s Bush trio convicted of gunpoint brothel robberies in Brent

Three men from Shepherd’s Bush have been convicted of carrying out a series of gunpoint robberies in brothels across Brent.

Faisal Masood, 18, Melchezedic Williams, 19, and 45-year-old Amjad Masood, all of Goldhawk Road, targeted 16 bordellos in the borough between March 12 and June 26 last year. They were arrested by detectives who raided their addresses shortly after their final robbery.

Investigating officers

interviewed nearly 100 witnesses, seized more than 400 exhibits and around 6,000 telephone numbers during their enquiries.

A majority of witnesses were foreign nationals

who were traced using Interpol and flown back to the UK to give evidence at the men’s trial.

Last month at Harrow Crown Court all three were found guilty of one count of conspiracy to rob and Faisal Massod was also convicted of one count of possession of an imitation firearm Amjad Masood and Williams were additionally convicted of possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. They will be sentenced on January 30.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice17th January 2015

Keith Vaz urges governments across the EU to lift ban on mangoes The Rt Hon Keith Vaz, MP for Leicester East, has written to Prime Ministers and Presidents across EU Member States, requesting they vote to end the ban on certain fruit and vegetables originating in India at an upcoming EU Standing Committee Meeting. The crucial meeting will take place in Brussels on the 19/20th J a n u a r y 2015.

Keith Vaz said: “This is a significant opportunity to lift a ban which has caused chaos for businesses in India and the

United Kingdom.

“An investigation by the EU showed major improvements have been made to quality and control measures in India and there should now be no reason to continue this harmful ban. Now, on the 19-20th January, we can take this final step.

“I have written to the heads of government

Keith Vaz

across the EU, as this issue has not only been significant for the 1.4 million people of Indian origin in the United Kingdom, but is a benchmark for the relationship between India and the European Union. I am grateful to the British government for its support to the campaign to lift the ban.”

Queen’s Park man jailed for £270k crash for cash insurance scam

A man from Queen’s Park has been jailed for his role in a crash for cash insurance scam which saw him pocket more than £270,000.

Bashir Zairi, pictured, of Malvern Road, deliberately set up road accidents involving innocent and vulnerable drivers so he could make fake claims to insurance companies. He particularly targeted Tesco delivery vans.

Once a crash took place the 30-year-old would be paid out for personal injury, vehicle hire, vehicle storage, recovery and damages. He was caught when the supermarket giant alerted the police to a surge in insur-

ance claims involving their delivery vehicles and a criminal investigation called Operation Catcher was launched.

Working with Tesco.com, the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), Hill Dickinson LLP and the wider insurance industry, officers identified Zairi as

a suspect.

Enquiries revealed he had committed a number of deliberately staged, induced or contrived crashes with a financial value of £313,000, of which he was paid £279,267.

Ben Fletcher, IFB director, said: “The IFB works to detect ‘Crash for Cash’ scams which put the lives of innocent people at risk and costs almost £400 million each year, and to identify fraudsters who are selling fake insurance.

The notion of insurance fraud as a ‘victimless crime’ is out-dated and this sentence rightfully reflect the severity of the offences.”

Sham wedding exposed as 'bride and groom' communicate via app

A bogus bride and groom were caught when officials saw them communicating via a phone translation app.

Registry office workers in Shropshire raised the alarm after becoming concerned at the antics of Avtar Singh and his Czech 'bride'.

Singh, 38, was already married but needed an EU bride to stay in the country so agreed to pay to marry the mystery Eastern European.

Describing the wedding, registrar Paul Ainscough said: “The hem of the bride’s dress was soiled and she wore it without any deportment or sense of occasion.”

Fixer Robert Miko pocketed thousands of pounds by setting men like Singh up with Czech brides so they could tie the knot.

Another man, Hamid Mushtaq, wed Pavlina Kratka in a near-empty registry office with Miko as one of the guests. After a reception at KFC the newlyweds genuinely fell in love - and were in bed

together when immigration officials swooped on their flat a year later. The couple were jailed for 18 months at Manchester Crown Court last Friday after being convicted of conspiring to assist unlawful immigration by arranging a sham marriage.

The fixers ran an international ‘delivery service’ in 2012 and 2013, shipping Czech women to the UK so they could marry ‘overstayers’.

Bogus groom Singh was locked up for 12 months. Members of the gang who arranged the fake marriages, most from Manchester, were jailed for between 16 months and five years.

Meanwhile the Home Office has been accused of failing to act on official warnings of bogus marriages. Three quarters of reports about alleged sham marriages result in no action being taken, according to a survey of registrars.

Registrars who send details to the Home Office of suspect mar-

Avtar Singh with fake bride

riages rarely receive any feedback on whether the allegation was investigated. Results from an online survey of registrars showed that of 879 reports that a planned marriage might be bogus, registrars knew of action being taken to investigate or stop the wedding in only 213 cases.

The Home Office provided feedback in only 51 of the reports sent in from 14 register offices, according to the survey. It found that 323 suspected sham marriages were reported in Manchester between 2013 and the summer of 2014; 181 in Harrow, north London; 143 in

Liverpool; and 41 in Oxfordshire.

There were large disparities over time, with none being reported in Manchester in 2011 and 2012, followed by 166 and 157 in the two subsequent years.

In Harrow, no sham marriages were reported in 2011, while there were 37 in 2012 and 124 in 2013. Last year John Vine, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, said that no reports about suspected marriages were being made in some big cities. He did not identify the areas for fear that it would displace criminal

activity from one city to another.

Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, said the findings from the online survey showed that the government must act. “Sham marriages in the UK have become a postcode lottery,” he said.

He continued: “There is significant underreporting in some areas.

There are three easy ways to stamp out this practice: better training for registrars; giving them the power to stop marriages that they suspect are sham; and making it a criminal offence for people who arrange these marriages for profit.”

Registrars have a duty to report to the Home Office when they have reasonable grounds to suspect that a marriage is being entered in to solely to enable one of the parties the right of access to the UK. Official figures put the number of reports in 2013 at 2,135, although some registrars believe that the actual figure is

much higher.

Mark Rimmer, director of registrars service at Brent council in north London, said: “We hugely underestimate [sham marriages].”

He added that the Home Office’s failure to provide feedback about what action had been taken on warnings about suspect marriages had made registrars think there was little point in reporting their suspicions.

A Home Office spokesman said: “There are a number of reasons why numbers vary, but we are cracking down on sham marriages wherever we find them. In 2013-14 we intervened in more than 1,300 suspected sham marriages — more than double the number of the previous year.”

In April rules come into force under which the notice period for marriage and civil partnerships will be extended from 15 days to 28 days, with aim of giving the authorities more time to investigate suspect sham weddings.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Crawley man arrested in counterterrorism raid "travelled to Syria on humanitarian aid mission"

The man arrested on suspicion of being involved in the Syrian conflict travelled to the country on an aid mission according to a Muslim leader.

Officers from the South East Counter Terrorism Unit (SECTU) working with Sussex Police arrested a 40-yearold man in the early hours of last Wednesday before bailing him later the same day. He was taken into custody under Section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of being involved in some way with the war in Syria.

Arif Syed, chairman of Crawley Mosque, would not name the individual in question but confirmed he attends the mosque in Broadwood Rise and said he does not believe he is a terrorist.

Mr Syed said: "I know this person very well. He regularly comes to the mosque and is a family man with a wife and a 10year-old son. I have known him for seven to eight years and it is my belief that he is not a terrorist. He is always friendly, he is not a violent person. From what his neighbours have said as well he is popular and well-liked in the community."

Arif Syed, chairman of Crawley Mosque

Mr Syed added the man had travelled to Syria on a humanitarian mission. "He went to Syria on a humanitarian mission to deliver aid and I'm as certain as I can be that it was the only reason he went out there. He came back before we asked members of the mosque not to go out to Syria, when we realised just how dangerous it was. To the best of my knowledge nobody has gone out since," he said.

There was police activity in Broadwood Rise, on the same road as Crawley Mosque in Broadfield, yesterday and while officers have not confirmed where the arrest took place, Mr Syed said the individual lived in the road.

Prince Andrew: scandal spreads

Though Prince Andrew, accused of having sex with an underage teenager by the name of 'Virginia Roberts', through previously convicted socialite friend Jeffrey Epstein, has denied the charges in public, there has been a flurry of developments in the media. The biggest instigator: an incriminating photograph with his hand draped around the minor in question.

On LBC radio last week, PM David Cameron, who had previously backed the Prince's friendship with the wealthy businessman Epstein, refused to make a comment: “I'm not going to make any comment on it (…) obviously, the Prince has made his own views very, very clear, and I think I'll leave it at that.”

Sources close to the Prince have also confided to 'The Telegraph' that he has gone from worrying about his friendship with the American national to having deep regrets: “He is watching the news and reading the headlines” said the source, “and even though the friendship with Jeffrey Epstein was acknowledged as being unwise back in 2011, now more than ever, he can see how foolish it was.”

Dershowitz, a famed attorney and one of the many prominent figure

Prince Andrew

accused of dealings in the Roberts 'sex slave' ring, is currently fighting her lawyers in the U.S. In a statement to 'The Guardian', he said about the other men accused “If they’re innocent, they should do what I’m doing (…) You can’t do what I’m doing unless you’re 100% certain of your innocence.” However, he also added that perhaps for someone in Andrew's position it was “an undignified way to respond.”

The Prince has also hinted that to file a legal proceeding when he does not need to appear in court would besmirch his royal position, especially after Buckingham Palace and his ex-wife Ferguson, have so vehemently denied the incident. Indeed he has been urged by invested politicians 'to keep a low profile' regarding a visit scheduled to Davos in the coming month.

As Dershowitz' legal

When speaking to the Crawley News Mr Syed said he had not been in contact with the man since he was bailed. It is less than 12 months since a Crawley dad carried out a suspected suicide bombing in Syria.

Father-of-three Abdul Waheed Majeed, from Martyrs Avenue, Langley Green, is believed to have driven an armoured lorry full of explosives into a prison in Aleppo in the war-ravaged country last February. He was thought to have been in Syria on a humanitarian mission.

Mr Syed said he does not believe the man arrested this week had any connection with Mr Majeed and spoke out to condemn any terrorist links in Crawley.

He added: "We condemn all acts of terrorism.

The Muslim community in Crawley is united against these terrible actions. I don't understand how they can be carried out in the name of religion when we totally condemn it. It is not permissible."

UK

15

Major project to help traumatised children worldwide A child psychiatrist from the University of Leicester is to embark on a global mission to help child victims of trauma in low income countries around the world.

Professor Panos Vostanis from the Greenwood Institute of Child Health based at the University of Leicester School of Psychology will be visiting a series of countries throughout 2015, in Europe and beyond, in order to train volunteer workers and practitioners to effectively deliver aid to those most in need of it, including child victims of drug abuse, poverty and medical illness.

Professor Vostanis said: “Child mental health is attracting public and media attention worldwide, with an increasing number of initiatives to reduce stigma, improve recognition of child mental health problems, and offer appropriate help and intervention at an early stage.

“This is particularly important for children who suffer from adversity and various types of trauma, and who live in

low income countries with limited access to specialist services.

“As universities play an increasingly global and active role in working closely with other academic centres, services and communities, we are pursuing our strategy in strengthening these links with the vision of helping the most vulnerable children and young people who have experienced extreme poverty, abuse and war trauma.”

In order to achieve this, Professor Vostanis will be visiting such collaborating centres to establish new joint training programmes with international universities, services and nongovernmental organisations.

Starting in Mumbai,

w h e r e Professor Vostanis will be visiting between 2228 January, he will be training practitioners and volunteer workers of two large charities – the Dr Leo B a r n e s Foundation and the Ramakrishna Mission and will be visiting communities affected by trauma.

Some of these visits will include shelter houses for children up to the age of 18, slum areas where children affected by drug abuse live, villages exposed to tuberculosis and leprosy and orphanages for children who have been abandoned or have lost their parents.

His travels will then take him to Kocaeli in Turkey, with Professor Nisha Dogra from the University of Leicester School of Psychology, followed by Nakuru, Kenya, to provide training and psychosocial support to victims of ethnic conflict.

Fox Searchlight Pictures present: An Exclusive Bollywood Dance Competition!

WIN THE CHANCE TO PERFORM AT THE CTBF ROYAL FILM PERFORMANCE AND WORLD PREMIERE OF THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL: Do you belong to a professional dance troupe? Perhaps you’re a group of students at dance school or you have a group of friends that can choreograph a spectacular sequence. If that sounds like you then enter this exciting new competition now.

You will the chance to appear alongside Dev Patel and the stellar cast from the 2012 smash hit, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in the highly anticipated sequel – The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It follows the original cast members; Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie, Tina Desai and Lillete Dubey, who reprise their roles, with some surprising additions to an already superbly rich international ensemsuit rages on, Prince Andrew could be called to the stand as a witness.

In the meantime Scotland Yard has been urged to co-operate by talking with the Prince's bodyguards. The security team may be asked to provide witness statements about illicit behaviour during Andrew's visits to the home of Jeffrey Epstein's mansion in Florida where he allegedly fraternised with naked women.

February 2015.

What you need to do for a chance to win: choreograph a Bollywood dance with your friends or dance troupe to Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, a track featuring in the film, and upload it to your personal YouTube channel. Tweet the link to your video to @SearchlightUK using the hashtag #MarigoldMoves or submit via the official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thebes texoticmarigoldhotel/photos/a.186 231721487716.36566.1525611315 21442/647565345354349/?type= 1 by Tuesday 27th January 2015.

ble, including Richard Gere and Tamsin Greig. The film has also been selected for the CTBF Royal Film Performance on 17th

For inspiration check out the some of the glowing trailers, reviews and summaries online.

The winning entry will be chosen by the film’s stars Dev Patel and Tina Desai!

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is released in the UK on 26 February 2015.

Cricklewood shisha café owner heavily fined for breaching smoking ban The owner of a shisha café in Cricklewood who allowed customers to smoke in an enclosed space has been fined almost £15,000.

Hassan El-Zein also failed to display health and under-age warnings on tobacco packing and shisha pipes inside Beirut Gardens in Cricklewood Broadway.

The 26-year-old failed to turn up at his hearing at Brent Magistrates’ Court

last week so a collection order was made meaning if he does not pay his fines within 28 days a bailiff will be sent to his home and business. The court heard officers from Brent Council carried out a routine visit at the café where they saw customers being supplied with shisha pipes, tobacco products and smoking in the substantially enclosed marquee at the back of the premises.

They also witnessed other offences in the café and took photographs for evidence.

He was fined £8,140 for the offences, £120 victim surcharge and £2,185 in costs to the council.

His company Beirut Gardens Limited was also fined £2,660, £100 victim surcharge and £500 in cost to the council. He must pay a total of £14,705 within 28 days.

16

SPECIAL

Modi meets Guyanese president, Mauritius minister

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Guyana President Donald Ramotar and said India would set up its first IT Centre of Excellence on the South American continent in his country.

Meeting Ramotar on the sidelines of the 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Gandhinagar, Modi recalled his interaction with South American leaders on Narendra Modi the sidelines of the wirh Showkutally Soodhun BRICS Summit in 2014. small country on the conIndia has approved a tinent’s Caribbean coast. new Line of Credit of $50 India has also agreed to million for the East Bank concessional credit to supDemerara-East Coast ply a passenger ferry to Road Link Project in the help Guyana overcome

transportation problems in the northern region.

During his meeting with Vice Prime Minister of Mauritius, Showkatally Soodhun, Modi congratulated the Mauritius Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth on his recent election victory and renewed an invitation to him to visit India.

Jugnauth has also invited Modi to visit Mauritius.

During his meeting with South Africa Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Modi recalled the common heritage of the two countries, including struggle against colonial rule.

World leaders praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his strategies for the development of India.

The World Bank on Sunday said India could grow at 6.4% in 2015 and accelerate growth further the next year. The World

Modi's “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas“ (Together with All, Development for All) slogan. “It needs to be adopted by all of us,” Kerry said.

As for Gujarat, Kerry said that the state had become “synonymous with change, possibilities and energy.” He said: “I know because of his dedication in the course of his leadership in Gujarat the people of India have given him a special mandate.”

On the Indo-US commercial links, Kerry said that the annual trade in goods and services between the US and India had grown nearly five-fold since 2000. Bilateral FDI now stands at nearly USD 30 billion. “I want to ensure that our economic relationship grows stronger in every respect,” Kerry said.

UN boss praises PM's sustainable energy plans

15 honoured with Prav www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

World leaders praise Modi & India

Jim Yong Kim

Bank sees India's case as “a bright spot in an otherwise mediocre global economic outlook,” the multilateral lending agency's president Jim Yong Kim said at the summit.

Jim said that Modi has focused on programmes to promote “broadsharing of benefits”. Jim said: “The government's special allocation of a fund for entrepreneurs from among the Scheduled Castes, and its focus on fixing bottlenecks so that money earmarked for the Scheduled Tribes reaches them, are both ethically just and economically sound responses.” Jim said that there are many reasons for optimism among investors, entrepreneurs and CEOs in Gujarat and in the country as a whole.

He said Modi and his government are quickly putting in place the building blocks for rapid growth, streamlining the national regulatory structure, using public funds more efficiently, and promoting social inclusion.

Bhutan seeks investment in clean, green energy Bhutan's Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay stole the limelight and enthralled the audience with his speech at the summit. Tobgay began his speech by saying that he

Tshering Tobgay

was on an economic pilgrimage to bring investments to his country which is otherwise a small economy. “Bhutan is a small economy sandwiched between two large economic powers - India and China,” he said, drawing instant applause and laughter in the jampacked main convention centre at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar. “Our gross domestic product is $1.7 billion. I know that many of these delegates present here are individually worth more than our GDP. In fact, some are worth far more than our GDP,'' Tobgay said.

The Bhutanese PM said his country was a green and sustainable economy with 72% forest cover and over half of the country coming under national parks.While inviting companies to invest in his country, Tobgay, however, put some conditions.

Modi's development slogan fit for all of us: Kerry

John Kerry

The US secretary of state, John Kerry eulogized Modi's home state Gujarat and also said that initiatives like `Make in India' would be win-win propositions for the whole planet. Kerry made the remarks while speaking at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit. Kerry lauded

Ban Ki-moon

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon while speaking at the inaugural session of the VGS, called on India to play a greater role in finding sustainable energy solutions for the world's development-related problems in this “historic year of 2015.” “I congratulate Gujarat for harnessing solar energy for sustainable development.

These are some of the initiatives India can take forward for the welfare of humanity,” the UN secretary general said. He also welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiatives to increase use of renewable energy sources (wind and solar) and build smart cities that will use sustainable energy solutions.

Fifteen people who have done outstanding work in their field of work were honoured with Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards by India's Vice-President Hamid Ansari at the valedictory session of the 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar. The awardees included the president of a country to the CEO of a software giant to a novice community worker. Other awardees included a member of parliament from New Zealand, a judge from Seychelles, and an eminent scientist from Mexico. All awardees are people of Indian origin who have done exem-

plary work in their fields and contributed towards fostering friendly relations between the country they live in and India.

Ashraf Parakunmummal (40), a community worker in UAE, who helps families by sending bodies of their kin who die in the UAE to their homeland, was awarded, along with Guyana president Donald R Ramotar, Microsoft CEO Satyanaraya Nadella (who was not present), and Mala Mehta, an educationalist from Australia.

Also awarded were Dr Rajaram Sanjaya, a scientist from Mexico; Kamaljit Singh Bakshi, a member of parlia-

Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay visited the various parts of Gujarat, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home town of Vadnagar on Monday during his Vibrant Gujarat visit.

He spent over an hour at the Buddhist stupa and monastery, besides meeting Modi's brother Somabhai Modi in Vadnagar.“Delighted to meet Somabhai, PM@narendramodi brother.

He looks just like his brother when he offers a warm smile with a sparkle in his eyes,” Tobgay tweeted.

The Bhutanese prime minister described his visit to Vadnagar as a spiritual pilgrimage. He was seen keenly listening to the history of the relics from the Buddhist era.

The Bhutanese PM and his 18-member delegate was followed by a large crowd as he walked around the monastery in his traditional Bhutanese attire.

He greeted the curious crowd with a smile and waving of hand as he walked the streets of the town. “Begun my spiritual pilgrimage by visiting Vadnagar, important to both Hindus and Buddhists. And birthplace of PM Modi,” Tobagay further wrote on the micro-blogging website.

While in Vadnagar, he also visited the 1,000-yearold Kirti Toran built during the Solanki era. There he visited a private company that cultivated mushroom using organic waste. Tobagay wanted to apply that same technology in his country.

ment in New Zealand; philanthropist from Oman, Rajmal Parakh; Justice Duraikannu Karunakaran from Seychelles; former member of parliament from South Africa, Essop Goolam Pahad; social worker Bharat Kumar Shah from UAE; industrialist Mehta from Uganda; Prof Nathuram Puri from the UK; Lord Raj Loomba from the UK; scientist Kamalesh Lulla from the USA; and venture capitalist Nandini Tandon from the US. Vice-President Ansari said that overseas Indians have knowledge and resources to reinforce India's effort in niche areas. “They

Bhutan PM vists Modi's home town

Narendra Modi with Tshering Tobgay

Before going to Vadnagar, Tobgay visited GIFT City in Gandhinagar and said he was inspired by India's first `Smart City'. Later in the day, he also visited Charankha solar park in Patan district and Amadavad Haat in Ahmedabad.

vasi Bharatiya Samman www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

are in virtually every country and region of the world.

Some, particularly in recent times, have gone voluntarily; the ancestors of others were victims of circumstance; compulsions of livelihood propelled many others,” he said.

Ansari said overseas Indian's profession ranged from blue collars workers to men and women of science, doctors, engineers, IT professionals, business persons, entrepreneurs and investors.

He said that India today was on the cusp of change, in the process of actualising the expectations of its vast population for a better life. “In this endeavour, an important role

can be and must be played by the overseas Indians. They have knowledge and resources to reinforce the effort in niche areas; they also have the experience of other lands where similar efforts were pursued successfully,” he added.

The awardees were: 1. Mala Mehta from Australia 2. President Donald Rabindernauth Ramaotar from Guyana 3. Dr Rajaram Sanjaya from Mexico 4. Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi from New Zealand 5. Rajamal Parakh from Oman

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D u r a i k a n n u Karunakaran from Seychelles Essop Goolam Pahad from South Africa Bharat Kumar Jayantilal Shah from UAE Ashraf Pellarkunnmal from UAE Mahendra Nanji Mehta from Uganda Nathuram Puri from the United Kingdom Satyanarayan Nadela from USA Kamlesh Lulla from the US Nandani Tandon from US Lord Raj Lumba from the United Kingdom

Sushma opens Gandhi art exhibition

The Mahatma, a charity art exhibition put together by the Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust and the Art Alive Gallery as a fundraiser for the statue in London’s Parliament Square, was inaugurated by India's minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj, at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The ministry transported the art works from Delhi to Gujarat to include it with exhibits commemorating the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi's return to India.

The three-day exhibition at the Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, was also viewed

by Priti Patel, the UK government's Indian diaspora champion and exchequer secretary to the Treasury, who described it as “fantastic”. Many of the art works by leading artists such as Jatin Das, Manjunath Kamath, Atul Dodiya and Sudip Roy have already been sold to both national and international buyers. Artists including Arpana Caur and Paresh Kamath are sharing the proceeds of the sale with the Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust.

The Art Alive Gallery and the Trust are actively encouraging people to contribute towards the Gandhi sculpture by buying exhibits. Lord

Meghnad Desai, chair of the Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust, said: “The art exhibition has been a huge success, and it now has a further special significance because it fits in so well with the theme of Mahatma Gandhi which prevails at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. The sale of these paintings, as well as a steady stream of donations has reached more than £500,000 – and more contributions are expected in the coming weeks.”

Sunaina Anand, curator of the exhibition, said: “The exhibition was appreciated by Sushma Swaraj as well as Priti Patel. That proves not just the

international appeal of Gandhi's legacy but also the success of the participating artists in depicting his life and work.

Artworks at the gallery can be viewed and bought online by visiting www.gandhistatue.org or www.artalivegallery.com For any further information please contact Lord Desai: mobile 00 44 (0)7799 661692 email: lord.mdesai@gmail.com Or Sunaina Anand: mobile 00 91 (0)9810 298800 email: sunaina@artalivegallery.com Or Kishwar Desai: 00 91 (0) 9810 406230 email: ladykishwardesai@gmail.com

SPECIAL

17

Come, connect and contribute: Sushma tells diaspora youth

India's Minister for overseas Indian affairs Sushma Swaraj called on the diaspora youth gathered at Gandhinagar for the 2015 Youth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) to "come, connect, celebrate and contribute" to be part of the "momentous transformation taking place in India".

Speaking at the inauguration function, Sushma Swaraj urged the diaspora youth to contribute to India's development. She said the Narendra Modi government has taken several measures to ease the business environment, including by rationalising rules and identifying obsolete laws. The minister said the clear focus of the Modi government is on infrastructure development and the government is moving towards a transparent policy.

Earlier, welcoming hundreds of youth delegates, Sushma said it was a special joy to interact with the youth "who share a special bond of heart with India". She said the PBD is a platform to connect the diaspora with the motherland and promote the concept of a global Indian family.

Modi's world tours, initiatives helped boost India's global image: Sushma Crediting Prime Minister Modi’s “whirl-

wind tours” and “out-ofthe-box initiatives” for bringing about a sea change in India’s global image, Sushma Swaraj said even softer powers, like yoga, Indian curry and Bollywood songs, have contributed to enhancing the “image of a new India”.

Addressing a gathering of young NRIs Sushma said, “India’s soft power has been spreading around the world.

Be it Californians doing yoga or Britishers eating Indian curry or Egyptians dancing to Hindi songs; they all are contributing to the image of a new India.”

Crediting Modi for the improvement in India’s global image, the minister said, “The intensity of India’s international engagement has also increased manifold. This can be seen from the calendar of high-level visits both to and from India.

Prime Minister Modi’s

US secretary of state John Kerry said that Gujarat can gain significantly from the improved Indo-US ties as the state has already taken several initiatives to boost business confidence. Wrapping his twoday visit to Gujarat, Kerry told media persons that creating confidence among business community would be the key to attracting investments here.

“I am impressed by what I have seen here....

The number of businesses, enthusiasm, energy and excitement of people to engage in entrepreneurial activities not just with the US but worldwide. It's palpable... you can feel it... you can touch it. I think Gujarat, obviously, has an opportunity to gain significantly, because Gujarat has already been taking initiative, with respect to this,” Kerry said. To a question, Kerry said, “Prime Minister Modi made his reputation here, in Gujarat, and he did it by building efficiency, by trying to make government make decisions faster, by trying to streamline bureaucracy, trying to simplify and get decisions

made. If that can be extrapolated to the rest of India and, indeed, to other dealings with other countries, we all benefit.

Everybody benefits.”

Kerry said that it was important to create confidence to attract business.

“We all know that business wants confidence in their decision whether or not to allocate capital.

Capital works best with confidence.” Kerry said that the PM has made it very clear that he wants to

out-of-the-box initiatives and whirlwind tours have raised India’s global profile.” She also reminded the gathering of the forthcoming visit of American President Barack Obama, who is scheduled to grace the Republic Day celebrations.

Describing India as a nation gave the world the concept of “zero”, mastered the nuclear cycle, sent expeditions to Antarctica and an unmanned mission to moon and Mars, the minister said, “What excites the world today is the Indian economy which is the third largest in terms of purchasing power parity. India is showing new dynamism under the present NDA government.

Though we have been in office for less than eight months, we have been able to effect a complete transformation of the business sentiments vis-a-vis India.”

Gujarat can gain much from improved Indo-US ties: Kerry

Narendra Modi with John Kerry

move rapidly and do things that haven't been done till now.

The focus of the Modi Government on streamlining and moving things forward, increasing transparency, increasing accountability, moving to make decisions faster, all of these things are going to have a profound impact on people's decisions as to whether or not to invest, and how fast business community will be able to grow.” he said.

18

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Dear Financial Voice Reader, How many stocks does a financial TV channel mention in a day? Easily 100. With so much markets information how do you avoid stock ideas overload? Or perhaps you have the opposite problem - can’t get enough good ideas?

The mathematician will tell you that just because you throw eight consecutive ‘heads’ still means there is only a 50% chance of ‘heads’ on the next coin toss. The systems trader, however, will tell you that stock price patterns reflect the sum of market psychology and sentiment which regularly repeats itself in price patterns.

But there is more to trading than getting buy and sell signals. Should you bin all your investment magazines and entrust your money to a website? First consider these pointers from an old hand: Is it too good to be true, after all, many sites only charge subscribers $100 annually and even have a money-back guarantee? So test the signals on paper over the money-back period. What proportion of the signals worked? If three out of five worked – it is too few to tell.

More importantly, did you follow them? Many net traders lose money, not because of their stock picks, but because their lifestyles do not permit active monitoring. For them longer term investing, not these market timing sites are the only recourse.

The best system is not the most profitable one on back-testing, but the one you are most likely to follow. So consider the number of winning trades to losses, the number of consecutive losing trades, the largest single losing trade, the drop in trading capital from peak to trough.

Because are you really going to follow a system that promises 100% returns but along the way you face 10 consecutive losing trades and lose half your capital?

And before you get too excited about the spectacular historic returns, remember many of these sites are coy about mentioning commissions costs, slippage (the difference in share price between when you get the signal and the price you can actually trade in the market) - and the spread between the bid and the ask price as well as stamp duty.

Only by treating their trading like a business private investor traders discover whether they should hang up their mouses. The harsh reality for many is they should.

Start-up costs are the first to consider, including computer costs. Let’s assume you spent £1200 on hardware and assume that it’s lifetime is 3 years, the cost attributable for this year is £400.

Clearly, too few online traders have the trading capital to overcome costs and consequently need improbable returns to make any profit.

Even if you could average a Buffet-like 24% annual return on your £20,000 portfolio, you’re still not being well compensated. Imagine that you want to spend 6 hours a week researching and monitoring your positions. If you then eke an astounding £2000 profit after all costs, you are ‘being paid’ £6 per hour for your time. Better off working at McDonalds!

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India's retail inflation rises

India's retail inflation moved up marginally to 5 per cent in December as prices of some food items, including fruits and vegetables, increased. In November, retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was at 4.38 per cent - the lowest level since government started computing the new series of data in January 2012. In December 2013, retail inflation was at 9.87 per cent. Despite surge in retail inflation, analysts expect that RBI may ease interest rate in its February monetary policy review.

CMs compete to grab share of diaspora investment pie

Chief ministers from major Indian states competed with each other to grab a share of the diaspora investment pie.

Besides assuring of ease in doing business, the CMs, during a session on the concluding day of the 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), promised their personal attention, single window clearances, incentives and a dedicated personnel for guiding diaspora investors. Chief ministers from nine states including Congress-ruled Kerala, showcased their states as the most preferred investment destination to the Indian diaspora attending the PBD at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar.

The chief ministers who participated included Anandiben Patel (Gujarat), Prakash Singh Badal (Punjab), Shivraj

Singh Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh), Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), Oomen Chandy (Kerala), Devendra Fadnavis (Maharashtra), Manohar Khattar (Haryana), Laxmikant Parsekar (Goa) and Raghubir Das (Jharkhand).

The competition among the state was evident with each chief minister projecting his state as the best place to invest by enumerating the economic advantages and various policy initiatives taken by

his government.While Badal said that they have a single window clearance system in Punjab, Chouhan said in MP they have their door open for investment and he himself meets investors every week to decide on project proposals.

Naidu upped the ante by saying that he had fully digitized system for speedy and transparent clearance of industrial projects. Fadnavis promised to cut down time taken to process invest-

ment proposals and described new sectors for investment in Maharashtra. Haryana's Khattar and Goa's Pareskar too promised speedy processing of proposals. Jharkhand CM Das described opportunities in mining, steel, automobile and SME sectors in his state.

Kerala's Chandy said that his state had a structural advantage of long coastline, strong consumer base which would boost any industry set up there. He also demanded rehabilitation package for labourers returning to India from Gulf countries.

The strongest pitch was made by UP team. Though CM Akhilesh Yadav was absent from the the event, the UP officials unleashed a publicity blitzkreig projecting UP as biggest investment destination.

The Bradford & Bingley Action Group (BBAG), which represents around one million dispossessed shareholders of Bradford & Bingley plc, has appealed to the Parliamentary Ombudsman over what it describes as “administrative failures” by the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – formerly the Financial Services Authority - over the nationalisation of the now defunct UK bank in 2008.

David Blundell, BBAG’s chairman, after having had discussions with the Ombudsman’s office, sent formal complaints to the Cabinet Office and the Treasury.

They include questioning a statement received from the Cabinet Office in 2008 (“We have no files whatsoever”) in a response to a Freedom of Information (‘FOI’) request on the bank’s nationalisation.

The action group doubted this statement at the time and Blundell says their “suspicions would appear to have been proved correct” as following further FOI requests the Cabinet Office finally admitted in 2011 that it did have files.

BBAG has now written to Sir Jeremy Heywood, the Cabinet Secretary, making a formal complaint on the untrue statement made in 2008. According to Blundell this “destroyed

any momentum the BBAG campaign may have achieved in the months prior to the General Election in 2010, particularly in respect of a judicial review.” Based on the Ombudsman’s advice, BBAG has also made a formal complaint to Sir Nicholas Macpherson, Permanent Secretary at the Treasury, in regard to BBAG’s FOI request for details of all communications between BBC journalist Robert Peston and John Kingman, the Second Permanent Secretary at the Treasury at the time of the nationalisation. Blundell maintains that it was certain “well-informed reporting” that was a significant factor in causing a run on

B&B shares.

The Treasury response has been that they had “no such records” - including ‘On the Record’ briefings by policy officials with journalists. And, when Kingman left the Treasury in December 2008 “information on his laptop, smart phone and other network resources was cleared.” Blundell asks why on a matter like this of national importance such communications were not recorded - digitally or otherwise. BBAG will be holding a public meeting in London later this year to provide a further update.

For more information on BBAG see: www.bbaction.com

by Roger Aitken

Priti Patel, member of parliament and exchequer secretary to the treasury, said that UK would soon set up a trade centre in Ahmedabad to strengthen business relations between Gujarat and Britain.

While speaking at a meeting in Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Priti said UK was in the process of upgrading its trade centres in India and would also set up one in Ahmedabad. "Our ambition is to set up a trade centre in Ahmedabad, where all engaged in new business sector and also SMEs can

that a successful economy is the heart of development in every nation.

On her visit to Ahmedabad, she said: "It is fulfilling to be here in Gujarat. We speak about Gujarat's power in the UK. We have a Gujarati community there, expanding their commerce and business.

One third of UK's diasPriti Patel and Anandiben Patel pora is Gujarati."

On direct flight get help. Our focus is on between the UK and the SME sector in India," Ahmedabad, she assured said Priti. She also said the gathering that the UK

authorities would seriously consider starting a direct flight.

"There have been wrong perceptions about UK visas among students and others. We had to shut down a few colleges recently as they were duping people.

Around 100,000 Indian students have come to the UK in the last five years to pursue higher studies," added Priti, who is also UK Prime Minister David Cameron's diaspora champion. There are 700 Indian businesses in the UK, which employ around 1,00,000 people, and these businesses raked in 11 billion to16 billion pounds in 2013, she added.

B&B Nationalisation: Action Group appeals to Ombudsman over Cabinet Office ‘failures’

UK to set up trade centre in Ahmedabad: Priti Patel

REAL ESTATE VOICE

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

19

A Slice Of Hyde Park Suresh Vagjiani

Sow & Reap A Property Investment Company

We are looking at a property in Devonshire Terrace W2, the property is stated to have a net internal area of 5,000 sq. ft., and has been offered by someone who knows someone who knows the owner.

The property consists of ten flats newly and well decorated. There’s just one slight problem, the property has no planning in place for the flats.

The owners are from Uzbekistan and wealthy individuals who don’t speak any English, they employed an architect to carry out the works which he did without permission from the council. He charged the owners a hefty fee of £500,000 for doing so. There is a new professional on the scene now who is involved in tidying up the mess.

The property was being used as an HMO previously to this, this is a House In Multiple Occupation which basically means individual rooms are let and facilities are shared. What complicates matters is this too was illegal and unlicensed. Therefore the council cannot insist that the property be put back to what it was formerly, as this too wasn’t bona-fide.

Therefore this is a problem property and a problem deal, which is why I like it. The owners are not so price conscious, firstly they cannot afford to be as there are many uncertainties associated with this deal and secondly this has been a problem for them and they are fed up of it and simply want to get rid.

T h i s i s a g o o d si t u a t i o n f o r a n ex p e r i e n c e d i n v e s t o r, s u c h a d e a l w o u l d f i rs t s c a re o f f n o v i c e b u y e r s w h o w o u l d n o rm a l l y p a y o v e r t h e o d d s j u s t t o g r ab t h e p ro pe rt y. Se c o n d t h i s p ro pe r t y wi l l b e p ro b l e m a t i c w h e n i t c o m e s t o f u n d i n g , n o h i g h s t re e t b an k w i l l t ak e a v i e w t h e re f o re t h i s b u i l d i n g w i l l e i t h e r h a v e t o b e p u rc h a s e d i n c as h o r h av e a sp e c i a l i s t f u n d e r w h o i s p re pa re d t o t a k e a v i e w o n these is sues.

O v e r t h e l a s t d e c a d e p r i c e s o n t h e o t h e r t h re e si d e s h a v e i n c re a se d b y 2 7% m o re t h an i n t h e n o r t h s i d e o f t h e pa r k . T h e c u r re n t s h a v e s h i f t e d a n d g o i n g f o rw a rd t h e g ro w t h w i l l b e o n t h e n o rt h s i d e o f t h e pa r k . T h e p r i c e g ro w t h o v e r t h e l as t 18 m o n t h s o n t h i s p a t c h h a s o u t p e r f o r m e d t h e o t h e r si d e s o f t h e pa r k , t h i s i s i n d i c a t i v e o f wh e re t h e p ri c e wi l l g o i n i n t h e f u t u re .

Buildings like this tend to float around like a bad smell, this building was shown to me many months ago by another runner. The problems were not mentioned at this time, it was presented as a conventional deal and it was presented as an ‘off market’ deal. The term off market is actually a nonsense term, as soon as one person tells someone about a deal it becomes on the market, as the person who’s speaking about the deal is marketing it, even if it being done by one person.

The price it was presented at was £5m which equates to £1,000 per sq. ft., which is a good price for a freehold, but the fact it comes with these issues, means it isn’t. We have no intention to buy at this level.

Taking a broader view, this is a great location to purchase and hold, the properties in this patch have been seen as being on the poorer side of Hyde Park, being on the north side of the park. New build schemes in this location are reported by Knight Frank to be in the region of £2,000 and £2,500 per sq. ft. The other three sides of the park can command £4,000 to £6,000 per sq. ft.

There are a couple of things which are contributing to the growth of this area. One is the deal done by a wealthy far eastern buyer last year of Whiteleys Shopping Centre, this area is earmarked for major development. The other will be the arrival of the Cross rail in 2018 in Paddington. Many blue chip companies are already relocating to this area.

T h e re i s a f u n d a m e n t al l a c k o f s u p p l y i n W 2 o v e r t h e f o re se e a b l e f u t u re , w h i c h m e an s n e w s t o c k c o m i n g o n t o t h e m ar k e t wi l l o n l y b e 1 37 u n i t s . T h i s w i l l b y n o m e a n s b e a b l e t o sa t i s f y t h e d e m a n d wh i c h e xi s t s i n t h i s a re a .

Fro m a v e r y f u n d a m e n t a l s u p p l y a n d d e m an d p o i n t o f v i e w t h i s are a i s r i pe f o r s h a rp g ro wt h .

The price per sq. ft. of hotels in this area vary from between £700 - £1,000 per sq. ft. there is a strong case for hotel to resi conversion. We will be looking to close the deal we have been presented at around £900 per sq. ft. which is a completed newly refurbished ready to rent deal, bar of course the planning permission.

The recent stamp duty changes will have little effect on this deal, as it will qualify for multiple dwelling relief which is still in place to be taken advantage of. In this scenario the stamp duty applicable for the whole building will be at the rate applicable to a single dwelling. Under the new rules the first £125,000 attracts no stamp duty, the next £125,000 attracts a rate of 2% and the next £675,000 attracts a rate of 5%.

Assuming we do this deal at £4.5m the rate which would apply to an individual flat will be £12,500 on a £450,000 property. This would mean on the whole building the amount of stamp duty payable will be £125,000. This equates to only 2.78% in stamp duty.

Word of warning, this is me translating my understanding of the HMRC website, it needs to be verified by a competent solicitor. And I underlined the word competent. This is actually a miniscule rate of stamp duty given the size of the transaction.

It pays to look at the individual property and the area in general when doing your research, the individual property may be a good deal in comparison to the market price, but where is the market going on the whole? If you get a 15% discount but yet the market is pessimistic for the next year, in a year the discount will be wiped off.

If you like the sound of this deal and would like a slice of this pie why not give our office a call.

W 2 i n g e n e r a l i s s e e n a s a st ro n g p l a c e t o pu t yo u r m o n e y. I t h a s st ro n g p o t e n t i al f o r p ri c e g ro w t h t h a n t h e o t h e r s i d e s ad j o i n i n g H y d e Pa r k . A l t h o u g h i n t h e p as t t h e p r i c e g ro w t h f o r t h e o t h e r t h re e s i d e s w e re h i g h e r.

The Real Deal

Knightsbridge, London, SW1X Purchase Price: £1.8m l A large and beautiful two bedroom flat l Long lease l Properties in this location are being sold for £2,200 per sq. ft. and above while this property is coming at £1,820 per sq. ft. l We believe the value of this property to be around £2.2m l This property is located within easy reach of Sloane Street, Harrods and Sloane Square Call us now to secure this deal!

0207 993 0103

We provide a turnkey solution. Contact us now:

Specialists in

Central London Property Sourcing

info@sowandreap.co.uk

www.sowandreap.co.uk

55 Bryanston Street, Marble Arch Tower, London, W1H 7AA

Follow us online:

Sowandreapuk

SowandReapProperties

Tips of the Week l The mantra for property investments is Location, Location, Location! Check out the neighbourhood before purchasing a property. No matter how plush the property is, location counts. You can't move a house to another spot, but you can do it up. l Buying a property is a package deal, like getting married! Don't look at it from only one angle it requires a holistic approach.

20

LEGAL VOICE

MSMEs account for major chunk of investment pledges

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) accounded for the major chunk of investment intentions pledged during the two days of the 7th biennial Vibrant Gujarat summit which will give a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “Make in India” call.

Of the 21,304 MoUs inked at this edition of the summit, MSMEs accounted for 17,081, which also signals a boost to manufacturing in Gujarat which has been hit by a weak export market. At VG 2013, the MSME sector had pledged 12,886 MoUs. The number of investment intentions filed by MSMEs was almost the same as the MoUs in all sectors (17,719) signed during the 2013 summit.

The summit saw yet anoth-

Japan seeking to invest more in Gujarat

Japan is looking to investment opportunities in auto component manufacturing, small and medium scale sector, infrastructure projects, consumer durables and machinery in Gujarat.

This comes at a time when Japan is looking to strengthen its cultural relation with Gujarat.“Honda and Suzuki are setting up their plants in Gujarat.

This could lead to a creation of auto component cluster in the area where these plants are coming up,” said Yosuke Takagi, Japanese state minister of economy, trade and investment.

The growing interest of Japanese companies in Gujarat could be gauged from the fact that number of Japanese companies operating the state has almost doubled in the last one year to 26.

What's more, Japanese SMEs are also planning to invest in Gujarat.

Another area where Japan can pitch is in M um bai-Ahm edabad HiSpeed Raid Corridor with its bullet trains.

Japan is also keen on Ahmedabad Metro rail project. Mizuho Bank and Toray Industries India signed an agreement with iNDEXTb, while Japan's ministry of economy, trade and investment inked an MoU with Gujarat government.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

er surge of investment commitments with a plethora of companies promising to pump Rs 25,000 billion into the state. In return, they were assured that doing business here would be much easier, clearances easier to come and their issues would be ironed out.

Over 21,000 memoranda of under standing (MoUs) expressing an intent to invest in the state were signed beside 1,225

strategic partnerships between the state government and the several national and international agencies.

Addressing the valedictory function at Mahatma Mandir on Monday, Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel announced the number of investment commitments and the setting up of district-wise special cells to facilitate industries in getting faster clearances for

land, environment and other requirements.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise to make India the “easiest” destination for doing business, Patel also promised to set up two highlevel committees, one that she would chair and another headed by the chief secretary, to iron out problems faced by industries in execution of projects.

The chief minister also assured the business community of addressing policy issues they face by quarterly monitoring of each MoU signed. “Earlier, businesses were finding it difficult to get clearances from the Central government.

Since Narendra Modi is sitting there, this will not be the case anymore,” she said.

Saloria Architects of the UK has promised to invest Rs 5,000 billion during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in Gandhinagar. The com pany signed MoUs with Gujarat housing board (GHB). This is the same group that offered to build the Millennium Observation Wheel or `London Eye' on the Sabarmati riverfront for the last three years. It had even identified land near NID on the riverfront.

While another big ticket investment comes from SDB Diamond Bourse which is signing an MoU of Rs 1,250 billion with GIDB. The MoU, signed by the company director M M Savani, is for developing the world's largest diamond bourse in Surat.

Interestingly, going by the value of the investments Saloria Architects

and SDB Diamond Bourse have pledged, the owners should have figured among the top corporate honchos on the inaugural day of the summit. At the seminar on smart cities on Monday, Saloria Architects said they planned to invest the Rs 5,000 billion to develop one smart city, an affordable homes project, a solid waste management project, an amusement spark, and a railway university and “road buildings.”

“Yes, we have signed MoUs worth Rs 5,000 billion. We were at an

advanced stage of talks with AMC on the millennium wheel project,” said the company's representative Rohit Modi.

In the urban development sector, a total of Rs 6,330 billion of MoUs were signed. In the railway sector, IL&FS Transportation signed an MoU worth Rs 50 billion for the AhmedabadDholera expressway project, while another Rs 16.80 billion MoU was signed by Backbone Enterprise for the fourlaning of the DholkaSevaliya road.

Ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit to India later this month, India and the US have launched an investment initiative to focus on capital market reforms and policy measures that would help spur long-term investment by American investors in India.

Though announced during the White House meeting between Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September, the India-US Investment Initiative was formally launched on Monday at Department of Treasury. An agreement in this regard was signed during a meeting between US Assistant Secretary of Treasury for International Finance Ramin Toloui and Ministry of Finance

Additional Secretary Ajay Tyagi.

Through the signing of an arrangement for work under the Initiative, the US and India agreed to cooperate on facilitating capital market development conducive to financing investment, creating an environment that encourages investment in various sectors in India, and working to overcome any obstacles to such investment, a media release said.

They also met with a group of US portfolio investors and capital market experts that work on India.

The US-India Investment Initiative, announced by Obama and Modi after their meeting, was created to focus on

capital market reforms and policy measures that would help spur long-term investment by US investors in India. "The discussion focused on potential policy measures that could facilitate US investment in India and deepen India's capital markets," the statement said.

India-US to discuss bilateral investment treaty Prime Minister Narendra Modi told US secretary of state John Kerry that New Delhi was prepared to hold early talks for resolving the long pending bilateral investment treaty (BIT) with USA. Kerry too said the US would like to see the treaty take shape as early as possible.

Saloria Architects of the UK promises Rs 5,000 bn investment

US-India investment initiative launched ahead of Obama's visit

Maria Fernandes

Beware the knock on your door

Those who have sponsor licences beware the knock on your door.

Unannounced and announced visits are a regular feature of the licencing system. Being caught unawares will not be an excuse if your paperwork is not up to date. There are a few ground rules that you should adhere to.

Establish identity of the person: This may seem an obvious and elementary issue but it is vitally important to ask an officer to produce his/her identity and to take a copy of contact details for any follow up at the start.

Visits: One of the pitfalls that occurs on fairly regular basis is that the officer will proceed to question whoever is available. This is a dangerous precedent as information provided can be mistaken, wrong or incomplete and can later be used as evidence for action against the employer/sponsor.

The Home Office guidance is that the visit should continue regardless of the fact that the key officers (Is the Authorising Officer, Key contact or Level 1 User) are not present.

However even if these officers are not present the only substitutes that can be questioned are the owner, a director or someone involved in the day to day running of the organisation (such as the Manager).

This implies that the person available for questioning must be someone senior with a level of understanding of the business and some authority. Within the business there should be a policy to allow only specific individuals to participate in this process and if so this must be made clear to the officers concerned.

They should be politely advised to return when the person is available and indeed steps should be taken to facilitate a convenient date for the visit to avoid giving the impression that you are not cooperating with the process. It is better to state at the outset that there is no competent person than to plod on with the interview and provide inaccurate information. It is vitally

important to ensure that contact details of the person are taken and followed with a written record of any action proposed.

Follow Up: Another area which is of concern is when officers ask for further documents to be sent. Their guidelines surprisingly do not require them to put their requests in writing to prevent misunderstandings. If there is a request for further information, it is advisable to send out an email as soon as possible confirming the documents requested and include any deadlines set for this information.

If there is a good reason why this cannot be provided within these timescales, reasons should be given and an extension sought. In this way it cannot later be argued that the employer failed to comply with requests. In a fairly large number of cases, when information is sent out, there is no acknowledgement of the receipt which is a bad practice and unprofessional. However to prevent any difficulties arising it is advisable to chase and to find an alternative email when there is no response.

Evidence should be retained to prove that information was sent.

Signing documents: At the end of the interview employers are asked to sign the record and often do this without checking its accuracy and often because they are keen to end the matter.

However beware of this. The Home Office have instructed their officers to “insist” on obtaining a signature. It is advisable either to check the document carefully and sign it or a better option is to state that you will check it and send it off to the officer by post.

This takes away the pressure to sign it there and then and gives the employer a real opportunity to establish that it correctly reflects their views.

Copies of reports of visit: Regardless of the outcome of the visit and event when it goes well it is important to have a copy of the report for your own record and a copy of any interview note that was made.

To contact Maria Fernandes, please email at: info@fernandesvaz.com

CURRENCY VOICE

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

21

Foreign Exchange

Paresh Davdra is the Dealing Director of RationalFX,

Few signs of recovery Currency Specialists.

GBP This year is already starting to look very similar to 2014 for Bank of England Governor Mark Carney. With the outlook dominated by a weak euro-area economy that’s showing few signs of recovery, political risks at home and inflation below the 2 percent target, the Monetary Policy Committee left the benchmark interest rate at 0.5 percent yesterday. Investors see borrowing costs staying at a record low for the rest of the year.

Economists have forecast that unemployment will fall to 1.7m, falling back to the rate of 5.2% which has not been seen since before the recession.

Average weekly earnings are also anticipated to grow by 2.5% potentially surpassing inflation for the whole of 2015.

Growth at U.K. service companies slowed more than economists forecast in December, adding to signs the economy lost momentum at the end of 2014.

The Markit Purchasing Managers’ (PMI) Index fell to 55.8 from 58.6 in November.

That’s the lowest since May 2013 and compared with the median estimate of economists for 58.5. While the measure of new business declined to a 20month low, the growth remained

well above trend according to the Markit Survey. It also said that companies’ cost pressures remain muted by historical standards.

U.K. manufacturing output also rose the most in seven months in November, as total industrial production suffered an unexpected decline due to maintenance at some North Sea oil fields. Factory production increased 0.7 percent from October, exceeding the 0.3 percent median forecast. However Industrial output fell 0.1 percent, with oil and gas extraction dropping 5.5 percent, the most since January.

EURO In Europe, lower German inflation brought further pressures for the ECB to introduce QE. The decline in German inflation has increased expectations that the European Central Bank will start buying government bonds to support prices in the Eurozone and the consensus from various analysts suggests there is a good chance of further falls in inflation in the coming months, which again poses the chance for further Euro weakness.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to come under more pressure to boost the supply of cheap credit (QE)

to the Eurozone after figures showed a much-feared period of deflation started in December.

This has been triggered by tumbling oil prices. A flash estimate of inflation found that a dramatic fall in fuel costs following the halving of oil prices dragged Inflation down by 0.2%.

Some officials have stressed that the dip in inflation could be a temporary feature as it stems from a short-term fall in oil prices which should benefit economic growth over the next year without the need for QE. Eurostat also said that core inflation, which excludes the volatile energy and unprocessed food prices, was stable at 0.7% year-on-year in December – the same level as in November and October.

Late last week the Euro hit a fresh nine-year low against the dollar, in part after a surprise decrease in German manufacturing. German factory orders fell by 2.4% in November compared with the previous month, worse than expected. Increased speculation about extra stimulus measures to combat Eurozone deflation also played a part in the Euro's decline.

If the European Central Bank moves to support the region's economy with quantitative easing, or buying govern-

ment bonds, as the speculation suggests, this pushes a rate rise even further into the future, making the Eurozone less attractive for investors.

USD In the US Markit reported the US service sector PMI fell to a 10-month low last month, dropping to 53.3 in December. That still shows growth, but much more modest than in November.

Businesses reported that new business, and output, both grew at a slower rate as 2014 ground to a halt.

Also the slide oil prices has helped America narrow its trade gap. The US trade deficit hit an 11-month low of $39bn in November, compared to estimates of $42bn. Petroleum imports fell to their lowest value in around 20 years, helping to cut overall imports by around 2.2%. Exports declined by 1.0%.

Job growth last month was highlighted by the biggest gain in construction employment in almost a year. Factories, health care providers and business services also kept adding workers in December. The combination of job growth and cheaper gasoline will probably help stretch workers’ pay checks and sustain consumer spending.

Prices at the gas pump are at the lowest level since 2009.

Weekly Currencies As of Tuesday 13th January 2015 @ 3pm

GBP - INR = 93.96

USD - INR = 61.99 EUR - INR = 72.89 GBP - USD = 1.52 GBP - EUR = 1.29

EUR - USD = 1.18 GBP - AED = 5.57

GBP - CAD = 1.81

GBP - NZD = 1.96

GBP - AUD = 1.86

GBP - ZAR = 17.46

GBP - HUF = 411.01

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Information provided by RationalFX. None of the information on this page constitutes, nor should be construed as financial advice. The exchange rates used are the commercial foreign exchange rates provided by RationalFX. For a live quote or to find out more about how RationalFX can help you, call us on 0207 220 8181.

Monday 12th January 2015

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22

WORLD

Pak blames India as US denies aid to Islamabad

Washington: Pakistan has blamed India as the Obama administration has hold back aid to Islamabad, amid calls in the US for a re-evaluation of Washington's policy towards a country that continues to foster terrorists.

A donor conference in Islamabad, aimed at extracting $380 million from the world community to rehabilitate Pakistan's internally displaced people (IDP), effectively collapsed after the US reportedly didn't come through with its commitment to pledge $250 million -a part of the $532 million under the Kerry-Lugar assistance package that the US

Bhutan seeks Amul’s help to source cows from India

Anand: Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay has sought Amul's expertise to source 2,000 cows from India to the Himalayan nation. Tobgay, who was on a tour to India, visited Amul Dairy at Anand. "I have grown up experiencing Amul. I have heard about this lovely city - Anand. Of course, I am delighted and honoured to be here to pay my respects to the spirit of Sardar Patel and Dr Verghese Kurien," Tobgay said after visiting the butter plant along with his 19-member delegation that included his wife Aum Tashi Doma and daughter Gelek Yangzom.

"I also come from a family of farmers. I still have cows in my home and I know the importance of milk. My daughter is 15 years old but she is tall and big. It is all because of the power of milk," he said, to the delight of officials of Amul Dairy. "Bhutan wants to source 2,000 cows from India for dairy development there. Tobgay has sought our expertise in this project and we have assured him all the required co-operation from our side," RS Sodhi, managing director of GCMMF that markets India's largest food brand Amul, said.Talking to media, he said the tiny Buddhist kingdom too has dairy co-operatives. "All over the world, wherever dairy co-operatives have come up, they are getting inspiration from Amul and Dr Verghese Kurien," he said.

Last October, Bhutan's Department of Livestock (DoL) had released a dairy breed called 'Karan Fries' at its Samtse-based National Jersey Breeding Centre (NJBC) to provide more options of dairy breeds for the livestock farmers in the country.

ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson had reportedly assured the Pakistani finance minister the US would disburse.

“In recent days, however, the US has come under sustained diplomatic pressure from India over its financial assistance to Pakistan. New Delhi wants the US to stop all aid to Pakistan until terrorists it accuses of having masterminded attacks on

Indian soil are caught and punished,” the Express Tribune newspaper reported on the weekend even as US officials in Washington said the Obama regime had not notified Congress for any aid to Pakistan but “obviously there'll be additional funding.”

The reading in Indian quarters from that remark by a state department official is that the US is merely holding back aid for tactical reasons till secretary of state John Kerry completes his visit to India for the Vibrant Gujarat Summit on the sidelines of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, while also setting the stage for Obama's RDay visit to India.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Typical of their sense of entitlement even while begging for aid, Pakistani finance ministry officials have contested the US claim that Washington had provided approximately $100 million for IDPs, saying that was the amount pledged in the past for wheat procurement and processing. But there is growing disquiet in the US, too, regarding Washington's unending and fruitless aid to Pakistan that by some accounts add up to nearly $30 billion since 911, with the NYT Editorial Board quoting US officials that “it makes no sense to subsidize Pakistan's policy failures.”

Crashed AirAsia cockpit voice recorder retrieved

Jakarta/Pangkalan Bun: Divers retrieved the cockpit voice recorder from the wreck of an AirAsia passenger jet on Tuesday, a key piece of evidence for investigators to determine the cause of the crash that killed 162 people.

The cockpit voice recorder, which records conversations between the pilots and with air traffic controllers, was found close to where the flight data recorder was recovered from the bottom of the Java Sea on Monday, the report said.

Indonesia AirAsia's Flight QZ8501 lost contact with air traffic control in bad weather on Dec. 28, less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Indonesia's secondbiggest city of Surabaya to Singapore. There were no survivors.

The black boxes con-

tain a wealth of data that will be crucial for investigators piecing together the sequence of events that led to the Airbus A320-200 plunging into the sea. The cockpit voice recorder was now on board an Indonesian navy vessel and expected to be sent to the capital, Jakarta, for analysis, MetroTV said.

Investigators may need up to a month to get

a complete reading of the data.

Dozens of Indonesian navy divers took advantage of calmer weather this week to retrieve the black boxes and now hope to find the fuselage of the Airbus.

Forty-eight bodies have been retrieved from the Java Sea and brought to Surabaya for identification. Searchers believe more bodies will be found in the plane's fuselage.

Cairo: Egypt's high court overturned on Tuesday the only remaining conviction against Hosni Mubarak and ordered a retrial in his embezzlement case, opening the way for a possible release from jail for the ousted former president.

Mubarak, 86, was sentenced to three years in prison in May for diverting public funds earmarked to renovate presidential palaces and using the money to upgrade family properties. His two sons were given four-year jail terms in the same case.

The man who ruled Egypt for 30 years has been serving his sentence in a military hospital in Cairo.

Now that a retrial has been ordered, judicial sources say Mubarak could walk free as no convictions remain against him. In November, another court dropped charges against

Mubarak for conspiring to kill protesters in the 2011 revolt that toppled him from power, and cleared him in two other graft cases. He faces retrial for a third and final time over charges of involvement in the death of demonstrators. The decision to drop the charges in November sparked protests at universities across Egypt and prompted mockery online.

At least two people were killed and nine wounded when security forces fired tear gas and birdshot to disperse about 1,000 protesters trying to enter Tahrir Square - the symbolic heart of the uprising that ousted Mubarak. The Court of Cassation, which ordered the retrial on Tuesday, did not say if Mubarak would be freed on bail pending his retrial in the outstanding cases.

Many Egyptians who lived

through Mubarak's rule view it as a period of autocracy and crony capitalism.

His overthrow led to Egypt's first free election.

But the Islamist victor, Mohamed Mursi, was ousted in 2013 by then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, following protests against his rule. Sisi, who went on to win a presidential election last May, launched a fierce crackdown on Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood. Authorities have jailed thousands of Brotherhood supporters and sentenced hundreds to death in mass trials that drew international criticism.

By contrast, Mubarak-era figures are slowly being cleared of charges and a series of laws curtailing political freedoms have raised fears among activists that the old leadership is regaining influence.

Egypt court orders retrial of Mubarak in corruption case

In Brief

Pak children return to school a month after massacre

Peshawar (Pakistan): Children streamed back to school across Pakistan in an anxious start to a new term following last month's massacre of 134 students at an army-run school in the volatile northwestern city of Peshawar. Most schools across the country of 180 million had been shut until Monday for an extended winter break in the aftermath of the Dec 16 attack when Taliban militants In Peshawar, a chaotic, often violent city on the edge of Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, survivors of the attack returned to their studies amid tight security, some students still wearing bandages. In an emotionally charged and nervous atmosphere, parents, some crying, met army chief Gen Raheel Sharif who had travelled to Peshawar to address them in a private meeting.

Security forces kill French magazine attack suspects

Paris: Security forces ended three days of terror around Paris, killing the two al-Qaida-linked brothers who staged a murderous rampage at a satirical newspaper and an accomplice who seized hostages at a kosher supermarket to try to help the brothers escape. The worst terrorist violence France has seen in decades killed at least 20 people, including the three gunmen. A fourth suspect - the common law wife of the market attacker was still at large. Earlier the two brothers attacked Charlie Hebdo magazine and killed 12 people to avenge the honour of the Prophet Muhammad, a frequent target of the weekly's satire.

Afghan president formally nominates cabinet ministers

Kabul: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani nominated ministers for his new cabinet on Monday, after a wait of more than three months, to try to establish a working government to tackle the violence-racked country's problems. Many government institutions have been allbut-paralysed for a year amid a drawn-out election crisis and uncertainty over whether the withdrawal of most foreign combat troops last month will lead to more violence by Taliban insurgents. Ghani's chief of staff announced the 25 cabinet nominees at a ceremony attended by Ghani, who did not speak. "The government will refer them to the parliament for a vote of confidence," Ghani chief of staff Abdul Salam Rahimi said, but did not say when the confirmation vote might come.

All on New Zealand plane parachute to safety before crash

Sydney: Thirteen people on board a skydiving plane, including the pilot, parachuted to safety in New Zealand moments before the aircraft crashed into a lake.

Witnesses saw a steady stream of people jumping from the plane, which authorities said experienced mechanical failure on its way to Lake Taupo, 280 km south of Auckland, for skydiving. "I saw everyone deploy out of the plane and the next minute it was in the lake," witness Bevan Johnhill said. "I think the pilot must have been the last one to get out because he ended up in the blackberries," Johnhill said. "It was nothing short of a miracle," said Roy Clements, chief executive of Skydive Taupo, which operated the plane. Everyone on board the plane got out and landed safely, he said.

Bangladesh oppn chief faces murder charge threat

Dhaka: Bangladesh authorities threatened to bring murder charges against besieged opposition leader Khaleda Zia and arrested her deputy over accusations that they incited a nationwide wave of violence. A day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina accused Zia of trying to trigger anarchy, a minister said her arch rival should expect a murder charge over an arson attack which left three people fighting for their lives. The threat, which comes after four activists from Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party were killed in the mounting unrest, was made while the opposition leader remained confined to her offices in Dhaka, barred from leaving by police. The three people injured in the alleged BNP attack in Dhaka last week were in an autorickshaw that was firebombed by protesters - a frequent tactic of BNP hardliners who are trying to topple the prime minister.

Blasphemy accused in Pakistan killed after release

Islamabad: Police say a 52-year-old Muslim man arrested for blasphemy was killed by gunmen after being released from jail. Police officer Mohammad Ayub said that the bullet-riddled body of Abid Mehmood was found the day before in Taxila, a town about 40 km from the capital Islamabad. He says Mahmood was arrested in 2011 after claiming to be Islam's prophet, but authorities freed him recently after concluding that he was not mentally stable.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

In Brief

Indian student deported from US for threatening women online

Houston: A 24-year-old Indian student has been deported from the US after he was convicted of cyberstalking for posting threatening comments on social media to carry out a campus shooting. Keshav Mukund Bhide, a former student at the University of Washington, cannot return to the US for 10 years.

Bhide was arrested in June after he threatened women at the university in the comments section on YouTube. He also defended the actions of Elliot Rodger, a college student who killed six people at the University of California, Santa Barbara in May and then killed himself too. Some of Bhide's comments were posted only a few days after the June 5 shootings at Seattle Pacific University that left one student dead and two wounded.

Tulsi Gabbard and Ami Bera take oath for their second term

Washington: Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and her Democratic congressional colleague Dr Ami Bera have been sworn in for their second consecutive term in the US House of Representatives. Gabbard, the first ever Hindu lawmaker, took her oath on Gita as the 114th session of the US Congress. She was administered the oath of office by the Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner. Two years ago, she had taken her oath on Gita too, which she presented to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when she met him in New York last September. Bera, the only serving Indian-American in the current Congress, has been elected as co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans the largest country - specific caucus in the House of Representatives. After Dalip Singh Thind and Bobby Jindal, Bera is the third ever Indian-American elected to the House of Representatives.

Saudi Arabia set to appoint women ambassadors for first time

Dubai: Saudi Arabia is preparing to appoint its first women ambassadors after the foreign ministry hinted at possible approval of the idea. According to Gulf News, Al Nogli, the head of the media directorate at the ministry, said that the ministry does not oppose the notion of appointing a woman ambassador to represent the kingdom abroad. He said that this could happen through the administrative promotion structure for diplomats and the acquirement of the necessary experience in dealing with political and economic issues. The ministry will soon set up a meeting with members of the Shura (Consultative) Council to take a call on the topic of the appointment of women ambassadors among other issues. Although the Gulf country has female diplomats, no woman ambassadors have ever been appointed before.

Surendra Kumar appointed next Bangladesh chief justice

Dhaka: Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, the most senior judge of the country's supreme court, was appointed the chief justice of Bangladesh on Monday.

President Abdul Hamid has "signed the paper appointing the new chief justice," a Bangabhaban presidential palace spokesman said. A law ministry statement said 64-year-old Sinha would take over on January 17, as present Chief Justice Muzammel Hossain will retire on January 16. Sinha was the most senior judge in the apex appellate division of the supreme court after Hossain. Justice Sinha is known for a number of landmark judgments including those on the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the 5th and 13th amendments to the constitution.

China shuts 50 websites and social media accounts

Beijing: China has closed 50 websites and social media accounts for violations ranging from pornography to "publishing political news without a permit", Beijing's cyberspace watchdog said on Tuesday. The government is pursuing a crackdown on unwanted material online. Critics say the increasing restrictions further limit free speech in the one-party Communist state. Authorities shut 17 public pages on the mobile social messaging app Weixin, also known as WeChat in English, as well as 24 websites and 9 channels or columns on websites, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a statement.

The Weixin accounts were shut down during the past two months, the state-run news agency Xinhua said.

Some of the other offences listed by CAC include publishing fake information under the guise of the government or media, and publishing information related to gambling or fraud. Jiang Jun, a spokesman for the cyberspace watchdog, said the CAC would regularly publish a "black list" of violators, according to the statement.

WORLD

Unearth truth behind violent past, Pope tells Lanka

Colombo: Pope Francis called on Sri Lanka to uncover the truth of what happened during its bloody civil war as part of a healing process between religious communities, as he arrived in Colombo a few days after the island's wartime leaders were voted out.

Soon after landing in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, Francis appeared to make the case for a truth commission to investigate the 26-year civil war, an election pledge of the government voted into office on Thursday.

"The process of healing also needs to include the pursuit of truth, not for the sake of opening old wounds, but rather as a necessary means of promoting justice, healing and unity," he said. Francis was speaking at Bandaranaike international airport, where he was met by President Maithripala Sirisena, troupes of dancers and a

children's choir. Sirisena said the visit was a blessing for his new government.

Francis is the first pope to visit Sri Lanka since the war ended in 2009. Fighting between the mainly Hindu Tamils and the and mostly Buddhist Sinhalese majority ended with a crushing defeat for the Tamils. A 2011 UN estimate put the death toll from the final army assault up to 40,000 civilians.

The 78-year-old will spend two days in Sri Lanka before going to the

Philippines as part of a trip aimed at shoring-up the Church's presence in developing nations. The week-long tour is his second to Asia.

The Pope carried a message of inter-faith dialogue that chimed with an unusually harmonious atmosphere in Sri Lanka that last week elected a government promising increased respect for longsuffering religious minorities. "My government is promoting peace and friendship among our people after overcoming a cruel terrorist conflict. We

23

have people who believe in religious tolerance and coexistence based on centuries old religious heritage," Sirisena said.

About 70 per cent of Sri Lankans are Buddhists. Hindus make up about 13 per cent and Muslims 10 percent.

Catholics are about 7 per cent, split between ethnic Sinhalese and Tamils.

Humna dignity Francis called for a more inclusive society in Sri Lanka, in comments that seemed directed at former president and wartime leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, who lost office after a resurgence in religious tensions.

"The great work of rebuilding must embrace improving infrastructures and meeting material needs, but also, and even more importantly, promoting human dignity, respect for human rights, and the full inclusion of each member of society," he said.

Fight militant groups, Kerry tells Pakistan

Islamabad: Pakistan must fight militant groups that threaten Afghan, Indian and US interests, US secretary of state John Kerry said on Tuesday as he voiced sympathy for the victims of the December 16 attack on a Pakistani military school.

Pakistan has long been suspected by the West of playing a double game, fighting some militants while supporting those its generals have regarded as strategic assets to be used against rivals and neighbours, India and Afghanistan. Kerry, on a visit to Pakistan, said all extremists groups should be targetted equally.

"Terror groups like the

Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e Taiba, and other groups, continue to pose a threat to Pakistan, its neighbours, and to the United States, and we all of us have a

responsibility to ensure that these groups do not gain a foothold but rather are pushed back into the recesses of (Pakistan's) memory," Kerry said in Islamabad.

"This task is obviously

far from finished."

Speaking after visiting India over the weekend, Kerry added that he was deeply concerned by recent violence on the India-Pakistan border and called on India and Pakistan to find a diplomatic solution.

"We continue to be deeply concerned by the recent spate of increased violence along the working boundary and the line of control," Kerry said. "It is profoundly in the interests of Pakistan and India to move this relationship forward," he said. "India and Pakistan need to overcome historical mistrust and re-engage in serious dialogue," Kerry added.

Pakistan to try 3,300 terror suspects in military courts

Islamabad: Around 3,300 people accused of being hardcore terrorists will be tried in special military courts in Pakistan over the next two years as part of measures adopted after the Taliban attack on a school that left over 140 students and teachers killed, media reported.

"Cases of around 3,000 suspected `jet black terrorists` arrested during the military operations in Swat, South and North Waziristan agencies, and 300 to 400 terror suspects being tried at anti-terrorism courts in the provinces will be sent to the military courts," a senior government functionary said. Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain signed a bill into law creating the military courts a day after both houses of parliament

approved the 21st C o n s t i t u t i o n a l Amendment and Pakistan Army Act Amendment Bills by an overwhelming majority.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced the creation of special military courts at the end of December after the massacre by the

Taliban in an army-run school in the north-western city of Peshawar.

Despite strong political backing, the measure has also been met with misgivings about allowing justice to go into the hands of the all-powerful army.

"This bill is about military courts trying hardcore terrorists who kill

Pakistanis... this is an important day for Pakistan when the nation decided that terrorists will be taken out from the roots," said Sharif after the vote.

Dawn newspaper, however, wrote that it was a "sad day" for Pakistan.

"We need a coherent strategy to fight insurgency, and political and civilian leaders should work together. But military tribunals are not the answer," said an editorial in Dawn, one of the country`s most influential newspapers. After the terror attack on the school, Sharif also lifted the moratorium on the death penalty which has resulted in nine executions until now.

In addition, the army has stepped up the offensive against Islamic insurgents in the north-western part of the country.

24

INDIA

Karnataka inks a dozen pacts at Vibrant Gujarat Summit

Gandhinagar: "A high-level delegation, led by Commerce and Industry Secretary K Ratna Prabha, held meetings with potential investors and signed agreements with 12 firms for collectively investing Rs 501 billion across sectors in the state," the state industry department said in a statement.

Of the dozen firms, Hydro Design Management Company Ltd has expressed interest in investing Rs 100 billion for a 1,000 MW pumped storage hydro project, Rare Earth Holdings Ltd to invest Rs 93 billion for an LNG terminal and Convalt Energy India Ltd to invest Rs

62 billion for a 900 MW pumped storage hydro project.

Similarly, Hydro Design Management Company Ltd has proposed to invest Rs 20 billion on 100 MW wave energy project, Sunihar

Enterprises Ltd to invest Rs 10 billion for an IT park, Sunihar Enterprises Ltd to invest Rs 10 billion to build a smart city, and Envee Developers to invest Rs 9 billion to set up a medicity.

Florida-based Creative

Bengaluru: After allegations that a teacher had tried to secually harass a 7-year-old student at a private school in Bengaluru, the enraged public attacked and beaten a physical education teacher. Chaos prevailed in Byatarayanapura, with the public burning vehicles parked in the school. The police were forced to use tear gas shells and lathicharge to disperse the mob.

A constable sustained injuries on his head and has been rushed to a hospital.

The police later arrested the teacher.

It all began, when parents of 7-year-old girl came to the school, accusing the PT teacher of sexually assaulting their child. Soon the word spread in neighborhood and mob started gathering. Policemen who had parked their jeep out-

side the school, found it difficult to take suspect to vehicle because of the mob.

Finally, when the police took the teacher out of the compound, few members of the mob pounced on him and started hitting him.

Police had to cane charge these men in order to get the teacher into the jeep.

The mob fury that followed, saw several vehicles being set on fire. The police had to use water cannons to manage the situation. MN Reddi, city police commissioner, said that despite the requests from the senior officers present on the spot, mob continued to create trouble, demanding that the PT teacher should be handed over to them.

"When the situation went out of control, we had to resort to lathicharge and use tear gas.

Chennai: Former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi was unanimously re-elected as DMK president for 11th time a general council meeting of the party. The general council also re-elected K Anbazhagan as party general secretary and Karunanidhi's son M K Stalin as treasurer.

The month-long organizational polls covering party's 65 districts have come to an end with the elections to the key posts. The members erupted in joy by clapping hands and raising slogans in praise of the trio, when senior leader and party election commissioner Sarguna Pandian announced the election results.

Later, Karunanidhi announced the appointment of his daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi as

Teacher attacked for allegedly harassing 7-year-old

CBI books Dera chief for ‘forced castration’

New Delhi: The CBI registered a case against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and others in connection with the alleged forced castration of around 400 followers at his Sirsa-based ashram.

The agency would now question Ram Rahim as part of its investigation into the case, the CBI officers said, adding that the case was registered under IPC sections for criminal conspiracy, voluntarily causing grievous hurt, criminal intimidation and punishment for cheating. The FIR was registered on an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on December 23.

“A civil writ petition was filed in the High Court in 2012 by Hans Raj Chauhan alias Hakiki, a follower of Dera Sacha Sauda, demanding a CBI inquiry and compensation for his castration in Dera Sacha Sauda in 2000. The petitioner alleged that around 400 devotees of Ram Rahim from Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan were castrated at the ashram under the false claim made by Dera chief that it would lead to

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh

realisation of God through him,” said a CBI spokesperson.

Justice K Kannan in December had passed the order on the petition ordering a CBI inquiry into the alleged incident. Taking cognizance of the plea, the High Court had ordered medical examination of petitioner Chauhan from a government hospital, which found that he had been castrated. In a report submitted to the High Court, the state government had also stated that seven persons associated with the Dera chief had given statements confirming that they had been castrated.

Ram Rahim is also facing trial in connection with alleged sexual exploitation of women followers at the Dera.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Choice Group has proposed to invest Rs 56.50 billion to build industrial infrastructure infocity in the state's northern and southern regions. "The 75-member official-cum-business delegation networked with participants and flagged advantages of investing in the state. The delegates also interacted with a large number of overseas and domestic firms and explored new deals," the statement added. The official delegation met members of the India-China council for economic cooperation, Singapore business federation and an Israeli delegation at the summit.

Karunanidhi re-elected DMK president for 11th time

14 killed, 30 injured in Andhra bus accident

Anantapur: Fourteen people have died and 30 others received injuries as an Andhra Pradesh State transport bus fell into a valley on Penukonda-Madakasira road in Anantapur district. The bus was proceeding to Penukonda from Madakasira when it slipped into the valley 20 feet below. A majority of the victims were engineering students, who were proceeding to their college. The condition of eight students is said to be critical. The driver of the bus lost control over the wheel while reportedly trying to avoid hitting an auto rickshaw. The injured passengers have been admitted to hospitals in Anantapur, Penukonda and Bangalore.

Two suspects picked up in Bengaluru blast case

Bengaluru: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths picked up two persons from Bhatkal for their possible involvement in the Church street blast that rocked Bengaluru on December 28.

The duo was picked up from Bhatkal, based on the circumstantial evidence obtained from the scene of the crime. The suspects have been brought to Bengaluru for further questioning.

The police have also searched the houses of the suspects and recovered incriminating materials which will be probed further, a senior police officer said. They are suspected to a part of the banned Indian Mujahideen group.

Man held for occupying chair

M Karunanidhi women's wing secretary.

Former PWD minister and DMK leader S Duraimurugan has been elevated as principal secretary, hitherto held by senior leader Arcot N Veerasamy.

Sarguna Pandian, V P Duraisamy, I Periyasamy and Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan have been made deputy secretaries. The party has also announced Trichy N Siva and former telecom minister A Raja as its propaganda secretaries.

Haryana proposes more land for NRI investors

Gandhinagar: Indian expats wanting to invest in Haryana could have more industrial land reserved for them, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said in Gandhinagar. Talking to reporters after going around the Haryana Pavilion at the Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas (PBD), Khattar said that the state government has already provided 10 per cent reservation in industrial plots to NRIs and this could further be increased if they asked for the same.

He said that the NRIs had shown keen interest in making investment in the state, where there were ample opportunities in the areas of education, tourism, automobiles, infrastructure and others to invest. "The Haryana government is committed to provide favourable conditions to the NRIs," Khattar said.

During an interaction at Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Khattar said that he wanted to take the state ahead of Gujarat. Khattar said Haryana was keen to work with the Gujarat gov-

South Brief

Chennai: An RTI applicant was arrested for occupying a chair while the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission was hearing his appeal.

NGO Legal Panchayat Movement president Siva Elango was arrested as he sat even as the information commissioners refused to accede to his request for a chair during the hearing of his appeal. There is no rule preventing an RTI applicant from sitting during a hearing.

North Brief

Akalis hold dharna against drug menace near border

Attari/Ferozepur: The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal staged a dharna against the drug menace in Punjab near the international border and pitched for greater awareness and vigilance along the border with Pakistan. The awareness dharnas were held close to the Attari, Hussainiwala and Sadiqi check points in Amritsar, Ferozepur and Fazilka districts respectively situated near Indo-Pak border.

Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister and SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal along with other senior leaders like Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Tota Singh, Sikander Singh Maluka addressed the two-hour dharna at all the venues.

15 leaders resign from Congress in Punjab

Manohar Lal Khattar

ernment to increase milk productivity and in related areas. "Haryana will develop the Gir breed of cows, besides its own Haryana breed. I met the animal husbandry minister of Gujarat Babubhai Bokhiria and he assured supply of semen of this Gujarati breed. We have set a target of one lakh such cows," added Khattar.

About his connection with Gujarat, Khattar said, "I worked with Modiji for five years when he was serving the BJP in Panchkula and learnt a lot from him. I was also involved in the last assembly elections in Gujarat as I was the incharge at Amreli. This is my first official visit to Gujarat though I have come here earlier."

Jalandhar: Fifteen Congress leaders, including two former MLAs and six current and former members of PPCC, who are loyalists of former MP Jagmeet Singh Brar, have resigned from primary membership of the party. They have not ruled out joining BJP even as they have said further decision is yet to be taken. Those who announced their resignations included Brar's younger brother and former MLA Ripjeet Singh Brar, former MLA Vijay Kumar Sathi, former DCC Mukatsar president Gurdas Girdhar, former AICC member Manjeet Singh Jalbuti.

Lukewarm response to 'Punjab Bandh'

Amritsar: The 'Punjab Bandh' called by various Sikh outfits to extend support to Sikh activist Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa, who is on an indefinite fast demanding release of prisoners from jails lodged in different states, evoked lukewarm response. The impact of bandh was felt only in Amritsar while normal life in other parts of the state remained unaffected. Sikh outfit group Damdami Taksal led by Amrik Singh and other Sikh outfits including United Akali Dal led by Mohkam Singh, Sikh Youth Federation, Sikh Youth Front, Shri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Committee, were supporting the bandh. Khalsa, who has been on a fast since almost two months seeking the release of seven Sikh prisoners.

TRAVEL - INDIA

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

C B Patel launches online writing competition on Gandhi's life

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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi returned to India from South Africa on January 9, 1915 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 100 years ago- wearing the mantle of "spokesman for the conscience of all mankind" and armed only with the "spiritual power to turn the ordinary men and women of India into heroes and martyrs."

To coincide with the 'ghar wapasi' day of India's most revered and prominent NRI, CB Patel, Publisher and Editor of Gujarat Samachar and From Left: Vishnubhai Pandya, Dr. Balvant Jani, Piali Asian Voice, championed Ray, Justice Subodhchandra Shah, Dr. Anamik Shah, the launch of the project Lord Dholakia, C B Patel and Bhupatbhai Parekh "Inspired by Gandhi"- an philosophy in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s C B Patel while welinternational writing comworld. Piali appealed for coming the guests recalled petition, at the Kochrab support to spread and the important role played Ashram, Gandhi's first share the inspired thoughts

by Gandhi in India's freeashram in Ahmedabad. He of budding writers through dom struggle. He also welcomed the audience libraries and educational praised the ashram for acknowledging the geninstitutions across India keeping it clean and its erosity, sincerity and exemand the world. Previously tranquil atmosphere. plary work being done at SAMPAD arts produced a Vishnu Pandya talked Kochrab Ashram. similar writing competition about the seven phases of Spearheaded by leading to the publication Gandhi life and the role Sampad Arts, based in of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Inspired by Tagoreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. On played by Kochrab Ashram Birmingham UK, this comthis occasion they received in shaping his throught petition offers an opportuover 1,500 entries from 40 process. Lord Dholakia nity to budding writers countries. pointed out that the wars above the age of 8, from T h e any part of the world launch of the to respond and reflect writing comon Gandhi's life, phipetition in losophy and vision in Ahmedabad the form of poem, will be folshort story or lowed by a reportage. The best worldwide judged entries will be release of compiled and pubinformation lished. welcoming Eminent audience writers from included Vishnu the Pandya (veteran jour- Dr. Anamik Shah and Lord Navnit Dholakia across world. Any writer aged 8 or and acts of terrorism were nalist & columnist), Lord upwards from anywhere in the problem and not the Navnit Dholakia from the the world can enter. Entry solution. The solution UK, Dr C.L. Patel forms can be accessed from could be found in Gandhi's (Chairman, Charutar www.sampad.org.uk - from path of truth and non-vioVidhya Mandal), Justice (Special Projects section). lence. He also give details Subodhchandra Shah The last date for entries is about the Gandhi statue (Gujarat High Court), Dr. 31st May 2015. Anyone being planned at the Anamik Shah (Vice preferring to enter by post, Parliament Square in Chancellor, Gujarat can email Anne Cockitt, London. Dr C L Patel Vidhyapith and the Chief anne@sampad.org.uk promised to start more Guest). They spoke eloSAMPAD Arts, derivsuch online competition in quently about the signifiing its name from the future.

Subodhchandra cance of the day and assoSanskrit word meaning Shah said by following ciation of Mahatma â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cultural wealthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, was Gandhi's principle, if the Gandhiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s principles and established in Birmingham criminals were forgiven, it philosophy that guide the in 1990 to produce and would become a big crime. programme of Kochhrab present Indian Arts, nurDr Anamika Shah talked Ashram. The peace and turing and celebrating the about Gujarat Vidyapeeth tranquillity of the Ashram talents and skills of diverse and its plans to renovate was further enhanced artists and communities in Kochrab Ashram. He said through the beautiful Britain. They have built up C B Patel by launching the singing of Bhajans by firm and productive links online competition, has Maya Dipak. with community and arts also launched the renovaOther eminent personorganisations regionally, tion work of the Ashram. alities present were Dr nationally and internationMs Piali Ray OBE, Jagdish Dave, UK, ally spanning many art Director-Sampad, elaboBhupatbhai Parekh, senior forms to include theatre; rated on the need to projournalist, Mike Patel, music; literature; dance mote the relevance of USA, Dr Hari Desai, and digital arts.

Gandhian thoughts and columnist, Dr Balwant Jani, Rajkot, Dr Rajendra Khemani, Bhanubhai Pandya, Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, UK, Piyushbhai Desai, Vaghbhakri Tea, Kailash Singh and Bala Nair, Air India, Ahmedabad, Pravinbhai Amin, UK, Jaisukhbhai Mehta, Ishani Dasgupta, journalist, Economic Times, Vijayaben and Krishnan Rele, Narmadaben and Deepak Raval.

26

INDIA

Expats can now vote in Indian elections

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Non-resident Indians (NRIs) will soon be able to cast their vote through electronic-ballots or through their nominees residing in India but will not be able to exercise their franchise through the novel method during the coming Delhi assembly polls.

The Union government on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it had accepted Election Commission's recommendation to allow NRIs to vote through e-ballot system or through proxy. The EC discarded other possibilities - postal ballot and internet voting - terming them fraught with the danger of manipulation.

After the Centre conveyed its acceptance of the EC recommendations on NRI voting, a bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice A K Sikri gave the Centre eight weeks to

effect necessary amendments in the law to implement the EC suggestion.

NCP had proposed postal ballot for NRIs while BJP, BSP and CPI had opined that postal ballot might not be a viable option for NRIs. Congress was not in favour of e-ballot for NRIs. Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for petitioner Shamsheer V P, pushed another plea - voting rights for migrant labourers who constituted nearly 30% of the total population and facilities to enable armed forces personnel posted in remote and forward areas to cast their votes. The bench sought the Centre's response on the application. The EC examined several suggestions to enable NRIs to cast their vote and rejected the idea of allowing them to cast their votes at diplomatic missions abroad. "The

committee is also of the view that internet voting is also not a feasible option until appropriate technology/information technology applications and all other vulnerabilities are addressed," the EC said.

Postal ballot was also ruled out. A high-level EC committee said, "E-postal ballot, where blank postal ballot paper is transferred electronically to NRI and returned by post by NRI can be considered to be employed after proofing, validation of the process and pilot implementation in one or two constituencies in elections to the legislative assemblies and then scale up to more assembly elections and finally parliamentary elections if found feasible, practicable and meeting the objectives of free and fair election.

"The committee recommends that the option of

voting through proxy appointed by the overseas electors can be considered to be provided to NRIs. In order to cater to needs of all categories of NRIs, additional options of epostal ballot and proxy voting can be made available depending upon the preference exercised by the NRI voter. In case NRI voter does not exercise any of these additional two options, then by default it will be deemed that overseas elector will cast his vote as per existing legal provisions and procedures at the polling station in India."

Describing the e-ballot procedure, the EC committee said the NRI wishing to vote through this procedure would have to send an application either electronically or physically to the returning officer six months before the expiry of the term of the House.

Continued from page 1 immense hope and optimism. The rich and the poor nations are looking at India..."

Modi praised the diaspora for putting India on the global map and said that they were admired all around the world for their values. "The whole world admires the Indian community not due to the money but the values they are living with," he said.

Acknowledging the problems faced by the NRIs, Modi said that the visa on arrival facility is being extended to several countries. Modi added that PIO and OCI have been merged due to which everyone will get the same benefits. There was a time when professionals in India went to distant lands to explore new possibilities. Now India awaits you with opportunities. Times have changed; the world is looking at India with optimism." Modi said.

President of Guyana Donald R Ramotar; minis-

ter of international relations of South Africa, Maite NkoanaMashabane; and vice-president of Mauritius Monique Ohsan Bellepeau were the chief guests at the event.

PBD-2015 marks the centenary year of the return of Mahatma Gandhi - the foremost Indian Diaspora member - from South Africa to India.

Bapu had made Ahmedabad his home after coming back. Before inaugurating PBD, Modi paid tribute to Bapu by opening Dandi Kutir, a 3-D museum on the Life of the Mahatma. “Hundred years ago, one `NRI' returned to India, and today one Gujarati welcomes the entire overseas Indian community ,” Modi said in his speech referencing Bapu. That emotional pitch remained constant throughout the oration as Modi appealed to the Diaspora from 45 countries to use their soft power to spread the message of humanism and

Indian values.

Diaspora can contribute to motherland in smallest of ways: Modi recounted the example of an NRI from Surat who would diligently sweep and clean the roads of his ancestral village during his annual visits to India as an example of how the Indian diaspora can contribute to their motherland in even the smallest way.

"The gentleman would take the jharu (broom) and clean all the rubbish and the people would make fun of him thinking he is mentally off balance. But this time when he came, and took up the broom as usual as soon as he landed, he was joined by others in the village," said Modi in apparent reference to the "Swachch Bharat" or Clean India mission launched by his government.

He said this was an example of how a person with commitment can change his village and said there would be many diaspora members like him

contributing to their motherland.

Modi also recounted how his proposal during his speech at the UN last year of instituting an international yoga day has been passed in record time and with record number of member countries supporting the proposal, including over 40 Muslim countries.

He said of 193 member countries 177 as co-sponsors supported it, which he added was a record.

He also said that generally a proposal takes two years to fructify but with his proposal took around 100 days to pass.

"The world is keen to embrace India and this is a small example," he said and added that the people of India need to believe in their potential. He also recounted how a young NRI Muslim woman who visited Kutch during the 2002 quake in Gujarat stayed on for months and worked among the people to help in the rehabilitation efforts.

dicted that India would be the second fastest growing economy in the coming years.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), India would be the only country among world’s top economies which would increase its

pace of growth this year, he said.

Modi aims to lift stagnant capital investment that has held back India’s growth to 5.3 per cent.

That is expected to accelerate this year to 6.4 per cent, said the World Bank’s Jim Yong Kim, who called India a “bright spot” in a mediocre global economic landscape.

Modi has made headway on making it easier for outsiders to invest more in real estate, insurance and defence, but a rigid labour market and poor infrastructure remain huge deterrents. India slipped to 142nd out of 189 in the World Bank’s latest Doing Business Index. Modi wants India in the top 50.

India is full of opportunities, Modi tells expats

PM Modi woos investors

Continued from page 1 whenever needed…If you walk one step, we will walk two steps for you.”

Seeking to boost manufacturing to promote growth and encourage job creation, Modi said a single window clearance for projects was being set up at both central and state level. “To upgrade manufacturing infrastructure, we are setting up worldclass investment and industrial regions along with dedicated freight and industrial corridors,” he said, adding that India is on the “path of transformation.” Spelling out his vision, he said institutions and systems of delivery have to be strengthened.

“You may be aware that our economic growth had

slowed down during the last few years. Now, my government is putting all efforts to ensure faster and yet inclusive growth.

The initial results are very encouraging.”

April 2014 have seen growth rate which is one per cent higher than the previous year, Modi said, adding that IMF has pre-

Delhi to go to polls on Feb 7, vote counting on Feb 10

A year after Arvind Kejriwal resigned as chief minister, Delhi will vote to elect a new assembly on February 7 and the votes will be counted on February 10. Election Commissioner V S Sampath said the last date for nomination of candidates will be Jan 21 and they could withdraw from the contest by Jan 24.

Delhi has a 70-member legislature.

More than 13 million people will be eligible to vote across 11,763 polling centres. Delhi elected a hung assembly in December 2013 after which the Aam Aadmi Party formed a minority government headed by Kejriwal with Congress backing. Kejriwal resigned on Feb 14, 2014.

President's rule was imposed in the city on Feb 17 last year.

Sampath said the Model Code of Conduct

would come into effect with immediate effect, barring the government from taking major policy decisions that could influence the electorate. The 2013 election ended 15 years of rule by the Congress, whose seats in the 70member house plunged from 43 in 2008 to just eight. Its vote share also fell from 40 to 25 per cent.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged the single largest party with 31 seats followed by the AAP, which stunned everyone by bagging 28 seats in its debutant electoral battle.

With no single party in a position to form a government, the AAP took power with the outside legislative backing of the Congress.

The Kejriwal government fell over lack of majority support.

In the May 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP won all seven seats in the capital.

Continued from page 1 appeared to have been swamped by anti-incumbency, allegations of corruption and nepotism and his divisive policies that estranged minority Tamils and Muslims. A Sinhala hardliner himself, Sirisena, 63, squeaked past the finishing line in a close contest with the approval of minority voters, besides the liberals and youth among the Sinhalese.

“I will ensure I deliver the change I promised. I will strengthen Sri Lanka's foreign relations to maintain friendly relations with all nations,” he said soon after he was sworn in as Sri Lanka's sixth President.

In the run-up to the election, Sirisena had pledged to abolish the executive presidency within 100 days of being elected and repeal the controversial 18th amendment under which a President can seek re-election any number of times.

Supreme Court judge K Sri Pawan administered the oath of office to Sirisena at a simple ceremony at the Independence Square in Colombo. “We will have a foreign policy that will mend our ties with the international community and all international organisations in order to derive the maximum benefit for our people,” Sirisena said.

Significantly, he said he would not seek a second term.

The defeated Lankan President Rajapaksa, had asked Tamils to vote for a “known devil” in the elections.

India will be happy with the election of Sirisena as New Delhi would have preferred to

deal with just about anybody other than Rajapaksa when it came to relations with Sri Lanka and developing geopolitics in the region, not least because of the manner in which the Lankan strongman was threatening to turn his country into a strategic asset for China.

India's anger knew no bounds last year when Sri Lanka allowed Chinese submarines to dock at the Colombo port twice, the second time even after NSA Ajit Doval lodged a strong protest. The government here felt Lanka was using Beijing to needle and humiliate India.

Sirisena is known to be a Sinhala hardliner but he is also expected to be mindful of India's concerns over strategic issues, particularly over any military engagement with Beijing which could hurt New Delhi's interests. Sirisena's announcement in his election manifesto that he would maintain equal relations with India and China was seen favourably by New Delhi as it came at a time when Lanka's dalliance with China was increasingly unsettling India.

In fact, at least in the short term, China has more to worry about Sirisena as his likely prime minister and UNP functionary Ranil Wickramasinghe had declared recently that Sri Lanka would scrap the $1.34 billion Colombo port city project financed by the Chinese -apparently because of environmental concerns. That will be a real setback for China which had a free run in the country until now doling out loans at astronomical interest rates.

Srisena sworn in new Lanka President

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

HEALTH WATCH

A

good night's sleep is very important for your health. Here are a few simple techniques to get a restful sleep.

Benefits of a Good Sleep: Yes, good sleep does wonders for your body, mind and soul and it is very essential to stay concentrated and focused at work. Learn more benefits of a goodnight's sleep... Be happy and content: People who sleep peacefully at night, are more happier and content in life, compared to insomniacs who are more likely to turn to suicide, alcoholism and depression.

Maintain a strong immune system: Lack of proper sleep can damage your immunity, making you more prone to various diseases like cough, cold

Use honey everyday for glowing skin

R

aw honey can be used, not just in our breakfast cereal or dessert, but also get glowing and younger looking skin. Abundant in antioxidants, honey is known to have antibacterial properties too.

Here's how you can use honey for your skin every day.

• If you have an acne breakout, you can get rid of them using honey.

Gently dab honey on the acneaffected area. You can also mix it with tea tree or lavender oil for an extra boost.

• Use a mix of honey and coconut/jojoba oil as a skin cleanser. It not only loosens the makeup but also acts as a moisturizer • For dry skin, mix honey, vegetable oil and lemon juice and apply on the skin. Leave for 10 minutes and wash off.

and flu.

Prevent type 2 diabetes: Losing sleep makes you more prone to insulin resistance and increases your chances of developing diabetes at a later age.

Lose weight and stay slim: Lack of sleep causes your hormones to go haywire, increasing your cravings for junk food that makes you unfit and unhealthy. So, a goodnight's sleep will help you lose weight and stay slim and healthy.

Keep your thinking sharp: Sleep deprivation for even one night can interfere with your concentration, job performance and memory. So, if you want to have good concentration during the day, make sure you sleep well at night.

Ravi Bhanot’s Health Blog

Slows down the ageing process: Insomnia causes your hormones to behave like those of a much older person. A goodnight's sleep will help you slow down the ageing process.

Natural Ways to Sleep Better: If you desire a goodnight's sleep naturally, avoid taking medications at night. Also, follow these steps to help you sleep better.

Set-up the perfect sleeping room: Redecorate your room so that it's quiet, peaceful and dark.

Also, get rid of distractions and make sure that your clothing and bed are as comfortable as possible.

Form a bedtime routine: Do activities that make you feel drowsy, such as reading a "dull" book or listening to soothing music. These activities can help unwind you from a busy day and prepare you for an undisturbed night's sleep.

Avoid all stimulants: Alcohol can disrupt your

sleeping patterns and caffeine can cause alertness.

Therefore, it is best to avoid them before bedtime.

Keep your body and room cool: For better sleep, your body core temperature has to drop a little. So always, keep your bedroom cool. Since food increases body temperature, make sure to eat low calorie food at dinnertime.

Exercise correctly: Daily exercise reduces stress and helps you relax.

Since exercise increases your body temperature, so exercise in the day rather than at night.

Take a warm bath: A warm bath is very relaxing if taken 4 hours before bedtime. Although it raises the body temperature a little bit, when your body temperature cools down, you will feel more drowsy.

Get help from supportive devices: A whitenoise machine and earplugs can help to block out any unwanted noises.

In addition, darkroom blinds or eyeshades can screen out the light.

Educate yourself about relaxation techniques: Deep breathing exercises like biofeedback, yoga and meditation can help you calm down.

Positive thinking: Learn to think positive thoughts by replacing negative thoughts with pleasant memories, fantasies and visualisations.

Breathe well: Focus on deep breathing from the diaphragm. Inhale to the count of four and exhale from one to eight.

amla-brewed water and apply on hair, including scalp to get the best results.

Conditions hair Henna is a very good conditioner for your hair.

It covers each hair shaft and builds a protective layer that safeguards the strands from damage.

Regular use of henna makes your hair thick and strong by locking the essential moisture in the hair. This herbal hair pack adds a natural shine and gloss to your mane and makes them two times stronger.

Covers greys If you want a rich coloured mane without affecting the health of your hair like other chem-

ical dyes, then henna is your answer. It has no amino acid or other chemicals that takes away the moisture from your hair which leaves it damaged and dull.

Boil water with two tablespoons of dried amla, one teaspoon of black tea and two cloves. Strain the water and add in henna to make a thick paste. Leave overnight or for at least two hours and apply on hair.

Treats dandruff Henna is known to cure dandruff quite effectively. Soak one two teaspoons of fenugreek seeds overnight in water and grind them in the morning. Heat some mustard oil and add a few henna leaves. Let it cool down and add fenugreek paste in the oil. You can strain the oil mixture to get rid of coarse particle and apply on the scalp an hour before the shampoo.

Henna is good for your hair

H

enna is one of the most popular beauty herbs in India and tropical countries that is known for its cooling effects.

Since ages it has been used to make hair shiny, healthy and gorgeous. The power of this green herb is not only used to decorate hands or cover greys, but is also applied on hair to bring back the health of your tresses.

Healthy hair Apply henna pack twice a month to make hair healthy, glossy and voluminous. It helps bring back the lost health of your hair and repairs damaged locks.

Henna restores the acid-alkaline balance of the scalp without affecting the natural balance of your hair. Steep henna for two hours in

To Our Readers

We are publishing these items in good faith, kindly consult your Doctor before you try to implement it. We do not hold any responsibility for its efficacy...

27

Imagine Your Way To Success and Healthy Hair Can imagination help you achieve your goals? Can you for example really have healthier hair or be slimmer by imagining this first?

The ancient Egyptians believed you could make dreams materialize in the real world. If that is true, then it follows that we should think positively Ravi Bhanot and express positive JP MRPharmS Dip(Nutr) Dip(Hom) Dip(Ayurv) Dip(Stress thoughts to attract positive things. Does the same Manag) Dip (Massage) Pharmacist, Ayurvedic, apply if you imagine great Complementary Health and hair and keep speaking Nutrition Consultant, Lecturer, about it positively?

Researcher and Author. He is a Hippocrates said, “the celebrity columnist for many magazines and is Director of natural healing force within each one of us is the greatThe Ayurveda Institute of Europe and Coolherbals Ltd. est force in getting well.”

Contemporary evidence, published in Psychology Today provides us with the interesting finding that “18-75% of the time, patients in clinical trials respond to placebo treatment as if they are getting the real drug.”

This as well as numerous other research findings demonstrate that with the help of your thoughts and imagination you can control your body’s processes. It is worth reading the book or watching "The Secret" on Youtube.

On the contrary, when you are emotionally or physically stressed, stress hormones are released that can negatively affect hair growth. This is what you probably notice yourself when you go through the periods of extreme tensions in your life. A good mood attitude will help you live a longer, stronger, happier life.So how can you use your mind power to make your hair grow rather than fall?

G What is your goal? Be specific. Is it long healthy hair? What does this mean for you? Have a photograph of yourself with a cut out of the hair you want and have this somewhere you can see regularly- may be on cupboard or fridge door.

G Smile more often. Psychologists claim that smiling can be not only a result of a happy feeling but also a cause of it!

G Meditate to relax. If you want to perform some physical activities and calm your mind at the same time, do yoga.

G Turn yourself from a pessimist into an optimist. It is easier said than done but with constant practice, you can turn your negative thoughts into positive ones. Positivity is like a virus. If you are positive, it is also likely that people around you will respond positively to you. That in turn will make you even more positive about yourself and your health and wellbeing.

G Do not feel a victim but rather take responsibility for your actions.

G Do something that makes you happy. Some relax while singing, others feel happy when they socialize.

Be around positive-minded people, read inspirational quotes and soak the positive energy to you!

G Is your why big enough? Why do you want healthier hair or slimmer stomach? Is it for better health or looks or the praise you may hear or because you kept to your promise of achieving this goal?

Whether you achieve your goal or not is quite often determined by the belief that it can be attained.

Either way it all depends initially on your thinking.

Only you can control your thoughts. Let us know of your success stories.

Do you suffer from hair loss, hair thinning or hair fall?

Do you want a beautiful, healthy thicker head of hair?

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Tel: 020 8597 9039 Email: ravi@coolherbals.com

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

'I' to be released on schedule I

f anyone is keeping a close watch on what's happening in Kollywood for the past few years, one common aspect that might catch their eyes whenever a big budget movie is slated for a release is that the opposition the film faces before finally making it to the big screen amidst anxiety and chaos. Call it a fashion statement or an effort to obtain cheap publicity by the protesters, unfortunately that's been the story of all high profile

movies before their release.

The latest victim to suffer from this newly found unhealthy trend is Vikram's much awaited “I.” It was reported earlier that the Madras High Court has issued a stay order against the movie which could keep the movie off cinema halls for at least 3 weeks.

However, the latest news is that Aascar Ravichandran, the producer of the film has assured that the movie will make its way into cinema halls on the said date which is 14th of January.

Hansika thanks her fans for a special 2014 H ansika has thanked her fans for the success she has achieved during 2014. She had been part of many hit films in varied genres. Her fan base is increasing fast and her acting chops are also getting sharpened at a quick rate.

Hansika has taken time out to thank one and all for all the good feedback that is coming her way. In a

'Alone'

tweet, she said, “2014 has been a special year with all your love and encouragement. The year was so fulfilling and I enjoyed the success of 'Maan Karate,' 'Power,' ' A r a n m a n a i , ' 'Meaghamann.' I would like to express my thanks to all my directors, producers, co-stars, crew and my well-wishers for all the trust and support.

Keeping fingers crossed for my upcoming releases.”

MMS 2.” It is the Bollywood remake of the 2007 Thai film of the same name, which is made in Kannada and Tamil in 2012 as “Charulatha” and remade in Malayalam as “Geethaanjali.”

Anirudh to perform in Canada, UK

A

nirudh, who started his 'Live in Concert' world tour in Singapore in the middle of last year, will perform at Surf Beach in Malaysia on January 31. By the middle of this year, the musician will present a grand concert in Canada, which will be followed by a similar one in London by the end of 2015.

These apart, he is busy scoring music for a string of Tamil movies. The latest buzz is that he would compose for Ajith's 56th film, which is to be helmed by 'Siruthai' Siva.

Amy Jackson to romance Udhayanidhi, Dhanush

B

ritish beauty Amy Jackson had revealed her roles opposite Udhayanidhi Stalin and Dhanush in her forthcoming movies. Amy described her role opposite to Udhayanidhi as a “village belle” and would be seen sporting traditional attire like sarees and salwar kameez. She explained her role as a very simple girl. Once done with

Kamat, Kushal Punjabi, Kiran Karmarkar, Yusuf Hussain etc.

'Sharafat Gayi Tel Lene'

'Crazy Kukkad Family'

“Alone” is a horror film starring Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover in pivotal roles. It marks the film debut of Grover.

The film is directed by Bhushan Patel who has directed previously hit horror films “1920: Evil Returns and Ragini

“Crazy Kukkad Family” tells the story of a family brought together by their greed for money. But slowly, despite their crazy capers, they learn the values that define a family. The film stars Nora Fatehi, Swanand Kirkire, Shilpa Shukla, Ninad

the Udhayanidhi project, she will then move on to working with Dhanush. She described the project as a “fun” movie after Dhanush having narrated few scenes. Amy further elaborated the movie and her role as “very giggly, cute and quirky.” Expect to see more of this sensational international beauty soon!

life. Zayed is playing the main role of Prithvi Khurana. Ranvijay is playing his roommate. Sam the main girl is Tina Desai and it is going to be her first film and there is another girl Talia Benson.

'MSG: The Messenger of God'

“Sharafat Gayi Tel Lene” is a comedy thriller directed by Gurmmeet Singh featuring Zayed Khan, Rannvijay Singh and Tena Desae in the lead roles. it was shot in 2010, however was delayed for many years due to numerous reasons. The film deals with a common man who gets trapped in a notion that honesty is a best policy but sometimes, especially in today's times, that is not a best option and you have to bend the rules to safeguard yourself more than getting ahead in

The film “MSG: The Messenger of God' deals with youth-related issues like drug abuse, alcoholism, etc. The film will be released in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and English. Guruji (Singh) is a spiritual leader who has a huge follower base. He has accepted the challenge of eradicating social evils including drugs and genderrelated issues that have been prevailing in the society. Those with vested interest are now disturbed as there's someone who has taken control of the situation. They conspire to kill him.

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

I

'The Lunchbox' nominated for Bafta

supported by several international co-producers, the film was first selected for the Cannes Critics Week, a parallel section of the French festival, and was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics for distribution in the US in early 2013.

In 2014, it became the first Indian film to be declared the highest grossing foreign language film of the year in the US, Europe, Au s t r a l i a , and New Zealand.

The film has grossed over $25 million worldwide and picked up several awards at film festivals.

gnored for the Oscars in 2013, Ritesh Batra-directed “The Lunchbox” was nominated for the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) in London. “It’s an honour to be nominated alongside the finest films of the year, much credit to my whole team and the work we did together. It’s a good validation to tell Indian stories to the world, if we don’t tell our own stories, no one else will,” Batra said.

In 2013, contrary to expectations, the film starring Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui was not selected by the Film Federation of India (FFI), the apex body of the film industry, as India’s entry to the Academy Awards in the ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ category. The FFI’s panel of filmmakers had instead chosen Gyan Correa’s “The Good Road.”

At the Bafta, “The Lunchbox” will compete with “Ida,” a Poland-Denmark co-production, Russian film “Leviathan,” Brazil-UK co-production “Trash,” and Belgian film “Two Days, One Night,” according to the Bafta.

Born out of a Ritesh Batra script at the NFDC Screenwriter’s Lab, “The Lunchbox” was the most celebrated project at the Work-In-Progress lab at the NFDC-curated Film Bazaar, the market section of the Goa International Film Festival of India in 201213. A project

I’ll live my life the way I want: Bipasha W

hile many actors avoid being in the spotlight to prevent rumours of a relationship, Bipasha Basu, who turned 36 last week, refuses to lead her life that way. “I will not hide from people. I could be friends with anyone and go for dinner with them. Just because I am dining with someone does not mean that I am dating him. I am not going to live by the rules made in the business. I will lead my life the way I want,” she says.

Bipasha is clear about not letting link-ups affect her. “For me, these are things that I don’t think about, any more. I feel you should focus on the work t h a t

I don’t do films for awards: Sonam

B

ollywood actress Sonam Kapoor says she chooses her films based on the character she gets, and not by judging whether it would get her an award or not.

Asked about her expectations from her forthcoming project “Dolly Ki Doli,” she said: “I don’t do films for awards. I do it for characters. I want to do different and interesting roles.” However, she hopes “Dolly Ki Doli” gets critically acclaimed and that “everybody likes it.”

Directed by Abhishek Dogra, the film also features Rajkummar Rao and Pulkit Samrat.

you do and the life that you lead, instead of getting bothered by all this.”

Even as she continues to live by that mantra, the actoress does admit that her straightforward ways have often landed her in trouble. “I have been vulnerable as I speak my mind,” says Bipasha, who was recently linked to her co-star Karan Singh Grover, after he announced his divorce with wife Jennifer Winget. But she has not let these rumours get in the way of her friendship with Karan. “Karan and I get along very well. This is why I feel that it (our chemistry) reflects well on the screen, too.”

Bips feels that she needs to be given more respect for her honesty and candidness. “I have been a part of this industry for 14 years now, and I have never hidden anything from the public. I feel I deserve more respect for being the person I am, and how I have been all this while,” she says.

Bachchan ready to work with Rekha

“I

am ready to work with Rekha if there is a story which is appropriate,” said Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan. They are considered to be an all time popular onscreen pair in Bollywood. The megastar says he will not rule out the possibility of working with the veteran actress in future films. The two have starred together in films like “Silsila,” “Mr Natwarlal,” “Muqaddar Ka Sikandar” and the 72-year-old actor, who will be next seen in R Balki’s “Shamitabh,” said the director wants to make a movie with him and Rekha.

“Balki keeps threatening me that he wants to design a film together,” Bachchan said during the trailer launch of the film “Shamitabh.”

“Shamitabh” also stars Rekha and there were speculations about the pair coming together on the screen but Bachchan has cleared the air saying the actress does not share any scene with him in the film.

“We actually don’t come together, it is a part of a sequence. When people will watch the film they will understand. It is always nice to have such great luminaries in the film,” he said.

“Shamitabh” is Balki and Bachchan’s third collaboration after “Cheeni Kum” and “Paa.” The film also has south superstar Dhanush and will mark the debut of Akshara Haasan, who is the younger daughter of actor Kamal Haasan and Sarika.

Karan Johar takes a dig 'PK' becomes the highest at Jacqueline's dress worldwide grosser

F

ilmmaker K a r a n Johar recently took a dig at Jacqueline Fernandez at an awards event. A little birdie said t h a t Jacqueline, who had come up on-stage to receive her award for being the 'Style Diva' of the year, had to face an a w k w a r d moment coming from host Karan Johar, the report states.

Karan pulled her leg to show dislike for the gown she was wearing saying that she looks like a "gift ready to be unwrapped," the report further stated.

“PK” has become the highest worldwide grosser of Bollywood with a collection of Rs 5.75 billion. The Aamir Khan starrer has beaten the record of his own film “Dhoom 3” which had earned a total of Rs 5.40 billion on the domestic box office. With such a speedy and consistent run on the ticket counters, “PK” may even break into the Rs 6 billion mark in a few days.However, looking at its domestic and overseas collections separately, “PK” falls behind “Dhoom 3” due to its low earnings in UK and Gulf. The Rajkumar Hirani film now stands at Rs 4.24 billion in the domestic market and Rs 1.53 billion on the overseas box office.

Tamil film 'Ra' to be remade in Hindi

Tamil horror film “Ra” will now be remade in Hindi.

Its rights have been acquired by Wild Elephants Motion Pictures, which produced Hindi thriller “Tamanchey.” It has been directed

by Prabhu Yuvaraj and Ashraf plays the lead. "The movie will be remade in Hindi with a known actor and is likely to be jointly directed by Prabhu Yuvaraj and Ashraf. The cast and technical team will be finalised by the end of the month and the shoot will commence soon," a statement said. Yuvaraj and Ashraf were co-pilots before venturing into the world of cinema. Made on a shoestring budget, “Ra,” which was released towards the end of 2014, turned out to be a super hit.

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UK

Java: 'a country not yet fully investigated'

Sunetra Senior

Japanese-born scholar Masatoshi Iguchi will release a fascinating essay on Javanese culture on the 28th of January 2015: “The rich culture that Java has cultivated through her long history is outstanding” he explains. “Having engaged in this study after retirement, I thought I should share my knowledge and passion with other people.”

Interestingly, Iguchi draws much of his expertise from a medical background. After receiving his PhD from the Tokyo

Institute of Technology in 1966, he spent most of his time in a government research laboratory: “as a scientist, I have been lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to stay or go abroad throughout my career” Iguchi continued.

“I eventually found myself visiting Indonesia and various other Southeast Asian countries. It was there that I witnessed the indigenous culture of the Javanese people.”

Java Essay: The history and culture of a southern country encompasses many different aspects of the development of Indonesian society, offering a unique and accessible insight into a people who have been underrepresented. The author chronicles a range of significant events, from the deportation of Japanese Christians in the early 17th Century to Bataviathe then Indonesian capital, now the city of Jakarta-to the history of the kingdoms that built Borobudur and Prambanan.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

Hani: new single Seven Seas Saat Samandar (Seven Seas) Refix is a taster of what is yet to come for 2015. The new sound is a fusion of Punjabi, Middle Eastern, English Urban and Hip Hop waves. Produced by the very known and respected Shayal and Evo. The video is directed by the highly acclaimed Akash and was shot in London and Paris. Hani also chose a leading Middle East designer “Hibayaat” as the stylist and wardrobe specialist for the video.

Hani, born in Karachi, Pakistan and raised in Middle East, released his last track 'Do It' in 2012 and went on to taking a break to set up his own music and film studio in London. He was raised watching his dad play musical instruments which inspired him to pick

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

If your ambitions have been undefined, don't worry as from now on, you understand exactly what kind of impact you need to make on the world. All those little details should run perfectly, without you constantly worrying. That means you can focus on matters that are important to you. Health-wise you will be feeling fit.

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21

up a guitar and by the age of 12 was able to compose melodies and write songs.

This latest track Saat Samandar is a Bollywood classic which Hani has blown up with a Refix by adding a unique Urban and Hip Hop element. The lyrics were inspired by Hani's life journey and will move and inspire you too. You can download 'Seven Seas' FREE on Soundcloud and other radio websites.

Bend it like Beckham Musical: cast announced

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GEMINI May 22 - June 22 Whether you’re single or attached you’ll have to go through a lot, as deep psychological transformations are taking place in all types of relationships. Don’t be afraid to experiment, trust your hunches, go with your gut feeling. Solutions to minor problems should be considered very carefully.

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22 Venus and Mercury highlight your solar eighth house. Your attention turns inward on a deeper level to personal transformations. There may be a strong focus on other's money, such as the resources of a partner, inheritance, banking and loans, or taxes. This transit should be positively dealt with to achieve any benefits.

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23 You know you’ve got no choice but to streamline and reassess your priorities before haphazardly saying yes to everything that smells like a potential opportunity. Try to create a balance between expansion and conservation. Jupiter in your sign makes you feel invincible, base your decisions on facts.

Coming Events

l Shree Jignyasu Satsang mandal are holding Shree 108 Hanuman Chalisa and mahayagna in the presence of Param Pujya Rambapa on Sunday 18th January 2015 to be held at: Vishwa Hindu Parishad Mandir, 2 Lady Margaret Road, Southall, UB1 2RA Time: 11am till 3.30pm Hanuman Chalisa. Mahaprasadam will be served. Sponsored by: Vishwa Hindu Parishad Mandir 020 8459 5758/ 07973 550310 l Variety Cultural Show in celebration of Republic Day of India: Sunday 25th Jan at 3.30pm.

Address: Gujarat Hindu Society, South Meadow Lane, Preston PR1 8JN, hosted by the Gujarat Hindu Society

If you are your own boss, then you can look forward to a fairly good week. You may find the next seven days a little frustrating, because this is a week where you will need personal space. You may be absorbing new ideas about how to create financial independence, others may not understand, so be careful.

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

Top: Natalie Dew, Lauren Samuels, Jamie Campbell Bower, Ronnie Ancona, Bottom: Preeya Kalidas, Jamal Andreas, Tony Jayawardena, Natasha Jayetileke

The cast list has been announced for the much anticipated 'Bend it like Beckham' musical.

Previewing in the West End from the May 2015, Gurinder Chadha's multicultural hit film will be rendered 3D, live on stage.

After a heat of auditions, Natalie Dew is set to play the main role of feisty footballer Jess with Lauren Samuels stepping into the elegant shoes of Keira Knightley's Jules.

Jamie Campbell Bower will play the pivotal role of Joe, coach of the local

women's football team 'The Harriers' while the rest of the cast will feature some exciting familiar faces: Comedienne Ronni Ancona will play Jules' mum while Jamal Andreas will play Tony, Jess' gay best friend.

Preeya Kalidas who appeared in the original film as one of the cousins, will take on the role of Pinky, Jess’ sister.

Finally, Tony Jayawardena and Natasha Jayetileke will gear up for the all important parts of Jess' parents, Mr and Mrs Bhamra.

Urvashi Jagadeesan (India) Mumbai: Kanti Bhatt, Hemraj Shah (Jumbo Advertiser) Horizon Advertising & Marketing: 2012, Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad. Tel +91 79 2646 5960 Email: horizon.marketing@abplgroup.com Business Manager: Hardik Shah (M) +91 99250 42936 Email: hardik.shah@abplgroup.com Advertising Manager: Neeta Patel (Vadodara) M: +91 98255 11702 Email: neeta_abplgroup@yahoo.co.in Business Co-ordinator: Shrijit Rajan M: +91 98798 82312 Email: shrijit.rajan@abplgroup.com International Advertisement Representative: Jain Group (South India) Tel: +91 44 42041122/3/4 Fax: +91 44 25362973 Mumbai: +91 022 2471 4122 Email: jain@jaingroup.net Delhi Office: Tel: +91 9311581597

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Responsibility is your key word, especially at work. Set your own goals, rather than trying to meet those set by someone else. Your ability to manage what you have on your plate earns respect from others around you. You will benefit in every way if you learn to self-discipline and pace yourself wisely.

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23 It's an excellent period for increased energy and motivation, so that new endeavors, whether they are business or health-related, or personal, fare especially well.

You are more decisive and forward-looking now, and you feel that your decisions are right. With Venus and Mercury in your solar 5th house, love should be blossoming.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

This is a good time to appreciate what you have already created in your life. Of course, there are still challenging issues on both a personal and practical level. To get here you may have overcome obstacles by making important decision and choices that set the direction of your life.

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

Relationships are likely to widen your horizons, but exercise caution, because some opportunities won't prove quite as amazing as they first seem. Saturn in your sign, will help you organize your priorities .People entering your life now will encourage you to move beyond your established boundaries of safety.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

Anything or anyone that drains your time and energy should be re-evaluated. It’s time to use that creative imagination of yours to create grandeur in your life. Don't get too carried away and lose sight of little things that mean a lot to you. There are a lot of opportunities around you.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19

It’s all about communications, as they take centre stage this week. Regarding love there will be a struggle between devotion and freedom. You need to feel completely consumed by the passion of your lover, and yet you need personal space to explore your own thing.

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

At work sometimes a little upheaval and chaos is exactly what you need to set things right again.

There’s no need to be complacent: the time is now. Unpredictable energies continue to influence your health sector, bringing erratic highs and lows. The key for you as always is to remain calm and collected.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

India's schedule at the World Cup

Following is the schedule of the Indian cricket team during the ICC World Cup under MS Dhoni. India are the current holders of the trophy.

India have been placed in pool B with South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland and the UAE. All of their group stage matches are day-night fixtures.

India open their campaign against arch rivals Pakistan - whom they have never lost to in the World Cup - in game four of the tournament at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday, February 15. A week later, they face South Africa in Melbourne on February 22, in game 13. The following Sunday (February 28) is their third match which will be against the UAE at Perth's WACA ground. On Friday, March 6, India next play West Indies at the WACA. That match marks the

end of India's group stage campaign in Australia.

Their next two matches are in New Zealand. On March 10, they face Ireland in game 34 in Hamilton on March 14, they play Zimbabwe in game 39 in Auckland.

The 2015 World Cup will comprise 49 games across 44 days in 14 cities.

The 14 teams are divided into two groups of seven, each to play six pool matches before the top four advance into the

knock-out stage.

India's World Cup group stage fixtures: Sunday Feb 15 v Pakistan, match 4, Adelaide (D/N) Sunday Feb 22 v South Africa, match 13, Melbourne (D/N) Saturday Feb 28 v UAE, match 21, Perth (D/N) Friday Mar 6 v West Indies, match 28, Perth (D/N) Tuesday Mar 10, v Ireland, match 34,

Hamilton (D/N) Saturday Mar 14 v Zimbabwe, match 39, Auckland (D/N) India's head-to-head WC record against 2015 opponents: Pakistan: P 5, W 5 (1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2011) South Africa: P 3, L 3 (1992, 1999, 2011) West Indies: P 7, W 4, L 3 (1979, 1983, 1992, 1996, 2011) Ireland: P 1, W 1 (2011) Zimbabwe: P 8, W 7, L 1 (1983, 1987, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003) India's record at the 2015 World Cup venues: Adelaide: P 13, W 7, L 5, T 1 (1980-2012) Melbourne: P 17, W 8, L 9 (1980-2012) Perth: P 10, W 4, L 5, T 1 (1980-2012) Hamilton: P 8, W 2, L 6 (1981-2014) Auckland: P 8, W 3, L 4 T 1 (1976-2014)

Following the footsteps of other major cricket playing countries like England, Australia and New Zealand, India also reserved time for home season. From 2015, the international world cricket calendar, from India’s point of view, is set to undergo a major change.

And the change, an initiative of the BCCI, will usher a revamped, newlook home season – one stretching from October to January.

The idea, say those in the know, is to have a home calendar that revolves around India’s large festive season that starts with Dushera in October, followed by Diwali, Christmas, the New Year to Pongal and Lohri in January.

Australia play at home between November and January-end. They either tour in September and October or February and

March. When it comes to a series in India, they prefer to play the Tests in September or October and the Onedayers between February and March.

Tables are about to turn with India having decided to do the same starting this year. “Just like Australia prefers to play the Test series here in September and October and One-day series between February and March, India can do the same,” said a high-ranked BCCI official.

In line with this planning, South Africa will tour India in October this year for a four-Test series followed by Pakistan and Sri Lanka coming on shorter tours. “By doing so, India will get to play at home during peak festival season. The idea is to have two home series every year from this year onwards. That is the direction we need to head

towards,” he added.

The board’s outlook is clear that India needs to tour well too but at the same time, a balance needs to be maintained.

“India can always tour England in July, August and September and Australia in FebruaryMarch one year or West Indies another year, or South Africa, New Zealand.

“During these months, if the top 15 Indian players are touring, they don’t get to play any domestic cricket. Facilities across India – around 20 potential Test venues – don’t get used during the peak season. Spectators don’t get enough of live action,” adds the official.

“The idea is also to break international tours and make it less grueling for the cricketers,” says the official. The Indian board’s concern also stems from a form of

hypocrisy shown by other boards over touring patterns. “Why does England tour Australia and South Africa and play on Boxing Day but when they are in India, they have to break the tour and go back home for Christmas?” he says.

“In 1969-70, Australia did play a series in India during Christmas and New Year. So when did they start saying ‘Boxing Day is ours’?”

The board’s clear view is that there are a substantial number of fans across the country, not to forget abroad, who want to watch India play. “It’s not like the MCG that hosts a Test match, a One-dayer and a Twenty20 all at the same venue in a span of 25 days. In India, from Ranchi and Delhi to Bangalore and Chennai, there are 20 Test venues and spectators willing to come and watch their national team play live.

on their minds.

Craig, however, managed to tempt a loose shot from Prasanna Jayawardene, who slapped the ball to Kane Williamson at cover for 10, then had Dinesh Chandimal caught behind

by BJ Watling for 13. The offspinner trapped Rangana Herath lbw on

the next ball and while Suranga Lakmal saw off the hat-trick delivery, Sri Lanka's resistance was virtually over at 156 for eight.

Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell had earlier ripped through the top of Sri Lanka's innings in the first session, aided by some superb catching in the slips cordon. Boult removed nightwatchman Dhammika Prasad (six) and Kumar Sangakkara (five) in quick succession early in the session before Bracewell struck twice shortly before lunch.

The recalled seamer removed opener Kaushal Silva, who had just scored his seventh Test half century but was then caught

by Craig in the slips, before Angelo Mathews was caught for eight by Williamson in the gully..

Indian cricket to have new-look home season

New Zealand sweep series against Lanka

New Zealand completed a 193-run victory and 2-0 series sweep against Sri Lanka on the final day of the second test at the Basin Reserve last week.

Craig took three wickets after lunch, including two in two balls, to help complete a remarkable turnaround for the hosts, who had looked likely to lose the game inside three days at one point.

"That's the beauty about this team, all the boys chip in and shows when we put it all together what we can do," Craig said of the team's fightback from a seemingly impossible position on the third day. "I think the way we played in Christchurch and followed up here was awesome, so two very good wins."

Lahiru Thirimanne

was left unbeaten on 62, while Nuwan Pradeep was bowled by Tim Southee for one as the visitors were dismissed for 196. Sri Lanka had resumed on 110 for five after lunch but had given up any pretence of chasing the 390 runs they needed to win the game and level the series with survival uppermost

SPORT WORLD

31

Kohli breaks Test captaincy world record

Virat Kohli smashed his fourth century of the series on day three of the fourth Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground and thus became the first test captain in cricket history to score three centuries in first three innings. Australian Greg Chappell had scored a century each in his first two innings as skipper against the West Indies at Brisbane in 1975. Kohli also surpassed the earlier record of batting legend Rahul Dravid who scored 619 runs from eight innings in the 2003-04 tour of Australia.

Kohli, who came into this match with an aggregate of 499 runs, has now totalled 639 from seven innings. He is also the second Indian after Sunil Gavaskar to register four tons in a Test series. The former Indian captain did it twice against the West Indies in 1971 and 1978-79.

Pak captain Misbah to retire from ODIs

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq said that that he would retire from limited-overs internationals after guiding his national team in the World Cup to focus on Test cricket. The veteran batsman, who set a record last year for the most Test wins by a Pakistan captain, claimed that the long format of the game remains the ultimate test for him and they have tough series coming against England and India. Meanwhile, Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi would quit ODIs after the World Cup to concentrate on T20 cricket. Misbah, who made his ODI debut in 2002, has scored 4,669 runs at an average of 42.83 in 153 ODIs, and captained Pakistan in 78 games. He has played 29 Twenty20 internationals, the most recent of which was 2012.

Misbah said that he took the decision to retire after much thought and feels that this was the best time to go from ODIs, adding that the World Cup is his last ODI venture.

Bravo, Pollard left out of West Indies World Cup squad

Former West Indies One-Day International captain, Dwayne Bravo, and hard-hitting allrounder, Kieron Pollard, have been left out of West Indies' squad for ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, according to a tweet from Dinanath Ramnarine, former West Indies legspinner and former President of the West Indies Players Association. The West Indies Cricket Board has yet to officially announce their 15man squad for the quadrennial event but Ramnarine's tweet, only fuelled further speculations surrounding the absence of these two senior players from the big event in Australia-New Zealand. Bravo and Pollard are currently involved in the T20 series away at South Africa.

Pakistan pick Sohail Khan for World Cup

Pakistan have picked 30-year old fast bowler Sohail Khan in their 15man squad for the 2015 World Cup. Sohail had played the last of his five ODIs in Zimbabwe in 2011, but took ten wickets in two of his most recent games, and was the highest wicket-taker in this season's Quaid-eAzam Gold League - 64 at an average of 22. Apart from Sohail, the other World Cup inclusions not part of the squad for the series against New Zealand in December 2014 are batsman Shoaib Maqsood and fast bowlers Junaid Khan and Ehsan Adil. All three missed that series because of injuries but have now recovered. The players who were part of the New Zealand series but excluded from the World Cup squad are: Anwar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Nasir Jamshed, Sohail Tanvir and Zulfiqar Babar. The Squad: Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Younis Khan, Harris Sohail, Misbah ul Haq, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Ehsan Adil, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th January 2015

India manage a draw; Australia win series 2-0

India overcame some anxious moments on the fifth day before managing a tense draw in the fourth and final cricket Test against Australia who sealed the four-match series with a 2-0 margin on Saturday.

Chasing a stiff target of 349 for a win, India started off well but suffered a dramatic collapse in the post tea session to just about eke out a draw by finishing on 252 for seven in 89.5 overs on an absorbing fifth day's play at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

India were comfortably placed at 160 for two at tea and needed 189 runs off 33 overs for a win in the final session. The complexion of the game changed completely after the tea break with Murali Vijay (80), inform captain Virat Kohli (46), Suresh Raina (0) and Wriddhiman Saha (0) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1) departing in quick succession to give Australia a sniff of victory. But Ajinkya Rahane (38 not out) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (20 not out) played out almost 12 tense overs to save the

Australian team with Border-Gavaskar Trophy

game for the Indians, who were badly let down by their wayward bowlers right through the series.

The 2-0 series verdict meant that Australia regained the BorderGavaskar trophy by virtue of their victories in Adelaide and Brisbane.

The Boxing Day Test at Melbourne ended in a draw. For Australia Josh Hazzlewood (2/31), Mitchell Starc (2/36) and off-spinner Nathan Lyon (2/110) shared six wickets

between them.

The stage was set for a pulsating fifth day's play with Australia declaring their second innings at the overnight score of 251 for six, giving India a target of 349 in 90 overs to register their first win in the series.

India lost young opener Lokesh Rahul (16) early but Vijay and Rohit Sharma (39) stitched 56 runs for the second wicket to stabilise the innings.

Coming on to bat after lunch, Vijay and Rohit

looked to carry on their good work, but their partnership didn't last long.

Rohit came out positive but perished when he chose to guide one from Watson down past the slip cordon and Australia captain Steve Smith took a brilliant one-handed catch diving to his right to dismiss the batsman. Vijay was then joined in the middle by Kohli and they batted with maturity, looking to pick up runs whenever the opportunity arrived.

The 100-run mark for India came up in the 37th over and then Vijay had a huge moment, when on 42, he was dropped by Shaun Marsh at short cover off Ryan Harris. In the very next over, on 46, Vijay survived another LBW shout as umpire Richard Kettleborough was not convinced even though TV replays showed that he was out. Vijay soon completed his fourth half-century of the series as India went to tea placed at 160 for two.

Needing 189 runs in the last session with two set batsmen at the crease and eight wickets in hand, the

Indians came out with a positive intent and looked to give themselves a chance.

Vijay, who scored his runs off 165 balls with the help of seven boundaries and two sixes, and Kohli played positively and it seemed they were looking for an improbable last-session victory. But it wasn't to be as the former got out in a bid to up the ante, caught behind off Hazlewood after sharing a 74-run partnership for the third wicket with Kohli.

India reached the 200-run mark in the 67th over but shortly thereafter Kohli departed, caught at first slip by Shane Watson off Starc. Kohli's dismissal ended any hopes of Indian victory and from there onwards it was just about saving the match for the visitors. But Raina, who made a golden pair, and Saha were dismissed quickly by Starc and Lyon as the visitors lost three wickets for just seven runs.

Ashwin then played out 22 deliveries even as Rahane was solid at the other end and they started eating up

overs in a stand that lasted 7.1 overs worth only nine runs. But tension rose again when Ashwin was trapped LBW by Hazlewood.

However, Bhuvneshwar came out and played some attacking strokes to defy the hosts as he and Rahane added 35 runs and played out 69 tense deliveries to save the match for India.

Earlier, India produced a solid batting performance to reach 73 for one at lunch. The day started with Australia skipper Smith declaring at the overnight score and giving India full 90 overs to register their first win in the series.

Vijay and Rahul then walked out to the crease, full of purpose, but they started slowly. They were both watchful against the new ball and hence the runs came in a trickle.

Only nine runs came in the first seven overs, with Lyon being introduced into the attack as early as in the sixth over. In the 10th over of the innings, Vijay broke the shackles as he hit Lyon for a four and a six to pick up 16 runs from that over.