AV 18th May 2019

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18 - 24 MAY 2019 - VOL 48 ISSUE 3

FIGHTING RACIAL BIAS

inside: Recovery and rehabilitation for the Rohingyas in the UK SEE PAGE 8

UK billionaires go richer among Brexit and political uncertainties SEE PAGE 16-17

Rupanjana Dutta The rise of racial bias against Asians, Blacks and ethnic minorities, especially after the EU Referendum in June 2016, is a constant and consistent reminder of the existing inequalities in every day British life. A survey of 1000 people by Guardian from ethnic minority last year

found that they are more likely to have faced negative everyday experience- such as racism, than their white counterparts.

Even political parties seem to be embroiled in rows over prejudices and racism. While political parties are keen to catch up, people have their bet on Change UK, to bring about much awaited 'differences’ in the political scenario,

while others have an anticipatory close eye on Nigel Farage's new Brexit party as against his old one- UKIP. But it is not just in-party and cross-party biases.

Asian MPs and local politicians are also increasingly at the receiving end of 'abusive and intolerant' public.

PM Modi slams Sam Pitroda for 1984 anti-Sikh riots remark SEE PAGE 26

Continued on page 9

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18 - 24 May 2019

onetoone WITH KEITH VAZ, MP

Dr Umarajini Kannan Dr Umarajini Kannan was born in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, to Mr Ponnampalam Velauthar, RAF & Air Craft Engineer and Suppamma Velauthar.

She spent most of her childhood in Sri Lanka and Chennai where she did her secondary school before moving to the UK. She lived in South-East London and completed her first degree in Biochemistry and chemistry at Queen Mary’s & Westfield College (University of London). After working at Lewisham Hospital as Medical Laboratory Scientific Officer (MLSO), she channelled her focus and determination into completing her medical degree which she completed in 2000 at University of Dundee.

Umarajini worked in the medical field until she decided to become a GP. She worked in East London where she was exposed to an increasing number of patients with Diabetes. She was further encouraged by one of her patients who suffered a preventable complication. She felt that if there was more awareness it would prevent unnecessary complications of Diabetes. Harrow has the highest prevalence of Diabetes in the UK and as a GP in Harrow, she decided to become the Clinical Lead of Diabetes in Harrow and the North-West London transformation lead. She was given the opportunity to improve the awareness of Diabetes by ‘London Tamil Market’ team in April 2019 where she was joined by colleagues, friends and family who helped her in successfully identifying patients at risk of developing Diabetes.

Rashid A Khan Solicitor (Principal)

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

Even though I experienced lifestyles in South-east London and Scotland, I feel most at home in North-West London due to its diverse cultures, its interesting citizens and the feeling of security through our community.

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There is no worst aspect to my role as it is a great privilege and honour to be the clinical lead of diabetes in Harrow and to improve clinical quality and efficiency within the NHS by reducing unwarranted variation in patients living with Diabetes in London.

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What are your long-term goals?

What inspires you?

My biggest inspiration is making a change in the world for the benefit of others and not yourself. I think that especially in our society today, acts of selflessness are effective in improving and building our future together.

My long-term goals are to make sure all the information about Diabetes reaches all patients of different races. Thus, reduces the devastating complications that can result from poor management of the condition, bringing health and economic benefits.

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What has been biggest obstacle in your career?

My biggest obstacles in my career would be changing from country to country to find a place where I felt safe and putting family before work. I think that my family are my biggest supporters in everything I do and they have helped me overcome this obstacle of putting work before family and helped me find not only a healthy work-life balance but a place that I could call home.

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

I haven’t had a single role model, but my parents, family & friends have been my biggest influence. They always radiate positivity and encourage me to do better. I think that they are the reason for my success and I appreciate everything they have done for me.

Thousands of survivors fleeing abusive and violent relationships will receive greater protection thanks to a new package of support, confirmed on Monday 13 May

by Prime Minister, Theresa May. For the first time ever, councils across the country will be legally required to provide vital life-saving support in secure accommodation for survivors of domestic abuse and their children – ensuring need in their local area is met.

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

To encourage a healthy lifestyle (Diet & Exercise) from primary school through compulsory exercises (Drills) for 20 minutes in the morning and also physical education on a daily basis. This will prevent childhood obesity, improve mental well being and prevent future development of Diabetes & complications.

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

I would take Mother Teresa as her primary task was to love and care for those whom no one was prepared to take care off.

‘Love cannot remain by itself - it has no meaning, love has to be put into action, and the action is Service’, by Mother Teresa.

Domestic abuse is a devastating crime which shatters the lives of over 2 million survivors and their families every year.

While many local authorities are already providing tailored support to those fleeing violent relationships, more needs to be done to end the variation across the country in support and ensure a consistent approach across the country so all families are able to recover and overcome their experiences.

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Local authorities will also be required to work together with neighbouring councils to ensure domestic abuse services reflects the needs of local people – including targeted, specialist support for BAME, LGBT and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller survivors.

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My proudest achievement would be completing my medical degree with the support of my family and friends and applying my biochemistry knowledge into Diabetes care in the community. My post graduate education has aided me in teaching and training the healthcare professionals to improve Diabetes care.

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What is the best aspect about your current role?

I think the best aspect about my role is being able to help to transform the care of people living with Diabetes in Harrow and North-West London. It also gives me the opportunity to meet new interesting personalities and expands my connections in the community.

What are your proudest achievements?

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18 - 24 May 2019

Significance of the great patriotic war Reading the reams of Indian print, one would conclude that nothing truly mattered in world beyond the trans-Atlantic sphere. Is not India’s ‘privileged strategic partnership’ with Russia fit subject for serious cogitation? Yet none was forthcoming as Russia celebrated the 74th anniversary of the ‘Great Patriotic War’ together with many of the nations of the former Soviet Union, on May 9. Thousands upon thousands of Russians of all ages – men women and children - marched with pictures of their grandfathers, fathers, grandmothers, mothers, aunts, uncles, friends and comrades-in-arms, who fought in the Red Army in defence of the Motherland, then as destroyers of Hitler’s infamous Third Reich trapped in its Berlin lair. Thus was human civilisation itself saved from defilement like no other.

Addressing Parliament in London, Britain’s wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill declaimed: ‘The advance of their Armies from Stalingrad to the Dniester river...constitutes the greatest cause of Hitler’s undoing...not only have the Hun invaders been driven from the lands they ravaged, but the guts of the German army have been largely torn out by Russian valour and generalship. The people of all the Russias have in their supreme ordeal of agony a warrior leader, Marshal Stalin, whose authority enabled him to combine and control many millions upon a front of nearly 2000 miles.’

Churchill in one sentenced captured the scale and grandeur of the Soviet war effort: ‘generalship,’ best describing Soviet mastery of the higher conduct of war, at the operational and strategic level.

Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, Chief of Britain’s Imperial General Staff, having watched Stalin’s performance at the Tehran conference with Churchill and Roosevelt in November 1943, made the following entry in his War Diarie: ‘During this meeting and the subsequent ones which we had with Stalin, I rapidly grew to appreciate that he had a military brain of the very highest calibre.

Never once in any of his statements, did he make any strategic error, nor did he ever fail to appreciate all the implications of a situation with a quick and unerring eye.’

On hearing from Churchill, the details of the planned ‘Operation Torch’ in North Africa by the Anglo-American forces, Stalin asked a few questions before making a concise summary of its strategic implications. Churchill relates: ‘I was deeply impressed by this remarkable statement. It showed the Russian Dictator’s swift and complete appreciation of a problem hitherto novel to him. Very few people alive could have comprehended in so few minutes the reasons which we all had so long been wrestling with.

He saw it all in a flash.’ (Winston Churchill, The Second World War, Volume IV) Averill Harriman, President Roosevelt’s Ambassador in Moscow, in 1943-45, was to reflect decades later, ‘Stalin the war leader was popular and there can be no doubt that he was the one who held the Soviet Union together ...I do not think anyone else could have done it ... I’d like to emphasize my great admiration for Stalin the national leader in an emergency – one of those historical occasions when one man made such a difference. This in no sense minimizes

my revulsion against his cruelties; but I have to give you the constructive side as the other.’

Colonel Albert Seaton, in his study of ‘Stalin as Warlord,’ was critical of his military leadership in the first two years of the war, said, ‘he must be allowed the credit for the amazing successes of 1944... when whole German army groups were virtually obliterated with lightening blows, in Belorussia, Galicia, Rumania and the Baltic, in battles that were fought not on the wintry steppes, but in midsummer in Central Europe. Some of these victories must be reckoned as among the most outstanding in the world’s military history.’

When the Nazis suggested the release of Stalin’s son Yacob, a sergeant in the Red Army, in exchange for German Field Marshal Frederick Paulus, the Soviet leader turned down the offer, with a comment to his deputy Marshal Zhukov, that a sergeant for a field marshal was unthinkable, with almost every family in the land bereaved. It was thus Yacob’s fate to die in the line of duty. His German captors shot him.

It was scarcely surprising, therefore, that many of those who thronged the Moscow streets held aloft banners in tribute to Stalin’s memory, to his extraordinary role in the greatest conflict ever witnessed on Planet Earth.

The true genesis of the Cold War was the Russian revolution of October 24, 1917 (Old Style ), November 7 (New Style). The great powers, Britain France, the United States and Japan, attempted to throttle the regime at birth and restore the Tsarist monarchy. Capitalist versus communist hue, for a time, masked the deeper significance of the struggle for the Eurasian landmass as key to global dominance.

The old USSR was isolated by the West in the 1920s and 30s, studiously ignored during the Czech crisis of September 1938, when Britain and Franced acquiesced in Hitler’s occupation of Sudetenland. In March 1939, Prague was occupied and Czechoslovakia was swallowed by the Nazi Reich. As war loomed, Britain and France engaged in spurious talks in Moscow on the possibility of a common front against the German threat. To ‘keep ‘Russia in play,’ was the British goal, said Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary in London. Stalin called his bluff with a neutrality pact with Berlin to buy time. Hitler pre-empted him with his invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Churchill expressed Britain’s solidarity with the latest victim of Nazi aggression, with the barest expectation of successful Soviet resistance. The formal alignment of the USSR, the UK and US was sealed by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

The death of President Roosevelt in mid April 1945, a few weeks prior to Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender dissipated Allied trust, reopening old wounds and the struggle of East and West, and an intensifying nuclear arms race between Moscow and Washington.

The Soviet Union has long disappeared, but not so NATO encirclement of the Russian Federation. The Cold War, having completed its first hundred-year cycle, has crossed the threshold of the second.

History is truth, not fiction Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan recently turned his attention to Tipu Sultan, the late eighteenth century despot of a southern kingdom of the subcontinent. Tipu fought the British and lost his life in battle.

As a Muslim ruler in a largely non-Muslim environment, Tipu proclaimed his primary loyalty to the sultan of the Ottoman Empire based in Istanbul. The image of him as Indian patriot is ludicrous. There were Marathas, Sikhs, Jats, Mogul pretenders and European soldiers of fortune, all jockeying for power across the subcontinent.

Premier Imran hailed Tipu as a patriot against British ‘enslavement’ - of Indians and Pakistanis? Khan’s Indian confederate, Shashi Tharoor tweeted his unflinching support. The sanctity Tharoor once enjoyed as UN Communications Director in the dispensation of the late Secretary General Kofi Anan, has long dissipated. He lost

face and place as administrator in cricket’s Indian Premier League, and is presently facing a charge of assisting in his wife Sunanda Puskar’s suicide. He was reportedly having an affair with a Pakistani journalist.

Tharoor belched a bellicose critique of the Raj, demanding that contemporary Britain pay India an indemnity for its misdeeds – a brand of patriotism described by the great lexicographer and Cham of English letters, Dr Samuel Johnson, as the ‘last refuge of a scoundrel.’

Nineteenth century Indian reformers and liberals viewed the Pax Britannica, warts and all, as a period of seedtime and remedy, after the horrors endured in the previous hundred years. The Indian awakening led directly to recognition of Indian identity. Tharoor’s bid to arrest a career in free-fall with steroids of chauvinism is doomed.

Novel compound for cancer cells India will eventually stand or fall by the strength or weakness of its economy, its science and technology.

Backward political India is also an advanced space power and s0ftware behemoth, encapsulating the Indian paradox.

Recently, in Kolkata, researches at the Institute of Chemical Biology and the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science have designed and synthesized

around 25 quinoline derivatives that potent ant-cancer activity. The compounds were tested in vitro against Topoisometric I activity and their efficacy in killing cells was carried out using breast, ovarian cervical and colon cancer cell lines. The results were published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. The success of the project indicates further successes in the future.

In complete darkness we are all the same. It is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us. Don't let your eyes deceive you.

- Janet Jackson

Virendra Sharma MP Labour MP for Ealing & Southall

Family values, strength and support on International Day of Families Being from an Indian family I know the value of family, the strength we lend each other, and the support we offer to our brothers and sisters, parents and cousins. Family is non-negotiable for us, it makes us who we are and stays with us from birth to death.

Many of the festivals that define the year recognise the importance of family, from Vasant Panchami to Diwali it is inbuilt that we all, of all faiths, celebrate our relations and our loved ones. With Cyclone Fani striking India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka last week we saw the immense strength of the weather to change our world, and in a changing world the only constant is the strength of our families, bound together.

This Wednesday (15 May) marks the 2019 International Day of the Family, a United Nations backed day to recognise the family as the basic unit of society and provides an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting them. This year the theme is Families and Climate Action, focussing on Sustainable Development Goal 13.

Across the world thousands of children have been going on climate strike for months now, inspired by the Swedish teenage Greta Thunberg, setting aside Friday as a day to raise awareness of their parent’s generation’s lack of action on climate change. What could be closer to the heart of a family that ensuring the world will be fit for our children and our grandchildren. Action on the environment has been too slow and too conservative, we need to act, and we have to act or face being the generation that destroyed the planet. I was moved to see the children in Parliament Square, but not just children, they were accompanied by parents and grandparents, desperate to end the damage we continue to inflict upon the world.

So today represents the best opportunity to reflect on our lives, on the role we play in society and on how our behaviour impacts upon our family. Over the next five years the European Union has pledged to spend 25% of its budget on climate change mitigation, that is an amazing £2.1 Billion, but it won’t be enough globally. We need concerted action around the globe to protect families from climate change.

Just in the UK a temperature rise of 1.5°C will result in millions of homes being made uninhabitable, and a change in climate that will make us more like the south of France, killing species up and down the nation and threatening the health of the whole country.

As a politician, but also as a grandfather, I want to see change. I want to know that the world I leave behind is better than the one I inherited. Maybe the real message of the International Day of the Family shouldn’t just be about our own family, however important it may be, but instead should be about our global family and our billions of sons, daughters, brothers and sisters around the world we never meet, never take anything from or give anything to. Maybe the only thing we can give to the billions of unborn nieces and nephews is to leave them a world with promise and hope, a globe with a climate not in catastrophe but in equilibrium where we respect the natural value of nature.

Editor: CB Patel Asian Voice is published by Asian Business Publications Ltd Karma Yoga House, 12 Hoxton Market, (Off Coronet Street) London N1 6HW. Tel: 020 7749 4080 • Fax: 020 7749 4081 Email: aveditorial@abplgroup.com Website: www.abplgroup.com INDIA OFFICE Bureau Chief: Nilesh Parmar (BPO) AB Publication (India) Pvt. Ltd. 207 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad-380 015.

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18 - 24 May 2019

CFIN hosts gala dinner to celebrate UK-India ties The Conservative Friends of India (CFIN) hosted a special dinner in honour of the Home Secretary, Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP and the Indian High Commissioner HE Mrs Ruchi Ghanashyam on 8th May 2019 at the Taj Hotel, London. The dinner was to celebrate the special bond shared between Britain and India.

Speaking at the event, Mrs Ghanashyam urged UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid to look into regulations around compulsory tax contributions for Indian professionals who come to the UK for a short period of time, as it results in a loss of millions of pounds. Mrs Ghanashyam, referring to the latest figures from Grant Thornton's 'India Meet Britain Tracker 2019', spoke about an increase in the number of Indian companies operating in UK to 842 in 2019, the PTI reported.

She reportedly said, "It shows the confidence that Indian business has in the UK and the positive momentum that they keep on adding to the India-UK economic relations.

Here, I want to draw attention to the National Insurance (NI) exemption which for Indian nationals is 52 weeks, while for some other countries it can be three to five years.” NI is a tax paid by UK residents, ensuring access to state-funded pension in later life. However, people on a limited period of Intra Company Transfer (ICT) visa, is unable to take advantage of this, as the minimum period to gain the pension entitlement through NI is 10 years. This effectively means forfeiting the entire amount paid in.

Mrs Ghanashyam added, "An estimate puts this loss of contribution to approximately 230 million pounds for the employer and 200 million pounds for the employee."

She also highlighted the issue of falling number of Indian students in the British universi-

Anil Sharma, Nayaz Qazi, Dr Rami Ranger CBE, Dr Atul Pathak OBE, Home Secretary Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, HE Mrs Ruchi Ghanashyam, GP Hinduja, Dr Ravi Gidar

ties, and emphasised how the students are a 'great source of strength' for UK-India relationship. Last year though there has been a slight increase in the number of students coming to the UK from India to 19,500, it is still way below the number of 40,890 in 2010-11.

Ms Ghanashyam also reportedly spoke of the strong IndiaUK partnership, most recently demonstrated in the blacklisting of Pakistan-based Jaish-eMohammed chief Masood Azhar by the UN in which the UK "took the lead", and said she had also sought the permission of the Minister to raise some issues.

Rt Hon Sajid Javid, who was the Chief Guest at the dinner welcomed Mrs Ghanashyam as the second female Indian High Commissioner to the UK (after Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit), as well as her "frank" remarks and pledged to work alongside her on some of the issues.

He said, "Last year, the number of Indian students choosing to come to the UK went up by 35 per cent, the biggest annual increase in over a decade. And, the UK already issues more skilled worker visas to Indian nationals than to the rest of the world combined," said Mr Javid, the first Pakistani-origin minister in the UK Cabinet.

The Home Secretary emphasised that India post-Brexit will be a decisive partner in furthering the joint success of UK and India. He added, "The new (post-

Brexit) immigration system will be a skills-based system, which means it will not be based on nationality. It means that we will be even more open once we have left the EU (European Union) to welcome even more of India's brightest and best," he said.

He also paid tribute to the history of the relationship and help from India with the largest volunteer force of 1 million soldiers in the Great Wars- a debt which can never be repaid. The Home Secretary said, "That the relationship and friendship had stood the test of time and both countries stand on firm foundations which together will build a shared future."

The Minister referred to British Indian businessman Dr Rami Ranger, the co-chair of CFIN, as a "success story" as he highlighted the contributions of the Indian diaspora to the UK, adding that the country's statefunded National Health Service (NHS) would collapse without the contribution of 60,000 British Indians.

Dr Ranger, the Londonbased founder of international marketing and distributing company Sun Mark, said, "The UKIndia alliance is not only mutually beneficial but also good for the world as a whole because we share similar values as secular democracies.”

The CFIN, which promotes closer ties between Conservative party and India, also unveiled new patrons at the event - Tory

MPs Ian Duncan Smith, Paul Scully MP and Nusrat Ghani MP. Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, shared some highly entertaining snippets of his colourful and vast political experience and his affinity for India.

He said, "That we have the most significant opportunity that exists and we must act to reestablish with a great friend, India, the country which shares a common language, common legal system and common belief in democracy, the development of trade and further opportunities to the benefit of both countries and the world."

Nusrat Ghani MP said how delighted she was to join CFI as a Patron and h ig hlighte d how important the synergy between both great countries is, highlighting the opportunities that exist between India and UK in relation to Transport and other key infrastructure projects. Ghani introduced her CoMinister for Transport and Aviation in the House of Lords, Baroness Charlotte Vere of Norbiton.

Paul Scully MP, highlighted how India is currently carrying out the longest exercise in democracy and the opportunity for the UK to enhance and develop closer ties with India.

He spoke of the value of the diaspora in Britain and the importance of social mobility for the benefit of the country, including the Indian diaspora's contribution to key public services including the NHS.

British man banned by police from leaving Sri Lanka Sri Lankan police have banned a newlywed British man from returning home after his wife died while on their honeymoon. Khilan Chandaria, 33, married Usheila Patel, 31, in Brent, north London on April 19, before leaving on their honeymoon on April 23.

The pair had been staying at the five-star Amari hotel in the coastal city of Galle. They had purchased sandwich and chips at Heathrow Airport, which they

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later consumed at the Amari hotel.

After eating the food both fell ill and were rushed to a hospital. Usheila was later pronounced dead and a postmortem stated that she had died from food poisoning.

Usheila Patel with Chandaria's Khilan Chandaria mother said he was still in Sri Lanka and claimed that her husband also went there to be with her son. She said that her son too is unwell.

Chandaria said that Lankan authorities are not treating him as a culprit but aren't teating him like a victim.

Usheila's parents said they were devastated.

Whilst at Heathrow airport the couple purchased vodka and Sprite.

After arriving at the hotel, Chandaria said he had noticed a 'smell' in their room. A cleaner attended and after the maintenance team left, the couple shared sandwich and chips. They both fell sick shortly after, with Chandaria saying he and his wife were 'feverish and vomiting blood'.

The couple phoned for help and they were rushed to a hospital. His wife was later taken to another hosptial where she died. Chandaria said a post-mortem showed his wife had died from dehydration and vomiting.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said they were supporting the family of the British woman who has died in Sri Lanka and are in contact with the Lankan authorities.' The couple met on dating app before marrying.

in brief MAN FROM HYDERABAD STABBED IN SLOUGH A 24 year old man from Hyderabad, India has been stabbed to death in Slough, by an unidentified assailant on Wednesday.

The deceased, identified as Mohd.

Nadeemuddin lived in Mohd. Nadeemuddin the UK for the last six years and worked as an Assistant Manager, Poundland in Slough.

His wife Afsha, a medical graduate, joined him a month ago in London.

The incident came to light only after Nadeem's family members reached out to the management of the mall to inform that he did not return home after work. Later, when the security footage was checked by the management, he was found dead in the Tesco car park, opposite Poundland.

Thames Valley police are carrying out investigation and have reportedly identified the suspect, who is believed to be known to Nadeem.

His wife, who is seven months pregnant has been asked to attend psychological counselling by the police so as to help her overcome the tragedy.

Nadeem was awaiting his UK citizenship in the next few months as the process was nearly complete.

A post mortem took place on Friday 10 May. Head of the Thames Valley Police Major Crime Unit, Detective Superintendent Ian Hunter said, “I understand that this would have caused concern in the community, but I would like to offer some reassurance to the public that we do not believe this incident to be a random attack, and that the people involved in the incident are believed to be known to one another.”

NIRAV MODI DENIED BAIL FOR THE THIRD TIME

Nirav Modi

Diamantaire Nirav Modi has been denied bail for the third time at the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on last Wednesday 8 May, in his extradition to India, as he faces charges in the Punjab National Bank fraud and money laundering case amounting to US$ 2bn and will continue to be remanded at the HM Wandsworth Prison.

48 year old Modi appeared in the court clean shaved, in a light blue shirt and dark blue trousers with a notebook, and sat behind a glass enclosure with two female officers.

Though Modi's lawyers tried to convince judge Emma Arthbutnot, about his eligibility of bail, Judge Arbuthnot ruled that while the doubling of security offered by Modi's lawyers did amount to a change in circumstances but in order for her to hear the "renewed" bail plea, she still had similar concerns as before that he is not flight risk and did not have enough community ties to UK. Judge Arbuthnot said, "This is a large fraud and the doubling of security to £2million is not sufficient to cover a combination of concerns that he would fail to surrender.”

The next case management hearing will be on 30 May. In the meantime, Modi could apply for bail in a higher court.

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'Punctual Occlusion' helps Beyond Curry Glaucoma during Ramadan The British Bangladeshi success story Oli Khan, FRSA; Chef, Commentator; Secretary General of the Bangladesh Caterers Association In today’s interconnected world, international migration has become a reality that touches nearly all corners of the globe.

Immigrants can change cultures for the better by introducing new ideas, expertise, customs, cuisines and art. Far from erasing the existing culture, they expand it. In a short span of four decades, the Bangladeshi diaspora has become successful and integrated into British life. Our community has been integral to the ‘curry success story’ by making it the national dish. As 90 per cent of all curry houses are owned by British Bangladeshis, contributing £4.2 billion to the UK economy! Our curry houses and takeaways are a British institution; where every town has, at least one curry restaurant.

The majority of Bangladeshis in the country, hail, like me, from the city of Sylhet, which is central to Bangladesh’s economy and politics, and renowned for its food. A little money from the UK goes a long way in Bangladesh, where Sylhet is now one of the richest towns with the area's economy largely built on British curry!

However, cooking is not an end in itself, but a pathway to achieve more important things. It has real power to transform society because it touches everything: education, the environment, entrepreneurship, cultural identity, agriculture and trade. The relevance and success of Bangladeshis in the UK has been built on the love of food, where we have promoted Bangladesh through our cooking.

Perhaps, a great example of this, has been the success story of Nadiya Hussain, 2015’s BBC Bake Off Champion who won our hearts. Nadiya, is perhaps now one of the most famous Bangladeshi in British popular culture, who has since fronted her own twopart documentary in ‘Bangladesh The Chronicles of Nadiya.’

In an age of fear about immigration, the success of the Bangladeshi population in Britain has a deeper resonance. It shows that, with the right support, migrant communities can overcome early struggles to thrive. As Bangladeshis have become more successful, the younger generations have become more aspirational. They are doing well at school, and government figures from 2015 reveal that 62 per cent attained five good GCSEs, including English and Mathematics, which is five per cent above the average. While the success of Bangladeshi girls, who outperformed boys by eight per cent in 2015, is particularly striking. Increased gender equality in Bangladesh – the gender pay gap fell 31 per cent from 1999-2009–has led to Bangladeshi parents in England taking female education more seriously.

We have firmly made our stamp in the UK, where we have built our business successes on the sweat and tears of our fathers, mothers and other family members who helped us create this future.

Just as Brixton caters for the Afro-Caribbean community; there’s Southall for the Indians; and China Town for the Chinese diaspora; we have Brick Lane’s Banglatown now. A distinct area with strong Bangladeshi links.

I think I can safely say that there will always be a British Bangladeshi, playing a leading role, enriching British society.

A campaign has been launched by the International Glaucoma Association (IGA) following hospital and patient feedback indicating that some Muslims suffering Glaucoma have stopped using their eye drops during Ramadan putting their vision at risk.

Glaucoma is an eye condition where the optic nerve is damaged by the pressure of the fluid inside the eye and it leaves the back of the eye. This nerve carries information about what is being seen from the eye to the brain and as it becomes damaged vision is lost.

Glaucoma is more common in people over the age of 40 and as there are no early symptoms of glaucoma, and regular eye health checks are recommended.

But, according to the IGA, some Muslim glaucoma patients stop using eye drops during Ramadan, as they believe that any liquid trickling down the back of

their throat and therefore entering the body cavity, breaks their fast. This campaign advises Muslims on how to put in eye drops without breaking their fast using a m e t h o d known as 'punctal occlusion'.

“I urge Muslim glaucoma patients to continue their glaucoma drops during Ramadan.

Glaucoma can slowly damage the optic nerve in the eye reducing vision and causing visual field loss, without a person even realising if the eye pressure is not controlled for even a short period of time such as during Ramadan,” said Usman Shaikh BSc (HONS) Prof Cert Med Ret, Muslim Doctors Association.

In this process, 'punctual occlusion', patients close the

tear duct by applying finger pressure at the corner of the eye next to the nose immediately after putting in drops. This means that fluid stays in the eye and does not drain into the throat and so cannot be tasted.

The materials will be distributed t o mosques, pharmacies and hospitals and are also available to order from the IGA. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) supports the IGA’s Ramadan campaign to raise awareness of this issue, confirming that all Islamic Schools Of Thought agree that using eye drops does not invalidate the fast unless the eye drops reach the throat, which is unlikely. Concerned Muslims can put in their drops before dawn (suhoor) or after dusk

(iftar).

“Glaucoma is the most common cause of preventable blindness and for most glaucoma patients, daily eye drops are a simple solution to control their condition and save their sight but we know from calls to our helpline Sightline and from discussions with opticians and hospitals that some Muslim patients stop using their drops during Ramadan for fear of breaking their fast.

“We’re therefore encouraging all Muslim glaucoma patients to take note of how to manage their drops throughout the month,” said Subhash Suthar, IGA Development Manager.

The IGA estimates there are at least 50,000 Muslims with glaucoma in the UK, while those with suspected glaucoma or ocular hypertension may number up to 140,000. For more information on the IGA call 01233 64 81 64 or visit

Smoking addiction and withdrawal effects Mirwaiz* smokes about five to six cigarettes every day.

He is not a staunchly practising Muslim but he does observe Ramadan owing to his family's beliefs. This means that he tries to avoid smoking his morning cigarette for a month but a 15-year-old habit is difficult to give up on especially when he is personally not ardently religious.

Mirwaiz smokes about five to six cigarettes every day. He is not a staunchly practising Muslim but he does observe Ramadan owing to his family's beliefs.

This means that he tries to avoid smoking his morning cigarette for a month but a 15-year-old habit is difficult to give up on especially when he is personally not ardently religious.

“My family is not aware about my smoking habits but I try to reduce the number of cigarettes I smoke regularly during Ramadan but it is difficult,” says Mirwaiz.

According to many Muslim leaders and community members, smoking as a practise shouldn’t be encouraged any time because it is an intoxicant, which would make it haram or forbidden. But it isn’t specifically banned the same way as alcohol is. However, many feel that it shouldn’t be done even outside of Ramadan, particularly because of the health effects. Smoking isn’t specifically prohibited in the

Qur’an either, but it does have passages that tells its followers not to put their own life in danger. A tobacco fatwa was first issued in Morocco in 1602 because of the health problems it can cause and later spread to other countries. Fatwas are part of Islamic law and are not usually binding. But smokers who stop smoking during Ramadan may experience withdrawal symptoms for three to five days within stopping, which includes irritability, anger and reduced concentration powers.

“I don't experience any of these symptoms because I can't and don't quit smoking completely but l know of people who become increasingly frustrated during this period because of giving up on alcohol, nicotine and sometimes even shisha,” he says.

While chain smoking might be considered more of an addiction than one

cigarette a day but even a single smoke counts as addiction if an individual cannot do without it. It is the nicotine present in the cigarettes that most people are easily addicted to. Some also crave smoking so much that they chain smoke after ending their fast, inhaling a lot of smoke in a very short time, and right after a heavy iftar meal. Some believe that traditional shisha is a healthier option. Ramadan is a time when people smoke shisha for hours socialising after ending their fast in iftar tents or restaurants.

This can be more dangerous than regular smoking.

Shama* is an international student from Bangladesh and is staying with her relatives as she completes her Undergraduation at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Although, owing to her family and personal religious beliefs she observes Ramadan, periodi-

cally, mostly during the weekends when she is at home.

“I'm not as strict as my parents or even my cousins here and although, my friends have an understanding of Ramadan, observing during University hours can be difficult especially during the evenings when we all go out for our chill Shisha sessions,” she says.

Over the last few years, the Shisha culture has caught up speed with the Muslim youth, many of whom don't drink but consider smoking vapes healthier than cigarettes. But additionally, these Shisha places have become 'cultural' spots for socialising and networking for religious minorities like the Muslims and serve as “safe spaces” from the fundamental Muslims. But this often means that people like Mirwaiz tend to lead a “double life” wherein, their families are unaware about their association with substances and during occasions like Ramadan, they struggle to cope with withdrawal symptoms.

While some of these reactions are manageable, others can affect daily life, mobility and mental health.

The urge to binge on carbheavy foods to avoid smoking is another side effect – leading to weight gain.

(*All names have been changed for purposes of maintaining anonymity of the sources).

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Recovery and rehabilitation for the Rohingyas in the UK Priyanka Mehta Repressed, discriminated against, persecuted and denied citizenship in their own country of Myanmar, the Rohingyas are the largest stateless population in the world today.

According to the Human Rights Watch, since August 2017, more than 671,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar's Rakhine state to escape the military’s large-scale campaign of ethnic cleansing.

While most have escaped Aung San Suu Kyi's democractic dictatorship in Burma by crawling to the nearby states of Bangladesh and India, but there is also a small community of about 350 Rohingya Muslims who are seeking refuge in Bradford. Among those is Sirazul Islam, from the 'Kutupalong camp' in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh who landed at Manchester in 2008 with 40 such refugees through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Home Office Gateway Protection UK. “My parents are from Rakhine and in 1982 following the wave of persecution they ran away to Bangladesh. I was born in the refugee camp and spent eight years there, before the UN came to our rescue,” he says.

Today, Sirazul speaks about his fearful days whilst in the camp living under dire humanitarian conditions from the lack of basic

Sirazul Islam, activist at British Rohingya Community

healthcare and food, cramped shelter, restricted movement, and zero education. Having spent 11 years of his life in the UK and currently a naturalised British citizen, he recalls of the initial support he had received from the English government and local community right from staying in council houses to studying in state schools.

“Coming to the UK was not our choice. We were chosen by the UN and because we hadn't really seen live outside of the refugee camps, we didn't question the decision and grabbed onto the opportunity as soon as were given one.

“When we came to the UK, we didn't know any

English, it was a completely different culture for us, and it would have been very difficult to assimilate with the local community had they not helped us with basic communication and integration,” he says.

Sirazul is one of the many activists at the British Rohingya Community (BRC) which aims to pressure various governments across the world in acting against the Burmese military and help in resettling the displaced Rohingyas in the UK. BRC was initially established as the Bradford Rohingya Community in August 2008 by various Rohingya members including Sirazul's elder brother and General Secretary of

BRC, Nijam Uddin who had faced persecution in Myanmar and had come to the UK through the UNCHR and Home office Gateway Protection UK. But aside from rehabilitation, many of these Rohingya members have also contributed back to the British society in form of teachers, sports people.

Today, Sirazul is completing his A levels in History, Sociology and English Literature and Language and talks about his intent of working in the field of “International human rights and law”.

“I want to be able to help people who have been in a similar situation as me and my siblings among others. I feel like I have an obligation to society because someone one day thought about helping me out and because of that now I am in such a good place,” he syas.

Today, as the military with “genocidal intent” continues to be on the rampage of mass killings, sexual violence, and widespread arson, amounting to crimes against humanity on the watch of Aung San Suu Kyi, her nobel peace, the UN has said would not be stripped off her despite the Rohingya crisis. Meanwhile, military and civilian officials have repeatedly denied that security forces committed abuses during the operations, claims which are contradicted by extensive evidence and witness accounts.

For more information about BRC visit: http://britishrohingya.co.uk/

Is your IBS actually undiagnosed Coeliac disease?

Rupanjana Dutta On Coeliac UK Awareness week (13-19 May) National Charity Coeliac UK, is calling on greater awareness of the similarity of symptoms and urges anyone with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) to ask their GP for a Coeliac disease blood test, if they have not already had one. Coeliac UK is the national charity for people who need to live without gluten, whether due to Coeliac disease or another medical condition requiring a gluten free diet.

As many as 1 in 4 people with coeliac disease were previously misdiagnosed with IBS as many of the symptoms for IBS such as bloating, stomach pains or cramps, diarrhoea or constipation and feeling exhausted are the same as the symptoms of Coeliac disease. Only 3% of British adults are aware that the symptoms of IBS are also common symptoms of

Vijay (right) with wife Rupal

Coeliac disease.

Possible symptoms in Coeliac disease may include severe diarrhoea, excessive wind and/or constipation, persistent or unexplained gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting, recurrent stomach pain, cramping or bloating, iron, vitamin B12 or folic acid deficiency, anaemia, tiredness, sudden or unexpected weight loss (but not in all cases), mouth ulcers,

skin rash, repeated miscarriages, neurological (nerve) problems such as ataxia (loss of coordination, poor balance) and peripheral neuropathy (numbness and tingling in the hands and feet).

Vijay Patel, in his mid 30s, is a complaint handler at AA, who suffered on and off for 18 months with ongoing symptoms of bloating, tiredness, feeling breathless, nausea and acid

reflux told Asian Voice, “I was diagnosed with Coeliac disease in March 2017. It took me several months of visits to GP before finally being referred to a specialist- a gastrologist. After much of fact finding, family history, I was referred for endoscopy and a scan of stomach. A small sample of the intestine was taken, and it was confirmed that I was intolerant to gluten.”

Coeliac disease is a serious autoimmune condition where the body’s immune system reacts to gluten found in food, making the body attack itself. 1 in 100 people in the UK has coeliac disease but half a million people in the UK are undiagnosed and average time to diagnosis it is 13 years.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley. Some people are also sensitive to oats. IBS most commonly affects people between the age of 20 – 30 years and is twice as common in women as men, according to NICE.

Communal Riots affected Indian village finds an alternative to make “Education for All” achievable

This is the story of how a government school in a village in Gujarat, that lacked in providing basic facilities, transformed into becoming superior than any other modern private school of India, transformed YUVA Unstoppable.

Khanwadi is a village in the district of Ahmedabad. It had only one school which had no sanitisation and water facilities for its staff as well as the students. The school witnessed a real decrease in the attendance as these children of classes I to V weren’t able to find a safe closed space to defecate. Majority of the rural Indian population has yet not recognized that using a washroom is not an option or a privilege but every citizen’s right. Children here had no option other than defecating openly. This is when the team of YUVA Unstoppable realised that these kids need to be provided education in a way everyone else deserves.

YUVA with the help of Beefy’s Charity Foundation (founded by Sir Ian Botham) decided to build four newly raised classrooms which could serve each standard(class) exclusively. Boys and girls were provided separate hygienic washrooms and a Drinking and Dish Washing area.

Since the inception of “School Transformation Program” in 2013, 1000 extremely poor government schools have been transformed all across India. These 150 students at Khanwadi, just like the other 5,00,000 students benefited by YUVA, have now found a reason to attend their school regularly.

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Vijay's wife Rupal, who is a pharmacist, had already started looking up, trying to find out what he should ideally be cautious of, while eating. “I could not eat anything that I have grown up eating- like samosas, rotis and I had withdrawal symptoms.

Once we came to know about my gluten intolerance, it was hard to explain to parents. No one in the family had it before me.”

The diagnosis turned his life upside down and was very difficult to deal with and Vijay says without the support of his wife and family and friends, the emotional challenge of

dealing with the condition would have been much harder.

Vijay, who is open about his condition to his office manager, gets much support from his work. He is active in raising awareness about the disease and tries to encourage people in different platforms.

“Whether going out to a restaurant or meal at home with family, I always try to tell people that there is nothing to be threatened by the Coeliac disease. The more we raise awareness regarding Coeliac disease the more we can help each other, don’t be afraid to talk about it.”

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FIGHTING RACIAL BIAS IN POLITICS much less proportionately to the UK's Asian population. However, local governments have seen a massive increase in number of Nusrat Ghani, Under Secretary of State at Asian councillors, though one cannot say the Department for Transport and Assistant the same regarding Parliamentarians.

Government Whip, who has been made the Obvious questions arise if institutional new patron of the Conservative Friends of racism or prejudice is one of the key reason India, recently faced racial abuse from an elderly member of public- where she was behind it or if parties are doing enough to sent Enoch Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' have positive intervention, trying to speech- a clear event of anti-immigrant senincrease ethnic minority in winnable seats. timents. While public discourse has become Speaking about the importance of local government and its influence at politcal increasingly abusive and divisive, Nusrat level, Nusrat said, “We must never underestimate the impact of decisions made in politics at a local government level. These decisions impact us all, they are very important, and must be recognised as such. We should encourage and celebrate work done by Councillors across our country.

“It is an enormous privilege to be selected and elected as an MP, and the Conservatives have fantastic mentoring programmes in place, especially for women as evidence suggests women candidates need greater support before putting their name forward in comparison to men. There are only 650 MPs to represent 66 million people in the UK: it’s a competitive job!”

But she acknowledged that politics isn't for everyone- more importantly she highlighed how lack of Asian women as role models as well as long working hours can make life more challenging. “The robust nature of discourse and the impact of social media abuse, coupled with unique working Nusrat Ghani hours of Parliament is off-putting to many people, including those from Asian commufeels we all have a responsibility to fight nities,” she said. against it- wherever and whoever it may Nusrat further added, “I am concerned come from. In an exclusive interview, she that women, not just Asian, may be put off told Asian Voice, “Democracy thrives on going into politics because of a current lack debate, but the abuse and intimidation that of representation, and the long hours which has entered our politics in recent times has can make family life more challenging, but no place in public or political life.” that is the same for many other careers.

Though Nusrat has not faced institu“It is also important that people from tional racism herself, especially representing our minority communities believe they can a party (Conservative) that has been go into politics. When I was growing up embroiled in Islamophobia controversies, nobody instilled that belief in me and at she told the newsweekly how 'misogyny' has times some of those we looked up to in our been a bigger challenge. “My gender, race, community would just direct people how to and faith have never been the biggest issue,” vote. That is why defying low expectations she added. “It’s being working class, and has shaped my political outlook. coming from a background where interac“There has been an increase in tions with politicians were limited women and BAME candidates, and and tended to be negative. Like MPs from diverse backgrounds, most people who have entered and I am keen to support and a career previously alien to Democracy thrives mentor, in particular, people them, I have just had to on debate, but the abuse like me from working class crack on, and forge my own and intimidation that has backgrounds to get involved way. entered our politics in “I have voted with politics, whether on a Conservative all my life recent times has no place local or national stage. because the Conservative in public or political life.

“I want to do all I can to Party supports opportunity for ensure that the basic all, regardless of their background Conservative value of equality of and heritage. It believes in family, opportunity continues to be champicommunity, and country, and are focussed oned for all women within the Conservative on progress and prosperity for all. When Party. We have a great track record deliverConservative Campaign Headquarters ing for women and I am a proud feminist (CCHQ) has been made aware of cases of and Conservative.” discrimination of any kind they have acted to suspend or expel those involved.

“For me, it is important that we are an open and inclusive party. However, like any large, voluntary, organisation, there will Labour party MP for occasionally be a small number who join Feltham and Heston, who fall short of the standards of behaviour Seema Malhotra who we set ourselves in the Conservative Party. has been been in the Where people are identified, action is political arena for taken.” longer than Nusrat, With more than 3.17mn Asians in this recenty celebrated country viz. Indians, Pakistanis and National Sikh Bangladeshis, we only have 26 Asian MPs Awareness and History representing us. It is well known that Asians month in Parliament, are much more conservative regarding their and was applauded by the Prime Minister professional choices. Any parent from the Theresa May herself. She told Asian Voice, "I community would choose a white collar don’t think enough is being done to increase career option for their child- more monetarBAME representation in UK politics. There ily rewarding and socially stable, as opposed are people of different backgrounds repreto venturing into politics. They naturally senting people, and we need to make sure it fear the biases in a public service job, which is sustained. I also think we need to increase are statistically higher. But there is a steady representation of Asian people in politics increase in Asians breaking the mould, tryaccording to our population. There will be ing to enter the political arena, though traditional biases and prejudices. But Continued from page 1

Labour party has a positive intervention program in place to increase BAME representation in winnable seats, though we need to do more."

Speaking about 'winnable seats', it brings us to the other elephant in the room.

There are many unconscious biases such as 'class' that affect how members of parties and electorates see potential candidates. But in ethnic minority candidates the problem is their limitation to 'safe and winnable' seats, as compared to their white counterparts such as restricting minority candidates to areas with more minority ethnic voters. But in December 2018, Labour MP for Kilburn and Hampstead, Tulip Siddiq, told the Guardian that “problems with unconscious bias began in senior members of her own party’s structure.” Even though she had grown up locally, some party members felt the area was not “ethnic” enough for her to stand a good chance in. She was taken aside and asked whether she “would be better off running somewhere else”.

Bilal Mahmood was in the heart of such a 'de-risking' controversy in Chingford and Woodford Green, where he stood as a Labour candidate in the last two elections (2015 and 17) and slashed Iain Duncan Smith’s majority from 23,000 to 2400, but was told he he was unable to re-run as candidate because Labour imposed an All Women Shortlist to

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BAME representation and 'de-risking' controversy

the seat.

Interestingly, Sajid Javid MP, who is Britain's first ever Asian Home Secretary, in an interview on Nick Robinson's Political Thinking podcast said he faced abuse daily on social media from 'far left' including Asians, because he was “not brown enough”. On the other hand he also received daily racial abuse from the far-right because he is from the ethnic minority background. He said, “They don't like me because of my colour.”

Even with such controversial and demotivating biases in political arena, it has only driven Asians in politics to work harder, to prove their 'worth' better.

Home Secretary, Mr Javid is one of the frontrunners to success Mrs Theresa May as the next Prime Minister. According to Daily Telegraph, he said, “I think in Britain anyone weho's capable, regardless of whether they're Muslim or Hindu, for that any other religion or no religion, can be Prime Minister.”

Similarly, Wealden MP Nusrat Ghani is not lack of optimism and hope. She feels even among many prejudices, Britain could also see an ethnic minority Prime Minister, following the footsteps of America's President Barack Obama and London's Mayor Sadiq Khan. “I still remember staying up all night to watch Barack Obama elected president: a remarkable outcome considering his heritage. I never believed growing up that someone of my heritage could be an MP, let alone Prime Minister. But, as Nelson Mandela said, everything seems impossible until it is done,” she added.

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Law change for organ donation

Offensive photo

Food Bank crisis

The law around organ donation in England is changing.

From spring 2020 all adults in England will be considered to have agreed to be an organ donor when they die, unless they had recorded a decision not to donate or are in one of the excluded groups.

We want everybody to get ready for the change in the law by taking a moment to think about organ donation, making their organ donation decision and sharing that decision with family and friends. During Dying Matters Awareness Week (May 13-19) we want to raise awareness of what’s changing from spring 2020 and the choices available to everyone.

We’re asking people to get ready for the change.

Those covered by the new law will still have a choice about whether they want to be an organ donor - you can opt in or opt out. Your family will always be involved to ensure any recorded decision reflects your last known decision so please talk to them.

Organ donation is and will always be, a precious gift and one donor can save or transform the lives of up to nine people and help many more people if they also donate tissue.

Have you decided whether you want to be a lifesaving organ donor? Have you told your family? If you haven’t already, please make your choice, register it on the NHS Organ Donor Register and tell your family.

To find out more, and to register your organ donation decision, visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk. If you can’t find the answer to any questions you may have on the website, please call our hotline on 0300 303 2094.

Anthony Clarkson Director of Organ Donation and Transplantation NHS Blood and Transplant

BBC radio broadcaster Danny Baker made a massive mistake when he tweeted a highly offensive photo purporting to resemble the new royal baby.

How could an experienced media man like Baker have committed such an appalling act which horrified the whole world?

No point in him apologising profusely following the tsunami of anger and outrage that engulfed him.

Rudy Otter By email

Media and the politicians are currently engrossed with Brexit, knife killings and NHS at the expenses of food bank crisis and poverty facing the adults and children. At present the situation is dire and no one in the government and political parties are taking this matter seriously.

Figures from the Trussel Trust show that in the year to March 2018, 1,332,952 three-day emergency food supplies were delivered to people in crisis across the UK – a 13 per cent increase on last year. This marks a considerably higher increase than the previous financial year, when it rose by 6 per cent. Low income is the biggest single – and fastest growing – reason for referral to food banks, accounting for 28 per cent of referrals compared to 26 per cent in the previous year. The plan to cut benefits, send the poorest to the food banks. Children are hit badly because of Britain’s food poverty crisis. According to the Trussell Trust, over the past five years the number of food parcels handed out across the UK rose 73%.

The reason for these referrals is the increased cost of housing and utility bills. The utility bill debt has increased significantly since April 2016. The other main cause in the past year was benefit delays (24 per cent) and benefit changes (18 per cent). "Reduction in benefit value” have the fastest growth rate of all referrals made due to a benefit change, while those due to “moving to a different benefit” have also grown significantly.

According to Trussell Trust these figures don’t show the full extent of food-bank use in the UK. Because in addition to the charity’s 1,200 food-bank centres, there are at least an additional 805 independent food banks across the UK. The situation has become intolerable. We know this situation can be fixed. We have to campaign to create a future where no one will need a food bank. Our benefits system is supposed to protect us all from being swept into poverty.

Emma Revie, chief executive of the charity, said: “It’s hard to break free from hunger if there isn’t enough money coming in to cover the rising cost of absolute essentials like food and housing. For too many people staying above water is a daily struggle. It’s completely unacceptable that anyone is forced to turn to a foodbank as a result. Also. Universal credit is forcing parents to leave their babies in hospital.

We are the fifth largest economy of the world yet a section of our community and their children are worse off than even the less developed countries. This situation is unacceptable and need putting right straight away.

Baldev Sharma Rayners, Harrow

Mango: king of all fruits A particular fruit is designated as the national fruit of a country when it fulfills some key fundamental requirements. It must represent a powerful facet of the cultural attributes that a country wants to convey to the world.

The fruit must have an enriching part in the country’s history. It should also have a considerable presence in the religious and spiritual heritage of the country. Mango, affectionately called King of Fruits is the National fruit of India.

Its sweet fragrance and delectable flavours have won the hearts of many around the world.

Mangoes remain one of the most cultivated tropical fruits in the world. As the national fruit of India it represents prosperity, abundance and richness in favour of the country’s image.

Mango is one of the most widely grown fruits of the tropical countries. In India, mango is cultivated almost in all parts, with the exception of hilly areas. Mango is a rich source of Vitamins A, C and D. In India, we have hundreds of varieties of mangoes. They are of different sizes, shapes and colours.

Mangoes have been cultivated in India since time immemorial. Even in our mythology and history there are stories of mangoes --- the famous Indian poet Kalidasa sang its praise.

Alexander the great, along with Hieun Tsang savored the taste of mangoes. The great Mughal king, Akbar is said to have planted over 100,000 mango trees in Darbhanga (modern Bihar). The mango is eaten ripe and is also used for making pickles.

Jubel D'Cruz, Mumbai, India

Bundle of joy Her Majesty the Queen again became a great-grand mother this month. Our congratulations to her on the birth of her great grand son, Rys Evans Mountbatten. We must concede that the baby has taken birth with a silver spoon in his mouth. He will have every happiness that life has to offer.

Following on from the discussion on the concept of karma which I initiated on these pages a little while ago, his soul must have done good deeds in his previous lives to be born at Buckingham Palace.

To re-iterate what I had said before, “the nature of our rebirth (including whether it is favourable or unfavourable) is determined by the accumulated effects of our actions, our attitudes, our mode of life in this and previous lifetimes.”

After witnessing many tragedies in her personal life during her reign, Her Majesty had some comfort when she participated in the wedding of her grandsons and celebrated her diamond jubilee on the throne.

We Asians from the East African countries should be particularly grateful to her for it was during her rule that we found shelter in this country after being expelled by the ruthless ruler like Idi Amin from Uganda and other East African countries.

On this special occasion let us wish her well. Messages of goodwill are pouring in from the world leaders. Let us too join them and congratulate the Queen and wish her and the new baby long and happy life.

Dinesh Sheth Newbury Park, Ilford

Hinduism - a family of religions Sir, I agree with Mr Vasant that Hinduism is actually a family of religions and it is difficult for most people to understand but that does not mean that all of us did not have mothers and certainly Hinduism gives the highest place to a mother.

At least that can be understood by everyone, of course the Swamies do not intend to disrespect women but they do!

Mr Vasant goes on to tell us about the most powerful Goddess in the Hindu Pantheon, no doubt if she happened to appear on earth she would be forbidden to enter the presence of the Swamies!

If the Swamies are at the highest dimension of chastity then they should live away from the world, not run a big business like Neasden Temple, many Brahmacharis teach men and women about the Gita and other scriptures, they don’t feel contaminated by the presence of females.

Baroness Flather By email

Women in the Swaminarayan sect With reference to Niranjan Vasant comment in AV 11-17 May 2019. First of all one has to understand what Hinduism stands for.

Hinduism is a Sanatan Dharma based on the Natures law. Pillars of Hinduism are Morality, Truth, Justice, Love, and Compassion with equality. Hinduism is not dogmatic religion.

Niranjan is in full agreement of Hindu values as he explained beautifully regarding status of women in Hinduism. If this is the case, why Swaminarayan sect sadhus have fear of not or communicating directly and seeing women? All different religious people of the world who have taken oath of chastity who are also focusing in divine mission have no problem with women.

I would like to present a case that happened in Kerala in 2015. Swami cannot be seated near women, translator ‘ asked to stay away from book release.

The book ‘ Transcendence – My spiritual Experience with Swamiji’ by Abdual Kalam was translated into Malayalam language by a woman Sreedevi Kartha. As Swami had taken a vow of not to see the women, he had refused to take book from the woman translator.

Many women Organizations protested on the injustice done to woman. Thus the function was cancelled. Our good or evil actions create good or evil reaction. This not just insult to Hindu women but also to the finest book written by a Muslim.

If above incident was tackled with humility, tolerance, love, trust, forgiveness and equality, sadhus would have made every one happy. Sadhus preach on peace and harmony but do they practice. Instead one outdated rigid practice created tension and sorrow in Kerala community.

Chastity is not important but it is our attitude that plays part through thoughts in our mind are important that reflect in the society.

Mahatma Gandhiji and Dalai Lama are good example of chastity. They don’t have fear of seeing and communicating with opposite sex. They have earned highest respect from women all over the world as they saw both sexes as human beings.

Manoj Patel Hemel Hempstead

UN’s Global Road Safety Week This week marks the UN’s Global Road Safety Week, and it comes as a reminder that we all have a part to play when it comes to reducing the risks faced by pedestrians and all road users.

The latest TfL data shows that in 2017 132 people were tragically killed or seriously injured on Brent’s streets. The pain and distress suffered by their families cannot be overstated.

With the right interventions and level of ambition, we can save lives. This is why TfL is implementing its Vision Zero for London plan which aims to eliminate all deaths and serious injuries from our transport network by 2041.

The plan focuses on introducing lower speed limits across the capital, improving safety at junctions and imposing more rigorous standards on some of the most dangerous vehicles such as buses and HGVs. However, as a community, it also falls to us to remain vigilant when using the roads and to reflect more often on the risks we pose to others, as well as educating the next generation of Londoners.

Navin Shah AM London Assembly Member for Brent & Harrow

Letters of the Week Pennies all add up

[Courtesy: The Independent] No use for small coins? I recently worked for a national charity shop, with more than 700 stores throughout the UK. On the counter was a jar for change into which, every day, more than £1 was donated. Simple maths makes that more than £200,000 a year raised in this manner nationwide.

The Charity Retail Association estimates that there are 10,500 charity shops in the UK, which, simply, equates to more than £3m each year for these good causes.

Richard Finch, Ravenglass, Cumbria

Cambridge and slavery [Courtesy: The Times] Cambridge’s proposal to devote resources neither to teaching nor to research, but to virtue signalling over slavery is not only questionable for a charity, but also an endorsement of notions of hereditary guilt.

Leaving aside the prevalence of coercive labour systems across much of the world, including Africa, throughout much of history, and the major role of African polities in the enslavement and sale of people, there is a preference for beating up on the past rather than addressing slavery in the world today.

Public slavery in the shape of those oppressed under totalitarian rule, for example in North Korea, is particularly serious.

With the Left unable to use the Holocaust as a key signifier in historical consciousness, it has focused on the slave trade as an alternative and equivalent – inaccurately so, as the purpose of slavery was not to kill slaves.

Reparation for a distant and very widespread practice is absurd, both practically and philosophically. That the idea is gaining traction is an instance of the strange politics of these times.

Jeremy Black, Professor of History, Exeter University

We are grateful to all letter writers for more and more versatile letters well within word limit.

Please keep contributing as always.

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Home Office’s deportation of ill woman called “cruel and insensitive”

Deceitful Wembley landlady fined £20,000 for renting out her unlicenced home

The Home Office has been accused of being “cruel and insensitive” after a woman was threatened with deportation despite being in a coma in hospital.

Bhavani Esapathi, 31, who was in a vegetative state for a week and a half after undergoing a major operation, received a letter stating that her application for leave to remain had been refused and that she was liable to be forcibly removed.

The Indian national’s fiance, Martin Mangler, 33, appealed against the decision while she was still unconscious, providing medical letters from her doctors stating that her life would be at risk if she were to travel.

But the Home Office said that while the medical treatment she was receiving was “unlikely” to be available to the same standard in

Diana Thompson thought she could con tenants in her unlicenced Wembley home, lie about her council tax payments and deceive private housing services.

But the rogue landlady, who owned a two-storey house in Barn Way, has been fined more than £20,000 by Willesden Magistrate's Court.

Brent Council housing enforcement officers received a tip-off from

India, this did not entitle her to remain in the UK – and that she could receive “palliative care” in her home country if the appropriate treatment wasn’t availMs Esapathi with her fiance, Mr Mangler, able there. after she came out of her coma following her Lawyers and operation in September politicians said the ill she reapplied under case demonstrated how UK human rights medical immigration rules were pergrounds. Her application mitting the government to was refused in September “send people to their death 2018 while she was unconabroad” as part of the hostile scious in hospital, and her environment. appeal was refused two Ms Esapathi, who came months later. to the UK on a study visa in The Indian national had 2010 and proceeded to work to be admitted to hospital in the arts industry before again last month due to she fell ill with Crohn’s discomplications with her ease, said she would be bowel. She currently relies “risking her life” if she had on a drip and has to have a to leave the country. bag attached to her stomThe east London resiach, and is waiting to underdent had initially been living go further surgery in the in Britain on student and summer. work visas, but when she fell

Man hunted over 'vicious' hammer attack in London A man is being hunted by detectives over a “vicious” hammer attack and making threats to kill. Satheesan Appu, 42, pictured, left his victim with a facial injury, the Metropolitan Police said. The force released an image and description of Appu, but warned the public not to approach him if he is spotted and instead dial 999 immediately.

Pc Dave Whaley said: “My team and I are committed to finding Appu and bringing him into custody.

The victim in this case remains very worried that Appu remains at large in

London and we need the public’s help in order to locate and arrest him.”

Appu is described as Asian and 5ft 9in with black hair. He had a moustache, although investigators think he may have tried to change his appearance by shaving off his facial hair.

Anyone with information that might help police trace him is urged to contact police on Twitter by tweeting MetCC or via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

council tax officers that Ms Thompson was trying to claim a single person's discount when in fact she was living in a home that she was renting out to seven other people.

When they raided the property in July, she lied saying she was related to the landlady and that the first floor of the property was owned by another landlord.

On April 25 she was ordered to pay £15,000 for

failure to licence her property and £5,000 for failing to comply with fire regulations. She was also ordered to pay £4,678 in costs and a £170 victim surcharge.

Cllr Eleanor Southwood, lead member for housing and welfare reform, said: "Rogue landlords will not get away with pulling the wool over our eyes. If a landlord or agent is breaking the law, we'll find out and we'll hold them accountable.

Remembering a Sikh postman In 1955, Sant Singh Shattar moved from Jalandhar to Birmingham. He applied for the job of a postman on March 7, 1960, only to be rejected. As a Sikh, his turban meant he could not meet the Post Office’s requirements of wearing a uniform cap. But he fought and won — becoming the first postman in the UK postal department in 1961 to be allowed to wear a turban on duty, a change that helps Sikhs in the UK even today.

Fifty-eight years after he won this battle and nearly two years after the Postal Museum, London, installed a panel narrating this inspiring story — a postcard from London has reached Shattar’s family in India.

Shattar died in 1983, aged 73, at his home in Phagwara, Punjab. His family hadn’t been in touch with the UK postal department and was unaware that they had taken such an initiative in Shattar’s memory. His daughter-in-law Santosh Kaur, 72, says it was her granddaughter who started

Santosh Kaur in front of the picture of Sant Singh Shattar at The Postal Museum. (Photo courtesy: The Postal Museum, the UK)

searching for traces of her great-grandfather’s travels in Birmingham in 2016. But it wasn’t until December 2018 that they got to know about the installation. The museum then got in touch with Shattar’s family through the UK-based historian Amandeep Singh Madra.

This March, when Santosh visited the museum, she carried along Shattar’s scrapbook. It had, among other things, a 1963 letter from then Punjab chief minister Partap Singh Kairon, in which the CM

wrote, “I’m very glad to know the splendid work done by you in vindicating the honour of the turban. It thrills me to know that our brothers have now, through your help, got their rights in England.”

While Shattar’s victory led the Birmingham Corporation in 1962, Manchester Corporation in 1966 and, later, the UK Railways to allow the turban, in France, the turban struggle continues, with “religious symbols”, including the headgear, being banned.

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SCRUTATOR’S The end of the election campaign will be an immense relief to the public at large. Never since India’s independence in August 1947 has any general election discourse sunk to the depths now witnessed. Calumny and personal insult are standard and cynicism is rampant. It will take time and much labour (if forthcoming) for the wounds to heal and the country to be made whole. jowl with proven orthodoxies in all scientific disciplines. She says India is now reconnecting with its lost mathematical and science heritage. Sani was named Young Science Writer of the Year in 2008 and won a European television news award.

Cyclone Fani

Top Student Dewang Aggarwal

The one consolation are the strides being made in education by the younger generation, both boys and girls. School examination results, conducted by various education boards across the country, show outstanding performances among youthful aspirants aware of the challenges that lie ahead, yet ready to embrace future.

Consider the following chart.

ISC: Topper (All India No 1st position), Dewang Kumar Aggarwal – La Martinere for Boys, Kolkata – 100 per cent result; Candidates Appeared, 24,791; (11, 554 boys, 11,237 girls). Pass percentage: 96,88; For girls, 98.05, for boys 95.91.

ICSE: Topper (All India 2nd position) A. Chatterjee, Garden High School, Kolkata – 99.40 per cent; Raj Ghosh, Purwanchal Vidyamandir, West Bengal – 99.40 per cent; Avi Saraf, The Frank Anthony Public School, Kolkata – 99.40 per cent. Candidates Appeared 35,769 920,337 boys, 15,632 girls) P:ass percentage 97,82 (Girls 98.38, boys 97.39) While Dewang Kumar Aggarwal of La Martinere for Boys Kolkata, achieved the near impossible ( 400 hundred in four subjects) bin the science stream, Vibha Swaminathan from Bangaluru’s Mallya Aditi International School achieved the feat in the humanities (Statesman, Times of India May 8).

In higher education, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) remain excellence in science and engineerin her stimulating book.

Geek Nation ‘How Indian Science is taking over the world, is the title British-born author of Sikh parentage, Angela Saini, (with a science degree from Cambridge University), who travelled across Indiam, visiting IITs, space centres, laboratories, meeting and talking with the great and good, but also with students and ordinary citizens, some with many theories existing cheek by

Cyclone Fani which hit Odisha at the weekend took devastating toll of property in the coastal city of Puri and the State capital, Bhubaneshwar and other places.

The public shelters to which thousands of people sought refuge

have been attracting market watchers. A new study now says tech start-ups in businesses are growing significantly, that funders are excited by what they see.

Between 2014 and 2018, Business to business (B2B) ventures grew more than three times from 900 to 3,200, according to data management company NetApp and consulting firm Zinov.

Funding to B2B Startups surged by 346 per cent to $3.7 billion.

Corporate houses Corporate accelerators are also playing a massive role in mentoring B2B start-ups, providing them technology support and market access. There are over 50 corporate accelerators and incubators in India. Over 800 of the 3,200 startups can be categorized advanced tech startups leveraging Artificial Intelligence, data analytics, IoT, 3D printing and blockchain.

Bangaluru has the most B2B startups at about 800, followed by 550 in Delhi and 400 in Mumbai (Times of India May 8).

Western Front. The Army already has around 1070 T 90 tanks in its 67 armoured regiments, together 124 Indian Arjun tanks and the older T 72 Soviet tanks. The Russian/Soviet tanks are manufactured under licence at the Avadi Heavy Vehivcles Factory.

War Doctrine The Indian Army’s new ‘Land Warfare Doctrine tells of the ‘response along the western front will be sharp and swift with the aim to destroy the adversary’s centre of gravity and secure spatial gains.’ The move comes at a time the when the 1.3 million-strong Army is reformatting its entire war-fighting machinery and the ‘Cold Start’ strategy envisioning fast mobilisation to strike hard across the border with multiple offensive thrusts. India has already procured the latest laser-guided Invar missiles from Russia under the ‘Privileged Strategic Partnership (Times of India May 7).

Devastation in Odisha Cyclone Fani

The Adani Group has pledged Odisha Rs 25 crore in relief aid. It promised further aid for rehabilitation projects. Many of those affected by the cyclone were sheltered in the Adani DAV. School. The Group is coordinating its relief efforts with those of the State administration. (Business Line May 8).

Mastercard’s further $1 billion in India Payments company Mastercard will be investing an additional $1 billion in India, nearly a third of which is to be used to build a payments processing system that transcends its commitment to the Reserve Bank of India on storing data in the country. This is in addition to $1 billion the US company has already pumped into India over the past five years, a large part of which is for providing technology and back office support to global operations (Times of India May 7).

The Indian tech industry will add another three million jobs in the next five years, said the Indian Staffing Federation. With these additions, the size of the country’s tech force will be 7 million by 2023. These new jobs are likely to come up in digital technology areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, internet of things, data science, analytics, big data, blockchain and augmented reality. Jobs will also be created by technologies presently unknown, but likely to evolve over this period. Industry is on the cusp of change. A robot today, with

Pakistani Christian housewife Asia Bibi, who had to endure ten years of solitary confinement in the hell-hole of a Pakistan prison for blasphemy left for a life of freedom in Canada, where she and her family were granted asylum.

Her Pakistani legal team fought resolutely for her release, which came eventually with the judgment of the country’s Supreme Court. Christians and Hindu minorities in Pakistan are an endangered species (Hindu May 9).

Pakistani Christian women for Chinese clients The ‘all-weather ties’ that bind Pakistan and China has a dimension beyond military and financial help. Trafficking is the name of the game. Pakistani private enterprise out to make a fast buck snared nubile Christian women for the pleasure of their Chinese clients. The Pakistan Investigation Agency has arrested 17 men, 13 of whom were Chinese.

Chinese officials are in Pakistan as part of the ongoing inquiry (Times of India, Hindu May 8).

Fabulous IPL

More Russian tanks on Pakistan front The Indian Army is to induct 460 upgraded Russian T 90 battle tanks to the Pakistan front.

Named Bhishma, these tanks are to be inducted with a timeline of 2022-2026. It is designed to the ‘shock and awe’ capability on the

Victorious Bombay Indians with Trophy

Surge in B2B tech start-ups Technology startups involving retail customers such as Flipkart, Ola, Oyo and Swiggy

Rituparna Chakraborty, President of the Indian Staffing Federation, says, ‘I would like to emphasise that India does not have a job problem, but it has an employed poverty problem.

‘When we think about addressing this problem, the only sustainable way to achieve this is through formalisation, urbanisation and financialization of human capital,’ she said. The Staffing Federation would be closely interacting with Indian businesses to achieve these milestones going forward (Hindu May 10).

Asia Bibi bound for Canada

Three million new jobs by 2023

Adani Group pledges Rs 25 crore

Embracing the future

Balakot strike: Italian report An Italian woman reporter, Francisca Marino writes that the Indian air strike on the Pakistan Balakot base killed around 130-170 Jaish-e-Muhammed jihadis training there. Marino says that despite official Pakistani denials, details of the actual ground reality were revealed to her by her Pakistani sources. The Pakistan Army has thus far refused access to the area by the international media (Times of India May 8).

were specially designed for this purpose by architects at the Kharagpur-IIT (Telegraph May 6).

The Centre stepped in with massive financial aid, while the armed forces helped relief operations on a war footing. The cyclone passed through West Bengal before veering east into Bangladesh, where it caused extensive damage to property and claimed around 15-20 lives. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik and assured him of whatever further aid was necessary. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee churlishly refused to take the Prime Minister’s call (Press, TV channels, May 6-8).

infinite memory analytical capacity, is connected to cloud computing, whose impact on productivity will be huge. Some 63 per cent of CEOs believe that Artificial Intelligence will have a bigger impact than the Internet, while 39 per cent have already started Artificial Intelligencerelated initiatives in their organisations.

In a final scripted by cricket’s gods, Bombay Indians beat Chennai Super Kings by a solitary run from the last ball of the match. Phew!

By common consent it was the most gripping IPL ever, clearly the world’s glitziest.

T90 tank

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A meeting with the first Hindu US Presidential candidate I write to you from Malibu where I have been meeting Tulsi Gabbard, the Congresswoman looking to be the next President of the United States. I flew over for this meeting especially. I put to her the question which would concern the UK the most – given the recent rise in Middle East tensions and the wars the UK and US have fought there in the past few decades. I asked how she would bring peace. And, as I’ve said, she has my vote as a woman who also served in the Middle East.

For the ordinary person, conflict between the West and the Middle East seems inevitable. Yet, even though it is easy to take a pessimistic view, it isn’t the only view. In fact, going beyond the headlines, it is clear that there are plenty of shared values between the West and the Middle East. By focusing on those shared values rather than what divides us, we can calm rising tensions and increase the odds of shared growth and prosperity.

While there are plenty of shared values that bridge this gap, I want to focus on six of them and I am using one Middle Eastern country from where I have just returned. These six values offer tremendous opportunities to build goodwill, fellowship, and co-operation among both the West and the Middle East.

1. Qatar and Silicon Valley: The Qatari government has embraced the entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley and the technological disruption that often accompanies it. Besides empowering entrepreneurs throughout the country by creating its own version of Silicon Valley (to be discussed below), Qatar has partnered with entrepreneurs and tech companies in the real Silicon Valley.

For instance, the Qatar Investment Authority, which is Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund opened, an office in Silicon

Tulsi Gabbard with Alpesh Patel

Valley in order to identify young, exciting startups for potential investment.

2. Qatar and Entrepreneurship: The Qatari government has recognized the value in empowering entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout its country. For instance, Qatar has established incubators and co-working spaces so that young people and university graduates can pursue their disruptive business ideas.

3. Sport: The 2022 FIFA World Cup presents a great opportunity for both the West and the Middle East to unite around the beautiful game. In addition to the millions of fans traveling to Qatar, billions of people around the world will be tuning in.

The Qatari government has also responded to criticism about human rights practices by stating that it is “committed to labour reforms.”

4. The Blockade of Qatar: The Saudi-led blockade of Qatar has caused both pain and promise for Qatar. On one hand, Qatari citizens haven’t been able to obtain as many foreign goods and have faced flight restrictions in the

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region. But according to Yousuf Al-Jaida, the chief executive of the Qatar Financial Centre, the blockade “has been a catalyst for change for the entire nation.”

Ultimately, a good comparison can be made between the blockade and Brexit. Both involve nations that are part of a larger union (the European Union for the U.K. and the Gulf Cooperation Council for Qatar) but are seeking independence with resilience. This isn’t to say that this goal is smooth and without roadblocks. Both the United Kingdom and Qatar have faced significant headwinds in becoming more independent, but have shown a desire to embrace their autonomy on the world stage. This common attitude between the West and the Middle East shows no signs of slowing down.

5. The Fight Against Terror: Qatar has taken an active role in joining the West to fight terrorism in the Middle East. For several decades, the Qatari government has been the host for American troops conducting operations in the Middle East. In fact, Al Udeid Air Base has become the largest U.S. military facility in the region. Around 10,000 troops are deployed to Al Udeid, and it has been used as a launching point for airstrikes against Islamic State militants.

6. Climate Change: Both the West and the Middle East are looking to the future—particularly the serious threat from climate change. With the exception of President Trump, the U.S. Congress and the U.K. government have been doing their part to search for a solution to this existential crisis.

Indian origin Scott plays Princess Jasmine in Aladdin A 26-year-old actress plays Princess Jasmine in Guy Richie's live-action remake of 1992 classic animated adventure, 'Aladdin'.

Naomi Scott, a British actress and singer of Indian descent has revealed that the original flick was her "favourite" film, and she would always want to be the Middle Eastern beauty when she would play with her older brother, Josh, and "represents" a lot for "young girls" growing up.

Scott was born in Hounslow and her mother is a Gujarati from Uganda emigrated to the UK at a young age, whilst her father Christopher is of English descent.

The actress insisted that the much-anticipated movie will inspire children across the world because it is "special" and is representative of different ethnicities on screen.

Scott is also joined in the movie by Mena Massoud

as Aladdin, Will Smith as the Genie, Marwan Kenzari as Jafar and Navid Negahban as Jasmine's father The Sultan.

'Aladdin' hits cinemas worldwide later this month.

But aside from Scott, many other actors such as Dev Patel, Himesh Patel, Nitin Ganatra, Ben Kingsley among others have represented the Asian diaspora in Hollywood.

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Seema Malhotra MP

National Sikh Awareness and History Month Member of Select Committee for Exiting the European Union and former Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury

In February last year, a turbaned Sikh had his turban pulled by a stranger who shouted abuse outside the Houses of Parliament.

This appalling incident led me to submit an early day motion last year calling for Parliament to recognise April, the month of Vaisakhi, as National Sikh Awareness and History Month. Taking inspiration from the success of National Sikh Awareness Months established in Canada and California, the motion also recognised education as an effective method of combating hate. This motion gained the support of 100 MPs from across party lines and national borders.

To turn this motion into a reality, we formed a cross-party Parliamentary Steering Committee which I chaired and which included Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP, Rt Hon Dominic Grieve MP, Preet Kaur Gill, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Rt Hon Vince Cable MP, Virendra Sharma, Alison Thewliss and Rt Hon John McDonnell MP. There have already been campaigns and events surrounding Sikhism in Parliament including an annual Parliamentary Vaisakhi reception for over a decade, and the British Sikh Report has been launched in Parliament every year since 2012. However, this month has been the first prolonged Parliamentary initiative supporting Sikh

Singh, the revolutionary who devoted his life to revenge for the massacre.

MPs also got a chance to experience turban tying for themselves at Parliament's second annual Turban Awareness Day. The first Turban Awareness Day was held last year in response to the incident outside Parliament. This year’s Turban Awareness Day, which was held with the support of the Sikh Channel built on the success of the first, with over forty MPs attending the event and getting their turban tied, including the Shadow Equalities Secretary, Dawn Butler, and the Minister for Immigration, Rt Hon Caroline Noakes MP. I co-led a Westminster Hall debate (30th April) on the contribution of Sikhs to the UK. This debate was far-reaching and insightful, with speakers covering topics as different as the suffragette Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, plans for a Sikh War Memorial in London, an apology for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the possibility of direct flights from London to Amritsar.

But through the month much activity also went on in communities with local Gurdwaras hosting LangarwithyourMP or VisitMyGurdwara days. All too often, whether a temple or a Gurdwara, people don’t walk through the door of a place they

MPs and Peers with community leaders at the National Sikh Awareness and History Month

awareness, and it would not have been possible without assistance in its early days from the Sikh community across the country.

The programme of events our Parliamentary Steering Committee have developed has been inspiring and engaging.

We launched National Sikh Awareness and History Month in UK Parliament at Pat McFadden’s annual Vaisakhi reception, where representatives from across the Sikh community and politicians spoke, including messages of support from both the Deputy Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. A simultaneous launch event took place at Scottish Parliament’s first ever Vaisakhi reception.

On 23rd April we saw the launch of the authoritative British Sikh Report 2019, which surveys Sikhs on issues of importance for both the community and the nation. The next day, Dr Opinderjit Takhar, the director of Wolverhampton University’s Centre for Sikh and Punjabi Studies, gave a lecture in Parliament on Guru Nanak Dev Ji and feminism alongside a lecture that evening from Anita Anand about her new book, The Patient Assassin. Her book confronts the Jallianwala Bagh massacre beyond the massacre itself and follows General Dyer and the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab at the time of the massacre, as well as Udham

feel they might not know the rules or the right thing to do. These events gave people who had never visited a Gurdwara the chance to do so with friends and other members of the community – and to see the range of activities from well being to that is so often supported. On Vaisakhi I visited three Gurdwaras and my local Jalaram temple to also mark Ram Naumi which fell on the same day. It is not uncommon in our interfaith community for events and celebrations to be shared. With these foundations in place we look forward to expanding the programme next year with the input of community members and groups from across the country.

With rising hate crime, truly the course of action we must take is to build stronger bridges between our communities and to build understanding of history, faith and culture. We live in a peaceful and respectful society because we choose to make it so. The structures that we build between us as a society help to nurture those vital links that make us a safe place for all communities and a place in which we can be sure that future generations will also be safe and will understand and respect one another. The respect that we hold and the understanding that we nurture are part of a statement about how we as a nation recognise that we have more in common than that which divides us.

Vaisakhi celebrated at 10 Downing Street

Nishkam High School student garlanding Prime Minister Theresa May

Rupanjana Dutta Prime Minister Theresa May hosted a reception at the 10 Downing Street, to celebrate Vaisakhi, one of the most important dates in the Sikh calendar.

Guests included Sikh academics and professionals from a range of sectors.

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, James Brokenshire, also attended.

Speaking at the event, the Prime Minister reiterated the British government’s ‘deep regret’ for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre at a Vaisakhi event at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday, calling it a “shameful scar on British history.”

The event saw a Sikh 'shabbat' (prayer) by students from Nishkam High School.

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, James Brokenshire kick started the event with a short speech praising the contributions of the Sikhs in the UK. Mrs May, who was in a skirt-suit, with a garland around her neck, said, “2019 marks the 550th anniversary of the birth of Guru Nanak, the first Sikh guru, in 1469.And I am sure we will see many events to celebrate this later in the year.

“But 2019 also marks the centenary of an appalling event – the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar.

“No one who has heard the accounts of what happened that day can fail to be deeply moved. No one can truly imagine what the visitors to those gardens went through that day one hundred years ago.

“It was – as the former Prime Minister H.H. Asquith described it at the time – “one of the worst outrages in the whole of our history”.

“Jallianwala Bagh is a shameful scar on British Indian history.

“We deeply regret what happened and the pain inflicted on so many people.

“And on the day of the centenary Sir Dominic Asquith – the current British High Commissioner and H.H. Asquith’s grandson – visited Jallianwala Bagh and laid a wreath on behalf of the whole country.

“Our relationship with the Sikh Community is one we cherish greatly – with collaboration and partnership at its heart.”

The PM presented a Point of Light Award to Manjit Gill and also met children from the Nishkam School Trust, who presented her with a gift (a framed Vaisakhi prayer) and a flower garland.

Manjit Gill is the Founder of Binti, a charity that seeks to provide menstrual dignity to girls around the world. Manjit developed an educational programme on menstruation that has reached over 30,000 girls globally over the past five years.

Famous guests included Amar Virdi (a well-known English cricketer) and Kulvinder Ghir (an actor best known for his role in the TV series ‘Goodness Gracious Me’), local politicians, MP and Peers such as Lord Suri and Lord Popat.Theresa May also heard a religious hymn sung by three young people. One of the young children also spoke briefly about what Vaisakhi means to BritishSikhs.

Bhai Sahib Dr Mohinder Singh, Patron of Nishkam High school said, “Vaisakhi is a time for stock taking, what we have been doing the last year and what we can plan for next year. And to be visionary and see what we can do, or to bring about peace within ourselves and peace around us.”

Hamoor Kaur, from Nishkam High School said, “I think it is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be here in Downing Street in celebrating this with the Prime Minister.”

Amar Virdi, cricketer at Surrey County Cricket Club said, “It feels really special especially as a Sikh, because being recognised as a faith in such a special place, by the Prime Minister, it is a thing to be proud of.”

Mrs May confessed that she has not attended a Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan so far, but has often visited Gurdwaras in her constituency (Maidenhead) as well as in the UK. She added, “She can not only imagine the warm Punjabi welcome at this time of year – but just how good the food must be.”

Referring to Labour MP Seema Malhotra's Sikh History and Awareness Month, Mrs May added, “Our relationship with the Sikh Community is one we cherish greatly – with collaboration and partnership at its heart. And I am delighted that last week a debate in Westminster Hall focused on the contribution of Sikhs to the UK – following on from the launch of Sikh History and Awareness month by Seema Malhotra MP in April. There were some great contributions made during that debate – and it was a timely reminder of the hard work, compassion, and generosity of Sikhs in communities up and down the country and abroad. That generosity is – of course – very much in evidence at Vaisakhi, and most particularly in the way this is such an inclusive festival with a welcoming hand extended to everyone.”

The event was attended

by MPs, Peers such as Lord Popat and Lord Suri, Councillors such as Cllr Reena Ranger and members of the Armed Forces as well as the community.

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TLIGHT

onia is a soulful, contemporary Kathak dancer, who reinvents Indian classical dance through her joyous, personal depth. Founder and Artistic Director of Sona Lisa Dance Company, based in buzzing Birmingham, the mesmerising mover commented: “I do not use the descriptor ‘old’ for the art of Kathak dance.

Rather, it is ‘classical’, and in that sense timeless, open to all generations.” This is epitomised in the Company’s latest vibrant piece, [“Mango” – working title], commissioned by Sampad, the British Council and Arts Council England: “The piece challenges a one-dimensional idea of British-Asian identity where what is considered cultural baggage is actually a reinforcement of heritage.”

Sonia draws from her multi-cultural background; to create this ode to new-fangled subjectivity: “I use the mango tree as a metaphor for migration. It is able to adapt to new environments to thrive. Just as this native plant can continue to grow, humans constantly evolve their identity whatever their background; they are still themselves, but perhaps more current and alluring versions.”

Indeed, the ambitious dancer hopes to diversify the demographic for the UK’s theatre-going audience by not only appealing to more South-Asians and opening up the nuances of the culture to British eyes, but also imploring people to embrace the shared societal space as an exciting experience.

This is beautifully reflected through the physical movement of the classical Kathak dance which carries “an inherent power” perfect for delivering the social messages of its dancers: “In our dance training, we at the spoken perforSona Lisa, practice the techniques of mance reads: ‘not a bullet need be fired the north Indian dance, as traditionally in the war of hearts and minds…" deployed to tell the tales of Hindu In such a verbally wrought climate mythology. Our choreography/perforthen, the emotive Sonia and her invigmances challenge the possibilities of orating, intricate dance form are a the rich movement vocabulary to tell much-needed mental salve: appealing stories and explore subject matter releto constructive intuition over divisive vant to our society today at a time of speech. “We need to find new ways for cosmopolitanism, while staying true to the British to enjoy life,” she concludthe Kathak form.” ed. “They must rediscover their identiIndeed, true cultural strength ty. It has been fractious. If we can comes from the blessing to be conjure purer empathy and able to express oneself love, a lot of problems It’s so colourfully rather than would resolve themfeeling inhibited. One’s selves. Dance, especially satisfying background should the practice of Kathak, drawing lines in always be a natural can go beyond words extension of the self. the air and creating to that elusive place of “This applies to everyfeeling: it can capture movements and one,” Sonia stated, who what language can’t.” dazzlingly won the Watching the dynamic energy all European Regional cateSonia radiate both poetry around you gory at the Kalashram and precision with equal Kathak Competition in 2017. force, such gentler “My diasporic heritage is beautiexchanges seem exactly right. ful, and has made me individualistic War of Hearts and Minds will also be and creatively strong. It could get limitperformed at Oxford’s Offbeat Festival ing for audiences if work is structured as part of Sona Lisa Dance’s new show by rigid cultural and religious parame‘Eleven, twelve, thirteen.’ ters. We are all one, multicultural society with distinct yet relatable perspecTell us a little more about the tives to give. I hope the boundlessness inspiration for [Mango]? in my work can keep moving different The work explores dual migration audiences, from all age groups and culinspired by my family story. More tural backgrounds to inspire self-explospecifically, my grandmother hailed ration.” from a Gujarati village on the outskirts Sonia will perform a particularly of Jamnagar and later travelled to

S

15

a scourge or a boon?

The Soul of Sona Lisa Dance pertinent piece soon, called War of Hearts and Minds at Asian Voice’s Charity Awards, this Friday. Fittingly she will be performing in collaboration with her husband, who is also a progressive spoken word artist, composing and performing poetry. The piece is a comment on the state of international politics. “Many people died across the World Wars and people have experienced extreme trauma. However, it seems the biggest battle is yet to be won. This is the war to win over each other’s hearts and minds, where people bury not their children, but their enmity and mistrust. Ultimately, we all want to be able to live in a society where we have love and respect for one another.

One of the lines as part of

UK

Nepotism:

Sonia Chandaria Tillu Sunetra Senior

18 - 24 May 2019

Sonia Chandaria Tillu

Kenya where my mother was born and brought up. I experienced a significant flux and evolution of Swahili and Gujarati cultures, which became an entity in itself. I arrived in Britain in 2004 so there was yet more complexity (and confusion!) in the experience.

Can anyone dance?

Yes, and it is quite contagious too – you can get hooked on classical dance because it’s so enrapturing. Everyone’s journey is different, but we all manage to find our own connection. It’s very healthy too! Regular movement really helps joints and keeps the mind in a healthy, happy place. Personally, I also think it slows down the aging process.

What have been some of your favourite dance moves?

There are two aspects of Kathak that I really enjoy: firstly, footwork as I am passionate about rhythm and the beautiful intricacies achievable.

Wearing bells around ankles, about 100 on each foot, overlays the music with our own rhythms.

Kathak is part dance and part music, which is a core part of the classical repertoire. I always make sure to ask for a foot mic! Secondly: the ‘chakkar’/ pirouette. I love the freedom and grace with which we spin in Kathak and you just forget what is around you: it’s a buzz!

And do you enjoy precision as much as the artistic aspect?

Absolutely! It’s so satisfying drawing lines in the air and creating movements and energy all around you: often you’re able to reach audiences in a way that they don’t expect.

What was the inspiration for starting up the dance company?

I wanted to create new audiences for the arts that transcend age and culture. I really feel there is a cultural gap where people can’t identify with the work: what if you don’t want to watch ballet, traditional Indian classical, or commercial forms like Bollywood?

There is very little out there for audiences to work with.

Finally, who are some influences on your work?

Aditi Mangaldas, an awe-inspiring world class Kathak dancer & choreographer. As well as my Guru, Sujata Banerjee who helps to keep me grounded: she says just focus on improving each day i.e. strive for progress not perfection. You’ll be 365 times an improved version of oneself by the end of the year.

F: https://www.facebook.com/sonalisadance/ I: @sonia_sonalisa T: @sonia_sonalisa W: https://www.sonalisa.co.uk/

Nepotism, to my surprise is a term many do not hold in their vocabulary. It means ‘when someone gives favouritism to a relative without necessarily basing it on their abilities or merit’. Nepotism in some sense is very natural, it’s human, we are just primates after all. But does ‘natural’ make it right?

Certainly, at the level of a small business where the father expects his children to join the Sachin Nandha family firm seems benign Chief Executive PillboxCapital 3 enough, but at the corporate level where millions (sometimes billions) of pounds are involved and where hundreds (sometimes thousands) of lives effected it becomes a contentious issue. The Indian culture to a large extent is highly nepotistic. One just needs to look at the Indian politics to know the grotesque truth of it. But, even in business we find to a large extent the same issue.

Now, I know when I write this in a newspaper read predominately by Indians who, as I have said, are nepotistic, I am putting my head above the parapet and well in danger of having it chopped off. My intention is not controversy but introspection. The Indian community needs to seriously look at itself and iron out wrinkles in its culture if it is to make the next great leap up. Nepotism in my view is a major wrinkle.

I have known large (Indian) firms which have revenues of £300m or more, who were built by the ‘old man’ who was seriously gifted at what he did. He had it all – charisma, risk appetite, intelligence, strength, guile, and leadership. He built an empire and brings his children into it. Seldom does the old man think about if his children have the qualities that he possessed. Seldom does he think if his kids have had the nurturing to handle a £300m business with thousands of staff. Like the primates that we are, filial love overwhelms us: “I built this for my children”. I have heard these words many times from owners just as we are about to acquire his business and pump serious money into it, when we tell him that “we don’t want his kids, and no they can’t be shareholders”. If they aren’t up to the standard, then they simply are surplus to requirement.

If we want to build wealth for our children then we better had couple that with the right training, the right attitude, leadership traits and so on. But of course, this isn’t possible, no matter how many degrees you pay for; no matter how many ‘experiences’ you have bought.

Science tells us that serendipity has far more influence on how things turn out than we can possibly comprehend.

So, what to do?

Nepotism is the residue of our tribal past where blood and kin mattered. The Indian culture on the whole has flourished over the last 70 years and family businesses pooling together has certainly been a wonderful boon for the community. It continues to be for the small business owner. But in order to reach the next step one must let go of the step before. For businesses that have grown significantly, those that are on revenues above £50m, one has to consider seriously to what extent is nepotism driving them, and is it right?

When nepotism goes wrong, we get Rahul Gandhi.

One-way to tackle nepotism while taking care of your bloodline and kin is to professionalise your business.

When the old man is ready to pass on the baton, it should go to the most competent and deserving. Professionalise the board. Give them equity (make them purchase it).

Then give your bloodline equity (vested not matured), and then put them through their paces over a number of years. If they are as talented as the old man, then their equity matures, if not, it gets rescinded and put in a trust where they can never touch it. There are many ways to do this, an experienced lawyer and tax adviser will know what to do. That’s the easy bit.

The hard bit is one’s psychology.

To find out more about PillboxCapital visit: www.pillboxcapital3.com or call 0116 274 0707

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18 - 24 May 2019

UK billionaires go richer among Brexit and political uncertainties While the Indian-origin Hinduja brothers dominate the annual Rich List of Britain's wealthiest by The Sunday Times, UK's super-rich are preparing to leave the country, taking upto £1 trillion with them, amid fears that Jeremy Corbyn may become the next Prime Minister.

Surinder Arora

Sir Anwar Pervez

Lakshmi N Mittal

Jasminder Singh

Lord Swraj Paul

Gopichand and Srichand Hinduja

espite a turbulent year, given the Brexit uncertainties and political turmoil, Britain's 1000 richest individuals have a wealth of £771.3bn, up by £47.8bn from last year. There are 151 billionaires in the UK now, and the 'benchmark' for super-rich has increased from £5mn to £120mn this year.

There are over 65 British South Asians listed in The Sunday Times Richlist.

D

Hinduja brothers top the list Among Britain richest 1000, Indianorigin Hinduja brothers, with a fortune of £22bn have ranked first, followed by Mumbai born Reuben brothers on number two with £18.66bn. Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja, who run the Hinduja Group of companies, has had a £1.35bn jump in their fortunes from the previous year. This has restored their position back on the top, same as from 2014-17.

Speaking in an interview, G P Hinduja, told the newspaper, that whether or not Britain leaves EU, he is convinced that “it can forge a closer relationship with the family's homeland.”

Their business empire was founded in 1914 by father Parmanand Hinduja in Mumbai.

They now have stakes in many industries including oil and gas, IT, energy, media, banking, property and healthcare. In 2014 they acquired former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's old War Office in Whitehall for £350mn and plan to open it in 2020 as a luxury hotel with the Raffles group.

Mumbai-born brothers David, 80, and Simon, 77, have been on a 'buying spree', taking hold of £1bn of London property in 2018. The siblings 'snapped up' Mayfair's £300mn Burlington Arcade, Shoreditch's Curtain hotel and a £132mn block in Piccadilly. The brothers, who were ranked fourth last year, saw a £3.56bn jump in their fortune in one year.

Indian-origin billionaire, Lakshmi N Mittal, suffered £3.99 bn

in losses and has moved to No 11 this year, from No. 5 in 2018. Mittal is followed on the list by Indian mining magnate Anil Agarwal, who registered a £8.72 bn increase in his fortunes and is ranked as 12th.

Tony Matharu

Lord Rumi Verjee

Lord Dolar Popat

Zameer Choudrey

Sunil Vaswani

Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora

Other prominent super-rich Other prominent super-rich who improved their fortunes in the 2019 analysis includes around 45 Indianorigin business giants, including textiles and plastics industrialist Sri Prakash Lohia with a £243mn increase in earnings to position 26 with a fortune of £5.4bn.

At number 42, we have Sir Anwar Pervez and family with a wealth of £3.53bn, up by £439mn. A £7m deal last year added Bargain Booze, Wine Rack, WS Retail and Select Conveniences to Bestway’s London-based cash-and-carry and pharmacy operation. Pervez, 84, emigrated from Pakistan aged 21 and worked as a bus conductor, starting Bestway in 1976.

On number 63 are Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora with a fortune of £2.26bn. The Arora brothers have built the Merseyside discount retailer B&M into a £3.86bn stockmarket giant after taking control of their father’s ailing 21-store cash-andcarry chain in 2004.

Lord Swraj Paul logged a £500mn hike in his fortune to jump up from 90th in 2018 to 69th this year, with an estimated fortune of £2bn.

At number 82 is Zameer Choudrey and family, whose fortune is up by £548mn to £1.755bn. In 2018 they ranked 113. Choudrey, 61, is the nephew of Bestway founder Sir Anwar Pervez, and as chief executive since 2004 has taken the London-based cash-and-carry and pharmacy operation multinational.

A pro-Brexit Tory donor, Choudrey has a 29.98% family stake worth about £1.72bn and other assets.

At number 84 is Navin and Varsha Engineer, whose fortune is up by £290mn to £1.7bn. Surreybased Chemidex holds the rights to drugs used to treat insomnia, bipolar

disorder, severe anxiety and other ailments. Engineer, 68 this month, and his wife Varsha, 64, own and run the £1.6bn pharmaceuticals group. They were ranked 96 last year.

On no 112 is Tony Matharu and family with £1.32bn, they sold four central London hotels with 1,300 rooms between them in a near£1bn deal in March. They still have 12 hotels in London and one in Bracknell in the Grange Hotels chain they founded in 1980.

On 125 is Mohsin and Zuber Issa brothers, whose father came to the uk from Gujarat. The Issa brothers, raised in Blackburn, opened their first petrol station in 2001 and now have more than 5,000 forecourts after two big acquisitions in America and Australia last year.

At 136 is Surinder Arora and family with £1.12bn. Arora wants to build the new sixth terminal at Heathrow, insisting he will do it for £14bn, or half the cost that would be racked up by Heathrow Airports. He lives with his wife, Sunita, in Wentworth, Surrey. The couple have three adult children: Sapna, Sonia and Sanjay.

At 138 is Jasminder Singh and family at £1.1bn. Singh, 68, launched his hospitality empire in 1977 and it now operates 11 Radisson Blu Edwardian hotels in London and the five-star May Fair. He plans to open his 13th establishment next year, to be called the Londoner, in the capital’s Leicester Square.

At 174 we have Pharmaceutical tycoons Vijay and Bhikhu Patel with a wealth of £800mn. At 218 we have Jatania brothers at £643mn.

Mike Jatania

Varsha and Navin Engineer

Mike Jatania, 54, is chairman of the fast-growing UK fashion brand Needle Thread, whose sequins-andlace dresses have sparkled on Dame Helen Mirren, Sarah Jessica Parker, Drew Barrymore and Helena Christensen since its launch in 2013.

At 219 we have food entrepreneur Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan with £640mn.

At 399 there is Bhupendra Kansagra with £320mn. Oil, agriculture, horticulture, mineral processing, hospitality and property are among the diverse interests of the family led by Kansagra, 63 later this month. There are a few other on the list with similar achievements.

New Entries There were a few new Indian-origin entries to this year's list, including Sunil Vaswani who has interests in transport and food industries.

Ranked 75. India-born Vaswani clocked a fortune of £1.9bn via his frozen food and car-making empire working alongside brothers Mahesh and Haresh. At 775 we have Suneil Setiya with £152mn. Quadrature Capital is a small investment manager that uses cutting-edge technolo-

Zuber and Mohsin Issa

Bhikhu and Vijay Patel

gies and complex algorithms for financial trading. Another new entry is at 972 Lord Dolar Popat, who runs care homes and hotels in the UK. Described as the first Tory of Gujarati descent in the House of Lords, the 65 year old peer is credited with building up TLC Group from just £10 when he arrived in the UK at the age of 17, after being expelled by Idi Amin's regime in Uganda.

Technology and AI are seen as 'making and breaking' fortunes in this year's list, with young entrepreneurs making huge amount of money from online fashion retail, dating apps and creating YouTube videos. The wealthiest woman in Britain is Sigrid Rausing, granddaughter of the man who invented the Tetra Pak packaging fortune. She is reportedly worth 12.2 billion pounds and ranked sixth.

Zimbabwe-born Valerie Moran becomes the first black female entrepreneur ever to make the annual rich list, with a fortune of 122 million pounds from her financial technology business. However there are no Asians in the giving away list, making the community's 'less fortunate' less supported by its own.

ASIANS IN THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2019

Rank 2019 (2018) Name 1 (2) Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family 2 (4) David and Simon Reuben 11 (5) Lakshmi Mittal and family 12 (74) Anil Agarwal 26 (25) Sri Prakash Lohia 42 (43) Sir Anwar Pervez and family 63 (60) Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora 66 (59) Bavaguthu Shetty 69 (90) Lord Paul and family 75 Sunil Vaswani and family 82 (113) Zameer Choudrey and family 84 (96) Navin and Varsha Engineer 86 (75( Kiran Mazumdar Shaw & John Shaw 112 (105) Raj, Tony and Harpal Matharu & family 125 (126) Mohsin and Zuber Issa 131 (136) Mahmud Kamani and family 136 (366) Surinder Arora and family 138 (131) Jasminder Singh and family 174 (204) Vijay and Bhikhu Patel 218 (215) The Jatania brothers 219 (183) Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan 227 (306) Younus Sheikh and family 241 (473) Tony Fernandes 254 (239) Abdul Bhatti and family 254 (239) Adalat and Arshad Chaudhary 268 (388) Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia & family 304 (287) Amit and Meeta Patel 312 (300) Kuljinder Bahia and family 339 (346) Kartar and Tej Lalvani 380 (378) Apurv Bagri and family 385 (344) Tom Singh and family 399 (388) Bhupendra Kansagra & family 424 (404) Firoz Kassam 439 (859) Sharan Pasricha 478 (477) Vikrant Bhargava 484 (471) Sanjay Vadera and family 516 (503) Rashid and Aziz Tayub & family 542 (387) Kishore Lulla and family 554 (547) Moni Varma 562 (567) Vipul Thakrar and family 563 (560) Iqbal Ahmed and family 564 (584) Lord Alli 587 (573) Mayank Patel 606 (584) Ratheesan Yoganathan 627 (704) Anwar and Yakub Patel 637 (646) Koolesh Shah and family 641 (675) Nik and Monisha Kotecha & family 652 (764) Joe Hemani 680 (669) Tarsem Dhaliwal 694 (689) The Tejani family 703 (695) Nick Dhandsa and family 719 (862) Kirti Patel and family 719 (713) Lord Verjee 726 (728) Raj Sehgal and Sanjeev Mehan & family 731 (772) The Dhamecha family 760 (695) Subaskaran Allirajah 768 (772) Chai Patel 775 Suneil Setiya 787 (772) Kirit and Meena Pathak 867 (761) Raj Manak 876 (862) Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith & family 876 (862) Sir Anish Kapoor 884 (930) Nitin Sodha and family 888 (980) Surinder Kandola 934 (980) Hitesh and Dilesh Mehta 934(905) Nandlal and Deep Valecha 972 Lord and Lady Popat and family

Worth (^)Rise/Fall(v) £22bn ^£1.356bn £18.664bn ^£3.568bn £10.669bn v£3.998bn £10.57bn ^£8.72bn £5.402bn ^£243m £3.534bn ^£439m £2.26bn V£40m £2.083bn ^£300m £2bn ^£500m £1.969bn New entry £1.755bn ^£548m £1.7bn ^£290m £1.689bn v£67mn £1.321bn ^£21m £1.2bn ^£100m £1.163bn ^£163m £1.129bn ^£780m £1.1bn ^£36m £800m ^£113m £643m ^£13m £640m v£106m £609m ^£189m £587m ^£331m £540m No change £540m No change £500m ^£180m £450m No change £427m No change £390m ^£25m £349m ^£15m £340m v£30m £320m No change £305m No change £298m ^£162m £260m ^£7m £257m No change £236m v£8m £220m v£101m £218m No change £214m ^£5m £213m ^£3m £212m ^£12m £205m No change £200m No change £198m ^£30m £192m ^£8m £190m ^£15m £187m ^£35m £178m No change £173m No change £170m No change £165m ^£30m £165m No change £163m ^£3m £160m ^£10m £155m v£15m £154m ^£4m £152m New entry £150m No change £137m v£16m £135m No change £135m No change £134m ^£11m £133m ^£18m £126m ^£11m £126m No change £121m New entry

Source of wealth Industry and Finance Property and Internet Steel Mining Textiles and Plastics Cash and carry Discount stores Healthcare and Foreign exchange Industry Transport and Food Cash and carry and Pharmacies Pharmaceuticals Pharmaceuticals Property & Hotels Fuel distribution Internet retailing Hotels Hotels Pharmaceuticals Toiletries and Property Food Cash and carry Aviation Cash and carry Cash and carry Car part Pharmaceuticals Travel Health supplements Metals Fashion Industry and Aviation Hotels and Property Hotels Gambling Perfume Discount stores and Property Media Food Food Food Media and Fashion Foreign exchange Telecoms Pharmacies Hotels Pharmaceuticals Business services Frozen food Paper products Care homes Pharmaceuticals Finance and Retailing Fashion & Property Cash and carry and Property Telecoms Healthcare Finance Food Construction Football & Hotels Art Pharmaceuticals Food Perfume Gas services Care homes and Hotels

RICH LIST

17

18 - 24 May 2019

Toxicity of public debate: Marginalisation and Divisiveness

Baroness Usha Prashar

Lord Bhikhu Parekh

On Thursday 9 May, members of the House of Lords debated the conduct and toxicity of debate in public life, the divisions in society which result from such debates, and called for the government to take necessary steps to address such divisions.

The debate was proposed

by Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour), former director of the Association of London Government. The debate was attended by members across the political spectrum includingBaroness Prashar (Crossbench), Lord Bhikhu Parekh (Labour) Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Conservative), Baroness Hussein-Ece (Liberal Democrat), Bishop of Leeds (Bishops), Lord Puttnam (Labour) among others.

Addressing the role of 'social media' in the current Brexit charged political atmosphere of the UK, Lord Parekh, discussed about the subjects of “politics of identity” and “politics of marginality”.

“If somebody were to ask, “What is our biggest problem?” in the aftermath of the financial crisis, in any western society the response would immediately be inequality. A large number of people have found their incomes frozen and are unable to see any rise,” he said.

“National identity or nationalism is the battleground, the site on which our differences are played out.

National identity is ultimately about who we are, where we belong and what our place in this world is. Ultimately, with those questions Europe becomes extremely important—the Europe that we joined reluctantly and that we have been a part of all these years, yet from which we want to withdraw,” he continued.

The Brexit divide has probably been the greatest in the last few weeks with both Tories and Labour losing foothold in crucial constituencies in the recently conducted local elections.

Not only has the Brexit ripple effect led to major gains for

the Green Party and Liberal Democrats but also given voice to far-right campaigners like Nigel Farrage. Such toxicity has led to the murder of Jo Cox in the run up to the European referendum, since when politics has – if anything – become even more fractured. Threats to MPs have rocketed with 142 offences recorded in 2017, rising to 270 last year. MPs’ homes and offices are attacked and their constituency staff intimidated.

Evidence received by the Committee on Standards in Public Life stated that- “The tone of modern political discourse permeates through society and normalises abusive and … aggressive language.” This need for open debate and regulatory behaviour in public was further highlighted by Baroness Usha Prashar.

“Healthy, open debate is thwarted by intolerance and lack of respect for differing views. The tone of bitterness and aggression that has entered our public debate is very worrying. The scale and intensity of intimidation shaping our public life is a matter of serious concern.

“One area of great concern that has already been mentioned is social media. It has become a fertile ground for attacking those in public life, especially women and the LGBT and BAME communities,”said Baroness Prashar.

She recently became a chairman of Cumberland Lodge, an educational charity set up 71 years ago by Amy Buller, author of 'Darkness Over Germany'.

“The organisation as a laboratory that teaches children how to disagree well and how to develop critical thinking, and such initiatives need to be scaled up, along with efforts to promote digital literacy,” concluded Baroness Prashar.

For the full report of the debate visit: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2019-0509/debates/04213E00-432C43DC-A657C0DE1B296F6F/ConductOf DebateInPublicLife

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18 - 24 May 2019

UK billionaires go richer among Brexit and political uncertainties While the Indian-origin Hinduja brothers dominate the annual Rich List of Britain's wealthiest by The Sunday Times, UK's super-rich are preparing to leave the country, taking upto £1 trillion with them, amid fears that Jeremy Corbyn may become the next Prime Minister.

Surinder Arora

Sir Anwar Pervez

Lakshmi N Mittal

Jasminder Singh

Lord Swraj Paul

Gopichand and Srichand Hinduja

espite a turbulent year, given the Brexit uncertainties and political turmoil, Britain's 1000 richest individuals have a wealth of £771.3bn, up by £47.8bn from last year. There are 151 billionaires in the UK now, and the 'benchmark' for super-rich has increased from £5mn to £120mn this year.

There are over 65 British South Asians listed in The Sunday Times Richlist.

D

Hinduja brothers top the list Among Britain richest 1000, Indianorigin Hinduja brothers, with a fortune of £22bn have ranked first, followed by Mumbai born Reuben brothers on number two with £18.66bn. Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja, who run the Hinduja Group of companies, has had a £1.35bn jump in their fortunes from the previous year. This has restored their position back on the top, same as from 2014-17.

Speaking in an interview, G P Hinduja, told the newspaper, that whether or not Britain leaves EU, he is convinced that “it can forge a closer relationship with the family's homeland.”

Their business empire was founded in 1914 by father Parmanand Hinduja in Mumbai.

They now have stakes in many industries including oil and gas, IT, energy, media, banking, property and healthcare. In 2014 they acquired former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's old War Office in Whitehall for £350mn and plan to open it in 2020 as a luxury hotel with the Raffles group.

Mumbai-born brothers David, 80, and Simon, 77, have been on a 'buying spree', taking hold of £1bn of London property in 2018. The siblings 'snapped up' Mayfair's £300mn Burlington Arcade, Shoreditch's Curtain hotel and a £132mn block in Piccadilly. The brothers, who were ranked fourth last year, saw a £3.56bn jump in their fortune in one year.

Indian-origin billionaire, Lakshmi N Mittal, suffered £3.99 bn

in losses and has moved to No 11 this year, from No. 5 in 2018. Mittal is followed on the list by Indian mining magnate Anil Agarwal, who registered a £8.72 bn increase in his fortunes and is ranked as 12th.

Tony Matharu

Lord Rumi Verjee

Lord Dolar Popat

Zameer Choudrey

Sunil Vaswani

Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora

Other prominent super-rich Other prominent super-rich who improved their fortunes in the 2019 analysis includes around 45 Indianorigin business giants, including textiles and plastics industrialist Sri Prakash Lohia with a £243mn increase in earnings to position 26 with a fortune of £5.4bn.

At number 42, we have Sir Anwar Pervez and family with a wealth of £3.53bn, up by £439mn. A £7m deal last year added Bargain Booze, Wine Rack, WS Retail and Select Conveniences to Bestway’s London-based cash-and-carry and pharmacy operation. Pervez, 84, emigrated from Pakistan aged 21 and worked as a bus conductor, starting Bestway in 1976.

On number 63 are Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora with a fortune of £2.26bn. The Arora brothers have built the Merseyside discount retailer B&M into a £3.86bn stockmarket giant after taking control of their father’s ailing 21-store cash-andcarry chain in 2004.

Lord Swraj Paul logged a £500mn hike in his fortune to jump up from 90th in 2018 to 69th this year, with an estimated fortune of £2bn.

At number 82 is Zameer Choudrey and family, whose fortune is up by £548mn to £1.755bn. In 2018 they ranked 113. Choudrey, 61, is the nephew of Bestway founder Sir Anwar Pervez, and as chief executive since 2004 has taken the London-based cash-and-carry and pharmacy operation multinational.

A pro-Brexit Tory donor, Choudrey has a 29.98% family stake worth about £1.72bn and other assets.

At number 84 is Navin and Varsha Engineer, whose fortune is up by £290mn to £1.7bn. Surreybased Chemidex holds the rights to drugs used to treat insomnia, bipolar

disorder, severe anxiety and other ailments. Engineer, 68 this month, and his wife Varsha, 64, own and run the £1.6bn pharmaceuticals group. They were ranked 96 last year.

On no 112 is Tony Matharu and family with £1.32bn, they sold four central London hotels with 1,300 rooms between them in a near£1bn deal in March. They still have 12 hotels in London and one in Bracknell in the Grange Hotels chain they founded in 1980.

On 125 is Mohsin and Zuber Issa brothers, whose father came to the uk from Gujarat. The Issa brothers, raised in Blackburn, opened their first petrol station in 2001 and now have more than 5,000 forecourts after two big acquisitions in America and Australia last year.

At 136 is Surinder Arora and family with £1.12bn. Arora wants to build the new sixth terminal at Heathrow, insisting he will do it for £14bn, or half the cost that would be racked up by Heathrow Airports. He lives with his wife, Sunita, in Wentworth, Surrey. The couple have three adult children: Sapna, Sonia and Sanjay.

At 138 is Jasminder Singh and family at £1.1bn. Singh, 68, launched his hospitality empire in 1977 and it now operates 11 Radisson Blu Edwardian hotels in London and the five-star May Fair. He plans to open his 13th establishment next year, to be called the Londoner, in the capital’s Leicester Square.

At 174 we have Pharmaceutical tycoons Vijay and Bhikhu Patel with a wealth of £800mn. At 218 we have Jatania brothers at £643mn.

Mike Jatania

Varsha and Navin Engineer

Mike Jatania, 54, is chairman of the fast-growing UK fashion brand Needle Thread, whose sequins-andlace dresses have sparkled on Dame Helen Mirren, Sarah Jessica Parker, Drew Barrymore and Helena Christensen since its launch in 2013.

At 219 we have food entrepreneur Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan with £640mn.

At 399 there is Bhupendra Kansagra with £320mn. Oil, agriculture, horticulture, mineral processing, hospitality and property are among the diverse interests of the family led by Kansagra, 63 later this month. There are a few other on the list with similar achievements.

New Entries There were a few new Indian-origin entries to this year's list, including Sunil Vaswani who has interests in transport and food industries.

Ranked 75. India-born Vaswani clocked a fortune of £1.9bn via his frozen food and car-making empire working alongside brothers Mahesh and Haresh. At 775 we have Suneil Setiya with £152mn. Quadrature Capital is a small investment manager that uses cutting-edge technolo-

Zuber and Mohsin Issa

Bhikhu and Vijay Patel

gies and complex algorithms for financial trading. Another new entry is at 972 Lord Dolar Popat, who runs care homes and hotels in the UK. Described as the first Tory of Gujarati descent in the House of Lords, the 65 year old peer is credited with building up TLC Group from just £10 when he arrived in the UK at the age of 17, after being expelled by Idi Amin's regime in Uganda.

Technology and AI are seen as 'making and breaking' fortunes in this year's list, with young entrepreneurs making huge amount of money from online fashion retail, dating apps and creating YouTube videos. The wealthiest woman in Britain is Sigrid Rausing, granddaughter of the man who invented the Tetra Pak packaging fortune. She is reportedly worth 12.2 billion pounds and ranked sixth.

Zimbabwe-born Valerie Moran becomes the first black female entrepreneur ever to make the annual rich list, with a fortune of 122 million pounds from her financial technology business. However there are no Asians in the giving away list, making the community's 'less fortunate' less supported by its own.

ASIANS IN THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2019

Rank 2019 (2018) Name 1 (2) Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family 2 (4) David and Simon Reuben 11 (5) Lakshmi Mittal and family 12 (74) Anil Agarwal 26 (25) Sri Prakash Lohia 42 (43) Sir Anwar Pervez and family 63 (60) Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora 66 (59) Bavaguthu Shetty 69 (90) Lord Paul and family 75 Sunil Vaswani and family 82 (113) Zameer Choudrey and family 84 (96) Navin and Varsha Engineer 86 (75( Kiran Mazumdar Shaw & John Shaw 112 (105) Raj, Tony and Harpal Matharu & family 125 (126) Mohsin and Zuber Issa 131 (136) Mahmud Kamani and family 136 (366) Surinder Arora and family 138 (131) Jasminder Singh and family 174 (204) Vijay and Bhikhu Patel 218 (215) The Jatania brothers 219 (183) Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan 227 (306) Younus Sheikh and family 241 (473) Tony Fernandes 254 (239) Abdul Bhatti and family 254 (239) Adalat and Arshad Chaudhary 268 (388) Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia & family 304 (287) Amit and Meeta Patel 312 (300) Kuljinder Bahia and family 339 (346) Kartar and Tej Lalvani 380 (378) Apurv Bagri and family 385 (344) Tom Singh and family 399 (388) Bhupendra Kansagra & family 424 (404) Firoz Kassam 439 (859) Sharan Pasricha 478 (477) Vikrant Bhargava 484 (471) Sanjay Vadera and family 516 (503) Rashid and Aziz Tayub & family 542 (387) Kishore Lulla and family 554 (547) Moni Varma 562 (567) Vipul Thakrar and family 563 (560) Iqbal Ahmed and family 564 (584) Lord Alli 587 (573) Mayank Patel 606 (584) Ratheesan Yoganathan 627 (704) Anwar and Yakub Patel 637 (646) Koolesh Shah and family 641 (675) Nik and Monisha Kotecha & family 652 (764) Joe Hemani 680 (669) Tarsem Dhaliwal 694 (689) The Tejani family 703 (695) Nick Dhandsa and family 719 (862) Kirti Patel and family 719 (713) Lord Verjee 726 (728) Raj Sehgal and Sanjeev Mehan & family 731 (772) The Dhamecha family 760 (695) Subaskaran Allirajah 768 (772) Chai Patel 775 Suneil Setiya 787 (772) Kirit and Meena Pathak 867 (761) Raj Manak 876 (862) Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith & family 876 (862) Sir Anish Kapoor 884 (930) Nitin Sodha and family 888 (980) Surinder Kandola 934 (980) Hitesh and Dilesh Mehta 934(905) Nandlal and Deep Valecha 972 Lord and Lady Popat and family

Worth (^)Rise/Fall(v) £22bn ^£1.356bn £18.664bn ^£3.568bn £10.669bn v£3.998bn £10.57bn ^£8.72bn £5.402bn ^£243m £3.534bn ^£439m £2.26bn V£40m £2.083bn ^£300m £2bn ^£500m £1.969bn New entry £1.755bn ^£548m £1.7bn ^£290m £1.689bn v£67mn £1.321bn ^£21m £1.2bn ^£100m £1.163bn ^£163m £1.129bn ^£780m £1.1bn ^£36m £800m ^£113m £643m ^£13m £640m v£106m £609m ^£189m £587m ^£331m £540m No change £540m No change £500m ^£180m £450m No change £427m No change £390m ^£25m £349m ^£15m £340m v£30m £320m No change £305m No change £298m ^£162m £260m ^£7m £257m No change £236m v£8m £220m v£101m £218m No change £214m ^£5m £213m ^£3m £212m ^£12m £205m No change £200m No change £198m ^£30m £192m ^£8m £190m ^£15m £187m ^£35m £178m No change £173m No change £170m No change £165m ^£30m £165m No change £163m ^£3m £160m ^£10m £155m v£15m £154m ^£4m £152m New entry £150m No change £137m v£16m £135m No change £135m No change £134m ^£11m £133m ^£18m £126m ^£11m £126m No change £121m New entry

Source of wealth Industry and Finance Property and Internet Steel Mining Textiles and Plastics Cash and carry Discount stores Healthcare and Foreign exchange Industry Transport and Food Cash and carry and Pharmacies Pharmaceuticals Pharmaceuticals Property & Hotels Fuel distribution Internet retailing Hotels Hotels Pharmaceuticals Toiletries and Property Food Cash and carry Aviation Cash and carry Cash and carry Car part Pharmaceuticals Travel Health supplements Metals Fashion Industry and Aviation Hotels and Property Hotels Gambling Perfume Discount stores and Property Media Food Food Food Media and Fashion Foreign exchange Telecoms Pharmacies Hotels Pharmaceuticals Business services Frozen food Paper products Care homes Pharmaceuticals Finance and Retailing Fashion & Property Cash and carry and Property Telecoms Healthcare Finance Food Construction Football & Hotels Art Pharmaceuticals Food Perfume Gas services Care homes and Hotels

RICH LIST

17

18 - 24 May 2019

Toxicity of public debate: Marginalisation and Divisiveness

Baroness Usha Prashar

Lord Bhikhu Parekh

On Thursday 9 May, members of the House of Lords debated the conduct and toxicity of debate in public life, the divisions in society which result from such debates, and called for the government to take necessary steps to address such divisions.

The debate was proposed

by Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour), former director of the Association of London Government. The debate was attended by members across the political spectrum includingBaroness Prashar (Crossbench), Lord Bhikhu Parekh (Labour) Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Conservative), Baroness Hussein-Ece (Liberal Democrat), Bishop of Leeds (Bishops), Lord Puttnam (Labour) among others.

Addressing the role of 'social media' in the current Brexit charged political atmosphere of the UK, Lord Parekh, discussed about the subjects of “politics of identity” and “politics of marginality”.

“If somebody were to ask, “What is our biggest problem?” in the aftermath of the financial crisis, in any western society the response would immediately be inequality. A large number of people have found their incomes frozen and are unable to see any rise,” he said.

“National identity or nationalism is the battleground, the site on which our differences are played out.

National identity is ultimately about who we are, where we belong and what our place in this world is. Ultimately, with those questions Europe becomes extremely important—the Europe that we joined reluctantly and that we have been a part of all these years, yet from which we want to withdraw,” he continued.

The Brexit divide has probably been the greatest in the last few weeks with both Tories and Labour losing foothold in crucial constituencies in the recently conducted local elections.

Not only has the Brexit ripple effect led to major gains for

the Green Party and Liberal Democrats but also given voice to far-right campaigners like Nigel Farrage. Such toxicity has led to the murder of Jo Cox in the run up to the European referendum, since when politics has – if anything – become even more fractured. Threats to MPs have rocketed with 142 offences recorded in 2017, rising to 270 last year. MPs’ homes and offices are attacked and their constituency staff intimidated.

Evidence received by the Committee on Standards in Public Life stated that- “The tone of modern political discourse permeates through society and normalises abusive and … aggressive language.” This need for open debate and regulatory behaviour in public was further highlighted by Baroness Usha Prashar.

“Healthy, open debate is thwarted by intolerance and lack of respect for differing views. The tone of bitterness and aggression that has entered our public debate is very worrying. The scale and intensity of intimidation shaping our public life is a matter of serious concern.

“One area of great concern that has already been mentioned is social media. It has become a fertile ground for attacking those in public life, especially women and the LGBT and BAME communities,”said Baroness Prashar.

She recently became a chairman of Cumberland Lodge, an educational charity set up 71 years ago by Amy Buller, author of 'Darkness Over Germany'.

“The organisation as a laboratory that teaches children how to disagree well and how to develop critical thinking, and such initiatives need to be scaled up, along with efforts to promote digital literacy,” concluded Baroness Prashar.

For the full report of the debate visit: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2019-0509/debates/04213E00-432C43DC-A657C0DE1B296F6F/ConductOf DebateInPublicLife

18 FINANCE - UK

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

18 - 24 May 2019

Consultant Editor Financial Voice Alpesh Patel Dear Financial Voice Reader, I write to you from Silicon Valley. I want to share with my readers insights because of the number of Indians here running the Valley. I’ve come along with a UK company I helped in my Government capacity. I helped this company set up a UK HQ and now they are with me in Silicon Valley to set up their subsidiary.

I want Asian Voice readers to know what’s happening in finance. This company is Finboot and the Chairman is Indian too – Nish Kotech. So there are a lot of links.

Bitcoin’s rise and fall are rightly becoming the side show of what is the core value proposition: the emergence of Blockchain as the trust substitute technology.

Image of UK company Finboot, setting up a Silicon Valley base, led by their British Indian Founder Nish Kotech – with the help of UK Dept for International Trade

Worrying about a bubble risks diverting your attention away from the disruptive technology powering crypto today and potentially our world tomorrow. The next blockchain winners will be those who use this technology for real world challenges - so called front end services - and that’s what is captivating technologists in London, India, China, Europe and Silicon Valley.

Blockchain is the technology behind a distributed network of computers that can be used to store data securely but which, uniquely, has a single memory. That means data cannot be copied to sell the same asset again. Imagine duplicating the deeds of your house and re-selling it – a common enough practice in the developing world; that risk remained even with the passage from stamped paper to a digital file. Blockchain removes this risk. It’s why Blockchain technologists refer to it as the ‘trust platform’.

The technology is still nascent though evangelists believe it can fundamentally change the way we live, work and transact. Storing and managing data in a distributed way vs today’s single guardian of your data approach requires a new way of thinking.

In a recent study by Deloitte 39% of the surveyed 1,053 global C-level/senior executives stated they were likely to invest more than $5 million in Blockchain technologies in 2019 and this from a diverse range of sectors from oil and gas to fintech to automotive, retail, media, and so on. It seems that the new way if thinking is catching on.

Repsol, the leading Spanish Oil and Gas group valued at over Euro 24 billion announced a partnership with Finboot (London/Barcelona) where their product Marco has been successfully tested to improve the Product Certification process. Marco, which means ‘frame’ in Spanish, acts as a platform for end-to-end blockchain applications which can be easily developed and deployed using a single dashboard and thereby bringing these solutions to the desk of every employee.

The early adopters of Blockchain such as Walmart, Repsol, IBM, Accenture, BP will encourage the mainstream to come onboard.

It is clear the technology is at the start of the adoption curve. As an evangelist, I say move on and don’t let the froth get in the way: The hype of Blockchain will demand interest and resource: a deeper and wider ecosystem of developer and design skills, mentoring, early-stage capital and a maniacal startup culture which each technology centre of excellence is running to make Blockchain their own.

Tata denies it is trying to sell JLR to France's PSA Tata Motors denied that it is planning to sell the British luxury car brand Jaguar Land Rover to the French owner of Peugeot. Britain’s biggest carmaker has been mooted as a potential target for PSA Group – the owner of brands including Peugeot, Citroën and Vauxhall – for months amid reports that India’s Tata has been frustrated with JLR’s struggles.

A “post-sale integration document” has been passed around senior executives at the companies, detailing the potential benefits of a tieup, reports said. However, both carmakers denied a sale is in the offing. In a statement, Tata Motors said: “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on media speculation. But we can confirm there is no truth to these rumours.”

A spokeswoman for PSA Group said the company was “open to all opportunities that would create value on a long-term basis”, but said there was “no hurry” for PSA to make an acquisition of JLR or any other carmaker. PSA boss Carlos Tavares last month made it clear in an interview that he would consider a bid

for JLR, among other carmakers but added that he did not want such a deal to be a “distraction.”

JLR’s sales performance has stuttered in recent months. Retail sales fell by 6.4% in the final three months of 2018, a decline

recent performance has forced the company to scale back operations.

In February JLR announced its biggest quarterly loss after it was forced to write down the value of its investments by £3.1bn as Chinese demand

TATA STEEL, GERMAN FIRM THYSSENKRUPP CALL OFF JV Tata Steel and German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp have decided to call off their steel joint venture (JV), expecting the deal to be rejected by the European Commission over competition concerns. The JV, announced in September 2017, was supposed to create Europe’s second largest steel company with a turnover of 15 billion euros, behind ArcelorMittal. The deal was expected to stabilise and cut down the debt of the Tatas’ loss-making European steel business. The collapse of the JV is a setback to Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran’s restructuring initiatives. The European Commission will announce its decision by June 17. Tata Steel and Thyssenkrupp had tried to offer “significant concessions” to assuage the commission’s concerns, but those didn’t help. If further commitments were made, then it would “affect the basic foundation” of the venture, making it uneconomical, Tata Steel said. The commission was expecting substantial concessions in the form of sale of assets of the JV. that was almost entirely caused by a drop of more than 40% in China. That weakness followed a long period in which the premium segment of the global car market outperformed less expensive models. However, the poor

slumped. Later that month it announced plans to cut 4,500 jobs from its global workforce, the majority of them management roles in the UK at sites including Coventry and Gaydon.

JLR has just under 40,000 employees

worldwide, the majority of them in the UK, but it is dwarfed by PSA in terms of scale and sales volumes. JLR made revenues of £24.6bn in 2018, compared with PSA’s €74bn (£64bn) in the same period, while in the final three months of 2018 JLR sold 144,600 cars, against 995,100 by PSA Group.

A purchase by a larger carmaker would also help JLR to make the major investments in new technology that will be necessary as carmakers prepare for the transition away from internal combustion engines to electric and autonomous technology.

Philippe Houchois, an automotive analyst at investment bank Jefferies, said an acquisition of JLR by PSA was a possibility, but would not be the “transformational” deal that PSA is eyeing. Industry observers believe a merger of equals with Italy’s Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is under consideration.

“JLR would welcome some help no doubt in terms of trying to get some scale,” he said. “It’s not clear what it adds to [PSA’s] core business.”

City Corporation’s charitable funder elects first Indian-origin Chairman Dhruv Patel, who founded the City Hindus Network, has become the first ever BAME (black, Asian, and minority ethnic) Chairman of London’s largest independent grant giver.

Mr Patel, an Elected Member of the City of London Corporation since 2013, was elected as Chairman of the City Bridge Trust Committee at its meeting last week. He replaces Alison Gowman, who has served her full three-year term, and now becomes Deputy Chair of the Committee.

City Bridge Trust is the funding arm of the City of London Corporation’s charity, Bridge House Estates, making charity grants of £20 million a year to tackle disadvantaged

Dhruv Patel

communities across the capital.

Formerly the Committee’s deputy Chairman, he will lead City Bridge Trust’s Elected Members in delivering Bridging Divides, its fiveyear funding programme, which will see £100 million distributed to the capital’s

charities to help Londoners most in need.

The 35-year-old businessman, who was awarded an OBE in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours for voluntary service to the British Hindu community and to Social Cohesion, was the City Corporation’s first ever chairman from a BAME background in his previous role on its Community and Children’s Services Committee.

Mr Patel, who is married with two children, has business interests in property, retail pharmacy, and the London insurance market. He sits on the Board of Governors of the City of London School for Girls, and is Chairman of the local governing body of Avanti Court Primary School, a

mixed Hindu faith school in Redbridge.

Dhruv Patel, Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust Committee, said, “I am humbled to have been elected by the City Bridge Trust Committee to serve as its Chairman, and I will strive to do the best job that I can to tackle the inequality which should not exist in London.

“It is a great privilege to be in the leadership role of one of the UK’s most important supporters of civil society.

Together we will continue to help give all London’s communities the opportunity to thrive, and give young people, in particular, the best possible start in life.”

Reliance buys UK’s 259- year- old toy store Hamleys The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has acquired British toy maker Hamleys for nearly 68 million pounds in an all-cash deal.

Hamleys, a 259-year-old toy maker, has been struggling to generate profits in recent times. It reported a profit after tax of 2.4 million pounds in 2018 after suffering a loss of 11.2 million pounds in 2017.

It is currently owned by Chinese fashion conglomerate C Banner International, which had acquired it for 100 million pounds in 2015. “Reliance Brands, a subsidiary of

Reliance Industries, and C Banner International Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed company, signed an agreement for Reliance Brands to acquire 100% shares of Hamleys Global Holdings, the owner of Hamleys brand, from C Banner International,” the company said.

Hamleys started with a single-store shop, Noah’s Ark, in 1760. It now has 167 stores across 18 countries. Besides the UK, it has stores in China, Germany, Russia, India, South Africa and West Asia. Reliance Retail,

Ambani’s flagship retailer, already has a pan-India franchise agreement with Hamleys to merchandise its famous toys. This acquisition will catapult Reliance Brands to be a dominant player in the global toy retail industry, the company said in a statement. In India, Reliance had the franchise agreement for Hamleys and currently operates 88 stores across 29 cities.

Ambai is currently engaged in fierce competition with Amazon and Walmart in

an ongoing race to dominate India's retail market. The purchase Hamleys will help bolster that fight.

REAL ESTATE VOICE

MISSING THE CHERRY

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Suresh Vagjiani

Sow & Reap London Property Investment

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

19

18 - 24 May 2019

We have completed a deal for a client in Harrow. The property is a semi-detached freehold house. It was a probate deal and typically these require a lot of work. This one is at the extreme end of the probate scale; it requires everything to be done on it. It is actually a danger to walk in the property, as some of the floor boards are missing. If you’re going to be doing a full refurbishment the condition of the property is not so relevant, as it will be stripped bare back to the brick.

had no idea this was even possible.

There was some criteria involved, from memory there needed to be sufficient alley width for entry, and security needed to be addressed.

These were all doable.

From a developer’s perspective, a long garden doesn’t really add to the resell value; square feet does.

This property is only three minutes’ from the station. Properties on this road typically go for over £600K; one even went for over £700K.

If this is possible a smart move would be to split the title, meaning at the land registry you would have two titles instead of one. This would mean you would get separate funding on each separate project, enabling you to potentially extract all your initial funds and probably some profit too, before you have done any actual physical work.

This is a possibility worth exploring on this investment property, it would add two to three units extra which would probably almost double the resell value.

This property was purchased for £425K. The garden is exceptionally long and overgrown. In a property we sourced in Ealing many years ago, the planner had the idea to build in the garden. The proposed building would only be one story above ground level and therefore not be an infringement on the neighbours. The idea was to dig out the garden gradually until we could get another story below the ground to the rear. At the time I actually

This principle can be used on a larger scheme. We had come across a developer who had done an office to residential scheme, and was selling all the units on a help to buy basis. What he had missed was the opportunity to build a separate

building in the car park attached to the building. This was completely overlooked. Probably because the question was not asked of the planner. Although a good planner should pick things like this up.

Needless to say we were very keen to buy the whole site for our client; the office with the benefit of

planning and the attached car park.

On this occasion the deal did not materialise. But it shows how planning potential can be overlooked on a smaller scale as well as a larger one.

A similar deal has just come up for £250K, do get in touch if interested.

THE PICK & MIX LANDLORD We sourced a property for a client, who had her own trusted contractor on hand to get the property tenant ready. She even had a distant relative lined up, ready to move in.

Now, of course we offer a full lettings management service for those clients that prefer a hands off property investment.

However, some clients prefer to be more hands on, and would prefer to manage their own property and tenant themselves. After a quick conversation with our client, we agreed that she didn’t require a full management service, and instead she chose to select options from our pick and mix lettings menu.

She asked us to attend the property to give our recommendations on what pre tenancy work should be done, and she also asked us to run through her legal requirements and safety aspects of the property such as EPC, GSC, smoke and CO2 alarms. She then instructed her own contractor accordingly.

Although the incoming tenant was a distant relative, she wisely requested us to provide a tenancy agreement, and opted for our rent collection service, where we collect the rent each month and chase any outstanding rent, saving awkward conversations between family members should a situation arise. To be safe, we

BUY TO LET OPPORTUNITY London, W2 Purchase Price: £420,000

recommended that we run the tenant through referencing just in case!

Now that the tenant is in, we only have a small part to play in this client’s property management. But our client rests easy, knowing we are on hand to help her every step of the way.

If you manage your own tenants, but could do with a helping hand here and there, please feel free to contact our office for a quick discussion about your needs and how we may be able to assist you with our pick and mix lettings menu.

Richard Bond

l Bright one bed flat in a portered building l Long lease l Similar flats have been sold for £925/sq. ft. and above, while we have l l l l l

secured this flat for £737/sq. ft. at a discount of at least 20% We manage a few flats in this building and they rent out in days Excellent yield of 4.3% per annum for a central London location Close to Connaught Village, Hyde Park and Oxford Street Close to Marble Arch and Edgware Road stations Very good long term buy and hold opportunity

Call us now for more information!

Specialists in Central London Property Sourcing

0207 993 0103

info@sowandreap.co.uk www.sowandreap.co.uk 27 Gloucester Place, London, W1U 8HU SowandReapProperties

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Turning land into cash Get in touch about our land opportunities

20 FINANCE - INDIA

AsianVoiceNews

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18 - 24 May 2019

in brief

Etihad eyes minority stake in Jet Airways The Abu Dhabi airline Etihad has re-entered the fray to pick up a stake in beleaguered Jet Airways and will compete with two “unsolicited bids” that were submitted to State Bank of India last week. “Etihad has confirmed its interest to re-invest in a minority stake in Jet Airways, subject to conditions” an Etihad spokesperson said. Etihad reiterated its earlier stand that it cannot be the sole investor and would need suitable investors to provide the majority of Jet Airways’ required recapitalisation.

If Etihad is indeed able to revive Jet with some Indian partners, then the twin UAE airlines - Emirates (along with its budget arm Flydubai) and Etihad, which operate from the mega hubs of Dubai and Abu Dhabi - will get a feed from both Jet and SpiceJet. British entrepreneur Jason Unsworth and Adi Gro aviation are also understood to have put in unsolicited bids. Adi Gro aviation is part of the Sanjay

Vishwanathan-promoted, London-based Adi Group.

SBI made provisions for its loan SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar said the lenders had already made provisions for its loans to Jet and was not worried about a default. Given the conditions placed by Etihad, lenders expect that the government will need to take a call. Since election results are expected to be annonced soon, it is expected that the decision will be left to the new government.

Other lenders have made similar provisions. Syndicate Bank MD & CEO Mrutyunjay Mahapatra said that his bank had followed SBI in making provisions for Jet. "SBI, being the leader of the (lenders') consortium, made disproportionate efforts to keep it flying. Otherwise, if it was any other account, we would not have bothered over it," said Kumar. According to Kumar, the bank’s £160 million loans to Jet was only 0.07% of its total loan portfolio of £230 billion. He said

that the bank made extra effort to save the airline because it was a 'good’ airline. Answering a query on why SBI had not supported the airline with the £140 million emergency funding announced earlier, Kumar said that the funding was subject to certain covenants which were not fulfilled.

SFIO to probe if Jet promoters siphoned off funds Meanwhile, India's Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has asked Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) to initiate a probe into Jet and its subsidiaries over suspicions that

JET’S STAFFERS MAY LAND JOBS AT TAJ

the promoters of the company siphoned off funds. Weighed down by a debt burden of £840 million, the airline had to suspend operations in mid-April after it ran out of funds to stay afloat.

The government has discovered enough evidence of money siphoning, and it warrants SFIO probe, reports said. The report of Western Regional Director was submitted earlier this week, which was examined in detail by the ministry before the probe was ordered, the report further added.

Essar opposes Arcelor bid over ties to loan defaulters The promotors of Essar Steel have opposed ArcelorMittal’s bid to purchase the troubled metals maker by bringing to the appellate tribunal’s notice that the Luxembourg-based firm’s shareholder Lakshmi Mittal had “suppressed vital facts” regarding his business association with loan-defaulting companies run by his brothers.

The petitioners cited an October 17, 2018 affidavit on behalf of Mittal that said the steel tycoon hasn’t had any business dealings with his two siblings for the last 20 years. At the same time, they also pointed out documents that revealed Mittal was a co-promoter of non-performing assets (NPAs)

Abhishek Sachdev

Shifting expectations surrounding Brexit have led to mixed sentiment in financial markets, businesses and households.

Last week the Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep interest rates at 0.75%.

The UK base rate has remained at 0.75% since

Lakshmi Mittal

along with his brothers in Gontermann Piepers, GPI Textiles and Balasore Alloys as late as September 30, 2018.

Against this background, the Essar Steel promoters sought the rejection of Arcelor’s

proposal for Essar Steel as bankruptcy rules bar promoters of defaulting companies from bidding for stressed assets. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) subsequently asked Arcelor to respond to the complaint.

The petitioners said that Mittal had sold his shares in Navoday Consultants (which in turn held a stake in the three NPAs) between October 1, 2018 and December 12, 2018 and stopped showing himself as a promoter of Navoday, thus hiding the fact. Reacting to the development, Arcelor said, “This

is the latest in a long line of frivolous attempts by the defaulting promoters of Essar Steel to distract from the central fact that Indian lenders have declared Arcelor as the most credible owner of Essar Steel.”

Arcelor has stated on numerous occasions that there is absolutely no business connection between Mittal and his brothers, the statement added. “The latest allegations of Essar Steel promoters are yet another attempt to subvert the directions of the Supreme Court and the bankruptcy code and critical government legislation.

Their assertions are irrelevant, misleading and will be rebutted in the strongest possible terms.”

Tatas may have passed the opportunity to acquire Jet Airways, but they are not missing out on the chance to acquire the grounded carrier’s talent. The conglomerate’s hospitality unit The Taj Mahal Palace has put out a post on a social media platform welcoming former Jet Airways employees to be a part of its heritage and legacy. As Taj is expanding its operations, it is looking for talent and the ex-Jet staff would benefit the chain as their skills and expertise are similar to those needed in the aviation, hospitality and tourism businesses, said a source. While Taj is the first from the hospitality industry to announce hiring of former Jet employees, several airlines, including Air India have already recruited some of the grounded carrier’s staff. SpiceJet has taken on board at least 1,000 employees and has offered Jet staff first preference in terms of employment. Even the Tatas’ airline joint venture, Vistara, has begun recruiting Jet crew as it looks to start its international operations. The $110-billion conglomerate was earlier looking to buy Jet Airways but promoter Naresh Goyal’s reluctance to exit the carrier and other issues led to the deal collapsing.

BANKRUPTCY PROCESS AGAINST RCOM BEGINS Lenders to Reliance Communications (RCom) moved NCLT to appoint a new resolution professional and form a committee of creditors, the first step to begin the bankruptcy process of the Anil Ambani group company that owes close to £5 billion to Anil Ambani 31lenders led by SBI. RCom through existing resolution professional, sought 13 months exclusion in insolvency process, citing the stays it had on the process by the appellate tribunal and the Supreme Court. The RP sought the exclusion from April 30, 2018 to May 30, 2019. RCom was in trouble for years forcing it to discontinue operations two years ago.

Its effort to stave off bankruptcy by selling spectrum to Reliance Jio got scuttled after the long legal and government delays for approvals.

Straight From The Horse’s Mouth: Interest Rate Rises

August 2018. However, is this period of certainty of an unchanging base rate is looming to an end?

With the growing uncertainty surrounding Brexit and inflation levels still below the 2% target, the market has been expecting the base rate to remain unchanged for the remainder of 2019 and only rise to 1% over the next three years.

However, as long as UK growth continues on its current path with a smooth transition to Brexit, rate rises are coming sooner than expected.

This is the message being strongly portrayed by the

Bank of England which upgraded its latest forecasts for UK growth from 1.2% to 1.5% for 2019.

The inflation report attached considerable significance to the likelihood of higher inflation levels and an economy that was growing too fast, justifying Mark Carney’s unusually blunt comments that there is a need for ‘more, and more frequent, interest rate increases than the market currently expects’.

Though not specific regarding the timing or extent of the rate hikes, his warning to investors is a strong sign that we

can expect borrowing costs to rise in the near future.

Markets are arguably far too swayed by the prevailing benign sentiment. Investors have been far too fearful in their response to the UK’s recent slump and it will not be long before they emit concerns regarding the economy ‘over-heating’. Business cycles lay the foundation of modern economics and it is important that these fundamentals are not being dismissed.

SMEs have always had specific borrowing needs that require flexibility.

With increased borrow-

ing costs comes the growing need to structure or restructure debt in the most effective and efficient way possible.

The cost of hedging your debt is at the centre of change in global markets; the five-year fixed rate is currently 1.08%, which has seen a staggering range of 54 basis points in the past year alone! Negotiating the rate for your swap or Fixed Rate Loan will be as important as ever.

Vedanta Hedging specialises in helping SMEs in this area of hedging. In fact, we are the largest FCA-Authorised hedging

advisor to SMEs in the UK. You can keep track of key market rates by subscribing to our FREE market rate sheet.

Updated every day, this simple but concise summary covers rates such as swap rates, FX Spot / Forwards and Commodities such as Oil and Gold. Visit our website for more details.

Tel: 020 7183 2277 www.vedantahedging.com

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in brief SPIRITUAL LEADER ARRESTED FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT IN AUSTRALIA Spiritual leader and yoga guru Anand Giri was arrested in Australia for alleged sexual assault of two women on two separate occasions, during prayer meetings at their houses. Anand, who is a mahant at the Bade Hanuman temple in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj, was picked up from Oxley Park suburbs. The 38-year-old yoga expert had been on a six-week tour of Australia.

According to police, Anand met a 29-yearold women at her house for prayers in 2016 and indecently assaulted her there. In November 2018, Anand assaulted a 34year-old woman during a prayer meet at her house. Both women knew Anand prior to the assaults. Charged on two counts, Anand is set to appear at the local court on 26 June and will be remanded in police custody until then. He was refused bail.

INDIAN WOMAN DIES AFTER HIP OPERATION IN DUBAI An Indian woman died at a Dubai hospital due to complications after a hip replacement surgery. Betty Rita Fernandes, originally from Mumbai, was a chef and ran a specialty grocery store in the city.

Mohayem Abdelghany, chief executive officer of the Al Zahra Hospital, in a statement said: “We have made the family transparently aware of all the developments and ongoing reviews.

This incident is currently being dealt with multi-level in-depth reviews as per the hospital, Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and Joint Commission International guidelines.” The DHA said the department will look into “every single case of alleged negligence and/or malpractice stringently”.

PAKISTAN

Sharif returns to jail after massive show of strength in Lahore LAHORE: Deposed Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif has returned to jail to serve his sentence in a corruption case after the end of his six-week bail which was granted to him on medical grounds. On 26 March, the Supreme Court suspended Sharif's seven-year sentence in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case and granted him bail for six weeks with a condition that he would not leave Pakistan.

Last month, the 69-year-old three-time prime minister sought the apex court's permission to go abroad for medical treatment. However, the permission was not granted.

Last week, Sharif left his Jati Umra residence for the Kot Lakhpat Jail with a procession of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers led by his daughter Maryam.

The supporters gathered outside

Sharif's residence and accompanied him to jail. The procession took four hours to reach the jail, which is otherwise just 30 minutes away. The bail expired on 7 May. "I do not have words to thank the workers who turned up in thousands to express solidarity. It is midnight but the workers are still here with me. It

Asia Bibi leaves Pakistan, granted asylum in Canada ISLAMABAD: Former death row inmate Asia Bibi has been allowed to leave Pakistan after she was granted asylum in Canada. Her lawyer Saif Ul Malook said that Bibi had already arrived in Canada but the Pakistani government officials have not confirmed this development. Bibi’s five children are reportedly already in Canada. Bibi’s case has brought the world’s attention on Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law. Bibi, a Christian was jailed and convicted in 2010 on the charge of blasphemy as she had been accused of insulting the Prophet

PAK TO REVIEW REOPENING OF AIRSPACE FOR INDIAN FLIGHTS Pakistan will review re-opening of its airspace for Indian flights on May 15 amid heightened Indo-Pak military tensions, a civil aviation official said, but a senior minister indicated that the status quo will remain till the elections are over in India.

Pakistan fully closed its airspace after an Indian Air Force strike on a terror camp in Balakot on February 26. On March 27, it opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

“The government will decide whether to lift or not its airspace ban for the Indian flights on May 15,” Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson Mujtaba Baig said.

However, federal science and technology minister Fawad Chaudhry said: “Status quo will remain till the elections are over in India. I don’t see any improvement in relations between Pakistan and India till the elections are over,” he said.

10 KILLED IN PAK BOMBING OUTSIDE SHRINE A suicide bomber attacked security forces guarding a famous Sufi shrine in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, killing at least 10 people and wounding 20 others. Hizbul Ahrar, an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their target was the police. Hundreds of pilgrims were inside and outside the shrine, where a local Sufi saint is buried, when the blast took place. Police said five policemen and five passers-by were among the killled.

is an amazing scene," he said in a message. A large number of party workers from different parts of Punjab province also turned up to participatein the procession.

Sharif's daughter Maryam accompanied her father in his car. Amidst sloganeering in support of Sharif, party workers were seen showering rose petals

at his car. “The people know why I am being punished. What sin I have committed... they know. But I am optimistic that soon the black night of this oppression will end and I will get released from jail,” said sharif.

Though Sharif was to reach jail before midnight, he reported half-an-hour late. The Punjab Home Department directed the jail authorities to receive Sharif and shift him to the barrack, officials said.

Sharif has been serving a seven-year prison term at the jail since 24 December, 2018 when an accountability court convicted him in one of the three corruption cases filed in the wake of the apex court's 28 July, 2017 order in Panama Papers case. Sharif and his family have denied any wrongdoing and allege that the corruption cases against them were politically motivated.

Asia Bibi

Mohammad by her neighbours. Under Pakistani law, the offence of blasphemy is punishable by death or life imprisonment.

Bibi was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to hang.

Following international outcray, her conviction was overturned by Pakistan’s Supreme Court in 2018. While announcing the verdict Pakistan's Supreme Court quoted Shakespeare's "King Lear," saying Bibi appeared to have been "more sinned against than sinning."

"Even if there was some grain of truth in the allegations leveled in this case against the appellant still the glaring contradictions in the evidence of the prosecution highlighted above clearly show that the truth in this case had been mixed with a lot which was untrue," the ruling said.

However, the ruling in favour of Asia Bibi led to violent protests across Pakistan and was one of the first tests of Imran Khan’s new government. She was kept in a safe house after her release and her acquittal was appealed against. The Supreme Court rejected the appeals and said it stood by its deci-

sion to free Asia Bibi. While rejecting the appeal, the Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa had said, "We are not hearing the case again, the lawyer was unable to point out a

single error in the judgment." He added, "We have to look at the value of the statements by witnesses, how can we hang someone on a false witness statement."

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AFRICA - SRI LANKA- BANGLADESH

Curfew imposed in Lanka as one killed in violence COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Police imposed the island wide curfew on Monday as anti-Muslim violence broke out in the northwestern province spread to other areas in the country as well. Majority Sinhalese mobs set fire to Muslim-owned shops and vehicles. Homes and mosques were also vandalised by large groups of people armed with sticks and weapons. The Sri Lankan government also reimposed a ban on social media following the violent clashes.

One person was killed in the violence.

The recent violence is a fresh backlash from the Easter attacks where nine suicide bombers, including a woman, carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and three luxury hotels, killing 258 people and injuring over 500 others.

Meanwhile, President Maithripala Sirisena has issued a gazette notice banning three Islamic extremist organisations, including National Thowheeth

Security men guarding streets in Lanka

Jama’ath (NTJ) that was blamed for the Easter bombings.

The other two banned organisations are the Jama’athe Milla’athe Ibrahim(JMI) and the Willayath As Seylani. In an address to the nation, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the military has been asked to quell the anti-Muslim riot and urged public to cooperate with security forces to bring the situation under control.

In the wake of violence being reported in some areas,

Army Chief Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake warned anyone instigating violence and destroying property and said that the armed forces would not hesitate to use maximum force to stem any violence. An officer at the Marawila hospital said a 42-year old man admitted to the hospital with stab wounds had died.

"There are hundreds of rioters, police and army are just watching. They have burnt our mosques and smashed many

shops owned by Muslims," a resident of Kottampitiya area said. "When we try to come out of our house, police tell us to stay inside." Authorities also imposed a temporary ban on social media networks and messaging apps, including WhatsApp, after a clash in another part of the country was traced to a dispute on Facebook.

A police source said police had fired tear gas to disperse mobs in some places in North Western Province.

Mosque ransaked Glass was strewn across the Abrar mosque in the town of Kiniyama that was attacked overnight. All the windows and doors of the building were smashed and copies of the Koran were thrown onto the floor.

People threw stones at mosques and Muslim-owned stores and a man was beaten in the Christian-majority town of Chilaw on the west coast on Sunday in the dispute that started on Facebook, police sources and residents said.

South Africa's ANC wins election with reduced majority CAPE TOWN (SOUTH AFRICA): The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has won South Africa's parliamentary elections with 57.5 per cent of the vote, the electoral commission said, announcing the official results.

The win assured a sixth straight term in power for the ANC. But the result was the worst-ever electoral showing for the party, which has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid 25 years ago.

Support for the ANC has steadily declined since it took a record 69 per cent of the vote in 2004. This year's electoral performance comes amid growing voter frustration over rampant corruption and high unemployment rates.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced scandal-plagued

Cyril Ramaphosa

Jacob Zuma last year, now faces the challenge of regaining public confidence in a party that remains beset with internal divisions and which oversaw a raft of economic crises in the country. The result, which gives the ANC 230 seats in the 400member parliament, down from 249 in 2014, will renew pressure on Ramaphosa to decisively deal with cabinet ministers accused of corruption.

In a victory speech in the northern city of Pretoria,

Ramaphosa said the election confirmed "freedom and democracy reign" in South Africa. "Our people have given all of the leaders of our country a firm mandate to build a better South Africa for all." Earlier in the day, Jessie Duarte, ANC deputy secretary-general, struck a more sombre tone, saying the party would move swiftly to counter corruption and increase economic growth.

"We need to correct our mistakes," she said, adding that the election showed voters want an "ANC that is united, and in its unity remains true to the values and principles on which it was founded."

The DA won 20.77 per cent of the vote, a two-per cent dip from 2014. However, it maintained its grip on the Western Cape province, which

includes the city of Cape Town.

Mmusi Maimane, the DA leader, said he was confident the party will continue to grow and do well in future votes. "Give us until 2021 and 2024. We can demonstrate that we can hold all South Africans together," he said. The results also showed significant gains for the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which, with almost 11 per cent of the vote, polled about five percentage points higher than in its first election in 2014.

The EFF is now the official opposition in three out of South Africa's nine provinces.

On the other side of the political spectrum, there were notable advances for the rightwing Freedom Front Plus, which took 10 seats in the parliament, up from four in the previous election.

in brief PAKISTAN REACHES ACCORD WITH IMF ON $6 BN BAILOUT Pakistan has reached an accord with the International Monetary Fund over a threeyear, $6 billion bailout package aimed at shoring up fragile public finances and strengthening the slowing economy, officials said. Pakistan's Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh said he hoped the accord, which was still be approved by the IMF board, would be the last for Pakistan, which has had repeated bailouts for the past three decades. "Pakistan is facing a challenging economic environment, with lacklustre growth, elevated inflation, high indebtedness, and a weak external position," the IMF said in a statement. Prime Minister Imran Khan's government came to power last year reluctant to seek what is now expected to be its 13th IMF bailout since 1980s. Inheriting an economy with yawning budget and current account deficits, his government initially sought billions of dollars in funding from friendly countries including China, Saudi Arabia and the United Aran Emirates. The package will include "an ambitious structural reform agenda" to boost growth, which the IMF sees slowing to 2.9 per cent this year from 5.2 per cent last year. It also envisages tax reforms to improve public finances and cut public debt as well as a "comprehensive plan for cost-recovery" in the creaking energy sectors, where mounting debt backlogs have acted as a growing drain on government resources.

MILITANTS ATTACK PAK HOTEL POPULAR WITH CHINESE; FOUR SHOT DEAD Three militants belonging to the Baloch Liberation Army attacked a luxury hotel in the Pakistani port city of Gwadar, triggering a three-hour-long shootout in which one hotel guard and all the attackers were killed.

The fighters stormed the Pearl Continental (PC) hotel and the security men challenged the attackers. “Three gunmen attempted to enter the hotel, killing a security guard as they stormed the building,” said a statement released by the Inter Services Public Relations. “The attackers were surrounded by security forces in a staircase leading to the top floor.” Mir Zia Langove, the provincial home minister, said some people in the hotel were injured in the firing. It was unclear how many people were in the building but the military said all guests were safely evacuated. A spokesman for the Baloch Liberation Army said the attack was carried out on Chinese and other foreign investors.

PLANE SKIDS OFF WET RUNWAY; PILOT, THREE OTHERS HURT

US woman marries Sri Lankan to make her work without pay NEW JERSEY: A New Jersey woman was convicted on charges of forcing a Sri Lankan woman to work without pay for nine years, causing her to overstay her visa and marrying her in an attempt to keep her in the country. A jury found the defendant, Alia Imad Faleh Al Hunaity, 43, guilty on charges of forced labour, alien harbouring for financial gain and marriage fraud. The jury had deliberated for two hours after a six-day trial before Judge Robert B Kugler of

the United States district court in Camden.

Prosecutors did not name the victim, who they said took care of the woman’s children and cleaned her house, and was largely hidden from the outside world.

They said she came to the United States on a temporary visa in 2009. “The defendant in this case treated the victim as a slave,” US attorney Craig Carpenito said. “Al-Hunaity kept the victim in this country

illegally and hid her away, in order to force her to perform household work for Al-Hunaity without pay, privacy, or the ability to move about freely.”

Robert Kovic, a lawyer for Al-Hunaity, said that he and his client contested the claims made by the prosecution. “The evidence presented was nowhere near proving the government’s claims,” he said in an email, adding that the prosecutors’ claims were rejected “not only by Ms.

Hunaity, but also by the alleged victim herself.”

In court documents, federal prosecutors said that AlHunaity, a naturalised US citizen from Jordan, was divorced from the father of her children. They said the victim had previously worked for AlHunaity’s parents in Jordan.

“Hunaity forced the victim to cook and clean, and to care for her three children, all without pay,” the justice department said.

A plane operated by Biman Bangladesh Airlines skidded off the runway while landing at Myanmar's Yangon International Airport, injuring at least four people, including a pilot, an airline official said. Biman spokesman said the accident occurred when the aircraft was landing in bad weather after a flight from Bangladesh's capital Dhaka. There were 33 people on board, including two pilots and two flight attendants, he said, adding that the condition of the four injured was not lifethreatening.

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in brief EGG THROWN AT AUSTRALIAN PM A 24-year-old woman struck Australian PM Scott Morrison with an egg as he

campaigned for May 18 general election.

Police said she has been charged with assault. They didn’t give details about her motive. The woman told reporters that her action ‘speaks for itself’ and she referred to Manus Island, in Papua New Guinea, where Australia has long detained refugees, according to a reporter with the Australian newspaper. After being grazed with the egg, Morrison rubbed his head briefly. The egg did not break.

ONE KILLED AS TWO STUDENTS OPEN FIRE AT US SCHOOL Two male students armed with handguns burst into a Denver-area school and opened fire, killing one classmate and wounding eight others before being taken into custody. Two surviving victims of the attack at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math School in Highlands Ranch, a Denver suburb, remained in serious condition. Others were stable or had been discharged from hospital. County sheriff Tony Spurlock said the suspects, each armed with a handgun, opened fire in two separate classrooms. Devon Erickson, 18, was named as one of the suspects, while the other was identified only as a juvenile. “We’re still working toward the motive,” he said.

MAN FACES UP TO 140 YEARS IN JAIL FOR THREATENING TRUMP, OTHERS A Connecticut man has been indicted after prosecutors say he threatened to kill US President Donald Trump and sent others bomb threats and mail containing suspicious white powder. Gary Gravelle, 51, was indicted on 16 counts, including that he threatened the president in September 2018 by sending an envelope containing white powder and the handwritten message "You Die." He sent similar envelopes to a synagogue, a mosque and a chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), according to the indictment. The note claimed the power was a biotoxin but it was found to be harmless. Gravelle also sent emails and made phone calls threatening to detonate bombs in Vermont, Washington and at various locations in Connecticut. If convicted, he could face a maximum prison sentence of 140 years.

PRISONERS ESCAPE AFTER RIOTS BREAK OUT IN INDONESIAN PRISON Hundreds of prisoners escaped from an Indonesian jail on Sumatra island after rioting and fire broke out at the detention centre. The incident occurred after the police raided the Siak Sri Indrapura prison and found a prisoner in possession of crystal methamphetamine. Following this, the authorities searched the entire penitentiary. Rioting broke out after a prison guard reportedly hit one of the inmates who was caught using the drug.

The angered prisoners set the guard's office on fire. A manhunt was launched and around 110 prisoners have been recaptured, while an unknown number of others remain at large.

France seeks UN Security Council seat for India UNITED NATIONS: The French envoy to the United Nations said that India and nations like Germany, Brazil and Japan are “absolutely needed” as permanent members of a reformed and enlarged UN Security Council. India is at the forefront of efforts at the UN to push for the long-pending reform of the Security Council, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member.

“In terms of policy, France and Germany have strong policy which is to work together to enlarge the Security Council and to succeed in terms of the negotiations that should lead to the enlargement of the Security Council that we consider absolutely needed to better reflect the world as it is. There is no question about it,” France’s permanent representative to the UN François Delattre told reporters last week.

Speaking along side German envoy to the UN Christoph Heusgen at the end of Germany’s Presidency of the Council for April, Delattre emphasised that France considers that “Germany, Japan, India, Brazil and a fair representation of Africa in

particular are absolutely needed at the table to get towards a fairer representation of the Security Council. This is for us a matter of priority.”

He underlined that Paris believes the enlargement of the Security Council with the addition of a few key members is “one of our strategic priorities.”

Noting that when France and Germany launched their alliance for multi-materialism, he said it signifies that the two nations strongly believe in the UN as the core of today’s global governance and that they strongly believe in “multilateralism and means that we are actively working to reform and in some respects to refound, reinvent multi-lateralism so that it is really efficient for the decades to come.”

India’s permanent representative to the UN ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, speaking at the informal meeting of the Plenary on the Intergovernmental negotiations on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council earlier this year, had said that on the issue of ‘Categories of Membership’, a total of 113 Member States, out of

122 who submitted their positions in the Framework Document, support expansion in both of the existing categories specified in the Charter. In short, more than 90% of the written submissions in the document are in favour of expansion in both categories of membership specified in the Charter.”

Akbaruddin had said that while reform at the United Nations is a process rather than an event, “there is no process known to us here that has traversed winding pathways in the manner as this process of the Reform of the Security Council.”

“In terms of inertia too, it has no peer. While the world is not what it was when we began the process, the objections to moving forward remain the

same.

While the global challenges of the 21st century have multiplied, we remain divided even about the process to adopt in order to move forward,” he had said.

France has maintained that if the crises of recent times have confirmed the centrality of the UN, they have also reinforced the need to make the organisation more effective and more representative of the current balances in the world.

“That is why France pushes for the expansion of the Security Council by supporting the accession to a permanent seat of Germany, Brazil, India, Japan, as well as a greater presence of African countries,” according to the Permanent Mission of France.

Air India flight delayed: 300 stuck for 33 hours in Vienna VIENNA: About 300 passengers of the Mumbai-London Air India flight AI 131, which departed from Mumbai on Tuesday 7th May, were stranded at Vienna for nearly 33 hours after the flight was diverted owing to technical reasons.

According to AI spokesperson, who wishes to stay annonymous, the captain had to make an emergency landing due to a “suspected oil leakage” for the safety of the passengers. The engineers tried to fix the issue for hours but failed and realised that they had to source a spare part from Delhi.

“We don't have an engineering base in Vienna and we requested the Austrian Airways to lend us their spare part but they couldn't loan it to us in case they needed one,” said the spokesperson. Therefore,

the passengers were shifted to a nearby transit hotel. However, passengers said they didn’t have access to their luggage and complained about not being provided with enough information and words of assurance with regard to the delay.

“We were on the flight for over four hours while they were trying to fix the problem but during that time, none of the air

hostesses came to ask us if we needed anything.

More importantly after being informed of the delay, it was the local airport staff that helped some of us in procuring our luggage while most couldn't access it,” said Kanta Manuramji.

Furthermore, passengers complained about being stuck at the airport for the whole day and being made to wait at the airport

for several hours before being allotted hotels. According to Manuramji, those who were able to access their luggage had to get their currencies exchanged in order to use the airport trolleys and were given no information about the delay and the time for which they would have to wait.

However, the AI official has refuted such claims calling them “false” and stating that “enough information was provided to all passengers.”

“Vienna airport does not have enough space in the transit area to accommodate so many passengers. We managed to get special permission from the Immigration authorities and the border police to escort and accommodate all these passengers in the nearby transit hotel where they rested till the next day,” he concluded.

China indicts former Interpol chief on bribery charges BEIJING: Former Interpol president Meng Hongwei was indicted by Chinese prosecutors on the charge of accepting bribes. Meng case was intriguing as he first went missing while on a journey to Beijing. The announcement from the prosecutor's office in Tianjin said Meng had abused his positions, including as a vice minister of public security and head of the maritime police to "illegally accept cash and property in return for performing favors for others."

"The amounts were especially huge," the statement

said. Earlier, the ruling Communist Party's disciplinary committee said an investigation found that Meng abused his power in order to satisfy his family's "extravagant lifestyle."

Meng was formally arrested last month after being expelled from public office and the party.

While serving at Interpol, Meng retained his title as a vice minister of public security.

Elected president of the international police organization in 2016, Meng had his four-year term cut short when he disappeared into custody after traveling to China

Former Interpol President Meng Hongwei

from the body's headquarters in France at the end of September.

Interpol was not informed and was forced to make a formal request to China for information about Meng's whereabouts.

There are suspicions he had fallen out of political favour with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has carried out a wide-ranging crackdown on corruption and perceived disloyalty that observers say is calculated to strengthen party control while bringing down potential challengers to his authority.

Meng's wife has accused Chinese authorities of lying and questioned whether her husband was still alive. Grace Meng has remained in France with their two boys since her husband's detention.

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SOUTH INDIA

SC rejects plea gainst release of Rajiv Gandhi murder case convicts NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition filed by the collateral victims of the bomb blast that killed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbudur in 1991. With the dismissal of this petition, the decision of Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit stands between the seven convicts found guilty of the assassination and their freedom.

On September 9 last, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet recommended the release of the convicts. The issue of their release is currently pending before the Governor and he had refrained from taking a call because of the pendency of the victims' petition in the apex court. The convicts have served 28 years in jail. Their death penalty was commuted by the apex court to life sentence. The blast claimed 16 lives and left many with grievous injuries. The government had called it a "gruesome, inhuman, uncivilised and merciless bomb blast". In December, 2015, the five-judge Constitution Bench

Nalini Sriharan

Rajiv Gandhi

while upholding the Centre's prerogative to decide on the remission of life convicts in centrally probed cases, left it to a three-judge Bench to decide whether the convicts deserved to be set free. Following this verdict, the Tamil Nadu government wrote to the Centre on March 2, 2016 proposing to grant remission to the convicts.

The State government wanted the Centre to concur. In April 2018, after a gap of almost two years, the Centre refused to concur with Tamil Nadu. It went on to call the assassination “an unparalleled act in the

Perarivalan

Murugan

Santhan

annals of crimes committed in this country”.

But the Centre's stand did not deter the apex court from closing the case in September 2018 and leaving the prisoners' fate in the hands of the Tamil Nadu Governor. Arguing before Chief Justice Gogoi, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan submitted that since the three-judge Bench had closed the case, nothing remained in the Supreme Court.

The spotlight was on the Governor. The court finally agreed with the lawyer and dismissed the petition.

The petition was filed by S. Abbas, John Joseph, America V. Narayanan, Mrs. R. Mala, M. Samuvel Diraviyam and K. Ramasugandam against then Jayalalithaa government’s proposal to grant the convicts remission in a letter dated February19, 2014. “In the present case, the State government had overlooked the above proposition for narrow political gain and in one stroke ordered release of Rajiv assassins. The attitude of the State government is against the constitutional value and national spirit and for narrow political consideration,” the victims contended in 2014.

They said the State should consider the effect of the release of the convicts on the families of the victims, society and the precedent it would set.

Convict moves Madras HC Meanwhile, Nalini Sriharan, one of the seven convicts, has filed a petition in the Madras High Court against Tamil Nadu Governor for delaying countersigning the proposal of the Tamil Nadu cabinet for the release of the convicts.

PUNJAB

Polling agent arrested over video of 'booth capture' in Haryana FARIDABAD: A polling agent in Faridabad near Delhi was arrested after he allegedly influenced voters in the sixth round of the national election.

The action was taken against the official after a video on Twitter was brought to the notice of the Haryana election body. The video shows a man in blue t-shirt siting at his table inside a polling booth at Asaoti in Faridabad Lok Sabha seat's Prithla. Women voters can be seen standing in a queue inside the room. The man walks up to the voting compartment as a woman prepares to cast her vote, appears to press a button on the voting machine before returning to his seat. He repeats the act

with two other women.

In the video, no other official present in the room tried to stop the man from going to the voting compartment. Many people tagged the Haryana election body's Twitter handle and sought action against the official.

Though the election body admitted that the man was trying to influence voters, it said the polling process was not affected.

As questions are being raised as to how the the poll body is claiming that the voting process was not vitiated citing that the agent influenced only three voters, Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa said, "The scrutiny of this polling station will be

comprehensive."

The Election Commission of India said it sent the Faridabad election observer to the booth for a probe. Based on the election body's complaint, the man was arrested by the police and has been charged for alleged booth capturing.

The election commission said

it will study the report of the Faridabad election observer before deciding further action. In Faridabad, Union Minister Krishan Pal Gurjar of the BJP is seeking re-election. Avtar Singh Bhadana is the Congress candidate and Pandit Naveen Jaihind is the Aam Aadmi Party candidate.

in brief SC REFUSES TO STAY HC ORDER ON KIRAN BEDI'S POWERS The Supreme Court declined to stay a Madras High Court order restricting Puducherry Lieutanant Governor Kiran Bedi's authority to act independently of the elected government in the Union Territory, which is led by Congress lawmaker V Narayanasamy.

The top court said a stay might be considered in the next hearing but did not set a future date. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing Kiran Bedi and the Centre, sought a stay of the high court order and told the bench that there was havoc in the administration after the high court order.

Acting on Congress legislator K Lakshminarayanan's petition, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had ruled in April that in matters of finance, administration and service matters, Kiran Bedi could only act on the advice of the council of ministers.

SIDHU IN FRESH TROUBLE FOR HIS REMARKS AGAINST PM MODI The Election Commission has issued a fresh show-cause notice to Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu for allegedly making disparaging remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was given a day to reply to the notice. The poll panel had received a complaint from the BJP that Sidhu, during a rally in Madhya Pradesh on April 29, had made disparaging comments about Modi. He had reportedly accused the Prime Minister of “making money in the Rafale jet deal” and also “allowing” the rich to escape the country after “robbing” nationalised banks. The poll panel had in April censured Sidhu for allegedly warning the Muslim community against division of their votes in Bihar.

EDITORS GUILD CONDEMNS ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS The Editors Guild has condemned incidents of physical attack on journalists in West Bengal during the fifth phase of polling and urged the Election Commission to take action against those who indulged in such acts.

Physical attacks against journalists are always reprehensible, but particularly so during elections as they undermine fair media scrutiny of an election, the Guild said in a statement. The Guild said it condemns several incidents of physical attack on journalists in West Bengal. Journalists belonging to different media organisations including NewsX, ABP Ananda and Zee News were attacked, allegedly by workers of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the statement said. The Guild urges the EC to initiate necessary action against those who indulged in physical violence against journalists and asks the TMC-led West Bengal government to ensure law and order in the state so that journalists are not attacked by political parties and they can perform their professional duties safely, it said.

WEST BENGAL

Attackers of security forces should be shot on the chest: Bengal BJP chief KOLKATA: West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party President Dilip Ghosh said that the central forces had "every right" to open fire in adverse situations, adding that the miscreants attacking the security personnel should be "shot on the chest".

Violence marred the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections in the eight parliamentary constituencies in the state on Sunday in which at least 26 people were injured and 16 vehicles were damaged.

The central forces opened fire in five places, injuring three persons, including one in Ghatal Lok Sabha constituency's Keshpur area, where BJP candidate Bharati Ghosh's convoy came under attack, causing head injury to one of her security personnel. "There have been constant attacks on Bharati Ghosh and her body

Dilip Ghosh

guards. Stones were pelted on her car.

Even one of her security personnel was

injured. So if their (central forces) lives or people's lives are under threat, they should fire. I think the miscreants should have been shot on the chest, not on feet," Ghosh said. "The central force personnel carry guns for security reasons and they are entitled to use them in adverse situations.

Those are real guns, not toys," Ghosh added.

Bankura district magistrate removed The Election Commission ordered the removal of Bankura district magistrate Uma Shankar, following clashes between Trinamool Congress and BJP workers in Bankura constituency.

IAS official Mukta Arya has been appointed in place of Uma Shankar.

Complaints were filed against Uma Shankar in connection with the election-

related clashes earlier in the day.

According to reports, a BJP worker was injured in the violence that erupted outside a polling booth. "The Trinamool has done this, who else? Violence, bloodshed and destroying democracy - this is the Trinamool Congress' job.

Looking at how badly he is hurt, the chances of our worker's survival is low," Subhash Sarkar, the BJP candidate from Bankura, said. Subhash Sarkar is contesting against the Trinamool Congress' Subrata Mukherjee in Bankura.

Union Minister Babul Supriyo's convoy was also attacked allegedly by Trinamool Congress workers in Basirhat earlier. The incident occurred while he was returning from a rally held in support of North 24 Parganas BJP candidate Sayantan Basu.

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HERITAGE HISTORY

25

18 - 24 May 2019

Indian Democracy and Ancient Republics

• Even Monarchies were either elected or limited but never absolute • Bhakti or hero-worship sure road to dictatorship, says Dr.Ambedkar ne should not be surprised that the democratic system of administration was not new to India. Ever since ancient times, India had it and she lost it. Indian school children are being taught about “Kingdoms, Kings and Early Republic” through National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) since last several decades.

Hence, one should not be under the impression that the concepts of democracy and Republics are innovative contribution of the west. After India got freedom from the British on 15 August 1947, the Indian Constituent Assembly finalized the draft of the Indian Constitution which was implemented with effect from 26 January 1950 and India became Democratic Republic.

“It is not that India did not know what is Democracy,” Dr.B.R.Ambedkar, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee told the Constituent Assembly while presenting the final draft of the Constitution, “There was a time when India was studded with republics, and even where there were monarchies, they were either elected or limited. They were never absolute. It is not that India did not know Parliaments or Parliamentary procedures. A study of the Buddhist Bhikshu Sanghas discloses that not only there were Parliaments- for Anciant Indian Mahajanapadas the Sanghas were nothing Ashaka (Potana-Between (Champa-Modern districts but Parliaments- but the the rivers Narmada and of Monger and Bhagalpur Sanghas knew and observed Godavari)), Kamboja in Bihar), Magadha (Earlier all the rules of (Rajapura in Kashmir- Area Rajgriha later PatliputraParliamentary Procedure of Hindukush-Modern Modern districts of Patna, known to modern times.”

Hazara of Pakistan) and Gaya and parts of (Constituent Assembly Gandhara (Taxila- Western Shahabad), Malla (Kusinara Debates Book:5 P:978) Pakistan and Eastern and Pawa- Modern districts Choosing leaders or Afghanistan). of Deoria, Basti, Gorakhpur rulers by voting is The first Law Minister and Siddharthnagar in something that has become of India Dr. Ambedkar, who eastern UP), Vajji (Vaishalicommon during last seven was considered “Modern north of the river Ganga in decades in India. But in the Manu”, expressed worry Bihar), Kosala (Sravastipast some of the Rajas, about India getting Modern districts of kings, were also chosen by democracy replaced by Faizabad-Ayodhya, Gonda, the Janas, the people. The dictatorship again since Bahraich of eastern UP), system was prevalent in the “Bhakti or what may be Kashi (Varanasi- around Janapadas and called the path of devotion Modern Banaras), Chedi Mahajanapadas some 2,500 or hero-worship is a sure (Shuktimati- Present day years back. road to degradation and Bundelkhand region), Kuru Dr. Ambedkar added: eventual dictatorship”. To (IndraprasthaModern “They had rules regarding maintain democracy, he Next Column: seating arrangements, rules was all for constitutional An atheist Barrister regarding Motions, methods and advised to Resolutions, Quorum, Savarkar and Science abandon the method of Whip, Counting of Votes, civil disobedience, nonVoting by Ballot, Censure cooperation and Haryana and Delhi), Vatsa Motion, Regularization, Re satyagraha. Dr.Ambedkar (KausambiModern Judicata, etc. Although told the Constituent districts of Allahabad and these rules of Assembly: “There is Mirzapur), Panchala Parliamentary Procedure nothing wrong in being (Ahichhatra, Kampilyawere applied by the Buddha grateful to great men who Present western UP up to to the meetings of the have rendered life-long the east of river Yamuna up Sanghas, he must have services to the country. But to Kosala janapada), Matsya borrowed them from the there are limits to (ViratanagarAlwar, rules of the Political gratefulness.”

Bharatpur and Jaipur in Assemblies functioning in Rajasthan), Sursena the country in this time.”

Dr. Hari Desai (MathuraAround The 16 ancient Indian Mathura), Avanti (Ujjaini (The writer is a Mahajanapadas and their and Mahishmati- Western Socio-political Historian.

Capitals-areas are: Anga India-Modern Malawa), E-mail: haridesai@gmail.com)

O

Fani death toll touches 64 in Odisha The Odisha government confirmed 21 more deaths due to Cyclone Fani, which struck the state on May 3. With this, the death toll rose from earlier reported 43 to 64. The special relief commissioner’s situation report confirmed that 39 people died in Puri district alone.

This is 18 more than what the government had declared earlier. Three more deaths were confirmed in Khurda

district, bringing up the district toll to nine.

Out of the 64 people dead, 25 died due to wall collapse, 20 were crushed by uprooted trees, electric poles and hoardings, and six died after being buried under collapsed roofs. The cause of 13 other deaths is yet to be ascertained.

This makes Fani the deadliest cyclone to hit the state after the 1999 Super Cyclone, which killed more than 10,000.

Mumbai dabbawalas to gift silver jewellery to royal baby Mumbai’s famous dabbawalas have decided to gift silware to Master Archie MountbattenWindsor, the firstborn of the Duke and the Duchess of Sussex Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The dabbawalas share a very special bond with the British Royal family.

This is not the first time the association decided to extend their affection towards the royals. Even when the young couple got married, they sent special wedding gifts.

Subhash Talekar, the spokesperson of Mumbai Meghan Markle and Prince Harry with Baby Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor Dabbawalas Association, necklace (mangalsutra) and that the thought behind the said they will gift Archie a seven green bangles, which gesture was far more typical Maharashtrian gift hold great symbolic important than the hamper comprising silver relevance among monetary value of the gifts. waist-band (kamarpatta), a Maharashtrians.

The Interestingly, last year, pair of wristbands (toda) and gratitude and reverence for when the Duke and Duchess a pair of anklets (wala). The the British Royals among of Sussex got married, the rationale behind the choice the dabbawalas started with dabbawalas had distributed of gifts is grandparents gift two office-bearers of the sweets to all patients and these to their grandson at association being sent an their kin at the Wadia birth, as per Maharashtrian all-expense paid invitation Hospital and Tata Memorial tradition. to the wedding of Prince Cancer Hospital. They also Although, as Talekar Charles to Camilla Parker shipped traditional says, the association of Bowles in 2005. The British Maharashtrian wedding dabbawalas would have Royal visited Mumbai back attire all the way to England, loved to present the in 2003 when he was highly which included a set of auspicious gifts in gold, impressed with the kurta and pyjama for the their fiscal constraint efficiency of the service groom and a Nauvari saree allowed for silver jewellery provided by the city’s tiffinfor the bride, along with a only. However, they believe carriers. headgear (pheta), sacred

26 INDIA

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18 - 24 May 2019

Amidst firing in West Bengal, 63.8% turnout in sixth phase Polling for the 6th and penultimate phase of the Lok Sabha election on Sunday last saw 63.8% turnout in 59 parliamentary constituencies amid fresh incidents of violence in West Bengal, which also polled the highest. There were reports of unruly mobs in Bengal being fired on, with one such mob targeting BJP candidate from Ghatal Bharati Ghosh, and poll boycotts at a few polling stations in Jhargram and Purulia. There was a blast at Chaibasa in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum parliamentary constituency, apart from community clashes at Jamshedpur, though the Election Commission claimed they did not affect polling.

The polling across six states and a Union territory was slightly higher than the 63.7% in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. According to the figures, the turnouts were moderate to high across the six states and UT, which included Delhi. West Bengal was top of the table with 80.5% turnout (down from 84.98% in 2014), followed by Haryana with 69.5%, Madhya Pradesh with 64.9%, Jharkhand with 64.5%, Delhi with 60.5%,

President Ramnath Kovind standing in line to vote in Delhi

Bihar with 59.3% and UP with 54.7%. Elections were held in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 10 seats in Haryana, eight constituencies each in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, seven seats in Delhi and four in Jharkhand.

With Sunday’s phase, polling for 483 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats has been completed. State wise, polling is over in 28 states and Union Territories. The seventh and last phase of polling on May 19 will cover 59 seats across eight states/UTs - Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Chandigarh.

This will be followed by counting on May 23, for which the EC has made

special arrangements, including technical innovations to enable seamless and real-time dissemination of results.

According to the EC’s final figures, till the fifth phase of polling, turnout was 67.4%, higher than the corresponding figure of 66.07% in 2014. For Delhi, where all seven Lok Sabha seats went to polls on Sunday, the voter turnout was less than that recorded in the past three polls 67.15% in the 2015 assembly polls, 65.1% in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and 65.60% in the 2013 assembly polls.

However, it was much higher than the 51.84% turnout recorded in 2009.

In Tamluk in West Bengal, the CRPF was forced to fire in the air to disperse

an unruly mob, after which polling resumed and went off peacefully. In Haldia assembly segment, EVMs were damaged at a polling station before the start of polling. In Ghatal, BJP’s Bharati Ghosh faced resistance from female voters.

Thereafter, in another area of the same constituency, there was stone-pelting by villagers on her car. Security personnel on the spot did a lathicharge and subsequent firing saw one Bakhtiyar Khan receive a bullet injury.

In Bihar’s Sheohar constituency, accidental firing by a home guard killed a poll officer prior to the start of mock poll.

Meanwhile, the EC has directed that Mukta Arya be posted as Bankura district magistrate with immediate effect.

The EC said the EVM/ VVPAT replacement rate on Sunday was one of the lowest, with 0.35% ballot units, 0.38% control units and 1.52% of VVPATs replaced.

Till the sixth phase of polling, seizures by the EC totalled £341.5 million, which included £82.7 million cash, liquor worth £28.5 million, drugs worth

Bachan Singh (111), the oldest voter in Delhi, leaves the polling booth after casting his vote

£1,26.1 million, precious metals worth £98.4 million and freebies worth £5.7 million.

Also, between March 10 and now, on the EC’s request, Facebook has taken down 637 posts, Twitter 145, YouTube 5, WhatsApp three and ShareChat 31 posts that were in violation of the model code or Representation of the People Act. Delhi's transgender voters excited Excited about voting under their chosen gender identity for the first time in general elections, the transgender voters in the national capital flaunted their inked fingers and expressed hope for a government which ensures them a better future. This is

the first time that transgenders are voting under the category after Supreme Court had declared them as the “third gender” in 2014. Earlier they had to vote as male or female.

For 32-year-old Janasheen, it was an incredible experience. “I have voted before but this is the first time I am voting as a transgender, an identity which I am proud of now. I have also posted a selfie on my WhatsApp status with my inked finger.”

Sapna Bai, a transgender who voted in Matia Mahal said, “I am very happy that I can cast my vote as what I really am. I want a new government which thinks about us and also consider us equally on their agenda.”

PM Modi slams Sam Pitroda for ’84 anti-Sikh riots remark

Rajiv Gandhi used INS Viraat as taxi for family vacation: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked the 1984 anti-Sikh riots against the backdrop of Congress leader Sam Pitroda’s 'hua to hua' (whatever happened has happened) remark.

“The three words from the Congress leader over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots reflects the character, mindset and arrogance of the party,” Modi said. He was addressing the BJP’s ‘Vijay Sankalp’ rally in Rohtak, where he described the Congress as a party insensitive to the Sikhs. Modi said: “This leader (Sam Pitroda) is close to the Gandhi family... he is their confidant... he is the ‘Guru’ of the naamdaar president of the party. Several Sikh families were killed during the 1984 riots. In Delhi alone, over 2,800 Sikhs were killed - but for Congress leaders it’s only 'hua to hua.' The loss of human life doesn’t bother them.”

He said people would teach a lesson to the Congress, which due to its actions and “insensitive approach” had already been reduced to 44 seats in the Lok Sabha. “The Congress ruled the nation for 70 years, and the tenure was filled with arrogance. Poor became poorer, corruption went on increasing, black money ruined the economy of the nation and the Congress remained a mute spectator,” he claimed. Modi said that when the Samjhauta Express blast took place near Panipat, the Congress targeted and harassed innocent people in the name of ‘Hindu terrorism’, but later its conspiracy was exposed.

At a rally in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, he alleged that the Congress was not only shielding but also patronising those involved in the antiSikh riots. “We set up an SIT to investigate the 1984 riots cases and the result is that today the guilty are behind bars in one case,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the late Rajiv Gandhi of using India’s premier warship, INS Virat, as his “personal taxi” to go for a vacation to a special island with his family friends when he was Prime Minister of the country. Modi was addressing an election rally at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi. Modi alleged that the naval vessel had been deployed to secure the maritime boundary when it was recalled and made to serve the Gandhi family for 10 days. He added that an Indian Air Force helicopter and other government paraphernalia were also put at the service of the Gandhi family during that period.

The allegation came on the heels of Modi’s charge that Rajiv Gandhi had died as “corrupt number one”.

Modi made the charge after he claimed he was often “abused” and told that the defence forces were not his “personal property”. The PM said those who ask for votes in the name of their ancestors get rattled when someone talks about their deeds. “Have you ever heard of anyone going on a family vacation on a naval warship?

This has happened in our

Sam Pitroda

Action will be taken against guilty: Rahul Congress president Rahul Gandhi not only slammed Pitroda’s remark but also asserted that action should, and will, be taken against the guilty of November 1984 (massacre of Sikhs). Rahul made these remarks before embarking on an election campaign in Punjab. “I have come to Punjab. A few days back Sam Pitroda spoke about 1984. I called him up and said, ‘Pitrodaji, you said something very wrong and you should apologise.’ What happened in 1984 was absolutely wrong and the pain in peoples’ mind should be respected. Whosoever did the wrong in 1984, action should be and will be taken against them,” he said just before he concluded his speech in Hoshiarpur. Again, in Khanna, Rahul repeated: “Sam Pitroda ne jo 1984 ke bare bola hai bilkul galat bola hai.

Desh se maafi mangni chahiye, yehi maine unko phone karke bola aur kaha apko sharm aani chahiye, aur public apology doh. (The remarks made by Sam Pitroda regarding 1984 are absolutely incorrect, he should seek an apology from the nation. That is what I have told him on the phone and also said ‘you should be ashamed of yourself and apologize publicly’.”

Rajiv Gandhi at INS Viraat

own country.

The ‘naamdaar’ Congress family used INS Virat as its personal taxi and insulted it,” Modi alleged.

Modi said, “Not only was the Gandhi family picked up

by INS Virat and taken to a special island, but the warship also stayed with them for 10 days. Rajiv Gandhi was accompanied by his in-laws who had come from Italy. The question is whether the security of the country was not compromised by taking foreigners on board a warship.” The warship was decommissioned in 2017.

According to a report, the island was Bangaram in the Lakshwadeep archipelago.

Among those who joined the then PM and his family on this trip in December 1987 were Sonia Gandhi’s sister,

brother-in-law and their children, her mother, four friends of Rahul and Priyanka, and actor Amitabh Bachchan, his wife, Jaya, and their children. The daughter of Amitabh’s brother, Ajitabh, was also with them.

Ex-Navy chief denies allegations Meanwhile, former Navy chief Admiral (retd) L Ramdas as well as a former commanding officer of the aircraft carrier refuted the allegations. Vice Admiral (Retd) Vinod Pasricha, who was commanding the ship during the then prime minister’s visit, said all protocols were followed during Gandhi’s official trip in 1987, adding no foreigners or other guests were present.

“The claim was totally wrong,” said Vice Admiral (retd) Pasricha.

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HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

27

18 - 24 May 2019

Any healthy diet is incomplete without fruits and vegetables, which add the much-needed punch of essential vitamins and minerals in our daily meals.

Fruits and vegetables are an absolute must for all lowcalorie diets in particular.

Most low-calorie diets tend to give you results in the form of quicker weight loss, as they recommend more inclusion of fibre and protein-rich 'good' foods and reduce consumption of poor quality or junk foods. All calorie-restricting diets must be rich in vegetables, as fresh veggies can ensure a steady supply of healthy nutrients to your body as well as ensure that you stay full for longer and don't suffer from hunger pangs.

A growing body of evidence has also indicated that increasing portion of fruits and vegetable in daily diet may reduce risks of a number of diseases including heart ailments. This is because vegetables are low in sodium content, sugar, fat and cholesterol.

Excessive sugar, salt and saturated and trans-fats are the common culprits of weight gain. Vegetables don't contain any of these and are in fact full of phytonutrients and antioxidants, which fight inflammation and hence, also aide weight loss.

A number of vegetables are negative calorie foods, which means that digesting these takes up more energy than the number of calories they actually supply to the body. Additionally, vegetables are rich in fibre, which keeps you full for longer and also regulates blood sugar levels, ensuring that you

Ten nutritious low-cal veggies to aid weight loss

don't experience hunger pangs often.

It is important to remember that weight loss can only be achieved in a healthy way by adopting an active lifestyle, which includes both workouts (or exercise) as well as a healthy diet. Here are some of the best low-calorie vegetables to include in your diet: 1. Broccoli: One of the most favoured low-calorie vegetables, broccoli is used abundantly in vegetarian meals and is even served alongside any meat protein. The cruciferous veggie is extremely low in calories and contains just 34 calories per 100 gm (as per USDA data), along with high amounts of vitamin C and dietary fibre.

2. Cauliflower: Another cruciferous vegetable that can be consumed in a low-calorie diet, cauliflower is incredibly popular in low-carb diets like ketogenic diet. The veggie contains just 25 calories per 100 gm portion (as per data

by USDA), along with good amounts of potassium, fibre

and Vitamin C. 3. Cabbage: Cabbage or patta gobhi contains the same amount of calories as cauliflower and is slightly richer in fibre than the former. Cabbage can be cooked to make soups, broths and can even be added to sandwiches and salads.

4. Carrot: One of the best negative calorie vegetables available widely in India, carrot or gajar is considered a superfood and can be turned into anything and everything, from subzis to soups to halwas, barfis etc. It can be eaten raw and/or included in salads as well. It contains negligible fats and cholesterol, along with good amounts of Vitamin A and potassium, as well as good amount of fibre.

5. Spinach: One of the most nutritious leafy green vegetables, spinach is a healthy addition to any diet. Spinach contains just 23 calories per 100 gm portion (as per USDA data) and can be cooked into salads, soups, pastas and even smoothies. It also con-

tains protein and iron, as well as important B vitamins.

6. Cucumber: Cucumber mostly contains water and is one of the best low-calorie veggies to add to your diet. It contains a miniscule 15 calories in a 100 gm portion (as per USDA data) and can be easily added to your diet in the form of salads or sandwiches. It also contains good amounts of potassium and is particularly healthy for consumption during summers.

7. Bottle Gourd: Bottle gourd is incredibly low in calories and has high water content. It contains just 15 calories per 100 gm (as per USDA data), no fat or cholesterol, as well as negligible sodium content.

8. Mushroom: Although mushrooms are technically a fungus, they are cooked and consumed in the manner of vegetables and are considered extremely nutritious.

Mushrooms contain a mere 22 calories in every 100 gm portion (as per USDA data), along with very good amounts of potassium, which is a mineral responsible for protecting the heart.

Mushrooms also have good fibre content.

9. Sweet Peppers: Sweet peppers are probably underappreciated when it comes to low-calorie vegetables. A 100 gm portion of capsicum contains just 20 calories (as per USDA data)! The same portion also contains almost 5 gm or fibre along with high amounts of Vitamin C. 10. Lettuce: This delicious, crunchy leafy veggie is added to salads and sandwiches.

Lettuce contains high amounts of Vitamin A and just 15 calories in a 100 gm portion (as per USDA data)!

Tobacco display ban 'safeguards young people' A ban on displaying cigarettes and tobacco at shop counters has reduced the risk of young people taking up smoking, according to a new study. Tobacco products have been hidden from point-of-sale displays across the UK for more than four years.

University of Stirling researchers said their study showed the ban "helps safeguard young people".

Displays of tobacco products at shop counters were first banned in larger stores in England in April 2012. Ministers said that by removing cigarettes from view, it would help curb the number of young people taking up smoking.

Similar laws came into effect in Wales and Northern Ireland later that year, and in Scotland in April 2013.

A full ban, which also affected small shops, came into force across the UK in April 2015.

The law stipulates tobacco products must be completely covered from view. It does not say how units should be covered, but most retailers using sliding doors or hanging covers.

The latest research from

the University of Stirling examined the impact of the policy on 11-16-year-olds who had never smoked.

Among their findings, they discovered that: - the "smoking susceptibility" of children who had never smoked decreased from 28% pre-ban to 18% post-ban - a total of 81% of those interviewed noticed cigarettes at point-of-sale before the law came into force, compared to 28% afterwards - the average number of cigarette brands recalled by the children declined from 0.97 to 0.69 - after the ban was fully implemented, 90% of those who have never smoked supported the display ban - it made cigarettes seem unappealing, according to 77% of those interviewed

- and 87% said it made smoking seem unacceptable The research, which has been published in the British Medical Journal's Tobacco Control, was funded by Cancer Research UK.

Its tobacco control manager, Kruti Shrotri, said the findings proved the laws had made a difference to public health.

She said: "Glitzy displays and glamorous packaging helped the tobacco industry to lure the next generation of smokers into taking up a deadly addiction. But contrary to Big Tobacco's belief that banning displays would make no difference this study shows that by putting cigarettes out of sight and out of mind far fewer youngsters are taking up the deathly habit."

Body image concerns 'making people suicidal' Concerns about body image are making large numbers of people depressed and even suicidal, a survey suggests.

The poll of 4,500 UK adults found a third had felt anxious about their bodies, with one in eight experiencing suicidal thoughts.

The Mental Health Foundation, which commissioned the survey, said the issue could affect anyone at any age. The charity wants advertising and social media

firms to take more care with the way bodies are portrayed.

The issue of body image is one of the main theme's of this year's Mental Health Awareness week.

The charity is promoting a number of personal stories as part of its push to raise awareness about the issue.

Mental Health Foundation chief executive Mark Rowland said there needs to be greater awareness of the issue.

in brief HEART DEATHS UP FOR FIRST TIME IN 50 YEARS Deaths from heart and circulatory diseases among people under 75 are on the rise for the first time in 50 years, UK figures show. The British Heart Foundation (BHF) says increasing rates of diabetes and obesity are partly responsible.

In 2017 there were 42,384 deaths in under-75s from heart and circulatory conditions, up from 41,042 in 2014.

The charity says the historic pace of progress in reducing these deaths "has slowed to a near standstill".

Heart and circulatory diseases remain a leading cause of death in the UK, with millions at risk because of conditions like high blood pressure. Other risk factors include high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, smoking and family history.

According to the charity's report, more than 14 million adults have high blood pressure but nearly 5 million do not know it because they have yet to be diagnosed. And around 15 million, or one in every four, adults in the UK is obese.

Over the last five years the UK has seen an 18% increase in people diagnosed with diabetes. Circulatory diseases include stroke and diseases of the arteries.

Historically, the UK has made great strides at treating and preventing heart disease, thanks to better prevention getting more people to stop smoking, for example - and new treatments.

The BHF says a slowdown in the rate of improvement in death rates combined with a growing population is partly to blame for the reversal it is now seeing. Between 2012 and 2017, the premature death rates for heart and circulatory disease in the UK fell by just 9%, compared with a fall of 25% between 2007 and 2012.

NAIL TECHS UP TO '100 TIMES MORE AT RISK OF CANCER' Nail technicians are exposed to dangerously high levels of chemicals thought to cause cancer, research suggests.

Scientists studied six salons and found their air contained formaldehyde and other toxic compounds.

Concentrations were beyond what is deemed safe to avoid several forms of cancer, including squamous cell carcinoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma and leukaemia. And exposure to these chemicals over 20 years could raise a technician's cancer risk by up to 100 times, the researchers claim. They warn this prolonged exposure may damage a beautician's health as much as working an at oil refinery or garage.

Studies suggest these employees are at risk of asbestos exposure, as well as cancer of the stomach, oesophagus and lungs. The study of salons was carried out by the University of Colorado and led by Dr Lupita Montoya.

Dr Montoya has been curious about the effects of airborne chemicals in nail salons ever since a visit to a nail bar a decade ago left her struck by its pungent smell. She worried the confined space and poor ventilation would expose workers to circulating chemicals, and tried for years to investigate the long-term health consequences nail technicians may face.

However, she soon discovered more than 90 per cent of nail salons are small businesses. They therefore rarely have the resources to enforce staff health and safety practices, and declined to take part in the experiment.

MENTAL HEALTH SPENDING VARIES WIDELY ACROSS ENGLAND There is nearly a two-fold difference in mental health spending across England, an analysis suggests. Mental health charity Mind looked at investment across 42 NHS regions.

It found that Surrey Heartlands spent the least - ÂŁ124 per person last year - compared with South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw, which spent more than ÂŁ220. The charity said the differences were huge and would affect the quality of care but, despite the variation, spending was still rising everywhere. The findings have been released to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week. Mental health spending has been made a priority in recent years. In 2016, extra funding was announced and this was added to last year when the government announced its 10-year plan for the NHS.

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We are publishing these items in good faith, kindly consult your Doctor before you try to implement any advice. We do not hold any responsibility for its efficacy...

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Sara Ali Khan is on fire All of two films old, the 'Kedarnath' and 'Simbaa,' Sara Ali Khan is an internet sensation already. The actress took to Instagram and shared a stunning image of herself. The image went viral in no time, as fans saw the actress in a brandnew and a bold avatar.

In the snap, Sara can be seen donning a black and white bikini top

which matched perfectly with her black pants and a gold jacket. She captioned the post, "There's fire in her. If loved and cherished she'll warm your entire home; if abused she'll burn your house down.”

Sara is quite a traveller and the actress loves exploring new places. She recently visited New York City with her

girl gang. The actress re-explored the New York city by visiting places such as SOHO, Brooklyn Bridge, to name a few.

Sara even headed back to her roots at Columbia University where she pursued her degree in Law and Political Science. In her academic years, NYC was Sara's home for four years.

After Shah Rukh Khan, Saif debuts on TV Bollywood actors are now giving a creative push to themselves in different genres and on different platforms.

One of them is Saif Ali Khan. The actor has experimented with various genres and also recently made a successful debut on the web through Netflix series, 'Sacred Games 2.'

Now, he is all set to turn into a ‘host’ or ‘sutradhar’ for a TV show. In his small screen debut, he will give his voice over to Star Plus show 'Kahaan Hum Kahaan Tum,' which stars 'Bigg Boss 12' winner Dipika Kakar and Karan V Grover.

Interestingly, Shah Rukh Khan too had turned into a host for Ekta Kapoor’s 'Kasautii Zindagii Kay 2.'

According to a source Saif shot a sequence where the leads are deciding where to go on a date.

He shot alone for the part which featured a monologue and involved voice modulation as he is also shown giving voiceover for the female protagonist.

The shoot went on for four-five hours. Fans

It's okay to be a mess, says Sonam Kapoor 'It's okay to be a mess,' says Sonam Kapoor as she talks about her characters in 'Khoobsurat' and in the 'The Zoya Factor.' 'The Zoya Factor' is an adaptation of Anuja Chauhan's book about a girl named Zoya Singh Solanki who ends up becoming a lucky charm for the cricket world cup team. What Sonam really love about Zoya is the fact that she is a "huge mess".

"A lot of girls tend to be like, 'Listen, if I am such a mess, how am I ever going to succeed in life?' But I want to say, it's okay to be a mess. I think that's what I said through Mili in 'Khoobsurat' and that's what I liked about Zoya as well. I like to play girls who are regular and normal, who have regular problems because all of us have them," Sonam said.

"After my wedding, I have put on weight, my skin goes bad, I have really bad dark circles and I want all the girls to know that it's okay... In India, there is so much pressure on g i r l s . . .

Whether it's about who y o u ' r e g e t t i n g married to, what is his education, why is your skin looking like that, 'don't go to sunny places you will b e c o m e dark', 'why

have you cut your hair', 'don't go out so much, don't go out drinking.'

So I think it's important for me to play characters who are normal.

That's what I loved about Zoya - she is very normal and average," added the actress.

are super excited to watch Saif as Sartaj Singh in 'Sacred Games 2.' The first season became a rage in no time and left a lot of questions answered. Now, as the first glimpse of the second season is out, the fans are totally rooting for it. Also, he will be seen in Tanhaji and Jawaani Jaaneman films next.

Soni Razdan rubbishes the Ranbir-Alia marriage 'rumour' Amid reports that Bollywood superstar Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt plan to get married at the beautiful Lake Como - just like Ranveer Kapoor and Deepika Padukone - Alia's mother Soni Razdan junked such 'rumours".

The couple admitted their relationship very openly last year during the wedding of another Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor.

Earlier this year there was rumour that the actors might get married this year. That time also Soni had said, "Look, it is sweet of all their fans to ask everything about them. I am Alia's mother. I really do not want to talk about my daughter's personal life. I want

her to be happy. And she has my love and blessing on everything she does, beyond that I want her to live her life the way she wants to." "As a mother, I do not give her any 'gyaan' because my Alia is very sensible as an individual," she said.

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18 - 24 May 2019

Kareena turns judge for a dance reality show Following the footsteps of Rani Mukerji, Karisma Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty and Madhuri Dixit, Kareena Kapoor is also making her TV screen debut. The actress has accepted the offer of judging the new season of the popular dance reality show, 'Dance India Dance' (DID). The panel will include choreographer Bosco Martis and rapper Raftaar apart from her. Kareena, who has wrapped up the shooting of

Dharma Productions 'Good News' with Akshay Kumar, is busy prepping for her next film with Irrfan, 'Angrezi Medium,' and will begin shooting for her first TV show from the end of May. 'Dance India Dance' will be going on air in June. The channel is planning a grand debut launch for Bebo. As per reports, “The channel has had several meetings with Kareena as she preps for her big TV debut,

which will be launched on a big scale. She is slated to leave for London to shoot 'Angrezi Medium' in June, so the shoot schedule has been planned in a way that she can juggle both commitments. Dance performances are currently being planned on her popular songs.”

PeeCee's Met Gala look gets trolled

Met Gala is quite different from all other balls or international award shows, making it the world's biggest fashion event! 'Outrageous' is normal in Met-land. Yet,

however bizarre an outfit might appear, it is always tied with a theme - and this year's theme for the Met Gala is Camp: Notes on Fashion, to coincide with an

upcoming exhibition at the Met, inspired by photographer Susan Sontag's 1964 essay 'Notes on Camp'. Expect every outfit to scream "irony, humour, parody, pastiche, artifice, theatricality and exaggeration," bringing the quirkiest, weirdest and craziest things together. And while all that is happening in New York, a large section of social media crusaders seem to have joined forces to troll our very own Priyanka Chopra. If you're feeling a sense of déjà vu, you're not wrong. This isn't the first time PeeCee got trolled for her Met Gala outfit.

This year, Priyanka showed up with husband Nick Jonas.

While PeeCee opted for an OTT outfit with a metallic corset design along with a feathered and embellished mesh skirt with a thigh-high slit, Nick went with a white suit and heavily kohl-ed eyes. PeeCee finished off her outfit with an Afro hairdo that had a gravity-defying crown element.

The couple even matched their shoes - silver glittery stilettos and Oxfords. The trolling started almost immediately.

Salman Khan turns an item boy?

Salman Khan is all set to groove to an item number in 'Dabangg 3.' According to a source, Malaika Arora’s foot-tapping item number 'Munni Badnam Hui' will be recreated and will feature Salman. This time, it will be presented to the audiences with a different twist.The source added that the lyrics will undergo a drastic change too. And Salman has decided to wear the overcoat of this Badnami himself and the song will be called 'Munna Badnaam Hua.' The third installment will go back in the past and will show Chubul Pandey attending college before getting enrolled in the

Police department. The flashback scenes will showcase Salman in a young avatar.

So obviously during his college days, Salman will be romancing a young heroine. Since the makers are tight-lipped about the new addition to the plot.

Kangana and Hrithik on box office face-off

A day after Ekta Kapoor announced the new release date of 'Mental Hai Kya,' many started speculating that Kangana Ranaut is deliberately releasing her film on the same day as 'Super 30' to lock horns with Hrithik.

Retweeting a screenshot of a PR email, Kangana's sister Rangoli Chandel alleged that Hrithik was orchestrating the trolling against Kangana through the PR team. She said that Ekta and Hrithik Roshan met before the filmmaker announced the changed release date.

On the day Ekta announced that the release date of 'Mental hai Kya' has been pushed from 21 June to 26 July, which is the same date when Hrithik's 'Super 30' is scheduled to hit the screens. Hours after the announcement was made, the makers of 'Super 30' confirmed that they have not made any changes in the release date and the film will hit the big screens on 26 July. The two announcements confirmed that it's going to be a box office face-off between Kangana and Hrithik on 26 July.

Commenting on speculations regarding Kangana trying to deliberately lock-horns with Hrithik, Ekta, who had specified in her statement that the date change was only made for better business prospects, took to her Twitter handle and asked social media users to stop slamming actors.

Following Ekta's tweet, Kangana's sister, Rangoli Chandel, went on a twitter rant and slammed Hrithik for maligning Kangana's name. The film, which also stars Rajkummar Rao, has been directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Prakash Kovelamudi.

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Nayanthara regrets doing 'Ghajini' Nayanthara is the Lady superstar of South Indian cinema after some intense performances in films like 'Aramm', 'Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum', 'Imaikka Nodigal' and 'Viswasam'. But the actress regrets doing a film in her career which actually is a blockbuster hit. In a recent interview, Nayanthara revealed that she regrets doing 'Ghajini' which starred Suriya Sivakumar and Asin in lead roles. Directed by AR Murugadoss, 'Ghajini' had Nayanthara playing Chitra, a student who plays a catalyst in Suriya's revenge.

Nayanthara says that her character took a different shape on screen when compared to what was narrated to her.

The leading actress says that since then she has become more careful while listening to scripts and makes sure she keeps a tab on the proceedings while shooting. Nayan also reveals that she initially had second thoughts on Rajinikanth-starrer 'Chandramukhi' which turned out to be good for her career and gave a boost.

Nayanthara will have a busy 2019 with many films lined up for release. She will be seen playing the leading lady in 'Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy' which has megastar Chiranjeevi in the lead role. Nayan has already completed shooting for most part of her portions in the film.

South actor's daughter to be honoured at British parliament Divya Sathyaraj is a leading nutritionist and the daughter of South actor Sathyaraj.

She had recently been appointed as the brand ambassador of Akshaya Patra which is the world’s largest mid day meal programme. Divya also does workshops in rural area to create awareness on various issues like malnutrition, iron deficiency and vitamin A deficiency.

She had written a letter to PM Modi on medical malpractices in India, and had also requested the health minister of Tamil Nadu to address iron deficiency in pregnant women. Divya

has been invited for a speech at the grand global medical excellence event at the House of Lords, British Parliament. The other guests will be senior doctors, lords and health ministers.

“I would like to thank Mr Jacob Ravibalan, chairman of world Tamil Organisation (UK) for giving me the opportunity. I will continue to work hard towards improving health and wellness of the common man in Tamil Nadu and will create opportunities to make sure that a poor man’s child is also well nourished,” says Divya.

Dhanush’s debut English film wins international award Dhanush’s debut in English films was with ‘The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir’ which was directed by Ken Scott. The film was a 2018 comedy-adventure film, which opened up to positive reviews across the globe. Now that the film has won the audience award at Barcelona film festival.

The film had received various awards and the highly appreciated film has won several hearts too which has led to the latest addition - the audience award for Best Comedy at the Barcelona Sant-Jordi International Film Festival.

‘The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir’ is all about a fakir who tricks his villagers in Rajasthan, India into believing his special powers and into paying him to fly to Paris to buy a bed of nails from an IKEA store. The film premiered in France on 18 May 2018.

Tamannaah, Yogi Babu and others to shoot non-stop Actress Tamannaah was last seen in Seenu Ramasamy’s 'Kanne Kalaimaane' co-starring Udhayanidhi Stalin in the lead.

The actress was wellappreciated for her role in the film. Now, Tamannaah has signed for her next film which is a horror movie.

She will be seen along with Yogi Babu, Ramadoss, Mansoor Ali Khan and smallscreen VJcomedian TSK in the 'Adhey

Kangal' fame director Rohin Venkatesan's upcoming project.

The latest update is that the film’s shoot has already kickstarted. And the interesting factor is that there will be probably no break in the schedule as the film is expected to complete in 42 days – the first schedule is in Chennai for 10 days and the rest of the 32 days will be shot in Karaikudi.

The yet-to-be-titled women-centric horror comedy will be shot by the Australian cinematographer Dan Macarthur of ‘Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada’ fame and art director Vinodh of ‘Vikram Vedha’ fame will handle the film's production design.

Ghibran is all set to amaze us again with music in this film.

TV Listing

* Schedule is subject to change

SUNDAY MAY 19, 2019 01:18 FILM: ZEHER 05:00 FILM: VIKALP 07:29 FILM: EK SE BURE DO 10:18 FILM: DIL CHAHTA HAI 14:02 FILM: BANJO 16:52 FILM: VEER 20:10 FILM: WELCOME 2 KARACHI 22:54 FILM: SHOR IN THE CITY MONDAY MAY 20, 2019 01:00 FILM: KOYELAANCHAL 05:00 FILM: BEZUBAAN ISHQ 07:33 FILM: PYAR KI KAHANI 10:42 FILM: AUR EK YODHA 13:26 FILM: SAMAY - WHEN TIME STRIKES 16:16 FILM: MASTI 19:48 FILM: KHAKEE 22:17 FILM: CHOR BAZAARIEK ATRANGI PREM KAHANI TUESDAY MAY 21, 2019 00:30 FILM: AKAASH VANI 05:00 FILM: TITOO MBA 07:10 FILM: PYAAR KE KABIL 10:15 FILM: HAQEEQAT EK SACHAI 12:50 FILM: SHIVA SHAKTI

* Schedule is subject to change

SATURDAY 18TH MAY TIME TV PROGRAM NAMES 16:30 KAUN BANEGA CROREPATI 18:30 THE KAPIL SHARMA SHOW 20:00 SUPER DANCER CHAPTER 3 21:30 THE KAPIL SHARMA SHOW 23:00 THE KAPIL SHARMA SHOW SUNDAY 19TH MAY TIME TV PROGRAM NAMES 17:00 KAUN BANEGA CROREPATI 18:30 THE KAPIL SHARMA SHOW 20:00 SUPER DANCER CHAPTER 3

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 13TH - FRI 17TH MAY 2019 15:30: STYLE CHEF 16:00: THE GREAT INDIAN GLOBAL KITCHEN 2 16:30: RASOI SHOW 17:30: CHHUTA CHHEDA 18:00: RADHA PREM KI DEEWANI 18:30: UTTARAN 19:00: JAHAANARA 19:30: BEPANNAH

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 13TH - FRI 17TH MAY 2019 18:30: KHATRA KHATRA KHATRA 19:30: UDAAN 20:00: SHAKTI ASTITVA KE EHSAAS KI 20:30: KESARRI NANDAN 21:00: GATHBANDHAN

15:50 FILM: WELCOME 2 KARACHI 18:30 LIFESTYLE : STAR STOP 19:02 FILM: SOCHA NA THA 22:10 FILM: YEH HAI MUMBAI MERI JAAN WEDNESDAY MAY 22, 2019 00:45 FILM: JEET - BORN TO WIN 05:00 FILM: LOGIN 07:03 FILM: KAUN KARE KURBANIE 09:46 FILM: DUSHMANO KA DUSHMAN 12:50 FILM: UTT PATAANG 14:52 FILM: JOSH 18:10 LIFESTYLE : STAR STOP 19:00 FILM: TRAPPED 21:10 FILM: AKAASH VANI THURSDAY MAY 23, 2019 00:05 FILM: SADIYAAN 05:00 FILM: HUFF! IT'S TOO MUCH 07:00 FILM: MAIN HOON SHERDIL 09:53 FILM: KASOOR 13:05 FILM: NASEEB 16:56 FILM: SOCHA NA THA 20:00 FILM: 36 CHINA TOWN 22:56 FILM: HONEYMOON TRAVELS PVT LTD FRIDAY MAY 24, 2019 01:16 FILM: SATYA 05:00 FILM: BLUE ORANGES 07:15 FILM: AVINASH 10:00 FILM: RAM BALRAM 13:30 FILM: BOMBAY 16:16 FILM: TRAPPED 18:22 LIFESTYLE : STAR STOP 19:00 FILM: HOLIDAY 22:12 FILM: BESHARAM

21:30 THE KAPIL SHARMA SHOW 23:00 THE KAPIL SHARMA SHOW MON 20TH MAY - FRI 24TH MAY TIME TV PROGRAM NAMES 16:30 BEYHADH 17:00 EK DUJE KE VAASTE 17:30 KUCH RANG PYAR KE AISE BHI 18:00 VIGHNAHARTA GANESH 18:45 MERE SAI 19:30 YEH UN DINON KI BAAT HAI 20:00 CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA 20:30 MAIN MAAYKE CHALI JAAUNGI 21:00 PATIALA BABES 21:30 LADIES SPECIAL 22:00 CRIME PATROL SONY MAX 2 PRIME TIME 19:00 MONDAY SAAJAN 19:00 TUESDAY AADMI KHILONA HAI 19:00 WEDNESDAY DARR 19:00 THURSDAY SATTE PE SATTA 19:00 FRIDAY YAARANA

20:00: ISHQ MEIN MARJAWAN 20:30: MOHE RANNG DO LAAL 21:00: BALIKA VADHU - LAMHE PYAAR KE 22:00: RED ALERT SAT 18TH MAY 2019 17:30: CHHUTA CHHEDA 18:00: RADHA PREM KI DEEWANI 18:30: UTTARAN 19:00: COURT ROOM 20:00: KHATRON KE KHILADI 22:00: ZINDAGI KI HAQEEQAT SE AAMNA SAAMNA SUN 19TH MAY 2019 18:00: RADHA PREM KI DEEWANI 18:30: UTTARAN 19:00: COURT ROOM 20:00: KHATRON KE KHILADI 22:00: ZINDAGI KI HAQEEQAT SE AAMNA SAAMNA

21:30: ROOP 22:00: SILSILA 22:30: KHOOB LADI MARDANI JHANSI KI RANI 23:00: SITARA SAT 18TH MAY 2019 18:00: NAAGIN - SEASON 3 19:00: DESI BEAT RESET 20:00: COLORS SE SANG ANTAKSHARI KE RANG 21:00: RISING STAR SEASON 3 SUN 19TH MAY 2019 18:30: NAAGIN - SEASON 3 19:30: COLORS SE SANG ANTAKSHARI KE RANG 21:00: RISING STAR SEASON 3

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Mahant Swami in Surat

Your guide to the European Parliamentary elections

Bochanwasi Shree Akshar Puroshottam Swaminarayan Sanstha head Pujya Mahant Swami is in Surat at present. On 7th May, the auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya, he laid the foundation stone for the new BAPS Hindu temple in Kanad near Surat. On 12th May, a special Sunday Assembly was held at the proposed site of the temple. He told about 30,000 devotees that the proposed temple in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and at Kanad are examples of dream-cum-true.

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The British nightmare of the UK leaving the EU on 29th March has now been converted to a Halloween dream.

This means that the UK has to participate in the European Parliamentary elections which are due to take place between 23-26 May 2019. All EU citizens living in the UK will have the opportunity to vote in an MEP to represent their region for the first time since 2014.

While there are 7 main parties in the upcoming EU Elections with 5 seats in the East Midlands up for grabs, political parties are scrambling to launch last-minute EU election campaigns and pulling together a list of candidates. Newly approved party Change UK– formerly The Independent Group – has announced a list including Asian candidates Narinder Sharma and Pankajhumar Gulab in the East Midlands who are contested by Anil Bhatti from the UKIP. Out of the eight seats in London, the Asian candidates contesting for the election are Ranjan Joshi (Animal

strong, fierce yet gentle women characters of Tagore which he has either created or has been influenced by in his life.

The theme of the presentation had two flavours – Tagore’s 'Shrishti' or Creation and Tagore’s 'Prerona' or Inspiration. The first part was mainly about women characters created by Tagore presented through solo Rabindrasangeet and dance performed by the very competent BHF ladies.

The second part of the celebration was a unique presentation of Tagore’s 'Prerona' or Inspirations through stage drama which portrayed Tagore and his

Sneh Joshi

Poem by Rabindranath Tagore

Another interesting facet of the evening was a live painting by Mahua Bej, who at the end of the show came up with a beautiful portrait depicting the three women from the drama illustrating their distinct relationship with Tagore.

Sourav Niyogi, President of BHF after successfully guiding the squad through a magnificent evening, said, “Given the success of the evening and the graceful tribute to the Noble Laureate at the Nehru Centre, the cultural wing of Indian High Commission, has invited Bengal Heritage Foundation to celebrate 25 Boisakh every year.”

Time is endless in thy hands, my lord.

There is none to count thy minutes.

Days and nights pass and ages bloom and fade like flowers.

Thou knowest how to wait.

Thy centuries follow each other perfecting a small wild flower.

We have no time to lose, and having no time we must scramble for a chance.

We are too poor to be late.

And thus it is that time goes by while I give it to every querulous man who claims it, and thine altar is empty of all offerings to the last.

At the end of the day I hasten in fear lest thy gate be shut; but I find that yet there is time.

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The UK’s leading Vedic writer and TV personality

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20 Make hay while Mercury, Venus

and Sun transit your Solar 2nd house. There is a lot of energy to make the most of money-making opportunities and this is a very resourceful time for you.

However, beware of conflicts over ownership and other legal issues. Also avoid being extravagant and trying to prove yourself to others using your material possessions.

With Mercury, Venus and Sun TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 in your solar first house, your

disposition is more intellectual than usual and self-expression comes easily. It is an especially fruitful time for any endeavour that requires communications. Your demeanour is more youthful and easy going so others will find it easy to talk with you. while Mercury, Venus and Sun

GEMINI May 22 - June 22 transit the twelfth house of

your solar chart, your mind is focused on private matters.

This is a time when you are searching for answers. This is a good time for research, quiet contemplation and meditation.

You are likely to require a certain amount of solitude in order to get your thoughts together or to be mentally productive.

Mercury, Venus and Sun continue to journey through your solar eleventh house. This is a time when various networking activities are much appreciated and offer you learning experiences. Your ideas are progressive and you are also interested in spending time with people who are like-minded.

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

camaraderie with three influential women of his life – Kadambari Devi, Victoria Ocampo and Mrinalini Devi directed by Senior IT Strategist from Cognizant and a talented stage actor, Koushik Chatterjee, who derived this concept from three novels of Ranjan Bandopadhyay.

Tagore was believed to have an affectionate relationship with Argentine writer Victoria Ocampo which was very well depicted by oncology research scientist Debarati Goswami.

The third and one of the most important woman of Tagore’s life- Mrinalini Devi was played by Business Analyst, Moushumi Bagchi.

Endless Time

Welfare Party), Syed Kamall and Attic Rahman (Conservatives), Gulnar Hasnain and Shahrar Ali (Green), Taranjit Chana (Labour), Dinesh Dhamija, Hussain Khan, Rabina Khan (Liberal Democrats).

After being wiped out at the local elections, with both Labour and Conservatives losing their foothold in crucial constituencies, the best case scenario according to local polls for Theresa May's party remains that they remain “forgotten” or “invisible” in these elections while at the worst the party is likely to be squeezed to a single-figure vote share wherein mass panic and open civil war is likely. Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn would be on the moon if Labour would come close second to the Brexit party and emerge with their uneasy internal alliance on Brexit more or less intact.

However, Nigel Farrage appears to be leading a crushing victory in the Euro polls and could trigger a general election and ultimately lead to his entry into the Parliament.

London’s women portrayed as Tagore’s 'Women of Inspiration' Women of Bengal Heritage Foundation came together to pay tribute to Tagore, spotlighting Tagore’s iconic female characters through music, dance, recitation painting and drama. Bengal Heritage Foundation (BHF) in association with the Nehru Centre and High Commission of India in London commemorated Rabindra Jayanti; the birth anniversary of India’s 'Global' poet, song-writer and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore.

On Tagore’s birth anniversary, the multifaceted women of BHF along with the men pulled together a memorable evening to remember the

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Venus, Mercury and Sun transit your solar tenth house. Relationships with authority figures, superiors, and with the public are in focus during this cycle. It's a time when being a team player reaps the most rewards, and you may be mixing business with pleasure now. This may be a time when you are especially enjoying your career or position and making the most of it

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

The Sun, Mercury and Venus continues to shine its light on your solar ninth house now. This is a cycle in which you seek to expand your experiences and awareness, whether through philosophical thinking, higher education, travel, or simply activities that take you away from your everyday routines. You may feel a little restless if you don't find ways to explore.

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23

Sun, Mercury and Venus are transiting your eighth house of joint finances, loans, taxes, sexuality, and psychological matters.

This is a time of increased accumulation of wealth if you manage your resources well. In some cases, a significant tax refund, inheritance, or other such benefit might arrive during this transit

Mercury, Sun and Venus, the planet of love and romance throws a pleasing light on affairs of the heart. It is certainly going to be a fortunate time for those already married or in an established relationship. The keynote is emotional enrichment through close interaction with a loved one. If you are still seeking the ideal partner, things are definitely looking up.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

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PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

32

Sport

18 - 24 May 2019

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Mumbai Indians lift IPL trophy by one run Mumbai Indians lifted the IPL trophy for the fourth time by defeating Chennai Super Kings by one run in the final at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad – a second such finish for them – they had defeated Pune Warriors by the same margin in 2017. In Chennai, Mumbai had an opposition that’s weathered many a storm, but in not refusing to give up or give in, Mumbai are now in a league of their own.

As is their wont, Chennai turned the contest into a gripping finale and Rahul Chahar nearly cost them the game when he reprieved Shane Watson with the opener going great guns on 55. The Aussie smashed two overs for 20 runs each off Lasith Malinga (16th) and Krunal Pandya (18th) to negate all the good work Rahul Chahar had done by restricting Chennai to 72 for two at the halfway stage - they eventually had to rest content with 148/7.

When Watson finally fell with two deliveries to go for 80 (59b, 8x4, 6x4), Chennai still needed four. His 51-run partnership with Dwayne Bravo was not enough to see CSK cross the line with Lasith Malinga sounding the death knell by denying two runs off the last ball.

The start was just as exciting as the finish after the Mumbai skipper had no hesitation to bat first. But if Mumbai’s 149 for eight was not a big total, Chennai had not reckoned with Mumbai’s bowling arsenal that slowly tilted the scales in their favour by choking runs in the middle.

Faf du Plessis was the initial aggressor, while Shane Watson took his time, but with Suresh Raina running out of luck, Ambati Rayudu coming a cropper and skipper MS Dhoni run-out going for a second on an overthrow, Mumbai cleverly wrested the initiative through Chahar’s excellent returns

Mumbai Indians with 4th IPL trophy of one for 14, which included 13 dot balls and just one boundary.

Du Plessis hit Krunal Pandya for two fours and a six in the fourth over. However, Du Plessis gave away his wicket in the same over which ended his 26 run inning off just 13 balls. After the fall of Dhoni, Raina and Rayudu, Dwayne Bravo joined Watson.

Jasprit Bumrah provided his side with some relief as he got hold of Bravo (15) and ended his 51-run stand with Watson. Ravindra Jadeja then took the field but Bumrah

continued to bowl a superb spell but because of De Kock's mistake, Chennai got four runs added to their scoreboard as he let go the ball after Jadeja missed the shot.

In the last over, Shane Watson got run out which ended his impeccable knock of 80 runs off 59 balls. Shardul Thakur then came out to bat and smashed the ball for two which brought the game to a point where Chennai needed two runs off just one delivery.

But Malinga, who was the most

expensive bowler from Mumbai's side as he conceded 49 runs, got the wicket of Shardul Thakur which handed over Mumbai their fourth IPL title.

Earlier, Mumbai Indians, who opted to bat first after winning the toss, had a decent start as the openers, Quinton de Kock and skipper Rohit Sharma, played steadily. De Kock came out furiously on Deepak Chahar in the third over as he hammered him three sixes owing to which, Chahar conceded 20 runs in the over.

Schedule of Indian team at ICC Cricket World Cup

India's GS Lakshmi appointed as first female international referee

ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 will be held in England and Wales from May 30 to July 14. The 12th edition of the mega event will see a total of 10 teams participating. The participating teams will face each other in a round-robin format and top four teams will qualify for semifinals.

Indian team comes into the tournament as one of the strong contenders and is tipped to make it to semifinals at least.

Virat Kohli will lead the Indian team. This will be Kohli’s third World Cup as a player and apparently, first as a captain. Ahead of the main tournament, India will face New Zealand and Bangladesh in the warm-up matches on 25 and 28 May respectively. India’s campaign India's schedule begins on June 5 and the Men in Date Time (IST) Match Venue Blue will play their last round- 5 June 3 pm India vs South Africa Hampshire robin match on July 6.

Bowl, Southampton Indian squad 9 June 3 pm India vs Australia The Oval, Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma London (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni 13 June 3 pm India vs New Zealand Trent Bridge, (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Nottingham Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep 16 June 3 pm India vs Pakistan Old Trafford, Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Manchester Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Vijay 22 June 3 pm India vs Afghanistan Hampshire Bowl, Shankar, Dinesh Karthik (wk), KL Southampton Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja.

27 June 3 pm India vs West Indies Old Trafford, Indian team has won Cricket Manchester World Cup twice in 1983 under 30 June 3 pm India vs England Edgbaston, Kapil Dev and in 2011 under MS Birmingham Dhoni. In the last edition in 2015, 2 July 3 pm India vs Bangladesh Edgbaston, India made it to the semi-finals Birmingham and lost to eventual champions 6 July 3 pm India vs Sri Lanka Headingley, Australia.

Leeds

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has appointed India’s GS Lakshmi as their first female member of the International Panel of Match Referees. Following close on the the heels of Claire Polosak, who earlier this month became the first ever woman umpire to stand in a men’s ODI, ICC stated that Lakshmi will be eligible to referee international games with immediate effect.

Australia’s Eloise Sheridan was also added on the ICC Development Panel of Umpires, taking the number of women on that panel to eight. “We welcome Lakshmi and Eloise to our panels, which is an important step forward in our commitment to encouraging women officials. It is heartening to see their progress and I am sure many more women will be inspired to follow their example. I wish them all the best for a long and enjoyable career,” said Adrian Griffith, ICC Senior Manager - Umpires and Referees.

He further added, “We are committed to ensuring greater gender parity among our officials, but all appointments are made purely on merit. Elevation is as a result of a thorough evaluation process that identifies the most talented match officials breaking through to an international level. It is pleasing that through consistent high performance we are able to add more women to our panels.”

Lakshmi, who first officiated as a match

GS Lakshmi

referee in domestic women’s cricket in 2008-09, has overseen three women’s ODI matches and three women’s T20I matches.

“To be selected in the international panel by the ICC is a huge honour for me as it opens up new avenues. I have had a long career as a cricketer in India and also as a Match Referee. I hope to put my experience both as a player and as a match official to good use on the international circuit,” said Lakshmi.

The 51-year-old thanked ICC, officials at the BCCI, her seniors in the cricketing circuit, her family and colleagues who have supported her over the years.